Document | Document Title |
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US08631066B2 |
Mechanism for providing virtual machines for use by multiple users
According to one aspect of the invention, a request to generate a state checkpoint of a computer is initiated within a user-level software entity, such as a virtual machine. Upon sensing the request, a checkpointing mechanism generates and stores at least one checkpoint, each checkpoint comprising a representation of the total state of the computer system. Upon sensing a state restoration request corresponding to one of the checkpoints, the checkpointing mechanism restores the checkpointed state in the computer, which can then resume operation from the restored total state. According to another aspect of the invention, a total checkpointed state is exported to another computer, where the state can be modified, for example, debugged, and then loaded into either the originally checkpointed computer (which, again, may be a virtual machine), or some other computer. |
US08631065B2 |
System and method for seamlessly integrating separate information systems within an application
The present invention is, in one embodiment, a system and method based on a client-server architecture for seamlessly integrating various information systems. In one embodiment, a bundle of files is deployed to a collaboration client, in order to enable the integration of the collaboration client with disparate information systems and content. In one embodiment, content within a mailbox item is allowed to become a “live” object, and is associated with trigger events, and actions, including sending all or part of the content to a separate information system. In one embodiment, mailbox items are subjected to predefined searches to assess whether they include certain content objects. In another embodiment, panel item elements are visible in the overview panel of the collaboration client. The user may interact with the panel items by dragging content onto them, double clicking them, and invoking actions from a context menu if one is available. |
US08631063B2 |
Modular platform enabling heterogeneous devices, sensors and actuators to integrate automatically into heterogeneous networks
A system includes a hardware platform, at least one driver, a plurality of devices connected to the hardware platform, a middleware interface, and a plurality of software services. Each of the plurality of devices is selected from the group consisting of sensors and actuators. The plurality of software services is generated by the at least one driver, wherein a software service associates with a device, and wherein each of the software services complies with the middleware interface. A method for interfacing a plurality of devices to a hardware platform includes communicably connecting each of the plurality of devices to the hardware platform, converting each of the plurality of devices into a programmable software service using a driver, and programming each of the software services to comply with a middleware interface. |
US08631060B2 |
Fast algorithms for computation of 5-point DCT-II, DCT-IV, and DST-IV, and architectures
A more efficient encoder/decoder is provided in which an N-point MDCT transform is mapped into smaller sized N/2-point DCT-IV, DST-IV and/or DCT-II transforms. The MDCT may be systematically decimated by factor of 2 by utilizing a uniformly scaled 5-point DCT-II core function as opposed to the DCT-IV or FFT cores used in many existing MDCT designs in audio codecs. Various transform factorizations of the 5-point transforms may be implemented to more efficiently implement a transform. |
US08631054B2 |
Scaled exponential smoothing
A method and system for scaled exponential smoothing are provided. Multiple exponentially smoothed values are maintained for items and events occur on one or more of the items. The method maintains a gradually inflated representation of the smoothed values of items, such that the representation at a given time for an item where no event has occurred is not altered. Using a scaling technique enables the smoothed values for the objects on which an event has not occurred to remain the same. This reduces the number of calculations required significantly, enabling the use of the smoothing technique in a wide range of applications. |
US08631053B2 |
Method for securely determining Manhattan distances
Embodiments disclose a method and a system for determining securely the Manhattan distance between a first and a second signal. The system is mapping the first signal to a first binary signal; mapping the second signal to a second binary signal, such that the squared distance between the first signal and the second binary signals equals the Manhattan distance; reducing respectively dimensions of the first binary signal and the second binary signal to produce a first low dimensional signal and a second low dimensional signal, such that the squared distance between the first low dimensional signal and the second low dimensional signals approximates the squared distance between the first binary signal and the second binary signals; and determining securely the squared distance between the first low dimensional signal and the second low dimensional signals to securely determine the Manhattan distance between the first signal and the second signal. |
US08631048B1 |
Data alignment system
Methods, systems, and computer-readable media relating to adapting existing data based on one or more new sets of data are provided. An exemplary method comprises extracting a data model from a new data set. The method further comprises determining one or more ontology assertions based on the extracted data model and modifying at least one existing ontology based on the one or more ontology assertions. |
US08631046B2 |
Generic ontology based semantic business policy engine
Techniques for implementing policies. In an embodiment, first data is stored in a first data store according to a first schema. A second schema is defined based at least in part on a policy and an ontology. Second data, which includes at least a portion of the first data, is stored in a second data store according to the second schema. Storing the second data is based at least in part on a mapping of the first schema to the second schema. At least a portion of the second data is analyzed and results of the analysis are provided to a user. |
US08631045B2 |
System and method for network administration and local administration of privacy protection criteria
Cookie files are screened in a client machine, wherein a cookie file includes a cookie file source. A request from a subscriber is received at a server to send a list of untrusted cookie file sources to the client machine. The list of untrusted cookie file sources is downloaded from the server to the client machine. The downloaded list of untrusted cookie file sources is used to detect cookie files received at the client machine from cookie file sources on the downloaded list by comparing the cookie file source of any received cookie file to the untrusted cookie file sources on the downloaded list. |
US08631044B2 |
Machine optimization devices, methods, and systems
A method, system, computer program product and computer readable media for matching using degree distribution information are disclosed. An embodiment of the method can include performing b-matching on a graph data structure expanded using degree distribution information in order to identify neighbors of a selected input node. The b-matching can be performed using belief propagation. The belief propagation method is adapted to use a compressed message update rule and to be suitable for use with distributed processing systems. An embodiment can also include enhancing a matching result by applying degree distribution information to a first matching result to generate a second matching result. Embodiments for online advertisement/search term matching, product recommendation, dating service and social network matching, auction buyer/seller matching and resource allocation, among other, are disclosed. |
US08631038B2 |
Managing digital identity information
A basic architecture for managing digital identity information in a network such as the World Wide Web is provided. A user of the architecture can organize his or her information into one or more profiles which reflect the nature of different relationships between the user and other entities, and grant or deny each entity access to a given profile. Various enhancements which may be provided through the architecture are also described, including tools for filtering email, controlling access to user web pages, locating other users and making one's own location known, browsing or mailing anonymously, filling in web forms automatically with information already provided once by hand, logging in automatically, securely logging in to multiple sites with a single password and doing so from any machine on the network, and other enhancements. |
US08631031B1 |
Multidimensional associative array database
An associative array stores data in a matrix form responsive to linear algebra operations. A set of associative arrays employed for representing data are each composable, such that operations performed on them generate a result that is also an associative array responsive to linear algebra operations. An algebraic engine implements standard linear algebra computations for performing database operations. In contrast to conventional relational models, the associative arrays are not bound by a rigid schema and transaction atomicity, which tend to impose transactional overhead. The associative arrays store only non-null entries as tuples. The tuples, are responsive to linear algebra operations, which employ simpler coding constructs than conventional relational SQL or other access mechanisms. The associative arrays and algebraic engine enjoy relaxed consistency, which recognizes that many queries seek information that is malleable over time, and need not rely on global consistency or transaction atomicity in order to retrieve useful results. |
US08631029B1 |
Evolutionary content determination and management
A visual refinement interface enables users to adjust and/or refine search results by selecting results that match a user's interest, and displaying subsequent results that are closer to the selected items. Multiple result sets can be displayed concurrently such that the user can maintain context for the results. Further, the user can quickly go back to modify an earlier selection without having to navigate to a previous page, for example, and a single modification can cause several subsequent result sets to automatically change such that the user can quickly view dozens of new results, for example, simply by selecting at least one different result from a displayed result set. Prior result sets can be modified, such as by reducing the size or adjusting the placement of the sets, such that the user can easily determine the current set and the relatedness to previous results sets. |
US08631027B2 |
Integrated external related phrase information into a phrase-based indexing information retrieval system
An information retrieval system uses phrases to index, retrieve, organize and describe documents, analyzing documents and storing the results of the analysis as phrase data. Phrases are identified that predict the presence of other phrases in documents. Documents are the indexed according to their included phrases. Related phrases and phrase extensions are also identified. Changes to existing phrase data about a document collection submitted by a user is captured and analyzed, and the existing phrase data is updated to reflect the additional knowledge gained through the analysis. |
US08631026B1 |
Methods and systems for efficient query rewriting
Methods and systems for efficient query rewriting and the like are described here. One such described method comprises: offline mapping frequently-seen search queries to rewritten queries that may be better for searching; offline caching the mapping in a cache memory; and upon receiving a search query from a user similar to one of the mapped search queries, obtaining a corresponding rewritten query from the mapping in the cache memory based on predetermined conditions, and issuing a search of the rewritten query to the backend data system in order to avoid having to issue a search query to the backend data system twice while the user is online. |
US08631024B2 |
High-performance, scalable, adaptive and multi-dimensional event repository
A High-Performance, Scalable, Adaptive and Multi-dimensional Event Repository is described and utilized in a method for publishing an event in a database. The present method includes transparently intercepting a request to a database to publish an event. A messaging system operable with the database intercepts the request. The present method further includes examining an event repository for a template of the event. The event repository is operable with the database and the messaging system. The present method additionally includes retrieving the event template from the event repository. The present method also includes marshalling the event template to create the event. The present method also includes publishing the event in an event queue. |
US08631023B2 |
Content list display method, content list display apparatus, content selecting and processing method, and content selecting and processing apparatus
A content list display method includes the step of displaying a list of private content owned by a user and public content not owned by the user on a screen by using a predetermined common attribute as a search key attribute for search and display such that a difference between the private content and the public content can be visually recognized. |
US08631018B2 |
Presenting sponsored content on a mobile communication facility
A computer-implemented method for positioning targeted sponsored content on a cellular phone includes the steps of (a) assessing a likelihood of an interaction by a user of the cellular phone with a sponsored content, wherein the assessment is based on a plurality of user characteristics associated with the cellular phone including (i) a credit card datum; and (ii) a predefined hardware or software characteristic of the cellular phone; (c) prioritizing the placement of the sponsored content within one of a plurality of predefined areas of a graphical user interface of the cellular phone over the placement of other sponsored content within the same area, wherein the prioritization is based on the assessment of the likelihood of the interaction of the user of the cellular phone with the sponsored content; and (d) presenting the sponsored content within the one of a plurality of predefined areas of the graphical user interface. |
US08631010B1 |
Systems and methods for using anchor text as parallel corpora for cross-language information retrieval
A method may include obtaining, based on a content of a search query, one or more documents in a first language; identifying one or more documents in a second language that contain an anchor that links to the one or more documents in the first language, the second language being different than the first language; and translating one or more terms of the search query into the second language using content included in the one or more documents in the second language. |
US08631004B2 |
Search suggestion clustering and presentation
Disclosed are methods and apparatus for clustering and presenting search suggestions. A segment of text is obtained via a search query section of a user interface, the segment of text being a portion of a search query. A set of suggestions is obtained, each suggestion in the set of suggestions being a suggested search query relating to the segment of text. Two or more groups of suggestions are generated, each of the two or more groups of suggestions including a different subset of the set of suggestions. The two or more groups of suggestions are provided such that each of the two or more groups of suggestions is displayed in a separate partition of a search assistance segment of the user interface. |
US08631003B2 |
Query identification and association
Apparatus, systems and methods for predictive query identification for advertisements are disclosed. Candidate query are identified from queries stored in a query log. Relevancy scores for a plurality of web documents are generated, each relevancy score associated with a corresponding web document and being a measure of the relevance of the candidate query to the web document. A web document having an associated relevancy score that exceeds a relevancy threshold is selected. The selected web document is associated with the candidate query. |
US08631000B2 |
Scan sharing for query predicate evaluations in column-based in-memory database systems
A plurality of queries of an in-memory column-oriented database are obtained. Each of the queries has at least one column predicate. For each of the queries, it is determined which of a plurality of columns in the in-memory column-oriented database need to be scanned. The plurality of queries are grouped into a plurality of scan groups, based at least in part on the determining step. The column predicates are evaluated for those of the queries in a given one of the scan groups in accordance with a scheduling scheme. The grouping step and the scheduling scheme take into account real time scan information. |
US08630991B2 |
Mobile system for collecting and distributing real-estate evaluation reports
The present invention provides an elegant means of interaction between real estate agents who employ mobile devices, wherein the property evaluation information created by any agent is shared with other agents, and wherein such property evaluations created from and collected from a plurality of mobile devices. In particular, property evaluations created by an agent are forwarded to a service provided in accordance with the present invention to communicate with other agents who may also employ mobile devices to review them. The present invention facilitates an evaluation report that is created by a real estate agent before a property sale is contracted or agreed to, typically when a property comes to the market for sale, when an agent is able to review the property and create an evaluation report that is sharable with other agents or with other users, such as potential buyers. |
US08630990B2 |
Software training system interacting with online entities
A non-transitory processor-readable medium stores code representing instructions configured to cause a processor to send a first signal to cause a client device to display an instruction directing a user to perform a task associated with a user profile of an online entity. The code is configured to cause the processor to produce a query formatted according to an API associated with the online entity. The code is configured to cause the processor to send a second signal including the query to at least one of the client device or the online entity, and receive a third signal including a datum associated with the task. The code is configured to cause the processor to update a status of the indicated task based on the datum, and send a fourth signal to cause the client device to produce an indication associated with the status of the task. |
US08630985B2 |
Automatic failover configuration with lightweight observer
Techniques used in an automatic failover configuration having a primary database system, a standby database system, and an observer for preventing divergence among the primary and standby database systems while increasing the availability of the primary database system. In the automatic failover configuration, the primary database system remains available even in the absence of both the standby and the observer as long as the standby and the observer become absent sequentially. The failover configuration further permits automatic failover only when the observer is present and the standby and the primary are synchronized and inhibits state changes during failover. The database systems and the observer have copies of failover configuration state and the techniques include techniques for propagating the most recent version of the state among the databases and the observer and techniques for using carefully-ordered writes to ensure that state changes are propagated in a fashion which prevents divergence. |
US08630982B2 |
Individual object restore
A method for restoring an object comprises receiving a request to restore an object. Also, the method includes outputting a representation of available backup files and receiving a selection of at least one of the available backup files. Further, the method comprises restoring at least one of the selected backup files into a temporary location and mounting at least one of the restored backup files as a server. In addition, the method includes outputting a representation of available objects from the server and receiving a selection of at least one of the available objects to be restored from the server. Also, the method includes copying one or more selected objects from the server into an Active Directory. |
US08630981B1 |
Techniques for differencing binary installation packages
Techniques for differencing binary installation packages are disclosed. In one particular exemplary embodiment, the techniques may be realized as a method for performing differencing binary installation packages. The method may comprise populating at least one data structure using information from different builds of a binary installation package, comparing information in the at least one data structure, and generating a result of the comparison. |
US08630978B2 |
Method of bi-directional synchronization of user data
Techniques for enabling writing and reading to and from a user file by at least a virtual software application. The user file includes a session file, an index file, and a data file. The techniques enable roaming between computers without the need to reconfigure, for example, the personalized information when switching between computers. |
US08630977B2 |
Method, apparatus, and system for data synchronization
A method, an apparatus, and a system for data synchronization are disclosed. The method includes: receiving a parameter value change notification message which carries a parameter change event and/or a digest of a specific parameter; and synchronizing data according to the parameter value change notification message. The synchronizing the data includes synchronizing the data in a parameter change record table stored in a Customer Premises Equipment (CPE). An Auto-Configuration Server (ACS) includes a receiving unit and a synchronizing unit. In this way, the requirement on the ACS is lowered and the burden of the ACS is relieved. |
US08630975B1 |
Knowledge discovery from citation networks
In a corpus of scientific articles such as a digital library, documents are connected by citations and one document plays two different roles in the corpus: document itself and a citation of other documents. A Bernoulli Process Topic (BPT) model is provided which models the corpus at two levels: document level and citation level. In the BPT model, each document has two different representations in the latent topic space associated with its roles. Moreover, the multi-level hierarchical structure of the citation network is captured by a generative process involving a Bernoulli process. The distribution parameters of the BPT model are estimated by a variational approximation approach. |
US08630974B2 |
Real estate disclosure reporting method
A real estate disclosure reporting method identifies a subject property, accesses an insurance claim database, determines from the database whether an insurance claim has been filed for the subject property and generates a report regarding the subject property and the insurance claim. |
US08630973B2 |
Distributed processing system for calculations based on objects from massive databases
Calculations to be performed on a massive data set may be delegated to a plurality of local servers for parallel processing. Each local server advances through a subset of database objects to determine if the objects are relevant to the calculation. If so, the objects' data is used as an operand to the calculation to generate intermediate results at the local server. The intermediate results of the various local servers are transmitted to a central server, which generates final results and transmits them back to the local servers. The local servers write the final results into each object in its respective subset, where relevant. The method is efficient because each object in the database is opened at most twice. Opening and closing database objects often involve transfers from bulk storage and, therefore, are some of the most time-consuming operations that computer systems perform. |
US08630971B2 |
System and method of using Multi Pattern Viterbi Algorithm for joint decoding of multiple patterns
Systems, devices, and methods for using Multi-Pattern Viterbi Algorithm for joint decoding of multiple patterns are disclosed. An exemplary method may receive a plurality of sets of time-sequential signal observations for each of a number K of signal repetitions. Further, each set of signal observations is associated with a respective dimension of a K-dimensional time grid having time-indexed points. Moreover, at each of a plurality of the time-indexed points, a state cost metric is calculated with a processor for each state in a set of states of a hidden Markov model (HMM). In addition, each state in the set of states and for a given time-indexed point, the state cost metric calculation provides a most-likely predecessor state and a corresponding most-likely predecessor time-indexed point. The exemplary method may also determine a sequence of states using the calculated state cost metrics and determine a corresponding cumulative probability measure for the HMM. |
US08630968B2 |
Selective content block of posts to social network
Mechanisms are provided herein which are directed toward monitoring a user's interaction with a website when the user is utilizing an enterprise device to conduct the interaction. The monitoring of the interaction can lead to the generation of one or more automated responses to control the interaction in accordance with enterprise policy or rules. The types of interactions which can be controlled include interactions where the user is attempting to post data on the website. |
US08630966B2 |
Temporally dynamic artificial neural networks
An apparatus, article and method containing an artificial neural network that, after training, produces new trainable nodes such that input data representative of a first event and input data representative of a second event both activate a subset of the new trainable nodes. The artificial neural network can generate an output that is influenced by the input data of both events. In various embodiments, the new trainable nodes are sequentially produced and show decreasing trainability over time such that, at a particular point in time, newer produced nodes are more trainable than earlier produced nodes. The artificial neural network can be included in various embodiments of methods, apparatus and articles for use in predicting or profiling events. |
US08630964B2 |
Using a genetic algorithm employing an expedited convergence mechanism to at least partially fit a medical implant to a patient using patient feedback
Apparatus and method for at least partially fitting a medical implant system to a patient is described. These apparatuses and methods comprise executing a genetic algorithm to select a set of parameter values for the medical implant system. This genetic algorithm may comprise generating successive generations of child populations until a confidence threshold is reached. This confidence threshold comprises determining whether the values of each parameter value to be selected have converged on particular value with a specified confidence level. In determining whether the values have converged, one or more initial generations of the search may be excluded in computing the likelihood that the value has converged. |
US08630960B2 |
Method of testing online recommender system
A recommender system can be analyzed to determine various performance characteristics of an online content service provider. The recommender system is analyzed using a predetermined policy, to determine if it satisfies such policy, and/or has other measurable intended and/or unintended biases. The policy can include such parameters as whether a particular profile is presented with certain particular types of items by the recommender system. The reliability of search engines can also be tested using a similar approach. |
US08630958B2 |
Systems and methods for multi-vehicle resource allocation and routing solutions
A computer system for allocating and routing a plurality of servicing objects within a map of a region such that work load is balanced across the plurality of servicing objects is provided. The system formulates a model for allocating and routing the plurality of servicing objects in the region. The model comprises a distance matrix based upon a first plurality of segments or a second plurality of intersections in the map. The memory stores instructions for partitioning the map into a plurality of disjoint contiguous sub-regions in view of the distance matrix using an equitable convex region partition algorithm. The memory further stores instructions for calculating a corresponding tour graph for each sub-region in the plurality of sub-regions, where, for each respective sub-region in the plurality of sub-regions, a servicing object in the plurality of servicing objects is assigned to the tour graph that corresponds to the respective sub-region. |
US08630957B2 |
Rule based system and method for charging student accounts
A system for charging one ore learning session to one or more student accounts comprises an online learning system having one or more nodes that creates one or more online learning sessions. An enrollment node receives student enrollment information, including responsible authority information. A scheduling node schedules the online learning session. A database stores one or more student accounts created based on the received student enrollment information. The same or another databases stores information relating to one or more responsible authority charge criterion for charging the one or more learning sessions to the one or more student accounts. An activity node receives one or more session activity information associated with the one or more learning sessions and an accounting node associates a charge information for a learning session to an student account based the one or more responsible authority charge criterion and one or more session activity information. |
US08630956B2 |
Obscuring image of person in picture when consent to share image is denied
Some embodiments of the invention provide a server apparatus, comprising: a control block comprising at least one processor; at least one data reception unit operable to receive a request to share a picture; at least one storage facility, storing programmed instructions for execution by the control block, the programmed instructions defining an image analysis engine operable to determine that the picture comprises an image of a person; and at least one data transmission unit operable to issue a request to the person, or someone associated with the person, to consent to sharing the image. Other embodiments provide a method, performed by at least one computer. The method comprises: (A) receiving a request to share a picture; (B) determining that the picture comprises an image of a person; and (C) requesting that the person, or someone associated with the person, consent to sharing the image. |
US08630950B2 |
Method and device for depositing checks
A system and method for depositing and processing checks using an ATM is provided. The method includes capturing the image data of the check with a reading unit, transmitting the image data to a web service based on an open API (Application Programming Interface) without resorting to standard protocols of ATMs. The method also includes processing the image data with the web service so that the text data on the check is recognized. When calling the API, version information is transmitted to ensure that the web service is a correct web service. When a version indicated by the version information is not supported, an error is reported to the ATM and transmission is reattempted for a predetermined number of times. The method also includes booking the recognized data on the basis of account information determined from a credit card by a magnetic card reader. |
US08630949B2 |
Electronic bill presentation and payment method and system
A comprehensive electronic bill presentment and payment system and method is described. Bills can be received by the system, in any electronic format. Bills can also be received by the system through conventional paper-based channels. Paper bills are scanned and information is extracted from the scanned bill images using OCR techniques. Bill payments can be issued using either electronic or paper-based methods. A single electronic bill presentment and payment interface is provided which shields the user from evolving billing practices. |
US08630948B1 |
Systems and methods for routing bill payments
Electronic payments are typically initiated on a bank's web site, and then routed to a third-party processor for payment. There may be different processors having different pricing structures. Routing software may be provided that routes payments to the various processors (or causes payments to be processed without a third-party processor) based on considerations of cost-effectiveness. For example, the routing software may choose the payment processor that has the lowest price for a certain type of payment, or may route a certain number of payments to a processor in order to fulfill volume pricing minimums, or may aggregate payments for several days in order to handle the payments in one transaction and reduce transaction fees. |
US08630941B2 |
Derivatives trading methods that use a variable order price and a hedge transaction
Systems and methods are provided for executing a hedge transaction in connection with the execution of a derivative product order in which the price of the derivative product is defined by one or more variables. The hedge transaction may be executed at an exchange or match engine that is different from the exchange or match engine executing the derivative product order. The execution of derivative product transaction may be contingent on the existence of an appropriate hedge transaction. Alternatively, a best efforts approach may be used to fill the hedge transaction order after executing the derivative product transaction. |
US08630936B2 |
Outlying trading orders
A method of managing trading is provided. In a market for a particular type of instrument, buy orders and sell orders are received from a plurality of traders. Each buy order has an associated bid price and each sell order has an associated offer price. A determination is made of whether the particular trading order is an outlying trading order by determining whether the particular trading order differs from at least one comparison price by more than a threshold value. If it is determined that the particular trading order is an outlying trading order, a restrictive action is taken regarding the outlying trading order. For example, if a trader subsequently submits another trading order that would trade with the outlying trading order, an alert message may be sent to the trader and the subsequent trading order may be prevented from trading with the outlying trading order at least temporarily. |
US08630935B1 |
System and method for the creation and rebalancing of beneficial interests in tracking investment vehicles over multiple market
A computer implemented process and system is disclosed that relates to methods and systems for creating, tracking, and adjusting beneficial interests of collective investment vehicles on a real-time basis based on exogenous market price movement and transaction activity on the beneficial interests. The disclosed technology encompasses systems and methods of communication with securities exchanges, market makers, brokerage firms, custodians, investors, and the administrator of the investment vehicle. Such communications enable the market value of the interests to accurately track an underlying reference index, over time horizons equal to or longer than one trading day. Such accurate tracking occurs even in a collective investment vehicle relating to leveraged or inverse returns. |
US08630927B1 |
Locating and organizing digital receipt data for use in in-store audits
The present invention extends to methods, systems, and computer program products for auditing in-store sales transactions when a digital receipt is issued. A receipt application server formulates a digital receipt from digital receipt data received from a POS system. The digital receipt is sent from the receipt application server to an auditor mobile device at the location of the POS system. A human auditor can view the digital receipt during an in-store audit. In some embodiments, one or both of the receipt application server and the auditor mobile device reorder receipt entries so that items having specified characteristics are presented more prominently on a display. For example, receipt entries can be re-ordered such that higher profit margin items, bulkier items, or more likely to be stolen items are presented more prominently. As such, a human auditor is more likely to expressly audit these types of items. |
US08630925B2 |
Method and apparatus for controlling service traffic in a communication network
A method and corresponding apparatus for controlling service traffic in a communication network including an online charging system performing the steps of receiving a request for service traffic control, the request including at least data identifying a first communication network account; determining, based on the received data and a predefined set of rules, a first network traffic policy profile associated with the first account; transmitting to a Policy and Charging Rules Function PCRF a first policy control command including an identifier identifying the first network traffic policy profile stored in an network traffic policy profile entity, to be applied in controlling the service. |
US08630920B2 |
Method and system for adjusting product ranking scores based on an adjustment factor
Methods and systems for evaluating business rules for the purpose of promoting or demoting an item listing are presented. Consistent with an example embodiment, a conditional statement of a business rule that includes one or more expressions involving an item attribute and/or a seller attribute for an item listing is evaluated. If the conditional statement evaluates true, an adjustment factor set forth in the business rule is applied to a ranking score assigned to the item listing. The item listing is then presented in a search results page in a position relative to other item listings based upon the adjusted ranking score. |
US08630919B2 |
System and method for generating a narrative summary
A method and system for automatically generating a self-updating naturally-reading narrative product summary including assertions about a selected product. In one embodiment, the system and method includes evaluating an existing narrative product summary, comparing an existing attribute name, attribute value, attribute unit, and assertion model, respectively, to a current attribute name, attribute value, attribute unit, and assertion model to determine if one of the comparisons shows a change. The system and method further determines a new attribute associated with the selected product, selects an alternative product, retrieves a new assertion model with assertions that describe the selected product and identify an alternative product in a natural manner. The system and method then generates a naturally-reading narrative product summary by combining the new attribute with the new retrieved assertion model, and by combining the selected alternative product with another retrieved assertion model to recommend the selected alternative product in the narrative. |
US08630915B1 |
System, method, and computer readable medium for item feed classification
This document relates to classification of items included in a data feed. For example, a feed of items is generated for provision to a referral network site. The feed includes some of the items sold through an electronic commerce network site. Item classification information corresponding to an item sold through the electronic commerce network site is identified based upon the taxonomy information of the referral network site and included in the generated feed of items. |
US08630911B2 |
Salvage liquidation system and a method to liquidate salvage
A method for effecting electronic commerce via a network whereby salvage, excess or liquidated products to be sold are identified, and prospective buyers are qualified to purchase the products in accordance with selected conditions. The product is matched with a qualified buyer in accordance with additional conditions. The goods are then shipped, invoiced automatically, and the payments are processed directly by the buyer's financial institution or payor in response to receipt; and presentation of the invoice. The method is implemented using a suitably programmed computer containing a computer readable media. |
US08630910B2 |
Multi-party, multi-tier system for managing paper purchase and distribution
A system, including apparatuses and methods, for paper production and distribution in a communication network environment with multi-party and multi-level production and distribution relationships. The system receives, from one or more communicatively connected paper purchaser computers, parameters representative of the total surface area and physical characteristics of paper products required for printing tasks. The system determines an estimated quantity of the paper products to order based at least in part on the received parameters. Then, the system displays the estimated quantity of the paper to order and communicates orders to production facilities for obtaining such quantity. |
