| Document | Document Title |
|---|---|
| US08621618B1 |
System and method for assessing whether a communication contains an attack
Communications can be processed with multiple countermeasures to identify attacks. Each countermeasure can compute a probability of a communication containing an attack and an accompanying confidence score indicating confidence in the probability. Combining the probabilities can produce a composite probability and associated confidence of the communication containing an attack. The composite probability and confidence scores can be produced from a weighted combination of the individual countermeasure probabilities and confidence scores. Weighting factors can be generated or obtained from a database that stores profiles of confirmed attacks. |
| US08621616B2 |
Method and system for identifying suspected phishing websites
Identifying suspected phishing websites includes: obtaining an address of a website to be identified; determining, according to the address of the website to be identified, that the website to be identified is neither a legal website to be protected nor a phishing website; applying a suspected phishing website rule by matching a regular expression with the address of the website to be identified; and in the event that the matching is successful, determining that the website to be identified is a suspected phishing website. |
| US08621615B2 |
Behavior-based traffic profiling based on access control information
A method includes receiving one or more of user information, role information, or authorization information associated with a user accessing a network, selecting a traffic flow to monitor that is associated with the one or more of user information, role information, or authorization information, monitoring the traffic flow, determining whether an anomaly exists with respect to the traffic flow based on a traffic behavior pattern associated with the one or more of user information, role information, or authorization information, and performing a security response when it is determined that the anomaly exists. |
| US08621614B2 |
Managing potentially phishing messages in a non-web mail client context
Computer-readable media and computerized methods for governing treatment of digital communications (e.g., emails and instant messages) upon identifying the communications as potentially phishing emails are provided. A service provider is employed to control behavior of an account that is assigned to an intended recipient of the communications. Controlling the behavior of the account is described in the context of a non-web mail server that renders a UI display, which is not dynamically configurable by the service provider. In one solution, controlling behavior alerts a user to the presence of communications identified as potentially phishing by aggregating these communications in a separate folder. In another solution, controlling behavior facilitates protecting the user by replacing the content of the potentially phishing communications with a warning message. This warning message optionally includes a URL link to a web browser where the user can view the original content of the potentially phishing communications. |
| US08621613B1 |
Detecting malware in content items
Disclosed are various systems, methods, and other embodiments directed to detection of malware in content items. To detect the malware, for example, an environment is simulated in a computing device configured to render a network page having a container for content placement. The existence of malware in a content item is detected in the computing device by implementing a rendering of the network page in the environment with the content item inserted in the container to detect an unauthorized action by the content item. |
| US08621607B2 |
Computational system including mechanisms for tracking taint
Mechanisms have been developed for securing computational systems against certain forms of attack. Taint status for data accessible by processes is selectively maintained and propagated in correspondence with information flows of instructions executed by a computing system, so that a security (or other appropriate) response can be provided if and when a control transfer (or other restricted use) is attempted based on tainted data. One response that may be triggered is a change in the privilege level (root and guest) that is used to process code executing in a virtual environment, so as to allow remediation to be performed. The triggering events may be specified in a control block. |
| US08621603B2 |
Methods and structure for managing visibility of devices in a clustered storage system
Methods and system for implementing a clustered storage solution are provided. One embodiment is a storage controller that communicatively couples a host system with a storage device. The storage controller comprises an interface and a control unit. The interface is operable to communicate with the storage device. The control unit is operable to identify ownership information for a storage device, and to determine if the storage controller is authorized to access the storage device based on the ownership information. The storage controller is operable to indicate the existence of the storage device to the host system if the storage controller is authorized, and operable to hide the existence of the storage device from the host system if the storage controller is not authorized. |
| US08621599B2 |
Security in networks
A communication system may be configured to control by a security controller the use of a node in a network for a service or application to transmit data via the node, wherein the security controller controls the use of the node based on a predetermined list indicating whether the service or application is allowed for the node, the predetermined list including combined identifiers for client applications and identifiers for network nodes. |
| US08621591B2 |
Software signing certificate reputation model
A request from a software developer is received to digitally sign software included in the request. A security policy associated with the software developer is accessed where the security policy describes criteria for valid request by the software developer. A determination is made whether the request is valid based at least in part on the security policy. The software is digitally signed responsive to the determination indicating that the request is valid. The digitally signed software is provided to the software developer. |
| US08621588B2 |
Information processing system, terminal device, and server
With a terminal apparatus that includes an authentication method deciding unit that selects one of two or more authentication methods according to acquired position information, an authentication screen output unit that outputs a screen corresponding to the one authentication method, an accepting unit that accepts authentication information that is input on that screen, an authentication information sending unit that sends an authentication method identifier that identifies an authentication method and the authentication information to a server, an output information receiving unit that receives, from the server, one or more pieces of output information corresponding to the authentication method identification information in the case of success of authentication, and an output information output unit that outputs output information, information necessary for medical practice can be acquired while appropriately securing the privacy of a patient. |
| US08621580B2 |
Retrieving access information in a dispersed storage network
A method begins by a processing module obtaining a set of recovered random numbers, decoding encrypted share slices to produce a set of encrypted shares, and obtaining a set of personalized authenticating values regarding user access to data. The method continues with the processing module generating a set of hidden passwords based on the set of personalized authenticating values, generating a set of blinded passwords based on the set of hidden passwords and a set of blinded random numbers, and generating a set of passkeys based on the set of blinded passwords and the set of recovered random numbers. The method continues with the processing module generating a set of decryption keys based on the set of blinded random numbers and the set of passkeys, decrypting the set of encrypted shares to produce a set of shares, and decoding the set of shares to reproduce the data. |
| US08621576B2 |
System and method of multimedia access
A method includes receiving an authorization from a multimedia distribution system of a multimedia distribution network at a multimedia receiver. The multimedia receiver includes a peripheral device interface, and the authorization identifies a peripheral device that is authorized to transfer content data via the peripheral device interface. The method further includes providing the peripheral device interface with access to a selectively inaccessible peripheral device driver that is associated with the peripheral device in response to receiving the authorization at the multimedia receiver. |
| US08621573B2 |
Highly scalable application network appliances with virtualized services
An application network appliance with virtualized services is described herein. According to one embodiment, a packet of a network transaction is received from a client for accessing an application server of a datacenter, where the network element operates as an application services gateway of the datacenter. A context associated with the application server is identified based on the packet, including information that identifies application services to be performed on the packet and resources to be allocated for performing the application services. A context includes information representing a logical instance of physical resources of the network element shared by multiple contexts. One or more application services are performed on the packet using the resources identified by the context. Other methods and apparatuses are also described. |
| US08621571B2 |
Online service providing system, method, server and mobile device thereof, and computer program product
An online service providing system, a method, a server, and a mobile device thereof, and a computer program product are provided. The method includes sending a verification link corresponding to a user account that is not verified; after receiving a verification request corresponding to the verification link, determining whether a device identification sent by the mobile device that has logged in the user account is received; when receiving the device identification, confirming whether the user account is verified according to the device identification; after confirming that the user account is verified, when receiving a service request sent by a terminal device logging the user account into a service website, determining a homepage of the service website according to the device identification, and providing the online service corresponding to the mobile device to the terminal device through the service website. |
| US08621568B2 |
WAN module based remote wakeup system and terminal thereof
A WAN module based remote wakeup system and apparatus comprise a terminal including a security control module connected to an embedded controller, a power supply module and a serial port bus led from an WAN module side by a bus connection module, respectively, and the power supply module is connected to the bus connection module. The power supply module is adapted to supply power to the security control module and the bus connection module. The security control module is adapted to perform security verification on information carried by a signal received on the serial port bus led from the bus connection module, and to generate a wakeup signal and send it to the embedded controller if the security verification is successful. The embedded controller is adapted to start the terminal according to the received wakeup signal. |
| US08621564B2 |
Focus-based challenge-response authentication
A method for authenticating an access attempt includes detecting an access attempt by a user device over a network. A challenge-response authentication is provided over the network to the user device. The challenge-response authentication includes an image having a plurality of image objects. The challenge-response authentication is operable to display the image such that at least one of the plurality of image objects is in focus and at least one of the plurality of image objects is not in focus. In response to providing the challenge-response authentication, an authentication response is received from the user device over the network, and it is determined whether the authentication response includes an indication of the at least one of the plurality of image objects that is in focus to determine whether to authenticate or deny the access attempt. |
| US08621562B2 |
Methods and systems for authentication
Disclosed are systems and methods of authenticating a user on a network, including, based on identity information received from the user, accessing at least one data source to retrieve data associated with the user, comparing the retrieved data against a listing of possible questions associated with the retrieved data to determine associations between the retrieved data and the listing of possible questions, based on a ranking of the listing of possible questions, formulating at least one question set using questions within the listing of possible questions for which retrieved data is available, where each of the at least one question set includes at least two different questions, causing at least some of the questions from the at least one question set to be presented to the user, and, based on responses to the questions from the user, determining whether the user is authenticated. |
| US08621548B2 |
Method and apparatus for augmenting media services
A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, a media processor that includes a memory and a controller coupled to the memory. The controller can be programmed to receive media content from a set top box where the set top box is a separate device from the media processor and where the media content includes video content. The controller can also be programmed to receive supplemental content from a mobile communication device where the supplemental content is based on reading of a two dimensional bar code by the mobile communication device, and where the supplemental content comprises an image. The controller can further be programmed to generate augmented content by overlaying the supplemental content with the media content and to provide the augmented content to a display device for presentation. |
| US08621546B2 |
Display-enabled remote device to facilitate temporary program changes
A method for displaying two different content items on a main display device and a remote device includes displaying content in a first display mode, generating a content switch event to switch from the first display mode to a second display mode, and displaying content in the second display mode. In the first display mode, a first content item is displayed on the main display device. In the second display mode, a second content item is displayed on the main display device, and the first content item is displayed on the remote device. |
| US08621545B2 |
System and method for a content server to be used by a content provider to distribute content to subscribers of a communications service provider
A system and method for a content provider to distribute content may include configuring a webserver to be in communication with the Internet and be accessible to subscribers of a communication service provider without accessing the Internet. The content provider may be enabled to store content in at least one data storage bin at the webserver, where the webserver may further be configured to provide digital rights management for the content provider and guaranteed QoS to the subscribers when downloading the content. The content may be communicated from the webserver with guaranteed QoS to the subscribers. |
| US08621541B2 |
Enhanced video programming system and method utilizing user-profile information
Maintaining a file specifying a “donut” of dynamic, hierarchical, shared user-profile information. The donut contains a user profile or acts as a key to a data repository containing it, and it specifies user-profile information such as user characteristics, viewing preferences, hobbies, and spending habits. The donut is accessed by browser programs, associated web server programs, and other applications for use in routing content to the user associated with the donut. |
| US08621540B2 |
Apparatus and methods for provisioning in a download-enabled system
Apparatus and methods for provisioning of customer premise equipment (CPE) equipped with a secure microprocessor to receive e.g., digital video content by entering unique identification of the CPE at one or more servers located at the headend or other location of a content-based network. In one embodiment, the CPE comprises a download-enabled (e.g., DCAS) host with embedded cable modem and embedded set-top box functionality, and the provisioning includes enabling DOCSIS functionality of the CPE, assigning an IP address to the CPE and providing the CPE with a client image for the conditional access system chosen by the network operator. In one variant, the network operator can deactivate a provisioned device while connected to the network, as well when disconnected from the network. The network operator can also add, delete or replace conditional access client image in a provisioned device. |
| US08621537B2 |
Method of processing channel information and receiver
A method of processing channel information of a transmitter/receiver and a receiver are disclosed. The method of processing channel information of the transmitter includes service provider identification information in service provider discovery information, includes content provider identification information and content service identification information in service discovery information and transmitting the resulting service discovery information, and transmits the resulting service provider discovery information and service discovery information to the receiver. |
| US08621534B2 |
Method, system, and device for admission control
The present invention discloses a method, system, and device for admission control and pertains to the communications field. The method includes: admitting a subscriber for watching a multicast video only if each multicast bandwidth management device has sufficient remaining bandwidth after receiving a multicast video request from the subscriber; refusing the subscriber for watching the multicast video if any multicast bandwidth management device has insufficient bandwidth and fails to borrow bandwidth from a unicast bandwidth management device; and after receiving a unicast video request from the subscriber, admitting the subscriber for watching a unicast video only if remaining unicast bandwidth corresponding to a multicast bandwidth management device in each level is sufficient, or else, refusing the subscriber for watching the unicast video. Through bandwidth negotiation between the unicast bandwidth management device and each multicast bandwidth management device, admission control is implemented. |
| US08621529B2 |
System and method of receiving over-the-air television content
A method and apparatus of receiving over-the-air television content is disclosed and includes receiving input at a media processor. The media processor is coupled to a presentation device and includes processing logic and memory storing instructions executable by the processing logic to perform operations including sending a control command to the presentation device via a second interface having a data connection where the control command instructs the presentation device to tune an over-the-air tuner at the presentation device to a requested channel and receiving the over-the-air television content from the over-the-air tuner in the presentation device via the data connection. Other embodiments are disclosed. |
| US08621524B2 |
System and method of delivering event notifications
A method of delivering event notifications includes receiving data from a network-based calendar system at a notification system. The data indicates that a notification related to a calendar-based event is to be sent to a subscriber. The method also includes receiving presence information related to the subscriber from a presence system. The presence information indicates whether the subscriber is present at one or more of a plurality of subscriber devices. The plurality of subscriber devices includes a set-top box device. Further, the method includes sending an event notification related to the calendar-based event to the set-top box device when the presence information indicates that the subscriber is present at the set-top box device. |
| US08621522B2 |
Differentiated PSIP table update interval technology
An apparatus, method and data structure for generating at least one table in a broadcast environment, are provided. The apparatus includes a generator to generate an event information table (EIT) and an extended text table (ETT). The ETT has program guide information for an n-hour span and has a transmission interval. The ETT has a transmission interval and program description information according to the EIT. The transmission interval of the EIT is shorter than the transmission interval of the ETT. |
| US08621514B2 |
Apparatus, systems and methods for a video thumbnail electronic program guide
Video thumbnail electronic program guide (EPG) systems and methods are operable to include a video thumbnail. An exemplary embodiment receives a media content stream at a media device; picks a plurality of still image video frames from the received media content stream, wherein each still image video frame has information that is sufficient to construct the still image video frame; generate a plurality of still image video frame thumbnails, wherein each of the still image video frame thumbnails correspond to one of the still image video frames; generate a video thumbnail from the plurality of still image video frame thumbnails; and incorporate the video thumbnail with at least one program descriptor and a channel identifier associated with the media content stream into the video thumbnail EPG. |
| US08621509B2 |
Image display apparatus and method for operating the same
A method for operating an image display apparatus is discussed. The method according to an embodiment includes reproducing content, storing at least part of the reproduced content, upon receipt of a content save command, displaying a content object representing the stored content, displaying objects representing other users or electronic devices of a connected network or a network linked to the connected network, and transmitting, when the content object is dragged and dropped on an object selected from among the objects representing other users or electronic devices, the stored content to a selected user or electronic device represented by the selected object. The content is at least one of a broadcast image, an external input image, an audio file, a still image, a connected Web page, or a text file. |
| US08621503B2 |
Apparatuses, system, method, and storage medium for crowd game
Apparatuses, system, method, and storage medium for crowd game are disclosed. A series of missions forming a crowd game are outputted to a display device, each mission specifying a task for spectators of an event. A result for a mission is determined on the basis of participation and/or reaction by the spectators for the task. A total result for the crowd game is determined on the basis of the results for the missions. |
| US08621502B2 |
Obtaining user reactions to video
A user interaction request is received during playback of video content. The user interaction request can be received independent of any indication from the video content that user interaction is possible. In response to receiving the interaction request, one or more menus are displayed allowing the user to select one or more reaction options and to select whether the selected one or more reaction options are to be communicated to another user or to a content provider. |
| US08621500B2 |
Methods, systems, and devices for bandwidth conservation
Methods, systems, and devices are disclosed for conserving bandwidth. A user's bandwidth consumption is monitored and compared to a threshold value. When the user's bandwidth consumption equals or exceeds the threshold value, then behavior is incentivized that reduces the user's bandwidth consumption. |
| US08621499B2 |
Content recommendation using subsequence profiling
A method includes identifying at least one program viewing sequence. The at least one program viewing sequence includes a plurality of programs. The method may include identifying a subsequence in the at least one program viewing sequence. The subsequence includes a subset of the plurality of programs in the at least one program viewing sequence and the subset of the plurality of programs is arranged in an identified order. The method may further include determining a user profile based on the subsequence. The method may include receiving a current viewing indicator. In addition, the method may include determining whether the current viewing indicator indicates the subsequence. The method may also include providing a content recommendation based on the user profile for the subsequence in response to a determination that the current viewing indicator indicates the subsequence. |
| US08621496B2 |
Decoupled application program-operating system computing architecture
A method of application program-operating system decoupling includes performing, through an application program configured to execute on a client machine, a system call to a first operating system executing on a server machine over an interconnect configured to couple the server machine to the client machine. The method also includes serving the application program configured to execute on the client machine through the first operating system executing on the server machine in accordance with the system call. |
| US08621495B2 |
Methods and apparatus for securing frames from other frames
A method includes placing an accent in a frame, and only letting frames with the same accent communicate with each other. This accenting is removed using an accent key immediately prior to a compilation operation. The accenting can be performed by performing an XOR operation on a data stream using a key. In one exemplary non-limiting embodiment a computing system is provided. The computing system includes a memory, and a processor coupled to the memory, the processor configured to introduce domain specificity to at least one of a script and an HTML object name. In another exemplary non-limiting embodiment, means are provided for introducing domain specificity to at least one of a script and an HTML object name and means are provided for removing the introduced domain specificity prior to a compiling operation. |
| US08621491B2 |
Physical object visualization framework for computing device with interactive display
Devices and methods for displaying a visualization graphic on an interactive display are provided. One disclosed device may include an interactive display configured to detect a tag positioned proximate a display surface of the interactive display. The device may further include a processor configured to execute an application program and an application programming interface (API) configured to receive a tag monitoring request from the application program. The tag monitoring request may include application-specific tag visualization settings. The API may be configured to receive a tag tracking message from the interactive display, and in response, send a visualization command to the interactive display. The visualization command may be based upon the application-specific tag visualization settings and may be configured to cause the interactive display to display a visualization graphic proximate the tag. |
| US08621488B2 |
Method and apparatus for intercommunications amongst device drivers
Techniques for intercommunication amongst device drivers are described herein. In one embodiment, an application programming interface (API) is provided by a kernel of an operating system (OS) running within a data processing system. The API is accessible by device drivers associated with multiple devices installed in the system. In response to a request from a first instance of a driver the API, information indicating whether another instance of the same driver is currently started is returned via the API. Other methods and apparatuses are also described. |
| US08621485B2 |
Data isolation in shared resource environments
A data connection of a shared resource is placed in isolation mode to remove its ability to communicate with other data connections of the shared resource. This ability to isolate the data connection is dynamic in that it can be turned on/off at any time. This provides increased data security for the entities using the data connection. |
| US08621480B2 |
Load balancer with starvation avoidance
A method and apparatus for balancing processing loads to avoid starvation of threads is described. A method of load balancing evaluates the load and state of multiple processors. If at least one processor is in a source state and at least one processor is in a sink state, the processing load is balanced to avoid starvation. A thread is transferred from the heaviest loaded, source state processor to the least loaded, sink state processor. Each processor load and state is then reevaluated and, if needed, the load balancing with starvation avoidance repeated. |
| US08621479B2 |
System and method for selecting task allocation method based on load balancing and core affinity metrics
Systems and methods for performing a task are provided. One example method includes if the task allocation metric indicates load balancing associated with the processor is below a first threshold, determining whether the task is a reentrant task, if the task is a reentrant task, determining whether a stopping criteria is satisfied, re-entering the task into a queue of tasks if the stopping criteria is not satisfied and the task is a reentrant task, if the task allocation metric indicates core affinity associated with the at least one processor is below a second threshold, determining whether the task is a main task, if the task is not a main task, determining whether a stopping criteria is satisfied, and if the stopping criteria is satisfied and the task is not a main task, pulling a parent task associated with the task into the thread. |
| US08621477B2 |
Real-time monitoring of job resource consumption and prediction of resource deficiency based on future availability
Techniques used to enhance the execution of long-running or complex software application instances and jobs on computing systems are disclosed herein. In one embodiment, a real time, self-predicting job resource monitor is employed to predict inadequate system resources on the computing system and failure of a job execution on the computing system. This monitor may not only determine if inadequate resources exist prior to execution of the job, but may also detect in real time if inadequate resources will be encountered during the execution of the job for cases where resource availability has unexpectedly decreased. If a resource deficiency is predicted on the executing computer system, the system may pause the job and automatically take corrective action or alert a user. The job may resume after the resource deficiency is met. Additional embodiments also integrate this resource monitoring capability with the adaptive selection of a computer system or application execution environment based on resource capability predictions and benchmarks. |
| US08621476B2 |
Method and apparatus for resource management in grid computing systems
A method for resource management in grid computing systems includes defining user's demands on execution of a task as SLA (Service Level Agreements) information; monitoring states of resources in a grid to store the states as resource state information; calculating for each resource in the grid, based on the resource state information, an expected completion time of the task and an expected profit to be obtained by completing the task; creating an available resource cluster by using the expected execution time and the expected profit; and determining, if the SLA information is satisfied by the available resource cluster, a task processing policy for executing the task by using at least one resource in the available resource cluster. The available resource cluster is a set of resources having the expected completion time within a deadline of the task and the expected profit being positive. |
| US08621473B2 |
Constrained rate monotonic analysis and scheduling
A method for scheduling schedulable entities onto an execution timeline for a processing entity in a constrained environment includes determining available capacity on the execution timeline for the processing entity based on constraints on the execution timeline over a plurality of time periods, wherein schedulable entities can only be scheduled onto the execution timeline during schedulable windows of time that are not precluded by constraints. The method further includes determining whether enough available capacity exists to schedule a schedulable entity with a budget at a rate. The method further includes when enough available capacity exists to schedule the schedulable entity with the budget at the rate, scheduling the schedulable entity onto the execution timeline for the processing entity during a schedulable window of time. The method further includes when the schedulable entity is scheduled onto the execution timeline, updating available capacity to reflect the capacity utilized by the schedulable entity. |
| US08621471B2 |
High accuracy timer in a multi-processor computing system without using dedicated hardware timer resources
Technologies for a high-accuracy timer in a tasked-based, multi-processor computing system without using dedicated hardware timer resources. |
| US08621470B2 |
Wakeup-attribute-based allocation of threads to processors
A method of co-locating threads and corresponding system are described. The method comprises a first thread executing on a first processor awakening a second thread for execution on a second processor and assigning the second thread to execute on the first processor based on a determination that the first thread awakened the second thread at a prior awakening of the second thread. |
| US08621467B2 |
Job processing method, recording medium, program and system
In the event that job data to be transmitted from a first information processing device is first-type job data, but a second information processing device is not ready to immediately perform processing of the job data, the first information processing device can be inhibited from transmission of the job data. In the event that job data to be transmitted from the first information processing device is the first-type job data and the second information processing device is ready to immediately perform processing of the job data immediately, the first information processing device is permitted to transmit the job data. Thus, various types of problems or user demands that can occur in a situation in which a user accidentally or inadvertently transmits critical data such as secret documents or private documents or the like to a device which cannot process the job data immediately are handled as much as possible. |
| US08621463B2 |
Distributed computing architecture with dynamically reconfigurable hypervisor nodes
A method of dynamically reconfiguring a distributed computing architecture having a plurality of processing nodes, where each processing node hosts a respective plurality of virtual machines, includes detecting a fault condition on a first processing node, assessing the criticality of a software function performed by each of the respective virtual machines on the first processing node, and reassigning at least one of the plurality of virtual machines on the first processing node to a second processing node if the at least one virtual machine is deemed critical. |
| US08621461B1 |
Virtual machine based operating system simulation using host ram-based emulation of persistent mass storage device
A virtual storage device of a virtual machine is stored onto a host based RAM drive to achieve performance gains. The virtual machine can be a virtual storage server or a simulated storage server. The disclosed technique can include using the host based RAM drive to store a data image file that represents a virtual disk based emulation of an NVRAM of a storage server. A network server is used to provide persistence across host reboots and to allow virtual machines to be moved between hosts. |
| US08621460B2 |
Endpoint-hosted hypervisor management
A client hypervisor comprises a virtual agent that runs outside of a system OS and that allows device management independent of the OS and user. The virtual agent is tied to a device and not a specific instance of the OS. Such client hypervisors expose new functionality to ease managing systems. Some of these capabilities come from the persistence and privileges outside the OS. In some embodiments of the invention, this new management functionality is exposed to allow device management via new virtualization concepts, such as multiple VMs per system, VM replacement, snapshot/rollback, etc. |
| US08621457B2 |
System and method for installing software applications
An example method of installing an application onto an apparatus involves displaying an application menu screen comprising a fixed number of menu item display locations, at least one of the menu item display locations displaying a first menu item for an non-installed application. An announcement screen is displayed in response to selection of the first menu item for the non-installed application, the announcement screen comprising a selection item configured to initiate a downloading operation for the non-installed application. The downloading operation is initiated in response to selection of the selection item. The application can be installed/non-installed separately from other applications. |
| US08621456B2 |
Detecting and modifying security settings for deploying web applications
Various implementations are described herein for detecting and modifying security settings on a computing device to run a web application using a web browser. A loader application detects security settings on the computing device, determines if the security settings will allow the web application to run and function correctly on the computing device, and if necessary, modifies the security settings to allow the web application to run and operate successfully. Further, described herein are techniques for facilitating communication between components corresponding to a web application running in a web browser and external resources. |
| US08621455B1 |
System and method for server customization
Customization of a plurality of servers in a computer network. A server customizer module is generated that includes a server customizer initialization file containing a plurality of arguments for populating and running a plurality of standardized applications, scripts and utilities on each server. The server customizer module is installed on each of the plurality of servers for subsequent execution as part of the server build/customization process. A server unattended install launch module, cooperative with the server customizer module is generated that includes an unattended install launch initialization file for launching a plurality of standardized processes on each server. The server unattended install launch module is installed on each of the plurality of servers for subsequent execution as part of the server build/customization process. The server customizer module and server unattended install launch module are executed on each of the plurality of servers to complete customization of each server. |
| US08621450B2 |
Method for determining a version of a software application targeted for a computing device
In one aspect, this application describes a method for determining a version of a software application targeted for a computing device. The method includes receiving, at an application marketplace system and from a user associated with a computing device that operates remotely from the application marketplace system, a request that corresponds to a software application distributed by the application marketplace system, the software application having multiple versions on the application marketplace system. The method also includes determining one or more device attributes that are associated with the computing device, and identifying a particular version of the software application, from among the multiple versions on the application marketplace system, that is targeted for the computing device based on the device attributes. The method also includes providing, for display to the user and in response to the request, information related to the particular version of the software application. |
| US08621449B2 |
Profile normalization in an autonomic software system
There is provided an autonomic software system and method for normalizing a profile collected for an executing application to account for one or more actions applied to the executing application after the profile was collected, comprising: predicting an impact of applying the one or more actions to the executing application by utilizing the profile and the one or more actions; and adjusting the profile to form a normalized profile according to the predicted impact. A plurality of different a profile consumers, such as, a phase shift detector, an action evaluator as well as a normalizing controller, may utilize the normalized profile to improve the behavior of the executing application. In addition, online visualization tools may be implemented to graphically depict the normalized profiles, as well as differences between the collected profiles and the normalized profiles. |
| US08621448B2 |
Systems and methods for compiler-based vectorization of non-leaf code
Systems and methods for the vectorization of software applications are described. In some embodiments, source code dependencies can be expressed in ways that can extend a compiler's ability to vectorize otherwise scalar functions. For example, when compiling a called function, a compiler may identify dependencies of the called function on variables other than parameters passed to the called function. The compiler may record these dependencies, e.g., in a dependency file. Later, when compiling a calling function that calls the called function, the same (or another) compiler may reference the previously-identified dependencies and use them to determine whether and how to vectorize the calling function. In particular, these techniques may facilitate the vectorization of non-leaf loops. Because non-leaf loops are relatively common, the techniques described herein can increase the amount of vectorization that can be applied to many applications. |
| US08621447B1 |
Systems and methods for dynamic struct variable creation including inline declaration with dynamic keys
A parser can be configured to parse source code to generate code for dynamically generating structures at runtime. Any or all of the structure name, keys, and values can be defined dynamically (i.e. at runtime), rather than requiring declaration in the source code. Embodiments include a method in which a source file is parsed to identify an expression creating a dynamic structure with at least one key-value pair. The method can comprise generating a plurality of expressions for creating intermediate data structures which, at runtime, can cause the dynamic structure to be defined as set forth in the declarative expression. The dynamic structure may comprise one or more declared key-value pairs and/or may comprise one or more key-value pairs that are also dynamic. |
| US08621441B2 |
System and method for software immunization based on static and dynamic analysis
Disclosed herein are systems, methods, and non-transitory computer-readable storage media for analyzing source code and identifying potential defects. The methods employ both static analysis and dynamic testing to detect program defects early in the development stage for better quality with less cost. The analysis also ranks identified potential defects and reports only the most likely defects to a human developer. Once defects are detected, they can be removed right away and similar defects can be prevented automatically. |
| US08621439B2 |
Modern application tracing
Modern application tracing techniques are described herein that enable dynamic logging of events declared in a static manifest. Various events for logging can be declared in a static manifest. The static manifest may then be compiled to translate the declared events into a library of corresponding functions that can be called by “modern” applications written using dynamic code. Calls made to these functions from dynamic code are converted to corresponding static events and forwarded to existing tracing application programming interfaces (APIs) designed to handle logging of static events for “legacy” applications that use compiled code. In this manner, static functions that are compatible with tracing APIs can be created and called dynamically from dynamic code. This can occur without requiring administrative rights to install the code and while preserving existing features for legacy applications, such that a tracing log can include events from both modern applications and legacy applications. |
| US08621437B2 |
Weighted performance metrics for financial software
Embodiments of a computer system that determines a performance metric are described. During operation, the computer system determines the performance metric for tasks performed by financial software during a time interval. This performance metric is based on a weighted summation of contributions from the tasks, and a given weight associated with a given task is based on a frequency of occurrence of the given task. Then, the computer system performs a remedial action to improve the determined performance metric during a subsequent time interval. |
| US08621432B2 |
Visually oriented computer implemented application development system utilizing standardized objects and multiple views
A computer implemented application development (authoring) system permits objects (such as VBX custom controls) to be graphically inserted into the program under development by dragging and dropping associated icons into one of four views. The properties associated with the object may then be assigned settings. Development of a complete application is accomplished by visually arranging, ordering, and interconnecting the objects without the necessity of writing any code. The four views of Output, Map, Multitrack, and Workform may be synchronized so that changes made to the program in one view are simultaneously reflected in all other views. The system generates as output a script listing the objects and their properties which is then executed by a separate run time program. The system permits use of objects written to a standard specification and the addition at any time of additional objects written to that. Integration of the objects into the system is achieved by wrapping each object in an “envelope” of system specific properties. |
| US08621423B2 |
Method of automatically building a customised software application for a specific type of wireless computing device
A customized software application can be built for a specific type of Wireless Computing Device by (a) automatically determining attributes of that type of Wireless Computing Device; (b) automatically determining which Software Components from a library of Software Components are compatible with that type of Wireless Computing Device based on values of the attributes determined in (a); and (c) automatically combining the compatible Software Components together to generate a customized build of the application, compatible for that type of Wireless Computing Device. The attributes can be metadata. This approach enables rich Network Applications to be automatically built for Wireless Computing Devices of a wide variety of types. |
| US08621422B1 |
Environment for responsive graphical designs
Embodiments of the present invention provide tools and methods for the development and specification of a responsive graphical design. A graphical user interface allows a user to specify a design. The graphical user interface has a area for displaying a rendering of the design according to a first dimension specification. The system also has a dimension specification interface that allows the user to set a second dimension specification. The system also has a widget interface that allows the user to (i) add a widget to said design, (ii) specify a first state for the widget when the design is rendered according to the first dimension specification, and (iii) specify a second state for the widget when the design is rendered according to the second dimension specification. |
| US08621421B2 |
Workflow visualization
A mechanism is provided for saving workflow execution state and mapping the execution state to graphical elements overlaid on a graphical drawing representing the workflow generated by a separate application. The graphical drawing may be a flowchart drawing corresponding to one or more paths of the workflow and the graphical elements may provide status information associated with individual steps or groups of steps of the workflow execution. |
| US08621419B2 |
Automating the life cycle of a distributed computing application