US08630909B2 |
Disambiguating point-of-sale data through item indexing
A point-of-sale interface receives point-of-sale quantities for a number of individual items, as well as point-of-sale quantity for a miscellaneous group item that includes undifferentiated sales of one or more of the individual items. An item indexer calculates an item index for at least one individual item, the item index comprising a fraction of the miscellaneous group item sales attributable to the individual item. A sales disambiguator then computes a revised point-of-sale quantity for the at least one individual item using the item index and the point-of-sale quantities for the miscellaneous group item and the at least one individual item. |
US08630908B2 |
Distributed point of sale, electronic article surveillance, and product information system, apparatus and method
A distributed point of sale, electronic article surveillance, and product information system. The system can include a central database and at least one integrated POS/EAS/information terminal adapted to communicate with NFC-enabled devices, RFID and EAS tags, and the database, wherein, when a customer places an NFC-enabled device and a product having an RFID and EAS tag and proximate the terminal, the terminal facilitates a transaction for purchasing the product. The terminal can include a processor, an NFC transceiver, a UHF RFID reader, and a Bluetooth transceiver. The transaction for purchasing the product can be performed via the NFC-enabled device. |
US08630905B2 |
Single tap transactions using a secure element
The invention describes how a consumer can hold their NFC enabled device in proximity to an NFC enabled point-of-sale terminal and with a single “wave” or “tap” to automatically redeem coupons, pay for a purchase using a default payment card or a selected card, view receipts view reward point balances, and receive relevant coupons and other digital artifacts both before and after the purchase. The NFC enabled device includes a secure element with a payment application, payment credentials, and other digital artifacts such as coupons. The secure element can be internal to the mobile device, externally affixed to the mobile device, or inserted into a slot within the body of the mobile device. |
US08630904B2 |
Transaction authentication with a variable-type user-stored account identifier
Each of a plurality of consumer accounts in a data store has a first consumer account identifier. Login information is received from a consumer device over the network interface device. The first consumer account identifier is received from the consumer device and stored in association the consumer account. The first consumer account identifier is storable as one of at least two types of identifiers and the storing by the consumer device of the first consumer account identifier is only permitted upon successful login based on the login information. The charge request is received over a network interface device, the charge request including the amount and the second consumer account identifier. A selected one of the consumer accounts is identified by associating one of the first consumer account identifiers with the second consumer account identifier, and the charge request is processed based on an account detail of the selected consumer account. |
US08630899B1 |
System and method for interactive advertisement augmentation via a called voice connection
Disclosed herein are systems, methods, and non-transitory computer-readable storage media for streaming audio. The system includes a processor and modules configured to control the processor to present an audio stream from a website to a user phone or device via a telephone call, the audio stream having an advertisement, and detect feedback from the user in response to the advertisement. The system also includes modules configured to control the processor to buffer the audio stream from a point in time associated with the detected feedback, and connect via the telephone call to a commerce presence associated with the advertisement and create a telephone call session between the user device and the commerce presence. The method includes presenting an audio stream from a website to a user device via a telephone call, and detecting feedback from the user about advertisements. |
US08630895B2 |
Systems and methods for saving advertisements
Methods, machine-readable media, apparatuses and systems are provided to save electronic advertisements selected by a user. An electronic advertisement displayed with a first application of a mobile device of the user is received after selection of a save option associated with the electronic advertisement. The electronic advertisement is saved. The electronic advertisement is provided to the mobile device after receipt of a command from a second application of the mobile device. The electronic advertisements may include any type of incentive or offer, including coupons. |
US08630894B2 |
Method and system for searching for, and monitoring assessment of, original content creators and the original content thereof
System and method may control transmission of a notification to an assessor when a geographic designation set as criteria matches a geographic designation of the assessor. The notification may cause display, on a device of the assessor, of indicia indicating receipt of the notification in association with an icon representative of an integrated application of the device, and of information indicating a selected content item is available for assessment when the integrated application is selected. Monitoring information for the selected content item and the assessor may be updated, based on assessment information transmitted from the device using the integrated application. |
US08630893B2 |
Automated omnipresent real-time credibility management system and methods
Some embodiments provide a credibility management system that aggregates user posts from several social media sites contemporaneously with the posts being published to those sites. The system parses each of the aggregated posts to identify an entity that is targeted in each of the posts and presents the posts to the targeted entities in a real-time manner. The credibility management system computes a score to determine the impact that a user post would have on the credibility of a targeted entity. By presenting the computed scores and aggregated posts to the targeted entities, the credibility management system notifies the targeted entities about what is being said about them across social media, identifies the impact of those posts, and provides a platform whereby the targeted entities can reply in order to mitigate or improve the impact that the posts would have on credibility. |
US08630891B2 |
Computer-implemented system and method for web activity assessment
A computer-implemented system and method for evaluating customer activity. Data about the customer activity is received and is used to generate actual data values associated with preselected business metrics. One or more business metric score cards may be generated to assess how the business metrics are performing as well as what business metrics can be changed to better meet business goals. |
US08630885B2 |
System and method for providing temporary and limited grants of calendar access
A system and method for providing temporary and limited grants of calendar access is provided. An invitee or its proxy may provide an event planner or time broker with a particular grant of calendar access comprising a date range, particular days of the week, and a particular time interval. The grant of calendar access allows the event planner to more easily identify a block of time for scheduling the particular event, the invitee calendar being updated in real-time. In some embodiments, the event planner may schedule the event and place the event directly on the invitee's calendar. |
US08630879B1 |
System and method for funding an organization
A system and method and method for generating substantial net positive cash flows to fund organizations by initiating life insurance policies through asset-backed security transactions with no out-of-pocket expense to either the organizations or to the insureds, requiring no use of policies' cash value or transfer of ownership or beneficiary of the life insurance policies, and providing guaranteed funding to the organizations regardless of when deaths occur while keeping the original insurable interest intact, thereby creating a marketable, tradable uncorrelated security. |
US08630876B1 |
Health service delivery tables system and method
A computerized system and method for generating CMS-compliant health services delivery (HSD) tables. A database stores health care service provider data. A remote computer user interacts with a server that provides access to the health care service provider data. A user can view health care service provider data that meets selected search parameters. The data is displayed in an interactive worksheet. The user may further cause amendments to be made to the data stored in the database. The user may issue a request to generate an HSD table in “final file format” which conforms to CMS requirements. The server checks for errors in the file and notifies the user of errors that are identified. The server optionally checks for adequacy of the network associated with a plurality of health care service providers. The user may approve the final files for filing with CMS. |
US08630875B2 |
Disease management system and health assessment method
A system and method for allowing a patient to access an automated process for managing a specified health problem called a disease. The system performs disease management in a fully automated manner, using periodic interactive dialogs with the patient to obtain health state measurements from the patient, to evaluate and assess the progress of the patient's disease, to review and adjust therapy to optimal levels, and to give the patient medical advice for administering treatment and handling symptom flare-ups and acute episodes of the disease. The medical records are updated, the progression of the disease is stored and tracked, and the patient's preferences for treatment are stored and then used to offer medical advice based on the current state of the disease. A prestored general disease trend curve is compared against a patient specific disease trend curve, and the system makes an automated response such as adjusting therapy. |
US08630873B1 |
Systems and methods for shifting prescription market share by presenting pricing differentials for therapeutic alternatives
While a pharmacist may know of other medications approved by the FDA for the same medical condition, the pharmacist typically does not know what the therapeutically equivalent dose of those products is when compared to the originally prescribed item. In addition to this lack of equivalent dosage information, the pharmacist also is unable to determine if any of those other FDA approved items will save the consumer any money. Accordingly, embodiments of the invention can provide pharmacists and/or consumers with equivalent dosage information as well as pricing information for the equivalent dosage. Accordingly, based at least in part on this information, consumers may have an incentive to and may decide to purchase to another prescription drug, thereby shifting market share to a preferred prescription drug or pharmaceutical manufacturer or provider. |
US08630871B2 |
Methods for generating healthcare provider quality and cost rating data
A method for generating healthcare provider quality rating data includes grouping claim records into one or more claim groups, assigning each claim group to a responsible provider, assessing the claim records in each claim group using guidelines for the particular disease or condition, and generating a compliance score for the claim group, wherein the compliance score indicates the extent to which the claim records in the claim group match the guidelines, and generating normalized provider quality rating data. A method for generating healthcare provider cost rating data includes grouping claim records into one or more claim groups, assigning each claim group to a responsible provider, calculating the total cost of each claim group, aggregating the total cost for each claim group, and comparing the total aggregate cost of each claim group assigned to each provider to an expected cost value. |
US08630870B2 |
Patient portal
A computer-implemented includes receiving, from one or more contributing channels, medical data; assigning the received medical data to one or more data silos; and generating a graphical user interface that when rendered on a display device renders a visual representation of a patient portal, with the patient portal including: one or more visual representations of the one or more data silos for data associated with a user that requested the patient portal. |
US08630867B2 |
Remote-medical-diagnosis system method
Provided are a remote medical-diagnosis system including: a bio-disc or a biochip performing biological, chemical or biochemical reactions with a sample, and having a barcode or a RF IC; a bioanalytical device analyzing results of reactions performed by the bio-disc or the biochip and including a reader reading the barcode or the RF IC to authenticate the bio-disc or the biochip or recording the measured data to the RF IC regardless of a connection with a remote diagnosis server; a virtual doctor as a software in a user's terminal, the virtual doctor providing a user with guidelines and instructions as how to use the bioanalytical device, and providing the user with a consulting service, a diagnosis unit self-analyzing the measured data using mathematical calculations and outputing results of a diagnosis; a user's terminal providing the user with a consulting service from a medical expert or a virtual doctor; a medical expert's terminal providing the user with a consulting service; and a remote diagnosis server connecting the user with the medical expert during periodic medical consultations, connecting the user with the virtual doctor during non-periodic medical consultations, blocking connection between the user and the virtual doctor if a periodic medical consultations term has elapsed; and a method of performing the remote medical-diagnosis. |
US08630865B2 |
Automated on-line business bandwidth planning methodology
Closed-loop control is applied to the field of automated on-line business bandwidth planning tools by comparing measured business bandwidth with a baseline for providing a difference indication, changing the baseline according to the difference, and reporting the change as an event relating to a service level agreement. |
US08630861B2 |
Mixed lossless audio compression
A mixed lossless audio compression has application to a unified lossy and lossless audio compression scheme that combines lossy and lossless audio compression within a same audio signal. The mixed lossless compression codes a transition frame between lossy and lossless coding frames to produce seamless transitions. The mixed lossless coding performs a lapped transform and inverse lapped transform to produce an appropriately windowed and folded pseudo-time domain frame, which can then be losslessly coded. The mixed lossless coding also can be applied for frames that exhibit poor lossy compression performance. |
US08630858B2 |
Methods and apparatus for initiating actions using a voice-controlled interface
Methods and apparatus for initiating an action using a voice-controlled human interface. The interface provides a hands free, voice driven environment to control processes and applications. According to one embodiment, a method comprises electronically receiving first user input, parsing the first user input to determine whether the first user input contains a command activation statement that cues a voice-controlled human interface to enter a command mode in which a second user input comprising a voice signal is processed to identify at least one executable command and, in response to to determining that the first user input comprises the command activation statement, identifying the at least one executable command in the second user input. |
US08630852B2 |
Image processing apparatus, speech recognition processing apparatus, control method for speech recognition processing apparatus, and computer-readable storage medium for computer program
An image processing apparatus includes a speech input portion that receives an input of speech from a user, a dictionary storage portion that stores a dictionary configured by phrase information pieces for recognizing the speech, a compound phrase generation portion that generates a plurality of compound phrases formed by all combinations of a plurality of predetermined phrases in different orders, a compound phrase registration portion that registers the plurality of compound phrases that have been generated in the dictionary as the phrase information pieces, a speech recognition portion that, in a case where speech including a speech phrase formed by the plurality of predetermined phrases said in an arbitrary order has been input, performs speech recognition on the speech by searching the dictionary for a compound phrase that matches the speech phrase. |
US08630850B2 |
Signal processing method, apparatus and program
In one embodiment, a signal processing method is disclosed. The method can perform filter processing of convoluting a tap coefficient in a first signal sequence to generate a second signal sequence. The method can subtract the second signal sequence from a third signal sequence to generate a fourth signal sequence. The third signal sequence includes an echo signal of the first signal sequence. The method can correct the tap coefficient in accordance with an amount of correction determined using a function. The function includes at least one of a first region and a second region, and has values limited. The first region is included in a negative value region of the fourth signal sequence. The second region is included in a positive value region of the fourth signal sequence. |
US08630847B2 |
Word probability determination
A word corpus is identified and a word probability value is associated with each word in the word corpus. A sentence is identified, candidate segmentations of the sentence are determined based on the word corpus, and the associated probability value for each word in the word corpus is iteratively adjusted based on the probability values associated with the words and the candidate segmentations. |
US08630846B2 |
Phrase-based dialogue modeling with particular application to creating a recognition grammar
The invention enables creation of grammar networks that can regulate, control, and define the content and scope of human-machine interaction in natural language voice user interfaces (NLVUI). The invention enables phrase-based modeling of generic structures of verbal interaction to be used for the purpose of automating part of the design of such grammar networks. Most particularly, the invention enables such grammar networks to be used in providing a voice-controlled user interface to human readable text data that is also machine-readable (such as a Web page, a word processing document, a PDF document, or a spreadsheet). |
US08630845B2 |
Generating snippet for review on the Internet
A method and system for generating snippet for review on the Internet. The method includes the steps of: receiving a review and a set of feedbacks corresponding to the review, where the review includes a plurality of evaluating sentences that evaluates product features of a product; calculating support degrees of each of the plurality of evaluating sentences by using the set of feedbacks; extracting, by relying on calculated support degrees of each of the evaluating sentences, at least one of the evaluating sentences from the plurality of evaluating sentences; and designating extracted evaluating sentence as a snippet of the review; where at least one of the steps is carried out by using a computer device. |
US08630844B1 |
Configurable and portable method, apparatus, and computer program product for generating narratives using content blocks, angels and blueprints sets
The subject invention provides a method for using available data and information to automatically create narrative stories that describes domain events, circumstances and/or entities in a comprehensible and compelling and audience customized, manner. Computer executable instructions provide for generating a narrative story using standard and uniform structures and data for receiving domain related data and a story specification, parsing the story specification to provide constituent components, transforming the constituent components into executable code, instantiating content blocks having at least one feature for the domain according to the story specification and rendering the narrative story using the constituent components specified by the content blocks. |
US08630843B2 |
Generating snippet for review on the internet
A method and system for generating snippet for review on the Internet. The method includes the steps of: receiving a review and a set of feedbacks corresponding to the review, where the review includes a plurality of evaluating sentences that evaluates product features of a product; calculating support degrees of each of the plurality of evaluating sentences by using the set of feedbacks; extracting, by relying on calculated support degrees of each of the evaluating sentences, at least one of the evaluating sentences from the plurality of evaluating sentences; and designating extracted evaluating sentence as a snippet of the review; where at least one of the steps is carried out by using a computer device. |
US08630842B2 |
Computerized selection for healthcare services
A method for producing healthcare data records from graphical inputs by computer users. Includes generating a plurality of user input categories, displaying on a graphical display icons that correspond to a first of the user input categories and receiving a first user selection of a first icon of the plurality of icons, and displaying on the graphical display a plurality of icons that correspond to a second of the user input categories and receiving a second user selection of a second icon of the plurality of icons. The method also includes displaying icons that correspond to a physical target on which the medical action or observation is performed and receiving a third user selection of the physical target, and applying a syntax to populate a data record of the action using the at least two of the first, second, and third user selections. |
US08630839B2 |
Computer product for phrase alignment and translation, phrase alignment device, and phrase alignment method
A unified-evaluated-value computing unit quantitatively combines a translation probability between words computed by a corpus-based statistical-value computing unit, dictionary information computed by a dictionary-information referring unit, and syntactic structure information computed by a syntactic-structure-value computing unit, to compute a unified evaluated-value as an index for phrase alignment. |
US08630833B2 |
System, method, and article for detecting abnormal cells using multi-dimensional analysis
A system, method, and article for diagnosing a test set of biological cells. For example, in one embodiment a normal set of cells is characterized using flow cytometry. A centroid and radius are defined for a set of clusters in an n-dimensional space corresponding to a normal maturation for a cell lineage in the normal set of cells. A test set of cells is characterized using flow cytometry and the characterization is compared to the set of clusters. |
US08630831B2 |
Streamline flow simulation of a model that provides a representation of fracture corridors
To simulate a subterranean structure having fracture corridors, a model is used to represent the subterranean structure, where the model also provides a representation of the fracture corridors. A streamline simulation is performed using the model. |
US08630828B2 |
Methods for modeling amplitude modulated light through dispersive optical systems and electronic distance measurement instruments
Methods are disclosed for computer modeling of amplitude modulated light in dispersive optical systems. Ray tracings are extended to include calculations of the modulated phase for the rays. Examples are given for electronic distance measurement instrument applications. |
US08630826B2 |
Electronic device and method for controlling probe measurements
A method controls probe measurement using an electronic device. The method receives user-defined identification data of a probe if a preset configuration file is not stored in a storage device of the electronic device, and fits a three dimensional (3D) model of the probe according to the user-defined identification data of the probe. The method further updates the user-defined identification data of the probe if the fitted 3D model does not match the probe, or stores the user-defined identification data of the probe in a user-defined configuration file if the fitted 3D model matches the probe, and controls the probe to execute measurement according to the user-defined configuration file. |
US08630820B2 |
Methods and systems for threat assessment, safety management, and monitoring of individuals and groups
The disclosure generally relates to methods and systems anticipating a potentially threatening or dangerous incident, and providing varying levels of response to a user. In an exemplary embodiment, the present invention provides varying levels of assistance to a user prior to, during, and after a threatening incident occurs. By providing assistance prior to a threatening incident occurring, the system may be able to thwart potential attacks, bodily harm, robberies, break-ins, and other criminal or dangerous activity. The assistance can be, for example, in the form of deterrents, alerting first responders to go to the scene, sending security personnel to the scene, remotely monitoring the scene, remotely interacting with the scene, providing information and advice to the user. |
US08630816B2 |
High spatial resolution fiber optic temperature sensor
High resolution distributed temperature sensors using fiber optic distributed temperature sensing systems deployed on various carriers to significantly improve spatial resolution and provide high resolution temperature profile and detection of fluid or fluid interface levels. |
US08630814B2 |
Ultrasonic water level gauge and control device
Apparatus, including an ultrasonic liquid level gauge and control system, includes a gauge configured to be coupled on the outside of a device, having a boiler or hot water tank, having liquid contained therein. The gauge is also configured to receive and contain a small part of the liquid of the device; and an ultrasonic transducing and signal processing arrangement configured to: reflect an ultrasonic pulse off a liquid surface of the small part of the liquid of the device contained in the gauge, and determine the level of liquid in the device based at least partly on a time of flight analysis related to the ultrasonic pulse reflected off the liquid surface of the small part of the liquid of the device contained in the gauge. |
US08630810B2 |
Modeling wound healing
Provided are methods of simulating tissue healing. The methods comprise using a mechanistic computer model of the interrelated effects of inflammation, tissue damage or dysfunction and tissue healing to predict an outcome of healing of damaged tissue in vivo, thereby predicting the outcome of healing of damaged tissue in vivo. Implementations of these methods on a computing device also are provided. Non-limiting examples of diseases and/or conditions that are amenable to simulation according to the methods described herein include: a diabetes, diabetic foot ulcers, necrotizing enterocolitis, ulcerative colitis, Crohn's disease, inflammatory bowel disease, restenosis (post-angioplasty or stent implantation), incisional wounding, excisional wounding, surgery, accidental trauma, pressure ulcer, stasis ulcer, tendon rupture, vocal fold phonotrauma, otitis media and pancreatitis. |
US08630807B2 |
Methods for the electronic, homogeneous assembly and fabrication of devices
Methods are provided for the fabrication of microscale, including micron and sub-micron scale, including nanoscale, devices. Electronic transport of movable component devices is utilized through a fluidic medium to effect transport to a desired target location on a substrate or motherboard. Forces include electrophoretic force, electroosmotic force, electrostatic force and/or dielectrophoretic force. In the preferred embodiment, free field electroosmotic forces are utilized either alone, or in conjunction with, other forces. These forces may be used singly or in combination, as well as in conjunction with yet other forces, such as fluidic forces, mechanical forces or thermal convective forces. Transport may be effected through the use of driving electrodes so as to transport the component device to yet other connection electrodes. In certain embodiments, the component devices may be attached to the target device using a solder reflow step. |
US08630806B1 |
Image processing for vehicle control
A method is provided for processing an image in which only parts of the image that appear above a point on a horizon line are analyzed to identify an object. In one embodiment, the distance between the object and a vehicle is determined, and at least one of the speed and direction of the vehicle is changed when it is determined that the distance is less than the range of a sensor. The method for processing images is not limited to vehicular applications only and it may be used in all applications where computer vision is used to identify objects in an image. |
US08630802B2 |
Method and apparatus for trajectory display
Embodiments of the present invention provide an apparatus including a display device for displaying graphical information; a processor arranged to control the display device to display the graphical information; a store for color mapping information, the information being representative of a relationship between orientation-related information of a trajectory and color; and a trajectory-color module for determining orientation-related information of a trajectory and a color according to the determined information and the color mapping information. In at least one embodiment, the processor is responsive to the trajectory-color module to control the display device to display a graphical element at least partly in the determined color. |
US08630801B2 |
Navigation device and method for the graphic output of navigaton instructions
A system and method for determining and displaying a navigation route on a navigation device from one vehicle position to a travel destination. The navigation device can include processor with RAM, a mass storage device for holding a database with geographic data, as well as a display. Depending on whether a complex intersection is present on the navigation route, the complex intersection can be shown on the display in the form of a single perspective view. Embodiments of the invention can provide a high level of correlation between the actual situation on the road as seen by the user and the corresponding navigation maneuver displayed on the screen. The graphic output of navigation devices for complex intersections can also be improved regardless of whether the navigation device is a high-performance or very simple device. |
US08630799B2 |
Optical navigation aid within a beacon field
A secondary optical system for object navigation in an array of beacons is provided that includes an optical source having at least one optical emitter emitting an optical signal and that is mounted to either the moving object or a beacon of the array of beacons. The moving object in simultaneous radio frequency communication the array of beacons to determine dynamic position of the object. An optical detector is mounted to the other of a moving object or the beacon of the array of beacons and the optical detector receives the optical signal when line of sight exists between the moving object and a beacon of the array of beacons. Electronics are provided for determining the dynamic position of the moving object uses weighting factor that favors the communication and at least two beacons of the array of beacons for which a moving object-beacon optical line of sight exists. |
US08630798B2 |
Electronic system and method for personal navigation
An electronic system for providing personal navigation assistance to a user includes a first mobile electronic device having a first GPS module for generating first GPS data and an INS module for generating INS data, and a second mobile electronic device having a second GPS module for generating second GPS data. A wireless communication link allows for communication of data between the first electronic device and the second electronic device. A processor combines the first GPS data, the second GPS data, and the INS data to produce calculated location data indicative of the location of a user at each of a plurality of times. An output component provides personal navigation assistance to a user based on the calculated location data, such as audio instructions. |
US08630796B2 |
System and method for fast acquisition position reporting
A geographic tracking system with minimal power and size required at the mobile terminal collects observation data at the mobile terminal, forwards the data to a processor, which calculates the position. The mobile terminal needs only to gather a few milliseconds of observation data, and to relay this observation data to the processor. The range from the satellite (or other airborne transponder) to the terminal is determined using the known positions of an interrogating transmitter and a satellite, and a known terminal delay between the received signal and the transmission of the return signal, and the round trip time. An arc of locations is determined by computing an intersection of a sphere centered at the satellite having a radius given by the calculated range with a model of the Earth's surface. The candidate points are considered and refined using code phase measurements from a set of GPS satellites. The candidate point having the lowest residuals or expected to measured code phases is chosen as the location of the mobile terminal. The measurements can be refined to account for various sources of error including measurement bias, relative motion and timing errors. |
US08630793B2 |
Vehicle controller
A vehicle controller is provided capable of expanding an application range of departure prevention control while suppressing erroneous control. The vehicle controller includes: a vehicle-mounted camera 600 that captures an image in front of a vehicle; and an ECU 610 that decides one vehicle control method from a plurality of vehicle control methods and controls an actuator with the decided vehicle control method. The vehicle-mounted camera includes an area-specific confidence calculation section 400 that divides the image captured into a plurality of areas on a basis of an acquired image by the capturing and a recognized lane, calculates confidence for each divided area and outputs area-specific confidence information, and the ECU decides a vehicle control method in accordance with the area-specific confidence information. |
US08630790B1 |
Systems and methods for amalgamating flight information
Systems and methods for receiving flight messages relating to a particular flight from multiple sources and processing information in those flight messages to create a single representation of an updated current and intended trajectory of such flight. Preferably, the system comprises one or more processors for performing the following operations: determining which flight message is the most recent; determining which flight messages are relevant; authenticating and processing proposed updates; and merging information contained in the flight messages to create a single representation of one or both of current or intended flight information. |
US08630789B2 |
Routing to reduce congestion
This disclosure describes embodiments that include systems and methods for integrating various efficient and beneficial transportation and network technologies into an energy-efficient, time-efficient, highly-scalable, semi-public transportation system. Specifically, the disclosed embodiments include methods and systems provide a distributed transportation computing system for routing clean-powered, semi-independent system vehicles within adapted existing metropolitan freeway systems. The embodiments reduce traffic congestion by synchronizing the movements of system vehicles within system roadways. System vehicles may be designed to incorporate clean-power, energy-efficiency, and both on- and off-system operational control. As system vehicles allow for both system and independent use, individuals desiring independence may be incentivized to participate in this semi-public, mass-transportation system. High scalability is possible because modifications to existing freeway infrastructures require minimal retrofitting and simplified expansion in comparison with the construction of presently available mass-transportation systems, such as light rail and subway systems. |
US08630787B2 |
Controlling exhaust gas recirculation in a turbocharged engine system
Methods and products for controlling exhaust gas recirculation. |
US08630785B2 |
Fuel management systems and methods for variable displacement engines
A fuel management system includes a pedal resistance determination module and a pedal resistance adjustment module. The pedal resistance determination module determines a desired accelerator pedal resistance based on at least one of engine and transmission operating conditions. The pedal resistance adjustment module adjusts a pedal resistance device based on the desired accelerator pedal resistance. |
US08630774B2 |
Method and system for preventing vehicle damage during rock cycling
A method for preventing potential vehicle damage during operation of an automatic rocking control system in an automotive vehicle employing an automatic transmission is described. The method includes monitoring a plurality of actual and derived automatic transmission parameters and comparing the actual values with predetermined limits for the monitored parameters. Upon determining, based on the comparison, that an imminent component vulnerability level exists, the method transmits a warning signal. Further, upon determining, based on the comparison, that an immediate component vulnerability level exists, the method terminates the vehicle rock cycle assist mode. A system for preventing potential vehicle damage is also described. |
US08630771B2 |
Control method for electric power steering
The invention relates to a control method for a steering system with electric power assistance, comprising a steering wheel, an electric power assist motor, an electric control unit, which includes a memory for storing digital data, a motor driver unit which based on a target engine torque that is delivered to the motor driver unit, determines and sends out electrical signals for controlling the electric power assist motor, at least one sensor device for determining a control variable introduced into the steering wheel, for example a manual torque, wherein in the control unit with the help of the control variable a preset value is determined for a engine torque of the power assist motor, characterized in that in the memory an upper threshold value for the target engine torque is stored and for a case A, in which the preset value exceeds the upper threshold value, the control unit sends out the upper threshold value as the target engine torque to the motor driver unit and in a case B, in which the preset value does not exceed the upper threshold value, the control unit sends out the preset value as the target engine torque to the motor driver unit. |
US08630767B2 |
Estimation of the load of a vehicle
A method, an apparatus and a computer program product for estimating the current load of a vehicle wherein a filter bank including a filter for different weight classes, each filter implementing a vehicle model for estimating the current mass of the vehicle. Based on vehicle data indicative of a current driving situation of the vehicle, and filter parameter specific for the respective weight class, each filter provides a load estimation value as filter specific estimation of the current load of the vehicle. |
US08630763B2 |
Method of operating an in-line legged robot vehicle
A single track in-line legged vehicle is controlled to coordinate movement along a desired single-track trajectory by causing each in-line leg to selectively perform a stance-to-flight phase, a flight phase, a flight-to-stance phase, and a stance phase. During the stance-to-flight phase, reaction forces and torques between a foot and the ground are unloaded to lift the foot off the ground. During the flight phase, a foot moves in the same general direction and at a generally faster rate as a major direction of motion of the vehicle body. During the flight-to-stance phase, foot positioning is controlled to place a foot on the ground according to the desired single-track trajectory. During the stance phase, foot-to-ground interaction develops reaction forces and torques that are transferred from the foot through the corresponding in-line leg to propel, torque, and stabilize the body in the x, y, z, pitch, roll, and yaw axes. |
US08630760B2 |
Method for managing transitions in internal combustion engines with a hybrid drive powertrain
A method for controlling combustion mode transitions for an engine of a hybrid powertrain includes commanding an increase in engine torque, adjusting motor torque output from a torque machine responsive to the operator torque request and the commanded increase in engine torque, executing the combustion mode transition, and operating the torque machine in a torque reclamation state. |
US08630755B2 |
Automatic taking-off and landing system
The invention provides an automatic taking-off and landing system, comprising a flying object and a taking-off and landing target, wherein the flying object has an image pickup device 21 for taking images found in downward direction, navigation means 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10 and 11, and a control unit for processing images acquired by the image pickup device and for controlling the navigation means, and wherein the control unit calculates a positional relation between the taking-off and landing target and the flying object based on the image of the taking-off and landing target as acquired by the image pickup device and controls taking-off and landing operations of the flying object based on a result of the calculation. |
US08630754B2 |
Method for replacing legs in an air navigation procedure
The present invention relates to a method for replacing legs in an air navigation procedure described as a series of legs, the legs forming part of an initial family of legs. The method includes: a step of determining a restricted family of legs included in the initial family of legs, so that each leg not belonging to the restricted family corresponds to a combination of legs belonging to the restricted family: The method also includes: a step of replacing in the navigation procedure the legs not belonging to the restricted family with combinations of legs belonging to the restricted family. |
US08630752B2 |
System and method of displaying airspeed information for an aircraft
A method and a system are provided for displaying flight information of an aircraft. The system receives at least one user defined airspeed related to flight of the aircraft from a user. A processor calculates the at least one calculated airspeed based on data stored in a memory device. A static position is determined by the processor for the user defined and calculated airspeeds. The difference between the positions developed from the user defined and calculated position is also calculated. A difference indicator is displayed to the user for the difference between each user defined and calculated position. |
US08630751B2 |
Tracking system device and method
An aircraft monitoring system comprising a computer system and a receiver for receiving tracking data from a tracking device associated with an aircraft, the monitoring system having a passive tracking mode in which the computer system is configured to receive tracking data and an active tracking mode in which the computer system is configured to determine a condition indicative of an aircraft incident based on the absence of received tracking data. The monitoring system is automatically triggered into the active tracking mode when a signal is received from the aircraft indicating the aircraft has taken-off. |
US08630748B2 |
Method and apparatus for access and/or starting verification
A method for access or starting verification for a vehicle using a mobile identification encoder and at least two antennas located in or on the vehicle at different locations includes: the antennas emitting electromagnetic signals at alterable times, wherein the electromagnetic signals are emitted in transmission blocks having alterable specific properties and wherein a plurality of transmission blocks are strung together to form a communication message in which each transmission block adopts an alterable position in time, the identification encoder receiving the electromagnetic signals emitted by the antennas and processing them to generate a response signal, and altering at least one of the times at which the individual antennas are actuated, the specific properties of the individual transmission blocks, and the position of the individual transmission blocks in time in the communication message in accordance with a cryptographical method. |
US08630746B2 |
Operating method for a vehicle
An operating method for a vehicle includes the steps of measurement of a filling level of a liquid, assignment of a measured filling level to a closest filling level threshold from a multiplicity of known filling level thresholds, wherein each filling level threshold represents a defined filling value, activation of at least one filling level threshold from the multiplicity of filling level thresholds by means of the measuring device, ascertainment of the frequention of an activation of a filling level threshold and/or a frequention of an assignment of a measured filling level to a closest filling level threshold, and determination of the filling level threshold which has a maximum frequention relative to a defined period of time. A realistic filling value is determined from which measuring errors which arise are eliminated. |
US08630743B2 |
Methods and systems for use in controlling irrigation
Some embodiments provide systems and methods of controlling irrigation, comprising: communicating an assumption broadcast from a first irrigation controller to each of a plurality of other irrigation controllers defining assumed states of control elements, wherein the control elements are shared with one or more of the first irrigation controller and the other irrigation controllers; determining whether a reply is received from one or more of the other irrigation controllers in reply to the assumption broadcast; identifying, from the reply, a correction to a state corresponding to a first control element; updating state information corresponding to the first control element in response to the identifying the correction; and communicating a subsequent notification from the first irrigation controller to each of the plurality of other irrigation controllers of the irrigation system, where the subsequent notification comprises the updated state information corresponding to the first control element. |
US08630740B2 |
Automated control-schedule acquisition within an intelligent controller
The current application is directed to intelligent controllers that initially aggressively learn, and then continue, in a steady-state mode, to monitor, learn, and modify one or more control schedules that specify a desired operational behavior of a device, machine, system, or organization controlled by the intelligent controller. An intelligent controller generally acquires one or more initial control schedules through schedule-creation and schedule-modification interfaces or by accessing a default control schedule stored locally or remotely in a memory or mass-storage device. The intelligent controller then proceeds to learn, over time, a desired operational behavior for the device, machine, system, or organization controlled by the intelligent controller based on immediate-control inputs, schedule-modification inputs, and previous and current control schedules, encoding the desired operational behavior in one or more control schedules and/or sub-schedules. |
US08630739B2 |
Exergy based evaluation of an infrastructure
In a method of evaluating an infrastructure having a plurality of components based upon exergy loss values, exergy loss values of the components are aggregated. In addition, at least one of the components in the infrastructure is controlled based upon the aggregated exergy loss values. |
US08630729B2 |
Assembly task verification system and method
A method for verifying completion of a task. Location coordinates of at least one location sensor within a work cell are obtained. At least one sensor is affixed to a tool used to operate on a feature of a structure to be assembled, fabricated or inspected. A virtual object locus is generated based on the location coordinates of the at least one location sensor. The virtual object locus corresponds to a computerized schematic of the structure to be assembled and represents of all possible locations of an object end of the tool within the work cell. One of a plurality of candidate features is identified as the most likely to be the feature operated on by the tool. The identification is based on a probability calculation for each of the candidate features that each respective candidate feature is the feature operated on by the tool. |
US08630728B2 |
System and method for generating indices to quantify operating transition performance of a continuous process
A system and method for generating indices to quantify operating transition performance of a continuous process, such as a sheet forming process, includes a computer system that is configured to generate a normalized overall transition performance index. The overall transition performance index is formed from a plurality of individual parameter indices associated with specific production components or portions of the process line. As such, the individual parameter indices allow a user of the system to readily identify the particular portion of the continuous process line that is performing below desired levels. In addition, because the overall transition performance index is normalized, it enables comparison of the operating transition performance of multiple process lines. |
US08630725B2 |
Recording medium having a data structure for managing sound data and recording and reproducing methods and apparatus
In the data structure of recording medium for managing sound data associated with graphic information, an interactive composition segment is provided. The interactive composition segment includes sound management information. The sound management information is associated with a graphic item and provides an identifier of a sound data in sound file, separate from a main data file, to reproduce in association with the graphic item. |
US08630716B2 |
Systems and methods for providing neural stimulation transitions
A method embodiment comprises generating a neural stimulation signal for a neural stimulation therapy. The signal is generated during a duty cycle of a stimulation period to provide the neural stimulation therapy with an intensity at a therapy level for a portion of the duty cycle. In various embodiments, a ramp up protocol is implemented to begin the duty cycle, a ramp down protocol is implemented to end the duty cycle, or both the ramp up protocol and the ramp down protocol are implemented. The ramp up protocol includes ramping up the intensity from a non-zero first subthreshold level for the neural stimulation therapy at the beginning of the duty cycle to the therapy level. The ramp down protocol includes ramping down the intensity from the therapy intensity level to a non-zero second subthreshold level for the neural stimulation therapy at the end of the duty cycle. |
US08630713B2 |
Electrical muscle stimulator
Disclosed are a method and apparatus for stimulating the masticatory, shoulder, or back, and facial muscles. This is achieved by way of placing four output electrodes and at least one common electrode in the vicinity of the head, neck, and shoulder or back of a subject. In particular, two output electrodes are placed adjacent to the ears of the subject and two output electrodes are placed along the upper back of the subject. The at least one common transmitting electrode is placed on the back of the neck of the subject, generally just below the hairline. Stimulation of muscles/nerves in the vicinity of each output electrode is achieved substantially simultaneously by way of the current produced by the output electrodes. |
US08630711B1 |
Systems and methods for treating disorders by selectively activating and/or blocking muscles through intrafasicular stimulation of the pudendal nerve
Methods and related systems for treating patients suffering from several disorders including bladder dysfunction, erectile dysfunction, and bowel elimination disorders are disclosed and described. The method can include identification of the disorder followed by the step of accessing a pudendal nerve of the patient. A microelectrode array having a plurality of electrodes thereon is inserted into the pudendal nerve of the patient. A controller is electronically associated with the microelectrode array which is programmed to provide selective activation and/or blocking of various muscles using the microelectrodes of the array. The selective stimulation can be tuned to selectively activate or block at least one muscle selected from the group consisting of the external urethral sphincter, the detrusor muscle, the anal sphincter, and the cavernous smooth musculature of the penis. |
US08630707B2 |
Systems and methods for delivering vagal nerve stimulation
According to various method embodiments, a person is indicated for a therapy to treat a cardiovascular disease, and the therapy is delivered to the person to treat the cardiovascular disease. Delivering the therapy includes delivering a vagal stimulation therapy (VST) to a vagus nerve of the person at a therapeutically-effective intensity for the cardiovascular disease that is below an upper boundary at which upper boundary the VST would lower an intrinsic heart rate during the VST. |
US08630706B2 |
Method and system for reversible chemical modulation of neural activity
Methods and related systems for modulating neural activity by repetitively blocking conduction in peripheral neural structures with chemical blocking agents are disclosed. Methods and systems for reversing effects of chemical blocking agents and/or for producing substantially permanent conduction block are also disclosed. |
US08630702B2 |
System for detection of different types of cardiac events
A system for the detection of cardiac events occurring in a human patient is provided. At least two electrodes are included in the system for obtaining an electrical signal from a patient's heart. An electrical signal processor is electrically coupled to the electrodes for processing the electrical signal and a patient alarm means is further provided and electrically coupled to the electrical signal processor. The electrical signal is acquired in the form of electrogram segments, which are categorized according to heart rate, ST segment shift and type heart rhythm (normal or abnormal). Baseline electrogram segments are tracked over time. |
US08630697B2 |
Imaging of polarization scrambling tissue
The present invention provides for the detection and display of polarization scrambling tissue without resolving the polarization state of the backscattered imaging beam. In one embodiment, we illuminate the tissue using two different polarizations. A first polarization determines a first image of high intensity while the second polarization determines a second image of low intensity. Comparison and combination of the first and second images determines tissue which scrambles the polarization in neighboring detection cells. |
US08630695B2 |
Locator, device and method for electronically locating and reading the setting of an adjustable valve
The invention is aimed at improving valve pinpointing and reading devices by proposing to activate a magnetic detection source allowing measurements regularly-distributed in a circle around an axis at predetermined measurement positions. An exemplary locator comprises a casing (26) provided with a mechanism for detecting and analyzing the magnetic field of the magnetic dipole of the valve. It comprises:—a magnetic detection source (36) able to detect and measure the magnetic field of the magnetic center of the valve at predetermined measurement positions distributed in a circle around an axis (X-X′), linked to—a microprocessor (32) for analyzing the measurements and for generating detection signals. |
US08630692B2 |
Method and implantable system for blood-glucose concentration monitoring using parallel methodologies
In an implantable medical device for monitoring glucose concentration in the blood, a blood-glucose concentration analysis is performed using correlations of blood-glucose concentration with measures of metabolic oxygen consumption including oxymetric, and/or temperature. Analysis of electrocardiographic data is used in a parallel method to detect and/or confirm the onset and/or existence and/or extent of hypoglycemia and/or hyperglycemia. Blood-glucose concentration calculation is enhanced by using the combination of the oxygen metabolism analysis and electrocardiographic analysis. |
US08630686B2 |
Mobile device slide system and method
A slide system for a mobile device including a base portion and a slide portion configured to slide in relation to the base portion, the system including: at least one base magnet provided to the base portion; a plurality of slide magnets provided to the slide portion and configured such that the plurality of slide magnets are aligned to the at least one base magnet at predetermined positions during movement of the slide portion relative to the base portion; and a magnetically active element provided to the slide portion in spatial relation to at least one of the plurality of slide magnets such that magnetic forces between the at least one of the plurality of slide magnets and the at least one base magnet are affected. In particular, the magnetic forces can be altered to provide an altered “feel” to the sliding movement by lowering repulsive forces and increasing attractive forces. |
US08630684B2 |
Accessory devices for mobile phones
Implementations described herein relate to accessories for mobile phones. In one implementation, an accessory may include, a display to present information received from a mobile phone to a user of the accessory. The accessory may connect with the mobile phone to form a link to the mobile phone. The accessory may include a clothing attachment component to attach the accessory to the user or to clothing of the user. |
US08630683B2 |
System and method for displaying information associated with a cellular device on a user specified display unit
Embodiments of the present invention include a method for displaying information associated with a cellular device on a display unit. In one embodiment, the method includes monitoring for a signal transmitted by a cellular device. In response to detecting the signal from the cellular device, the method determines an identity and a call status of the cellular device from data associated with the signal. The method transmits the identity and the call status of the cellular device to a user specified device to display the identity and the call status on the display unit associated with the user specified device. |
US08630682B2 |
Method and apparatus for time-based mediation of wireless communications
A method and apparatus for time-based mediation of wireless communications is provided to a user of a wireless communications device. The method involves determining local time information associated with the recipient communication device in response to a user-initiated contact function; determining a mediation condition based at least in part on said local time information; and if the mediation condition satisfies a predetermined criterion: providing, to a user of the wireless communication device, an indication of said mediation condition; presenting, to said user, a menu of two or more options for contacting the recipient communication device using the wireless communication device; and initiating communication in accordance with an option selected from said menu. The method can be implemented on an apparatus such as a wireless communication device. |
US08630681B2 |
Mobile terminal and method for controlling functions related to external devices
A mobile terminal and controlling method thereof are disclosed, by which data can be conveniently shared between a terminal having a projector and an external device connected to the terminal. A mobile terminal includes a projector module configured to project an image onto an external surface, a wireless communication unit configured to establish a wireless connection for communicating with an external device, and a controller configured to display an icon in the projected image corresponding to the connected external device, receive an input selecting the displayed icon, execute a function related to the external device in response to the input, and direct a movement of an object displayed in the projected image according to a signal received from the connected external device. |
US08630678B2 |
Modifying a signal by controlling transmit diversity parameters
A method for modifying a signal transmitted from a mobile communication device comprising by perturbing a transmit diversity parameter from its nominal value by modulating the parameter with respect to the nominal value in a first direction for a first feedback interval and then in a second direction for a second feedback interval, receiving a feedback signal including feedback information relating to the perturbed signal as received at a feedback device, and based at least on the feedback information, adjusting the nominal value of the transmit diversity parameter by increasing, decreasing, or preserving the nominal value. |
US08630670B2 |
Permission based text messaging
A user may receive one or more text messages after the user is authorized. The potential user can opt in through a web page in one embodiment. Once the potential user sends an initial request, the user may receive a first text message containing an authorization code on their mobile phone. The user may enter the authorization code back to a web page. Receipt of the authorization code may trigger the phone number of the potential user to be added to a list of authorized text message receivers. One or more text messages may then be sent to authorized phone numbers on the list. |
US08630664B2 |
Access point database
A location beacon database and server, method of building location beacon database, and location based service using same. Wi-Fi access points are located in a target geographical area to build a reference database of locations of Wi-Fi access points. At least one vehicle is deployed including at least one scanning device having a GPS device and a Wi-Fi radio device and including a Wi-Fi antenna system. The target area is traversed in a programmatic route to avoid arterial bias. The programmatic route includes substantially all drivable streets in the target geographical area and solves an Eulerian cycle problem of a graph represented by said drivable streets. While traversing the target area, periodically receive the GPS coordinates of the GPS device. While traversing the target area, detecting Wi-Fi signals from Wi-Fi access points in range of the Wi-Fi device and recording identity information of the detected Wi-Fi access point in conjunction with GPS location information of the vehicle when the detection of the Wi-Fi access point was made. The location information is used to reverse triangulate the position of the detected Wi-Fi access point; and the position of the detected access point is recorded in a reference database. |
US08630658B2 |
Wearable ultra-thin miniaturized mobile communications
A cellular telephone is provided with a wearable housing, desirably in a form which can be concealed in the user's clothing, wallet, or other place. The housing may be devoid of switches or buttons for controlling the cellular telephone, and control inputs can be provided through free space communications such as a short-range radio link. A module for use in portable communications devices includes chips superposed on one another on a stack, and incorporates an interposer for facilitating connections between the chips. |
US08630656B2 |
Method and system for locating a mobile radio receiver in a radio system with multiple transmitters
A method of determining the location of a mobile receiver is provided. The method works within a radio system in one or more dimensions, the radio system includes a network of transmitters the positions of which are known. The method comprises the steps of: compiling a list of the signals detected by the receiver, sending said list to a calculation device; constructing a position function which relates to the probability that the receiver is at a given location, which position function has components corresponding to each member of the list, each component including a predetermined probability function that depends on mobile receiver position; and evaluating said position function to determine a position that corresponds to the highest probability of location, and defining that position to be the location of the mobile receiver. |
US08630652B2 |
Method and apparatus for optimizing the location of heterogeneous underlaid evolved node-Bs
In one embodiment, mobile device traffic information and signal strength information associated with a geographical region are obtained. A plurality of candidate locations are determined based on the traffic information and the signal strength information, capacity values for each of the candidate locations are determined, and a candidate location is selected, from among the plurality of candidate locations, as a placement locations based on the capacity values. |
US08630651B2 |
Cost effective call routing from IMS networks to local carrier networks
A call placed by a mobile device may be routed to landline destinations using cost-sensitive routing techniques. The call may be routed based on whether it is an intra-MTA (major trade area) or inter-MTA call. In one implementation, a device may receive message initiating a call and determine the MTA of the calling party based on a cell/sector identifier in the message. The device may further determine the MTA of the called party based on the called telephone number. The device may route the call based on whether the MTA of the calling party matches the MTA of the called party. |
US08630650B2 |
Method for operating femtocell in wireless communication system
A method for operating a femtocell in a wireless communication system comprises the steps of: triggering the switching from the operation mode for providing a service to closed subscriber group (CSG) terminals which belong to a specific terminal group and to non-CSG terminals which do not belong to the specific terminal group, to the operation mode for providing the service only to said CSG terminals; and commanding said non-CSG terminals to change the operation mode, and carrying out a handover. The method of the present invention improves efficiency of femtocell operation, and reduces restrictions on terminals disposed in the vicinity of the femtocell. The method of the present invention can utilize the unused frequency range of the femtocell, thereby providing a service with a high data ratio. |
US08630644B2 |
Circuit bearer control
The invention makes use of the Short Message Service (SMS) or Unstructured Supplementary Services Data (USSD) capabilities present in today's cellular networks as a means of providing call control and presence signalling and, in particular, for providing the means of effecting hand-off at least from/to the cellular domain to/from the WiFi domain. SMS and USSD were originally designed as engineering channels, but SMS has become highly popular as a service in its own right. SMS and USSD are built into all existing cellular (GSM, CDMA etc.) network and predate the current GPRS overlay. In particular, SMS and USSD can be used while a call may be active in the cellular domain, and a handset may send and receive such messages, with an additional facility which may be used by the invention of receiving acknowledgements of successful receipt of an outgoing SMS by the messaged party—effectively a confirmation from the network. The present invention proposes to use SMS or USSD as a means of an adjunct call control and presence signalling in the cellular domain between a handset and the SIP domain. |
US08630640B2 |
Refining femtocell coverage information with beacon transmitters
Systems, methods, devices, and computer program products are described for refinement of femtocell coverage area information in a wireless communication system, particularly in context of a femto-proxy architecture. Zones may be defined within a femtocell coverage area using beacon sources, and a zone map of zone signatures may be defined for each zone of the femtocell coverage area, according to macro signatures detected in those zones. The zone map can be used, by access terminals, the femto-proxy system, and/or the macro network, to provide functionality, including reduced power level femtocell discovery and association, enhanced network planning, improved femtocell troubleshooting, etc. |
US08630638B2 |
Method of managing inbound communications based on the current location of a wireless communications device
A method of managing inbound communications received by a roaming wireless communications device entails enabling a user of the roaming wireless communications device to activate an inbound communications filter having filter criteria based on a current location of the user and a current location of a sender of an inbound communication. Once the wireless device has determined whether the inbound communication satisfies the filter criteria, the wireless device notifies the user that the inbound communication has been received provided that the inbound communication satisfies the filter criteria. |
US08630634B2 |
Processing of interactive screens for a wireless device
A method for processing interactive screens for a wireless device is provided. The method includes receiving, from the wireless device, a download request for content. The method further includes determining whether the wireless device has an interactive screen associated with the content. If it is determined that the wireless device has the interactive screen associated with the content, the method further includes transmitting the content to the wireless device without transmitting the interactive screen. |
US08630627B2 |
Method and apparatus for processing messages in a social network
In one embodiment, the present invention is a method and apparatus for knowledge generation and deployment in a distributed network. In one embodiment, a method for processing messages in a social network includes receiving a new message from a first node in the network, the new message including a query, providing the first node with an answer to the query, if the answer is located in a repository, and initiating generation of the answer, if the answer is not located in the repository. |
US08630623B2 |
Content control apparatus and method thereof
A mobile terminal including a wireless communication unit configured to wirelessly communicate with at least one other terminal; a display unit including a touch screen; and a controller configured to enter the touch screen into a locked state, to display a lock screen and an application program icon for executing an application program on the lock screen when entering the locked state. |
US08630621B2 |
Systems and methods to enable authentication of the location of access point base stations and/or user equipment
Systems and methods for communication include components and methods for detecting, at an access point base station, location-verification data transmitted by at least one macro cell. Further, the components and method include transmitting a response message, including location information, via a backhaul network to a location authentication component to authenticate a location of the access point base station based on the location information, wherein the location information includes location data that is a function of the location-verification data. In some aspects, an operation of the access point base station may be allowed or disallowed based on an authentication of the location information. |
US08630613B2 |
Computer-implemented method, system, and computer program product for telecommunications rating
The present application relates to a computer-implemented method, system, and computer program product for telecommunications rating. The computer-implemented method for telecommunications rating may comprise: receiving an event from a source system for a service, wherein the event is generated by a user; transforming the event into a normalized event by determining event characteristics comprising determining a guiding point identifier to identify a guiding point associated with the user; by using the guiding point identifier, retrieving from the guiding point a list of products operable to guide the normalized event; rating the normalized event by calculating and aggregating costs according to the list of products; and posting the costs by updating at least one balance associated with the user, the guiding point, and/or the service. |
US08630607B2 |
Emergency call handoff between heterogeneous networks
A system to receive, from a user device, a request to establish a communication session to allow an emergency call to be placed or transferred to a public safety access point (PSAP) server; determine whether the request includes a first indication that the emergency call is being initiated via the user device or a second indication that the emergency call is being handed off from a base station associated with another network device, place the emergency call, to the PSAP server and via a first gateway device associated with the network device, when the request includes the first indication; and transfer the emergency call, to the PSAP server and via a second gateway device associated with the other network device, when the request includes the second indication, where the second gateway device processed the emergency call prior to being handed off from the base station. |
US08630604B2 |
Communication methods and devices for dual-mode communication systems
A method for wireless communication determines, for a client device having a first wireless connection with a first connection point, to initiate a second wireless connection between the client device and a second connection point, wherein the first connection point includes an Access Point and the second connection point includes a Base Station. The method sends a message from the second connection point to the first connection point, including instructions for the first connection point to communicate with the client device using either a Point Coordinate Function (PCF) or a Distributed Coordinate Function (DCF). In addition, the method initiates the second wireless connection between the client device and the second communication point. |
US08630601B2 |
Active channelized integrated antenna system
An active channelized antenna system includes an antenna array operable over a multi-octave frequency band to provide one or more antenna output signals. An electronics module includes multiplexer circuitry responsive to the one or more antenna output signals configured to divide an input signal spectrum into a plurality of frequency band components each of less than an octave bandwidth. The electronics module includes a plurality of amplifiers each of less than an octave bandwidth to provide an amplified component signal for a respective frequency band. Combiner circuitry included with the electronics module is configured to combine the amplified frequency band components into a composite signal. A transmission medium such as a coaxial cable, fiber optic line or free space, is configured to transmit the composite signal to a remotely located receiver system. The antenna system may be employed as a repeater system. |
US08630598B2 |
Methods and apparatus for measuring and/or using transmitter and/or receiver IQ imbalance information and/or DC offset information
A wireless communications device, e.g., a mobile node supporting direct peer to peer communications, performs a self-calibration of one or more of: receiver IQ imbalance, transmitter IQ imbalance, receiver DC offset, and transmitter DC offset. The wireless communications device, operating in calibration mode, intentionally sets the oscillator frequency used for downconversion in its receiver module to a different frequency than the oscillator frequency used for upconversion in its transmitter module. A first baseband signal, e.g., a single tone test signal, is input to the transmitter module and an upconverted transmit signal is generated. The transmit signal is routed via a feedback loop to the receiver, which performs a downconversion operation. Power and/or phase measurements of the signals output from the downcoversion are used to determine IQ imbalance compensation information and DC offset compensation information. The determined compensation information is used subsequently when operating in a communications mode of operation. |
US08630596B2 |
System and method for adaptive beamforming for specific absorption rate control
A system may include a modifiable mobile device having at least two antennas coupled to fractional amplifiers, with returned power detectors. A beamformer unit provides adaptive beam shaping pattern, and a baseband processor provides beam pattern requirements, wherein the beamformer unit modifies the beam pattern requirements with return loss sampling information to shape the adaptive beam pattern so that a transmitted beam pattern minimizes transmitted power reflected back to the mobile device. A method may include regularly measuring a return power level, if output power is greater than a specific absorption rate level, comparing the return power level to a first threshold, else implementing mobile transmit diversity (MTD), and repeating. If the return power level is greater than the first threshold, implementing a MTD combined with reflection-based beamforming that modifies beam pattern requirements of the mobile device with return loss sampling information to create an adaptive beam pattern. |
US08630595B2 |
System, method and apparatus for transmit diversity control based on variations in propagation path
A method and apparatus for applications of identification of variations of propagation path to transmit diversity control. Transmit diversity parameters may be modified according to detected dynamics, which may, for example, be related to changes in actual propagation and network conditions. Such dynamics may be referred to as mobility parameters. Mobility parameters may apply to variability in a propagation path due to any conditions. Determination of a mobility parameter may be conducted using one or more of multiple parameters available to the mobile terminal. Such feedback information indication, which is related to the propagation path conditions, may be provided to the apparatus, which would attempt to find a more desired mode of operation, which may lead to reduction in power and the improvement of the quality of transmission. |
US08630594B2 |
Wireless communication apparatus
According to one embodiment, a wireless communication apparatus includes a wireless unit and a control unit. The wireless unit is configured to set, for each period, a transmit state including a first period for transmitting a connection request to establish connection or a receive state including a second period for receiving a connection request and to transmit or receive a signal, both lengths of the first period and the second period being equal. The control unit is configured to control the wireless unit to operate in one of a transmit mode, a receive mode and a transceive mode. The control unit causes the wireless unit to operate in the receive mode or the transceive mode before a trigger signal is externally input, and to operate in the transmit mode if the trigger signal is input. |
US08630591B1 |
Calibration methods for RF receiver gain ranging systems
Systems and methods are provided for calibrating a receiver in an RF system having a device under test (DUT) configured to receive at least one input signal and output at least one response signal. A method comprises setting a drive level of the RF system and making a pair of measurements at the drive level. Each of the measurements is made in a different gain state at a receiver. The method also comprises calculating a calibration factor for the receiver which is a ratio of the pair of measurements. These systems and methods can be used to calibrate receivers while preserving vector information and removing dynamic match effects. |
US08630585B2 |
Method and apparatus for communicating with external interface device using contactless
A method and apparatus for contactless communication are discussed. According to an embodiment, the invention provides a mobile terminal comprising a contactless module configured to communicate contactlessly with an external device; and a controller configured to control the contactless module of the mobile terminal to detect a contactless module of the external device, to identify the external device based on information stored in or obtained through the contactless module of the external device, to authenticate a user of the external device based on the information and/or user input, to establish a communication channel between the mobile terminal and the external device based on the information, and to access data or execute an application through the established communication channel. |
US08630579B2 |
Wireless communication apparatus, wireless communication method, and wireless communication system
A wireless communication apparatus, method, and system selectively utilize advantages of both centralized control and distributed control while suppressing cell searching time. FIG. 4(a) represents an example in which a P-BCH (Primary Broadcast Channel) and an S-SCH (Secondary Synchronization Channel) for centralized control and a P-BCH and an S-SCH for distributed control are frequency-divided, and the P-BCH and the S-SCH for the distributed control are transmitted to a distributed control resource. FIG. 4(b) represents an example in which a P-BCH and an S-SCH for the centralized control and a P-BCH and an S-SCH for the distributed control are time-divided, and the P-BCH and the S-SCH for the distributed control are transmitted to a centralized control resource. Since a relay station transmits the P-SCH (Primary Synchronization Channel) as a centralized control resource, a mobile station can specify sub-frame timing by using only the centralized control resource. |