A system for automating the life cycle of a software application is provided. The software application utilizes computing resources distributed over a network. A representative system includes creating logic operable to create a task list which describes how at least one stage in the application life cycle is to be performed, and processing logic responsive to the creating logic, operable to process the task list to perform at least one stage in the application life cycle. The processing logic is integrated with a development environment, and the development environment is used to develop the software application. |
| US08621418B2 |
Interlinked change-request computer system and method having role-based tabular interface
A computer method and apparatus for managing changes for a given software system is disclosed. The invention method and apparatus forms a respective change request object to represent each user's request to make a change to a given software system. For each change request object, the invention method/apparatus provides an issue hierarchy of issue objects, a task hierarchy of task objects and an activity hierarchy of activity objects. Each issue object represents a respective issue, each task object defines work needed to address a respective issue and each activity object tracks respective work performed. There is provided a tabular user interface including a table representation of the respective issue hierarchy, task hierarchy and activity hierarchy of a change request object. The table representation serves as a to-do list per user and displays issue object, task objects, and activity objects as a function of user role. |
| US08621416B1 |
System and method for adapting software elements based on mood state profiling
Various embodiments of a system and method for adapting software elements based on mood state profiling are described. The system and method for adapting software elements may include a mood state component configured to, among other things, create a mood state profile of a user. The mood state profile may indicate characteristics of a user's mood state. The system and method for adapting software elements based on mood state profiling may also include a method of application development. The method of application development may include creating an application profile that indicates the mood-altering characteristics of the application. The application profile may be used to, among other things, determine modifications to the application during the application development phase. The mood state component may also enable applications to adapt to a user's mood state while the application is in use (e.g., at runtime). |
| US08621412B1 |
Micro-regions for auto place and route optimization
Techniques are disclosed for partitioning a placement of a circuit design into a plurality of regions. A constraint is generated based on the partitioning of the placement and on the sequential elements that are located within each region. The constraint is provided to one or more design tools, and the constraint forces sequential elements to fall within the same region on the next placement. Some regions can be classified as guides, and these regions act as a recommendation for a design tool instead of as an explicit rule. Other regions can be classified as inclusive, and sequential elements can be allowed to enter the region but any sequential elements already in the region must stay in the region. Further regions can be classified as exclusive, and no sequential elements may enter or leave these regions on the next placement of the circuit design. |
| US08621409B2 |
System and method for reducing layout-dependent effects
A method includes extracting a first netlist from a first layout of a semiconductor circuit and estimating layout-dependent effect data based on the first netlist. A first simulation of the semiconductor circuit is performed based on the first netlist using an electronic design automation tool, and a second simulation of the semiconductor circuit is performed based on a circuit schematic using the electronic design automation tool. A weight and a sensitivity of the at least one layout-dependent effect are calculated, and the first layout of the semiconductor circuit is adjusted based on the weight and the sensitivity to provide a second layout of the semiconductor circuit. The second layout is stored in a non-transient storage medium. |
| US08621407B2 |
Apparatus and method for supporting circuit design, and semiconductor integrated circuit
In a circuit design support apparatus, a selection unit selects a delay circuit model from among two or more delay circuit models with wire load based on different values of physical parameters relating to wiring, on the basis of a difference value in a physical parameter between a first path and a second path, the first path being from a branch point of a clock signal line for supplying a clock signal to a register model of a semiconductor integrated circuit model to be designed up to a clock signal input terminal of the register model, the second path being from the branch point up to a data signal input terminal of the register model. An arrangement unit arranges the selected delay circuit model on a data signal line connected to the data signal input terminal. |
| US08621402B2 |
Model-based fill
Various aspects of this disclosure relate to increasing pattern density in a circuit layout design of a circuit layer so as to control the thickness of material in a manufactured integrated circuit. For example, a layer in circuit design may be divided into separate areas, and a target thickness range may be established for all of the tiles in the integrated circuit design. Each area may be analyzed to determine if it has a sufficient pattern density for a thickness estimation model to accurately estimate its expected material thickness upon manufacture. Each tile may be analyzed to determine if the expected thickness for that tile is within the target thickness range. |
| US08621398B2 |
Automatic layout conversion for FinFET device
A method for generating a layout for a FinFET device is disclosed. The method includes receiving an initial layout containing an active region that has an edge extending in a first direction. The method includes designating a portion of the layout as a first region. The first region contains the active region. The method includes designating an elongate portion of the first region as a second region that extends in the first direction. The method includes designating a different elongate portion of the first region as a third region that extends in the first direction and that is adjacent to the second region in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction. The method includes enlarging the active region if the edge of the active region falls inside the third region, and shrinking the active region if the edge of the active region falls outside the third region. |
| US08621396B1 |
Access using image-based manipulation
A computer-implemented method may include presenting to a user an image, receiving a manipulated image by the user and providing access to a computing service based on a comparison of the manipulated image to a predefined arrangement of the image. In one exemplary implementation, presenting to the user the image may include presenting to the user a figure, receiving the manipulated image may include receiving a manipulated figure by the user and providing access to the computing service may include providing access to the computing service based on a comparison of the manipulated figure to a predefined arrangement of the figure. |
| US08621394B2 |
Method, apparatus and computer program product for displaying items on multiple floors in multi-level maps
Methods, apparatuses and computer program products are provided for displaying search results and other points of interest located on multiple floors or levels in a multi-level map. A method may include receiving an input indicating a search criteria. Further, the method may include determining at least one search result position related to the search criteria, and determining a relationship between the at least one search result position and a multi-level map. In addition, the method may further comprise causing, based at least in part on the relationship, a level of the map and the at least one search result position to be displayed as a search result position indicator, wherein the displayed search result position indicator may be presented in a different manners based at least in part on what level the search result position is located. Corresponding apparatuses and computer program products are also provided. |
| US08621391B2 |
Device, method, and computer readable medium for maintaining a selection order in a displayed thumbnail stack of user interface elements acted upon via gestured operations
Computing devices and methods for managing user interface content and user interface elements are disclosed. In one embodiment, after a plurality of user interface elements is selected from an ordered list, wherein a selection order is maintained for the selected plurality of user interface elements: a user gesture to perform an operation on the plurality of user interface elements is detected, and in response, a stack of temporarily displayed thumbnails corresponding to the selected plurality of user interface elements is displayed, wherein a display order of the stack of temporarily displayed thumbnails corresponds to the selection order of the selected plurality of user interface elements. |
| US08621390B1 |
Table of contents menu over electronic book content on an electronic paper display
A method for providing table-of-contents extensions for items displayed on an electronic device may include displaying contents of the item other than a table of contents for the item. The method may also include receiving user selection of a navigation option while the contents of the item are being displayed. The navigation option may correspond to a part of the item that is listed in the table of contents for the item. The method may also include navigating to the part of the item corresponding to the navigation option in response to the user's selection of the navigation option. |
| US08621386B2 |
File management and transfer using user interface icons associated with applications
A user device to receive a request to open an application associated with a file; retrieve information regarding a remora user interface (UI) associated with the application via which operations on the file are automatically performed, where the information regarding the remora UI includes information associated with a UI corresponding to the application, and information associated with a group of remora icons that correspond to a group of other applications, each of the group of remora icons corresponding to a respective different one of the group of other applications; present, for display, the remora UI based on the information regarding the remora UI; receive, via the remora UI, an instruction to transfer the file to one of the group of remora icons; and performs the operation on the file using a particular application, of the group of other applications, that corresponds to the one of the group of remora icons. |
| US08621383B2 |
Smart fields
Systems, methods, and computer programs are provided for smart interfaces that shift the burden of cognition from a user to a computer system. More particularly, a method is presented for using a computer system to interpret data. The method includes an operation for accepting data from a data entry field of the user interface, where the data is provided to the data entry field in a selected format. The selected format is different from a common data format expected by the user interface. In another operation, the accepted data is normalized to conform to the common data format expected by the user interface. This normalization is based on information about one or more of a geographic location of the user, a geographic location of a server, and a geographic location of a product being used. Further, the method includes an operation for providing the normalized data in the common data format. |
| US08621382B1 |
Adding information to a contact record
In general, the subject matter described in this specification can be embodied in methods, systems, and program products. A display for a particular contact record is presented. The display includes a name for a particular contact and a generic input area. Each of a plurality of contact records identifies a name for a contact, and each of the plurality of contact records is configured to store multiple entries that each include a value and a field type from a plurality of field types. User input of information using the generic input area is received. A field type from the plurality of field types is determined based on matching semantics of the received user input. The determining occurs without receiving user input specifically identifying the matching field type. The determined field type and the received user input is stored as an entry for the particular contact record. |
| US08621379B2 |
Device, method, and graphical user interface for creating and using duplicate virtual keys
A method for duplicating and using virtual keys includes displaying a virtual keyboard that includes a plurality of keys. The method also includes detecting a first input to the device that activates a key cloning mode. The method further includes: while in the key cloning mode, detecting selection of a first key on the virtual keyboard; and in response to detecting selection of the first key, displaying a duplicate of the first key. The method further includes detecting activation of the duplicate of the first key; and, in response to detecting activation of the duplicate of the first key, performing an action in accordance with the first key. |
| US08621378B2 |
Mobile terminal device and display control method
A mobile terminal device, method, and program that displays, on a display unit, an image indicating an operation unit corresponding to a physical operation unit and used to navigate in place of the physical operation unit, detects a touch operation performed on the display unit, and changes the image indicating the operation unit according to a trajectory of the touch operation. |
| US08621375B2 |
Associating an object with a relevant data source
Associating an object with a relevant data source is disclosed. In some embodiments, an object pasted into a destination document is associated with a data source included in the destination document. In various embodiments, the data source associated with the object may comprise a data source concurrently pasted with the object into the destination document, a data source already existing in the destination document prior to the object being pasted into the destination document, or a data source generated in the destination document using data extracted from the pasted object. |
| US08621374B2 |
Method and apparatus for sending, retrieving, and planning location relevant information
The present invention is directed to a method and apparatus for sending and retrieving location relevant information to a user by selecting and designating a point of interest that is displayed on a graphical user interface and sending the location information associated with that point of interest to a receiver that is also selected using the graphical user interface. The location relevant information may also include mapped routes, waypoints, geo-fenced areas, moving vehicles etc. Updated location relevant information may also be continuously sent to the user while generating updated mapping information on the graphical user interface. The present invention may be practiced by using communication devices such as a personal computer, a personal digital assistance, in-vehicle navigation systems, or a mobile telephone. |
| US08621371B2 |
Device, program, method and system for data transmission
A data transmission device comprises: an entry information acquisition unit which acquires entry information from a storage device; an entry information display unit which displays the acquired entry information on a display device in a style discriminating between entry information including detailed information and entry information not including the detailed information; an entry information selection unit which selects a piece of entry information including the detailed information from the entry information displayed on the display device depending on an input through an input device; a detailed information display unit which displays the detailed information included in the selected entry information on the display device; a destination information acquisition unit which acquires destination information from the selected entry information; and a data transmission unit which executes data transmission using the acquired destination information. |
| US08621370B2 |
Batch processing information processing including simultaneously moving a plurality of objects and independently moving an object from the rest of the plurality of objects
When a plurality of objects are subjected to a batch processing by an object selection unit and a batch processing execution unit, if an input is made to an object included in the plurality of objects, an information processing apparatus controls the processing execution unit so as to execute a processing on the object based on the input, thereby executing a processing of moving all of the selected plurality of objects simultaneously with a processing of moving an arbitrary object separately from other objects among the selected plurality of objects. |
| US08621369B2 |
Intercom and chat for home media network
A media client presents a menu interface for a media client intercom and receives, via the menu interface, a signal from a user to initiate an intercom message. The media client receives a message input from the user, where the message input is provided through the human interface device, and converts the message input into a digital format to create a digitized message. The digitized message is sent, exclusively via a home media network, to another media client within the home media network. |
| US08621359B2 |
Method and apparatus for generating 3D carousel tree data visualization and related device
A method for generating 3D carousel visualization of large-scale tree data, which comprises the steps of: receiving a user's selection of a node in the carousel; according to the radius of a sub-carousel corresponding to the user-selected node and the radius of a carousel at which the selected node is located, judging whether or not the sub-carousel can be expanded at the carousel at which the selected node is located; expanding the sub-carousel at the carousel at which the selected node is located, if it is determined that the sub-carousel can be expanded at the carousel at which the selected node is located. A device capable of implementing the method is provided. The number of carousel levels visualized on a visualization device can be adjusted dynamically, and the visualization of a focus becomes more prominent, and relationships between nodes at each level of the tree data visualization get more apparent. |
| US08621348B2 |
Customizing haptic effects on an end user device
Systems, methods, and associated software are described herein for enabling a regular user of an end user device, such as a cellular telephone, to customize parameters associated with haptic effects applied to the user by the end user device. In one implementation, among several, a method described herein includes enabling a user of an end user device to access software adapted to design or modify haptic effects of the end user device. The method further includes enabling the user to open a haptic track file and enter or modify parameters associated with the haptic effects of the opened haptic track file. |
| US08621346B2 |
Medical image diagnosis apparatus, security managing system, and security managing method
A medical image diagnostic apparatus includes: a screen saver shape storing unit that stores shapes of a screen saver for respective execution states of an application; a screen saver activation event detecting unit that detects an event serving as an activation condition for the screen saver; an application execution state detecting unit that detects an execution state of the application; a screen saver screen creating unit that reads a shape of the screen saver corresponding to the execution state of the application from the screen saver shape storing unit and creates screen saver image information; and a screen saver managing unit that receives notification indicating that the event serving as the activation condition for the screen saver is detected and requests detection of the execution state of the application and, on the other hand, give the application execution state information to the screen saver screen creating unit to request creation of the screen saver image information. |
| US08621345B2 |
Intercepting text strings to prevent exposing secure information
To prevent exposing secure information, a first alphanumeric string is received and compared to a second alphanumeric string. After comparing the first alphanumeric string to the second alphanumeric string, it is determined whether the first alphanumeric string includes one of a limiting character and an instruction to send a message. The first alphanumeric string may be modified based on a result of comparing the first alphanumeric string to the second alphanumeric string, thereby altering the first alphanumeric string, and the first alphanumeric string, as modified, may be transmitted. |
| US08621341B2 |
Theming engine
A cascading stylesheet (CSS) file transformed with user-selected design variables is provided. One or more CSS files may be received as a first input item, and user defined colors, fonts, layout, and images may be received as a second input item. Embodiments provide for determining if the colors and fonts selected by the user are usable and legible. User-selected color and font schemes may be modified if necessary, and a modified CSS file may be outputted to a rendering engine for rendering an aesthetically pleasing, usable, and legible web page. |
| US08621340B2 |
Block properties and calculated columns in a spreadsheet application
Block properties and improved calculated columns properties are provided in a spreadsheet application. Once block properties are set for a group of spreadsheet cells or a spreadsheet list, the properties may be applied to the entire group of selected cells or list as opposed to requiring application of properties to individual cells. If rows or columns are added to the group of selected cells or list, properties applied to the group of cells or list are automatically applied to the new rows or columns. Block properties also provide for intelligent-behaving list borders where list borders are not corrupted by the movement or changing of columns or rows sharing edges with a list border. Calculated columns are a type of block property that extends the functionality of formulas throughout an entire column of an associated group of cells or list. |
| US08621339B2 |
Method of creating graph structure from time-series of attention data
Embodiments of the present invention provide systems, methods and computer program products for generating search results comprising web documents with associated expert information. One embodiment of a method for generating such search results includes receiving one or more search queries, selecting one of the one or more search queries, determining one or more categories of web documents responsive to the selected search query and crawling a web graph of linked web documents to identify one or more web documents tagged as within the one or more categories responsive to the selected search query. The method further includes generating a result set of the one or more web documents identified as within the one or more categories responsive to the selected search query, ranking the result set and generating a list of ranked search results responsive to the selected search. |
| US08621336B2 |
Error correction in a set associative storage device
A data processing apparatus is provided comprising processing circuitry for performing data processing operations, a set associative storage device for storing data values for access by the processing circuitry when performing data processing operations, error detection circuitry for performing, for each access to the storage device, an error detection operation on the data value accessed, and maintenance circuitry associated with the storage device for performing one or more maintenance operations. The processing circuitry is arranged to issue an error detection maintenance request to the maintenance circuitry specifying at least one specific physical location within the storage device, and the maintenance circuitry is responsive to the error detection maintenance request to perform at least one dummy access to the at least one specific physical location within the storage device and to provide the processing circuitry with error status information derived from the error detection operation performed by the error detection circuitry in respect of said at least one dummy access. |
| US08621334B1 |
Log-likelihood-ratio (LLR) table calibration
Some of the embodiments of the present disclosure provide a system, device and a method performing N read cycles on a plurality of memory cells of a memory sector, wherein N is an integer greater than one; constructing (N+1) bin histograms based at least in part on performing the N read cycles; identifying a shortest bin histogram of the (N+1) bin histograms; and based on a height of the shortest histogram, assigning a log-likelihood ratio (LLR) to the shortest bin histogram. Other embodiments are also described and claimed. |
| US08621322B2 |
Data interleaver
Methods and corresponding systems in an interleaver include loading K symbol data, in a linear order, into a matrix memory having (R·C) storage locations corresponding R rows and C columns. A sequence of interleaved addresses is produced for reading the K symbol data in an interleaved order from the matrix memory. Next, (R·C)−K interleaved addresses are queued in a first-in-first-out (FIFO) memory. After queuing (R·C)−K interleaved addresses in the FIFO memory, symbol data is output using the interleaved addresses in the FIFO memory to address and output the symbol data in the matrix memory in the interleaved order. The FIFO memory can contain at least 234 memory locations. |
| US08621314B2 |
Transmitting and receiving system and method, and non-transitory computer readable medium
A transmitting and receiving system includes first and second transmitting and receiving apparatuses. The first transmitting and receiving apparatus includes a generating unit and a transmitting unit. The generating unit generates a packet for transmission by attaching packet identification information to transmission data to which an error detection code is attached, and uses, as the packet identification information, a code that is capable of detecting a 1-bit error caused by transmission of the packet for transmission. The transmitting unit converts the number of bits of the packet for transmission and transmits the converted packet. The second transmitting and receiving apparatus includes a receiving unit and a correcting unit. The receiving unit subjects the transmitted packet to inverse conversion of the number of bits. The correcting unit detects a 1-bit error in the packet identification information of the inverse-converted packet, and corrects the error. |
| US08621313B2 |
Method and a device for adapting error protection in a communication network, and a method and device for detecting between two states of a communication network corresponding to different losses of data
A method for adapting error protection in a communication network includes: a step of determining periods of time that are homogeneous as regards the distribution law of losses over the network, a step of classifying the homogeneous periods of time into at least two classes, on the basis of information representing losses over the network and/or representing a corresponding level of protection, during these periods of time, a step of determining a probability of alternation between two of said classes, and a step of selecting a protection strategy on the basis of said probability of alternation. A method of detecting transition between two states of a communication network corresponding to different loss rates of sent data includes: a step of determining a probability of transition, and a step of determining the existence of a transition on the basis of said probability. |
| US08621307B2 |
Soft decision threshold control in a signal receiver using soft decision error correction
A soft decision threshold control system and method may be used with a forward error correction (FEC) scheme to adjust or tune one or more soft decision thresholds in response to one or more bit value averages for the threshold(s) and in response to a bit error rate (BER). The bit value average for a soft decision threshold generally refers to an average number of binary values (e.g., logic ones and/or zeros) occurring in a bit stream detected using the soft decision threshold. For different BER levels in a particular system, for example, one or more of the soft decision thresholds may have a predetermined bit value average, which has been determined to provide a certain level of performance (e.g., an optimum performance). Thus, one or more of the soft decision thresholds may be adjusted such that the bit value averages for the soft decision thresholds are adjusted as a function of the BER. The settings of the soft decision thresholds may also be adjusted in response to changes in a signal amplitude of the input signal being detected. |
| US08621303B1 |
Clock control circuitry and methods of utilizing the clock control circuitry
A design-for-test (DFT) circuitry is disclosed. The DFT circuitry includes a first multiplexer operable to transfer one of a clock signal or an inverted clock signal based on a clock polarity control signal. The DFT circuitry also includes a burst counter coupled to the first multiplexer. The burst counter is operable to output a signal at a first logic state for a predefined pulse count. The DFT circuitry also includes a second multiplexer that is operable to output one of the clock polarity control signal or the clock signal according to a signal output from the burst counter. The DFT circuitry may also include a third multiplexer that forwards control signals identifying the predefined pulse count to the burst counter from different sources such as an external pin, a programmable interconnect, and a memory element. |
| US08621298B2 |
Apparatus for protecting against external attack for processor based on arm core and method using the same
An apparatus for protecting against external attacks for a processor based on an ARM core and a method using the same are provided. A method for protecting against external attacks for a processor based on an ARM core in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention includes: setting up a register using a reset handler, which is executed first within a boot image; generating a control signal for protecting against external attacks using any one of an external debug request signal and an output signal of the register; and blocking a JTAG interface used for JTAG communication with the processor based on the ARM core according to the control signal for protecting against external attacks. |
| US08621293B2 |
Blind and decision directed multi-level channel estimation
A value read back from storage and a set of bins are received. Each bin in the set of bins has a bin range. A bin corresponding to the read-back value is selected from the set of bins. The bin range of the selected bin is adjusted, based at least in part on the read-back value, so that the read-back value is more centered within the selected bin after adjustment. |
| US08621288B2 |
Management apparatus, method for controlling same, and storage medium for same
A device management apparatus acquires the state of a device (image forming apparatus), and determines whether or not an error occurring in the image forming apparatus is the already-occurred error based on the change in the state of the image forming apparatus. When the error occurring in the image forming apparatus is an already-occurred error, the device management apparatus determines whether or not the error continues for a period of time equal to or longer than a predetermined period of time. When the error continues for a period of time equal to or longer than a predetermined period of time, the device management apparatus changes an error notification destination, and retransmits an electronic mail regarding the error to the changed notification destination. |
| US08621277B2 |
Dynamic administration of component event reporting in a distributed processing system
Methods, systems and products are provided for dynamic administration of component event reporting in a distributed processing system including receiving, by an events analyzer from an events queue, a plurality of events from one or more components of the distributed processing system; determining, by the events analyzer in dependence upon the received events and one or more event analysis rules, to change the event reporting rules of one or more components; and instructing, by the events analyzer, the one or more components to change the event reporting rules. |
| US08621275B1 |
System and method for event-driven live migration of multi-process applications
A system, method, and computer readable medium for asynchronous live migration of applications between two or more servers. The computer readable medium includes computer-executable instructions for execution by a processing system. Primary applications runs on primary hosts and one or more replicated instances of each primary application run on one or more backup hosts. Asynchronous live migration is provided through a combination of process replication, logging, barrier synchronization, checkpointing, reliable messaging and message playback. The live migration is transparent to the application and requires no modification to the application, operating system, networking stack or libraries. |
| US08621273B2 |
Enhanced scalable CPU for coded execution of SW in high-dependable safety relevant applications
Some embodiments of the invention relate to a single processor configured to comprise configurable hardware extensions, disposed within a data path configured to selectively provide either encoded data or original data, that allow for two modes of operation. In a high performance mode, the hardware extensions allow for increased processing bandwidth by using the hardware extensions for processing extended data (i.e., additional original data). In a safety integrity mode the hardware extensions allow for parallel processing of encoded data concurrent with the processor executing a SBST by processing a self-test program and self-test data. Therefore, the single channel processor provides a single core system that can selectively achieve either high safety integrity levels (e.g., SIL3) for safety relevant applications or high performance for non-safety relevant applications. |
| US08621264B2 |
Backup line allocation apparatus, memory repairing apparatus, backup line allocation method, memory manufacturing method, and recording medium
Provided is a backup line allocation apparatus that determines which fail lines, in a memory provided with a plurality of backup lines, to allocate the backup lines to, comprising a bit counting section that, for each fail bit contained in each fail line, counts a number of orthogonal fail bits, which is a number of fail bits in a fail line that includes the each fail bit and has an orientation that differs from the orientation of the each fail line, and stores the number of orthogonal fail bits associated with the each fail bit; a weight calculating section that calculates a weighting coefficient for each fail line based on the number of orthogonal fail bits of the fail bits contained in the each fail line, and stores the weighting of the each fail line; and an allocating section that determines which of the fail lines to allocate the backup lines to, based on the relative sizes of the weighting coefficients calculated by the weight calculating section. |
| US08621260B1 |
Site-level sub-cluster dependencies
Various systems and methods for implementing site-level sub-cluster dependencies are disclosed. One such method involves initiating failover of a first service group from a first cluster site to a second cluster site. The first service group includes one or more resources of an application. The method then identifies at least one dependent service group at the first cluster site. The dependent service group is either a parent or a child of the first service group. The method then involves initiating failover of the dependent service group from the first cluster site to the second cluster site. |
| US08621254B2 |
Electronic apparatus having reducible power consumption in the readiness state
Method for an electronic device (IT) that is controllable in at least one operating state (OP) and one standby state (SBY), with which a main processing unit (MPU) controls the operating state (OP) and a preprocessing unit (PPU) controls the standby state (SBY), such that, by means of the preprocessing unit (PPU), the main processing unit (MPU) and, to some extent, the functional units of the electronic device (IT) that are implemented by circuitry are switched by the control into at least one state having reduced energy consumption. An advantage can be seen in the fact that, by using a preprocessing unit (PPU), in the operating state of “standby” (SBY) the total energy consumption of the electronic device (IT) is reduced, both due to the significantly reduced energy consumption of a preprocessor (PPE) in the preprocessing unit (PPU) and to the units (MPU) that have been switched by the control into a state having reduced energy consumption, and the electronic device can therefore be operated more economically. An additional advantage is that the reduction of the energy consumption is achieved exclusively by circuitry measures and that no implementations must be included in the programs of the electronic device (IT). |
| US08621248B1 |
Load control in a data center
A method of controlling power usage in a data center includes monitoring a power usage of a plurality of computers in the data center, generating a signal indicating that the power usage is within a threshold of a maximum power capacity, and in response to the signal, adjusting performance of at least one computer in the plurality of computers. |
| US08621247B2 |
Bus interface with power management features
Methods and apparatus for providing a bus interface are disclosed. An example bus interface includes a first power supply bus configured to distribute a first power supply voltage to first circuitry during a normal operating mode of the bus interface and power off during a low power operating mode of the bus interface. The example bus interface also includes a second power supply bus configured to distribute the first power supply voltage to second circuitry during the normal operating mode and distribute a second power supply voltage to the second circuitry during the low power operating mode. The example bus interface further includes a selection device coupled with the first power supply bus and the second power supply bus, where the selection device is configured to transition the bus interface between the normal operating mode and the low power operating mode in response to a received signal. |
| US08621246B2 |
Power management system and method to provide supply voltage to a load
A power manager controls the supply voltage level at a load according to load current demand, and optionally the impedance of the power delivery path, by adjusting the supply voltage. The supply voltage may be reduced by determining a fixed load current that corresponds to a first operating frequency, determining a supply voltage that corresponds to the fixed load current, and then powering the load based on the supply voltage. Alternatively, the supply voltage may be increased along with increasing the operating frequency of the load while maintaining system power consumption within a predetermined limit. |
| US08621236B2 |
Method for activating at least a function on a chipset and chipset for the implementation of the method
A method for activating a function of a chipset comprising at least a memory and a calculation module in charge of cryptographic operations, the memory containing at least a seed and the calculation module containing at least one cryptographic algorithm, the method comprising the steps of: receiving at least one of a segmentation key, a global key and a global cryptographic algorithm selector; transmitting at least two items selected from the group consisting of the seed, the received segmentation key, the global key and the global cryptographic algorithm selector, to the calculation module, each of the items being provided by different entities; generating in the calculation module, a temporary key by using one of said at least one cryptographic algorithm of the calculation module and at least the two items; and verifying an authenticity of a received activation message using the temporary key and controlling activation based on the verification. |
| US08621235B2 |
Secure pin entry device
A secure PIN entry device including a PIN entry assembly operative to receive a PIN from a user, a PIN entry prompter operative when actuated to prompt a user to enter a PIN via the PIN entry assembly, a PIN entry prompt security check enabled controller operative to prevent operation of the PIN entry prompter unless a predetermined security check has been successfully completed and security check functionality operative to check at least part of the PIN entry device for the presence of an unauthorized PIN eavesdropping element thereat and to provide an output to the PIN entry prompt security check enabled controller indicating whether the predetermined security check has been successfully completed. |
| US08621232B2 |
Method for producing, allocating and checking authorization approvals
In a method for producing, allocating and checking authorization approvals that are required in order to fulfill tasks specified by an action plan through performance, by a service technician, of actions defined by the tasks on a device or component of a distributed structure on-the-fly generation and distribution of authorization approvals for service technicians is enabled as a function of necessary actions or measures which are to be performed in the form of tasks and are defined as part of an action plan which is contained or recorded in a work schedule. |
| US08621231B2 |
Method and server for accessing an electronic safe via a plurality of entities
A method of managing electronic safes, comprising a step of authenticating a user requesting access to a safe, by means of authentication data of said user, said authentication data to be provided by the user being dependant of an entity by means of which the user is requesting said access. |
| US08621228B2 |
MAC aggregation resilient to denial-of-service attacks for use in a multi-node data network
An improved MAC aggregation technique is disclosed that yields an aggregate MAC much shorter than the concatenation of constituent MACs while achieving improved resilience to denial-of-service (DoS) attacks. The aggregate MAC is constructed in a manner wherein upon instance of channel impairments or malicious attack (e.g., from a rogue node or man-in-the-middle attacker), only a portion of the aggregate MAC will include corrupted data, at least a portion of the aggregate MAC thereby including valid verifiable data. A source of corruption of the aggregate MAC may be ascertained based on indicia of which constituent MACs are included in the valid portion; and constituent MACs that are wholly included in the valid portion may be declared valid. |
| US08621226B1 |
Self-signed certificates for computer application signatures
A computer-implemented method for signing computer applications is disclosed. The method includes generating a compiled version of a first software application, signing the first software application with a digital certificate locally to a developer of the first software application without assistance from a central certification authority, and submitting the signed first software application to an on-line application store. |
| US08621223B2 |
Data security method and system
A method of verifying integrity of a digital file includes receiving the digital file subsequent to exposure to a foreign environment and validating the digital file. The received digital file has an appended signature label that includes one or both of a first hash value and a digital signature. Validating the digital file includes hashing the digital file to obtain a second hash value, retrieving the first hash value from the signature label, and comparing the first hash value and second hash value. |
| US08621220B2 |
Systems and methods for identity encapsulated cryptography
A method and a system to provide identity encapsulated cryptography are provided. A method may comprise receiving a user key to access a service. The service may be provided by an enterprise and hosted within a public cloud. A request for a country key assigned to a country of a user is transmitted and the country key is received. Session data resulting from the use of the service hosted within the public cloud is encrypted using the user key and the user key is encrypted using the country key. The encrypted session data and the encrypted user key are stored in the public cloud. The country key may be provided to a legal agency of the country of the user to decrypt session data of the user and to not decrypt session data of other users of another country. |
| US08621219B2 |
Communication system having plural terminals and method for controlling terminal in communication system
A method and communication system for assigning the control authorization for controlling functions of a device from a terminal to another terminal in a communication system is provided. Through the method, it is possible to simplify the authentication process of a terminal having the communication function based on the short messaging service, and to reduce the security information size generated in the authentication process. |
| US08621214B2 |
Document encryption and decryption
A document encryption and decryption system for selectively encrypting and decrypting files and any other items and method for same to protect or secure its contents by helping to prevent unauthorized individuals from viewing data in human-perceivable or readable form. The encryption system includes remote authentication to verify a user's credentials stored on a remote database hosted by a web server. The encryption system further includes remote delete to automatically delete encrypted items stored on the user's computer, handheld or portable device, smartphone, and any other computing device of any kind when it logs onto a network if the user's computer or computing device is reported lost, stolen, or otherwise compromised. Decryption keys allow selective decryption of encrypted items that are on the computer or computing device of any kind. A Windows Communication Foundation service helps with authenticating the users with the encryption key and login process stored and processed by the web server. |
| US08621213B2 |
Remote control of medical devices using instant messaging infrastructure
Systems and methods for remote control and management of medical workstations using an instant messaging infrastructure. A remote client, such as a mobile phone, laptop, tablet, or other computing device, is used to generate instructions or information requests in one or more data packets. The remote client sends the one or more data packets using the instant messaging infrastructure to a medical workstation at another location. A service application in communication with the medical workstation receives the data packets and causes the medical workstation to retrieve the requested information or execute the instruction. The communications between the remote client and the service application are encrypted and signed to ensure secure communications. |
| US08621212B2 |
Systems and methods for cryptographically enhanced automatic blacklist management and enforcement
Embodiments relate to systems and methods for the management and enforcement of blacklists of counterfeited, cloned or otherwise unauthenticated devices. In an embodiment, a system comprises an accessory comprising an authentication chip including data signed by a private verification key, the data including a unique identifier related to the accessory, and a device comprising a public verification key forming a verification key pair with the private verification key and an identifier list, the device configured to read the data from the authentication chip, compare the unique identifier with the identifier list, and reject the accessory if the unique identifier is found in the identifier list. |
| US08621211B1 |
NETCONF/DMI-based secure network device discovery
A system receives discovery rule inputs that include addresses, verifies one or more device identifiers for one or more addresses, obtains device information from each verified device associated with the one or more verified device identifiers, determines whether each verified device is a discovered device based on the device information, and automatically adds each verified device as a discovered device to a management system without human intervention when it is determined that the verified device is discovered. The system further creates device configuration information, creates an identifier and password, provides device configuration information, the identifier, and the password, to each of the discovered devices based on the NETCONF or the Device Management Interface standards, waits for a connection from the discovered devices, imports device configuration information from the discovered devices when the connection has been established, and indicates that the discovered devices are managed devices. |