US08630577B2 |
Item banking system for standards-based assessment
An computer item banking system for standards-based assessments has test items used in standards-based assessments wherein a plurality of item specifications are developed using a specification building feature to create new, edit, move, and delete specifications and to assign specifications to one or more standards; a plurality of test items are constructed and edited using a test building feature to specify the type of item being constructed, points available for the item, and the type of bank to which the item is assigned; bank types include agency-wide assessments including benchmark tests and end-of-course examinations, and formative assessments such as classroom quizzes. The system includes means for certification of test items and preventing use of uncertified test items to be used in agency-wide assessments under construction. |
US08630574B2 |
Image forming system
An image forming system includes a non-transparent image forming apparatus including a first image forming station for forming a non-transparent toner image and for transferring the non-transparent toner image onto a recording material, and a transparent image forming apparatus including a second image forming station for forming a transparent toner image and for transferring the transparent toner image onto the recording material discharged from a first image heating unit. Formation of images as a combination of the non-transparent image and the transparent image is capable on both sides of the recording material by controlling a first re-feeding unit and a second re-feeding unit. The image forming system further includes a first reversing unit for feeding the recording material discharged from the first image heating unit to the second image forming station with a reversed facing orientation, and a controller for controlling the first reversing unit in accordance with a combination of a non-transparent image formation process and a transparent image formation process for both sides of recording material. |
US08630571B2 |
Reduced thickness fixing unit to reduce deformation or fatigue failure
A fixing unit and an image forming apparatus including the fixing unit. The fixing unit includes a heating roller having an internal space in which a heating source is disposed and a pressurizing roller facing the heating roller. The heating roller has a circular hollow pipe shape and includes a fixing nip forming part which forms a fixing nip between the fixing nip forming part and the pressurizing roller. The nip forming part can have a slim part disposed at a center thereof and a pair of deformation preventing parts formed at both ends of the slim part, each deformation preventing part having a thickness thicker than a thickness of the slim part. |
US08630570B2 |
Transfer device, image forming apparatus, and image forming method
A transfer device includes a transfer roller, a first resilient member configured to urge the transfer roller in the direction toward a recording medium carrying path, a pair of sliding members configured to support both ends of the transfer roller independently from each other, a pair of transfer roller holding members configured to support the respective sliding members so as to be capable of sliding and rotate about a center of rotation independently from each other, and a carrying guide configured to rotate about the center of rotation, be urged in the direction toward the transfer roller holding members by a second resilient member, and be restricted from rotating by the sliding members. |
US08630569B2 |
Belt member feeding device and image forming apparatus provided with the same
An image forming apparatus has a rotatable belt, a stretching unit for stretching the belt, a steering unit for stretching and steering the belt, wherein the steering unit includes a rotatable portion rotatable with rotation of the belt, a frictional portion, provided at each of opposite axial end of the rotation portion, for slidable contact with the belt, and a support for the rotatable portion and the frictional portion. A rotation shaft rotatably supports the support, and the steering unit is capable of steering the belt by rotation thereof from sliding between the belt and the frictional portion, wherein each of the frictional portions is provided with an inclined surface which is inclined to be further from a rotational axis of the rotation portion axially toward an outside, and wherein the belt is contacted to at least one of the inclined portions. |
US08630568B2 |
Liquid development apparatus and cleaning method that control either a gap between a pool forming member and a supply roller or a supply rate of a cleaning liquid
Provided is a liquid development apparatus having a constitution in which liquid developer containing carrier liquid with toner dispersed therein is supplied from a liquid developer/cleaning liquid supply member on a pool forming member arranged facing to a supply roller so as to form a pool of the liquid developer, from which pool the liquid developer is supplied to the supply roller, wherein a liquid developer/cleaning liquid supply member supplies cleaning liquid on a pool forming member to form a suitable pooling portion of the cleaning liquid and the liquid developer remaining on the surface of the supply roller is removed and cleaned. |
US08630558B2 |
Electrophotographic apparatus having an electrophotgraphic photosensitive member with an amorphous silicon carbide surface layer
An electrophotographic apparatus has an electrophotographic photosensitive member having a surface layer of an amorphous silicon carbide. The ratio of the atom density (C) of carbon atoms to the sum of the atom density (Si) of silicon atoms and the atom density (C) of carbon atoms, C/(Si+C), in the surface layer is set larger from one end portion toward the other end portion of the electrophotographic photosensitive member in the direction of rotational axis thereof, and is from 0.61 or more to 0.75 or less in the entire region of the electrophotographic photosensitive member in the direction of rotational axis thereof. The electrophotographic apparatus has an air current generator which draws out air from the side of the one end portion toward the side of the other end portion. |
US08630554B2 |
Image forming device
The image forming device includes a main body and a cartridge that is detachably mountable on the main body. The cartridge includes the image bearing member, the first and second cleaning roller, and the state changing unit. The first cleaning roller cleans the image bearing member and the second cleaning roller cleans the first cleaning roller. The state changing unit is configured to irreversibly change an electrically disconnected state between the first cleaning roller and the second cleaning roller into an electrically connected state between the first cleaning roller and the second cleaning roller. The resetting unit is configured to reset the cumulative value when the current detecting unit does not detect current before the image bearing member rotates and detects current after the image bearing member rotates. |
US08630552B2 |
Digital coherent receiver and receiving method
A digital coherent receiver includes a front end, an A/D convertor, and a processor. The front end converts a light signal into an electric signal by using a signal light and a local oscillator light. The A/D convertor converts the electric signal of the front end into a digital signal. The processor calculates a spectrum gravity center of the digital signal converted by the A/D convertor, estimates a frequency offset of the digital signal based on the calculated spectrum gravity center, and reduces the frequency offset of the digital signal based on the estimated frequency offset. |
US08630547B2 |
Enhanced polarization mode dispersion of optical channels
A device receives, from an optical receiver, performance information associated with an optical channel generated by an optical transmitter, and determines, based on the received performance information, a wavelength that minimizes polarization mode dispersion (PMD) associated with the optical channel. The device also provides, to the optical transmitter, a request to adjust an optical channel wavelength to the determined wavelength. |
US08630542B2 |
Distributing wavelength compatible with signaling protocols
An apparatus, comprising a first node configured to communicate with a second node to generate a wavelength assignment, wherein the first node is configured to send a wavelength availability information to the second node. Included is a network component comprising at least one processor configured to implement a method, comprising receiving a wavelength availability information, and updating the wavelength availability information using a local wavelength availability information. Also included is a method, comprising acquiring a local wavelength assignment information, calculating a local wavelength availability information, and transmitting the local wavelength availability information to a subsequent network element on a lightpath. |
US08630541B2 |
Wavelength division multiplexing transmission apparatus for controlling the wavelength of an FBTL optical module, and wavelength control method employed for wavelength division multiplexing transmission apparatus equipped with the FBTL optical module
Provided is a wavelength division multiplexing transmission apparatus that enables operation control of transponders each carrying an FBTL optical module from the monitoring control unit by the same operation control as one for the transponders each carrying an NB optical module with four wavelengths assigned. For that purpose, the wavelength division multiplexing transmission apparatus includes the transponders for converting optical signals from wideband wavelengths to narrowband wavelengths, and a monitoring control unit for controlling the transponders by instructions from an operator. Each transponder includes (i) an assigned wavelength determining unit for converting channel information specified by the monitoring control unit into assigned wavelength information assigned to the transponder, and (ii) a full-band tunable laser (FBTL) module control unit for performing control in such a manner as to cause a full-band tunable laser (FBTL) to emit based on the assigned wavelength information after conversion by the assigned wavelength determining unit. |
US08630538B2 |
Communication system, communication device, and communication method
A communication system includes a transmitter that combines and transmits a first signal light and a dummy light having a wavelength different from the first signal light; a first amplifier that amplifies a light transmitted by the transmitter to a constant power; a communication device that separates the dummy light from the light amplified by the first amplifier, has a variable transmittance and allows the separated dummy light to pass through, and combines and transmits the passed dummy light and a second signal light having a wavelength different from the dummy light; a second amplifier that amplifies a light transmitted by the communication device to a constant power; a receiver that receives the second signal light included in the light amplified by the second amplifier; and a controller that controls the transmittance. |
US08630535B2 |
Light emission control device and light emission control method
A control device is provided for controlling a light emission device. The control device includes a light metering unit configured to acquire respective light metering values from a plurality of light metering regions. The control device further includes a correction unit configured to correct information about a light metering value of a target region based on a result of comparison between the light metering value of the target region and the light metering value of the light metering region at the periphery of the target region among the plurality of light metering regions, the result being acquired by the light metering unit allowing the light emission device to perform pre-flashing. Also, a calculation unit is provided which is configured to calculate a main light emission amount of the light emission device based on the information about the light metering value corrected by the correction unit. |
US08630533B2 |
Editing apparatus, editing method and program
In an editing apparatus; overwriting data used for insertion editing on base data, which is segmented into each picture including data having a predetermined unit of data amount X, and includes variable-length encoded real data, is variable-length encoded; each picture is sequentially obtained as a target picture, and regarding the target picture, if an amount of the overwriting data is equal to X, the overwriting data is handled as insertion data as it is, otherwise, insertion data is created by adding stuffing data to the overwriting data so that the amount of the overwriting data can be equal to X; a filler having the same amount as a filler of the base data is added to the insertion data having the same total amount as the real data; and the resultant insertion data is added onto the base data. |
US08630532B2 |
Video processing apparatus and video processing method
A video processing apparatus calculates displayed time of two input segments having a telop area in a video on the basis of a time displayed area, determines whether or not the two input segments are a series of scene segments on the basis of the two displayed times, and outputs the two input segments determined as the series of scene segments as an output segment. |
US08630528B2 |
Method and system for specifying a selection of content segments stored in different formats
A method, system and program product are described for specifying a selection of content segments stored in different formats. The invention involves receiving specification of a plurality of portions of first content stored in a first format, the specification identifying beginning and ending frames for each portion, and building a list comprising a starting mark and ending mark for each selected portion of first content, the list for use in accessing corresponding portions of the same content stored as second content in a second format. |
US08630526B1 |
Method of indexing multimedia content by creating database records that include location data
A method of indexing multimedia content by creating database records that include location data is disclosed. Devices that generate multimedia content also generate location data corresponding to the location of the device when the content is generated. The location data includes geographical coordinates such as latitude and longitude as well as orientation and tilt. Other data may be recorded such as date and time of day, and light exposure. The content and location data are communicated to a Content Index Processor (CIP) that creates a database record from the location data and determines classifications for the database record that can be used by a person that is searching for particular multimedia content. |
US08630523B2 |
Methods of preparing strength member pulling members in fiber optic cable furcations and related components, assemblies, and fiber optic cables
Methods of preparing strength member pulling members in fiber optic cable furcations and related components, assemblies, and fiber optic cables are disclosed. To allow fiber optic cables to be pulled without damaging optical fiber(s) disposed therein, a strength member pulling loop is formed from a strength member disposed inside the fiber optic cable. A pulling cord can be disposed in the strength member pulling loop to pull the fiber optic cable. The pulling load applied to the pulling cord is translated to the strength member pulling loop, which is translated to the strength member disposed inside the fiber optic cable. In this manner, when the fiber optic cable is pulled, the pulling load is translated to the strength member disposed inside the fiber optic cable to prevent or avoid damaging the optical fiber(s) disposed inside the fiber optic cable. |
US08630515B2 |
Rotated single or multicore optical fiber
An apparatus for estimating a shape, the apparatus including: an optical fiber configured to conform to the shape and having a first core offset from a centerline of the optical fiber, the first core having an optical characteristic configured to change due to a change in shape of the optical fiber wherein a change in the optical characteristic is used to estimate the shape. A method for estimating a shape is also disclosed. |
US08630514B2 |
Spectral broadening for DTS application
An apparatus and method for use in distributed temperature sensing (DTS) systems to reduce coherent Rayleigh scattering in fiber optic cables by using photonic crystal fibers. |
US08630509B2 |
Structured grids for label propagation on a finite number of layers
An image represented by multiple nodes can be processed by determining whether labels can be propagated to a node from another node of the image. Conceptually, an image can be presented as a “structured grid” of multiple nodes (e.g., a structured grid of pixels of an image). In a “structured grid,” two or more nodes of the same level (e.g., nodes in the same gray level) can determine in parallel whether to propagate a label from one or more of its neighboring nodes that are labeled and propagate one or more labels accordingly. An image can be processed by iteratively repeating this process for nodes of successive levels. It will be appreciated that the disclosed techniques allow parallelism without requiring partitioning of an image or having to merge partitioned images. The disclosed techniques are especially suited for watershed algorithms. |
US08630506B2 |
Image correcting device, method for creating corrected image, correction table creating device, method for creating correction table, program for creating correction table, and program for creating corrected image
An image correcting device includes an image input section, image storage section, correction table storage section, geometry correcting section subjecting an input image to geometrical correction based on a correction table, and image output section outputting the input image as a corrected image. The table is created by: calculating a pair of angles (θ, φ) corresponding to each pixel position on the output image as the corrected image; calculating a light direction based on an intersection line between a plane obtained by rotating a YZ plane by angle θ about Y axis and that by rotating an XZ plane by angle φ about X axis, in three dimensional Cartesian coordinate system with origin at a projection center of the input image; calculating a position on the input image corresponding to the light direction, as a resampling position; and associating the resampling position with the pixel position on the output image. |
US08630505B2 |
Image processing device including definition enhancement
Image processing devices include a color extractor circuit configured to extract color information from input image data, a color shifter circuit configured to color shift the input image data according to the extracted color information and a definition enhancement circuit configured to detect a color difference from the color-shifted image data and to unsharp mask filter the color-shifted image data according to the detected color difference. |
US08630500B2 |
Method for the encoding by segmentation of a picture
A method for encoding an image, the encoding being a mixed encoding with the possibility of using a first lossless compression type, and a second lossy compression type, the method including: dividing the image into a plurality of elementary blocks; determining which elementary blocks have a high level of detail; allocating the first type of compression to each elementary block that has a high level of detail; allocating the second compression type to each elementary block that does not have a high level of detail; applying the first type of compression to each elementary block to which the first compression type has been allocated; applying the first compression type to each elementary block directly surrounded by two elementary blocks to which the first compression type has been allocated. |
US08630499B2 |
Image processing apparatus and control method thereof
When an image processing apparatus capable of connecting to a digital camera is to perform image-correction processing on irreversible-compression encoded image data acquired from the digital camera, it is determined whether the image-correction processing can be executed by the connected digital camera. When the processing can be executed, it is confirmed whether or not RAW data that corresponds to the irreversible-compression encoded image data is present in the digital camera. If the corresponding RAW data is present in the digital camera, the digital camera is requested to execute the image-correction processing based on the RAW data. This makes it possible to suppress degradation in the image quality more than when directly correcting an irreversible-compression encoded image. |
US08630494B1 |
Method and system for sharing image content based on collection proximity
Systems, methods, and computer readable medium are described for performing an action based on determining that the contents of a first image collection and a second image collection are similar. In one aspect, the present disclosure relates to comparing digests representing the two image collections to determine proximity. The digest may be obtained and the comparison made at either a collection sharing device or at a proxy server. The actions performed based on a proximity determination may comprise notifying a user of a first collection sharing device of the availability of other collection sharing devices, or the retrieval of one or more images from the other image collections. In another aspect of the present disclosure, proximity may be measured by comparing subject faces comparing in a first image collection to the faces present in a second image collection. |
US08630493B2 |
Techniques for enabling or establishing the use of face recognition algorithms
Embodiments described herein facilitate or enhance the implementation of image recognition processes which can perform recognition on images to identify objects and/or faces by class or by people. |
US08630492B2 |
System and method for identifying a vascular border
A system and method are provided for using a first vascular image, or more particularly a plurality of control points located thereon, to identify a border on a second vascular image. Embodiments of the present invention operate in accordance with an intra-vascular ultrasound (IVUS) device and a computing device electrically connected thereto. In one embodiment, the computing device includes a plurality of applications operating thereon that are used to (I) identify a border and control points on a first IVUS image (i.e., any IVUS image), (ii) extrapolate the control points to a second IVUS image (i.e., another IVUS image), (iii) identify a border on the second IVUS image, and (iv) adjust the border on the second IVUS image in accordance with at least one factor. |
US08630488B2 |
Creating a duotone color effect using an ICC profile
A method for creating a duotone color effect from a lightest color and a darkest color, including: obtaining a source image in a red-green-blue (RGB) color space; obtaining a lightest color RGB tuple and a darkest color RGB tuple; generating an international color consortium (ICC) device link profile based on the lightest color RGB tuple and the darkest color RGB tuple; and converting the source image in RGB color space to a duotone image in RGB color space using a color conversion function with the ICC device link profile. |
US08630487B2 |
Image processing apparatus and method
There is provided an image processing apparatus including: a first color transform unit carrying out a color transform on a combination of color components with high correlation out of a plurality of color components included in image data; and a second color transform unit carrying out a color transform on a combination of color components aside from the combination of color components subjected to the color transform by the first color transform unit out of the plurality of color components included in the image data. |
US08630486B2 |
Method for analysis of color separations
A method for registering color deviations on printing materials produced in machines processing printing material, includes using a computer to analyze image data from a prepress stage with regard to coloring in a printed image on the printing materials. During the analysis in the computer, the image data from the prepress stage are organized into image types, the image types are allocated set points and the set points are compared with actual values registered by a color measuring instrument on the printing materials being produced. |
US08630479B2 |
Methods and systems for improved localized feature quantification in surface metrology tools
A method for enabling more accurate measurements of localized features on wafers is disclosed. The method includes: a) performing high order surface fitting to more effectively remove the low frequency shape components and also to reduce possible signal attenuations commonly observed from SEMI standard high pass, such as Gaussian and Double Gaussian filtering; b) constructing and applying a proper two dimensional LFM window to the residual image from the surface fitting processing stage to effectively reduce the residual artifacts at the region boundaries; c) calculating the metrics of the region using the artifact-reduced image to obtain more accurate and reliable measurements; and d) using site-based metrics obtained from front and back surface data to quantify the features of interest. Additional steps may also include: filtering data from measurements of localized features on wafers and adjusting the filtering behavior according to the statistics of extreme data samples. |
US08630476B2 |
System and method for supporting discovery of defect included in inspection subject
A system, and methods of operation thereof, is presented that permits determination of a defect in an inspection subject by means of processing an image of said inspection subject, which system avoids exhaustion of bandwidth in a communication line connected to the image processing unit. The system includes a unit to receive an image, a transmission queue and a buffer to store the image, an image processing unit to determine whether the image includes a defect image, a unit that generates defect information when the presence of a defect image is determined, an image extraction unit that extracts the defect image based on the defect information, and a storage unit for storing such defect image. |
US08630474B2 |
Back-projection of a projection image data set with depth-dependent filtering
For filtered back-projection of a projection image data set, the projection image data set is cosine-weighted. The cosine-weighted projection image data set within the image plane of the projection image data set is subjected to a two-dimensional Radon transformation. The Radon transform of the cosine-weighted projection image data set differentiated with respect to the distance from an image origin of an image coordinate system. The derivative of the Radon transform is redundancy-weighted. The redundancy-weighted derivative is subjected to a two-dimensional Radon back-transformation. The Radon back-transform is differentiated and back-projected with respect to an image column coordinate. A differentiation step width entering into the differentiation is varied depending on depth. |
US08630472B2 |
Increased temporal resolution in the case of CT images by means of iterative view reconstruction with limiting conditions
A method is disclosed for the reconstruction of image data of a moving object to be examined from measurement data, wherein the measurement data has previously been established in a relative rotational movement between a radiation source of a computed tomography system and the object to be examined. In at least one embodiment, first image data is reconstructed from an incomplete measurement data record by way of an iterative algorithm, wherein in the iterative reconstruction a dimension is used which contains probability information relating to pixel values of the image data to be reconstructed. |
US08630470B2 |
Radiological imagery method making a zone of interest in an organ correspond to an associated part of the network
Embodiments of the invention relate to a method of processing a radiological image of an organ, the organ being connected to a flow circulation network, and comprising steps according to which: an operator or a processing means defines a contour to delimit a zone of interest in the radiological image of the organ; the processing means determines part of the network in which the flow supplies the zone of interest or originates from this zone of interest; and a display means displays the determined part of the network. |
US08630468B2 |
Imaging method for the representation of the results of intravascular imaging and CFD results and medical system for execution of the method
An imaging method for representing results of intravascular imaging (IVB) and CFD results of plaques of a vascular vessel tree of a patient and an imaging medical system for execution of the method are proposed. A 3-D image data set of the area under examination is acquired with x-ray beams for the generation of 3-D x-ray images. A 3-D reconstruction image of the area under examination is generated from the 3-D x-ray images. IVB images are generated by intravascular imaging. Larger calcified plaques in the 3-D x-ray images and IVB images are identified for determining orientation points or landmarks. The spatial position of the plaques are correlated and/or registered based on the orientation points or landmarks. The IVB image data and 3-D image data are fused and reproduced. |
US08630467B2 |
Diagnosis assisting system using three dimensional image data, computer readable recording medium having a related diagnosis assisting program recorded thereon, and related diagnosis assisting method
A plurality of sets of volume data obtained by imaging a subject on different imaging dates or different imaging times are analyzed, to calculate at least one type of index value that represents the state of the subject within each set of volume data. Transition data that represent transitions in the index values are generated for each type of index value, based on the calculated index values. At least one subject map that includes a region in which transitions are detected is generated. Specified data from among the calculated index values and the generated transition data are correlated with regions within each subject map where transitions are detected, and output to a predetermined screen. |
US08630465B2 |
Imaging of buried structures
A method of obtaining an image of buried structures in an object, comprising: providing a camera for imaging visual and infrared-images; providing a bounded light source; partly irradiating said object by said bounded light source; imaging a non-irradiated area of said object by said camera to image said buried structure; and combining said buried structure image with a visual image of said object. Accordingly an image can be obtained while discarding specular reflections of the object. Additionally there is disclosed a method of enhancing imaging of buried structures in an object, comprising: aligning said infrared light source with a visual light source; providing a first edge analysis of said infrared image; providing a second edge analysis of said visual image; comparing said first and second edge analysis; and discarding edges in said infrared image that are also detected in said second image. |
US08630464B2 |
Adaptive iris matching using database indexing
An adaptive iris matching approach for processing images of irises having a quality not sufficient for conventional non-adaptive matching approaches. Visible regions in a radial direction on an iris, without segmenting a circumferential of the iris, may be processed. A boundary of the visible region of the iris may be estimated. An iris map may be constructed with the non-visible portion of the iris masked. The iris map may be at least partially encoded. Partial codes of the iris map may be extracted to index at least portions of a database containing iris information. Irises may be retrieved from the database with an iris code as a query. |
US08630462B2 |
Methods and apparatus for improved motion capture
An apparatus includes an acquisition module, an area definition module, a comparison module and a rendering module. The acquisition module is configured to receive a first position datum and a second position datum associated with a position of an object at a first time and a second time, respectively. The area definition module is configured to set an area surrounding a first object position associated with a focal point of the first position datum as a dead-zone. The comparison module is configured to determine whether a focal point of the second position datum is within that area. If yes, the rendering module is configured to maintain a position on a display of a graphic. Otherwise, the area definition module is configured to set an area surrounding a second object position associated with the first object position and the focal point of the second position datum as the dead-zone. |
US08630459B2 |
Signal processing apparatus
A signal processing apparatus for displaying an input image in the sate in which a part of the image is enlarged, displays an enlarged image obtained by enlarging a part of a designated object in the input image so that the enlarged image is superimposed at a position in accordance with the position of the designated object. |
US08630449B2 |
Device and method for monitoring water level
The present invention relates to a water level monitoring device and method, which has an advantage of efficient water level monitoring and high device reliability by setting a portion of an area including the water area and the shore area in the image data, monitoring an area in the horizontal direction other than the vertical direction through the image, decreasing complexity by significantly reducing the computational amount over an existing vertical direction water level measuring system, excluding noises such as floating matters, irregular reflection and so on through a water level model generating process for area distinction, and generating a water level model adaptive to environmental factors such as algal bloom, muddy water and so on. |
US08630448B1 |
Method and system for image-based nutrition/health monitoring
Data indicating a user's desired, and/or mandated/prescribed, dietary guidelines and/or restrictions is obtained from one or more sources and then when the user is frequenting a restaurant, fast food establishment, supermarket, or any other establishment for obtaining food, an optical image of printed or visual nutritional information associated with the food item the user is contemplating purchasing/eating is obtained via one or more user computing systems. Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology is then used to transform the printed/visual nutritional information contained in the optical image into discrete nutritional information data. The nutritional information data is then analyzed and compared with the data indicating the user's desired, and/or mandated/prescribed, dietary guidelines and/or restrictions and a recommendation is made to the user as to whether the contemplated food item is a good/acceptable purchase for the user, and/or whether the user should eat/purchase the food item. |
US08630445B2 |
Hidden image method and hidden image apparatus
A hidden image method comprising forming a set of carrier devices which when overlayed upon one another and aligned will reveal N images within a common area, the set of carrier devices being formed by: forming N latent images from respective ones of the N images and respective ones of N line decoders to hide the N images, each latent image being decodeable by the decoder from which the latent image is formed to reveal the image the latent image hides, the N latent images further formed such that the lines of the decoders cross one another within the common area at line angles displaced relative to one another so as to define a single axis of alignment; and forming each carrier device of the set of carrier devices by combining at least two items selected from the set of latent images and decoders so as not to decode any of the hidden images and such that the set of carrier devices includes all the latent images and all the decoders, whereby the set of carrier devices will reveal the N hidden images within the common area when overlayed upon one another and aligned. Also disclosed are a line decoder comprising a plurality of lines which diverge from one another, a line decoder comprising a plurality of lines at least some of which have an increasing average width from one end to another, a line decoder comprising at least some lines having non-integer line widths. |
US08630444B2 |
Method for embedding messages into structure shapes
Embodiments of the invention disclose a system and a method for embedding a symbol in a glyph, comprising the steps of determining a set of landmarks representing an outline of the glyph; determining a data segment between two landmarks, wherein the data segment is suitable for embedding the symbol; modifying the data segment according to the symbol to produce a modified glyph such that the symbol is embedded in the modified glyph; and outputting the modified glyph. |
US08630443B2 |
Automatic error detection for inventory tracking and management systems used at a shipping container yard
A method automatically detects errors in a container inventory database associated with a container inventory tracking system of a container storage facility. A processor in the inventory tracking system performs a method that: obtains a first data record, identifies an event (e.g., pickup, drop-off, or movement) associated with the first record, provides a list of error types based on the identified event, and determines whether a data error has occurred through a checking process. In each of the checking steps, the processor selects an error type from the list of error types, determines a search criterion based on the selected error type and the first data record, queries the database using the search criterion, compares query results with the first data record to detect data conflicts between them, and upon the detection of the data conflicts, reports that a data error of the selected error type has been detected. |
US08630441B2 |
Multi-magnetic speaker
A multi-magnet speaker is disclosed. The multi-magnet speaker includes a frame defining a hollow space, a magnetic system defining a yoke and a plurality of magnetic gaps positioned in the hollow space, a diaphragm mounted on the frame and a plurality of coils attached to the bottom of the diaphragm. The diaphragm includes a plurality of vibrating membranes each defining a dome part and an arcuate portion radially extending from the periphery of the dome part. Each of the coils is received in the corresponding magnetic gap to drive the corresponding vibrating membrane to vibrate. |
US08630439B2 |
Acoustic conversion device and acoustic conversion device assembly method
An acoustic conversion device includes: a driving unit including magnets, a yoke, a coil, a vibrating portion, and an armature fixed to the yoke; a diaphragm unit including a holding frame fixed to the driving unit, with one face as a first-joint face jointed to the driving unit, and the other face as a second-joint face, a resin film adhered to the holding frame, a diaphragm held on the holding frame, and a beam portion propagating vibration from the vibrating portion to the diaphragm; and a storage unit including a case body for storing the driving unit and diaphragm unit; with the driving unit and diaphragm unit being stored in the case body, the case body being pressed against and deforming a sealing agent loaded in the second-joint face, from a side facing the second-joint face, thereby sealing each gap between the case body, cover body, and holding frame. |
US08630438B2 |
Speaker isolation system
A loudspeaker mounting assembly for mounting a loudspeaker in an isolated relation to a structure includes an enclosure and a plurality of interface elements composed of a vibration-damping material. The enclosure has an interior for receiving the loudspeaker and includes at least two spaced-apart support members. Each of the at least two support members includes a support member outer surface and an inner surface extending from the support member outer surface into the support member. The inner surface defines a support member bore. Each interface element includes an interface element outer surface. Each interface element is disposed in a corresponding one of the support member bores and at least partially extends out from the respective support member outer surface, where each interface element outer surface contacts the respective inner surface of the support member. |
US08630437B2 |
Offending frequency suppression in hearing aids
Adaptive notch filters can be used to estimate offending frequencies caused by feedback within a hearing aid system. The offending frequencies can be suppressed by filtering. Offending frequencies can be identified based on variability of the adaptive notch filter parameters. |
US08630436B2 |
Earpiece
An ear unit for stably fitting in an ear includes a first surface facing inwardly toward the ear, a second, opposite surface facing outwardly from the ear and an outer circumferential surface formed between the first and second surfaces. The outer circumferential surface is shaped as a decremental curve. The distance between the ends of the decremental curve is approximately equal to the distance between a first cavity formed under the tragus of the ear and second cavity covered by the lower node of the antihelix of the ear. The first surface is provided with a curvature that provides a contact surface that substantially conforms to the concha, providing an improved attachment, thereby enabling the ear unit to fit closely against the concha when the ear unit is positioned into the ear. |
US08630431B2 |
Beamforming in hearing aids
A hearing aid system includes a first microphone and a second microphone for provision of electrical input signals, a beamformer for provision of a first audio signal based at least in part on the electrical input signals, the first audio signal having a directional spatial characteristic, wherein the beamformer is configured to provide a second audio signal based at least in part on the electrical input signals, the second audio signal having a spatial characteristic that is different from the directional spatial characteristic of the first audio signal, and a mixer configured for mixing the first audio signal and the second audio signal in order to provide an output signal to be heard by a user. |
US08630430B2 |
Condenser microphone
A condenser microphone has an output circuit comprising an emitter-follower circuit; an impedance converter comprising an FET and at least one transistor of the emitter-follower circuit provided next to the FET; and the transistor having an emitter terminal provided with a constant-voltage circuit. The FET included in the impedance converter is operated by a voltage supplied from the constant-voltage circuit. |
US08630429B2 |
Preventing electrostatic pull-in in capacitive devices
A microphone system including an audio sensor with a first electrode and a second electrode. A voltage source is coupled to the first electrode and the second electrode. A high-impedance bias network is coupled between the voltage source and the first electrode of the audio sensor. Additional electronics operate based on a state of the first electrode of the electromechanical device. A feedback system is configured to maintain an electrical potential across the high-impedance bias network at approximately zero volts. Maintaining the electrical potential across the high-impedance bias network at approximately zero volts reduces the tendency of electrostatic pull-in occurring. |
US08630427B2 |
Telecommunications terminal and method of operation of the terminal
A telecommunications terminal (100) includes an input audio transducer (111), a receiver (101) for receiving an electrical signal representing a transmitted audio signal, a noise energy estimator (117) for estimating an audio noise energy input received by the input audio transducer and an audio enhancement means (108) for applying to the received electrical signal in a selected audio frequency band a gain which is greater than the gain applied to audio frequencies of the received electrical signal outside the selected band, the gain applied being a function of the audio noise energy input. |
US08630424B2 |
Active noise control system and method
An Active Noise Control (ANC) for controlling a noise produced by a noise source may include an acoustic sensor (212) to sense a noise pattern and to produce a noise signal corresponding to the sensed noise pattern, an estimator (202) to produce a predicted noise signal by applying an estimation function to the noise signal, and an acoustic transducer (216) to produce a noise destructive pattern based on the predicted noise signal. |
US08630422B2 |
Fully homomorphic encryption method based on a bootstrappable encryption scheme, computer program and apparatus
A method includes encrypting information in accordance with an encryption scheme that uses a public key; encrypting a plurality of instances of a secret key, each being encrypted using at least one additional instance of the public key; sending the encrypted information and the plurality of encrypted instances of the secret key to a destination; receiving an encrypted result from the destination; and decrypting the encrypted result. A further method includes receiving a plurality of encrypted secret keys and information descriptive of a function to be performed on data; converting the information to a circuit configured to perform the function on the data; and applying the data to inputs of the circuit and evaluating the data using, in turn, the plurality of encrypted secret keys. |
US08630421B2 |
Cryptographic key backup and escrow system
A system for securely storing application keys is comprised of a database system, a peripheral hardware security module and cryptographic keys, wherein cryptographic keys comprise application keys, intermediate keys and a master key. Application keys are grouped according to characteristic and are associated with a particular intermediate key, which is utilized to scramble and descramble application keys within the associated group. Intermediate keys are associated with the master key, which is utilized to scramble and descramble the intermediate keys. Scrambling and descrambling of keys is performed within the peripheral hardware security module. |
US08630420B2 |
Method for auto-configuration of a network terminal address
A method for generating a network address in a communication network includes at least one user equipment and a network equipment. The method includes: a) providing a same shared secret key both at the at least one user equipment and at the network equipment; and b) generating at least a portion of the network address at the at least one user equipment and at the network equipment based upon at least the shared secret key. |
US08630418B2 |
Secure management of keys in a key repository
A system or computer usable program product for managing keys in a computer memory including receiving a request to store a first key to a first key repository, storing the first key to a second key repository in response to the request, and storing the first key from the second key repository to the first key repository within said computer memory based on a predetermined periodicity. |
US08630413B2 |
Digital contents reproducing terminal and method for supporting digital contents transmission/reception between terminals according to personal use scope
A terminal for reproducing a digital content in support of transmitting/receiving the digital content to/from another terminal based on whether a terminal is registered in a domain and whether a terminal belongs to a person use scope such that the terminal belonging to the person use scope is not registered in the domain. |
US08630409B2 |
Two-party private estimation of dataset similarity
A two-party approximation protocol is transformed into a private approximation protocol. A first input xε{0, 1, . . . , M}n and a second input yε{0, 1, . . . , M}n of a two party approximation protocol approximating a function of a form ƒ(x, y)=Σj=1ng(xj, yj) is received. Variable B is set as a public upper bound on ƒ(x, y). Variable l is set l=O*(1). The following is performed until ∑ j = 1 l z j ≥ l t or B<1, where t is an arbitrary number: (1) a private importance sampling protocol with the first input x, the second input y, and a third input 1k, is executed independently for jε[l], where k is a security parameter, an output of the private importance sampling protocol is shares of Ijε[n]∪{⊥}; (2) l coin tosses z1, . . . , zl are independently generated where zj=1 iff Ij≠⊥; and (3) B is divided by 2 if ∑ j = 1 l z j ≥ l t or B<1 is not satisfied. When ∑ j = 1 l z j ≥ l 8 or B<1 a private (ε, δ)-approximation Ψ protocol for ƒ(x, y)=Σj=1ng(xj, yj) is outputted where Ψ = 2 B l ∑ j = 1 l z j , ε is an arbitrary number, and δ=exp(−k). |
US08630400B2 |
Telephone relay system, telephone relay apparatus, recording medium and data processing method
When a telephone call line from an outgoing telephone terminal to the specific telephone terminal of a specific terminal user is not opened, the telephone relay apparatus acquires periphery requirement data from user scheduled data about the specific terminal user having a scheduled date matching the present date, and selects a peripheral telephone terminal. Opening of a telephone call line from the outgoing telephone terminal to the selected peripheral telephone terminal is tried, and the outgoing telephone terminal not connected to the specific telephone terminal is connected to the peripheral telephone terminal. Thus, it is possible to increase the possibility that the telephone outgoing user and the specific terminal user can talk to each other between the peripheral telephone terminal and the outgoing telephone terminal. |
US08630399B2 |
Method and system for managing a contact center configuration
A system for adapting a contact center configuration in order to achieve a specific business goal is provided. The system comprises a display for displaying to a user a representation of an actual state of a performance metric of the contact center, an interactive tool for enabling the user to interact with and thereby modify the representation of the performance metric to a desired state, and a computation engine. The computational engine is arranged to determine a measure of the modification of the representation and to identify at least one contact center configuration parameter, which if adjusted, results in an update of the actual state of the performance metric which more closely approaches the desired state represented by the modification. |
US08630396B2 |
Methods and systems for transferring voice messages and faxes over a network
Processes and systems for transferring communication messages, such as fax and voice messages, between a computer and a terminal are disclosed. For example, a fax message intended for a user is received at a call processing system. A voice message intended for the user is received at the call processing system. An initial portion of the fax message and the voice message are transferred to a user terminal. The user can view the initial portion of the fax message and listed in the initial portion of the voice message using the user terminal. At least a second portion of the fax message is downloaded to the user terminal in a trickle mode, and at least a second portion of the voice message is downloaded to the user terminal in a trickle mode. |
US08630394B2 |
Methods, systems, and products for providing communications services
Methods, systems, and products provide communications services. A communication is received from an address, and a database of text messages is queried for the address. A text message associated with the address is retrieved and sent in response to the communication. |
US08630388B2 |
Method and device for ocular alignment and coupling of ocular structures
Embodiments provide method and systems for determining or measuring objective eye alignment in an external-coordinate system so as to define a reference axis. Additional embodiments provide a method and system of aligning an objectively determined reference axis of the eye in a selected relationship to a therapeutic axis of an ophthalmic therapeutic apparatus and/or a diagnostic axis of an ophthalmic diagnostic apparatus. Embodiments provide a method and system for planning an ophthalmic treatment procedure based on objective eye alignment in an external-coordinate system so as to define a reference axis of an eye to be treated. The reference axis may be used to position a therapeutic energy component, for example, an orthovoltage X-ray treatment device, e.g., positioned to provide treatment to tissue on the retina, such as the macula. |
US08630386B2 |
Clock recovery in a battery powered device
A battery powered device is able to maintain a clock value when the battery is removed for a short period. During a first time period, while the battery is in the device, clock pulses derived from a first oscillator are counted at a first rate in a first counter that represents the clock value. During a second time period following the first time period, while the battery is removed, the value of the first counter is maintained independent of any clock pulses derived from the first oscillator, clock pulses derived from a second low power oscillator are counted in a second counter. During a recovery time period following the second time period, clock pulses derived from the second oscillator are again counted in the second counter, while clock pulses derived from the first oscillator are counted in the first counter at a second rate higher than the first rate, the duration of the recovery time period being determined based on the number of pulses counted in the second counter during the second time period. |
US08630385B2 |
Emergency core cooling duct for emergency core cooling water injection of a nuclear reactor
The present invention relates to a longitudinally divided emergency core cooling (ECC) duct in order to efficiently inject safety water to core of a pressurized light-water nuclear reactor. The ECC duct includes side supports for preventing the flow-induced vibration in the annular downcomer, and has structural stability while thermally expanding and contracting. A longitudinally divided ECC duct for emergency core cooling water injection of a nuclear reactor is provided on the periphery of a core barrel of a nuclear reactor, includes an emergency core cooling water inlet facing a direct vessel injection nozzle, and extends in a longitudinal direction of the core barrel. The longitudinally divided ECC duct is divided into a plurality of longitudinally-divided ducts in the longitudinal direction of the longitudinally divided ECC duct. |
US08630382B2 |
Asynchronous data recovery methods and apparatus
Embodiments of data recovery apparatus include oscillators, edge detection circuitry, and data storage. The oscillators generate data detection signals, which convey first series of pulses during time periods for which a serial bit stream conveys a logical 1, and second series of pulses during time periods for which the serial bit stream conveys a logical 0. The edge detection circuitry detects transition edges of the first and second series of pulses, and generates data storage signals that include first indications of detected transition edges in the first series of pulses and second indications of detected transition edges in the second series of pulses. In response to receiving a first indication, a logical 1 is written into an unmasked subset of data storage bit locations. In response to receiving a second indication, a logical 0 is written into the unmasked subset of bit locations. |
US08630380B2 |
Receiver apparatus, image signal attenuating method, and mismatch compensating method
To improve the degree of removal of unwanted component signals with a small area while eliminating the need for a high-frequency signal source. IF band simulated image signals IM-I, IM-Q output from an IF band simulated image signal generating unit (12) are input to a quadrature mixer (14) through a path switch (13). The signals IM-I and IM-Q which are fed through and output from the quadrature mixer (14) are output from a complex filter (16), and the amplitudes of the signals IM-I and IM-Q are detected by an amplitude detecting unit (17). Based on the detected amplitudes, an element value control unit (18) controls element values of constituent elements of the complex filter (16) so as to decrease the amplitudes. |
US08630379B1 |
Methods and apparatus for multiple input multiple output (MIMO) successive interference cancellation (SIC)
Systems and methods are provided for determining a successive interference cancellation (SIC) decoding ordering in a multiple input multiple output transmission (MIMO) system. Multiple decoding orderings for received codewords are identified. A performance objective, such as total throughput or total probability of decoding, is computed for each one of the orderings based on the position of the codewords in the ordering. A globally optimal ordering is found that maximizes the performance objective over the multiple decoding orderings. |
US08630375B2 |
Method and apparatus for received signal processing in a multi-stage receiver
The present disclosure provides an apparatus and method for advantageously simplifying joint detection processing in one or more demodulation stages of a multi-stage receiver by configuring at least one stage to use a constrained multi-user search, such as a constrained tree search. For example, a multi-stage receiver includes at least two stages configured to successively process a received composite signal that includes signal contributions from two or more “users”, which, for example, means that the received signal includes two or more symbol streams. In a non-limiting example, particular embodiments of the present invention combines constrained tree searching with Serial Localized Indecision (SLIC) processing in a multi-stage receiver, where each stage includes a joint processing unit. At least one of those stages is configured to use a constrained multi-user search, rather than a full search, for jointly detecting symbols in the stage input signal. |
US08630374B2 |
Packet detection and coarse symbol timing for rotated differential M-ary PSK modulated preamble signal
A packet detection and coarse symbol timing recovery system for preamble signal modulated with rotated differential M-ary phase shift key (PSK) modulation includes a differential detection unit, to provide a symbol signal responsive to a received signal. A preamble sequence correlator performs a preamble sequence correlation on the symbol signal to produce a correlator signal. A metric calculation unit performs a metric calculation on the correlator signal to produce a metric. A packet detection unit determines that a packet is detected and produces a sample index. A coarse symbol timing unit finds a peak of the calculated metric signal outputs a sample index for the peak as coarse symbol timing information. The sample indexes are used in processing a physical layer convergence procedure (PLCP) header and physical layer service data unit (PSDU) block. |
US08630373B2 |
Receiver for receiving signal containing clock information and data information, and clock-embedded interface method
A receiver for receiving information that contains clock information and data information and a clock-embedded interface method. In the clock-embedded method, a clock signal and data may be reconstructed by receiving a pair of differential signals that contain clock information and data information and by using a change in a common voltage of the pair of differential signals. |
US08630372B2 |
Method and apparatus for detecting a plurality of symbol blocks using a decoder
Teachings presented herein offer a technique for using a demodulator to improve a demodulation process. For example, a demodulation unit according to an embodiment of the present invention may be a multi-stage demodulator and may include: a demodulator configured to receive a baseband signal and configured to produce modem bit likelihood values based on the received baseband signal; a decoder configured to receive and process the modem bit likelihood values to produce improved modem bit likelihood values; a candidate value generator configured to produce, based on the improved modem bit likelihood values, candidate symbol values for a group of one or more symbols; and a detector configured to receive the baseband signal and the candidate symbol values and configured to produce one of (a) final modem bit estimates and (b) candidate symbol values for a group of symbols. |
US08630369B2 |
Emphasis circuit and transmitter
An emphasis circuit includes: an applying circuit to add an emphasis signal to an input differential signal; a feedback path to feed back a differential output of the applying unit; a comparing circuit to compare a direct current component level of a positive phase signal and of a negative phase signal of the differential signal; a direct current component level controlling circuit to control a direct current component level of at least one of the positive phase signal and the negative phase signal; a delay unit circuit to add a delay to at least one of the fed-backed differential signal to generate the emphasis signal and inputs the emphasis signal into the applying unit; and a dummy load coupled to a positive phase signal output or a negative phase signal output of the applying unit. |
US08630367B2 |
Signaling format for wireless communications
Methods, devices and systems for wireless communication generate signals by determining whether legacy devices are within a proximal region of the wireless communication. When at least one legacy device is within the proximal region, a frame is formatted to include a preamble field, a signal field, and a data field. Further, the uncoded bits are encoded according to a coding format. The coding format is determined according to bits in the preamble and applicable sub-field lengths. |
US08630365B2 |
Transceiver for communicating over different media types
One embodiment of the present invention relates to a transceiver. The transceiver includes a transmitter having a first transmission path configured to transmit a digital baseband signal over a wireline medium. In addition, the transmitter has a second transmission path configured to transmit a radio frequency signal over a wireless medium. Other systems and methods are also disclosed. |
US08630362B1 |
QLM co-state MAP trellis
This invention discloses a new Co-State Maximum A-Posterior (MAP) trellis algorithm for implementing Quadrature Layered Modulation (QLM) demodulation over multiple layered channels. This MAP trellis algorithm has been demonstrated to provide performance which is at least as good as the current Maximum Likelihood (ML) trellis algorithm and to support a considerable reduction in the number of trellis paths to reduce the computational complexity. Computational complexity prevents ML trellis demodulation of higher order data symbol metrics over multiple layered channels since there is no viable means to support fewer trellis paths. MAP algorithms for reduction of trellis paths are disclosed for data symbol waveforms representative of OFDM, SC-OFDM, satellite, media, wire, and optical communications. QLM waveforms have mainlobes in time/frequency approximating square pulse mainlobes and have sidelobes which are relatively low to facilitate using iterative MAP trellis algorithms which include both mainlobes and sidelobes. |
US08630359B2 |
Radio transmission method, radio reception method, radio transmission apparatus and radio reception apparatus
A pilot signal is transmitted with a predetermined frequency band and a data signal is transmitted with a partial band of the frequency band, and the pilot signal and the data signal to be transmitted with at least the partial band, are controlled its waveform to have the same waveforms in a frequency domain. Thus, in the case of controlling waveforms of the pilot signal and the data signal which have different occupied bands, it is possible to, in a portion of the occupied band for the data signal, avoid the mapping of a low-quality pilot signal or the like, enhance the data signal demodulation capability and improve the data signal reception characteristic while suppressing PAPR. |
US08630357B2 |
Ultra-wideband dual band magnitude summer apparatus and method
This invention relates to capturing and processing the full bandwidth of an Ultra-Wideband (UWB) signal. An incoming UWB signal is processed in two different analog signal bands in parallel and their magnitudes summed to facilitate a Field programmable gate array (FPGA) processing of the entire UWB bandwidth to minimize digital implementation loss and promote a higher range. |
US08630352B2 |
Scalable video encoding/decoding method and apparatus thereof with overriding weight value in base layer skip mode
Provided is a scalable video encoding method and apparatus, in which in adaptive reference fine grain scalability (AR-FGS) of scalable video coding, a weight value that is greater than a previous weight value provided for each slice overrides the previous weight value in order to generate a reference block for a enhancement layer when a macroblock mode of a base layer is a skip mode. |
US08630349B2 |
Method of determining motion vectors for a bi-predictive image block
In the method of determining motion vectors for a bi-predictive image block, reference index information from a co-located image block for the bi-predictive image block is obtained. The motion vectors of the bi-predictive image block are determined based on a type of reference picture referred to by the reference index information. |
US08630348B2 |
Method of predicting an image block
According to one embodiment of the method of determining a motion vector of a current image block at least a first motion vector of a current image block is determined based on a kind of reference buffer storing a reference picture referenced by a co-located image block. For example, in one embodiment of the method, a first motion vector of the current image block may be set equal to a motion vector of the co-located image block and a second motion vector of the current image block may be set equal to zero if the reference buffer is a kind of buffer storing a long-term reference picture. |
US08630345B2 |
Method and apparatus for video interprediction encoding /decoding
Provided is are method and apparatus for video interprediction encoding/decoding. The method of video interprediction encoding/decoding includes extracting intraprediction-encoded/decoded blocks included in previously encoded/decoded pictures and predicting a current block from the extracted blocks. Thus, video encoding/decoding can be performed using both an intra (I) picture and correlation with adjacent pictures, thereby increasing the speed of video encoding/decoding. |
US08630344B2 |
Method and apparatus for decoding/encoding a video signal with inter-view reference picture list construction
A method of decoding a video signal is disclosed. The present invention includes obtaining identification information indicating whether a coded picture of a current NAL unit is an inter-view picture group, obtaining interview reference information of the inter-view picture group, and constructing a reference picture list for inter-view prediction using the inter-view reference information according to the identification information, wherein the inter-view reference information includes view identification information of an inter-view reference picture. |
US08630341B2 |
Method for training and utilizing separable transforms for video coding
A video encoded as a bit stream is decoded using trained sparse orthonormal transforms generated from decoded prediction residual signals, wherein the transforms have associated indices. A current macroblock is entropy decoded and inverse quantized to produce decoded coefficients. For the current macroblock, an L0-norm regularized training process generates a set of mode-dependent sparse orthonormal inverse transforms, selected according to a prediction mode signaled in the bit stream. Decoded coefficients are inverse transformed and then are combined with previously decoded macroblocks to generate an output macroblock of a reconstructed video. |
US08630339B2 |
Method and apparatus for variable accuracy inter-picture timing specification for digital video encoding
A method and apparatus for variable accuracy inter-picture timing specification for digital video encoding is disclosed. Specifically, the present invention discloses a system that allows the relative timing of nearby video pictures to be encoded in a very efficient manner. In one embodiment, the display time difference between a current video picture and a nearby video picture is determined. The display time difference is then encoded into a digital representation of the video picture. In a preferred embodiment, the nearby video picture is the most recently transmitted stored picture. For coding efficiency, the display time difference may be encoded using a variable length coding system or arithmetic coding. In an alternate embodiment, the display time difference is encoded as a power of two to reduce the number of bits transmitted. |
US08630338B2 |
Method and device for image interpolation systems based on motion estimation and compensation
A motion estimation method and device are provided for processing images to be inserted, between a preceding original image and a following original image, into a sequence of images. Each image is divided into pixel blocks associated with motion vectors. For a current block of an image being processed, motion vectors associated with blocks of the image being processed and/or associated with blocks of a processed image are selected. Candidate vectors are generated from selected motion vectors. An error is calculated for each candidate vector. A penalty is determined for a subset of candidate vectors on the basis of the values of the pixels of the pixel block in the preceding original image from which the candidate motion vector points to the current block and/or on the basis of the values of the pixels of the pixel block in the following original image to which the candidate motion vector points from the current block. |
US08630336B2 |
Partial response receiver and related method
A multi-phase partial response equalizer circuit includes sampler circuits that sample an input signal to generate sampled signals in response to sampling clock signals having different phases. A first multiplexer circuit selects one of the sampled signals as a first sampled bit to represent the input signal. A first storage circuit coupled to an output of the first multiplexer circuit stores the first sampled bit in response to a first clock signal. A second multiplexer circuit selects one of the sampled signals as a second sampled bit to represent the input signal based on the first sampled bit. A second storage circuit stores a sampled bit selected from the sampled signals in response to a second clock signal. A time period between the second storage circuit storing a sampled bit and the first storage circuit storing the first sampled bit is substantially greater than a unit interval in the input signal. |
US08630335B2 |
SNR estimation
A method for estimating a Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) in a received signal including, for a fixed first set of a plurality of samples from the received signal, providing an initial noise estimate, starting with the initial noise estimate, iteratively improving the noise estimate, and estimating SNR based, at least partly, on the fixed first set of samples from the received signal and the noise estimate. Additional related apparatus and methods are also described. |
US08630332B2 |
GNSS signal processor
A signal processor for GPS or other GNSS radiolocalization systems, includes a RAM pre-correlation buffer which is filled in sync with the code NCO, thus all sample alignment in the buffer is fixed The device further includes an amplitude compressor to limit the size of the buffer memory and is optimized to provide data to the following DFT unit in small bursts that can be processed in real time without the need for intermediate buffers. Thanks to these features the processor limits the amount of fast intermediate memories, is simpler and has lowerpower consumption. |
US08630324B2 |
Semiconductor laser drive device and image forming apparatus incorporating same
A semiconductor laser drive device includes a semiconductor-laser drive element to generate a drive current according to an input control signal to supply the drive current to a semiconductor laser, a control circuit to control the drive current by controlling the semiconductor-laser drive element, and a drive current detection circuit to detect a current value of the drive current supplied to the semiconductor laser and generate a digital control signal representing the detected digital value of the drive current to output. |
US08630321B2 |
Scanning temporal ultrafast delay and methods and apparatuses therefor
Methods and apparatuses for performing temporal scanning using ultra-short pulse width lasers in which only minimal (micro-scale) mechanical movement is required, and related methods for obtaining high-accuracy timing calibration, on the order of femtoseconds, are disclosed. A dual laser system is disclosed in which the cavity of one or more of the lasers is dithered using a piezoelectric element. A Fabry-Perot etalon generates a sequence of timing pulses used in conjunction with a laser beam produced by the laser having the dithered laser cavity. A correlator correlates a laser pulse from one of the lasers with the sequence of timing pulses to produce a calibrated time scale. The invention is applicable to applications requiring rapid scanning and time calibration, including metrology, characterization of charge dynamics in semiconductors, electro-optic testing of ultrafast electronic and optoelectronic devices, optical time domain reflectometry, and electro-optic sampling oscilloscopes. |
US08630319B2 |
Multi-receiver combining for distributed antenna systems with code division multiple access radio frequency uplink sources
A distributed antenna system and related methods are provided to reduce interference among wireless mobile devices in a distributed antenna system. A combiner is provided that is configured to be coupled to a plurality of remote transceiver stations deployed in a coverage area and which wirelessly transmit downlink signals to and receive uplink signals from wireless mobile devices. A plurality of input streams that carry uplink signals transmitted by wireless mobile devices are received on individually assigned signal paths from each of the remote transceiver stations. At least one parameter of an input stream received from the one or more of the remote transceiver stations is monitored. A mapping function is determined based on the monitoring. The plurality of input streams are combined based on the mapping function to produce the two or more output streams and the two or more output streams are sent to corresponding receivers in a base station. |
US08630313B2 |
Signal mapping method and communication device
Ameliorate deterioration in quality of communication caused by intercell interference with respect to a multicarrier communications protocol, such as OFDM. A method of positioning an error correction-coded signal is changed with a data symbol that is transmitted simultaneously with a pilot signal and a data symbol that is not simultaneous with the pilot symbol. Else, a modulation protocol is changed with a data symbol that is transmitted simultaneously with a pilot signal and a data symbol that is not simultaneous with the pilot symbol. It would further be permissible to lower either a signal amplitude or a power level of a data symbol that is transmitted simultaneously with a pilot signal. |
US08630312B2 |
System and method for wireless communication of uncompressed video having connection control protocol
A system and method for wireless communication of uncompressed audiovisual data are disclosed. The system includes a first device and a second device wirelessly connectable to each other. The first device transmits a connection control information request from the first device to the second device, wherein the connection control information request includes a request for connection control information of the second device. The connection control information includes at least one of association information, wireless video area network (WVAN) information, device capability information, audio video (A/V) format capability information, bandwidth information, A/V stream start, stop or pause command information, and device control information. The request further includes connection control information of the first device. The second device is configured to transmit a connection control information response from the second device to the first device. The connection control information response includes the connection control information of the second device. |
US08630309B2 |
Frame generation apparatus and method of protecting protocol header information over wideband high frequency wireless system
Provided are a frame generation apparatus and method that may protect variable length header information in a wideband high frequency wireless system. The frame generation apparatus may report variable length header information of a frame, and thereby the variable length header information may be verified in a receiving device. Also, the frame generation apparatus may convert a variable length header into a fixed length header by adding padding information to the variable length header of a frame, thereby protecting variable length header information. |
US08630300B2 |
System and method for deploying communication services
A system and method for deploying communication services is disclosed. A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, a cross-connect system having an Ethernet switch coupled to a central office and coupled to a plurality of buildings by way of a plurality of digital subscriber line (DSL) ports, and a worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX) transceiver coupled to a high speed port of the Ethernet switch. The WiMAX transceiver can be used to augment a limited capacity of at least one of the plurality of DSL ports by distributing a portion of services carried by the at least one DSL port to the WiMAX transceiver. Accordingly, the cross-connect system can supply dual-mode communications. Additional embodiments are disclosed. |
US08630296B2 |
Shared and separate network stack instances
A method for configuring a packet destination, that includes creating the packet destination on a host, obtaining a network configuration for the packet destination, determining whether the host comprises a virtual network stack, where the virtual network stack includes the network configuration, and assigning the packet destination to the virtual network stack. |
US08630293B2 |
Solar power plant with scalable communications protocol
A solar collector controller that can process solar field control commands can include a network interface that can receive a variable-length data packet with a collector controller. The collector controller can control one or more solar collectors. In addition, the variable-length data packet can include a header segment identifying a command to be performed by the collector controller and a data segment having one or more parameters associated with the command. The data segment can have a length that depends on a type of the command. Moreover, the solar collector controller can include a processor that can execute the command in response to receiving the data packet. |
US08630290B1 |
Using a DFA unit for classification list processing
Systems and methods can operate to use a deterministic finite automata module to classify data. In various implementations, a converter can be used to convert a classification list to a state machine operable to be executed by the deterministic finite automata module. In some implementations, the converter can be used to produce a state machine from template data, the state machine being operable to be executed by the deterministic finite automata module. |
US08630286B2 |
System and method for improving multicast performance in banked shared memory architectures
A system and method for improving multicast performance in banked shared memory architectures. Temporal localities created by multicast packets in a shared memory bank are addressed through caching. In one embodiment, multicast packets are stored in a cache memory that is associated with a bank of shared memory. In another embodiment, read requests for multicast packets are stored in a read request cache, wherein additional read requests are accumulated prior to an actual read event. |
US08630284B2 |
Method and apparatus for creating and distributing COST telephony-switching functionality within an IP network
A system for providing and managing IP telephone calls establishes separate and distinct call legs between IP-capable appliances and routers and between routers, and creates calls, changes calls, and manages telephony functions by joining and disjoining calls legs. In some instances one or more call legs disjoined from an active call are maintained as established to be joined later to other call legs to create other active calls. By managing IP calls as separate and distinct legs functions of intelligent, connection-oriented telephony networks may be simulated in IP telephony systems. The management is provided by software running on processors coupled to routers in the IP network. |
US08630283B1 |
System and method for applications based on voice over internet protocol (VoIP) Communications
A system is provided comprising an application server and a media proxy. The application server comprises a first processor, a first memory, and a first application stored in the first memory that, when executed by the first processor, transmits a first digital media stream for mixing with a first voice over internet protocol (VoIP) stream. The media proxy is stored in a second memory and, when executed by a second processor, receives the first voice over internet protocol stream, mixes the first digital media stream with the first voice over internet protocol stream to produce a second voice over internet protocol stream, transmits the second voice over internet protocol stream, receives a third voice over internet protocol stream, produces a fourth internet protocol stream based on the third internet protocol stream, and transmits the fourth internet protocol stream. |
US08630282B2 |
Voice transmitting and receiving system
Voice data from speech start till mute are transmitted as a section voice file to the opposite side voice data transmitting and receiving system, thus permitting voice data transmission free from voice interruption. By transmitting voice data from the speech start till the mute it is possible to eliminate packet losses in the data transmission channel and perform voice communication in the same voice quality as in the transmitting side. Besides, because of the use of HTTP communication port it is possible to obtain voice communication exceeding the rooter without any special setting. |