| US08621209B1 |
Confidence-based authentication
Disclosed are various embodiments that perform confidence-based authentication of a user. An identification of a user account is obtained from a user, and a minimum confidence threshold is determined. Multiple authentication questions are presented to the user, where the authentication questions are determined based at least in part on stored transaction information associated with the user account. Answers are obtained from the user to a subset of the questions, with each answer having a corresponding authentication point value. A confidence score is generated for the user, where the confidence score is increased by the respective authentication point values of the correct answers. Access by the user to a resource associated with the user account is authorized in response to determining that the confidence score meets the minimum confidence threshold. |
| US08621208B1 |
Secure key server based file and multimedia management system
An embodiment of the present invention proposes a novel file and multimedia management and tracking system using a secure key server. The invention also proposes a novel, but very simple, digital watermarking technique. With the invented technology, the user's files/data can be encrypted and managed automatically, whether the data is stored in a USB format or in a public storage space. Furthermore, the file/data access record will be kept on the secure key server. Hence, an user can always track when the file/data was accessed. The advantage of the invented secure file manage system is that the key server never access the protected electronic data, and the data—encrypted or decrypted—are always on the local machine. The secure key server only manages the keys and records the key queryings. With the present invented technology, the multimedia server and the multimedia owner can protect their copyright, even when the multimedia is downloaded from the Internet. The key ideas of the invention are: (a) embedding the advanced secure key server proposed in a previous patent [2] into the multimedia server; (b) performing account management and key distribution automatically; (c) always pre-encrypting the electronic data; and (d) requiring that if anyone tries to get the decrypted electronic data, he/she must query the keys from the secure key server at least once when the software is started. This present invention also proposes a very simple digital watermarking system using reverse-verification technology. |
| US08621206B2 |
Authority-neutral certification for multiple-authority PKI environments
A method for facilitating electronic certification, and systems for use therewith, are presented in the context of public key encryption infrastructures. Some aspects of the invention provide methods for facilitating electronic certification using authority-neutral service requests sent by an application, which are then formatted by a server comprising a middleware that can convert the authority-neutral request into certification authority specific objects. The server and middleware then return a response from a selected certification authority back to the service requesting application. Thus, the server and/or middleware act as intermediaries that facilitate user transactions in an environment having multiple certification authorities without undue burden on the applications or the expense and reliability problems associated therewith. |
| US08621205B2 |
Certificate remoting and recovery
Certificate remoting and recovery may be provided. A computer may identify required security certificates and determine whether at least one required security certificate is not available. If the certificate is not available, the computer may identify a peer server and request the missing certificate from the peer server. The computer may also be operative to receive certificate management instructions from other computers. |
| US08621203B2 |
Method and apparatus for authenticating a mobile device
An approach is provided for authenticating a mobile device. A mobile device initiates transmission of a request to an authentication platform for generating a public-key certificate to access a service from the mobile device. The mobile device receives an identity challenge and responds by initiating transmission of a tag specific to the mobile device to the authentication platform. The authentication platform uses the tag to generate a public-key certificate. |
| US08621194B2 |
Processor NAND flash boot system and method
A system for booting a processor from NAND flash, comprising a NAND agnostic boot controller and a NAND flash device, wherein the NAND flash device further comprises a boot wrapper storing boot code in a predetermined format. |
| US08621191B2 |
Methods, apparatuses, and computer program products for providing a secure predefined boot sequence
An apparatus for providing a secure predefined boot sequence may include a processor. The processor may be configured to verify a predefined boot sequence certificate that defines a boot sequence for a device, verify one or more software elements referenced by the predefined boot sequence certificate, and execute one or more software elements that have been verified in the sequence defined by the predefined boot sequence certificate. Corresponding methods, systems, and computer program products are also provided. |
| US08621188B2 |
Certificate verification
An improved secure programming technique involves reducing the size of bits programmed in on-chip secret non-volatile memory, at the same time enabling the typical secure applications supported by secure devices. A technique for secure programming involves de-coupling chip manufacture from the later process of connecting to ticket servers to obtain tickets. A method according to the technique may involve sending a (manufacturing) server signed certificate from the device prior to any communication to receive tickets. A device according to the technique may include chip-internal non-volatile memory to store the certificate along with the private key, in the manufacturing process. |
| US08621187B2 |
Method of program obfuscation and processing device for executing obfuscated programs
A program is obfuscated by reordering its instructions. Original instruction addresses are mapped to target addresses. A cache efficient obfuscated program is realized by restricting target addresses of a sequence of instructions to a limited set of the disjoint ranges (33a-d) of target addresses, which are at lease half filled with instructions. Mapped address steps (34) are provided between the target addresses to which successive ones of the original instruction addresses are mapped. The address steps (34) include first address steps within at least a first one of the mutually disjoint ranges (33a-d). Between said first address steps, second address steps within at least a second one of the mutually disjoint ranges (33a-d). Thus, a deviation from successive addresses for logically successive instructions is realized. In an embodiment the mapping of original instruction addresses to target addresses may be visualized by means of a path (36) along points in an n-dimensional array, where n is greater than one. Successive original instruction addresses are mapped to successive locations in the path, and locations along respective rows of the array are mapped to respective ones of the mutually disjoint ranges (33a-d). Because an n-dimensional path is used a form of locality is preserved that provides for cache efficiency, whereas the multi-dimensional nature of the path makes it possible to combine this locality with pseudo-random steps. |
| US08621186B2 |
Obfuscated hardware multi-threading
Obfuscating a multi-threaded computer program is carried out using an instruction pipeline in a computer processor by streaming first instructions of a first thread of a multi-threaded computer application program into the pipeline, the first instructions entering the pipeline at the fetch stage, detecting a stall signal indicative of a stall condition in the pipeline, and responsively to the stall signal injecting second instructions of a second thread of the multi-threaded computer application program into the pipeline. The injected second instructions enter the pipeline at an injection stage that is disposed downstream from the fetch stage up to and including the register stage for processing therein. The stall condition exists at one of the stages that is located upstream from the injection stage. |
| US08621185B1 |
Processor load determination and speed control
Apparatus having corresponding methods and non-transitory computer-readable media comprise a processor, wherein the processor is configured to count a number of iterations of an idle task loop executed by a processor during a first predetermined interval, determine a current load of the processor based on the number of iterations of the idle task loop executed by the processor during the first predetermined interval, determine a current operating frequency of the processor, and determine a desired operating frequency of the processor based on i) the current operating frequency of the processor and ii) the current load of the processor. |
| US08621180B2 |
Dynamic address translation with translation table entry format control for identifying format of the translation table entry
What is provided is an enhanced dynamic address translation facility. In one embodiment, a virtual address to be translated and an initial origin address of a translation table of the hierarchy of translation tables are obtained. An index portion of the virtual address is used to reference an entry in the translation table. If a format control field contained in the translation table entry is enabled, the table entry contains a frame address of a large block of data of at least 1M byte in size. The frame address is then combined with an offset portion of the virtual address to form the translated address of a small 4K byte block of data in main storage or memory. |
| US08621176B2 |
Method and system for allocating data objects for efficient reads in a mass storage subsystem
A system and method for allocating data objects across multiple physical storage devices in a mass storage subsystem first determines a set of physical properties associated with the physical storage devices. The system assigns portions of the mass storage subsystem to a first division or a second division based on the physical properties, such that read operations directed to logically related data stored in the first division can be executed more efficiently than read operations directed to data stored in the second division. During operation, the system stores data objects with a low SLR in the second division, which may be allocated according to any well-known file system. If a write request is for a new data object with a high SLR, the system stores the new data object in a set of neighboring primary data chunks in the first division. For subsequent write requests that modify a stored data object, the system stores the modified data in a spillover data chunk located in proximity to the primary data chunk. |
| US08621174B2 |
Relocating data within a file system
A method for dynamically optimizing file systems based on user access patterns or other parameters. According to an embodiment of the present invention, a list of files forming a cluster is first created based on various preset criteria by an application, the list is transmitted to a file system program, and then the file system optimizes allocation of files in a storage medium based on the list. Embodiments of the present invention can be used to rearrange files stored in a storage medium so that files which tend to be used together are stored closer to each other. This can substantially reduce a typical application launch time. |
| US08621170B2 |
System, method, and computer program product for avoiding recall operations in a tiered data storage system
According to one embodiment, a system includes logic adapted to: receive a request to open an existing data set indicating a write operation, receive new data to write to the existing data set, determine that the existing data set is stored on a lower tier of a tiered data storage system, determine that the existing data set is capable of being updated by appending the new data to an end of the existing data set, create a temporary data set on a higher tier of the tiered data storage system comprising the new data, associate the temporary data set on the higher tier of the tiered data storage system with the existing data set on the lower tier of the tiered data storage system, and create a write indicator associated with the new data set indicating that the new data set belongs at the end of the existing data set. |
| US08621169B2 |
Method for address space layout randomization in execute-in-place code
A method for dynamically (i.e., upon boot) rewriting, in a failure resistant manner, of part of, or the entirety of, the flash memory for a device allows for a changing of location for logical blocks of execute-in-place code. Conveniently, the rewriting results in a randomization, of varying degree, of the address space layout upon each boot up cycle. |
| US08621166B1 |
Efficient backup of multiple versions of a file using data de-duplication
Technologies are described herein for providing efficient backup of multiple versions of a data file using data de-duplication. A CDP module copies blocks of data of a specific block size from a current version of the data file to a master file maintained in a backup location for the data file. Only blocks of data not matching a unique data block already in the master file are copied. The CDP module then creates an anterior file in the backup location for the current version of the data file containing an ordered list of references to the unique data blocks in the master file. The order of the list of references is based on the order of occurrence of each unique data block in the modified version of the data file. Finally, the CDP module creates a posterior file in the backup location for the current version of the data file containing any remaining block of data in the data file that is less than the specific block size. |
| US08621160B2 |
System and method for contention-free memory access
A memory control unit of a turbo code decoder includes a buffer having a plurality of storage slots, a buffer control operatively coupled to the buffer, a router operatively coupled to the buffer control and to a plurality of data sources, and a conflict detection unit operatively coupled to the router, to the buffer control, and to the plurality of data sources. The buffer temporarily stores information intended for storage in a memory bank. The buffer control determines a number of available storage slots in the buffer. The router routes data from the data sources to the buffer control. The conflict detection unit initiates a temporary halt of some of the data sources when the number of available storage slots is insufficient to store all of the data from data sources attempting to access the memory bank. |
| US08621159B2 |
Shared access memory scheme
A memory device loops back control information from one interface to another interface to facilitate sharing of the memory device by multiple devices. In some aspects, a memory controller sends control and address information to one interface of a memory device when accessing the memory device. The memory device may then loop back this control and address information to another interface that is used by another memory controller to access the memory device. The other memory controller may then use this information to determine how to access the memory device. In some aspects a memory device loops back arbitration information from one interface to another interface thereby enabling controller devices that are coupled to the memory device to control (e.g., schedule) accesses of the memory device. |
| US08621158B2 |
Information processor system
In an information processor system including a memory device (MEM0), a memory control device (SL0) capable of controlling an operation of the memory device, and a plurality of bus masters (MS0 to MS3) capable of giving access to the memory device through the memory control device, the memory control device includes a control circuit (SDCON) capable of giving a notice of information about a time that a data transfer from the memory device can be started to the bus master related to an access request. The bus master can cause the time information thus given to be a judgment factor as to whether an access request is given to the memory device or not. Consequently, each of the bus masters can avoid the generation of a useless access request and a data transfer to the masters to be accessed can be carried out smoothly. |
| US08621155B2 |
Efficient flash memory-based object store
Approaches for an object store implemented, at least in part, on one or more solid state devices. The object store may store objects on a plurality of solid state devices. The object store may include a transaction model means for ensuring that the object store performs transactions in compliance with atomicity, concurrency, isolation, and durability (ACID) properties. The object store may include means for providing parallel flushing in a write cache maintained on each of the solid state devices. The object store may include means for maintaining one or more double-write buffers, for the object store, at a location other than the solid state devices. The object store may optionally comprise means for maintaining one or more circular transaction logs, for the object store, at a location other than the solid state devices. The object store may operate to minimize write operations performed on the solid state devices. |
| US08621153B2 |
Microcode refactoring and caching
Methods and apparatus relating to microcode refactoring and/or caching are described. In some embodiments, an off-chip structure that stores microcode is shared by multiple processor cores. Other embodiments are also described and claimed. |
| US08621149B2 |
Controlling access to a cache memory using privilege level information
In one embodiment, a cache memory includes entries each to store a ring level identifier, which may indicate a privilege level of information stored in the entry. This identifier may be used in performing read accesses to the cache memory. As an example, a logic coupled to the cache memory may filter an access to one or more ways of a selected set of the cache memory based at least in part on a current privilege level of a processor and the ring level identifier of the one or more ways. Other embodiments are described and claimed. |
| US08621147B2 |
Method and system for distributed RAID implementation
Embodiments of the systems and methods disclosed provide a distributed RAID system comprising a set of data banks. More particularly, in certain embodiments of a distributed RAID system each data bank has a set of associated storage media and executes a similar distributed RAID application. The distributed RAID applications on each of the data banks coordinate among themselves to distribute and control data flow associated with implementing a level of RAID in conjunction with data stored on the associated storage media of the data banks. |
| US08621146B1 |
Network storage system including non-volatile solid-state memory controlled by external data layout engine
A network storage system includes “raw” flash memory, and storage of data in that flash memory is controlled by an external, log structured, write out-of-place data layout engine of a storage server. By avoiding a separate, onboard data layout engine on the flash devices, the latency associated with operation of such a data layout engine is also avoided. The flash memory can be used as the main persistent storage of a storage server and/or as buffer cache of a storage server, or both. The flash memory can be accessible to multiple storage servers in a storage cluster. To reduce variability in read latency, each flash device provides its status (“busy” or not) to the data layout engine. The data layout engine uses RAID data reconstruction to avoid having to read from a busy flash device. |
| US08621137B2 |
Metadata rebuild in a flash memory controller following a loss of power
A method of rebuilding metadata in a flash memory controller following a loss of power. The method includes reading logical address information associated with an area of flash memory, and using time stamp information to determine if data stored in the flash memory area is valid. |
| US08621136B2 |
Virtualizing processor memory protection with “L1 iterate and L2 swizzle”
Methods for providing shadow page tables that virtualize processor memory protection. In one embodiment, two shadow L2 page tables are maintained for each section, for example, each 1 MB section, of guest address space covered by a shadow L1 descriptor. |
| US08621131B2 |
Uniform multi-chip identification and routing system
Various methods, computer-readable mediums, articles of manufacture and systems are disclosed. In one aspect, a method is provided that includes generating a packet with a first semiconductor chip. The packet is destined to transit a first substrate and be received by a node of a second semiconductor chip. The packet includes a packet header and packet body. The packet header includes an identification of a first exit point from the first substrate and an identification of the node. The packet is sent to the first substrate and eventually to the node of the second semiconductor chip. |
| US08621130B2 |
System data transfer optimization of extended computer systems
A solution for setup and optimization of a data transfer path in extended computer systems, where the I/O system is virtualized. The solution achieves advantageous results via a mechanism that automates the configuration of multiple data path components. The solution achieves initial optimization and then automates continual optimization of the data path through monitoring of changes and through dynamic adjustment of system resources and data transfer characteristics. |
| US08621126B2 |
Communication device, communication scheme determination method, and program
Provided is a communication device including a first communication unit that is capable of sending a polling-signal in a specific polling cycle and receiving a response-signal sent from a counterpart device in response to the polling-signal, based on a first scheme, a second communication unit that is capable of sending a polling-signal in a longer polling cycle than the first communication unit and receiving a response-signal sent from the counterpart device in response to the polling-signal, based on a second scheme, and a scheme determination unit that waits for reception of the response-signal by the second or the first communication unit for a specific period of time longer than the polling cycle of the second communication unit with a time of the response-signal being received by the first or the second communication unit as a reference, and determines a scheme usable by the counterpart device based on the reception result. |
| US08621125B2 |
System and method of sending and receiving data and commands using the TCK and TMS of IEEE 1149.1
A system and method that use the TCK and TMS to transmit address and data. IEEE 1149.1 based tools can use the system and method without modification to make IEEE 1149.1 TAPs appear and disappear, add compliance-enable circuits without pins and broadcast commands to IEEE P1687 instruments. The system and method use Test-Logic-Reset sequences with Run-Test-Idle to enable an on/off switch of various DFT capabilities. IEEE 1149.1 compliant TAP interfaces disappear to pass-through wires using the system and method. The sequences communicate an “address” which enables one or more of the TAP interfaces and a “command”. The system and method has benefits for IEEE P1687 instrument chains and on-chip routing of the P1687 network. |
| US08621122B2 |
Method and apparatus for transferring data
One embodiment of the invention comprises a non-transitory, tangible computer readable storage medium encoded with processor readable instructions to perform a method of transferring SDIO data. One method comprises buffering multiple IP packets to transfer from one of a SDCC host and a SDIO client to the other of the SDCC host and the SDIO client. A multiplexing header is attached to each of the multiple IP packets and one of at least one SDIO read command and at least one SDIO write command issued. The multiple IP packets are then transferred in a single SDIO transfer between the one of a SDCC host and a SDIO client to the other of the SDCC host and the SDIO client. |
| US08621121B1 |
Detecting bogus IOs in a multipathing driver
An improved technique for processing IO requests has been described that distinguishes bogus IOs from genuine IO request failures by accessing a hardware configuration record that associates available paths with hardware components at different hardware layers traversed by the paths. When an IO request fails down a first path, a second path is selected for retrying the IO request by accessing the hardware configuration record and identifying a path that the record indicates traverses hardware components that are different from those traversed by the first path at multiple hardware layers. The chance that an IO request will fail due to faulty hardware over both the first path and the second path is thus low, such that IO failures down both the first path and the second path provide a clear indication that the IO request is bogus. |
| US08621116B2 |
Dynamic address change optimizations
A method of setting an address of a component that includes determining a characterization value associated with a consumable, calculating a number of address change operations based upon the characterization value, and setting a last address generated from the number of address change operations as the new address of the component, wherein the characterization value is determined based upon a usage of the consumable. |
| US08621115B1 |
Configuring a data storage device with a configuration data record set in response to a configuration code
A method is disclosed for configuring a data storage device. The data storage device receives a configuration code, and in response to the configuration code selects a configuration data record set from a plurality of configuration data record sets. The data storage device is configured in response to the selected configuration data record set. For example, the data storage device may be configured into a manufacturing test procedure mode, and then into a customer specific operating mode. In another embodiment, a hardware configuration of the data storage device is identified, and the configuration code selected based on the identified hardware configuration. |
| US08621111B2 |
Transpose box based network scaling
The deployment and scaling of a network of electronic devices can be improved by utilizing one or more network transpose boxes. Each transpose box can include a number of connectors and a meshing useful for implementing a specific network topology. When connecting devices of different tiers in the network, each device need only be connected to at least one of the connectors on the transpose box. The meshing of the transpose box can cause each device to be connected to any or all of the devices in the other tier as dictated by the network topology. When changing network topologies or scaling the network, additional devices can be added to available connectors on an existing transpose box, or new or additional transpose boxes can be deployed in order to handle the change with minimal cabling effort. |
| US08621104B2 |
Virtual gateway router
A facility for configuring a virtual data center is described. A user such as an administrator uses a management interface to input information specifying a configuration for a virtual data center including virtual network nodes and virtual routers. In response, the facility instantiates each virtual network router needed for the configuration, such as by, for each, instantiating on commodity hardware a virtual machine running a general-purpose operating system used to provide routing services to the virtual network nodes. |
| US08621097B2 |
Low cost and flexible energy management system
A premises data management system includes a first communication network configured to transmit and receive data to and from a user interface. Another communication network is configured to access data from and provides data to accessories within the premises management system. A gateway of the system includes a first interface channel and another interface channel. The gateway receives the data from the first communication network, via the first interface channel. The gateway reformats the data from the first communication network for communication to the other communication network via the other interface channel. The gateway also requests data from the accessories via the other interface channel and replies to the user interface via the first interface channel. |
| US08621096B2 |
Storage characteristic identification
In an embodiment, a method is provided that may include generating, at least in part, at least one packet. The at least one packet may include an indication that the at least one packet comprises a control protocol packet. The at least one packet also may include, at least in part, an identification, at least in part, of at least one characteristic of at least one storage device, and/or the at least one packet may indicate, at least in part, a request for the identification. The at least one storage device may be associated, at least in part, with at least one network server. The identification may be generated, at least in part, in response, at least in part, to the request for the identification. Of course, many alternatives, modifications, and variations are possible without departing from this embodiment. |
| US08621095B1 |
Fibre channel virtualization zone
Techniques are provided for management of virtual machines in a Fiber Channel (FC) network that comprises a switched fabric having a plurality of switch ports (disposed in one or more switches). In accordance with one example, a Fabric Login (either FLOGI or FDISC) request is received, on a first switch port, from a first virtual machine. A determination is made as to whether the first virtual machine is currently logged into the switched fabric via a second switch port. If the first virtual machine is currently logged into the switched fabric via a second switch port, a determination is made as to whether the first virtual machine is an element (or part) of a virtualization zone defined for the switched fabric. If the first virtual machine is an element of the virtualization zone, the Fabric Login request is accepted from the first virtual machine via the first switch port and the first virtual machine is logged out of the switched fabric at the second port. |
| US08621091B1 |
System and method for synchronizing settings and state information for a browser component
A system and method is disclosed for synchronizing settings and state information for a browser component across multiple computing environments. Settings and state information may be stored for a web application in a storage associated with a user account. An API receives updated state information for the browser component from a first web browser associated with the user account and sends a signal to a second web browser associated with the user account that the stored settings and state information was updated. The second web browser may then send a request to the API for the updated information, the API, in response, propagate the updated information to the second web browser. |
| US08621087B2 |
Method for configuring closed user network using IP tunneling mechanism and closed user network system
A method for configuring a closed user network (CUN) using an IP tunneling mechanism and a CUN system are disclosed. In particular, disclosed is a technique of establishing a tunnel between a tunnel end edge device (TEED) and a control server by using an IP tunneling mechanism to allow terminals connected to the TEED to perform communications by using a closed IP, enabling the TEED to provide a network address translation (NAT) function so that the TEED can perform data forwarding like a general NAT, without performing tunneling on a destination IP outside the closed IP section, to perform communication, and allowing a terminal located in an area where the TEED is not provided to directly establish a tunnel with the control server by using a client software to thereby perform communications with a terminal or a server connected to the TEED by using the closed IP. |
| US08621086B2 |
System and domain name server for ad-hoc networks
The present invention relates to a system and domain name server for ad-hoc networks. Embodiments of the present invention provide a mobile router providing connectivity to end users in an ad-hoc network. The mobile router includes a domain name server (DNS server) configured as a master DNS server at a node associated with the mobile router for end users that enter the ad-hoc network through the node. The DNS server stores records of name-address translations for the end users. A management structure of the DNS server at the node includes a domain name for the node coinciding with a domain name at a lowest level in a hierarchy of a domain name system. |
| US08621083B2 |
System and method for multicasting through a localized computer network
A system and method is provided for sending a multicast broadcast through a localized computer network that restricts multicast broadcasts. The system includes a dynamic multicast slave that is located within the localized computer network. The dynamic multicast slave is configured to receive a data stream broadcast via a point-to-point connection. A multicast socket is included for the dynamic multicast slave, and the multicast socket is configured to transmit a multicast data stream to the localized computer network based on the data stream received by the dynamic multicast slave. An internal multicast client is located within the localized computer network, and configured to receive the multicast data stream from the dynamic multicast slave. |
| US08621081B2 |
Hypervisor controlled user device that enables available user device resources to be used for cloud computing
A user device starts a host operating system provided on the user device, when the user device is powered on, and launches a hypervisor with the host operating system. The user device also launches a first guest operating system, provided on the user device, with the hypervisor of the user device, and controls, via the hypervisor, resource usage by the first guest operating system. The user device further provides an interface to display the first guest operating system to a user of the user device, and provides, via the hypervisor, available resource information, associated with the user device, to a management server. |
| US08621079B2 |
Automated real-time data stream switching in a shared virtual area communication environment
In one aspect, one or more real-time data stream connections that deliver a set of real-time data streams to a given network node are determined based at least in part on bandwidth capabilities of the given network node. In another aspect, for each of one or more recipient network nodes, a respective link over which to transmit a respective transmission set of one or more real-time data streams is determined. For each of the links, the respective link bandwidth is apportioned between one or more channels that are respectively allocated to the one or more real-time data streams in the respective transmission set. |
| US08621077B2 |
Distribution of security policies for small to medium-sized organizations
A security policy distribution system encapsulates parameters for a security policy and instructions for applying the parameters to a corresponding security program into a self-contained configuration file. When the self-contained configuration file is executed on behalf of a computer, the corresponding security program on the computer is updated with the parameters, thus distributing the security policy to the computer. |
| US08621073B2 |
System and method for network vulnerability detection and reporting
A system and method provide comprehensive and highly automated testing of vulnerabilities to intrusion on a target network, including identification of operating system, identification of target network topology and target computers, identification of open target ports, assessment of vulnerabilities on target ports, active assessment of vulnerabilities based on information acquired from target computers, quantitative assessment of target network security and vulnerability, and hierarchical graphical representation of the target network, target computers, and vulnerabilities in a test report. The system and method employ minimally obtrusive techniques to avoid interference with or damage to the target network during or after testing. |
| US08621072B2 |
Providing notification of document repository events to external systems
Remote event receivers can register with a document repository computing system to receive notifications of events occurring at a document repository. The remote event receivers may register to receive notifications synchronously, whereby the remote event receivers can provide a response to the notification prior to the occurrence of the event, or asynchronously, whereby the remote event receivers provide no response. Synchronous remote event receivers can also specify in a response to the notification that the event should be canceled or may specify properties that should be changed. Remote event receivers can be pre-event receivers that receive notifications prior to the occurrence of an event, or post-event receivers that receive notifications following the event. When an event is to occur at the document repository, notifications are provided to the pre-event remote event receivers. Once the event has occurred, notifications are provided to the post-event remote event receivers. |
| US08621071B1 |
Method and apparatus for automatically selecting an access point
Apparatus, methods, and other embodiments associated with automatically selecting an access point are described. According to one embodiment, an apparatus includes an inquiry logic in a first device. The inquiry logic is configured to automatically determine attributes of a network connection between a network access point and a second device connected to the network access point. The inquiry logic is further configured to determine the attributes of the network connection in response to the first device being connected to the second device. The apparatus also includes a communication logic that is configured to self-configure and automatically establish a wireless connection to the network access point from the first device using the attributes. |
| US08621066B2 |
Apparatus for tracking the distribution of media content
A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, a recipient client device having a controller operable to receive and store a media object from an originating device, track locations where the media object has been since the media object has been stored in the recipient client device, track identifiers associated with a device or a user that has accessed the media object at the locations, and track and store annotations about the media object by the device or the user that accessed the media object. Other embodiments are disclosed. |
| US08621065B1 |
Dynamic blocking of suspicious electronic submissions
Attacks from automated scripts or processes, such as Web bots, can be dynamically blocked by monitoring dimensions of requests or submissions received by a system. Each host receiving requests can log information about the requests over a specified period of time. For each period of time, specified dimensions of the requests for that host can be analyzed to determine whether the number of requests having a common value for any of those dimensions meets or exceeds a specified threshold. If so, any requests having those specified dimension values can be automatically blocked for the next specified period of time. The requests can be automatically unblocked after that period of time if the requests do not again meet or exceed the threshold, but can be dynamically blocked for subsequent periods of time if the threshold is again met or exceeded. |
| US08621064B2 |
System and method for associating a geographic location with an Internet protocol address
The present application is directed to systems and methods for associating a geographic location with an IP address. Generally, an IP address from which each of a plurality of users accesses a network is recorded. A geo tag is associated with each of the plurality of users and a subset of the plurality of users is identified, the subset including users associated with a first IP address. The subset of the plurality of users is clustered into a spatial cluster including users associated with geo tags located with a defined distance of a geo tag of at least one other user of the cluster. A geographic location associated with a geographic center of the cluster is then associated with the first IP address. |
| US08621061B2 |
Adaptive bitrate management for streaming media over packet networks
A method including receiving a receiver report from a terminal; estimating one or more network conditions of a media network based at least in part on the receiver report; determining an optimal session bitrate based on the estimated one or more network conditions; and providing media data to the terminal based on the optimal session bitrate. |
| US08621058B2 |
Providing cloud-based computing services
In a method for providing a cloud-based computing service to a user, a request for the computing service to be performed for the user is received, in which, the request includes a selection of at least one flow-slice, the at least one flow-slice comprising a network abstraction of a network pay-per-use unit. In addition, workloads to be performed by a plurality of infrastructure components to satisfy the at least one flow-slice are estimated and a provisioning scheme for the plurality of infrastructure components to implement the estimated workloads on the plurality of infrastructure components is determined. |
| US08621055B2 |
Apparatus and method for accessing a network in a wireless terminal
An apparatus and method for quickly searching for an accessible network in a wireless terminal. A wireless terminal registers information about a current location and information used to access a network in an access history table, when it succeeds in accessing the network. Thereafter, when accessing a network, the wireless terminal attempts to access a network that it previously accessed, using information about a current location and the access history table. |
| US08621053B2 |
Firmware update apparatus and program
In a firmware update apparatus, a reference device specification part specifies one of a plurality of audio processing devices as a reference device. A version number acquisition part acquires version numbers of firmwares stored in the audio processing devices. A matching table storage stores a matching table defining a combination of compatible version numbers of firmwares. An incompatible device display part performs display for specifying an audio processing device that stores a firmware that does not satisfy compatibility defined in the matching table with a firmware stored in the reference device. An update target type selection part specifies a firmware update target device type from among a plurality of device types. A firmware update instruction part transmits an update command instructing update of the firmware to one or more of audio processing devices belonging to the firmware update target device type selected by the update target type selection part. |
| US08621052B2 |
Performance tuning for software as a performance level service
A mechanism is provided for performance tuning for software as a performance level service. At the request of a customer, a cloud provider may use a performance tuning component to determine performance parameters to increase performance of an application running on a given hardware platform. The cloud provider may then generate a tuning configuration and associate the tuning configuration with the customer such that when the cloud provider deploys a customer's software to a partition in a host system, the cloud provider sends the tuning configuration with the deployment package. The performance tuning component at the host system then applies the performance parameters in the tuning configuration to increase performance. |
| US08621050B2 |
Dynamic run-time configuration information provision and retrieval
A system employing a storage device and a host for configuration information exchange between the host and the storage device. In operation, the host manages host configuration information in a data management layer of a communication model, and communicates the host configuration information to the storage device by one or more data communication layers of the communication model. Likewise, the storage device manages storage device configuration information in the data management layer of the communication model, and communicates the storage device configuration information to the host by one or more data communication layers of the communication model. |
| US08621045B2 |
Portable communication interface for accessing media content
A method and apparatus for accessing media with a portable communication device presents media available for display to a user based on user preferences. A user can select media to be output from an external display by entering commands into the portable communications device. In addition, a second external display can be used to display a subset of the media available for display. |
| US08621043B2 |
Method and system for creating a bulletin board system (BBS) message including a map through a communication network
In one embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a method for creating a bulletin board system (BBS) message including a map through a communication network. According to said embodiment, upon receiving a request to post a message, it is determined whether a user wishes to include a map to the message. If it is determined that the user wishes to include a map to the message, then a location mapping interface facilitating configuration of a user-defined map is provided to the user and a map defined by the user with the location mapping interface is inserted in the message. The user may add one or more map items such as symbols showing the locations of interest and annotations in the map. Upon receiving the user's request to display a map included in the message, a map corresponding to the user's request is retrieved from the map server and displayed to the user. The map information of the displayed map and the message are stored in a database. |
| US08621040B2 |
Image forming apparatus for determining the availability of application program interfaces
An image forming apparatus has a plurality of programs of which an interface is open to public so that an application created according to the interface is executable. An amount condition providing part provides information indicating a mount condition of a group constituted by a plurality of the programs in accordance with a request made by the application. |
| US08621039B2 |
Communication service method and communication apparatus thereof
A communication service method wherein a user ID is registered at server. Video data from the user's terminal is transmitted to the server. The user selects the setting of whether image data is used with that video data; and the user's selected setting is stored at the server with the user ID. When the stored setting indicates that image data is used, the video data and the image data are transmitted from the server to one or more other terminals. |
| US08621037B2 |
System and method to create bi-directional event subscriptions
System and method to create a bi-directional event subscription. The method includes responding to a request by providing a URI of the subscription factory of the first topic; receiving a request to create a bidirectional subscription; creating a first subscription resource to represent an outbound event flow from a first topic to a second topic; sending a discovery request to a remote host for a URI of a subscription factory of the second topic; receiving the URI of the subscription factory of the second topic; requesting creation of a second subscription resource, to represent an outbound event flow from the second topic to the first topic; receiving from the remote host a URI of the second subscription resource; entangling the first subscription resource with the second subscription to form the bi-directional event subscription; and providing to the web browser a URI of the first subscription. |
| US08621034B1 |
Indexing, sorting, and categorizing application media packages