US08630277B1 |
Self learning roaming optimization
A self learning roaming optimization approach allows a wireless client device to build signal strength maps that store wireless network access point signal strengths at locations along paths traveled by the wireless client device within an operational environment. The signal strengths collected at locations along a path may be analyzed to determine a recommended wireless network access point at the respective locations to achieve a reliable wireless network connection along the mapped path. The stored recommendations may take into account changes in wireless network access point signal strengths, e.g. due to obstructions and/or electromagnetic shields that may block portions of a wireless network access point signal at subsequent locations along the mapped path. A wireless client device may recognize the wireless client device's location along a previously mapped path based on the unique combination, or signature, of wireless network access point signal strengths measured at the wireless client device's location. |
US08630276B2 |
Method of transmitting control information for performing HARQ process in wireless communication system supporting plurality of transmission bands
A method of transmitting control information for performing a Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) process in a wireless communication system supporting a plurality of transmission bands is disclosed. The method includes generating the control information including HARQ Process Set (HPS) information indicating a specific HPS of a plurality of HPSs corresponding to the plurality of transmission bands, and transmitting the generated control information to a user equipment. A predetermined number of independent HARQ processes is performed according to the plurality of transmission bands. |
US08630275B2 |
Apparatus, method, and medium for self-organizing multi-hop wireless access networks
A wireless computer network includes a backbone network including backbone network nodes authenticated to each other and in communication with each other. The wireless computer network also includes a master authenticator node and a proxy authenticator node among the backbone network nodes. When an unauthenticated new node requests authentication to the backbone network and the unauthenticated new node is in communication with at least one of the backbone network nodes, the at least one of the backbone network nodes becoming the proxy authenticator node for the unauthenticated new node and communicates with the master authenticator node to authenticate the unauthenticated new node to the backbone network. |
US08630273B2 |
Dynamic appropriation of at least one multimedia device during call set-up
The invention relates to a method of dynamic appropriation of at least one second multimedia device by a first device situated in a geographical area in which said at least one second multimedia device is situated in the event of a request to set up a call between the first device and a third device, the method including a step of setting up a first signaling link between a server and the first device and a step of controlling the second and third devices from said server with a view to setting up between the second and third devices at least one first payload data stream forming a first part of said call. |
US08630272B2 |
Multi-radio controller and methods for preventing interference between co-located transceivers
Embodiments of a multi-radio controller and methods for preventing interference between co-located transceivers are generally described herein. In some embodiments, the multi-radio controller operates within a multi-radio device and is configured to cause a wireless local area network (WLAN) transceiver to transmit a triggering frame after an active period of a wireless wide-area network (WWAN) transceiver. The triggering frame indicates the duration of a transmission opportunity, which may be restricted to the time between active periods of the WWAN. In response to receipt of the triggering frame, the WLAN access point is configured to transmit a downlink data frame within the transmission opportunity. |
US08630269B1 |
Wireless network having joint power and data rate adaptation
A wireless network includes transmission power and data rate adaptation based upon quality experienced by the user. |
US08630263B2 |
Synchronization method, communication handover method, radio network and node
A synchronization method, a communication handover method, a radio network, and a RAN node are disclosed. The interface information synchronization method includes: determining whether a condition for initiating interface information update is fulfilled; and sending information about the S1 interface between the RAN node and the core network node, and/or information about the X2 interface between the RAN node and the neighboring RAN node to the neighboring RAN node if the condition for initiating interface information update fulfilled. |
US08630261B2 |
Communication method for determining the start of a handover and radio apparatus using the method
A notification unit conveys a transmit timing of a signal to a target radio apparatus. A receiver receives the signal transmitted from the target radio apparatus with a neighborhood of the transmit timing conveyed. A demodulation unit derives a difference between the receive timing and an estimated timing. A determining unit determines a new transmit timing for the target radio apparatus, based on the difference and outputs the new transmit timing determined to the notification unit. When a state in which the receive timing lags the estimated receive timing occurs more than a predetermined frequency, the determining unit instructs the target radio apparatus to start a handover. |
US08630258B2 |
Femto cell visitation history for automatic location area code planning
System(s) and method(s) are provided for automatic radio paging parameter planning. For location area update (LAC), reuse plan is based at least in part on actual subscriber mobility in a set of deployed femto access points (APs). Mobility data is incorporate in LAC planning through a visitation matrix spanned by the set of deployed femto APs. Visitation matrix elements are counts of failed attachment attempts, or unwelcomed visits, from a subscriber station authorized to attach to a first femto AP into a second femto AP in which the subscriber station is not authorized to attach. Automatic LAC planning is achieved iteratively through a search algorithm that minimizes a cost function related to unwelcome visits, and through a planning principle that assigns disparate LACs to pairs of femto APs with high reciprocal unwelcome visits and same LACs to pairs of femto APs with low reciprocal unwelcome visits. |
US08630253B2 |
System and method for mapping data symbols
A system and method for mapping data symbols are provided. A method for communications device operations includes transmitting resource element utilization information to a communications device, and mapping symbols intended for the communications device to the plurality of resource elements. The resource element utilization information includes utilization information for a subset of resource elements out of a plurality of resource elements, the subset of resource elements corresponds to other resource elements of at least one other cell within a cooperating set, and the other resource elements are carrying specified signals. The mapping is based on the resource element utilization, and the mapping is performed by at least one cell within the cooperating set. |
US08630251B2 |
Method of supporting heterogeneous mode in a wireless communication system
A data communication method is disclosed, which can simultaneously support heterogeneous systems in a wireless communication system based on multiple carrier multiple access. For a dual mode between heterogeneous systems, the data communication method includes transmitting control information for a first system mode and a second system mode to a mobile station through a channel resource zone used in the first system mode, and performing data transmission and reception between the system and the mobile station through channel resource zones allocated from the first system mode or the second system mode. |
US08630250B2 |
Method, system and apparatus for minimization of drive tests
Disclosed are a minimization of drive test (MDT) method, system, and device, relating to the technical field of radio communications for solving the problem that the MDT measurement data fails to be reported because the data volume of MDT measurement data reported by a user equipment (UE) exceeds the volume of data capable of being stored by a PDCP module. In the present invention, a UE receives a notification, sent from a base station, of reporting an MDT measurement result; and when a total data volume of the stored MDT measurement result data to be reported is greater than the volume of data capable of being stored by a PDCP module, the UE reports the MDT measurement result data to the base station in one or more times, the total data volume of MDT measurement result data reported each time being not greater than the volume of data capable of being stored by the PDCP module. With the present invention, the problem that the MDT measurement data fails to be reported because the data volume of MDT measurement data reported by the UE exceeds the volume of data capable of being stored by the PDCP module can be solved. |
US08630249B2 |
Allocation of signal-to-noise ratio margin in multi-carrier systems
Allocation of different signal-to-noise margins to different carriers in a multi-carrier system is described. A preferred embodiment comprises assigning signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) margins to carriers in a multi-carrier system, comprises assigning a first SNR margin to a first data service based upon a first service characteristic, assigning a second SNR margin to a second data service based upon a second service characteristic, transmitting data associated with the first data service using the first signal-to-noise margin, and transmitting data associated with the second data service using the second signal-to-noise margin. |
US08630248B2 |
Method and apparatus for performing HARQ in multiple carrier system
A method and apparatus for performing hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) in a multiple carrier system are provided. A user equipment performs an HARQ process in a source component carrier. When the user equipment receives a management message regarding a transfer from the source component carrier to a target component carrier, the user equipment subsequently performs the HARQ process in the target component carrier. |
US08630247B2 |
System and method for managing tracking area identity lists in a mobile network environment
A method is provided in one example embodiment and includes communicating a plurality of queries associated with common tracking areas in a wireless network; identifying a set of serving gateways that serve the common tracking areas; generating a tracking area identity (TAI) list to be used in provisioning network resources for user equipment; and selecting a first serving gateway from the set of serving gateways for the user equipment, wherein the first serving gateway is selected based on the common tracking areas served by the set of serving gateways. In more specific embodiments, the queries are domain name system (DNS) queries that are supported by a network element and that have no cached DNS response. |
US08630244B2 |
Channel structuring method and base station therewith
The present invention is directed to a channel structuring method that includes a step of providing time frames segmented at a predetermined interval in communication channels of n subcarriers, a step of selecting a predetermined number of subcarriers from n subcarriers and a step of inserting a common control channel signal and a common pilot signal periodically into each of the time frames of the selected subcarriers. |
US08630238B2 |
Apparatus, system and method for the transmission of data with different QoS attributes
An apparatus, system and method are provided for transmitting data from logical channel queues over a telecommunications link, each of the logical channel queues capable of being associated with quality of service attributes, the method including determining available resources for transmission over the telecommunications link in a frame; selecting one of the logical channel queues based on a first one of the quality of service attributes; packaging data from the selected one of the logical channel queues until one of: a second one of the quality of service attributes for the selected one of the logical channel queues is satisfied, the available resources are used, or the selected one of the logical channel queues is empty; and repeating the selecting step and the packaging step for remaining ones of the logical channel queues. |
US08630232B2 |
Method for managing a mobile network
A method for managing a mobile network having local mobile nodes and a mobile router for routing packets amongst said local mobile nodes and to and from another packet routing network comprises the steps of, in response to a recognized indication condition indicating that a local mobile node left the mobile network, notifying one or more components in the mobile accordingly, and in one or more of the components of the mobile network, adapting one or more settings in accordance with said notification. |
US08630231B2 |
Method and system for facilitating wireless communication via alternate wireless pathway
A mobile device system and related method are disclosed by which the device is able to communicate wirelessly not only via a Wide Area Network (WAN) link but also via an alternate link such as a Wi-Fi link. In one embodiment, the method includes receiving a command from a remote server, via the WAN link, to establish a Wi-Fi link when possible. The method further includes, upon establishing the Wi-Fi link, sending a message for receipt by the server indicating that the Wi-Fi link has been established, and receiving software update information from the server, the information being communicated to the mobile device via the Wi-Fi link. Further, the method includes one or both of (1) sending an acknowledgement for receipt by the server indicating that the information has been received and (2) receiving an instruction from the server that communications via the Wi-Fi link be ended. |
US08630223B2 |
Efficient frame structure for digital satellite communication
A digital communications system and method to transmit and receive a digital communications signal wherein the digital signal has a plurality of frames, wherein at least two modulations are supported, and wherein each of the plurality of frames has the same number of symbols. |
US08630222B2 |
Delay-constrained and energy-efficient online routing for asynchronous sensor networks
The described method and system provide an efficient routing of data packets protocol in an event-driven and delay-constrained WSN (wireless sensor network) that optimizes the sleep/wake schedule of nodes to maximize the lifetime of the WSM, subject to a constraint on the source-to-sink delay. Online forwarding techniques may be used to transfer data reports from monitoring nodes to the sink. A delay-constrained and energy-efficient routing protocol (DCEER) for asynchronous WSNs may be used to maximize the lifetime of the WSN while remaining within the maximum allowable delay requirements. With DCEER, each node may maintain the historical cost of forwarding a packet from itself to the sink as its virtual coordinate, and packets are forwarded in the direction of descending coordinates. The cost-based coordinates may change dynamically with a time-varying channel or topology. Nodes may apply a relay-selection scheme to choose a next-hop relay from a set of multiple potential relay candidates, based on a tradeoff between forwarding energy consumption (FEC) and waiting costs. The optimal stopping time for the relay-selection process may be determined based on expected forwarding and waiting costs, and the nodes may operate according to an optimal sleep/wake schedule based on waiting costs and expected traffic flow. |
US08630221B2 |
Donor evolved NodeB, relay node and communication method thereof
A relay node, a donor evolved NodeB (DeNB) and a communication method thereof for use in a long term evolution (LTE) network are provided. The LTE network comprises the relay node and the DeNB. In the present LTE network of the present invention, at least two bearers can be set up between the relay node and the DeNB so that signaling messages can be transmitted between the relay node and the DeNB based on different priorities. |
US08630219B2 |
Supporting a multicast session within a wireless communications network
Methods of supporting a multicast session within a wireless communications network are provided. An access terminal adjusts a monitoring rate of a downlink control channel either (i) after transmitting a multicast registration message in a sector that is not supporting a given multicast session or (ii) after receiving an announce message announcing the given multicast session. An access network anticipates the monitoring rate adjustment, and sends a message advertising the given multicast session (e.g., a broadcast overhead message (BOM)) based on the adjusted monitoring rate. Further, the announce message sent by the access network can be sent on the downlink control channel, and can be sent based on expected paging cycles, or monitoring rates, of the downlink control channel at one or more access terminals within the network prior to the monitoring rate adjustment. |
US08630218B2 |
Using a transmission control protocol (TCP) channel to save power for virtual private networks (VPNs) that use user datagram protocol (UDP)
Provided is a method for maintaining a Virtual Private Network (VPN) connection between a mobile device and a server over a wireless network in a manner that conserves the power supply of the mobile device and is suitable for connections that employ server-initiated traffic. After a successful login to a VPN server, a VPN client establishes a Transport Control Protocol (TCP) connection and a UDP connection with the server. After a power timeout, the server calculates the elapsed time between the current transmission and the last tunnel traffic. If the elapsed time exceeds a power timeout value, the VPN server transmits a simple control message to the client via the TCP channel. The client then reestablishes the UDP connection to the client and the server resumes transmission on the reestablished UDP channel. |
US08630217B2 |
Wireless communications terminal having RF direct wakeup function and wakeup method thereof
A wireless communications terminal includes: an RF wake-up detection unit detecting a first RF signal including an RF ID for waking up; and a wireless communications unit waking up when the RF ID included in the first RF signal detected by the RF wake-up detection unit matches a pre-set reference ID in a sleep mode. |
US08630216B2 |
Method and apparatus for selective reading of system information in a mobile wireless device
A method to read selectively system information messages in a mobile wireless communication device. The mobile wireless device receives a first transmission of a multiple segment message through a radio frequency receiver. The mobile wireless device detects decoding errors in at least one of the received segments of the first transmission. In response to detecting decoding errors, the mobile wireless device selectively receives a first subset of segments in a second transmission of the multiple segment message. The mobile wireless device powers down at least a portion of the radio frequency receiver during receive time intervals for a second subset of segments in the second transmission. The first subset of segments in the second transmission corresponds to segments in the first transmission received with decoding errors. The second subset of segments in the second transmission corresponds to segments in the first transmission received without decoding errors. |
US08630215B2 |
Method, apparatus and computer readable medium for reducing power-consumption of wireless network device
A method, an apparatus, and a computer-readable medium to reduce power consumption of a wireless network device, the method including: receiving a packet; and determining whether to transmit the received packet to a host based on a state of the host and a packet transmission standard set for the host. Accordingly, it is possible to extend a period of use of a wireless portable terminal using an Internet protocol (IP)-based wireless network. |
US08630212B2 |
Apparatus and method for data transmission in wireless communication system
A data transmitter for a wireless communication system is provided. Said apparatus comprises an OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) symbol generating part that generates a plurality of OFDM symbols, a frame configuration part that configures a frame comprising includes said plurality of OFDM symbols, and a transmission part that transmits said plurality of OFDM symbols based on said frame that has been configured. Said frame is divided into a plurality of sub-frames, the number of OFDM symbols that are included in an optional sub-frame is any one of 5, 6, and 7, and the bandwidth of said wireless communication system is 8.75 MHz. Based on a new frame configuration, new parameter requirements may be satisfied taking backward compatibility into account. |
US08630210B2 |
Method and apparatus for improved data communication in cellular access systems
A method for use in a cellular access system is disclosed. The system comprises at least one Radio Base Station (RBS) which controls traffic to and from a cell in the system. The cell can have a User Equipment (UE) in it, such that the UE and RBS can send and receive data blocks, which may comprise sequence numbers, to and from each other. The RBS and UE can also exchange reports comprising information on whether or not data blocks have been received successfully. The method comprises sending by a reporting party a transmission comprising a report to the report receiving party, said report comprising information on whether or not data blocks have been received successfully. The method further comprises sending by the reporting party said report together with data to the report receiving party or to another party. The method further comprises attaching by the reporting party addresses for a recipient of the data blocks and for the report in the transmission. The method further comprises deciding by the reporting party the contents of the report using at least one of the following priority rules which have been given an internal priority ranking, in which data blocks which are identified as having a lower delay tolerance than other data blocks are given priority; data blocks which have been detected as received in error, and whose status has not been reported since the error was detected are given priority; and, data blocks are given priority according to their sequence numbers. |
US08630201B2 |
Call control system, call controller, terminal device, and call control method
There is provided a call control system, a call controller, a terminal device, and a call control method of this type, whereby a communication network to be used by a terminal device on the receiving side is determined in an efficient manner to allow communication promptly, in a communication where plural communication networks are selectively used. On receipt of a reception request from the terminal device 220 on the receiving side, call control signals are concurrently transmitted, each having a call identifier for identifying a call to the plurality of communication networks, respectively, estimated to be available to the terminal device on the receiving side, based upon the available network data held by the holding, and upon receipt of each of call responses to the call control signals concurrently transmitted, from each of the plurality of communication networks, a communication network to be used by the terminal device on the receiving side is determined based upon call control condition information representing a condition relating to the call control and communication resource information included in a single call response received in a relatively early order. |
US08630200B2 |
Method and apparatus for embedding information in a short URL
A uniform resource locator (URL) encoding system and method are provided for embedding message information in a compressed URL includes associating a link identifier with a first URL, the first URL identifying a target web page. A message identifier representative of at least one message parameter is generated and the link identifier and the message identifier are combined using a reversible pairing function to generate a first combined identifier, the first combined identifier in a first base number system. The first combined identifier is converted to a second combined identifier in a second base number system which is greater than the first base number system. The second URL is generated using the second combined identifier. |
US08630199B2 |
Network processor unit and a method for a network processor unit
A method of and a network processor unit (10) for processing of packets in a network, the network processor (10) comprising: communication interface (14) configured to receive and transmit packets; at least one processing means (16) for processing packets or parts thereof; an embedded switch (12) configured to switch packets between the communication interface (14) and the processing means (16); and wherein the embedded switch (12) is configured to analyze a received packet and to determine whether the packet should be dropped or not; if the packet should not be dropped, the switch is configured to store the received packet, to send a first part of the packet to the processing means (16) for processing thereof, to receive the processed first part of the packet from the processing means (16), and to transmit the processed first part of the packet. |
US08630196B2 |
Multiprocessor system and method for conducting transactions from a vehicle
A distributed processing system in a vehicle includes many processors communicating through a network. One of the processors controls the image content of a display mounted in view of a vehicle occupant; a second processor is in a portable device connected to the packet networks. An application residing in a memory device connected to the vehicle network is launched from that memory when the portable device is brought into the vehicle. The combination of the display, the image content processor, the application and the portable device allow a user to access the internet and conduct transactions for goods and services. |
US08630194B2 |
System and process for dimensioning a cellular telecommunications network
A process for dimensioning a cellular telecommunications network, including, for each of one or more network elements of the network: accessing network element environment data representing a configuration and environment of the network element; accessing QoS data representing quality of service criteria for users of the network; and processing the network element environment data and the QoS data to generate network element capacity data representing combinations of loads of network services corresponding to capacities of the network element that meet the quality of service criteria. |
US08630193B2 |
System and method for indicating performance information to a user to enhance communications
A system and method for indicating performance information. Performance information is measured for a connection to a communications device. One or more trends and one or more averages associated with the performance information is determined. The one or more trends and the one or more averages is displayed to a user in response to the determination. Suggestions for the user are generated to enhance the connection to the communications device. |
US08630192B2 |
Verifiable and accurate service usage monitoring for intermediate networking devices
A device, comprising: an access-network modem enabling the device to communicate with a network system over a wireless access network; a local-area-network modem enabling the device to communicate with one or more other devices, including a particular device, over a local-area network; and one or more processors coupled to the access-network modem and to the local-area-network modem, the one or more processors capable of executing one or more instructions that, when executed, cause the one or more processors to cause or at least assist the device to provide a forwarding service to the particular device, the forwarding service for forwarding traffic between the particular device and the network system, and cause or at least assist the device to provide information associated with the forwarding service to the particular device, the information at least for assisting in control of usage of the forwarding service by the particular device. |
US08630190B2 |
Method and system to identify a network device associated with poor QoS
A method and apparatus to analyze real-time data transmissions across a network is described. The method may comprise transmitting a sample data stream between source and destination endpoints across a test data path which includes network devices. The method may then compare a measured quality of the received sample data stream with pre-defined quality criteria associated with the network. If the measured quality fails to meet the pre-defined quality criteria, the network devices in the test data path may be identified, device performance data may be obtained, and a network report may be generated based on the device performance data. The device performance data may comprise processor utilization, memory utilization, bandwidth over subscription, buffer over run, and/or a number of non-error packets that are discarded at the network device. |
US08630188B2 |
Monitoring link aggregation links
A device detects a signal condition for a link aggregation group (LAG) link, compares the detected signal condition to a signal threshold range, and enables one of a disabled state or a disabled timer state for the LAG link if the detected signal condition is outside the signal threshold range. |
US08630186B2 |
Systems and methods for transmission of trigger-based alarm indication suppression messages
According to one embodiment, a method may include communicating an alarm suppression indication trigger message from a maintenance end point to an alarm indication suppression generator. The method may further include communicating, by the alarm indication suppression generator in response to receiving the alarm indication trigger message, an alarm indication suppression message to at least one flow point that has alarm indication suppression enabled for the maintenance end point such that the alarm indication suppression message is received by at least one other maintenance end point upstream of the maintenance end point. |
US08630185B1 |
Optimizing traffic in a data network
Systems and methods for optimizing traffic in a data network. Network traffic may be optimized by associating costs with data links that connect network nodes. A set of lowest cost paths between a source network node and a destination network node may be determined by analyzing paths in the data network. An explored path may be extended to another network node based on whether the other network node is able to reach the destination network node without forming a loop with the explored path. |
US08630178B2 |
Transmitting apparatus and transmission method
If a loss of a RTP packet is detected, a RTT acquisition unit acquires time information corresponding to a period of time needed from transmission of data from a transmitting apparatus to reception of this data at a receiving apparatus. A QoS switching unit determines based on the time information whether moving image data is to be retransmitted that was transmitted from the transmitting apparatus but that has been lost without being received by the receiving apparatus or moving image data located in playback time sequence after the lost moving image data is to be encoded without referring to the lost moving image data and the resultant encoded moving image data is to be transmitted. |
US08630175B2 |
Communication device with multi-stages of traffic shaping functions
A traffic shaper which includes a cell buffer for temporarily storing an ATM cell arrived thereat, a first calculator for calculating an estimated cell sending time according to a VC contracted bandwidth, a second calculator for calculating an estimated cell sending time according to a VP contracted bandwidth, a binary tree VP sorting circuit for determining VP to be sent in top priority, a binary tree VC sorting circuit for determining VC to be sent in top priority, and a sending circuit for sending a cell in which the determined VP and VC are both brought to a transmittable state. The VP estimated sending time is revised according to the VC estimated sending time. |
US08630174B1 |
System and method for post shaping TCP packetization
A system, non-transitory machine readable medium and method of delayed packetization of data packets is disclosed. The system and method includes requesting authorization from a QoS queue to transmit an intended data packet over a network, wherein the authorization request is sent from an application module of a transmitting network device. The system and method includes receiving from the QoS queue a transmission order to transmit the intended data packet at a future time. The system and method includes packetizing the intended data packet in accordance with the transmission order at the future time. The system and method includes transmitting the packetized data packet over a network to a receiving network device. |
US08630164B2 |
Methods and apparatus to respond to signaling protocol failures in traffic engineering tunnels
Example methods, apparatus and articles of manufacture to respond to signaling protocol failures in traffic engineering (TE) tunnels are disclosed. A disclosed example apparatus includes a database to store a tunnel state for a first TE tunnel, a signaling engine to detect whether a signaling protocol failure associated with the first TE tunnel occurred, and to set the tunnel state to a first logic state when the signaling protocol failure is detected, and a label switching engine to route the data through a multiprotocol label switching (MPLS) based network via a second TE tunnel when the tunnel state is the first logic state, and to route the data through the MPLS-based network via the first TE tunnel when the tunnel state is a second logic state. |
US08630163B1 |
Server driven endpoint re-homing
In one embodiment, a method includes receiving an indication of an availability from a primary registration server that is associated an endpoint associated an Internet Protocol (IP) protocol. The method also includes determining whether the primary registration server is available, and notifying the endpoint that the primary registration server is available if the primary registration server is available. |
US08630162B2 |
Fast flooding based fast convergence architecture
Fast flooding based fast convergence to recover from a network failure. A router detects a network failure, and responsive to that failure, transmits a fast failure notification message to a set of one or more routers. The fast failure notification message includes information that identifies the network failure and also indicates that the fast failure notification message is to be flooded by the set of routers independently of convergence. The router updates a routing table to reflect the network failure. The transmission of the fast failure notification message is performed prior to completion of the routing table update to reflect the network failure. |
US08630156B2 |
Optical recording and reading method, optical recording and reading apparatus, optical recording medium, and method for producing an optical recording medium
An optical recording medium includes a recording and reading layer that is previously staked or formed afterward and has no concavo-convex pattern for tracking control, and a servo layer in which a concavo-convex pattern or a groove for tracking control is formed. Information can be recorded in the recording and reading layer while tracking is performed using the servo layer. |
US08630154B2 |
Apparatus comprising a pickup providing multiple beams
The apparatus includes a pickup for reading data from a super-resolution optical disc, the pickup comprising a laser for generating a main beam, a first and a second satellite beam, the two satellite beams each having a radial offset with regard to the main beam, a third satellite beam following the first satellite beam, having the same radial offset as the first satellite beam, and a fourth satellite beam following the second satellite beam, having the same radial offset as the second satellite beam, for providing a crosstalk correction of the HF data signal. The track pitch between adjacent tracks of the optical disc is particularly below the diffraction limit of the pickup, and the light intensity of each of the first and second satellite beams and of the main beam is sufficient to provide a super-resolution effect on the optical disc and the light intensity of each of the third and fourth satellite beams is not sufficient to provide the super-resolution effect. The track pitch between adjacent tracks of the optical disc is advantageously below the diffraction limit of the pickup. |
US08630145B2 |
Integrated circuitry and switches
Some embodiments include switches that have a graphene structure connected to a pair of spaced-apart electrodes. The switches may further include first and second electrically conductive structures on opposing sides of the graphene structure from one another. The first structure may extend from one of the electrodes, and the second structure may extend from the other of the electrodes. Some embodiments include the above-described switches utilized as select devices in memory devices. Some embodiments include methods of selecting memory cells. |
US08630142B2 |
Semiconductor memory device that can stably perform writing and reading without increasing current consumption even with a low power supply voltage
Cell power supply lines are arranged for memory cell columns, and adjust impedances or voltage levels of the cell power supply lines according to the voltage levels of bit lines in the corresponding columns, respectively. In the data write operation, the cell power supply line is forced into a floating state according to the bit line potential on a selected column and has the voltage level changed, and a latching capability of a selected memory cell is reduced to write data fast. Even with a low power supply voltage, a static semiconductor memory device that can stably perform write and read of data is implemented. |
US08630139B2 |
Dual power supply memory array having a control circuit that dynamically selects a lower of two supply voltages for bitline pre-charge operations and an associated method
Disclosed is a memory array in which the lower of two supply voltages from two power supplies is dynamically selected for bitline pre-charge operations. In the memory array, a voltage comparator compares the first supply voltage on a first power supply rail to a second supply voltage on a second power supply rail and outputs a voltage difference signal. If the voltage difference signal has a first value indicating that the first supply voltage is equal to or less than the second supply voltage, than a control circuit ensures that the complementary bitlines connected to a memory cell are pre-charged to the first supply voltage. If the voltage difference signal has a second value indicating that the first supply voltage is greater than the second supply voltage, then the control circuit ensures that the complementary bitlines are pre-charged to the second supply voltage. Also disclosed is an associated method. |
US08630138B2 |
Memory system including semicondutor memory for decoupling bad memory block from sense amplifier in standby period
Each memory block has a plurality of memory cells, and word lines and bit lines connected to the memory cells. Precharge switches connect the bit lines to a precharge line. A switch control circuit controls an operation of the precharge switches and sets a cutoff function that turns off connection switches in a standby period in which no access operation of the memory cells is performed. Since connections of the bit lines and the precharge switch and those of the bit lines and the sense amplifier are cut off in the standby period, if a short circuit failure is present between a word line and a bit line, a leak current can be prevented from flowing from the word line to a precharge voltage line and so on. |
US08630137B1 |
Dynamic trim method for non-volatile memory products
A dynamic trim method includes testing a selected number of cells on a die with predetermined testing margins. Data from this testing is used to determine dynamic reference margins for improving yield. Advantageously, yield is improved by allowing functioning fast or slow units to pass wafer sort by applying the dynamic reference margins for varying processes. |
US08630134B2 |
Memory cells having a row-based read and/or write support circuitry
A method of controlling a plurality of memory cells in a row. The method includes controlling a switching element using at least one write word line signal to raise a voltage of a node connected to the plurality of memory cells in the row when the plurality of memory cells in the row operate in a first mode. The method further includes controlling at least one transistor using the at least one write word line signal to connect the plurality of memory cells in the row to a reference voltage when the plurality of memory cells in the row operate in a second mode. |
US08630133B2 |
Memory device
With a serial interface memory device of this invention, a read-out rate of data is increased, while an increase in a size of a circuit is suppressed. An EEPROM is provided with a memory cell array storing data, a row address decoder and a column address decoder that select an address of the memory cell array in accordance with an address signal serially inputted in synchronization with a clock, sense amplifiers SA0-SA5, SA_M0 and SA_M1 each provided corresponding to each bit of the data, and a shift register that outputs the data read out from the sense amplifiers serially from a first bit. The column address decoder commences reading out two candidate data for the first bit by inputting each of the two candidate data to each of the two sense amplifiers SA_M0 and SA_M1, respectively, before all bits of the column address signal are established. |
US08630132B2 |
SRAM read and write assist apparatus
A SRAM READ and WRITE assist apparatus comprises a bit line voltage tracking block, a READ assist timer, a READ assist unit, a WRITE assist unit a WRITE control unit. The bit line voltage tracking block detects a voltage on a tracking bit line coupled to a plurality of tracking memory cells. In response to the voltage drop on the tracking bit line, the READ assist timer generates a READ assist pulse. When the READ assist pulse has a logic high state, an activated word line is pulled down to a lower voltage. Such a lower voltage helps to improve the robustness of SRAM memory circuits so as to avoid READ and WRITE failures. |
US08630130B2 |
Memory circuit, memory unit, and signal processing circuit
A memory circuit includes a transistor having a channel in an oxide semiconductor layer, a capacitor, a first arithmetic circuit, a second arithmetic circuit, a third arithmetic circuit, and a switch. An output terminal of the first arithmetic circuit is electrically connected to an input terminal of the second arithmetic circuit. The input terminal of the second arithmetic circuit is electrically connected to an output terminal of the third arithmetic circuit via the switch. An output terminal of the second arithmetic circuit is electrically connected to an input terminal of the first arithmetic circuit. An input terminal of the first arithmetic circuit is electrically connected to one of a source and a drain of the transistor. The other of the source and the drain of the transistor is electrically connected to one of a pair of electrodes of the capacitor and to an input terminal of the third arithmetic circuit. |
US08630127B2 |
Semiconductor device and method for driving the same
Disclosed is a semiconductor device having a memory cell which comprises a transistor having a control gate and a storage gate. The storage gate comprises an oxide semiconductor and is able to be a conductor and an insulator depending on the potential of the storage gate and the potential of the control gate. Data is written by setting the potential of the control gate to allow the storage gate to be a conductor, supplying a potential of data to be stored to the storage gate, and setting the potential of the control gate to allow the storage gate to be an insulator. Data is read by supplying a potential for reading to a read signal line connected to one of a source and a drain of the transistor and detecting the change in potential of a bit line connected to the other of the source and the drain. |
US08630124B2 |
Nonvolatile memory devices having memory cell arrays with unequal-sized memory cells and methods of operating same
Nonvolatile memory devices include a two-dimensional array of nonvolatile memory cells having a plurality of memory cells of unequal size therein. These memory cells may include those that have unequal channel widths associated with respective word lines and those having unequal channel lengths associated with respective bit lines that are connected to corresponding strings of nonvolatile memory cells (e.g., NAND-type strings). Control circuitry is also provided that is electrically coupled to the two-dimensional array of nonvolatile memory cells. This control circuitry may operate to concurrently program first and second nonvolatile memory cells having unequal sizes from an erased state (e.g., logic 1) to an equivalent programmed state (e.g., logic 0). This is done by establishing unequal first and second word line-to-channel region voltages in the first and second nonvolatile memory cells, respectively, during an operation to program a row of memory cells in the two-dimensional array of nonvolatile memory cells, which includes the first and second nonvolatile memory cells of unequal size. |
US08630123B2 |
Method of operating nonvolatile memory device
A method of operating a nonvolatile memory device comprises reading erase number information which is updated and stored whenever erasure is performed, setting program start voltages and step voltages based on the erase number information, and performing a program operation based on the program start voltages and the step voltages. |
US08630121B2 |
Reference voltage optimization for flash memory
A system including a reference voltage module to generate one or more reference voltages used to determine states of a plurality of memory cells of a nonvolatile memory. The memory cells have a threshold voltage distribution. A divider module selects, in response to a change in the threshold voltage distribution, a voltage range within which to update one of the reference voltages, and divide the voltage range into a plurality of regions. A counting module counts a number of the memory cells having threshold voltages within each of the plurality of regions. An update module selects one of the plurality of regions having the threshold voltages of a smallest number of the memory cells, and updates the one of the reference voltages to a voltage value associated with the selected one of the plurality of regions to compensate for the change in the threshold voltage distribution. |
US08630116B2 |
NAND flash memory
A NAND flash memory, in a read operation, a p-type semiconductor substrate is set at a ground potential, a bit line is charged to a first voltage, a source line, a n-type well and a p-type well are charged to a second voltage, which lies between a ground potential and a first voltage, and in a block not selected by said row decoder, said drain-side select gate line and said source-side select gate line are charged to a third voltage, which is higher than said ground potential and is equal to or lower than said second voltage. |
US08630113B1 |
Apparatus for memory with improved performance and associated methods
An integrated circuit (IC) includes a memory circuit. The memory circuit includes a plurality of thyristors. The plurality of thyristors are coupled in tandem. |
US08630109B2 |
Memory cell and memory device including the same
A memory cell includes a light emitting unit, a phosphorescent layer, a polarization filter and a light detecting unit. The light emitting unit selectively generates a first light signal in response to a write data. The phosphorescent layer generates a second light signal using an energy absorbed from the first light signal. The polarization filter either passes the second light signal to output the passed second light signal as a third light signal or blocks out the second light signal in response to the write data. The light detecting unit generates a read data by detecting the third light signal. |
US08630103B2 |
Method and apparatus for programming a power converter controller with an external programming terminal having multiple functions
A power converter controller is disclosed. An example controller includes a control circuit coupled to receive a feedback signal representative of an output of the power converter. The control circuit coupled to control a switching of a power switch of the power converter in response to the feedback signal to control a transfer of energy from an input of the power converter to the output of the power converter. An internal programming interface circuit is coupled to the control circuit. A coupling switcher is coupled to the internal programming interface circuit. An external programming terminal is selectively coupled to the internal programming interface circuit through the coupling switcher. An external programming circuit coupled to the external programming terminal is coupled to the internal programming interface circuit through the coupling switcher during a startup programming condition and during a fault condition of the power converter. The external programming circuit that is coupled to the external programming terminal is decoupled from the internal programming interface circuit by the coupling switcher during a normal operating condition of the power converter. |
US08630094B2 |
Server cabinet
A cabinet for server includes a frame, and a plurality of guiding rails. Each guiding rail includes a connection portion and an inclined portion. An acute angle is defined between the inclined portion and the connection portion. |
US08630092B2 |
Cooling box for components or circuits
A cooling box for electric or electronic components, consisting of a material, wherein the cooling box is non-electrically conductive or practically non-electrically conductive, is configured in one piece or multiple pieces and has a cavity that is enclosed by the material, wherein cavity being closed or provided with at least one opening. |
US08630091B2 |
Carbon nanotubes for the selective transfer of heat from electronics
Under one aspect, a method of cooling a circuit element includes providing a thermal reservoir having a temperature lower than an operating temperature of the circuit element; and providing a nanotube article in thermal contact with the circuit element and with the reservoir, the nanotube article including a non-woven fabric of nanotubes in contact with other nanotubes to define a plurality of thermal pathways along the article, the nanotube article having a nanotube density and a shape selected such that the nanotube article is capable of transferring heat from the circuit element to the thermal reservoir. |
US08630089B2 |
Resilient swivel coupling mechanism
A resilient coupling mechanism assembly includes a resilient coupling mechanism. The resilient coupling mechanism includes a resilient member. A first member is coupled to the resilient member. A second member is coupled to the first member. The first member comprises a first cavity. A vertical member is disposed within the first cavity. A second member is coupled to the first member. The second member comprises a second cavity configured to receive the vertical member. |
US08630086B2 |
Hinged electronic device
An electronic device includes a first component defining at least one through hole, a hinge defining at least one round hole corresponding to the at least one through hole, and a fixing mechanism for securing the hinge to the first component. The fixing mechanism includes a latching member and at least one fixing member capable of extending through the at least one through hole and the at least one round hole. The latching member defines at least one fixing hole corresponding to the at least one round hole. When the at least one fixing member extends through the at least one round hole and the at least one through hole, the at least one fixing hole receives an end of the at least fixing member to secure the hinge to the first component. |
US08630085B2 |
Mobile communication terminal
A mobile communication terminal includes: a first housing and a second housing connected to each other by a connecting mechanism so as to be relatively movable; a first display placed on a front face of the first housing; and a second display placed on a front face of the second housing, wherein one end of the connecting mechanism is pivotably supported around a first shaft relative to one housing, and the other end of the connecting mechanism is slidably engaged in a direction perpendicular to the first shaft relative to the other housing. |
US08630080B2 |
Electronic component
An electronic component that is prevented from being inclined with respect to a circuit board during and after mounting includes a laminated body that is preferably configured by stacking a plurality of insulator layers, and includes a lower surface with depressions provided thereon. The lower surface includes a series of outer edges of the insulator layers. Capacitor electrodes are defined by internal conductors incorporated in the laminated body, which respectively have exposed sections that are exposed from between the insulator layers in the depressions on the lower surface. External electrodes, which are preferably formed directly by plating, are provided in the depressions to cover the exposed sections. |
US08630079B2 |
Anti-static and lightning compatible transport element
Described are transport elements for dissipating electrostatic charge including at least two outer structural layers coupled in an overlapping arrangement. Some examples may include a transport element having an inner structural layer coupled to an inner surface of the at least two outer structural layers. Other examples may include an outer resin layer coupled to the outer surface of the at least two outer structural layers, wherein the outer resin layer comprises materials that display a distinctive appearance when viewed under an ultraviolet light. An electrical resistance per length of the outer structural layers, the inner structural layer, and/or the outer resin layer is about 105 to 109 Ω/meter. |
US08630078B2 |
Active AC inrush current control
Active inrush current control includes activating a load, the activating causing inrush current to flow, switching a semiconductor switching device to a current limiting state in response to the inrush current flow, the current limiting state being one of at least three states of the semiconductor switching device and the current limiting state dissipating the inrush current, and switching the semiconductor device to a full current flow state in response to the dissipating, the full current flow state not inhibiting current flow. |
US08630072B2 |
Circuits including a diode string comprised of bipolar stages having an adjustable pseudo beta for ESD protection
A circuit includes an input terminal and an electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection circuit. The ESD protection circuit includes a diode string formed from a plurality of P-N junction devices arranged in series. The diode string includes an input coupled to the input terminal and includes at least one output coupled to a power supply terminal. The circuit further includes a plurality of shunt elements. Each of the plurality of shunt elements includes a first terminal coupled to one of the plurality of P-N junction devices and a second terminal coupled to the power supply terminal. Each of the plurality of shunt elements is controllable to selectively couple the one of the plurality of P-N junction devices to the power supply terminal to distribute current flow across the diode string in response to an ESD event. |
US08630069B1 |
Magnetic shield having improved resistance to the hard bias magnetic field
In one embodiment, a magnetic head includes a magnetoresistance effect sensor including a free layer, a hard bias magnetic film adapted for performing magnetic domain control of the free layer by biasing a magnetization direction of the free layer towards a predefined direction that is positioned on both sides of the free layer in a track-width direction, an upper shield positioned above the hard bias magnetic film and the magnetoresistance effect sensor; and an antiferromagnetic (AFM) layer positioned above the upper shield. The upper shield includes first and second upper shield layers, and an AFM coupling layer positioned between the first upper shield layer and the second upper shield layer that is adapted for antiferromagnetically coupling the first upper shield layer and the second upper shield layer, wherein a magnetization of the first upper shield layer is antiparallel with a magnetization of the hard magnetic bias layer. |
US08630068B1 |
Method and system for providing a side shielded read transducer
A method and system for providing a magnetic transducer having an air-bearing surface (ABS) is described. The magnetic read transducer includes a first shield, a magnetoresistive sensor, at least one soft magnetic side shield, and a second shield. The magnetoresistive sensor includes a sensor layer having at least one edge in the track width direction along the ABS. The at least one soft magnetic side shield is adjacent to the at least one edge of the sensor layer. The at least one soft magnetic side shield has a full film permeability of at least ten. The magnetoresistive sensor is between the first shield and the second shield and free of an in-stack hard bias layer. |
US08630066B2 |
Hard disk drive including a micromotion actuator and a damping unit
In a hard disk drive, for the purpose of solving a problem that a mass of the tip of a VCM actuator increases, a primary resonance frequency lowers and a control band lowers in a case where a balance driving mechanism which damps a vibration during the driving of a microactuator is mounted, a damping unit using a displacement enlargement mechanism by resonance is disposed to obtain a sufficient damping effect with a small mass, thereby setting a resonance frequency of the damping unit to be higher than a frequency of a resonance peak of a damping object. The hard disk drive includes a micromotion actuator for micromotion displacement which drives a head-gimbal assembly, and a micromotion actuator for damping which drives the damping unit so that the micromotion displacement direction of a magnetic head and the displacement direction of a mount portion have opposite phases. |
US08630061B2 |
Retaining a spoiler in a hard disk drive
A hard disk drive comprising, a base plate comprising a pin, a top cover, a plurality of magnetic disks, and a spoiler. The spoiler includes a first spring fastener for temporary spring fastening the spoiler on the base plate, and a second spring fastener for resiliently fastening the spoiler when the top cover is attached to the base plate. |
US08630059B1 |
Methods for closed-loop compensation of ultra-high frequency disturbances in hard disk drives and hard disk drives utilizing same
A disk drive comprises a disk, an actuator arm and a servo controller using a position error signal to generate a controller output signal to control the actuator arm. A plant mechanically models at least a portion of the disk drive, receives a control command to which an unknown disturbance is added and generates a plant output. A disturbance observer (DOB) uses the control command and the plant output to generate a delayed and estimated version of the disturbance. The DOB comprises a Q filter having a selected center frequency. A perfect phase cancellation filter (PPCF) is configured to receive the delayed and estimated version of the disturbance, to reject selected disturbances and to align the desired attenuation frequency with the selected center frequency. The output of the PPCF is subtracted from the controller output signal to generate the control command. |
US08630056B1 |
Hybrid drive adjusting spin-up profile based on cache status of non-volatile semiconductor memory
A hybrid drive is disclosed comprising a head actuated over a disk, and a non-volatile semiconductor memory (NVSM) operable to cache data. When beginning to spin up the hybrid drive, a first spin-up profile is used while servicing access commands using the NVSM, including write commands and read commands. When a cache event occurs, spinning up the disk is finished using a second spin-up profile in order to spin-up the disk faster. |
US08630054B2 |
Systems and methods for data throttling during disk drive power down
Some embodiments of the invention are directed to a data storage system that includes a disk and solid-state non-volatile memory (NVM). During a power failure, the data storage system may use back EMF (BEMF) voltage from the spindle motor of the disk to park the heads of the disk and/or store data in the NVM. In one embodiment, a demand regulation circuit regulates loads that use voltage generated from the BEMF. The demand regulation circuit may be used to selectively cause a controller to adjust the rate of programming to the NVM in order to reduce the load. For example, the demand regulation circuit may assert a throttle signal to the controller upon detecting that the voltage generated from the BEMF is below a certain threshold. Programming rate may be throttled, programming cycles may be staggered, and/or programming time may be lengthened. Throttling may enable the use of smaller circuitry. |
US08630053B2 |
Systems and methods for parameter modification during data processing retry
Various embodiments of the present invention provide systems and methods for data processing. For example, a data processing system is discussed that includes: a buffer circuit, an equalizer circuit, a data processing circuit, and a retry determination circuit. The buffer is operable to store digital samples as a buffered output, and the equalizer circuit is operable to equalize the buffered output using a first equalization target to yield a first equalized output, and to yield a second equalized output using a second equalization target. The retry determination circuit is operable to select the second equalization target based at least in part on an occurrence of an error. |
US08630047B2 |
Imaging lens
An imaging lens includes a first lens; a second lens; and a third lens. A curvature radius of an object-side surface and an image plane-side surface of the first lens is positive. The second lens is formed such that a curvature radius of an object-side surface is negative and a curvature radius of an image plane-side surface is positive. A curvature radius of an object-side surface and an image plane-side surface of the third lens is positive. When the first lens has a focal length f1, the second lens has a focal length f2, the third lens has a focal length f3, a composite focal length of the first lens and the second lens is f12, and a composite focal length of the second lens and the third lens is f23, the imaging lens satisfies the following expressions: f1<|f2| f1 |
US08630046B2 |
Lens system, optical device with lens system, and method of manufacturing lens system
A lens system comprises, on a side closest to an object, a first lens component having a positive refractive power and a second lens component having a positive refractive power in order from the object; and on a side closest to an image, a cemented lens constructed by cementing together a positive lens and a negative lens in order from the object; wherein the lens system satisfies the following conditional expressions: (n1+n2)/2>1.49 (ν1+ν2)/2>60 where n1 and ν1 denote a refractive index and an Abbe number of the first lens component at d-line, respectively, and n2 and ν2 denote a refractive index and an Abbe number of the second lens component at d-line, respectively. |
US08630044B2 |
Evanescent electromagnetic wave conversion methods III
Apparatus, methods, and systems provide conversion of evanescent electromagnetic waves to non-evanescent electromagnetic waves and/or conversion of non-evanescent electromagnetic waves to evanescent electromagnetic waves. In some approaches the conversion includes propagation of electromagnetic waves within an indefinite electromagnetic medium, and the indefinite medium may include an artificially-structured material such as a layered structure or other metamaterial. |
US08630043B2 |
Color light combiner
For combining light from different light sources that are spatially apart, an optical system comprises a prism assembly that comprises a totally-internally-surface and a dichroic filter. The totally-internally-surface and the dichroic filter are configured for reflecting light of different colors or polarizations, so as to combine light of different polarization or colors into a single beam. |
US08630041B2 |
Data storage assembly with diamond like carbon antireflective layer
A data storage assembly is presented. The data storage assembly includes a bi-layered antireflective coating. An inner layer of the antireflective coating includes diamond like carbon. An outer layer is disposed over the inner layer. |
US08630038B2 |
Illumination device for a microscope
The present invention relates to an illumination device (400) for a microscope (600), including at least one light source (120, 130) and a reflector (410) for providing diffuse illumination, said reflector at least partially surrounding the observation beam path (OA1) between a microscope objective (10) and an object (20) to be observed. The reflector (410) is at least partially elastic and capable of being reversibly transformed from at least a first form to at least a second form. |
US08630036B2 |
Method and system using phase modulation to reduce spectral broadening
A laser system includes a seed laser operable to output a seed laser signal along an optical path and a phase modulator disposed along the optical path and operable to receive the seed laser signal. The laser system also includes a phase modulator driver coupled to the phase modulator. A drive signal from the phase modulator driver is operable to produce, as an output from the phase modulator, an unmodulated seed laser signal when the drive signal is associated with a first state and a modulated seed laser signal when the drive signal is associated with a second state. The laser system further includes a fiber amplifier disposed along the optical path and operable to receive the output of the phase modulator. A spectral bandwidth of an output of the fiber amplifier associated with the second state is less than a spectral bandwidth of the output of the fiber amplifier associated with the first state. |
US08630033B2 |
Via structure and method thereof
A layered micro-electronic and/or micro-mechanic structure comprises at least three alternating electrically conductive layers with insulating layers between the conductive layers. There is also provided a via in a first outer layer, said via comprising an insulated conductive connection made of wafer native material through the layer, an electrically conductive plug extending through the other layers and into said via in the first outer layer in order to provide conductivity through the layers, and an insulating enclosure surrounding said conductive plug in at least one selected layer of said other layers for insulating said plug from the material in said selected layer. It also relates to micro-electronic and/or micro-mechanic device comprising a movable member provided above a cavity such that it is movable in at least one direction. The device has a layered structure according to the invention. Methods of making such a layered MEMS structure is also provided. |
US08630021B2 |
Color processing for generation of a profile for color separation
A color value of output color reproduced based on an output signal value corresponding to an input color value of a grid point in an input color space, which is obtained by sampling a range of the output signal value, are estimated. An evaluation value that evaluates tonality between a color value estimated in correspondence with an input color value of a grid point of interest in the input color space and color values estimated in correspondence with input color values of grid points adjacent to the grid point of interest is calculated. When the input color value of the grid point of interest, whose evaluation value is less than a predetermined threshold value, is obtained, an output signal value corresponding to that input signal value is set in the grid point of interest. |
US08630008B2 |
Method and system for managing print device information using a cloud administration system
A print device may include an inbound queue in communication with a cloud administration system via a firewall. The cloud administration system may operate as a shared resource for the print device. The print device may include a transmission module in communication with the cloud administration system, and a plurality of outbound queues. Each outbound queue may correspond to a print job type or a type of print device information. Each queue may be in communication with the transmission module. The cloud administration system may be located remotely from the print device. |
US08630002B2 |
Image forming apparatus, method of copying a document, and computer product
One digital copying machine is set as a parent machine and other copying machines are set as child machines. When documents are set both on an ADF of the parent machine and on an ADF of at least one child machine, a CPU of the parent machine performs two types of controls in parallel. In the first control, the ADF of the parent machine automatically feeds each of the original documents, the scanner of the parent machine reads images, and MEM-C or HDD of the parent machine stores the images. In the second control, the ADF of the child machine automatically feeds each of the original documents, the scanner of the child machine reads images, IEEE1394 1/F of the child machine transfers the images to the parent machine, and the MEM-C or the HDD of the parent machine stores the images. |
US08630001B2 |
Image forming apparatus
At the time of changing a communication destination, when there is a registered program referencing a communication destination related to the change, a main control section 11 confirms a user's intention related on whether to reflect in an appropriate registered program the change related to the communication destination, and according to the user's intention thus obtained, decides whether to reflect the change related to the communication destination in the appropriate registered program. Thereby, even when there is the change related to the communication destination, the change related to the communication destination can be properly conducted through preventing an erroneous transmission to a destination against the user's intention. |
US08629998B2 |
Image forming apparatus and image forming system
If image stabilization becomes necessary while an MFP is executing a print job received from a user, the MFP performs the image stabilization while emitting an operation sound if the user has not moved away from the MFP. Also, if the user has moved away from the MFP, the MFP stops the print job and logs the user out. |
US08629997B2 |
Print control apparatus and image forming system for rendering image data
A print control apparatus includes a rendering unit, a sending unit, a distribution unit, and a saving unit. The rendering unit performs rendering in response to a print instruction described in a page-dependent page description language where details of a change of a print resource on a certain page are applied to other pages. The sending unit sends the entire print instruction including pages to the rendering unit. The distribution unit distributes, to the rendering unit, a process request specifying which of the pages is to be rendered. The saving unit saves a process state of the rendering unit after rendering a preset page. When executing rendering by extracting the print instruction of the page specified by the distributed process request to image data, if the process request is distributed in descending order, the rendering unit resumes the process state saved in the saving unit, and renders the specified page. |
US08629996B2 |
Printing apparatus and printing method
A printing apparatus comprises a movement unit which moves a carriage incorporating a print head along a carriage shaft arranged in a main scanning direction, and a conveyance unit which conveys a printing medium in a sub-scanning direction perpendicular to the main scanning direction. The printing apparatus stores image data. The image data is divided into a plurality of first image data in the main scanning direction and the sub-scanning direction, and is read out. Predetermined image processing is executed based on the first image data and first image data adjacent to the first image data in the sub-scanning direction. Second image data is extracted, based on information about a deflection of the carriage shaft in the sub-scanning direction, from the first image data for which the image processing has been executed. The extracted second image data is transferred to the print head. |
US08629993B2 |
Information processing apparatus for updating a character string displayed on a print setting screen
An information processing apparatus determines whether setting value data corresponding to the identification information of the received printer data is present in a storage unit, stores setting value data containing the identification information, the character string information, and the version information in the storage unit when it is determined that the setting value data corresponding to the identification information of the printer data is not present in the storage unit, and updates the character string information and the version information of the setting value data with those of the printer data when it is determined that the setting value data corresponding to the identification information of the printer data is present in the storage unit, and when the version information of the printer data is newer than that of the setting value data. |
US08629989B2 |
Coordinate input apparatus, light receiving apparatus of the coordinate input apparatus, and manufacturing method of the same
A light receiving unit of a coordinate input apparatus includes a light receiving element, a light receiving lens, an adjusting unit for adjusting the positional relationship between the light receiving element and light receiving lens, and a light transmissive plate which is arranged between the light receiving element and light receiving lens, and defines the focal length of the light receiving lens. The light transmissive plate is arranged between the light receiving element and light receiving lens in a state in which the optical axis between the light receiving element and light receiving lens is adjusted by the adjusting unit with the light transmissive plate being removed. |
US08629985B2 |
Displacement measurement method and apparatus thereof, stage apparatus, and probe microscope
A displacement measurement method, an apparatus thereof, and a probe microscope. which enable stable measure an amount of displacement and a moving distance of an object under measurement with an accuracy of the sub-nanometer order or below without being affected by disturbances such as fluctuations of air and mechanical vibration. A pulsed beam is split into two; one beam is reflected by an object under measurement and then inputted to a delay optical path equivalent to one pulse period; and the other beam is sent through the same delay optical path in the opposite direction up to the object under measurement with a delay of one pulse period, and then reflected by the object under measurement. An optical phase variation caused by the movement of the object under measurement is obtained by subjecting the two pulsed beams to interference. |
US08629983B2 |
Assembly with absorbing sensor layer
The invention relates to an assembly for detecting the presence of a target based on a detection of a resonance associated to surface polaritons, such as long-range surface exciton polaritons (LRSEP). The invention relates to an assembly to be used in connection with a bio-sensor. The assembly comprising a carrier substrate (1) and a sensor layer (2) positioned on the carrier substrate. The sensor layer is of a material having a complex permittivity with an imaginary part being greater than or similar to the real part. |
US08629981B2 |
Analyzers with time variation based on color-coded spatial modulation
A filter arrangement can transmit and/or reflect light emanating from a moving object so that the emanating light has time variation, and the time variation can include information about the object, such as its type. For example, emanating light from segments of a path can be transmitted/reflected through positions of a filter assembly, and the transmission functions of the positions can be sufficiently different that time variation occurs in the emanating light between segments. Or emanating light from a segment can be transmitted/reflected through a filter component in which simpler transmission functions are superimposed, so that time variation occurs in the emanating light in accordance with superposition of two simpler non-uniform transmission functions. Many filter arrangements could be used, e.g. the filter component could include the filter assembly, which can have one of the simpler non-uniform transmission functions. Time-varying waveforms from sensing results can be compared to obtain spectral differences. |
US08629980B2 |
Optical microscope and optical instrumentation
The invention provides an optical microscope that prevents an increase in the complexity of the light source system and is equipped with optics readily capable of adequate operation even when the modulation frequency is increased in order to reduce the impact of the intensity noise of the laser, etc. This optical microscope 100 irradiates a sample 6 with a first train of optical pulses having a first optical frequency, which is generated by a first light source, and a second train of optical pulses having a second optical frequency, which is temporally synchronized with the first train of optical pulses and is generated by a second light source, and detects light scattered from the sample 6. The repetition frequency of the train of optical pulses generated by the first light source is an integral sub-multiple of the repetition frequency of the train of optical pulses generated by the second light source. |
US08629979B2 |
Inspection system, inspection method, and program
Setting a spatial filter requires repeatedly confirming a scan image through visual inspection by an operator and adjusting the spatial filter. A setting state is also dependent on the operator. Therefore, in the present invention, a scattered light image (beam image) and a diffracted light image (Fourier image) are simultaneously observed, and an intensity profile of the scattered light image (beam image) and an intensity profile of the diffracted light image (Fourier image) are simultaneously monitored. A field of view of a diffracted light image is scanned with only one spatial filter, and a state change with respect to the intensity profiles in the absence of insertion of the spatial filter is detected. A setting condition for a spatial filter is determined on the basis of the detected state change. |
US08629975B1 |
Apparatus and method for a multiple aperture coherent ladar
A multi-function, range-Doppler, synthetic aperture and micro-Doppler, coherent laser radar system having improved spatial resolution and immunity to undesired platform motion utilizing two or more simultaneous, spatially offset transceiver apertures. |
US08629974B2 |
Optical component for maskless exposure apparatus
The present invention relates to an optical component for a maskless exposure apparatus, and more particularly, to a micro-prism array or a micro-mirror array which is an optical component capable of screening diffused light such that the image of a pixel of a digital micro-mirror display (DMD) formed by a first image-forming lens in the maskless exposure apparatus has no influence on the image of a neighboring pixel and of totally reflecting the light after reflection or diffraction at the same time, thus improving exposure performance by using the quantity of light being transmitted without a loss and increasing numerical apertures (NAs) at the same time. The optical component is configured such that a micro-prism array with a plurality of micro-prisms or a micro-mirror array with a plurality of micro-mirrors is arranged in place of a micro-lens array of an exposure apparatus such that a light incidence portion is formed in a wide manner and a light exit portion is formed in a narrow manner, and light being transmitted is focused to increase the quantity of light. |
US08629968B2 |
Liquid crystal display device
The liquid crystal display device may include a first electrode; a second electrode facing the first electrode and forming a vertical electrical field together with the first electrode; a blue phase liquid crystal layer provided between the first electrode and the second electrode; and a first prism sheet provided to face the second electrode with the first electrode between the second electrode and the first prism sheet. The first prism sheet changes a path of incident light so that the incident light from the outside obliquely enters the blue phase liquid crystal layer with respect to the vertical electrical field. |
US08629962B2 |
Liquid crystal display panel having particular slit-shaped openings in an upper electrode
A liquid crystal display panel includes: first and second substrates facing each other. The first substrate includes a plurality of scanning lines and signal lines intersecting each other, an upper electrode having a plurality of slit-shaped openings formed for each sub-pixel, and a lower electrode. The second substrate includes a light-shielding layer formed so as to overlap the scanning line and a signal line in a plan view, and a color filter layer formed in each of the sub-pixels defined by the scanning lines and the signal lines. A single pixel is formed by the plurality of sub-pixels including the color filter layers of different colors, respectively. The length of the slit-shaped opening in a longitudinal direction in the sub-pixel corresponding to at least one color is shorter than the length of the slit-shaped opening in the longitudinal direction in the sub-pixel corresponding to the other colors. |