An Application Media Package for accessing and displaying Internet content includes a definition for rendering a graphical user interface and a URL pointing to the Internet Content to be downloaded and presented within said user interface. An Application Media viewer may be used in association with the Application Media Package to manage the collection, organization, sharing, and rendering of a plurality of such Packages. A user is provided with the option of arranging multiple Application Media Packages, such as in groups, and such as vertically, horizontally, etc. By selecting, dragging and dropping, Packages are snapped or docked together such that they may be move individually or in mass on the client display. The organization and groupings may be shared with others. |
| US08621029B1 |
System and method for providing remote direct memory access over a transport medium that does not natively support remote direct memory access operations
A system and method provides a remote direct memory access over a transport medium that does not natively support remote direct memory access operations. An emulated VI module of a storage operating system emulates RDMA operations over such a medium, e.g., conventional Ethernet, thereby enabling storage. Storage appliances in a cluster configuration utilize the non-RDMA compatible transport medium as a cluster interconnect. |
| US08621024B2 |
System and method for prioritizing and displaying messages
A system for prioritizing and displaying received messages, including e-mail, SMS, IM, multimedia, and voicemail, at a communication device includes means for dynamically associating a priority value with a received message upon detection of an evaluation event, and means for dynamically updating a listing of received messages associated with at least a priority value equal to or greater than a predetermined priority value in a designated priority viewport. The viewport is constantly viewable in a message listing screen and comprises a listing of prioritized messages separate and apart from non-prioritized messages. Evaluation events may include user operation such as reading, deleting, replying, moving, or forwarding the message and similar operations, or a determination that the message has reached a predetermined age. |
| US08621023B2 |
Message filtering system
A message filtering system is provided including a message management unit and a message monitoring unit in communication with the message management unit. The message management unit is configured to send and receive message over a network and to route messages to the message monitoring unit based on a message source, and the message monitoring unit is configured to parse the message and locate identifiers in the message and to re-route the message based on the identifier located in the message. |
| US08621022B2 |
Primary and secondary recipient indicators for conversations
A server having one or more processors and memory receives a plurality of messages organized as conversations associated with a user. The server receives, from a client, a request for a list of conversations associated with the user and sends, to the client, display information for displaying a list of conversations comprising a set of rows, each conversation in the list of conversations being represented as a single row. The list of conversations includes a first row representing a first conversation and a second row representing a second conversation. The first row includes a first recipient indicator that indicates that the user is a primary recipient of a message in the first conversation. The second row includes a second recipient indicator, different from the first recipient indicator, that indicates that the user is a secondary recipient of a message in the second conversation. |
| US08621021B2 |
Wireless email communications system providing subscriber account update features and related methods
A wireless communications system may include a plurality of mobile wireless communications devices each having a subscriber account associated therewith including a respective personal identification number (PIN) and a unique identification (ID). The system may further include at least one electronic mail (email) server comprising a database of subscriber accounts and for sending emails to and receiving emails from the mobile wireless communications devices based upon the PINs and unique IDs. The at least one email server may compare a given PIN and unique ID, based upon a communication from a given mobile wireless device, with a corresponding PIN and unique ID for the corresponding subscriber account in the database, and update the corresponding subscriber account based upon a discrepancy. |
| US08621017B2 |
System and method for email notification
Email subscribers are notified of the receipt of new email messages when they are not at their computers via voice or page. An email notification server polls the email server corresponding to the subscriber's email account for the presence of new email messages. New email messages are obtained. Header information is extracted. If new email notification is by voicemail, the extracted header information is converted from text to voice. A voicemail message containing the extracted header information is saved on the voicemail system corresponding to the subscriber for whom the email message was intended. The email notification server can also send a page to notify the subscriber of the presence of new email. |
| US08621015B2 |
Integrating and managing social networking information in an on-demand database system
Some embodiments comprise integrating information from a social network into a multi-tenant database system. A plurality of information from the social network is retrieved, using a processor and a network interface of a server computer in the multi-tenant database system, wherein the plurality of information is associated with a message transmitted using the social network. Metadata related to the transmitted message is generated, using the processor. A conversation object is generated, using the processor, based on the plurality of information associated with the transmitted message and the metadata related to the transmitted message. The conversation object is then stored in an entity in the multi-tenant database system, using the processor of the server computer. |
| US08621009B2 |
Method and system for optimizing transmission of electronic messages
A method and system for optimizing transmission of electronic messages. In one embodiment, the method includes maintaining a database to store electronic messages received from various clients. The method further includes receiving a new electronic message from a client, determining whether the new electronic message is associated with one or more messages stored in the database. If the new electronic message is not associated with any messages stored in the database, the new electronic message is sent to the recipients. If the new electronic message is associated with some messages stored in the database, the new electronic message is sent to the recipients, and in addition, the associated messages that are not stored locally at a particular recipient are sent to this recipient. |
| US08621008B2 |
System, method and computer program product for performing an action based on an aspect of an electronic mail message thread
A system, method and computer program product are provided for performing an action based on an aspect of a thread associated with electronic mail messages. In use, an aspect of a thread associated with a plurality of electronic mail messages is identified. Further, an action is performed based on the aspect of the thread. |
| US08621007B2 |
Rule-based electronic message processing
In various embodiments, a computer-assisted method for processing an electronic message includes the steps of reviewing the recipients of the electronic message, evaluating whether any of the recipients of the electronic message are potentially incorrect, and prompting the sender of the electronic message to evaluate whether the potentially incorrect recipients are correct. This computer-assisted method, as it evaluates whether a recipient may be potentially incorrect, may provide an effective warning to the sender of the electronic message as opposed to previous systems which automatically, and often, spuriously, warned the sender that a recipient may be incorrect without ever evaluating the recipients. |
| US08620997B2 |
Client apparatus, computer system, computer readable program storage medium and display method, each for detecting change of display contents in status bar area to display the change
A client apparatus, which requests a service to a server apparatus and receives a result corresponding to the request, comprises: a receiving section for receiving screen data corresponding to the result and a position of a status bar area in the screen data from the server; a display section for performing a display based on the screen data; and a control section for detecting a change of display contents of the screen data based on the position of the status bar area and the screen data, causing the display section to perform the display except for the status bar area based on the screen data when it is not detected that the display content of the status bar area is changed, and causing the display section to display the status bar area when it is detected that the display content of the status bar area is changed. |
| US08620995B2 |
Method, computer program, transcoding server and computer system for modifying a digital document
The present invention relates to a method for modifying a digital document, comprising steps of detecting embedded data contained in the document; extracting said data from said document; storing said data as a separate file; and replacing said extracted data in said document with a reference to said file. The method may be performed by a transcoding server in order to increase the overall performance of a mobile client terminal equipped with a web browser. |
| US08620990B2 |
Parsing contents of an e-Form
A method parses the contents of an e-Form, where the contents of said e-Form have been divided into more than one section with a different content identification code assigned to each section of the e-Form. The method includes scanning an e-Form submitted for processing to determine, based on the content identification codes, which of the sections have a corresponding parsed result already in a cache system; parsing contents of the sections without a parsed result already in the cache system; and combining parsed results from the cache system with parsed results from the parsing of sections without a parsed result already in the cache system. |
| US08620988B2 |
System and method for processing syndication information for a mobile device
A system and method for processing syndication information for a mobile device that includes: identifying a plurality of syndication servers to which a user of the mobile device subscribes; polling, at a first predetermined interval, the plurality of syndication servers to determine if syndication information on each the syndication server has been updated; if the syndication information has been updated, requesting and receiving updated syndication information; adapting the updated syndication information into a predetermined format, and sending the adapted syndication information to the mobile device. The sending of the adapted syndication information may also be performed at a predetermined interval. The predetermined format preferably uses less data and requires less processing than the original format. |
| US08620983B2 |
Leading sign digit predictor for floating point near subtractor
An apparatus for predicting leading sign digits in a negative difference includes a comparator that determines a larger of two numbers that differ in magnitude by not more than one digit position. The larger of the two numbers is designated as the subtrahend and the smaller as the minuend. Wires and logic align the subtrahend relative to the minuend by the not more than one digit position and invert the aligned subtrahend. A plurality of NAND gates performs a Boolean NAND function of corresponding digits of the minuend and the aligned inverted subtrahend to produce a prediction string of bits. A zero value is assigned to the most significant bit of the prediction string. A string of leading zeros of the prediction string predicts a corresponding string of leading sign digits of a negative difference of the minuend and aligned subtrahend. |
| US08620981B2 |
Low power and low complexity adaptive self-linearization
A digital signal processing system comprising: an input terminal to receive an input signal that includes a distorted component and an undistorted component, the input signal having a sampling rate of R; and an adaptive self-linearization module coupled to the input terminal, to perform self-linearization based at least in part on the input signal to obtain an output signal that is substantially undistorted, wherein: the adaptive self-linearization module is to generate a replica distortion signal that is substantially similar to the distorted component, the generation being based at least in part on a target component having a sampling rate of R/L, L being an integer greater than 1; the adaptive self-linearization module includes a first digital signal processor (DSP) that is adapted to obtain a filter transfer function that approximates a system distortion transfer function, and a second DSP that is configured using configuration parameters of the first DSP. |
| US08620979B2 |
Filter banks for enhancing signals using oversampled subband transforms
For subband decomposition of a d-dimensional input signal (S) into a number K of subband components (F1-F4), a filter bank has a filtering module (801) transforming the input signal (S) into 2d components including a low-frequency component (L) and 2d−1 higher-frequency components (F1), The 2d−1 higher-frequency components are oversampled, typically by a factor 2, compared to the low-frequency component. The low-frequency component can be further decomposed by means of another filtering module having a similar structure, and the process can be iterated over any number of scales. The reconstruction filter bank has a symmetric structure, with filtering modules adapted to the oversampling of the higher-frequency components. Such filter banks are well suited to various enhancement processing applied to the subband components such as thresholding, reduction of compression distortion, reduction of measurement noise, sharpness enhancement. |
| US08620978B2 |
System and method for filtering electrophysiological signals
An acquired signal indicative of electrophysiological activity is filtered using both a wavelet filter and either a notch filter or a band-pass filter to eliminate noise or interference, such as power line interference. A wavelet transform is used to transform the acquired signal into the wavelet domain, where a wavelet filter is applied to extract a soft component (e.g., a component with small wavelet coefficients). A filter, such as a notch filter or a band-pass filter, is applied to the soft component in order to isolate an interference signal. The interference signal is used to produce an output signal representing the acquired signal filtered to eliminate the interference signal. For example, the interference signal may be subtracted from the acquired signal. Alternatively, the output signal may be reconstructed from respective hard and soft components of the acquired signal as transformed into the wavelet domain. |
| US08620968B2 |
Determination and handling of subexpression overlaps in regular expression decompostions
A computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium containing computer code that, when executed by a computer, implements a method for transforming a finite state automaton (FSA) of a regular expression, wherein the method includes determining, by a computer, a first subexpression R1 and a second subexpression R2 in the regular expression; calculating an overlap FSA, the overlap FSA configured to determine the existence of a partial overlap or a full overlap between the first subexpression R1 and the second subexpression R2; determining whether the overlap FSA has an accepting state; and in the event the overlap FSA is determined not to have an accepting state, determining that the transformation of the regular expression is safe, and constructing a transformed FSA of the regular expression comprising a first FSA for the first subexpression R1 and a second FSA for the second subexpression R2. |
| US08620966B2 |
Network content modification
Methods, systems, and computer-readable media provide for the modification of network source content. According to various embodiments described herein, source content that includes primary source content and secondary source content is received via a network. Secondary source content is identified for modification. Insertion content is identified for use in modifying the secondary source content. The secondary source content is then modified prior to providing the modified source content to a user device for presentation to a user. Content management criteria that may include provider agreements, user preferences, and a user profile may be used in the content modification procedure. |
| US08620965B2 |
Dynamic configuration of services using a syndication feed
A configuration file is received by a publish-subscribe service and published to a syndication feed. The received configuration file is associated with a class of services. The configuration file is then sent to subscribers of the syndication feed. The subscribers of the syndication feed belong to the class of services. Upon receiving the configuration file, the subscribers are automatically reconfigured. |
| US08620963B2 |
Large-scale data processing system, method, and non-transitory tangible machine-readable medium thereof
A large-scale data processing system, a large-scale data processing method, and a non-transitory tangible machine-readable medium are provided. The large-scale data processing system comprises an interface and a processor. The interface accesses a multi-dimensional data model, wherein the multi-dimensional data model comprises a plurality of dimensions, the dimensions form a multi-dimensional space of measures, each dimension is a single space comprising a plurality of members with a common set of attributes, and each measure is a data element organized and accessible through the multi-dimensional space of the cross-product of all dimensions. The processor builds at least one Tree Object (TO), wherein the TO is derived by converting the multi-dimensional data model into an N-level tree data structure according to a level order of N attributes, each tree node in the TO meets all conditions of attributes for all ancestor nodes, and N is a positive integer. |
| US08620960B1 |
Method for representing multi-models
A data model representing a multi-model database of a product system includes a multi-model repository that holds said multi-model database's artifacts under version control. The multi-model repository holds a plurality of constituent models, wherein each model represents a discrete aspect of the system, a model registry containing a list of the constituent models in the multi-model database, a set of input attributes and a set of output attributes corresponding to each of the models, a set of interfaces representing a tuple corresponding to each of the models, a set of attribute constraints associated with the input and output attributes; and a set of notifications associated with each of the models for informing the models of defined events. |
| US08620957B1 |
Storing and accessing data using a shell interface
This disclosure generally may disclose a web-based online network drive that may be utilized by many users. Furthermore, this disclosure may provide for an efficient, web-based file system, which may be available as a network drive on a local computer. |
| US08620949B2 |
Display apparatus and contents searching method thereof
A display apparatus includes a display unit and receives a broadcasting signal, the display apparatus including: a communication unit which communicates with an external server; and an integrated searching unit which requests a broadcasting schedule information of a provider providing the broadcasting signal and a current popular search word to the server if a user inputs a search signal to execute a searching function, generates at least one recommended search word based on the broadcasting schedule information and the popular search word received from the server and displays on the display unit the generated recommended search word. |
| US08620947B2 |
Full text search in navigation systems
A method and system for full text search for use during destination selection with a navigation system is disclosed. The method partitions a full text search index based on frequently used terms. These frequently used terms are then mapped to dedicated full text search indexes, where each document contains this frequently used term but the term itself is not stored in the index. A relation maps the frequently used terms to the inverted indexes. |
| US08620945B2 |
Query rewind mechanism for processing a continuous stream of data
A query engine receives a continuous stream of data and applies a Structured Query Language (SQL) query to the data. The data is processed on a chunk-by-chunk basis with a query rewind mechanism that sustains the SQL query as a single long-standing query that allows a state of the SQL query to be maintained. |
| US08620944B2 |
Systems and methods for keyword analyzer
In one embodiment, a system and method is provided to browse and analyze files comprising text strings tagged with metadata. The system and method comprise various functions including browsing the metadata tags in the file, browsing the text strings, selecting subsets of the text strings by including or excluding strings tagged with specific metadata tags, selecting text strings by matching patterns of words and/or parts of speech in the text string and matching selected text strings to a database to identify similar text string. The system and method further provide functions to generate suggested text selection rules by analyzing a selected subset of a plurality of text strings. |
| US08620943B2 |
System and method for modulating search relevancy using pointer activity monitoring
A method and system of modulating search result relevancy use various types of user browsing activities. In particular, a client assistant residing in a client computer monitors movements of a user controlled pointer in a web browser, e.g., when the pointer moves into a predefined region and when it moves out of the predefined region. A server then determines a relevancy value between an informational item associated with the predefined region and a search query according to the pointer hover period. When preparing a new search result responsive to a search query, the server re-orders identified informational items in accordance with their respective relevancy values such that more relevant items appear before less relevant ones. The server also uses the relevancy values to determine and/or adjust the content of an one-box result associated with a search query. |
| US08620942B1 |
Associating user identities with different unique identifiers
A user correlation system uses aggregated data and matching/comparison in order to assign an association score that determines likelihood that unique identifiers are associated with the same user. |
| US08620941B2 |
Apparatus and method of searching and visualizing instance path
An apparatus and method of searching and visualizing an instance path, which can search for a path between class-based instances and effectively display a path between two or more instances in order to rapidly search for diverse and complex relationships and search for a relationship between instances based on a relationship between classes in order to avoid comparison between the relationship being searched and the relationship of unnecessary objects when comparing the relationship between instances, are provided. |
| US08620940B1 |
Pattern matching
A method for processing data for pattern matching includes: receiving a first sequence of data values; and generating a second sequence of data values based on the first sequence and one or more patterns and history of data values in the first sequence, wherein the second sequence has fewer data values than the first sequence and all subsequences in the first sequence that match at least one of the one or more patterns are represented in the second sequence. |
| US08620937B2 |
Real time data warehousing
A method and system for processing data into and in a database and for retrieving the processed data is disclosed. The data comprises identifiers of a plurality of entities. The method and system comprises: (a) processing data into and in a database, (b) enhancing received data prior to storage in a database, (c) determining and matching records based upon relationships between the records in the received data and existing data without any loss of data, (d) enabling alerts based upon user-defined alert rules and relationships, (e) automatically stopping additional matches and separating previously matched records when identifiers used to match records are later determined to be common across entities and not generally distinctive of an entity, (f) receiving data queries for retrieving the processed data stored in the database, (g) utilizing the same algorithm to process the queries and (h) transferring the processed data to another database that uses the same algorithm. |
| US08620935B2 |
Personalizing an online service based on data collected for a user of a computing device
An Internet or other online service is personalized or customized based on data collected for a user of a computing device. In one embodiment, a method includes: storing a plurality of person profiles for persons associated with communications received by a user of a computing device; receiving data associated with an online service; and filtering, using at least one processor, the data based on the plurality of person profiles, wherein the filtered data is for display to the user on the computing device. |
| US08620932B2 |
Parallel sorting apparatus, method, and program
A parallel sorting apparatus is provided whose sorting processing is speeded up. A reference value calculation section calculates a plurality of reference values serving as boundaries of intervals used for allocating input data depending on the magnitude of a value. An input data aggregation section partitions the input data into a plurality of input data regions, and calculates, by parallel processing, mapping information used for allocating data in each of the partitioned input data regions to the plurality of intervals that have boundaries on the reference values calculated by the reference value calculation section. A data allocation section allocates, by parallel processing, data in each of the input data regions to the plurality of intervals in accordance with the mapping information calculated by the input data aggregation section. An interval sorting section individually sorts, by parallel processing, data in the plurality of intervals allocated by the data allocation section. |
| US08620931B2 |
Method of composing an ontology alignment
A modular method of composing an ontology alignment provides a set of correspondences between at least two ontologies thereby allowing a composition of an optimal alignment by balancing a recall value and a precision of the alignment. A two-fold strategy is followed. By means of mapping functions a set of alignment correspondences is determined. Depending on a particular mapping function a recall value of the alignment can be improved by an extension of the set of correspondences. By filtering functions particularities of the domain are reflected and incorrect mappings are avoided. Depending on a particular filtering function a precision value of the alignment can be improved by restricting the set of correspondences. |
| US08620928B1 |
Automatically generating a log parser given a sample log
An approach is presented for generating a log parser. A tokenized log comprising elements is generated by delimiting a sample log based on a token. Matches between elements and attributes of fields of the sample log are determined. Positions of the matched elements are determined. Based on the matches, a ranking of the token is determined, which indicates a first likelihood that the token is a delimiter that delimits parts of the sample log. Another ranking of another token is determined, which indicates a second likelihood that the other token is the delimiter. A parser is generated based on the positions, the matches and the token. Based on the first likelihood exceeding the second likelihood, a result of parsing the sample log using the parser is presented without presenting another result of parsing the log using another parser based on the other token. |
| US08620925B1 |
System and method for identifying advertising opportunities
This specification describes technologies relating to content presentation. In general, one aspect of the subject matter described in this specification can be embodied in methods that include the actions of processing quantities of query instances to calculate (a) a volume differential between the quantities, (b) a percentage differential between the quantities, and (c) a volume differential between the impressions per query instance values, computing a first opportunity index that includes a product of: (a) an absolute value of the volume differential between the quantities, and (b) the percentage differential between the quantities, computing a second opportunity index including a product of: an absolute value of the first opportunity index, the volume differential between the impressions per query instance values, and the impressions per query instance values, and providing campaign improvement suggestions to an advertiser based on the second opportunity index. Other embodiments include corresponding systems, apparatus, and computer program products. |
| US08620921B1 |
Modeler for predicting storage metrics
Described herein is a system and method for dynamically managing service-level objectives (SLOs) for workloads of a cluster storage system. Proposed states/solutions of the cluster may be produced and evaluated to select one that achieves the SLOs for each workload. A planner engine may produce a state tree comprising nodes, each node representing a proposed state/solution. New nodes may be added to the state tree based on new solution types that are permitted, or nodes may be removed based on a received time constraint for executing a proposed solution or a client certification of a solution. The planner engine may call an evaluation engine to evaluate proposed states, the evaluation engine using an evaluation function that considers SLO, cost, and optimization goal characteristics to produce a single evaluation value for each proposed state. The planner engine may call a modeler engine that is trained using machine learning techniques. |
| US08620917B2 |
Symantic framework for dynamically creating a program guide
An application server includes a Semantic Analysis Core Service (SACS) function that communicates with a Semantic Analysis Client (SAC) in a Set Top Box (STB). The SACS groups programs available for rendering to a subscriber into program clusters. The SACS generates the program clusters based on a determined semantic similarity between the programs, and on parameters that indicate a subscriber's preference for certain program content. The program that are semantically similar to existing clusters within a predetermined viewing window are provided to the STB and output to the subscriber on a display as a program preference list or channel line-up. The STB also monitors the subscriber's interaction with the programs and calculates a preference score for each program indicating the subscriber's continuing, or waning, interest in a given program. The preference score is used to update the score of the program cluster to which the program belongs. |
| US08620914B1 |
Ranking of digital goods in a marketplace
According to one general aspect, a method of presenting to a user a subset of applications that may be executed by a computing device is described. The subset of applications may be selected from a plurality of applications available an online marketplace for such applications. The method may include ranking the applications based on signals relevant to the relative desirability to the user of different applications, wherein at least one of the signals is based on information that is generated outside of the marketplace. The method may further include selecting the subset of applications based on their respective rankings. The method may also include presenting the selected subset to the user. |
| US08620911B2 |
Document registry system
A document registry system (10) includes a registry database (20) with a specific task sub-database (22) and an analytics-supporting general task sub-database (24). The sub-databases (22, 24) include i) pre-existing fields configured to store, respectively, specific task-related and analytics-related document data received from one or more of a plurality of sources (S1, S2, S3, S4) or from a source (NS1, NS2) other than the plurality of sources (S1, S2, S3, S4), and ii) de novo fields configured tote generated as a result of, respectively, a specific task query and a general task query and configured to store, respectively, specific task-related and general task-related document data received from source(s) (NS1, NS2) other than the plurality of sources (S1, S2, S3, S4). A query mapping engine (26) is configured to receive a request entry, map the request entry into a query, and actively collect data based upon the query. Data is collected from the specific task sub-database (22) or the analytics-supporting general task sub-database (24), and from the source(s) (NS1, NS2) other than the plurality of sources (S1, S2, S3, S4). |
| US08620908B2 |
Retrieving configuration records from a configuration management database
A method is provided of retrieving a configuration record from a configuration management database pertaining to an IT-infrastructure including host devices, a configuration record having attributes and assigned attribute values, the IT-infrastructure being managed by an operation management system providing messages indicating events in the IT-infrastructure. The method includes providing a message including a set of unidentified attribute values and an identified host value, retrieving from the configuration management database one or more configuration records containing the identified host value, and selecting from the one or more retrieved configuration records a configuration record depending on the number of matches between the unidentified attribute values and the attribute values of the retrieved configuration records. |
| US08620901B2 |
Methods and systems for processing graphs using distributed memory and set operations
Systems and methods for operating a database using distributed memory and set operations, and for evaluating graphs stored in the database. Any system may be represented as a graph structure having nodes and edges. The graph structure is stored in a distributed memory system using a key/value schema wherein each node is stored as a key and a set of neighbor nodes is stored as the corresponding value. A short path from one node to another may be determined by traversing the graph in stages, moving outward from each node in stages until common midpoint nodes are found indicating connections between the nodes. When the midpoint nodes are found, the paths connecting the nodes may be reconstructed |
| US08620899B2 |
Generating materialized query table candidates
Techniques for generating a set of one or more materialized query table (MQT) candidates for a workload are provided. The techniques include receiving a workload, wherein the workload comprises a set of one or more queries, generating one or more best matching MQTs (BMQTs) based on one or more query blocks of the one or more queries by removing syntax that is not qualified for a MQT re-write, determining one or more frequently used multi-joins in the workload, using the one or more BMQTs and the one or more frequently used multi-joins to generate a set of one or more workload MQTs (WMQTs), and grouping one or more WMQTs and one or more BMQTs into one or more groups to merge into a set of a smaller number of MQTs and to cover the workload. |
| US08620895B1 |
Mapping organizational accounting codes to access business information
During a data-access technique, a query that is associated with an organizational accounting code is used to generate a set of queries for business databases. In particular, when generating the set of queries, the organizational accounting code is mapped to a set of database-specific accounting codes using a reclassification list. After receiving answers to the set of queries (which are associated with the set of database-specific accounting codes) from the business databases, the answers are presented to the user. In this way, the user can access the business databases, which may have incompatible database-specific accounting codes, from a single environment with little or no additional effort or expense. |
| US08620893B2 |
System and methods for the segmentation of media
A user can create an online presentation by receiving audio and/or video media items from a search and dividing at least one of the audio and/or video media items into smaller time duration segments. The user can then utilize the smaller segments to create the presentation. |
| US08620886B1 |
Host side deduplication
One or more techniques and/or systems are provided for performing host side deduplication. Host side deduplication may be performed upon writeable data within a write request received at a host computing device configured to access data stored by a storage server. The host side deduplication may be performed at the host computing device to determine whether the writeable data is already stored by the storage server based upon querying a host side cache comprising data stored by a storage server and/or a data structure comprising unique signatures of data stored by the storage server. If the writeable data is stored by the storage server, then a deduplication notification excluding the writeable data may be sent to the storage server, otherwise a write command comprising the writeable data may be sent. Accordingly, unnecessary network traffic of redundant data already stored by the storage server may be reduced. |
| US08620885B1 |
Systems, methods and software for adjusting read data from utility meters
Many public utilities companies employ meter data management systems (MDMSs) to manage the millions and sometimes billions of daily and interval meter read values that they collect during a single billing period. One problem with some MDMSs estimate missing daily reads based on average daily usage and these estimates do not match daily usage values determined from interval read data, causing sum check exceptions. Such exceptions are undesirable because they can lead to billing errors and lost consumer confidence in the utility, among other things. To address this, the present inventors devised an exemplary system that uses good and estimated interval read data to more accurately estimate the missing daily reads and thereby reduce occurrences of sum check exceptions. The exemplary system also estimates missing time of use and demand data based on interval read data. |
| US08620884B2 |
Scalable blob storage integrated with scalable structured storage
Embodiments of the present invention relate to systems, methods and computer storage media for facilitating the structured storage of binary large objects (Blobs) to be accessed by an application program being executed by a computing device. Generally, the structured storage of Blobs includes a primary structured storage index for indexing Blobs, a secondary hash index that is integrated into the structured storage system, a Blob log stream, and a Blob data stream for storing blocks that include the Blob data. In an embodiment, a block is created and written to a Blob store along with a block list. The block list facilitates the locating of one or more blocks that store the Blob data. In this embodiment, a primary structured storage index and a secondary hash index are updated to facilitate efficient access of the Blob in a structured storage system. |
| US08620881B2 |
Intelligent data storage and processing using FPGA devices
Methods and apparatuses for processing data are disclosed, including methods and apparatuses that leverage a reconfigurable logic device to offload decompression and search operations from a processor to thereby enable high speed data searches within data that has been stored in a compressed format. |
| US08620879B2 |
Cloud based file storage service
A server receives from a user's computer a request to store a file and a file hash value. The server determines whether a file with the same hash value is stored on the server. If so, the server grants access to the server's file copy. If not, the server requests the user to upload the file and stores it. The server grants access to the copy by sending the user a pointer to the copy's storage location and associating the user with the pointer in a database. The server can challenge the user's right to access the copy by requesting a file password or a portion of the file stored on the user's computer. The server can limit access to the server's copy to users who successfully respond to the challenge. |
| US08620878B2 |
System and method of distributing multimedia content
In accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, multimedia content may be streamed, together with associated timing information, to various users, who may provide feedback data in response to the multimedia content; the feedback data may be related to the multimedia content using the associated timing information, and then stored to some medium. |
| US08620871B2 |
Determining component usage for databases
Determinations are made regarding which database components are installed with a database installation. A recovery manual generator accesses system recovery data to generate a system recovery manual based on the system recovery data. A database feature auditor determines, based in part on the system recovery data, which database features are installed at database installations, which may be at multiple database sites. |
| US08620867B1 |
Data transfers from mobile devices with cell-site staging
Data uploaded from a mobile unit to a remote site can be buffered at an intermediate wireless base station, allowing an initial wireless link to be rapidly terminated and freed for other uses. In one implementation, a method includes forming a wireless link between a device and a first wireless receiver site, receiving a portion of a data set from the device, relinquishing the wireless link, and then transmitting the portion of the data set from the first wireless receiver site to a service provider. In another implementation, a method includes receiving, via an intermediate wireless base station, a backup request and a portion of data to be backed up from a device. The portion of the data to be backed up is received after a wireless link between the device and the wireless base station has been terminated. |
| US08620863B2 |
Message passing in a collaborative environment
Generally described, the present invention is directed to a network operating system that provides more effective ways of leveraging the connectivity of computer networks. In one embodiment, an XML virtual machine is implemented that accepts high-level application code written in an XML programming language as input. Functionality is provided to interpret or translate the application code written in an XML programming language into code that is suitable for execution across computer platforms. Moreover, the XML virtual machine supports the Model View Controller (MVC) design paradigm that facilitates true data abstraction from applications to a common data model. Multi-instance applications, with each instance potentially supporting multiple views, may be created and executed. |
| US08620862B2 |
Method for ensuring referential integrity in replication engines by serializing base level change queue data
A method is provided for processing base level data of a change queue that is not serialized at the logical level. The base level change queue data is transaction data previously posted to a source database. A logical replication engine is provided to replicate and post the change queue data to a target database in the order that the transaction data is stored in the change queue. Upon detection in the logical replication engine of change queue data that is not serialized at the logical level, the change queue data is reserialized at the logical level before the logical replication engine applies the change queue data to the target database. The change queue data that is not serialized at the logical level may be posted to the target database using asynchronous database access. |
| US08620860B2 |
Enabling synchronization with a difference unaware data source
A system and a method are disclosed for updating a master data list with data from a difference unaware information repository and a difference aware information repository. A master synchronization engine may synchronize to the difference unaware information repository and the difference aware information repository via connectors coupled to each information repository. The difference unaware information repository exports all the data stored within the repository to its respective connector. The connector determines the changes made to the data since the last synchronization and the changes are forwarded to the master synchronization engine. The difference aware information repository is capable of determining the changes made to the stored data since the last synchronization and forwards the changes to its connector. Each connector forwards the changes to the data in their respective information repositories to a database which updates the master data list. |
| US08620859B2 |
Data processing system and method of evaluating effectiveness of usage of a file system
A method of evaluating effectiveness of usage of a file system by a plurality of files, comprising calculating a ratio A:S, wherein A is the sum of results of a function carried out in respect of each of the files, the result of the function in respect of a file being dependent on at least two properties of the file including the size of the file; and wherein S is the total size of the files. |
| US08620854B2 |
Annotating medical binary decision diagrams with health state information
In particular embodiments, a method includes accessing a first binary decision diagram (BDD) representing data streams from sensors, accessing a second BDD representing health states associated with specified data ranges, and constructing a third BDD by performing an AND operation between the first and second BDDs. |
| US08620848B1 |
System and method for facts extraction and domain knowledge repository creation from unstructured and semi-structured documents
Provided are methods and systems that extract facts of unstructured documents and build an oracle for various domains. The present invention addresses the problem of efficient finding and extraction of facts about a particular subject domain from semi-structured and unstructured documents, makes inferences of new facts from the extracted facts and the ways of verification of the facts, thus becoming a source of knowledge about the domain to be effectively queried. The methods and systems can also extract temporal information from unstructured and semi-structured documents, and can find and extract dynamically generated documents from Deep or Dynamic Web. |
| US08620847B2 |
Traffic situation prediction apparatus
A traffic situation prediction apparatus for predicting a traffic situation based on a traffic situation statistical data is disclosed. The traffic situation prediction apparatus includes a map information storage and a controller. The apparatus determines, in response to an update of the map information, whether a specific factor affecting a traffic flow has emerged based on a difference between the map information before and after the update. The apparatus identifies an effect on the traffic flow resulting from emergence of the specific when the specific traffic flow effect factor has emerged. The apparatus predicts the traffic situation by incorporating the identified effect into the traffic situation predicted based on the traffic situation statistical data. |
| US08620841B1 |
Dynamic distributed-sensor thermostat network for forecasting external events
Systems and methods for forecasting events can be provided. A measurement database can store sensor measurements, each having been provided by a non-portable electronic device with a primary purpose unrelated to collecting measurements from a type of sensor that collected the measurement. A measurement set identifier can select a set of measurements. The electronic devices associated with the set of measurements can be in close geographical proximity relative to their geographical proximity to other devices. An inter-device correlator can access the set and collectively analyze the measurements. An event detector can determine whether an event occurred. An event forecaster can forecast a future event property. An alert engine can identify one or more entities to be alerted of the future event property, generate at least one alert identifying the future event property, and transmit the at least one alert to the identified one or more entities. |
| US08620839B2 |
Markov modeling of service usage patterns
A system for analyzing service usage utilizing Markov models. Records of client requests to the service are extracted from at least one log. The records are grouped by client and sorted by timestamp. A pattern of requests that form an action is detected. Each action has a time. A probability is calculated of a transition from a precedent action to a subsequent action, where the precedent action has a time prior to the subsequent action. A delay time is also calculated between a precedent action and a subsequent action. A probability is calculated for a delay time, such as the likelihood that a delay from a precedent action to a subsequent action will fall within a given time interval. |
| US08620838B1 |
Line searching techniques
Techniques of line-searching to find a minimum value of a loss function l projected onto a line are disclosed, wherein the loss function l is continuous and piece-wise linear. One technique includes identifying points for at least one output derived from the loss function l at which the slope of the output changes, determining at least one derivative value for an initial point and at least one change in derivative value for at least some of the points using a processor, determining a cumulative reduction in loss for at least some of the points using at least one of the determined derivative values or at least one of the change in derivative values, and selecting a point corresponding to the minimum value of the loss function l based on the cumulative reduction in loss. |
| US08620836B2 |
Preprocessing of text
Performance of statistical machine learning techniques, particularly classification techniques applied to the extraction of attributes and values concerning products, is improved by preprocessing a body of text to be analyzed to remove extraneous information. The body of text is split into a plurality of segments. In an embodiment, sentence identification criteria are applied to identify sentences as the plurality of segments. Thereafter, the plurality of segments are clustered to provide a plurality of clusters. One or more of the resulting clusters are then analyzed to identify segments having low relevance to their respective clusters. Such low relevance segments are then removed from their respective clusters and, consequently, from the body of text. As the resulting relevance-filtered body of text no longer includes portions of the body of text containing mostly extraneous information, the reliability of any subsequent statistical machine learning techniques may be improved. |
| US08620832B2 |
Network-centric cargo security system
Network-centric systems and methods for monitoring the security of a cargo container during shipment from an origination point to a destination are described. The cargo container includes a container security unit (CSU) having an electronic container identifier. As the container is loaded with various contents, a container processing system obtains produces a manifest of the contents using wireless data collection. The manifest, which also includes the container identifier, is sent to a central server for storage. As the cargo container is shipped through a port, warehouse or other shipping location, the CSU provides a status update to the central server. The status update may include a location of the cargo container, the container identifier and a status of a door seal, hazard detector and/or the like. As the cargo container arrives at its destination, another container processing system creates an arrival report of the received contents that can be compared to the manifest at the central server. The central server may also process data from the manifest, status update(s) and/or arrival report for the cargo container to further identify any security issues arising during shipment. |
| US08620830B2 |
System and method for benefit plan cost estimation
A computer-based method and system to enable a benefit plan sponsor to design a plurality of benefit plans to be offered to a given participant population and for determining the cost of sponsoring the plans for the participant population by predicting utilization for each of the plans based upon historical utilization data for the population, projected plan selections based upon presumed participant objectives, and/or survey or historical data from a sample of the given population or from preexisting statistical samples exhibiting analogous demographic characteristics to the given participant population relating to expected benefit utilization and plan preference criteria. |
| US08620826B2 |
System and method for receiving requests for tasks from unregistered devices
Embodiments of a system and method for receiving task requests from unregistered devices are described. Embodiments may include a communication interface service configured to receive from a communication device a message indicative of a request to perform a task. The communication interface service may determine that the communication device is not registered with an existing account that provides information for performing said task. The communication interface service may obtain identification and authentication information for an existing account via a communication channel. The existing account may be an account for that is accessible via a network-based interface. The communication channel through which the identification and authentication information is received by the communication interface service may be any communication channel that does not include the network-based interface of the existing account. Additionally, the communication interface service may use the identification and authentication information for performance of the task using the existing account. |
| US08620825B1 |
System and method to establish a pin
Disclosed are systems and methods for establishing a personal identification number (PIN). The systems and methods provide techniques to begin a remote session with a customer, prompt the customer to select a PIN to associate with a financial account card during the remote session, and receive the PIN from the customer during the remote session. |
| US08620822B2 |
Reputation assessment via karma points
The claimed subject matter provides a system and/or a method that facilitates ensuring reliability in an online transaction. An interface component can receive data related to at least one user involved with an online transaction associated with commerce. An evaluation component can generate a reputation associated with the user based on at least one online activity and can employ a pre-determined handshake period for at least one of a feedback on the online transaction or an acknowledgement of a portion of the online transaction. |
| US08620818B2 |
Activation system architecture
Techniques are described for generating a license for software installed on a device. An entitlement certificate is generated including one or more entitlements describing license characteristics of the software. The one or more entitlements are determined in accordance with first information about the software. The first information includes at least one of a purchase token and package information. A binding certificate in accordance with a binding type for the software is generated. A license in accordance with said binding certificate and said entitlement certificate is generated. The binding certificate identifies an entity to which the license is bound. |
| US08620816B2 |
Information vault, data format conversion services system and method
A system and method for providing a secured information vault so that individual owners of personal data may control and manage the access and dissemination of the personal data and provides for the owner of the personal data to receive compensation for the use of the personal data, thus, in effect, the personal data becomes a valuable commodity analogous to money. Centralized protected storage of personal data is provided, which minimizes the number of copies that may be in existence. The personal data may be converted from one format to another by subscribing to format conversion services provide by the vault. The vault regularly updates stored personal data per the subscribed services so that the personal data is available in the latest data formats used by various industries. A fee may be charged for format conversions. |
| US08620813B2 |
System and method for providing a distributed decisioning environment for processing of financial transactions
A system and method for providing one or more client systems for communicating with a host system over a network. The client systems use a scanner to convert a paper form of a check, coupon, or other paper document to a digital representation and then the client systems send the digital representation over a network to the host system for storage. The host system archives the digital representation and determines the appropriate processing stream for a transaction related to the paper document (e.g. coupon, check), via a decisioning engine, based on a set of predefined stream selection rules. The host system then communicates the transaction to a back end transaction destination, according to the selected processing stream. Examples of the transaction destination can include ACH, Reproduce Paper, and Remittance. |
| US08620807B2 |
Methods and systems for electronic bill presentment and payment
The present invention provides methods and systems for processing bills for a customer. A request for master data of the customer is received from a first processing module by means of a second processing module having access to the master data of the customer and the master data comprising bill format information. The second processing module sends the requested master data to the first processing module and receives a bill in a format specified in the master data of the customer from the first processing module. |
| US08620806B2 |
Merchant data cleansing in clearing record
A network operator intermediates a cashless transaction by sending a payment device issuer an outbound clearing data file enriched with cleansed merchant data. Issuers that choose to participate in the merchant data cleansing service will be provided with the cleansed, and optionally augmented, merchant information. Providing this data to the issuer could be used to help reduce costs associated with “do not recognize” calls by cardholders, disputed charges, and charge-backs. With cleansed data provided in the clearing record, a device holder would be given access to this cleansed information about the merchant where a transaction took place through their statement. The present disclosure also provides for augmenting the clearing record data to include merchant-specific add-on and/or aggregate data not presently included in the transaction clearing record, yet useful to the issuer both in form and content. |
| US08620803B1 |
Systems and methods for customized electronic funds distribution
Systems and methods for directing the transfer of funds are described. Funds to be distributed to a user are received by the system. User distribution preferences are read and the funds are distributed to various sources according to the preferences. Other embodiments are also described and claimed. |
| US08620800B1 |
Determining patent infringement risk exposure using litigation analysis
Methods, systems, and techniques for estimating patent infringement risk for a company using a statistical model of revenue are provided. Examples also provide a Patent Infringement Risk Assessment Tool, which uses these techniques to enable users to dynamically modify certain parameters and obtain a feel for their affect upon patent infringement risk exposure. Other examples describe the applicability of some of the methods and techniques for describing models of overall behavior when only the behavior of a segment at either the low end or high end (a tail) is known. |
| US08620799B2 |
Universal ledger
The present invention provides systems and methods for tracking obligations incurred between individuals. The method may include receiving a request from a first party, where the request includes an expense incurred by the first party for the benefit of a second party. The method may also include providing a notice of the request to the second party and receiving an acceptance from the second party to assume an obligation associated with the expense. The method may further include associating the obligation with the second party and associating a benefit with the first party. The obligation and/or benefit may be substantially equal in value to the expense. The method may additionally include interfacing with a social network service to provide the social network service with information about the obligation and/or the benefit. |
| US08620797B1 |
Systems and methods for streamlined purchasing
Systems and methods for streamlined purchasing are described herein. The method may include receiving application to finance an item, approving the application and providing a financial document to the customer which requires no further interaction between the customer and the lending institution. The method may alternately include receiving a pre-approved financial instrument from a merchant, and processing the instrument, where the instrument was presented to the merchant by a customer and executed at the time of purchase without further interaction between the customer and the lending institution. |
| US08620796B2 |
Systems and methods for providing enhanced volume-weighted average price trading
Systems and methods for providing trading using an eVWAP price in an illiquid market are provided. In an illiquid market there may be little or no actual trades. During a trading period, the eVWAP price is therefore determined from not only trades, but also unmatched bids and offers. The eVWAP price is determined when new information becomes available or at a specified time interval. The final eVWAP price is determined when the sampling period ends. Once the final eVWAP price is determined, the value of the final eVWAP price is published for use as a price to settle a contract. |
| US08620792B2 |
Device, method and system of pricing financial instruments
Some demonstrative embodiments include methods, devices and systems of pricing financial instruments. In one embodiment, a pricing module may be configured to receive first input data corresponding to at least one parameter defining a first option on an underlying asset and second input data corresponding to at least one current market condition relating to said underlying asset, and, based on said first and second input data, to determine a price of the first option according to a volatility smile satisfying a first criterion relating to a sum of a first correction corresponding to the first option and a second correction corresponding to a second option representing a position opposite to a position of a the first option and having substantially a same absolute delta value as the first option, wherein the first correction relates to a difference between a theoretical price of the first option and the price of the first option according to the volatility smile, and wherein the second correction relates to a difference between a theoretical price of the second option and the price of the second option according to the volatility smile. Other embodiments are described and claimed. |
| US08620790B2 |
Systems and methods for dynamic transaction-payment routing
A mobile payment transaction aggregator designed to identify, on a per transaction basis, a payment processor from a plurality of available payment processors with the lowest processing fee for the given transaction. Additionally, the aggregator may bundle multiple payment transactions of a single consumer across multiple merchants for additional savings. |
| US08620786B2 |
System and method for waterfall prioritized payment processing
The invention comprises a system and method for “waterfall” type payment processing using multiple alternative payment sources. A payor provides account information for multiple payment sources, such as a bank checking account, savings account, first credit card account, second credit card account, and so forth. The multiple payment sources are prioritized so that one is a primary payment source, another is a secondary payment source, another is a tertiary payment source, and so forth. After setting up the waterfall payment arrangement, when a bill becomes due a payee or third party payment administrator submits transactions against the payment sources in their order of priority until the payment is satisfied. Other variations and enhancements are disclosed. |
| US08620781B2 |
Fund on activation
A system and method of funding a financial transaction card, providing a financial transaction card to a user, wherein the financial transaction card has a face value and wherein an amount of funds pertaining to the face value is placed in a liability account, and wherein the financial transaction card has an actual value of zero, activating the financial transaction card by the user; and funding a funds pool for the financial transaction card with the funds from the liability account after the activation of the financial transaction card, wherein only funds from the funds pool is available for conducting a purchase. |
| US08620780B2 |
System and method for data management and financial transaction categorization
A transaction management system includes a database system configured to receive and store data for a plurality of financial transactions, the data for the plurality of financial transactions being associated with a plurality of financial accounts of a user. The system further includes a server system coupled to the database system and configured to categorize the plurality of financial transactions into a plurality of categories, the categories including merchant categories and payment method categories, the server system being further configured to provide a plurality of user interfaces to the user, each user interface providing a display of a different portion of the plurality of financial transactions, each user interface configured to enable a user to select a link configured to direct the user to an image of a check associated with one of the plurality of financial transactions; and categorize the financial transaction into a one of the merchant categories. |
| US08620777B2 |
Methods, software modules and software application for logging transaction-tax-related transactions
The invention is directed to a computer-based method for logging transaction-tax-related transactions, the method using rules which define, depending on transaction data, what transactions have to be logged, the method comprising: receiving a logging request for a transaction; evaluating the logging rules with transaction data of said transaction, logging said transaction if the result of the evaluation demands it. The invention is also directed to related software modules and a related software application. |
| US08620772B2 |
Method and portable device for locating products of interest using imaging technology and product packaging
Arrangements involving portable devices (e.g., smartphones and tablet computers) are disclosed. One arrangement enables a content creator to select software with which that creator's content should be rendered—assuring continuity between artistic intention and delivery. Another utilizes a device camera to identify nearby subjects, and take actions based thereon. Others rely on near field chip (RFID) identification of objects, or on identification of audio streams (e.g., music, voice). Some technologies concern improvements to the user interfaces associated with such devices. Others involve use of these devices in connection with shopping, text entry, sign language interpretation, and vision-based discovery. Still other improvements are architectural in nature, e.g., relating to evidence-based state machines, and blackboard systems. Yet other technologies concern use of linked data in portable devices—some of which exploit GPU capabilities. Still other technologies concern computational photography. A great variety of other features and arrangements are also detailed. |
| US08620759B1 |
Methods and systems for processing orders
Methods and systems for processing orders are provided. In some embodiments, methods for processing orders are provided, the methods comprising: receiving a user selection of a routing style; receiving a user selection of a post destination; routing at least a portion of an order according to the routing style; and posting at least a portion of the order at the posting destination selected by the user. |
| US08620756B2 |
Method and apparatus for permitting stage-door access to on-line vendor information
The present invention provides Internet users with access to an on-line vendor that has detailed product information some or all of which is supplied by at least one product supplier. Through selected storage and sharing of data, an on-line store is married to a supplier's product database. The on-line vendor is able to provide greater product information at a vastly reduced cost. The product supplier is provided with a unique company forum in which company activities such as sales training can be consolidated with advertising activities and product information to provide the most economical and up-to-date training information for the company. |
| US08620752B2 |
Advertisement allocation
Systems and methods for allocating and providing advertisements in response to impression events (e.g., a request for a placement of an advertisement) corresponding to forecasted impressions (e.g., a forecast of a request for a placement of an advertisement). The advertisements are allocated according to solution data that includes two disjoint solution sets, with each solution set identifying an advertisement that can be allocated to a forecasted impression. |
| US08620749B2 |
Customized offers for E-commerce
Systems, apparatuses, and methods are provided for facilitating electronic commerce via a web banner. Entire purchase transactions may be provided via the web banner, where an end user purchases products sold from third parties via the web banner. Entire sale listing transactions may also be provided via the web banner, where an end user lists products for sale via the web banner. Further, users may be identified when they access third party web sites, and customized offers may be generated and communicated to the identified users. |
| US08620745B2 |
Selecting advertisements for placement on related web pages
Systems and methods are described that select advertisements for placement on a series of consecutively-accessed web pages, such as consecutively-accessed web search results pages generated in response to a particular search. The systems and methods perform a separate advertisement ranking process to select advertisements for placement on each web page in the series of consecutively-accessed web pages at the time the web page is accessed. For web pages that follow the first web page in the series, the systems and methods utilize an advertisement ranking technique that calculates a probability that a user will select an advertisement based on certain user selection feedback features. The user selection feedback features for an advertisement are determined by comparing attributes of the advertisement to attributes of user-selectable items that were presented on one or more of the previously-accessed web pages in the series that are known to have been selected or not selected by the user. |
| US08620739B1 |
Dynamic conversion and use of non-monetary rewards
Techniques are described for using loyalty program points and other non-monetary loyalty rewards from a first organization in a monetary manner at a distinct second organization, such as to acquire an item from a merchant at a cost that is reduced by a monetary amount based on the loyalty reward used. In some situations, the first organization programmatically interacts with a merchant to cause a gift certificate to be dynamically created for the merchant in an appropriate monetary amount, and later applies the gift certificate to reduce the cost of the item acquisition. In addition, in some situations such acquiring of items by a user from a merchant is performed based on interactions between the user and the merchant that are performed so as to appear to the user to be with the first organization and such that subsequent interactions continue between the user and the first organization. |
| US08620737B2 |
Small store system
System and methods of use are discloses that default routing of an ID read by an ID reader as part of a purchase transaction in a retail store, to a first computer system (MCS) instead of the POS computer system for the retail store, the first computer system processes the ID, and the POS computer system receives the results of the processing in the form of a IDs recognizable by the POS computer system and for which the POS computer system has associated costs. |
| US08620734B2 |
Methods, devices and computer program products for customer operated coupon tracking
A method of providing coupons for shopping includes storing a shopping list in an electronic device including items for purchase via a merchant, storing electronic representations of coupons in the electronic device and associating the electronic representations of coupons with items included in the shopping list. |
| US08620733B2 |
Method and system for electronic distribution of incentives having real-time consumer-based directions
A method and system for electronic distribution of incentives having real-time consumer-based directions according to another embodiment of the present invention are disclosed. An online promotion service may receive user profile information, which may include demographic information, location information, user preferences, user requests, and other information. Online promotion service may provide targeted incentives and promotions to a particular user or class of users based on user profile information and other information. Incentives may include coupons, promotions, rebates, sales notifications, free samples, and other product or service related incentives. A map and street directions identifying the location of associated facilities, such as redemption and retail/point-of-sale facilities, from a user's location may also be provided. The user's location may be identified as the user's home address, work address, or other convenient locations. |
| US08620730B2 |
Promoting products in a virtual world
Provided are a computer program product, system, and method promoting products in a virtual world. An association of product information for a product with a texture of an object assigned to the advertising user is provided for an advertising user. The product information with the texture of the object is rendered to be observable by interacting users in the virtual world when the texture of the object presenting the product information is within an observable range of avatars of the interacting users. Tracking information is updated for the advertising user in response to the texture of the object presenting the product information being within the observable range of the avatars of the interacting users. The tracking information generated for the advertising user is provided for use in determining rewards to assign to the advertising user for promoting the product. |
| US08620719B2 |
Method, system and software for managing software license annuities
The present invention relates to methods, systems and software for managing software license annuities. The method relates to monitoring renewal revenue, including developing a forecast of renewal revenue, for each of one or more customers, using a customer database; contacting some of the customers to obtain customer profile data; assisting each of the contacted customers to select a renewal option using the customer profile data; modifying the forecast for each of the contacted customers based on the renewal option selected by that customer; and comparing the forecast and the customer's actual renewal purchases to monitor renewal revenue. The followings methods are also disclosed: a computer-implemented method of modelling renewal options, a method of managing annuity renewals, a method of modelling annuity renewals, and a method of displaying customer compliance with a licensing scheme. Systems and software for performing any of the mentioned methods are further disclosed. |
| US08620710B2 |
Managing calendar events while preparing for time out-of-office
In a calendar messaging method and system, a calendar application executing on a computer receives a command to activate an out-of-office status, and receives one or more selected calendar events. The method and system further include automatically updating the calendar events, wherein the updating includes at least one of canceling the calendar events, and removing the user as an invitee of the calendar events. An out-of-office message is then automatically sent to at least one recipient indicating a type of update made to one or more of the calendar events. |
| US08620709B2 |
Mobile activity manager
A computer-implemented method for handling a microflow includes receiving a workflow request that includes a task associated with the workflow and a contact address associated with the task, performing an operation associated with receiving the workflow request that includes at least one of opening a communication session with the contact address and sending a response to the workflow request to the contact address. The method further includes storing the task, prioritizing the task, and performing an operation associated with execution of the workflow including at least one of opening a communications session with the contact address, sending a status associated with performance of the task, and sending a completion status of the task. |
| US08620706B1 |
Systems and methods for estimating employment levels
A method of estimating an employment level receiving a first set of payroll data that includes at least one payroll record associated with at least one entity and identifying a format associated with the at least one payroll record of the first plurality of payroll data. The format associated with the at least one payroll record of the first plurality of payroll data may be normalized to substantially conform to a format associated with a second set of payroll data. A regression coefficient associated with the normalized first set of payroll data may be calculated. An employment level is estimated based on the first set of normalized payroll data and the regression coefficient. The regression coefficient comprises a value indicative of a difference in growth rates between the first set of payroll data and the second set of payroll data and is based at least on a number of initial unemployment claims filed during a portion of a time period associated with the first set of payroll data. |
| US08620704B1 |
Full-kit management in projects: determining the full-kit date
Methods and apparatuses are described for creating and using full-kit tasks, monitoring the progress of full-kit tasks, determining full-kit dates, checking compliance of release conditions associated with full-kit tasks, and/or computing and reporting full-kit task delays. A full-kit task can be used in the project plan to represent the preparations that are required or recommended to be performed before executing a set of tasks. The full-kit task can be a zero-duration task that has a full-kit date and that includes a list of items which need to be completed by the full-kit date. The full-kit task is capable of being in one of the following states: not started, in progress, released, and completed. In some embodiments, the set of tasks associated with the full-kit task can only be started if the full-kit task is either in the released state or the completed state. |
| US08620702B2 |
Method and system for research and development management in an enterprise
A method and system for capturing research decision flow in a Research and Development (R&D) activity are provided. The method includes defining an objective of the R&D activity and determining one or more requirements for fulfilling the objective of the R&D activity. Further, the method includes identifying a set of risks associated with failure to satisfy the one or more requirements. Furthermore, the method also includes developing a task plan to satisfy the one or more requirements and mitigate one or more risks of the set of risks. Furthermore, the method also includes linking the objective, the one or more requirements, the set of risks and the task plan, to generate a linked information record. |
| US08620701B2 |
System and method for rules-based capitalization
In an embodiment, a computer-based system in a business organization is configured with a set of business rules. The computer-based system is further configured to receive an indication of a transaction within the business organization, and to automatically determine, based on the set of business rules, a location in a recording system of the business organization to record data regarding the transaction. |
| US08620700B2 |
Management of new offering development via value flow control
A business method for defining, controlling, and optimizing a flow of value down a workflow pipeline includes creating a phase-gate workflow pipeline for one or more projects in which completion of one or more predetermined activities of each project advances the project to a succeeding phase in the pipeline. Each of the activities for each project in the pipeline is mapped to a value metric that is a function of a risk discount factor using an option valuation technique. The projects and/or portfolio of projects are then analyzed to determine the flow of value down the pipeline and managed based on analysis of this flow of value. |
| US08620692B2 |
Insurance visibility
Dynamic insurance rate adjustments are communicated to a vehicle operator in order to allow the vehicle operator to adjust various parameters before an actual change to an insurance rate is communicated to a service provider or trusted third party. The various parameters can be external parameters and/or internal parameters and further can include historical information, current information, and/or predicted information. Communicating the insurance rate adjustments provides for insurance visibility for both the operator and passengers of the vehicle. The insurance rate adjustment is communicated though a device located within a vehicle to enable perception by a vehicle occupant. |
| US08620688B2 |
Checkbook to control access to health record bank account
A method, apparatus, and article of manufacture for controlling access to electronic health records associated with an individual are provided. Individuals are provided with an electronic health records account (EHR account), wherein the EHR account is available to store electronic health records associated with the individual, in a network accessible storage repository. Additionally, an individual may be provided with plurality of disposable access devices, wherein the access devices may be presented to an entity. In turn, the entity may access the individual's EHR account, based on a predefined authorization specified for a particular access device. |
| US08620681B2 |
System and method for automatically verifying multiple laboratory test results in a computerized environment
The present invention relates to a method of holding laboratory test results in a computerized environment. A first laboratory test result is received, and is related to one or more other laboratory tests that comprise a healthcare order. It is determined whether the test results of the order have been received. If they have all been received, the test results are compared to predefined criteria and are determined to be considered normal. Once determined to be considered normal, the order is automatically verified. If the tests results of the healthcare order have not all been received, the first laboratory test result is held until all of the test results have been received. |
| US08620680B2 |
Methods and apparatus for planning and management of clinical trials
A tool for planning and management of clinical trials. The tool computes a patient enrollment timeline in a clinical trial using multiple factors that bear on the rate of patient enrollment. The factors may be site-dependent factors or may be country-dependent factors. When these factors are applied, different sites may have different rates of enrollment in the same interval. Further, the factors may be time dependent such that even the same sites may have different enrollment rates in different intervals. Once the timeline is created, the tool may use it to calculate a schedule of monitor visits, project trial completion or otherwise generate output used in management of the clinical trial. |
| US08620676B2 |
Electronic credentials verification and management system
A credentials record system that captures personnel background data, such as license information, education and training, work experience, performance data and electronic signature at the time of entry using graphical user interfaces through a network, wherein it permits instant, sophisticated analysis of background data to identify relationships among the data, including archived data and includes the capability to access reference databases for consultation regarding verification of data for accuracy on a continuous basis. The system also provides for an automated auditing process to ensure data integrity and includes the capability to incorporate legacy data, such as paper files and mainframe data, for each personnel record. |
| US08620675B2 |
Method and apparatus for optimal service channel reconfiguration based on multi-agent simulation
A method, and system employing the method, for service channel reconfiguration at a service outlet includes generating service transaction data of a service outlet, generating queue management system (QMS) data of the service outlet, and generating cost and profit data for the service outlet. Data is extracted from the service transaction data and the QMS data relating to specified parameters including customer experience data, and customer demand data. The service transaction data and the QMS data is integrated with the cost and profit data providing a unified objective function. Stochastic service processes and customer behavior data are modeled. The unified objective function is evaluated using the stochastic service processes and customer behavior data model, and the service channel function of the service outlet is reconfigured using the unified objective function. |
| US08620674B2 |
Multi-channel audio encoding and decoding
An audio encoder and decoder use architectures and techniques that improve the efficiency of multi-channel audio coding and decoding. The described strategies include various techniques and tools, which can be used in combination or independently. For example, an audio encoder performs a pre-processing multi-channel transform on multi-channel audio data, varying the transform so as to control quality. The encoder groups multiple windows from different channels into one or more tiles and outputs tile configuration information, which allows the encoder to isolate transients that appear in a particular channel with small windows, but use large windows in other channels. Using a variety of techniques, the encoder performs flexible multi-channel transforms that effectively take advantage of inter-channel correlation. An audio decoder performs corresponding processing and decoding. In addition, the decoder performs a post-processing multi-channel transform for any of multiple different purposes. |
| US08620673B2 |
Audio decoding method and audio decoder
Embodiments of the present invention disclose an audio decoding method, including: determining that bitstreams to be decoded are monophony coding layer and first stereo enhancement layer bitstreams; decoding the monophony coding layer to obtain a monophony decoded frequency-domain signal; reconstructing left and right channel frequency-domain signals in a first sub-band region by utilizing the monophony decoded frequency-domain signal after an energy adjustment; and reconstructing left and right channel frequency-domain signals in a second sub-band region by utilizing the monophony decoded frequency-domain signal without the energy adjustment. |
| US08620672B2 |
Systems, methods, apparatus, and computer-readable media for phase-based processing of multichannel signal
Phase-based processing of a multichannel signal, and applications including proximity detection, are disclosed. |
| US08620671B2 |
Method and apparatus for transforming between different filter bank domains
Filter banks may have different structures and different individual output signal domains. Often a translation between different filter bank domains is desirable. Usually, mapping matrices are used that, however, vary over frequency. This requires a significant amount of lookup tables. A method for transforming first data frames of a first filter bank domain to second data frames of a different second filter bank domain, comprises steps of transcoding sub-bands of the first filter bank domain into sub-bands of an intermediate domain that corresponds to said second filter bank domain but has warped phase, and transcoding the sub-bands of the intermediate domain to sub-bands of the second filter bank domain, wherein a phase correction is performed on the sub-bands of the intermediate domain. |
| US08620668B2 |
System and method for configuring voice synthesis
Systems and methods for providing synthesized speech in a manner that takes into account the environment where the speech is presented. A method embodiment includes, based on a listening environment and at least one other parameter associated with at least one other parameter, selecting an approach from the plurality of approaches for presenting synthesized speech in a listening environment, presenting synthesized speech according to the selected approach and based on natural language input received from a user indicating that an inability to understand the presented synthesized speech, selecting a second approach from the plurality of approaches and presenting subsequent synthesized speech using the second approach. |
| US08620661B2 |
System for controlling digital effects in live performances with vocal improvisation
A system for controlling digital effects in live performances with vocal improvisation is described. The system features a controller that utilizes several switches attached to clothing that is worn by an artist during a live performance. The switches activate a digital vocal processor unit that provides a dual mode, multi-channel phrase looping capability wherein individual channels can be selected for recording and replay during the performance. This combination of features allows a sequence of digital audio and video effects to be controlled by the artist during a performance while maintaining the freedom of movement desired to enhance the performance. |
| US08620658B2 |
Voice chat system, information processing apparatus, speech recognition method, keyword data electrode detection method, and program for speech recognition
A voice chat system includes a plurality of information processing apparatuses that performs a voice chat while performing speech recognition and a search server connected to the plural information processing apparatuses via a communication network. The search server discloses a search keyword list containing the search keywords searched by the search server to at least one of the plural information processing apparatuses. The at least one information processing apparatus includes a recognition word dictionary generating unit that acquires the search keyword list from the search server to generate a recognition word dictionary containing words for use in the speech recognition, and a speech recognition unit that performs speech recognition on voice data obtained from a dialog of the conversation during the voice chat by referencing a recognition database containing the recognition word dictionary. |
| US08620654B2 |
Text oriented, user-friendly editing of a voicemail message
A system in one embodiment includes a server associated with a unified messaging system (UMS). The server records speech of a user as an audio data file, translates the audio data file into a text data file, and maps each word within the text data file to a corresponding segment of audio data in the audio data file. A graphical user interface (GUI) of a message editor running on an endpoint associated with the user displays the text data file on the endpoint and allows the user to identify a portion of the text data file for replacement. The server being further operable to record new speech of the user as new audio data and to replace one or more segments of the audio data file corresponding to the portion of the text with the new audio data. |
| US08620653B2 |
Mute control in audio endpoints
Architecture that uses near-end speech detection and far-end energy level detection to notify a user when a local microphone and/or speaker that the user is using, are muted. A voice activity detector is employed to detect the presence of near-end speech, sense the existing mute state of the near-end microphone, and then notify the user when the current microphone is muted. Separately or in combination therewith, received far-end voice signals are detected, the associated energy level computed, the existing mute state of the near-end audio speaker is sensed, and the user notified when the speaker is muted and/or at a reduced volume setting. These determinations enhance the user experience when the architecture is employed for communications sessions where participants connect via different communications modalities by automatically notifying the user of the audio device state, without attempting to contribute only to find that a microphone or speaker was muted. |
| US08620652B2 |
Speech recognition macro runtime
The disclosed speech recognition system enables users to define personalized, context-aware voice commands without extensive software development. Command sets may be defined in a user-friendly language and stored in an eXtensible Markup Language (XML) file. Each command object within the command set may include one or more user configurable actions, one or more configurable rules, and one or more configurable conditions The command sets may be managed by a command set loader, that loads and processes each command set into computer executable code. The command set loader may enable and disable command sets. A macro processing component may provide a speech recognition grammar to an API of the speech recognition engine based on currently enabled commands. When the speech recognition engine recognizes user speech consistent with the grammar, the macro processing component may initiate the one or more computer executable actions. |
| US08620650B2 |
Rejecting noise with paired microphones
A system for combining signals includes a first microphone generating a first input signal having a first voice component and a first noise component, a second microphone generating a second input signal having a second voice component and a second noise component, a mixing circuit, and an adaptive filter. The mixing circuit applies a first gain having a value α to the first input signal to produce a first scaled signal, applies a second gain having a value 1−α to the second input signal to produce a second scaled signal, and sums the first scaled signal and the second scaled signal to produce a summed signal. The adaptive filter computes an updated value of α to minimize the energy of the summed signal based on the summed signal, the first input signal and the second input signal, and provides the updated value of α to the mixing circuit. |
| US08620647B2 |
Selection of scalar quantixation (SQ) and vector quantization (VQ) for speech coding
In accordance with one aspect of the invention, a selector supports the selection of a first encoding scheme or the second encoding scheme based upon the detection or absence of the triggering characteristic in the interval of the input speech signal. The first encoding scheme has a pitch pre-processing procedure for processing the input speech signal to form a revised speech signal biased toward an ideal voiced and stationary characteristic. The pre-processing procedure allows the encoder to fully capture the benefits of a bandwidth-efficient, long-term predictive procedure for a greater amount of speech components of an input speech signal than would otherwise be possible. In accordance with another aspect of the invention, the second encoding scheme entails a long-term prediction mode for encoding the pitch on a sub-frame by sub-frame basis. The long-term prediction mode is tailored to where the generally periodic component of the speech is generally not stationary or less than completely periodic and requires greater frequency of updates from the adaptive codebook to achieve a desired perceptual quality of the reproduced speech under a long-term predictive procedure. |
| US08620645B2 |
Non-causal postfilter
A decoder arrangement comprising a receiver input for parameters of frame-based coded signals and a decoder arranged to provide frames of decoded audio signals based on the parameters. The receiver input and/or the decoder is arranged to establish a time difference between the occasion when parameters of a first frame is available at the receiver input and the occasion when a decoded audio signal of the first frame is available at an output of the decoder, which time difference corresponds to at least one frame. A postfilter is connected to the output of the decoder and to the receiver input. The postfilter is arranged to provide a filtering of the frames of decoded audio signals into an output signal in response to parameters of a respective subsequent frame. |
| US08620641B2 |
Intelligent elision
A user interface routine includes an intelligent elision routine having a plurality of language objects, plurality of abbreviation objects, and a plurality of preference objects. Each language object that has an associated abbreviation object and preference object is an abbreviatable language object. The user interface routine and/or the intelligent elision routine is structured to determine a text field's length, also identified as a limited space, receive a text string and replace selected language objects in the text string with the associated abbreviation objects to create an abbreviated text string. The process is, preferably, repeated on the abbreviated text string until the abbreviated text string is shorter than the limited space or until no more abbreviatable language objects are in the text string. |
| US08620640B2 |
Emulated storage system
A back-up storage system that emulates a sequential storage medium such as a tape and stores data on a randomly accessible storage medium, such as disk. The back-up storage system includes a randomly accessible storage medium, a front-end interface to emulate the sequential storage medium, to communicate with external devices using a protocol that supports the sequential storage medium, and to receive sequential-format data from the external devices, and a back-end interface to receive the sequential-format data from the front-end interface and to store the sequential-format data on the randomly-accessible storage medium. |
| US08620639B2 |
Simulation or test system, and associated method
A simulation or test system for a network architecture of computers and active equipment items, in particular on board an aircraft, and a corresponding method are disclosed. The system comprises a simulation unit comprising models simulating at least one part of the computers. Moreover, each computer or simulation model is able to communicate on a real network through a corresponding active equipment item to which the computer, simulated if need be, is directly connected in the network, and the simulation unit may acquire a message sent out by a computer or a simulation model on the network, and transmit the acquired message to simulation models that are recipients thereof. The simulation unit acquires the message at the corresponding active equipment item to which the sending computer or simulation model is directly connected. |
| US08620638B1 |
Method of performing a simulation of a design under test and a circuit for enabling testing of a circuit design
A method of performing a simulation of a design under test is disclosed. The method comprises implementing an input block having an adjustable output width; coupling test data to the input block; generating an input signal comprising the test data for the design under test according to an input requirement for the design under test by way of the input block; implementing an output block having an adjustable input width for receiving data from an output of the design under test; and coupling the output of the design under test to the output block according to an output requirement of the design under test. A circuit for enabling testing of a circuit design implemented in an integrated circuit is also disclosed. |
| US08620637B2 |
Fuel cell simulator and fuel cell
Disclosed is a fuel cell simulator for predicting the power generation performance of a fuel cell including a membrane-electrode assembly having an electrolyte membrane, a catalyst layer, and a diffusion layer. The fuel cell simulator includes a model creation unit for modeling a catalyst layer from the geometry and property data of the catalyst layer, and a calculation unit for calculating the power generation state distribution of the catalyst layer or macro physical property values by using the catalyst layer model and establishing simultaneous equations of gas transportation, water production-transportation phase change, electrical conduction, heat conduction, and catalytic reaction. |
| US08620634B2 |
Energy resource allocation including renewable energy sources
A computer implemented method includes providing information related to wind speed and direction prediction to a wind turbine energy prediction module, providing wind energy production prediction information to a resource allocation engine, and combining the wind energy production prediction information with information about non-renewable energy resources to provide an output identifying energy production resources to use for optimal load servicing. |
| US08620633B2 |
Predictive emissions monitoring system and method
A method is provided for predicting a value of a first variable based on values of a plurality of additional variables, values of a plurality of first coefficients, and values of a plurality of second coefficients. The method is usable in, for example, predicting by-products of a process based on values of variables relating to operation of the process. |
| US08620623B2 |
Hierarchical and distributed information processing architecture for a container security system
A hierarchical and distributed system architecture for a container monitoring and security system is provided. The architecture may be a hierarchical chain of separate, related processing elements. The partitioning of functions and distribution of processing among these or other similar hierarchical elements in the network is provided. The elements may further be described in successive layers, each have a greater level of network intelligence than the former. |
| US08620622B2 |
System and method for determining health indicators for impellers
A system includes a plurality of sensors configured to measure one or more characteristics of an impeller. The system also includes an impeller condition indicator device, which includes a plurality of sensor interfaces configured to receive input signals associated with at least one stage of the impeller from the sensors. The impeller condition indicator device also includes a processor configured to identify a fault in the impeller using the input signals and an output interface configured to provide an indicator identifying the fault. The processor is configured to identify the fault by determining a family of frequencies related to at least one failure mode of the impeller, decomposing the input signals using the family of frequencies, reconstructing a impeller signal using the decomposed input signals, and comparing the reconstructed impeller signal to a baseline signal. The family of frequencies includes a vane pass frequency and its harmonics. |
| US08620619B2 |
Rotary encoder comprising internal error control and method therefor
The invention relates to a rotary encoder comprising internal error control with a monitoring unit comprising at least a computing module, a verification means, a memory unit and an alarm unit. The invention also relates to a method for checking a rotary encoder when said encoder is in operation, the rotary encoder generating at least one measuring signal pair representative of the amount of rotation. In order to be able to determine the functioning of the rotary encoder, even when said rotary encoder is stationary, it is provided according to the present invention that a characteristic value should be created in the monitoring unit from current amplitude values of the measuring signal pair, said characteristic value being used in a comparison with at least one quality value representative of the functional states of the rotary encoder. |
| US08620618B2 |
Asset optimization reporting in a process plant
A process control system uses an asset optimization reporter to collect status information of dissimilar types pertaining to the assets of a process plant from various data sources of the plant including, for example, data tools, data collectors, and data generators. This status information is used to generate reports that may be displayed to various users, including maintenance persons, process control persons and business persons. The status information may be used as the basis for further types of status information and/or be categorized in based on an assessment of relative consequence, where each category has a spectrum of status quality values between a good status quality and a relatively worse status quality. The reports are generally displayed via a user interface routine that enables users to view the status information as a graphical representation having a leg of a normalized spectrum of values for each category arranged in order of the relative consequence, the relative status quality value being identified at a point on the respective leg. |
| US08620615B2 |
Apparatuses and methods for evaluating a person for a sleep system
A method for evaluating a person for a sleep system, the method including: while the person is not positioned on an evaluating member, adjusting a pressure of a comfort layer inflatable member disposed within a comfort layer of the evaluating member to an initial comfort value; positioning the person on the evaluating member in a first position; while the person is positioned on the evaluating member in the first position, measuring a pressure of the comfort layer inflatable member as a first measured comfort value; calculating a difference between the first measured comfort value and the initial comfort value as comfort pressure 1; calculating a first optimal pressure level for the comfort layer inflatable member using comfort pressure 1; and recommending a sleep support member for the person using the calculated first optimal pressure level for the comfort layer inflatable member and using data measuring quality of sleep. |
| US08620613B2 |
Sensor diagnostic apparatus and method thereof
A sensor diagnostic apparatus for diagnosing a sensor includes a moving object counter, a reference value storage, and a comparator. The moving object counter counts, in accordance with identification data acquired by a plurality of sensors in a predefined time period, a local number of moving objects moving between a sensing area of a first sensor and a sensing area of a second sensor near the first sensor. The reference value storage stores a preset reference value for the first sensor and the second sensor. The comparator compares a value derived from the local number of moving objects counted by the moving object counter with the preset reference value stored in the reference value storage to determine the first sensor to be in trouble when a difference between the value derived from the local number of moving objects and the preset reference value exceeds a predefined threshold value. |
| US08620608B2 |
Intelligent electronic device and method thereof
An intelligent electronic device (IED) having a gain control unit adapted to selectively regulate operating ranges of output signals of a sensing circuit of the device is described. In one embodiment, the IED is a digital electric power and energy meter, which operating ranges for supply voltages and supply currents of electrical services may be adjusted to match pre-determined ranges for input signals of a data acquisition system or a data processing module of the meter. |
| US08620603B1 |
Fluid level sensing
A tank to contain a fluid includes a tank wall having an inner surface. A vane is disposed within the tank. The vane is configured to facilitate extraction of fluid from the tank. The vane may include an electrically conductive material. The tank also includes a first connector to electrically couple at least one portion of the tank wall to a capacitance sensing device and a second connector to electrically couple at least one portion of the vane to the capacitance sensing device. |
| US08620600B2 |
System for assessing and displaying activity of a sportsman
A system assesses and displays activity of a sportsman. At least one sensor detects movement of the sportsman, and a processor processes data from the sensor to assess activity of the sportsman. A heads-up display mounted with a pair of goggles or glasses displays data indicative of the activity to the sportsman. |
| US08620597B2 |
Particulate filter service life prediction
A method for determining the service interval of a particulate filter including the steps of determining a normalized current pressure differential across the particulate filter and determining a normalized pressure differential across the particulate filter for clean conditions. The clean pressure normalized pressure differential is subtracted from the current differential and divided by the time between regeneration to determine a current factor. A maximum factor is predetermined and compared to the current factor to determine service life for the particulate filter. |
| US08620595B2 |
Methods for determining the retention of peptides in reverse phase chromatography using linear solvent strength theory
The present disclosure relates to methods for separating or isolating a peptide using reverse phase chromatography. The disclosure also relates to methods for calculating or determining the slope S of a peptide, wherein S is defined according to the Linear-Solvent-Strength equation log k=log k0−S*φ. Also provided are a set of peptides with known S values suitable for use in the described methods. |
| US08620594B2 |
Method and system for generating a virtual progeny genome
Methods and systems for assessing the probabilities of the expression of one or more traits in progeny are described. |
| US08620593B2 |
Size-based genomic analysis
Systems, methods, and apparatuses for performing a prenatal diagnosis of a sequence imbalance are provided. A shift (e.g. to a smaller size distribution) can signify an imbalance in certain circumstances. For example, a size distribution of fragments of nucleic acids from an at-risk chromosome can be used to determine a fetal chromosomal aneuploidy. A size ranking of different chromosomes can be used to determine changes of a rank of an at-risk chromosome from an expected ranking. Also, a difference between a statistical size value for one chromosome can be compared to a statistical size value of another chromosome to identify a significant shift in size. A genotype and haplotype of the fetus may also be determined using a size distribution to determine whether a sequence imbalance occurs in a maternal sample relative to a genotypes or haplotype of the mother, thereby providing a genotype or haplotype of the fetus. |
| US08620592B2 |
Methods for analyzing high dimensional data for classifying, diagnosing, prognosticating, and/or predicting diseases and other biological states
A method of diagnosing, predicting, or prognosticating about a disease that includes obtaining experimental data, wherein the experimental data is high dimensional data, filtering the data, reducing the dimensionality of the data through use of one or more methods, training a supervised pattern recognition method, ranking individual data points from the data, wherein the ranking is dependent on the outcome of the supervised pattern recognition method, choosing multiple data points from the data, wherein the choice is based on the relative ranking of the individual data points, and using the multiple data points to determine if an unknown set of experimental data indicates a diseased condition, a predilection for a diseased condition, or a prognosis about a diseased condition. |
| US08620589B2 |
Synthetic binding proteins
Methods and compositions are provided for creating a binding protein that recognizes a rationally chosen recognition sequence in which a first amino acid has been substituted for a second amino acid using site-directed mutagenesis of a member protein of a set of proteins at an identified position or positions correlated with recognition of a chosen specified target module in the recognition sequence. A system is provided for automating the storage and manipulation of the correlations between positions and types of amino acid residues in the binding protein with specific modules at specified positions in the target recognition sequence and for designing and creating proteins with novel specificities. |
| US08620588B2 |
Method, system, and computer program product for determining a putative amino acid sequence
The present invention is concerned with methods for the de novo sequencing of polypeptides from data obtained from mass spectrometry devices, particularly from (MS)n devices. |
| US08620585B2 |
Systems and methods for presenting comparative athletic performance information
In at least one embodiment, a system for presenting athletic performance information includes a server configured to store information related to a previous traversal of a route by a user, and a mobile device in communication with the server, the mobile device configured to receive the information related to the previous traversal of the route by the user from the server, and present athletic performance information based at least in part on the information related to the previous traversal of the route to the user during a subsequent traversal of the route. |
| US08620577B2 |
System and method for searching for points of interest along a route
A method and system for searching for points of interest along a route is disclosed. A relation that includes records that associate link identifiers, point of interest identifiers, and distances between the links and the points of interest is generated during the compilation process of a first version of a geographic database. The relation is stored in compiled database products. When a compiled database product is being used by a navigation system, for example, navigation application software programs use the relation to accurately and efficiently find points of interest along a computed route. |
| US08620574B2 |
Method and system for calculating a quantity for a route segment extending between two points on a digital map
A method and system are provided for calculating a quantity for a route segment extending between two points on a digital map, the points corresponding to two geographical locations, the quantity representing a distance between the two geographical locations or an estimated time for travelling between the two geographical locations, the method comprising; determining a base quantity for the route segment, determining a first parameter corresponding to a first condition between the two geographical locations, determining a second parameter corresponding to a second condition between the two geographical locations, determining an additional quantity based on the first parameter and the second parameter such that the influence of the second parameter on the size of the additional quantity depends on the first parameter, calculating a modified quantity for the route segment based on the base quantity and the additional quantity, and generating a signal based on the modified quantity. |
| US08620569B2 |
Vehicle control device
Disclosed is a vehicle control device that generates a speed pattern of a vehicle in a predetermined traveling section and controls the vehicle on the basis of the speed pattern. The vehicle control device includes an average traffic flow vehicle speed acquiring unit for acquiring an average traffic flow vehicle speed in the predetermined traveling section, an optimal low fuel consumption speed pattern generating unit for generating a speed pattern which is optimized to reduce the fuel consumption of the vehicle in the predetermined traveling section on the basis of the average traffic flow vehicle speed, and a control unit for controlling the vehicle on the basis of the optimal low fuel consumption speed pattern. |
| US08620567B2 |
System and method for restarting an engine
Various systems and methods are described for controlling an engine in a vehicle, the engine being coupled to a transmission. One example method comprises, under selected braking conditions, shutting-off the engine and spinning-down the engine to rest while the vehicle is traveling, and in response to a foot-off-brake event, restarting the engine by at least partially engaging the transmission to assist in spinning-up of the engine from rest while the vehicle is traveling. In this manner, vehicle inertia can be used to assist in spinning-up the engine from rest when the vehicle is moving. |
| US08620566B2 |
Hybrid vehicle accelerator pedal depressing force control device
An accelerator pedal depression force control apparatus for a hybrid vehicle is arranged to increase the depression force of the accelerator pedal than a base depression force when the accelerator opening degree becomes larger than an accelerator opening degree threshold value, and arranged to set a the first accelerator opening degree based on an accelerator opening degree which switches from a first running mode in which the vehicle runs by driving only the electric motor, to a second running mode in which the internal combustion engine is driven, to set a second accelerator opening degree based on the accelerator opening degree by which the vehicle can run at a constant speed at each vehicle speed, and to set the accelerator opening degree threshold value as a larger one of the first accelerator opening degree and the second accelerator opening degree. |
| US08620560B2 |
Internal combustion engine control device
The invention aims at providing an internal combustion engine control device 1 which can make suppression of a rise in the temperature of an engine control ECU 2, and fuel cut control of an engine compatible with each other. An internal combustion engine control device 1, which controls an engine having a plurality of cylinders having intake valves and exhaust valves, includes intake valve solenoids 8 to 11 and exhaust valve solenoids 12 to 15 which switch the operating state of valve elements of the intake valves or exhaust valves to a drive state and a closed valve holding state; an engine control ECU 2 which controls the intake valve solenoids 8 to 11 and the exhaust valve solenoids 12 to 15; an ECU temperature sensor 6 which detects the temperature of the engine control ECU 2; and a switching number setting unit 32 which sets the number of valve elements whose operating state is switched at one time by the intake valve solenoids 8 to 11 and the exhaust valve solenoids 12 to 15 to be smaller, as the temperature detected by the ECU temperature sensor 6 is higher. |
| US08620557B2 |
Method and module for determining of velocity reference values for a vehicle control system
A method for determining speed set-point values vref for a vehicle's control systems including determining a horizon from position data and map data of an itinerary made up of route segments with at least one characteristic for each segment; calculating threshold values for the characteristic of segments according to one or more vehicle-specific values, which threshold values serve as boundaries for assigning segments to various categories; comparing the characteristic of each segment with the calculated threshold values and placing each segment within the horizon in a category calculating set-point values for the vehicle's control systems across the horizon according to rules pertaining to the categories. When any characteristic in segments within the horizon indicates a hindrance, calculating the vehicle's retardation determining a start position within the horizon for commencement of retardation according to its calculated retardation in order to achieve a lowering of the set-point speed vref to a maximum speed required by the hindrance at the location of the hindrance; adapting the speed set-point values vref within the horizon according to the start position and retardation of the vehicle and regulating the vehicle's speed according to the speed set-values vref. Also a module determines set-point values for a control system in the vehicle. |
| US08620555B2 |
Wheel slip determination for vehicles
A method for assessing slippage of wheels in a vehicle includes the steps of measuring, via a sensor, an initial value of vehicle speed, determining, via a processor, at least one of a minimum vehicle speed and a maximum vehicle speed, and determining, via the processor, wheel slip using the initial value and the at least one of the minimum vehicle speed and the maximum vehicle speed. |
| US08620552B2 |
Data communication system and method for communicating data in a vehicle
A data communication system for a vehicle includes an interface gateway device that is configured to be communicatively coupled with a data acquisition module and a client module. The interface gateway device is further configured to receive a value of a data parameter related to operation of the vehicle from the data acquisition module and to communicate the value to the client module for performing a function for the vehicle. The interface gateway device also is configured to determine when either of the data acquisition module or the client module is communicatively coupled with the interface gateway device and to implement respective communication configurations associated with the data acquisition module or the client module to receive the value of the data parameter from the data acquisition module or communicate the value of the data parameter to the client module. |
| US08620550B2 |
Measuring brake wear
A final drive assembly is driven by an electric motor and includes a park and service brake arrangement including a shared disc brake pack that is compressed by a preload exerted by a compression spring arrangement defined by a stack of Belleville springs for establishing an engaged park brake condition in the absence of pressurized brake actuating fluid being routed to a park brake piston. An electrical control is provided for computing disc brake pack wear based on a stored load curve of the stack of Belleville springs containing information correlating preload amounts to various compressed heights of the stack of Belleville springs, and on the magnitude of a drive signal sent to the electric motor for causing sufficient drive torque to be developed for causing the rotor discs of the engaged disc brake pack to slip relative to the stator discs. |
| US08620549B2 |
Vehicle safety systems and methods
A safety system is provided for use in a first vehicle at a first location. The safety system includes a position unit configured to determine the first location; a sensor group configured to detect an opening of the enclosure; a controller coupled to the position unit and the sensor group, the controller configured to generate a warning message including the first location when the opening of the enclosure is detected; and a transmitter coupled to the controller and configured to transmit the warning message. |
| US08620542B2 |
Vehicle shift control apparatus
It is provided a vehicle shift control apparatus that electrically controls switchover of a shift range of a transmission based on a position signal corresponding to an operational position in a shift operating device, the vehicle shift control apparatus being capable of storing therein a determination result of whether the position signal is normal or abnormal, the shift range being switched based on the position signal acquired when a vehicle electric power supply is turned on if a memory of the determination result is retained when the vehicle electric power supply is turned on, the shift range not being switched based on the position signal acquired when the vehicle electric power supply is turned on if the memory of the determination result is not retained. |
| US08620533B2 |
Systems, methods, and devices for controlling a movement of a dipper
Systems, methods, and devices for controlling an industrial machine. The industrial machine includes, for example, a dipper, a boom, a hoist motor, a crowd motor, one or more operator control devices, and a controller. The control devices are configured to be manually controllable by an operator of the industrial machine. The controller receives an output signal associated with a desired movement of the dipper, receives a signal associated with a hoist motor characteristic, and receives a signal associated with a crowd motor characteristic. The controller determines a present position of the dipper with respect to a boom profile, determines a first future position of the dipper with respect to the boom profile and based on the output signal from the operator control devices, and automatically controls a movement of the dipper with respect to the boom profile when the first future position of the dipper approximately corresponds to a boom profile limit. |
| US08620531B2 |
Method and device for correction temperature-dependent changes in the mechanical properties of a mobile closing part of a vehicle
In a method and device for correcting temperature-dependent changes in the mechanical properties of a closing part of a vehicle, the closing part can be moved by a direct current motor. As part of the production of the vehicle, the mechanical properties of the mobile closing part are ascertained during a closing procedure at a first ambient temperature and stored in a non-volatile manner in the form of a first reference characteristic in a memory of the vehicle. While the vehicle is running at least one more reference characteristic is ascertained and likewise stored in a non-volatile manner in the memory of the vehicle, whereby every additional reference characteristic is associated with a different ambient temperature. The stored reference characteristics are compared to a calculated characteristic while the vehicle is running in order to check whether jamming exists or not. |
| US08620529B2 |
Sub-frame detachment through exploding bolts
A sub-frame in a vehicle includes a sensor, which is configured to sense an occurrence of a vehicular crash. By being connected to the sensor, a controller is adapted to receive a signal from the sensor. The controller further functions to process the signal and provide an output to at least one fastener, the fastener configured to fasten the sub-frame to the vehicle's underbody. The fastener includes at least one chamber filled with an explosive charge, where the explosive charge is configured to explode and detach the sub-frame from the vehicle's underbody, upon receiving the output. |
| US08620527B2 |
Systems and methods for steering and calibration of vehicle steering controls for riding mowers and other vehicles
According to one aspect, a vehicle control system. The control system includes a steering control coupled to at least one steerable wheel, the steering control having a first position, a second position and a plurality of positions therebetween. The control system also includes a steering sensor coupled to the steering control and configured to generate steering sensor signals based upon the position of the steering control. The control system also includes a control module coupled to the steering sensor, the control module configured to (i) record a first steering sensor signal value when the steering control is in the first position; (ii) record a second steering sensor signal value when the steering control is in the second position; and (iii) determine a current position of the steering control by comparing the first and second steering sensor signal values with a current steering sensor signal value. |
| US08620526B2 |
Method for operating a motor vehicle and motor vehicle
A method is provided for operating a motor vehicle traveling on a roadway. The method includes, but is not limited to determining data of the roadway in the area, which includes determining a number n of lanes. If it is determined that n≧2, it is determined whether a lane in which the vehicle is located with data of an optical camera of the motor vehicle. In addition, it is determined whether a second motor vehicle is traveling in the lane, in which the motor vehicle is located, in a direction of travel opposite a first direction of travel with a determination apparatus of the motor vehicle. If a second motor vehicle is determined, a warning message and/or automatic actuation is generated from an apparatus of the motor vehicle (e.g, a braking apparatus, a drive apparatus, or a steering apparatus). |
| US08620523B2 |
Rearview assembly with multiple ambient light sensors
A rearview assembly configured for use with a vehicle and method are provided, wherein the rearview assembly includes a first light sensor generally facing forward with respect to an forward driving orientation of the vehicle and configured to detect ambient light, a second light sensor generally facing forward with respect to a forward driving orientation of the vehicle and configured to detect ambient light, a rearview component configured to display an image rearward of the vehicle, and a processor communicatively connected to the first light sensor, the second light sensor, and the rearview component, wherein the processor is configured to control the rearview component based upon light detected by at least one of the first and second light sensors. |
| US08620518B2 |
Systems and methods for accident reconstruction
According to various embodiments, systems and methods are provided for capturing vehicle activity data and filtering such data to reconstruct accident conditions according to a predetermined level of accuracy. |
| US08620514B2 |
Reliability centered maintenance
A control process, which may be known as a toolset, for control of part or all of a maintenance method based on reliability centred maintenance (RCM) includes: a significant item selection (SIS) element a failure modes and effects analysis (FMEA) element; an algorithm element; a tasks element; a sampling element; and a reports element. The SIS element produces one or more of the following: reference data; and progress data. The SIS element makes use of input from design approved organisation functionality. The FMEA element makes use of input from maintenance approved organisation functionality. |
| US08620512B2 |
Method for tracking defective functions in operation of motor vehicles
A method for tracking defective functions in the operation of heater plugs in a diesel engine of a vehicle, provided with a control unit for the control of its heater plugs—the preheater control unit—, by monitoring at least one operating parameter of the heater plugs and/or of the preheater control unit, generating a fault message when the operation parameter so monitored deviates from a predefined nominal value or nominal state of the operating parameter, and storing the fault message. The invention links the fault message to a time parameter, stores the fault message together with the time parameter, searches for further fault messages that are stored in the vehicle and linked to the same time parameter, and combines the fault messages that are linked to the same time parameter. |
| US08620510B1 |
Adaptive multi-vehicle area coverage optimization system and method
A mission planning system for determining an optimum use of a plurality of vehicles in searching a predefined geographic area (PGA). A discretizer subsystem may be used for sensing the capabilities of each vehicle to produce a point set defining a number of points within the PGA that the vehicles must traverse to completely search the PGA. A task allocator subsystem may determine an optimum division of the PGA into different subregions to be handled by specific ones of the vehicles, thus to minimize an overall time needed to search the PGA. A path optimizer subsystem may determine an optimum path through a particular vehicle's assigned subregion to minimize the time needed for each specific vehicle to traverse its associated subregion. |
| US08620508B2 |
Hybrid vehicle
A hybrid vehicle is driven by a power unit which includes: a first rotating machine including a first rotor, a first stator, and a second rotor, wherein the number of magnetic poles generated by an armature row of the first stator and one of the first rotor and the second rotor are connected to a drive shaft; a power engine, wherein an output shaft of the power engine is connected to the other of the first rotor and the second rotor; a second rotating machine; a capacitor; and a transformer that steps up an output voltage of the capacitor. The hybrid vehicle includes: a voltage demand calculator that calculates a voltage demand required for each of the first rotating machine and the second rotating machine in accordance with an operating condition of the hybrid vehicle; a step-up execution determining unit that allows the transformer to step up the voltage, when at least one of the voltage demand of the first rotating machine and the voltage demand of the second rotating machine is higher than a first threshold value; and a controller that controls the transformer in accordance with the result determined by the step-up execution determining unit. Accordingly, it is possible to achieve reduction in the size and cost of the power unit and enhance the driving efficiency of the power unit. |
| US08620505B2 |
Stand alone engine speed control at cold start for hybrid transmission
A hybrid powertrain includes and internal combustion engine, an energy storage device, an electro-mechanical transmission having at least one electric machine rotatably coupled to the engine. The electro-mechanical transmission is selectively controllably operative to transmit torque among the engine and the at least one electric machine. A method to start operation of the internal combustion engine includes initiating rotation of a crankshaft of the engine with the at least one electric machine until a first predetermined crankshaft speed is achieved, firing the engine while controlling engine speed with the at least one electric machine until a flare threshold occurs, controlling the engine speed without any interaction from the at least one electric machine based on controlling combustion parameters of the engine, and when a predetermined condition occurs, controlling the engine speed with the at least one electric machine while the engine is still firing. |
| US08620501B2 |
Engine starting system and engine starting method
A starting system of an engine mounted in a vehicle capable of running using torque output from an electric motor includes a estimation portion that estimates engine speed and output torque of the engine when the engine is driven to realize the power requested by the driver, a comparing portion that compares a time for which the engine continues to be stopped with a first time and a second time that is longer than the first time, a first starting portion that starts the engine when estimated engine speed is greater than first speed and less than second speed, and the estimated output torque is greater than first value and less than second value, and a second starting portion that starts the engine when the time for which the engine continues to be stopped is longer than the second time. |
| US08620495B2 |
Air data stall protection system
An electronic multi-function probe (MFP) is provided for positioning adjacent an aircraft skin. The electronic MFP includes a plurality of pressure sensing ports and an electronics housing. Positioned within the electronics housing are air data processing circuitry and stall protection system processing circuitry. The air data processing circuitry is configured to generate air data parameters, including airspeed and altitude, as a function of pressures at the plurality of pressure sensing ports. The stall protection system processing circuitry of the electronic MFP is configured to detect stall conditions as a function of angle of attack and at least one air data parameter from the air data processing circuitry, and to generate stall protection system outputs indicative of the detected stall conditions. |
| US08620492B2 |
Yaw damping system and method for aircraft
An alternative system for damping the dutch roll mode in an aircraft is provided using roll control surfaces. Classical yaw dampers for the dutch roll mode utilize the yaw control surfaces such as a rudder to dampen the dutch roll mode oscillations. An alternative damper is described that utilizes roll control surfaces such as spoilers or ailerons to dampen the dutch roll mode. |
| US08620490B2 |
Method to disable trunk lockout protection for smart entry
A smart entry system for a vehicle having a lockable trunk is provided. The smart entry system includes portable devices, an onboard transmitter for transmitting request signals to the portable devices, an onboard receiver for receiving identification signals from the portable devices, and a trunk lockout protection feature. The trunk lockout protection feature is configured to receive a command signal to either initiate a trunk lockout protection sequence to unlock the trunk in the event that one of the portable devices is locked in the trunk or to disable the trunk lockout protection sequence to permit the trunk to remain in a locked state in the event that one of the portable devices is locked in the trunk. |
| US08620488B2 |
Method and module for determining of reference values for a vehicle control system
A method for determining set-point values for a vehicle's control systems having the steps of: determining a horizon by means of position data and map data of an itinerary made up of route segments with at least one characteristic for each segment; calculating threshold values for at least one characteristic of segments according to one or more vehicle-specific values, which threshold values serve as boundaries for assigning segments to various categories; comparing the at least one characteristic of each segment with the calculated threshold values and placing each segment within the horizon in a category according to the results of the comparisons; calculating set-point values for the vehicle's control systems across the horizon according to rules pertaining to the categories in which segments within the horizon are placed; regulating the vehicle according to the set-point values. Also a module adapted to determining set-point values for a control system in the vehicle. |
| US08620486B2 |
Expandable data center
An expandable data center is provided. The expandable data center includes a first movable container, a second movable container coupling with the first movable container, and a plurality of racks disposed within the first movable container and the second movable container. The size of the second movable container is less than that of the first movable container, so that the second movable container can be moved into the first movable container when a vehicle carries the first movable container and the second movable container from a place to another place. A plurality of sensors and/or detectors are disposed within the first movable container and the second movable container, respectively, for sensing and/or detecting one or more environmental parameters in the first and the second movable containers. A method for deploying a data center is also provided. |
| US08620484B2 |
Input parasitic metal detection
A system and method of controlling inductive power transfer in an inductive power transfer system and a method for designing an inductive power transfer system with power accounting. The method of controlling inductive power transfer including measuring a characteristic of input power, a characteristic of power in the tank circuit, and receiving information from a secondary device. Estimating power consumption based on the measured characteristic of tank circuit power and received information and comparing the measured characteristic of input power, the information from the secondary device, and the estimated power consumption to determine there is an unacceptable power loss. The method for designing an inductive power transfer system with power accounting including changing the distance between a primary side and a secondary side and changing a load of the secondary side. For each distance between the primary side and the secondary side and for each load, measuring a circuit parameter on the primary side in the tank circuit and a circuit parameter on the secondary side during the transfer of contactless energy. The method further including selecting a formula to describe power consumption in the system during the transfer of contactless energy based on coefficients and the circuit parameters, and determining the coefficients using the measured circuit parameters. |
| US08620482B2 |
Method of estimating the maximum power generation capacity and for controlling a specified power reserve of a single cycle or combined cycle gas turbine power plant, and a power generating system for use with said method
An estimation unit can estimate, on a real-time basis, a maximum power generation capacity of a single cycle or combined cycle gas turbine power plant. For example, the actual power output and the maximum power generation capacity can be calculated relying on a mathematical process model. Subsequently, the calculated actual power output can be compared with the measured power output yielding a model-estimation error. Based on the model-estimation error, a correction signal can be deduced, to correct the calculated maximum power generation capacity. A controller can maintain a specified power reserve. The controller can use an estimate of the maximum power generation capacity as a reference, subtract a load offset, and apply the resulting signal as upper limit of the load set-point. |
| US08620481B2 |
Method and apparatus for controlling irrigation
The invention comprises devices and methods for providing operational power to a solar-powered irrigation control system. In one aspect, a method includes producing electrical energy from light, storing the electrical energy in a capacitive module, and operating an irrigation controller using the stored electrical energy independent of another power source. In another aspect, a device includes a control system comprising a computer having a programmed irrigation schedule which operates at least one irrigation device, a photovoltaic power module, and a capacitive module connected to said photovoltaic power module to store the electrical energy provided by the photovoltaic power module, where the capacitive module provides power for the control system to operate the at least one irrigation device independent of another power source. |
| US08620477B2 |
Control for pressurized bladder in a patient support apparatus
An apparatus for supporting a patient, such as a hospital bed, is provided. The apparatus includes a patient support surface and at least one fluid containing bladder. A pressure control assembly is operably coupled with the bladder. When the fluid pressure within the bladder falls outside of an acceptable range of pressure values, the active adjustment of the pressure within the bladder is initiated by the pressure control assembly if the pressure does not return to the acceptable range of pressure values within a time period, e.g., a time delay, that has a variable length. |
| US08620474B2 |
Control device and method for a manipulator
In a method for controlling a manipulator, in particular a robot, a reference path is stored and reference increments are automatically determined while following the path the reference increments are determined based on the dynamics of the manipulator while following the path. |
| US08620473B2 |
Medical robotic system with coupled control modes
In a coupled control mode, the surgeon directly controls movement of an associated slave manipulator with an input device while indirectly controlling movement of one or more non-associated slave manipulators, in response to commanded motion of the directly controlled slave manipulator, to achieve a secondary objective. By automatically performing secondary tasks through coupled control modes, the system's usability is enhanced by reducing the surgeon's need to switch to another direct mode to manually achieve the desired secondary objective. Thus, coupled control modes allow the surgeon to better focus on performing medical procedures and to pay less attention to managing the system. |
| US08620472B2 |
Dispensing mechanism for centralized robotic gantry
A vending arrangement for computerized vending machines, retail displays, automated retail stores, utilizes a centralized, robotic gantry associated with companion modules for vending a plurality of selectable products. The modularized design enables deployment of half-sized or larger, full sized machines. The robotic gantry is deployed in a centralized module disposed adjacent display and inventory modules. Inventory modules can be fitted to both gantry sides, and doors can be fitted to the gantry front or rear. The gantry comprises an internal, vertically displaceable elevator utilizing a central conveyor for laterally, horizontally moving selected items from associated display and inventory positions to a vending position. Computerized software enables the display and vending functions, and controls elevator movement to dispense products from twin sides of the gantry by appropriately controlling the conveyor. |
| US08620470B2 |
System for assembling aircraft
A system for assembling aircraft is disclosed. An example system for moving components of an airplane into assembly alignment includes a jacking system including assembly jacks for supporting and moving components of the airplane into assembly alignment; a measurement system independent of the jacking system for determining locations of a plurality of features the components of the airplane while the components are supported on the assembly jacks; and a computer system for determining the relative positions of the components in a coordinate system of the airplane and for controlling the movement of the assembly jacks to bring the components into assembly alignment. |
| US08620467B2 |
Method and apparatus for assembling a complex product in a parallel process system
A method and apparatus for assembling a complex product in a parallel process system wherein a collection of components are provided for assembling the complex product. The present invention involves transferring the collection of components to one of a plurality of similar computerized assembly cells through the use of a transport system. The collection of components is automatically assembled into the complex product through the use of the computerized assembly cells. The complex product is then transferred from one of the assembly cells to a computerized test cell, where the complex product is tested to ensure for the proper dimensioning and functioning of the complex product. The complex product is then transferred from the test cell via the transport system to either a part reject area or conveyor, if the product is defective, or to an automatic dunnage load or part return system, if the product is not defective. |
| US08620466B2 |
Method for determining a point in time within an audio signal
A method for determining a point in time within an audio signal, the audio signal having been transmitted from a broadcast station to a client and to a server, the method including: deriving, at the server, first signature data from the audio signal, wherein a reference point in time is associated with the beginning or end of the audio data corresponding to the first signature data; deriving, at the client, second signature data from the audio signal, wherein the second signature data are derived in the same manner as the first signature data at the server; comparing the first and second signature data; and determining the point in time to be equal to the reference point in time depending on a result of the comparing. |
| US08620463B2 |
Systems and methods for golf analytics visualization
Systems and methods providing statistical analytics of golf performance including text, tabular, graphic, and image-based outputs that include trends information for the golfer, all based upon actual golf play on course situations, wherein the golfer inputs shot data during play, without interrupting the flow of the game, and uploads the shot data for analytics and review online, including detailed diagrammatic representations of golf performance analytics, such as scattergraph diagrams, that provide information including zone-based target areas rather than merely pinpoint targets. |
| US08620462B2 |
Apparatus in dental environment and method for controlling a device belonging to the same
The present invention relates to an apparatus used in dental care environment and to a method for controlling a device belonging to the apparatus, especially to hygienic and ergonomic control of a device belonging to the apparatus in connection with dental care work. The invention includes at least one device (2, 3) used in connection with dental care work, such as a dental unit, a patient chair, a dental x-ray device and/or a computer and at least one user interface (1) for sending control commands to at least one of said devices (2, 3) used in connection with dental care work, whereby a fixed or a detachable means (4) is arranged in said user interface (1) for detachably connecting it to a person working in the dental care environment, to his/her clothing or to the dental unit, or the user interface is arranged as a fixed or a detachable part of clothing arranged to be separately dressed on the person in question or of some other structure to be dressed on. |
| US08620453B2 |
MRI-safe implantable medical device
A medical lead is provided for use in a pulse stimulation system of the type which includes a pulse generator for producing electrical stimulation therapy. The lead comprises an elongate insulating body and at least one electrical conductor within the insulating body. The conductor has a proximal end configured to be electrically coupled to the pulse generator and has a DC resistance in the range of 375-2000 ohms. At least one distal electrode is coupled to the conductor. |
| US08620452B2 |
Selecting electrode combinations for stimulation therapy
Techniques for selecting electrode combinations for stimulation therapy include delivering stimulation via each of at least five combination groups. A first group of electrode combinations is characterized by the presence of a caudal anode. A second group of electrode combinations is characterized by the presence of a rostral anode. A third group of electrode combinations is characterized by the presence of a single anode above and a single anode below the cathode(s) of the combination. A fourth group of electrode combinations is characterized by the presence of multiple anodes above and below the cathode(s) of the combination. A fifth group of electrode combinations is characterized by the presence of transverse anodes. A sixth group of electrode combination is characterized by at least one off-center cathode. One or more preferred electrode combinations groups, and/or a number of leads to implant within the patient, may by selected based on patient feedback. |
| US08620442B2 |
Multi-electrode integration in a visual prosthesis
The present invention is a method of stimulating visual neurons to create the perception of light. A visual prosthesis electrically stimulating the retina with implanted electrodes exhibits interaction between electrodes stimulated closely together in both space and time. The method of the present invention includes determining a minimum distance at which spatiotemporal interactions occur, determining a minimum time at which spatiotemporal interactions occur, and avoiding stimulation of electrodes within the minimum distance during the minimum time. The minimum are ideally established for each individual patient. Alternatively, approximate minimums have been established by the applicants at 2 mm and 1.8 μsec. |
| US08620440B2 |
Stimulation system and method for treating fragile bone disorders
According to one aspect, a stimulation system is provided for electrically stimulating a predetermined site to treat a fragile bone disorder or condition. The system includes an electrical stimulation lead adapted for implantation into a subcutaneous area in communication with a predetermined site, wherein the site is neuronal tissue that is associated with C2/C3 dermatome area. The stimulation lead includes one or more stimulation electrodes adapted to be positioned in the predetermined site. The system also includes a stimulation source that generates the stimulation pulses for transmission to the one or more stimulation electrodes of the stimulation lead to deliver the stimulation pulses to the predetermined site to treat a fragile bone disorder or condition. |
| US08620428B2 |
Electrical inibition of the phrenic nerve during cardiac pacing
According to various method embodiments for pacing a heart and avoiding unwanted stimulation of a phrenic nerve during cardiac pacing, a desired pacing time for delivering a cardiac pace is determined, and a desired nerve traffic inhibition time to inhibit nerve traffic in the phrenic nerve is determined using the desired pace time. The cardiac pace is delivered at the desired pacing time and nerve traffic in the phrenic nerve is inhibited at the desired nerve traffic inhibition time. |
| US08620425B2 |
Nerve signal differentiation in cardiac therapy
Methods of nerve signal differentiation, methods of delivering therapy using such nerve signal differentiation, and to systems and devices for performing such methods. Nerve signal differentiation may include locating two electrodes proximate nerve tissue and differentiating between efferent and afferent components of nerve signals monitored using the two electrodes. |
| US08620424B2 |
Method and apparatus for providing extra systolic stimulation
An implantable medical device and associated method control the delivery of extra systolic stimulation by determining a coupling interval, setting an extra systolic interval in response to the coupling interval; and delivering a supraventricular stimulation pulse upon expiration of the extra systolic interval. The supraventricular stimulation pulse evokes a depolarization that is conducted to the ventricles occurring at a ventricular coupling interval relative to a ventricular event. |
| US08620422B2 |
Electrode array structures and methods of use for cardiovascular reflex control
A tissue stimulation device includes an electrode array having at least four independently switchable electrodes. In one embodiment, the electrode array comprises a flexible base to which the electrodes are fixed that flexes to encompass at least a portion of an artery or other elongate biological structure. The electrodes are electrically coupled to and energized by a signal generator coupled to a control system. In one embodiment, the array of electrodes are configured such that a suitable signal pattern for stimulation pulses between or among a set of the switchable electrodes may be determined without having to reposition the electrode assembly by using a series of signal patterns activating different combinations of switchable electrodes in response to sub-stimulation test signals to determine a signal pattern that provides suitable patient response. In another embodiment, the array of electrodes includes an array of selectively activatable multi-polar electrodes. |
| US08620418B1 |
Systems and methods for processing and displaying patient electrocardiograph data
A method is disclosed for displaying patient ECG data. The method includes receiving ECG data including an ECG waveform; receiving analyzed ECG data including arrhythmic events; generating an indicia of the detected arrhythmic event; and displaying the indicia of the detected arrhythmic event in relation to the ECG waveform at a position associated with a time of the detected arrhythmic event. A system for displaying patient ECG data is also disclosed. |
| US08620415B2 |
Analysis of electrocardiogram signals
Apparatus for graphical representation of a train of ECG complexes each including an R wave and a T-P interval and having variable isoelectric levels. The apparatus includes an isoelectric alignment unit for aligning the complexes in terms of isoelectric level by aligning respective T-P intervals, thereby to provide a graphical representation of the train of ECG complexes; and a temporal alignment unit for aligning the complexes temporally using a selected point on the respective R waves. The aligned units are superimposed to provide a distribution of a normalized ECG signal over a series of pulses or heartbeats. |
| US08620408B2 |
Method for representing two-dimensional projection images and objects corresponding thereto
2-D projection images show the variation over time of the distribution of a contrast medium in an examination subject. Each projection image comprises pixels having pixel values corresponding to one another in the projection images that are determined by identical areas of the examination subject. A computer subdivides an image that is to be displayed from the projection images into parcels in one perfusion region. For each parcel, the computer determines a characteristic value and, based on the characteristic value, a projection color. It assigns the projection color to the parcel. The characteristic value is determined based on the pixel values occurring in the parcel of the projection image or their differences from the pixel values of a corresponding parcel of another projection image. The computer outputs a subarea of the projection image containing the perfusion region. It represents each parcel of the perfusion region in its assigned projection color. |
| US08620405B2 |
Skin marker
A skin marker for providing a reference point for a plurality of different medical imaging procedures, said marker incorporating one or more substances having one or more of radiance and/or hydration and/or radiopaque and/or radio luminescent and/or radioactive properties for detection by X-ray and/or Computer Tomography (CT) and/or MRI and/or Ultrasonic scanning processes and/or Positron Emission Tomography (PET), and one or more markings recognizable by an optical imaging process such as 3D surface scanning. |
| US08620403B2 |
Method and apparatus for acquisition of magnetic resonance slice images of a subject
In a method for acquisition of magnetic resonance slice images of an examination subject of a patient by using a magnetic resonance apparatus having a control device controlling the image acquisition operation, wherein the slice images are acquired as slice image stacks situated in different planes in a field of view within a homogeneous magnetic field, wherein the control device determines the volume of the examination subject using an overview image exposure and, dependent on the determination result, at least one or more of the image acquisition parameters of slice thickness, slice interval, slice count and/or size of the field of view is adapted. |
| US08620402B2 |
Physiological sensor device
A physiological sensor device is attachable to the skin of a person for collecting physiological signals generated by the person's body. The device includes a flexible front layer made of a material that does not conduct electricity and a flexible back layer made of a material that does not conduct electricity. A flexible intermediate layer made of a material that does not conduct electricity is sandwiched between and fixed to the front layer and the back layer. Electrodes and electrical conductors are fixed to a back side of the intermediate layer. Each of the electrodes is attached to one of the electrical conductors and all of the electrical conductors are attached to a single common connector that protrudes through a portal in the front layer. A conductive gel pad is adhered to and aligned with each of the electrodes and protrudes through a portals in the back layer to contact the skin of a person when the physiological sensor device is attached to the skin of a person. Each layer of the physiological sensor device has, when attached to a standing person's chest, a vertically extending portion with a horizontally extending portion located at a lower end of the vertically extending portion to give the physiological sensor device a shape like an inverted T. The vertically extending portion is intended to overly a person's sternum and is sized to comfortably fit either a male or female patient. |
| US08620401B2 |
Biological signal detection electrode and biological signal detection apparatus
A biological signal detection electrode includes an electrode element and a plurality of drought-resistant electrolytic solution soaking parts. The electrode element is made of a conductive material and has a surface. The plurality of drought-resistant electrolytic solution soaking parts are placed at predetermined intervals on the surface of the electrode element, are formed to have a thickness that allows contact with a scalp without hair being sandwiched between the electrode element and the scalp, and are soaked in a drought-resistant electrolytic solution including a drought-resistant liquid and a conductive liquid. |
| US08620400B2 |
Dual-deflecting electrophysiology catheter
An electrophysiology catheter includes a tubular body having a proximal region, a neck region, and a distal region predisposed into a loop and including electrodes. A first deflection wire extends through at least a portion of the proximal region of the catheter body and includes a first flattened section, while a second deflection wire extends through the neck region and at least a portion of the distal region and includes a second flattened section within the neck region. A first activation wire is joined to the flattened section of the first deflection wire, while a second activation wire is joined to the flattened section of the second deflection wire. Thus, forces acting on the first and second activation wires, such as forces imposed by a handle-based actuator, are respectively transmitted to the first and second deflection wires, thereby deflecting the proximal and neck regions, respectively. |
| US08620399B2 |
Deflectable medical devices and methods of manufacturing therefor
Medical devices, methods of manufacturing medical devices, and systems comprising medical devices are provided. The medical device comprises a shaft having a proximal end, a distal end, and a major lumen disposed therein extending between the proximal end and the distal end. The major lumen is configured to receive a second medical device therein. The shaft comprises an inner liner, a generally planar element wrapped in a spiral pattern about the outer surface of the inner liner, and an outer layer. The generally planar element has a longitudinal axis and a plurality of longitudinally extending ribs and comprises a polymeric material. |
| US08620396B2 |
Slide mechanism and electronic apparatus
Slide mechanism includes: a slide pin; a base in which formed are a first guide portion guiding the pin upwardly and downwardly and a first hook portion formed integrally with and bent to the right from the upper end of the portion; a slider slidable upwardly and downwardly relative to the base, in which formed are a second guide portion guiding the pin upwardly and downwardly, a second hook portion formed integrally with upper end of the second guide portion and bent to the left, and a runout formed integrally with lower end of the second guide portion; and an urging mechanism that has one end attached to the pin and the other end attached rotatably to base such that the vertical position of the other end is between both ends of the first guide portion, and that urges the pin away from the other end. |
| US08620395B2 |
Mobile terminal
A mobile terminal comprises: a case forming appearance of the mobile terminal, and having a printed circuit board (PCB) therein; and a connection terminal mounted to the case, and configured to electrically connect the PCB to an external device, wherein the connection terminal comprises: an external terminal supported by an outer surface of the case; and an internal terminal elastically contacting a terminal of the PCB, connected to the external terminal, and supported by an inner surface of the case. |
| US08620394B2 |
Method and system for impulse radio wakeup
Communication networks are implemented using a variety of devices and methods. In a particular embodiment for use in a communication network having RF-communication devices that communicate using a RF protocol, an RF-communication device is implemented with an RF transceiver (110) to communicate over the network using the RF protocol and being controllable in a reduced power-consumption mode in which the RF transceiver does not communicate over the network. The device also includes an RF receiver (104, 106) including an envelope detector (104) and a pulse generator circuit (106). The envelope detector circuit (104) providing an envelope-based signal to a pulse generator circuit (106) that, in response to the envelope-based signal and after generating a number of pulses that exceeds a predetermined number of pulses, prompts the RF transceiver (110) to transition out of the reduced power-consumption mode. |
| US08620389B2 |
Voice control of multimedia and communications devices
A method for operating a communications device can include receiving a plurality of spoken commands uttered by a user, the plurality of spoken commands comprising a custom written communication message to be displayed. The method can also include executing a speech recognition engine to recognize and convert each of the spoken commands into corresponding electronic signals that selectively enable and operatively control each of a plurality of multimedia units and at least one light array, wherein the electronic signals are configured to cause multiple light units of the light array to be selectively activated and display the custom written communication message. The method can further include transmitting audio signals received from different ones of the plurality of multimedia units to a radio via a preset open radio channel for broadcasting the audio signals through at least one speaker connected to the radio. |
| US08620387B2 |
Methods, systems, and products for customized alerts
Methods, systems, and products present a custom alert to a recipient of an incoming data communication. A data message is received that specifies the custom alert associated with the data communication. The customer alert is then visually and/or audibly presented to provide notice of the data communication. |
| US08620385B2 |
Implicit group formation around feed content for mobile devices
A unique system and method that facilitates group-based mobile communication around external feed content is provided. The system and method involve adding external feed content to content generated within a group. Both types of content can be viewed on the mobile devices of the group. Updates to the feed content can be obtained and communicated to the group. When multiple feeds are subscribed to by a group, one or more group members can display such feed content in a selective manner. For example, splinter groups can be formed off of the original group for members who wish to receive a subset of feeds (feed content) to assist them in focusing on a topic of interest. Group members can also employ display filters to restrict feed content displayed on their mobile devices. Users can also search for available feeds and form new groups around such content or join an existing group. |
| US08620383B2 |
Dynamic resource sharing among cellular networks
According to a disclosed method, an MME in a network analyzes KPIs from the cells it serves and based on the KPIs, it decides to engage in sharing. The MME then contacts a sharing entity (SE) to announce that it wants to borrow or to supply resources. The MME obtains terms of a sharing agreement from the SE and the MME obtains the identity of the other network. In response to this information, the MME configures its network elements to share. The MME's own network may be a supplier or a borrower. If the network is a supplier, the MME configures its base stations to support UEs subscribing to the other network. If the network is a borrower, the MME configures its UEs to accept service from the other network's base stations. The SE applies knowledge of network topology and of services offered. This knowledge is obtained from a sharing database. At the expiration of the sharing agreement, the SE tells the MMEs to deactivate the sharing agreement. |
| US08620382B2 |
Cognitive radio communication system based on cooperation signal provided by another system
An apparatus and method of facilitating cooperation within a cognitive radio communication system. The cooperation system facilitated in the communication system by another communication system. The apparatus include: a receiver to receive an uplink signal from a mobile station and a cooperation signal from a second communication system, wherein the cooperation signal is associated with the uplink signal; an evaluator to evaluate a contribution of the cooperation signal with respect to detection of the uplink signal; and a radio resource management unit to control an available radio resource for the second system according to the contribution of the cooperation signal. |
| US08620380B2 |
Subscriber identity module having a plurality of subscriber identities
Embodiments of apparatuses, articles, methods, and systems for utilizing a subscriber identity module having a plurality of subscriber identities for communications within wireless networks are generally described herein. Other embodiments may be described and claimed. |
| US08620377B2 |
Hybrid phone and method of acquiring channel in the hybrid phone
A hybrid phone to acquire channels has a first communication mode supporting voice/low-rate data communications and a second communication mode supporting high-rate data communication, and includes a phone control unit having a communication processor controlling voice/data communications according to programs stored in a memory. The communication processor includes a channel acquisition processor attempting to acquire channels for the first and second communication modes. If the channel acquisition processor cannot acquire a channel for the second communication mode within a predetermined time, the channel acquisition processor stops attempting to acquire the channel for the second communication mode and reattempts to acquire the channel for the first communication mode. If the channel acquisition processor acquires the channel for the first communication mode, the channel acquisition processor reattempts to acquire the channel for the second communication mode. |
| US08620376B2 |
Method and apparatus for adaptive peer to peer communication selection in wireless communication system
A method and apparatus for adaptively selecting a Peer-to-Peer (P2P) communication mode in a wireless communication system are provided. In a method of operating a Base Station (BS) for establishing a P2P connection between Mobile Stations (MSs) in the wireless communication system, the method includes, upon receiving a connection request message from a transmitting MS, broadcasting an instruction message to one or more neighbor MSs, receiving P2P-related information from a receiving MS among the neighbor MSs, selecting a communication mode by determining whether P2P communication is possible between MSs according to the P2P-related information and, if P2P communication is possible between the MSs, transmitting a connection response message to the transmitting MS and the receiving MS. |
| US08620375B2 |
Method and apparatus for supporting discontinuous operation of base station in wireless communication system and control system thereof
An operation control method in a base station of a wireless communication system includes: checking whether or not an allowed mobile station exists in coverage of the base station and overall coverage of base stations adjacent to the base station; and controlling the base station to perform transmission/reception at a predetermined period through a first discontinuous operation, when the allowed mobile station does not exist in the coverage of the base station and the overall coverage of the adjacent base stations. |
| US08620369B2 |
Channel access method in wireless network
There is provided a channel access method in which a channel access method in a wireless network in which a channel access opportunity is provided to high priority traffic for each super-frame. The channel access method includes: setting parameter values required for channel access; setting a channel access time to be equal to a size of a contention access period (CAP); and accessing a channel to be used by resetting the channel access time to be equal to the size of the CAP when traffic to be transmitted is traffic having a preset high priority in a case in which the channel is not in an idle state. |
| US08620367B2 |
Apparatus and method for managing a random access channel in a mobile communication system
An apparatus and method for managing a Random Access CHannel (RACH) in a mobile communication system, in which a User Equipment (UE) receives a UE information transmit request for a RACH procedure from a network, and transmits, to the network, a message including information indicating a contention detected in the RACH procedure. |
| US08620357B2 |
Method and apparatus optimizing receipt of call/broadcast paging messages by self-powered wireless communications devices
A wireless communications network (120) responds to each incoming call placed to a wireless communications device (134) by transmitting a call-paging message (418) within a corresponding partition of a digital radio frame of prescribed format. Responsive to each occurrence of a broadcast event (404), the network transmits (414) a repeating broadcast-paging message announcing the availability of broadcast content from the network. The broadcast-paging message is transmitted multiple times within each digital radio frame. Another sequence (500) describes WCD operation in this network. Responsive to wakeup (502) from sleep, the WCD detects (509) received signal quality. The WCD also receives (510) scheduled network transmission of a call-paging message and a number of instances (at least one) of a repeating network transmitted broadcast-paging message that occurs multiple times for each scheduled transmission of the call-paging message. This number varies inversely with the detected signal quality. |
| US08620355B2 |
Method and apparatus for determining the position of a wireless terminal based on propagation delay taps of base stations
A method for wireless positioning is provided. The method for wireless positioning includes: acquiring synchronization with base stations; collecting a plurality of propagation delay taps for the base stations; determining a final propagation delay tap among the plurality of propagation delay taps; calculating a time difference of arrival (TDOA) value using the final propagation delay value; and deriving locations of the terminals using the calculated TDOA value. By this configuration, the positioning accuracy can be improved. |
| US08620352B2 |
Privacy of location information
An arrangement for providing privacy settings for determining whether location information for a subscriber can be provided to a requesting party is described. The privacy settings are at least partially based on presence information for the subscriber. A gateway mobile location center (GMLC) selectively provides the location information regarding subscribers on request, in accordance with the privacy settings. |
| US08620351B2 |
Method of configuring device performance and device location to perform a task
A configuration device for configuring a wireless device within a wireless cell can include a receiving unit configured to receive a request message from a wireless device within a wireless cell. In addition, the configuration device can include a first processing unit configured to determine location information of the wireless device, and a second processing unit configured to determine a communication capacity of the wireless device, and to estimate a communication requirement based on the request message. Furthermore, the configuration device can have a transmitting unit configured to transmit optimal information to the wireless device with respect to the request message. |
| US08620350B2 |
Timed fingerprint locating for idle-state user equipment in wireless networks
A user equipment (UE) location in a wireless network can be determined by leveraging geometric calculations for an overlaid bin grid framework mapping the wireless network area to store differential values for each frame of the bin grid framework for each pair of relevant NodeBs. A timing offset can be determined, such that when a time value from a target UE is accessed, the location can be quickly determined with minimal real time computation. In an aspect, the time value from an idle-state target UE can be accessed. The target UE time value can be searched among pre-computed differential value data sets indexed by relevant NodeB site pairs to return sets of frames that can facilitate converging on a location for the target UE. Intersecting frames can represent the geographic location of the UE in the wireless network. Further, the data can be leveraged to correct timing in the network. |
| US08620348B2 |
Directional peer-to-peer networking
Interaction between wireless devices, one of which may be equipped with a directional radio (a radio with a directional antenna for directional sensing capabilities) can be used in directional peer-to-peer networking. A method can include obtaining, at a first device from a serving device, proximity information regarding a second device. The method can also include obtaining, at the first device from the serving device, direction information regarding the second device. The method can further include calculating a position of the second device with respect to the first device based on the proximity information and based on the direction information. The method can additionally include communicating with the second device based on the position. |
| US08620344B2 |
Location-based application program management
Methods, program products, and systems for location-based application program management are described. A mobile device can receive a first application program to be executed in an application subsystem. The first application program can be configured to be invoked or notified when the mobile device is located at a defined location. The mobile device can register the first application program to a second application program that executes in a baseband subsystem. The mobile device can set the application subsystem to a power-saving operating mode. The second application program can monitor a current location of the mobile device. When the mobile device is currently located at the defined location, the second application program can set the application subsystem to an active operating mode, and invoke the first application program. |
| US08620336B2 |
Access to a cellular network for machine type communication devices
Controlling access by a User Equipment (UE) to a cellular network may be effected by: receiving an instruction at the UE from a base station of the cellular network regarding transmission by the UE over a Random Access Channel (RACH) of the cellular network; and controlling when transmissions are made from the UE over the RACH, on the basis of the received instruction. In some cases, a transmission over the RACH may be made in response to the received instruction, which gives permission for the UE to transmit if it has data to send. In other cases, the instruction specifies a Group Identifier, which is compared with a Group Identifier specific to the UE and transmission over the RACH may be avoided based on the comparison. In particular, the UE may be a Machine Type Communication device. |
| US08620334B2 |
Method and apparatus for carrier assignment, configuration and switching for multicarrier wireless communications
As part of carrier assignment and configuration for multicarrier wireless communications, a single uplink (UL) primary carrier may provide control information for multiple concurrent downlink (DL) carriers. Optionally, control information for each DL carrier may be transmitted over paired UL carriers. Carrier switching of UL and/or DL carriers, including primary and anchor carriers, may occur during normal operation or during handover, and may occur in only the UL or only the DL direction. A unidirectional handover is performed when only an UL carrier or only a DL carrier is switched as part of a handover. Switching of UL and/or DL carriers may be from one component carrier or a subset of carriers to another component carrier, another subset of carriers, or all carriers in the same direction. |
| US08620333B2 |
Systems and methods for base station reference frequency and timing correction
A wireless communications system includes a radio resource manager, one or more base stations, and one or more wireless transceivers capable of communicating with the base stations. The wireless transceivers are configured to be able to measure the difference in network parameter (e.g. frequency and timing offset) between base stations within their range. These network parameter differences along with other information are communicated to the radio resource manager which is then able to update or correct the signal or signals of one or more base stations using the information from the wireless transceivers. |
| US08620331B1 |
Wired service for wireless subscribers
Methods and systems for establishing landline telephone services for wireless telephone subscribers are provided. One embodiment of a method includes receiving a request to establish a voice connection between a first telephone device and a second telephone device, wherein the second telephone device is a landline telephone device, and further wherein a particular wireless telephone number is associated with the second telephone device; referencing a mapping of one or more wireless telephone numbers and corresponding IP addresses, wherein the particular wireless telephone number associated with the second telephone device is mapped to a particular IP address in the referenced mapping; and utilizing said referenced mapping, initiating a voice connection between the first telephone device and the second telephone device. |
| US08620327B2 |
Base transceiver station
A base transceiver station performing communications with user equipment, includes a receiving unit to receive an uplink transmission signal containing a propagation path fluctuation value between a self-device and the user equipment from the user equipment; and a communication permitting unit to control a period of time during which a permission of communications is given to the user equipment based on the propagation path fluctuation value. |
| US08620323B1 |
Method and system for supporting call origination before session establishment
An access terminal establishes a session with a first radio access network (RAN). As a result, the access terminal receives a Unicast Access Terminal Identifier (UATI) assigned by the first RAN and establishes configuration settings for radio communications between the access terminal and the first RAN. The access terminal moves from the first RAN to a second RAN. Before the access terminal has a session established with the second RAN, the access terminal receives a request from a user to originate a call. In response, the access terminal sends the second RAN a connection request that includes the UATI assigned by the first RAN. The second RAN evaluates the UATI included in the connection request and determines that it was previously assigned to the access terminal by another RAN. Based on this determination, the second RAN grants the connection request by assigning a traffic channel to the access terminal. |
| US08620321B2 |
Method and apparatus for the handover
Consistent handover can be provided between a plurality of objects by providing handover mode control information defining an object for initiating handover from among at least one object in a system environment including the at least one object, wherein the at least one object is able to initiate handover between heterogeneous networks. |
| US08620320B2 |
Methods for handing over calls between communication networks using dissimilar air interfaces
A call in progress in a first communication network is handed over to a second communication network which uses a different air interface. To facilitate the handover, the present serving base station commands the mobile communication device to take measurements of surrounding cells of the second communication network. The measurements are sent along with a handover request from the serving base station to a radio network controller of the second network, which decides upon a cell to which the cal will be handed. A grant message including an identifier to be used by the mobile communication device and an identifier of the base station receiving the handover is transmitted back to the first network, and used by the mobile communication device in handing over the call. |
| US08620319B1 |
Intelligent algorithm to determine service availability and presentation to user
A system and method is disclosed for selectively masking or revealing an availability of mobile voice and data services associated with a mobile device when a handoff frequency from data capable to data-limited networks exceeds a threshold. The system can include components that can detect a network handoff event, compute a handoff frequency and compare the handoff frequency to a threshold. Additional components can mask availability of voice and data services at mobile device based on the comparison. Also disclosed is a method for determining a mobile device location, mapping RF signal quality of data capable networks surrounding the location, and indicating an impending loss of service if the RF signal quality falls below a quality threshold. |
| US08620316B2 |
Method and apparatus in a telecommunications network
The present invention provides a method in a call session control node (18, 200) for a packet-switched telecommunications network (10). The call session control node (18, 200) comprises an originating call handling function (202) and a terminating call handling function (204). The method comprises the steps of: receiving (100, 300) a message (14) for a called entity on the originating call handling function (202); determining (106, 400) with the originating call handling function (202) whether the called entity is registered with the call session control node (18, 200); and, if the called entity is registered with the call session control node (18, 200), routing (110, 500) the message (14) to the terminating call handling function (204), without traversing an inbound call session control function. |
| US08620314B2 |
Apparatus and methods for determining connection quality of a wireless device on a wireless communications network
Apparatus and methods for determining a connection quality of a wireless device with a wireless communications network comprise a user manager operable to receive a plurality of communications messages as recorded by the wireless device, where the plurality of communications messages comprise messages transmitted from and received by the wireless device via the wireless communication network. Further, a connection quality module associated with the user manager is operable to generate a connection quality record comprising a connection quality characteristic based on a detection of a predetermined sequence of communications messages within the plurality of communications messages. Optionally, an optimization module may generate a configuration change for the wireless device and/or a network component based on the connection quality characteristic. |
| US08620313B2 |
Mobile communication method and network device
To improve continuity in a communication service while preventing wasteful power consumption in the mobile station, in the mobile communication method of the present invention comprises a step A of the mobile station communicating with a macro cell measuring and reporting reception quality in a neighboring cell of the macro cell, the neighboring cell being notified by a network device, and the network device detecting a home cell that does not allow access from the mobile station, and step B of the network device notifying the mobile station of the neighboring cell of the macro cell excluding the detected cell that does not allow access from the mobile station. |
| US08620311B2 |
Communication system for carrying out call control of communication terminal and communication method therefor
There is provided a communication system and a communication method of making available both a shared telephone number shared by multiple communication terminals and an individual telephone number dedicated to a user's own terminal in a single communication terminal. A shared managing unit 11 of a communication system 1 manages terminal identifiers 1 and 3 identifying each of a plurality of communication terminals 30a and 30b to which a shared telephone number is assigned in correlation with the shared telephone number. An individual managing unit 12 manages a terminal identifier 2 identifying a communication terminal 30b to which an individual telephone number is assigned is correlation with the individual telephone number. A user information managing unit 13 manages user information including base station information of communication terminals identified by the identifier every terminal identifiers 1, 2, and 3. A call control device 20 carries out call control of communication terminals 30b, to which the shared telephone number and an individual telephone number are assigned, using this information. |
| US08620308B2 |
Method and apparatus for a distributed roaming master (DRM) in wireless data networks
A system and methodology that can facilitate communication between home and roaming radio access networks by employing IP-based messaging is provided. The system employs a Distributed Roaming Master (DRM) that facilitates authentication and/or authorization of roaming UEs (user equipment) by employing information, which can be downloaded from a home carrier-DRM over an IP network, in advance or in real time. Further, the DRM can utilize the downloaded information to route data packets between authorized roaming UEs and end-destinations, over the IP network. Furthermore, the system can implement Distributed Roaming Servers (DRS), which can be distributed at strategic points in the radio access networks and can perform a subset of functions performed by the DRM. Additionally, the system can include a Distributed Roaming Configuration Server (DRCS) that facilitates management and configuration of the DRM and/or DRSs based on one or more records stored in a Distributed Roaming Security Catalog (DRSC). |
| US08620301B1 |
Radiated wave measurement with supporting calibration
A process and apparatus that are described measure characteristics of radiated waves in an uncontrolled environment. These measurements are useful for the design of communications installations (site surveys) among other signal measurement applications. |
| US08620300B2 |
Method of transmitting cell identity information
In a cellular radio system cell identities, in particular the E-UTRAN Physical Layer Cell Identities (PCIDs), are grouped in accordance with the area, in particular the Tracking Area, to which they belong to in a message transmitted from a radio base station to a mobile station. In one embodiment the grouped cell identity information is transmitted as a broadcast message. A multi RAT, e.g. GERAN/E-UTRAN, capable mobile station receiving such a broadcast message where the IDs are grouped together in tracking area groups is then enabled to determine the neighboring cells that belong to the same Area. As a result when cell reselection to an E-UTRAN cell is rejected due to that the Tracking Area is not allowed, the mobile station can then be allowed to directly initiate cell reselection to E-UTRAN cells that are not part of the same PCID group, and which thus do not belong to the same tracking area. This in turn results in that no waiting time is needed to initiate a cell reselection towards those cells. |
| US08620298B2 |
Capacity management of an asynchronous transfer mode interface in a wireless communication infrastructure
Methods and apparatus that effectively manage capacity of a wireless-based communication infrastructure are presented herein. An evaluation component can generate configuration data associated with a base station of a cellular wireless network. Further, a radio network controller component can determine capacity of a physical port coupled between a radio network controller and the base station. The radio network controller component can configure the radio network controller to utilize an increase in capacity of the physical port based on the determined capacity of the physical port. A base station component can configure the base station to utilize the increase in capacity of the physical port based on the configuration data generated by the evaluation component. |
| US08620290B2 |
Method and system for scheduling phone call using SMS
A schedule for a desired call, obtained, for example as an SMS message sent from a user's mobile station, enables a server to automatically initiate set-up of a voice call for the user's mobile station at a scheduled time selected by the user and indicated in the message. The user can specify time and a telephone number for the call, in advance, in the call scheduling request message. However, at the time of the call, the user does not need to read a reminder or dial the call. The call scheduling and automatic set-up services described by way of examples herein may be very useful, for example, for attending important conference calls. This may also be very useful for setting a reminder to call a special person to wish him/her well on his/her birthday/anniversary etc. |
| US08620289B2 |
Handheld electronic device having improved phone call log, and associated method
An improved handheld electronic device and an associated method provide an improved call log that presents information relating to logged phone calls in a collapsed manner, meaning that for each phone number having a call stored in the memory of the device, only the most recent in time call is listed on the call log. An improved handheld electronic device and an associated method also provide a call history for any phone call from the improved call log that is selected by the user. The call history includes a listing of all of the calls stored by the device that are associated with the selected call log call. |
| US08620285B2 |
Methods and systems for mobile coupon placement
A system for targeting mobile coupon placement on a mobile communication facility includes performing the steps of: (a) receiving a navigation request from the mobile communication facility operated by a user, wherein the navigation request comprises an action by the user with the mobile communication facility; (b) receiving information corresponding to a location of the mobile communication facility; (c) receiving information corresponding to a rendering capability of the mobile communication facility; (d) selecting a sponsored mobile coupon based at least in part on a relevance between the navigation request, the location, the rendering capability of the mobile communication facility, and a mobile subscriber characteristic or usage history characteristic; and (e) transmitting the sponsored mobile coupon to the mobile communication facility for display thereon. |
| US08620284B2 |
Output of content from the internet on a media rendering device
A system and method for controlling output of content on a media rendering device. A mobile phone may be effective to receive a request for content where the content is from a content processor. The mobile phone may be effective to generate a command based on the request, the command including a URL, the URL including an address of a gateway processor and an identification of the content processor. The mobile phone may be effective to send the command to the media rendering device. The media rendering device may be effective to send a request to the gateway processor using the URL. The gateway processor may be effective to receive the content from the content processor and send the content to the media rendering device. The media rendering device may be effective to output the content. |
| US08620283B2 |
Method and mobile device for facilitating contact from within a telephone application
The described embodiments involve use of a mobile communication device in the context of facilitating contact from within a telephone application. The described embodiments are primarily concerned with enabling quick and efficient access to contact methods other than by telephone from within the telephone application. This is done by generating a contact list, which may have one or more contacts, using an integrated dialing field provided by the telephone application and then displaying all available contact types or methods available for contacting a particular contact selected from the list. |
| US08620280B2 |
Downlink single-user multi-cell mimo systems for interference mitigation
A system and method for interference mitigation. The system and method includes a number of base stations configured to coordinate with each other to perform a joint transmission to one or more subscriber stations. The base stations allocate a portion of a frequency band for the joint transmission and jointly schedule the joint transmission. Further, the base stations are configured to select a common codebook or separate codebooks to perform the joint transmission. Thereafter, the joint transmission is performed wherein the one or more subscribers stations substantially simultaneously receive the joint transmission from each of the base stations. |
| US08620279B2 |
Apparatus and method for sending video content to a mobile device
An apparatus and method for sending video content to a mobile device is described. According to one embodiment, a computer-implemented method comprising embedding a widget in a website, the widget generating a form. The form is provided when a user visits the website so as to execute the widget. The form includes a first field to enter a recipient phone number, a send selector, and one or more non-visible fields, the non-visible fields containing a content service provider identifier, and a video URL. A data packet is generated with the widget when the user selects the send selector, the data packet including the recipient phone number, the video URL, and the content service provider identifier. An encoded version of the data packet is sent to the content service provider and a video link message is sent to the recipient phone number. |
| US08620278B1 |
Prioritizing voice mail
In system and method of prioritizing a voice mail message, a voice mail message is received comprising caller information and chronological information, a voice mail priority is associated with the first voice mail message based on at least one of a matching criteria, a call history criteria, a chronological criteria, a frequency metric, and a missed call value, and a voice mail list is ordered according to the voice mail priority. |
| US08620276B2 |
Automatic wireless device message management responsive to end user preferences
Automatically retrieving messages by a wireless telephone based on user preferences. A method of the invention receives a notification, on a wireless device, indicating that a computing device has a message for a user. One or more rules associated with the user are evaluated based on the received notification. The method also automatically requests the message from the computing device as a function of the evaluated rules and received from the computing device. The method further stores the received message in a memory area of the wireless telephone for rendering to the user. Alternatively, one or more rules associated with the user are dynamically generated by monitoring the user interaction with the wireless telephone. |
| US08620275B2 |
Server processing in providing messages for a wireless device connecting to a server
A system and method for providing a message on the graphic display of a wireless device while the wireless device is connecting to an application download server across a wireless network. When the wireless device attempts to communicate with an application download server or changes files while navigating an application download server, a message is transmitted across the wireless network to the computer platform of the wireless device and displayed to the user of the wireless device. The message can be transmitted to the wireless device from the same application download server that the wireless device is attempting to connect to or navigate, or alternately, the message can be transmitted from another server on the wireless network. |
| US08620274B2 |
Server, mobile communication system, and data updating method in the same
A mobile communication system comprises a server, a cellular phone and a computer. The server sends/receives data through a network. The cellular phone downloads data to be used by itself, which is stored in the server. The computer transmits data to be used by the mobile communication terminal to the server. A user of the cellular phone updates or inputs data to be installed in the cellular phone from the computer. The data can be downloaded from the computer to the cellular phone. |
| US08620261B2 |
Information processing system capable of calculating communication fees corresponding to communication utilization forms
An information processing system of the present invention comprises a storage apparatus storing calculation equations for calculating a communication fee corresponding to an identifier of said information terminal regarding first and second subscription courses whose said particular utilization forms are different each other, and storing subscription information including information on a date and time of starting the first subscription course, and an information processing apparatus connected to the storage apparatus through a network. Upon receipt of information on the second subscription course will be selected instead of the first subscription course and a date and time of starting the second subscription course from the information terminal through the network, the information processing apparatus stores received information in the storage apparatus, and changes the calculation equation for calculating the communication fee based on the date and time of starting the second subscription course. |
| US08620255B2 |
Method and apparatus for supporting emergency calls and location for femto access points
Techniques for routing an emergency call originated by a mobile station via a femto access point (FAP) in a wireless network and for locating the mobile station are described. In an aspect, the emergency call may be routed to an appropriate emergency center based on location information for the FAP. In one design, the location information for the FAP may include a macro cell identity (ID) and/or a macro Mobile Switching Center (MSC) ID determined based on the FAP location. The macro cell ID and/or the macro MSC ID may be assigned to the FAP and used to access a database, which may store routing information for emergency centers versus cell IDs and MSC IDs. In another design, the location information for the FAP may include a location estimate for the FAP. The location estimate may be used to access a geographic database, which may store routing information for emergency centers for different geographic areas. |
| US08620252B2 |
Ultra low power, low noise switched capacitor radio frequency mixer
Presented herein are systems, methods, and apparatus for ultra-low power, low noise switched capacitor radio frequency mixer. In one embodiment, there is described a method for mixing a signal. The method comprises mixing with a mixer, a received signal with a mixing signal to generate a mixed signal. The mixing signal comprises an in-phase component and an out-of-phase component and a desired frequency. The mixed signal comprises a mixed in-phase component and a mixed out-of-phase component. The method also comprises mixing one of the mixed in-phase component and the mixed out-of-phase component based on the mixing signal. |
| US08620249B2 |
Method and system for process, voltage, and temperature (PVT) measurement and calibration
In RF transceivers a method and system for process, voltage, and temperature (PVT) measurement and calibration are provided. A nominal DC offset current may be generated at a nominal temperature and may be based on a calibration voltage. A nominal transconductance parameter may be determined based on the nominal DC offset current and the calibration voltage. The nominal transconductance may be stored and may be utilized to determine temperature and process conditions during operation. In another embodiment, a plurality of DC offset currents may be generated at different temperatures and these generated DC offset currents may be based on a calibration voltage. The calibration voltage may be constant over the range of temperatures. Transconductance parameters may be determined based on the DC offset currents and the calibration voltage. The transconductance parameters may be stored and may be utilized to determine temperature and process conditions during operation. |
| US08620246B2 |
Adaptive impedance matching module (AIMM) control architectures
A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure can include, for example, determining at a port of a matching network reflection information from a signal sampled across at least one predetermined fixed-value reactance component, generating at least one control signal according to the reflection information, and tuning the matching network with the at least one control signal, where the matching network comprises one or more controllable variable reactive elements each with an independent control voltage. Additional embodiments are disclosed. |
| US08620244B2 |
Electrical component with a front-end circuit
An electrical component with a diversity front-end circuit that is exclusively designed to transmit received signals is disclosed. The diversity front-end circuit is capable of receiving incoming signals in at least two frequency bands simultaneously. The diversity front-end circuit includes at least two receiving paths coupled to a diversity antenna, wherein the received signals of the respective frequency band are transmitted in each receiving path. |
| US08620243B2 |
System and method for an intelligent radio frequency receiver
A method a system for receiving signals from plural frequency bands and plural communication protocols. An interchangeable radio frequency (“RF”) front end may receive RF signals from plural frequency bands and plural communication protocols. Intermediate frequency (“IF”) circuitry may produce one or more common IF signals from the received RF signals. A common digital back end may then receive digitized versions of the IF signals, modify IF signal bandwidth as a function of the plural communication protocols, and process plural received signals without knowledge of the underlying communication protocols. |
| US08620237B2 |
System and method for dynamically regulating voltage to minimize power consumption
A system includes a voltage regulator connected to a voltage source for providing a regulated voltage at a first level in a first mode of operation and at least one second level in a second mode of operation. The second voltage level is higher than the first voltage level. A control processor provides control signals to select between the first and the second modes of operation. A component associated with the voltage regulator. The component is disabled in the first mode of operation and enabled in the second mode of operation. The control processor generates control signals to configure the voltage regulator to generate the voltage at the first level in the first mode of operation when the component is disabled and to configure the voltage regulator to generate the voltage at the at least one second level in the second mode of operation when the component is enabled. |
| US08620236B2 |
Techniques for improved adaptive impedance matching
An embodiment of the present invention provides a method for limiting tuning of a matching network having variable reactive elements coupled to a variable load impedance to at least reduce an undesirable effect caused by an RF signal. Other embodiments are disclosed. |
| US08620231B2 |
Mobile wireless communications device with reduced harmonics resulting from metal shield coupling
A mobile wireless communications device includes a housing, antenna, and circuit board carried by the housing and having radio frequency (RF) circuitry operative with the antenna for receiving and transmitting RF signals through the antenna. A power amplifier is connected within a transmission line for amplifying RF signals to be transmitted over the transmission line to the antenna. An antenna switch is connected to the antenna and RF circuitry. An RF shield surrounds the power amplifier and antenna switch and isolates the power amplifier and antenna switch from the antenna and RF circuitry. A low pass filter is connected to the power amplifier and antenna switch for reducing any RF coupling of voltage standing waves of upper harmonic frequencies from the power amplifier into the antenna switch through the RF shield while maintaining transmission of signals through the transmission line at a desired fundamental frequency. |
| US08620229B2 |
Current drain improvements in telematics devices using adjacent cell signal measurement reduction
The current drawn by a wireless communications device that is configured to periodically scan control channels can be reduced by reducing the number of control channels to be scanned. The relative strengths of a serving cell control channel and the relative strengths of neighboring cell control channels are determined and the scanning of neighboring cell control channels is discontinued if the communications device is not moving and the signal strength of the serving cell is above a threshold value selected to provide a signal level at which data on a control channel can be reliably recovered. |
| US08620227B2 |
Device, system and method of selectively connecting between a transmit chain and an antenna
Some demonstrative embodiments include devices, systems and/or methods of selectively connecting between a transmit chain and an antenna. For example, a device may include a transmit chain and a non-active connector module configured to electrically connect the transmit chain to at least one antenna when the transmit chain generates a wireless communication signal, and to electrically disconnect the antenna from the transmit chain when a wireless communication signal is received via the antenna. |
| US08620223B2 |
Method and base station for managing capacity of a wireless communication network
The present invention provides a method and a base station for managing capacity of a wireless communication network, which relates to the field of wireless communications and is capable of saving energy while adjusting capacity of a wireless communication network of a base station. The present invention includes: checking total traffic of all overlay networks belonging to the base station; if the checked total traffic keeps being smaller than a preset load threshold, searching for and determining a first overlay network; maintaining normal work of a power amplifier of at least one antenna in each group of antennas in the first overlay network and turning off power amplifiers of one or more other antennas; and connecting the one or more other antennas to the power amplifiers maintaining normal work in the groups in which the one or more other antennas are located. |
| US08620221B2 |
Base station device, terminal device, and wireless communication system
A base station device (10) communicates between a first terminal device and a second terminal device over the same channel by spatial multiplexing. The base station device (10) comprises an interference cancellation coefficient extractor (30) that extracts an interference cancellation coefficient from a signal received from the first terminal device to cancel interference on a propagation channel with the first terminal device in advance, and transmits a pilot signal that contains information related to the interference cancellation coefficient to the second terminal device. In addition, the base station device (10) also comprises an interference canceller (16) that uses the interference cancellation coefficient to cancel an interference component from transmission data to be transmitted over the same channel, and transmits the transmission data from which the interference component has been canceled by the interference canceller (16) to the first terminal device and the second terminal device over the same channel. A wireless communication system is provided which, in a multi-user MIMO, suppresses superimposed interference components resulting from channel fluctuations and channel estimation errors when interference cancellation is performed in advance in a base station unit on a modulated signal to be transmitted. |
| US08620220B2 |
Method and system for mitigating interference between a plurality of femtocells utilizing transmission deferral
Aspects of a method and system for mitigating interference between a plurality of femtocells utilizing transmission deferral are provided. In this regard, prior to transmission of cellular signals by a femtocell, the femtocell may be operable to detect signals that interfere with cellular communications between the femtocell, one or more base stations, and a cellular enabled communication device that communicates with the femtocell. The femtocell may be operable to defer transmission of the cellular signals for a particular period of time based on the detected interfering signals. During transmission of cellular signals from the femtocell to a cellular enabled communication device, the femtocell may be operable to detect loss of one or more packets of data. The femtocell may be operable to defer transmission of the cellular signals for a particular period of time based on the detected loss of one or more packets of data. |
| US08620216B2 |
System and method for automatically switching connection of a wireless interface
A system is provided including a device and a control module. The device has a first wireless interface for connecting to a first further device and a second wireless interface for connecting to the control module. The first wireless interface is suitable for detecting that a second further device is located within its coverage area. The second wireless interface is suitable for communicating to the control module that the second further device is located within the coverage area. The control module is suitable for executing a service logic and for transmitting to the second wireless interface a command to disconnect the first wireless interface from the first further device. The first wireless interface is configured for executing the command, thus automatically disconnecting from the first further device, and for connecting the device to the second further device. |
| US08620215B2 |
Personalization of a mobile communcation device
An accessory for personalizing a mobile communication device includes an accessory body that is configured to adorn the mobile communication device and at least partially cover its exterior. At least one graphic design is disposed on the exterior surface of the accessory body to convey a theme. A data tag is secured to the accessory. The data tag stores data that facilitates personalization of at least one functionality of the mobile communication device in support of the theme. The data tag being configured so that the data is accessible via a short-range wireless protocol such as the Near-Field Communication (NFC) protocol. |
| US08620207B1 |
System, method and apparatus for distributed content dissemination
A wireless cellular or other device to control distribution and presentation of audio, video, or combined audio and video content transmitted from a content server and delivered to at least one contiguous device at substantially the same time. The cellular device sends control signals via various wireless communication protocols based upon user input. The control signals are sent to a content server attached to a TCP/IP network. The wireless cellular device and the content server interact through a request and reply interface, located within the wireless cellular device, based on inputs from the wireless device user. Content available for transmission from the content server is displayed and subsequently selected by the user. Separate audio and video content may be distributed to individually distinct rendering devices contiguous to and selected by the user. During or after the content is transmitted, the user may interact with the content through the wireless cellular device. |
| US08620200B2 |
Image forming apparatus and control method
Certain embodiments provide an image forming device including: a print portion; a first roller provided in a sheet transportation direction; a heating element provided in either the first roller or an endless belt wound around the first roller and generates heat by magnetic flux; a second roller that forms a nip together with the heating element; a coil that has a coil hole facing the nip with a gap therebetween and generates the magnetic flux; an induction heating circuit that supplies the coil with a drive signal; an insulating mold that has a through hole facing the coil hole and supports the coil; a mechanism that transports the sheet through the through hole to the nip; and a controller that causes the mechanism to transport the sheet to the nip and the induction heating circuit to perform the induction-heating. |
| US08620196B2 |
Toner cartridge with a lock mechanism
The invention relates to a toner cartridge with a locking mechanism, including a body provided with a top cover and used for receiving a developer, wherein the locking and unlocking mechanism used for locking the toner cartridge into an image forming apparatus is arranged on the body. The locking mechanism includes a handle hinged with the top cover, a gear fixedly connected with the handle, a locking lever capable of reciprocating and a torsion spring used for realizing the automatic reset of the handle. A rack engaged with the gear is arranged on the locking lever. Moreover, the handle is driven to be close to the top cover under the action of a torque force of the torsion spring under the locking state, and the gear is engaged with the rack to drive the locking lever to be extended out of the top cover so as to lock the toner cartridge. When the handle is under the unlocking state by overcoming the torque force of the torsion spring under the action of an external force, the gear and the rack are operated to drive the locking lever to be retracted into the top cover so as to unlock the toner cartridge. Unlocking and locking can be realized through a tensile force of a human hand and the reset of the torsion spring. |
| US08620188B2 |
Image forming apparatus having a special color image mode
An image forming apparatus includes a first image carrier forming a black toner image, a plurality of second image carriers forming a yellow, magenta, or cyan toner image, a third image carrier forming a special color toner image, and a transfer target member or an intermediate transfer belt. The apparatus further includes first and second detachment units. The first detachment unit detaches only the third image carrier from the transfer target member, and the second detachment unit detaches the second image carriers and the third image carrier. When switching from a special color image mode to either a normal color image mode or a monochrome image mode is performed during continuous printing of the recording media, the first detachment unit or the second detachment unit controls the detachment operation based on the number of recording media continuously printed by the normal color image mode or the monochrome image mode. |
| US08620181B2 |
Process cartridge and electrophotographic image forming apparatus
A process cartridge is detachably mountable to a main assembly of an electrophotographic image forming apparatus. The process cartridge includes an electrophotographic photosensitive member; a first frame for supporting the photosensitive member; a developer carrying member for developing an electrostatic latent image formed on the photosensitive member; an opening, provided in the first frame, through which the photosensitive member is exposed; a shutter, provided on the first frame, movable between an open position in which the opening is uncovered and a closed position in which the opening is covered; and a spacer member movably provided on the shutter. When the shutter is located at the closed position, the spacer member is movable to a spacing position in which the spacer member is between the photosensitive member and the developer carrying member to provide a spacing between the photosensitive member and the developer carrying member, and a retracted position in which the opening is covered with the spacer member. |
| US08620179B2 |
Tandem type photosensitive unit and image forming apparatus
A tandem type photosensitive unit includes: a plurality of photosensitive drums arranged in parallel with one another; a first structure member having a side surface extending in an arrangement direction of the photosensitive drums as viewed from an axial direction of the photosensitive drums for collectively retaining the plurality of photosensitive drums and relatively positioning the plurality of photosensitive drums; and a second structure member having a side surface extending in the arrangement direction as viewed from the axial direction for collectively retaining developer cartridges provided correspondingly to the photosensitive drums respectively. The first structure member is fixed to the second structure member on one side in the arrangement direction, and mounted on the second structure member with a clearance on the other side in the arrangement direction. |
| US08620175B2 |
Image forming apparatus
An image forming apparatus is provided. The image forming apparatus includes a chassis, a cover, photosensitive members, an intermediate transfer belt, primary-transfer members, a secondary-transfer roller, a first feed roller, a cleaner device, a waste toner container, which is movable along the predetermined direction to be removably installed in the chassis through a first opening and stores residual toner, a connector, a first feeding path, a second feeding path being a path for a recording sheet inserted through a sheet inlet and includes a sheet guide to guide the recording sheet, and a second feed roller. The second feed roller is movable along with at least a part of the sheet guide. The waste toner container is movable through space, which is occupied by the second feed roller in an upper position, and the first opening when the second feed roller is in a lower position. |
| US08620172B2 |
Image forming apparatus, method and storage medium for setting fusing temperature
An image forming apparatus for outputting a printed product includes a fusing unit, an image forming control unit to receive print data and print attribution information for printing the printed product; and a print engine including a fusing controller to control a fusing temperature of the fusing unit. The print engine outputs the printed product using a fusing temperature designated by the print attribution information. The fusing controller determines a target fusing temperature for the fusing unit by comparing a first fusing temperature and a second fusing temperature. The first fusing temperature is used for a most recently conducted fusing process. The second fusing temperature is designated by the print attribution information. The fusing controller determines the target fusing temperature to the first fusing temperature or the second fusing temperature depending on the number of colors required for printing the printed product. |
| US08620171B2 |
Transfer device and image forming apparatus
A transfer device includes a transfer belt, a transfer roller and a tension roller over which the transfer belt is passed in a tensioned condition and which is made to be in an electrically floated state; it also includes a guide member that is installed in the vicinity of the tension roller. A control section, in transfer processing, controls a first switch so that the guide member is in a grounded state while controlling a second switch so that an electric current being caused to flow to the transfer roller becomes a first electric current; and in cleaning processing, controls the first switch so that the guide member is in an electrically floated state while controlling the second switch so that an electric current being caused to flow to the transfer roller becomes a second electric current. |
| US08620168B2 |
Image forming apparatus
An image forming apparatus includes a weight detection sensor and a CPU (notification control section, weight calculation section and full-capacity amount correction section). The CPU calculates weight of toner in a waste toner container based on image formation history information including the number of image-forming sheets. When weight of toner in the waste toner container detected by the weight detection sensor reaches a semi full-capacity amount, the CPU makes a comparison of a detection value detected by the weight detection sensor with a calculation value calculated by the CPU and corrects a weight value in a full-capacity state with a correction value set based on a result of the comparison. |
| US08620164B2 |
Hybrid III-V silicon laser formed by direct bonding
Described herein is a hybrid III-V Silicon laser comprising a first semiconductor region including layers of semiconductor materials from group III, group IV, or group V semiconductor to form an active region; and a second semiconductor region having a silicon waveguide and bonded to the first semiconductor region via direct bonding at room temperature of a layer of the first semiconductor region to a layer of the second semiconductor region. |
| US08620163B1 |
Systems and methods for optically communicating small data packets to mobile devices
Embodiments relate to methods, devices, and computer-implemented methods for receiving a modulated signal transmitted from at least one signal emitter. The method can include receiving at least one image that comprises image data representing the modulated signal received as radiation emitted from the at least one signal emitter, wherein the radiation represented in the image data comprises at least one period of the modulated signal and wherein the at least one image was captured by a camera of a computing device while a field of view of the camera was moving relative to the at least one signal emitter; analyzing, by at least one processor, the at least one image; extracting, based on the analyzing, the image data representing the radiation; and determining, from the image data that was extracted, the modulated signal transmitted by the at least one signal emitter. |
| US08620160B2 |
Optical transmission apparatus
An optical transmission apparatus includes a reception part for receiving a wavelength division multiplexed (WDM) signal reached via optical amplifiers; a measuring part for measuring an optical power level of each wavelength of the WDM signal received by the reception part; a determination part for determining whether an amount of tilt of the WDM signal calculated based on measurement results of the measuring part is suitable or not; an operation part for calculating the tilt correction amount to be applied to tilt correction processing performed by the optical amplifiers if the amount of tilt of the WDM signal is not suitable; and a notification part for notifying the optical amplifiers of the tilt correction amount. |
| US08620158B2 |
Communications device with discriminator and wavelength division multiplexing for generating intermediate frequency signal and related methods
A communications device includes a transmitter device including first and second optical sources, a first optical coupler coupled to the first and second optical sources, and a first modulator coupled to the first optical coupler and to modulate a combined carrier signal including the first and second optical carrier signals with an RF input signal. The communications device includes a receiver device having a second modulator to further modulate the modulated combined carrier signal with an LO signal, a FM-PM discriminator coupled to the second modulator and to convert the modulated combined carrier signal to an intensity modulated combined carrier signal based upon the LO signal, a second optical coupler coupled to the FM-PM discriminator and to generate first and second intensity modulated carrier signals, and an optical-to-electrical converter coupled to the second optical coupler and to generate an IF signal. |
| US08620157B2 |
Method and apparatus for improved upstream frame synchronization in a passive optical network
In a passive optical network, upstream transmission frames from an ONU to an OLT can include additional delimiters that assist in overcoming high signal distortion at the beginning of the frame that can obscure an initial frame delimiter. The second delimiter can be inserted into the frame at various locations within the frame known to the OLT such that the OLT can active a delimiter detector at the beginning of a timing window for delimiter detection. The ONU can assist the OLT in synchronizing the frame by ensuring that a frame header immediately follows a second delimiter or appears at the start of a first FEC code block following the second delimiter. Depending on where the ONU inserts the second delimiter in the frame generation process, the second delimiter may be scrambled and/or may form part of the FEC. |
| US08620154B2 |
Methods and apparatus for fast and energy-efficient light recovery in a visible light communication (VLC) system
A visible light communication (VLC) device is provided for use in a VLC system. The VLC device detect a trigger condition indicating a failure of a VLC link associated with first allocated resources used to communicate with a second VLC device. In response to the detection, the VLC device terminates on the first allocated resources transmission of data to the second VLC device and transmits a fast link recovery (FLR) signal using the first allocated resources. The VLC device receives a fast link recovery response (FLR RSP) signal indicating the second VLC device received the FLR signal and, in response, the VLC device resumes transmission of data to the second VLC device. |
| US08620153B2 |
Snap-on camera filter mount
The present invention generally relates to devices for attaching light transmissive elements, such as a filter or an additional lens, to a camera lens. The present invention provides a quick release camera mount. The camera mount includes a filter mount that holds a light transmissive element fixed in place over a camera lens. It further includes: a sidewall; a first flexion plate attached to a release tab extending outwards from the sidewall, where the release tab provides for quick attachment or release from a camera lens; a second flexion plate attached to at least two locking teeth extending inwards from the sidewall. |
| US08620149B2 |
Fluid warming cassette and system capable of operation under negative pressure
A fluid warming cassette for use in a fluid warming system includes a first sheet, a second sheet and a flexible spacer having a serpentine opening. At least one of the first and second sheets is a flexible plastic sheet. The spacer is positioned between the first and second sheets and the first and second sheets are joined together over the spacer to form a fluid container having a fluid channel. The fluid container includes a fluid channel with inlet and outlet ports in fluid communication with the fluid channel. The fluid warming cassette is capable of operating under negative pressure without collapse of the fluid channel in the cassette. |
| US08620147B2 |
Method and apparatus for transmitting compressed data using digital data interface, and method and apparatus for receiving compressed data using digital data interface
A method of receiving media data capable of being transceived via a digital data interface is provided. In the method, media data is received and parsed, and ancillary data for raw data and compression-related information about compressed data for the raw data are extracted from an ancillary data field of the parsed media data. The compressed data is extracted from the parsed media data, and the compressed data is decoded using the compression-related information so as to restore the raw data. The restored raw data is played back using the ancillary data and the compression-related information. |
| US08620144B2 |
Closed caption tagging system
A closed caption tagging system provides a mechanism for inserting tags into an audio or video television broadcast stream prior to or at the time of transmission. The tags contain command and control information that the receiver translates and acts upon. The receiver receives the broadcast stream and detects and processes the tags within the broadcast stream which is stored on a storage device that resides on the receiver. Program material from the broadcast stream is played back to the viewer from the storage device. Tags indicate the start and end points of a program segment. Program segments such as commercials are automatically replaced by the receiver with new program segments that are selected based on various criteria. |
| US08620142B2 |
Video player and video playback method
When multi-frame rate contents including many high frame-rate portions are played back in a video player, a playback can be easily selected by showing to a user a playback time in respective playback modes of a normal playback and a slow playback. The video player includes a rate analysis unit for calculating playback time in the respective playback modes by analyzing a frame rate of multi-frame rate contents, and thumbnail images of multi-frame rate contents and playback time in the respective playback modes are listed and displayed as display units in a pair with respect to a plurality of contents. |
| US08620139B2 |
Utilizing subtitles in multiple languages to facilitate second-language learning
Processing video for utilization in second language learning is described herein. A video file includes spoken words in a source language, subtitles in the source language, and subtitles in a native language of an end user (a target language). The subtitles in the source language are synchronized with the spoken words in the video, and the subtitles in the source language are mapped to the subtitles in the target language. Both sets of subtitles are displayed simultaneously as the video is played by the end user. |
| US08620130B2 |
Pulling grips for installing a fiber optic assembly
Pulling grips for installing a fiber optic assembly are disclosed. The pulling grip includes a pulling grip housing for receiving part of a fiber optic assembly therein. The pulling grip may also include a pulling grip sleeve and/or pulling sock. In one embodiment, the pulling grip housing has a friction fit with the pulling grip sleeve when assembled, thereby inhibiting rotation therebetween. Consequently, the friction fit advantageously inhibits twisting of the fiber optic assembly when installing the same using the pulling grip. In this manner, the pulling grip housing can easily be insert into the pulling grip sleeve and removed when pulling of a fiber optic assembly is completed. The pulling grip housing, pulling grip sleeve, and/or pulling sock may also be reused for pulling other fiber optic assemblies. |
| US08620129B2 |
Cable pulling assembly
A fiber optic cable assembly includes a fiber optic cable and a cable pulling assembly. The fiber optic cable includes a first end and an oppositely disposed second end. The fiber optic cable further includes an outer jacket and a strength member disposed in the outer jacket. The cable pulling assembly is engaged to the second end of the fiber optic cable. The cable pulling assembly includes an enclosure defining a cavity. The second end of the fiber optic cable is disposed in the cavity. An adhesive is disposed in the cavity. The adhesive secures the strength member of the fiber optic cable to the enclosure. |
| US08620128B2 |
System and method for anchoring fiber optic cables to provide strain relief
A cable anchoring assembly includes a jacket anchoring block having a jacket clamping location and a reinforcing structure anchoring block mounted to the jacket anchoring block. The reinforcing structure anchoring block includes a reinforcing structure anchoring location that defines a fastener opening and an access slot that extends outwardly from the fastener opening. The access slot has a first open end positioned at the fastener opening and a second open end offset from the fastener opening. The access slot provides an open lateral passage into the fastener opening. A fastener is adapted for engagement in the fastener opening. |
| US08620127B2 |
Optical waveguide and method for manufacturing the same
The invention provides an optical waveguide including a resin substrate containing an inorganic filler, and at least a UV-absorbing layer, a lower cladding layer, a patterned core layer, and an upper cladding layer laminated above the resin substrate in this order, wherein the core layer has been patterned through light exposure and development, and the UV-absorbing layer has a thickness of 10 to 50 μm, and a method for producing an optical waveguide, including a step of forming a UV-absorbing layer on a resin substrate containing an inorganic filler; a step of forming a lower cladding layer on the UV-absorbing layer; a step of forming a core layer on the lower cladding layer; a step of subjecting the core layer to light exposure to thereby transfer a pattern having a given shape to the core layer; a step of developing the core layer to thereby form a core pattern; and a step of forming an upper cladding layer on the patterned core layer. According to the present invention, an optical waveguide having a high-resolution core pattern can be produced. |
| US08620121B2 |
Tapered fiber retroreflector
An expanded-beam all-glass retroreflector for a fiber laser cavity. The retroreflector consists of a section of a tapered double-clad fiber for beam expansion, e.g. a tapered section of the laser fiber itself, or a piece of coreless fiber spliced to the laser fiber, and a reflective surface for reflection of the expanded beam back into laser cavity through the tapered fiber section. |
| US08620116B2 |
Optical modulation apparatus, method for controlling optical modulation apparatus
An optical modulation apparatus, including: a Mach-Zehnder optical modulator having two light waveguides, two output light waveguides, and a join-and-branch portion located therebetween; a drive circuit configured to output a modulation signal to modulation electrodes provided respectively on the two light waveguides as a differential signal, the modulation signal modulating lights propagated in the two light waveguides; a phase adjustment circuit configured to control first phase control signals to be output to phase adjustment electrodes provided respectively on the two light waveguides, and adjust phases of lights propagated in the two light waveguides; a phase shift control circuit configured to switch second phase control signals to be output to phase shift electrodes provided respectively on the two light waveguides, and change phases of the lights propagated in the two light waveguides; and a signal polarity reversal circuit configured to reverse a polarity of the differential signal. |
| US08620111B2 |
Device, system, and method for indexing digital image frames
Methods and apparatus are disclosed to index digital frames. An example method includes identifying channel types associated with a plurality of image frames, splitting each one of the plurality of image frames into a respective color channel based on the identified channel types, applying a local binary pattern to each of the respective color channels to generate a respective pattern number, generating a spatial representation of each respective pattern number to determine transition probabilities for each channel type, and identifying a degree of similarity between the plurality of image frames based on the transition probabilities. |
| US08620110B2 |
Method and system for distributing digital images
A system and method are provided for distributing digital images to a user. The system includes an image capture device for creating digital images, and at least one image server in communication with the image capture device via a communication network, such as the Internet. The image server is operable to receive and store the digital images transmitted from the image capture device. At least one programmable software agent in communication with the image server via the communication network automatically selects a subset of the digital images provided by the image server for distribution to the user. The system further includes one or more display devices for displaying the digital images selected by the software agent. |
| US08620103B2 |
In-loop adaptive wiener filter for video coding and decoding
A video encoder may use an adaptive Wiener filter inside the core video encoding loop to improve coding efficiency. In one embodiment, the Wiener filter may be on the input to a motion estimation unit and, in another embodiment, it may be on the output of a motion compensation unit. The taps for the Wiener filter may be determined based on characteristics of at least a region of pixel intensities within a picture. Thus, the filtering may be adaptive in that it varies based on the type of video being processed. |
| US08620101B2 |
Image quality display control apparatus and method for synthesized image data
A display control apparatus includes a synthesizing unit for synthesizing multiple pieces of image data to generate synthesized image data; an image quality adjustment unit for carrying out image quality adjustment for the synthesized image data output from the synthesizing unit; a format discrimination unit for discriminating a format of each of the multiple pieces of image data; a determination unit for determining referenced image data for the image quality adjustment from the multiple pieces of image data based on discrimination results from the format discrimination unit; and a control unit for controlling the image quality adjustment unit so as to carry out the image quality adjustment for the synthesized image data using a parameter suitable for image quality adjustment of the referenced image data for the image quality adjustment determined by the determination unit. |
| US08620100B2 |
Motion blur device, method and program
A motion blur control device uses inter-frame movement computation means to compute an inter-frame movement direction and an inter-frame movement amount from plural frame images acquired at a specific time interval. Motion blur correction means then generates a corrected frame image by correcting motion blur in a specific frame image in plural frame images based on the blur amount set within a range not exceeding the inter-frame movement amount and based on the inter-frame movement direction. Evaluation means evaluates the corrected frame image using a motion blur evaluation function. The motion blur control device controls the blur amount such that the motion blur evaluation function satisfies a specific condition. |
| US08620092B2 |
Determining similarity of two images
A computer implemented method is disclosed. The method includes obtaining a first and second images for comparison, globally registering the first and second images, calculating for pairs of a first patch of the first image and second patch of the second image a similarity measure which is a product of luminance and contrast components and a normalized structure component, each component taking a value between 0 and 1 and determining similarity of the images based on the calculated similarity measure. Relating computer program product and data processing system are also disclosed. |
| US08620089B1 |
Strip histogram grid for efficient segmentation of 3D point clouds from urban environments
A method of recognizing features in a 3D environment includes using a sensor that collects a plurality of sensed data points, populating a strip histogram grid having a plurality of strips, each strip having a dx dimension and a dy dimension, by assigning each sensed data point to a strip in the strip histogram grid that has x, y and z dimensions that encompass the spatial coordinate information of the respective assigned sensed data point, and estimating the local ground plane for a strip in the strip histogram grid by using information on each sensed data point assigned to that strip and surrounding strips in the strip histogram grid. Further methods include extracting smooth surfaces, building segmentation, top down segmentation and bottom up segmentation. |
| US08620088B2 |
Methods and apparatus to count people in images
Methods, articles of manufacture, and apparatus to count people in an image are disclosed. An example method includes capturing an image of a body region in a first frame; and when a second frame different from the first frame includes the image of the body region, incrementing a first count of persons in the second frame. |
| US08620083B2 |
Method and system for character recognition
Character recognition is described. In one embodiment, it may use matched sequences rather than character shape to determine a computer-legible result. |