US08629961B2 |
Liquid crystal display device having organic alignment layer and fabrication method thereof
An alignment structure of a liquid crystal display device includes a substrate, a plurality of region defining strips disposed at intervals on the substrate, and organic alignment strips disposed between the region defining strips. |
US08629958B2 |
Liquid crystal display device
A liquid crystal display device capable of dealing with highly definition display and securing both of transmission type display luminance and reflection type display luminance, wherein the Cs on-gate structure is adopted, and a light reflectance is set to be in a range of 1% or more and 30% or less and a light transmittance is set to be in a range of 4% or more and 10% or less on the display panel formed by arranging in matrix a plurality of pixel regions 4 having a reflection region A for reflection type display by reflection of an ambient light and a transmission region B for transmission type display by transmission of light from a light source provided inside. |
US08629957B2 |
Vertically aligned nematic mode liquid crystal display having large tilt angles and high contrast
A reflective liquid crystal on silicon (LCOS) display comprises a transparent substrate, a reflective substrate, and liquid crystal fluid between the substrates. The LCOS display further comprises a matrix of pixels, arranged in a plurality of rows and columns, wherein an intersection of a row and a column defines a position of a pixel in the matrix. The LCOS display has tilt angles sufficient to overcome disclinations due to fringe fields, and, at the same time, achieves high contrast. The surface azimuthal direction of the molecules of the liquid crystal fluid is either substantially parallel or perpendicular to the direction of polarization of incoming incident linearly polarized light. Light leakage is minimal because the effective birefringence as seen by the incoming incident linearly polarized light is substantially zero and does not depend on the pretilt of the molecules of the liquid crystal fluid. Between the transparent substrate and the reflective substrate, the twist of the molecules of the liquid crystal fluid may vary from about 0 degrees to about 90 degrees when in the “OFF” state. |
US08629949B2 |
Liquid crystal display and method of forming the same
A liquid crystal display and a method of forming the same are disclosed. The method of forming the liquid crystal display comprises: forming a gate electrode and a common electrode on a substrate; forming a gate dielectric, which covers the gate electrode and the common electrode, on the substrate; forming a channel layer, which covers the gate electrode, on the gate dielectric; forming a source electrode and a drain electrode which expose a portion of the channel layer; forming an organic layer, which contacts the exposed portion of the channel layer, on the source electrode and the drain electrode; patterning the organic layer contacting the channel layer so as to form an organic layer pattern comprising a first opening which exposes the channel layer; and forming an inorganic insulation layer which covers the channel layer exposed by the first opening. |
US08629948B2 |
Liquid crystal display panel and method for fabricating same, and array substrate and method for fabricating same
A liquid crystal display panel includes: a plurality of switching elements each provided on a transparent substrate (10) for each sub-pixel and having a drain electrode (14b); an interlayer insulating film (17) provided to cover the switching elements and including an inorganic insulating film (15) and an organic insulating film (16) sequentially layered; a capacitor electrode (18a) provided on the interlayer insulating film (17); a capacitor insulating film (19) provided to cover the capacitor electrode (18a); a plurality of pixel electrodes (20a) which are provided on the capacitor insulating film (19) and face the capacitor electrode (18a); and a connection region (R) at which the drain electrode (14b) and the capacitor electrode (18a) overlap each other via the inorganic insulating film (15) exposed from the organic insulating film (16). |
US08629947B2 |
Liquid crystal panel
A liquid crystal panel including a bottom substrate, a top substrate and a liquid crystal layer is provided. The bottom substrate includes a base plate, an active array structure layer, a color filter layer with plural colors and plural transparent pixel electrodes. The active array structure layer includes plural transparent bottom electrodes and plural transistor structures, at least one insulation layer, plural scan lines and plural data lines both formed on the base plate. At least one insulation layer covers the transparent bottom electrodes. The color filter layer is formed on the active array structure layer. The transparent pixel electrodes are formed on the color filter layer. Each transparent pixel electrode partially overlaps the corresponding transparent bottom electrodes so as to form plural storage capacitor structures. The top substrate is substantially parallel to the bottom substrate. The liquid crystal layer is located between the top substrate and the bottom substrate. |
US08629946B2 |
Display substrate, method of manufacturing the same and display panel having the same
A display substrate includes a data line disposed on a base substrate, a first pixel electrode disposed at a first side of the data line, a second pixel electrode disposed at a second side of the data line and a storage electrode overlapping with the data line. The storage electrode overlaps with the first pixel electrode by a first overlapping width, and overlaps with the second pixel electrode by a second overlapping width larger than the first overlapping width. |
US08629945B2 |
3D liquid crystal display system
A viewing system has a parallax separation device placed in front of a liquid crystal display panel. The liquid display panel can be used to display a composite image that has many display segments, with each segment having two or more elongated image sections of different images. Each image section may occupy one or more columns of color pixels. The parallax separation device has a plurality of parallax separation elements, each aligned with a display segment for separating the different image sections as seen in a viewer's eyes. The parallax separation device has a barrier axis parallel to the longitudinal axis of the elongated image sections. The color sub-pixels in each pixel are arranged along a direction parallel to the barrier axis. A tracking device and a processor are used to determine the locations of image sections under the parallax separation elements based on positions of a viewer. |
US08629937B1 |
Motion adaptive filter and deinterlacer and methods for use therewith
A device for use in conjunction with a video processing device includes an adaptive filter for processing input pictures into selectively filtered pictures, based on a filter motion data. A deinterlacer selectively interpolates the selectively filtered pictures into selectively deinterlaced pictures, based on deinterlace motion data. A motion detector generates the filter motion data and the deinterlace motion data, based on detecting motion in the input pictures. |
US08629934B2 |
Imaging apparatus and method for controlling the same
Information relating to object distances in a plurality of areas in an imaging plane is acquired, and a threshold value for an object luminance at which imaging is performed by flashing an illumination device according to a difference between an object distance in a reference area and the object distances in the plurality of areas. |
US08629932B2 |
Autofocus system and method
A camera module and method for focusing a tunable lens configured to continuously vary its optical power in response to a drive signal. A drive circuit generates the drive signal so that the tunable lens performs a continuous scan of its optical power. An image sensor is configured to acquire light images passing through the tunable lens, and to convert the light images to image signals during the continuous scan. A processor is configured to generate focus scores of the acquired light images using the image signals during the continuous scan. The processor is configured to determine from the focus scores a peak focus score achieved or achievable, and to instruct the drive circuit to adjust the drive signal so that the tunable lens settles at a value of the optical power that corresponds to the peak focus score. |
US08629931B2 |
Imaging apparatus and imaging method thereof
An imaging apparatus, when an image captured by an imaging unit thereof is not displayed on a display unit, can facilitate framing of an object to be imaged. An aspect ratio setting unit sets an aspect ratio imaged by an image sensor. A system control circuit controls, in a first mode, the display unit to display image data captured by an image sensor in the aspect ratio, and in a second mode, not to display the image data. The system control circuit also displays, in the second mode, information from which at least one of a focus detectable position and a metering area within a shooting area in the aspect ratio is identifiable. |
US08629930B2 |
Device, image processing device and method for optical imaging
An optical device for imaging is disclosed having at least one micro lens field with at least two micro lenses and one image sensor with at least two image detector matrices. The at least two image detector matrices each include a plurality of image detectors and there is an allocation between the image detector matrices and the micro lenses, so that each micro lens together with an image detector matrix forms an optical channel. The center points of the image detector matrices are shifted laterally by different distances, with respect to centroids, projected onto the image detector matrices, of the micro lens apertures of the associated optical channels, so that the optical channels have different partially overlapping detection areas and so that an overlapping area of the detection areas of two channels is imaged onto the image detector matrices offset with respect to an image detector raster of the image detector matrices. Further, an image processing device and a method for optical imaging are described. |
US08629928B1 |
Pixel and method for feedback based resetting of a pixel
A storage system, a non-transitory computer readable medium and a method for pre-fetching. The method may include presenting, by a storage system and to at least one host computer, a logical address space; determining, by a fetch module, to fetch a certain data portion from a data storage device to a cache memory of the storage system; determining, by a pre-fetch module, whether to pre-fetch at least one additional data portion from at least one data storage device to the cache memory based upon at least one characteristic of a mapping tree that maps one or more contiguous ranges of addresses related to the logical address space and one or more contiguous ranges of addresses related to the physical address space; and pre-fetching the at least one additional data portions if it is determined to pre-fetch the at least one additional data portions. |
US08629926B2 |
Imaging apparatus comprising image sensor array having shared global shutter circuitry
There is set forth herein in one embodiment an image sensor array including a global shutter shared by first and second pixels. The global shutter can include a charge storage area having an associated shield for reducing charge build up on the charge storage area attributable to incident light rays. There is set forth herein in one embodiment an imaging apparatus having one or more configuration. The one or more configuration can include one or more of a configuration wherein a frame read out from an image sensor array has unbinned pixel values, a configuration wherein a frame read out from an image sensor array has binned pixel values corresponding to an M×N, M>=2, N>=2 arrangement of pixel values, and a configuration wherein a frame read out from an image sensor array has binned pixel values corresponding to a 1×N, N>=2 arrangement of pixel values. |
US08629924B2 |
Image processing apparatus and image processing method
An image processing apparatus that processes image data output from an image sensing device including a plurality of pixels, comprises: a storage unit that stores defect data at least including first information showing grades of defective pixels that are subject to correction and, with respect to each defective pixel among the plurality of pixels, address information, second information showing a grade of the defective pixel; an acquisition unit that acquires an imaging condition and an imaging environment at a time of image sensing; a determination unit that compares the first information and the second information, and determines whether defect correction of each defective pixel is necessary or not based on a comparison result; and a correction unit that performs the defect correction on image data output from a defective pixel for which the determination unit determines that defect correction is necessary. |
US08629922B2 |
Image capturing apparatus and method of controlling the same
An image capturing apparatus comprises an imaging unit which performs an imaging process of an object image; an image storage unit which stores the image data linked with album data; a layout storage unit which stores layout information representing a position where the image data linked with the album data is displayed on a page of the album data; an album display unit which displays an image frame at the position on the page of the album data represented by the layout information; and a designation unit which receives a designation of an arbitrary position on the displayed page, wherein when a region outside the image frame is designated, the album display unit displays the captured image data on a background of the page as a live view, and the image storage unit stores the image data linked as the background of the page of the album data. |
US08629921B2 |
Image recording apparatus and image recording method
An aspect of the present invention provides an image recording apparatus comprising: an image recording device which records an extended image file storing a plurality of pieces of image data and a basic file storing at least one piece of image data selected from the pieces of image data stored in the extended image file, the extended image file and the basic file being associated with each other; a determination device which determines whether or not the basic file has been deleted or modified; and a basic file recovery device which recovers the basic file from the extended image file if it is determined that the basic file has been deleted or modified. |
US08629917B2 |
Image processing apparatus, method, and recording medium
A blur characteristic of a captured image changes due to demosaicing at the time of blur correction of an image pickup optical system. As a result, favorable blur correction cannot be performed. Pieces of RAW data are input, correction coefficients for correcting a blur of RAW images represented by the pieces of RAW data are obtained with respect to a plurality of colors, the blur of the RAW images represented by the pieces of RAW data is corrected on the basis of the correction coefficients obtained with respect to the plurality of colors, corrected images are obtained, and a demosaic process is performed on the plurality of obtained corrected images, thereby generating output image data. |
US08629913B2 |
Overflow control techniques for image signal processing
Certain embodiments disclosed herein relate to an image signal processing system includes overflow control logic that detects an overflow condition when a destination unit when a sensor input queue and/or front-end processing unit receives back pressure from a downstream destination unit. In one embodiment, pixels of a current frame are dropped when an overflow condition occurs. The number of dropped pixels may be tracked using a counter. Upon recovery of the overflow condition, the remaining pixels of the frame are received and each dropped pixel may be replaced using a replacement pixel value. |
US08629910B2 |
Image capture apparatus and control method thereof
An image capture apparatus comprises an image capture unit which photo-electrically converts an object image, a shake detection unit which detects a shake of the image capture apparatus, a motion vector detection unit which detects a motion vector, a reference value calculation unit which calculates a reference value serving as an output from the shake detection unit when the image capture apparatus stands still, a correction amount calculation unit which calculates a shake correction amount, and an image blur correction unit which corrects a blur of the object image, wherein the reference value calculation unit calculates the reference value based on an integrated value of the output from the shake detection unit, an integrated value of an output from the motion vector detection unit, and a variation of the output from the correction amount calculation unit in a predetermined period. |
US08629906B2 |
Inspection system, mobile terminal, inspection method and recording medium
An inspection method of allowing a mobile terminal to execute: a step of displaying inspection information and drawing information based on an inspection sheet containing inspection information on an inspection object and inspection content and drawing information on the inspection information; a step of selecting a desired inspection object from the inspection objects contained in the inspection sheet according to the displayed drawing information; a step of inputting an inspection result corresponding to the inspection content of the selected inspection object; a step of inputting a shooting point of the selected inspection object; a step of shooting an image by using the inspection object as an object to be shot; and a step of storing inspection result data associating the selected inspection object, the inputted inspection result, the inputted shooting point, and the inspection photo which is the shot image. |
US08629901B2 |
System and method of revising depth of a 3D image pair
A method of revising depth of a three-dimensional (3D) image is disclosed. The method comprises the following steps: firstly, at least one initial depth map associated with one image of the 3D image pair based on stereo matching technique is received, wherein the one image comprises a plurality of pixels, and the initial depth map carries an initial depth value of each pixel. Then, the inconsistence among the pixels of the one image of the 3D image pair is detected to estimate a reliable map. Finally, the initial depth value is interpolated according to the reliable map and the proximate pixels, so as to generate a revised depth map by revising the initial depth value. |
US08629899B2 |
Transforming video data in accordance with human visual system feedback metrics
In general, techniques are described for transforming video data in accordance with human visual system feedback metrics. For example, an apparatus comprising a transformation module, a parameter discovery module and a human visual system (HVS) feedback module implements these techniques. The parameter discovery module configures the transformation module to generate three-dimensional (3D) video data in accordance with parameters defining capabilities supported by a 3D display device. The transformation module transforms video data to generate the 3D video data. The HVS feedback module determines, while the transformation module transforms the video data, one or more metrics using an HVS model that reflects a quality of 3D visualization of the generated 3D video data with respect to a human visual system and reconfigures the one or more modules based on the determined one or more metrics to refine the generation of the 3D video data. |
US08629898B2 |
Stereoscopic video delivery
A method of operation of a de-interlacer/scaler for display of stereoscopic images consistent with certain implementations involves at a de-interlacer/scaler, receiving consecutive frames of video information that contain alternating left and right eye images from a decoder; at the de-interlacer/scaler, disabling all image processing algorithms that utilize pixel data for temporally or spatially adjacent pixels that represent images, where at least one pixel is for the left eye and one pixel is for the right eye; and sending stereoscopic images from the de-interlacer/scaler to a display. This abstract is not to be considered limiting, since other embodiments may deviate from the features described in this abstract. |
US08629897B2 |
Image processing device, image processing method, and program
An imaging processing device includes: a position information generation section that generates position information which represents a relative positional relationship of captured images when the captured images are aligned on a predetermined plane so as to overlap same subjects, which are included in the different captured images, with each other; a strip image generation section that cuts out an area on each captured image from a predetermined reference position on the captured image to the reference position on another captured image which is aligned on the plane so as to overlap with the captured image and generates a strip image including the area, when the captured images are aligned on the plane on the basis of the position information; and a panoramic image generation section that generates a single panoramic image by aligning and stitching the strip images which are obtained from the captured images. |
US08629894B2 |
Apparatus and method for automatically transmitting emoticon during video communication in mobile communication terminal
An apparatus and a method for automatically transmitting an emoticon during video communication in a mobile communication terminal are provided. In operation, location information is received during video communication, and data corresponding to the received location information is searched for from a memory. Image data captured by a camera and the searched data are synthesized and transmitted to a counterpart terminal. |
US08629892B2 |
Thermal head, method of manufacturing thermal head, and printer equipped with thermal head
A thermal printer has a support substrate with a concave portion in a surface thereof, and an upper substrate bonded to the surface of the support substrate and including a convex portion at a position corresponding to the concave portion. A heating resistor is provided on a surface of the upper substrate at a position straddling the convex portion. A pair of electrodes is provided on both sides of the heating resistor, with each of the electrodes being formed in a region outside of the convex portion. The convex portion extends at a height greater than each of the electrodes. At least one of the pair of electrodes has a thin portion connected to the heating resistor in a region corresponding to the concave portion, and a thick portion connected to the heating resistor and having a thickness greater than that of the thin portion. |
US08629886B2 |
Layer combination in a surface composition system
A system and method for processing and rendering multiple layers of a two-dimensional scene. A system provides a mechanism to determine a number of scene surfaces and a mapping between scene layers and scene surfaces. The mechanisms may include combining and aggregating areas of layers to create one opaque surface, aggregating non-overlapping semi-transparent opaque areas of layers, or creating surfaces from overlapping semi-transparent surfaces. Moving objects are accommodated, so that layers below a moving object may be rendered properly in frames where the moving object is above the layer and frames where the moving object is not above the layer, for each pixel. |
US08629884B2 |
Wide color gamut display system
A wide gamut RGB digital display, such as an LCD display, digital television, printer, or any other suitable display, includes wide color gamut configuration message control logic that is operative to indicate, to an image source provider, wide gamut RGB indication information and wide color gamut format definition information that indicates that wide gamut RGB color data is to be received by the wide gamut RGB digital display. The wide gamut configuration message control logic is also operatively responsive to wide gamut confirmation information that is received from the image source provider. The wide gamut RGB digital display also includes logic that is operative to display received wide gamut RGB color data that was received in response to the wide gamut RGB indication information and the wide color gamut format definition information. |
US08629879B2 |
Electrophoretic display controller providing PIP and cursor support
Data pixels defining first and second images are stored in first and second image buffers, respectively. A second image coordinate location within a display matrix of a display device having display pixels that have multiple stable states is stored in a memory. Data pixels of the first image are read from the first image buffer. If a data pixel read from the first image buffer is within the second image coordinate location, a data pixel from the second image buffer corresponding with the data pixel read from the first image buffer is read, and the data pixel read from the second image buffer is combined with the corresponding data pixel read from the first image buffer to generate a derived data pixel. Synthesized pixels corresponding with at least each of the data pixels of the second image are generated. The synthesized pixels respectively include the derived data pixels. |
US08629877B2 |
Method of and system for time-division based parallelization of graphics processing units (GPUs) employing a hardware hub with router interfaced between the CPU and the GPUs for the transfer of geometric data and graphics commands and rendered pixel data within the system
A method of dynamic load-balancing in a PC-based computing system employing a multiple GPU-based graphics pipeline architecture supporting multiple modes of GPU parallelization. During the execution of the graphics application, the stream of geometrical data and said graphics commands is analyzed, and the mode of parallelization of the GPUs during each frame, is determined using results of the analysis of the stream of geometrical data and graphics commands, and one or more policies for determining the mode of parallelization. The stream of geometrical data and graphic commands is distributed to the GPUs according to the determined mode of parallelization. During the generation of each frame, one or more of GPUs are used to process the stream of geometrical data and graphic commands, or a portion thereof, while operating in the parallelization mode, so as to generate pixel data corresponding to at least a portion of an image of 3D object. The pixel data output is transferred from one or more of the GPUs and composing a frame of pixel data, representative of the image of the 3D object. The frame of pixel data is displayed on a display surface of the PC-based computing system. |
US08629876B2 |
Displayport control and data registers
Circuits, methods, and apparatus for registers to store information that may be used by devices in a display system. One example provides control and data registers in a display to store information pertaining to a display system that includes the display. The registers can store attributes of the display, a host device, and a branch device. The information may include an organizationally unique identifier, chip identification, major and minor chip revision information, and firmware major and minor revision information. |
US08629875B2 |
Constraint systems and methods for manipulating non-hierarchical objects
Methods and apparatus for animating images using bidirectional constraints are described. |
US08629874B2 |
Mobile display device and method of controlling display of conversion candidates of input characters on the mobile display device
It is possible to provide a mobile display device which can improve usability even when the character size is increased for improving visibility. A method for controlling the mobile display device is also disclosed. A control unit (18) can set a conversion candidate of an input character displayed on a second display region (conversion candidate character display region (162)) of a display unit (16) to a first display mode (normal mode) for displaying the conversion candidate in a first character size and to a second display mode (enlarged mode) for displaying the conversion candidate in a second character size greater than the first character size while differentiating a display priority of a plurality of conversion candidates to be displayed in the second display region in the first display mode and a display priority of a plurality of conversion candidates to be displayed in the second display region in the second display mode. |
US08629873B2 |
Data analysis system
In a liquid chromatograph mass spectrometer (LC/MS), three kinds of graphic data (or graphs) composed of an LC chromatogram, an MS chromatogram, and an MS spectrum should be mutually compared to perform a specific analysis. Conventionally, a plurality of graphs are arranged for comparison on one monitor in accordance with a user's purpose. However, when an operation is once terminated and then the graphs are displayed again or in other processes, their display formats are not reproduced. Hence, the user needs to manually set the desired layout every time, which is cumbersome. The data analysis system according to the present invention has been developed to solve this problem. The data analysis system has a layout memory for storing layout information including a plurality of kinds of graphs to be displayed on the monitor and the display position of each graph, and refers to the layout information when displaying the graphs. |
US08629863B2 |
Electronic device using movement of particles
A method is provided of driving an electronic device comprising an array of device elements, each device element comprising particles which are moved to control a device element state, and each device element comprising a collector electrode, and an output electrode. The method comprises: in a reset phase, applying a first set of control signals to control the device to move the particles to the a reset electrode; and in an addressing phase, applying a second set of control signals to control the device to move the particles from the reset electrode such that a desired number of particles are at the output electrode. The second set of control signals comprises a pulse waveform oscillating between first and second voltages in which the first voltage is for attracting the particles to the reset electrode and the second voltage is for attracting the particles from the reset electrode to the output electrode, and wherein the duty cycle of the pulse waveform determines the proportion of particles transferred to the output electrode in the addressing phase. This control method provides well-controlled packets of particles which are collected in a vortex at the reset electrode before being passed on, in part, towards the output electrode (for example via the gate electrode). |
US08629860B2 |
Display device, driving method of display device and electronic apparatus
A display device includes: a pixel array unit in which plural pixels are arranged, each including an electro-optic device, a write transistor writing a video signal, a storage capacitor storing the video signal written by the write transistor and a drive transistor driving the electro-optic device based on the video signal stored in the storage capacitor, which have a function of correcting mobility of the drive transistors; and a scanning circuit giving a write scanning signal to gate electrodes of the write transistors while sequentially scanning respective pixels in the pixel array row by row as well as generating the write scanning signal based on respective timings of rising and falling of one pulse-state power source potential. |
US08629858B2 |
Liquid crystal device, method of driving liquid crystal device and electronic apparatus
A liquid crystal device includes a first substrate, a second substrate, liquid crystal which is in between the first and the second substrate, and a detection electrode provided on a side of the first substrate, opposite to a side of the liquid crystal. The second substrate includes pixel electrodes connected through switching elements to signal lines, opposite electrodes formed between the pixel electrodes and the liquid crystal and are connected to control lines, a selection circuit that conducts the switching element during a selection period and interrupts conduction after the selection period has elapsed, a signal supplying circuit which supplies a data electric potential during the selection periods, a electric potential control circuit which sets the control lines to an predetermined electric potential when the scanning lines to the control line is selected and sets to a reference electric potential after the selection period has elapsed. |
US08629856B2 |
Apparatus and method for acquiring object image of a pointer
An apparatus and a method for acquiring object image of a pointer are provided. The apparatus is suitable for an optical touch system and is used for acquiring an object image of a pointer when the pointer interacts with a touch surface of the optical touch system. The apparatus includes an image sensor and a processing circuit. The image sensor is used for acquiring an image of the touch surface. When the pointer approaches the touch surface, the processing circuit compares at least a part of the information of a sensed image with a threshold value, so as to determine a comparison range. Then, the processing circuit determines another threshold value according to the image information in the comparison range. Afterwards, the processing circuit compares the image information in the comparison range with the aforementioned another threshold value, so as to acquire an object image of the pointer. |
US08629853B2 |
Touch panel and the touch display device using the same
A touch panel comprising a substrate, a plurality of first electrodes and a plurality of second electrodes is provided. The first electrodes and the second electrodes are disposed on the substrate in rows and columns. The first electrodes are formed as triangles of a base wherein the corresponding first electrodes aligned in any two neighboring columns are symmetrically arranged in shape based on the base, and the first electrodes aligned in the same row are serially connected by multiple first conductive lines. The second electrodes are formed as triangles of a base, wherein the corresponding second electrodes aligned in any two neighboring columns are symmetrically arranged in shape based on the base, and the second electrodes aligned in the same column are serially connected by multiple second conductive lines. The first conductive lines are arranged crossing over and insulated from the second conductive lines. |
US08629852B2 |
Touch screen and method for compensating sensing capacitance variations and offset variations thereof
Provided are a touch screen and a method for compensating sensing capacitance variations and offset variations thereof. The touch screen includes: a touch panel where a plurality of driving lines and a plurality of sensing lines intersect and are wired; a driving unit for activating the driving lines sequentially; an input unit for measuring a sensing capacitance formed in a sensing line corresponding to an activated driving line; a multiplexer for serializing and outputting the measured sensing capacitance; an analog-to-digital converter for sampling the sensing capacitance outputted from the multiplexer by reflecting an initial sensing capacitance as an offset and performing analog-to-digital conversion for the sampling result; and a host processor for determining a touch event in response to the analog-to-digital conversion result. |
US08629844B2 |
Mobile terminal and method of composing message using the same
A mobile terminal is provided that includes a touch screen and a controller. The controller operates in a first message composition mode for composing a message according to a first message format. The controller switches the first message composition mode to a second message composition mode for composing the message according to a second message format in response to a first predetermined touch input received via the touch screen. The first message format is different from the second message format. |
US08629843B2 |
Piezoelectric assembly
A piezoelectric assembly is provided, including an electrode assembly, a signal electrical connector, and a reference electrical connector. The electrode assembly includes a first electrode, a second electrode, and a piezoelectric material. The signal electrical connector is in electrical communication with the first electrode and configured to be connected to the current or voltage source so as to provide electrical communication with a current or voltage source. The reference electrical connector is in electrical communication with the second electrode and configured to be connected to the reference source so as to provide electrical communication with a reference source. One of the signal electrical connector and the reference electrical connector includes a metal shim for supporting the electrode assembly. A flexible printed circuit board is provided including a trace. An interconnecting structure effects electrical communication between the trace and the metal shim. The interconnecting structure is disposed within a passage provided between a first side surface and an opposite second side surface of the flexible printed circuit board, and extends through the first side surface to provide a coupling structure coupled to the metal shim at a coupling structure surface interface, and also extends through the second side surface to provide a retainer disposed in opposition to the first side surface to provide a retainer disposed in opposition to the first side surface. |
US08629841B2 |
Multi-touch sensor patterns and stack-ups
Capacitive multi-touch sensor panels in which both row and column traces may be formed on a single conducting surface are disclosed. These stack-ups may be made thinner and more flexible allowing them to be particularly well-suited for curved or other non-flat touch sensor panels, such as those that might be present on a mouse or other device designed to be grasped by a user's hand. Curved sensor panel arrays that may be formed from flat substrates are also disclosed. These sensor panel configurations may include channels around the periphery of the array. These channels allow the flat array to lie flat when applied to a curved surface, such as the inside of the curved surface. The pattern of the touch sensor elements may be adjusted across the array to avoid the channels. |
US08629839B2 |
Display screen translator
A system and method are provided for audibly interpreting a screen display. The method comprises: locating a display interpreter (DI) with a tactile matrix of sensors overlying a display screen; in response to sensing a proximate pointer, accepting a tactile matrix region selection; loading a first reference map, cross-referencing DI tactile matrix regions with a first field of screen icons; loading a second reference map, cross-referencing screen icons with audible recordings identifying the screen icons; mapping a screen icon to the selected tactile matrix region; and, audibly identifying the mapped screen icon. That is, the DI uses the second reference map to cross-reference the located screen icon to the audible recording identifying the screen icon, and plays the recording. In one aspect, the DI can be located over a touchscreen with touchscreen icons. Then, the method may further comprise engaging a touchscreen icon. |
US08629833B1 |
Single particle electrophoretic display and method of manufacturing same
Single particle and dual-particle electrophoretic display devices are disclosed. The display comprises a back substrate and a transparent substrate forming a cavity therebetween. The transparent substrate including one or more cathode electrodes forming a plurality of electronically and selectively addressable pixels; one or more side walls extending from the transparent substrate, the side walls defining corresponding pixels, and a suspension fluid in fluid communication with each of the cells by a gap formed between the top of the side walls and the back substrate. In addition, the displays include a thin-film transistor (TFT) active matrix substrate to selectively drive one or more of the cathode electrodes. In addition, methods for manufacturing of the displays are disclosed. |
US08629829B2 |
Processing device and processing method for high dynamic contrast of liquid crystal display device
The present invention relates to a processing device and processing method for high dynamic contrast of a liquid crystal display. The processing device comprises a receiver, an inverter and a source driver integrated circuit connected to a center processing module. The processing method comprises: performing a histogram-statistical processing on a received low-voltage differential signal data; obtaining a backlight source luminance control parameter and a gamma reference voltage parameter of the same frame of picture according to the result of the histogram-statistical processing; controlling the luminance of the backlight source according to the backlight source luminance control parameter; and controlling the voltage of a pixel capacitor on the liquid crystal panel according to the gamma reference voltage parameter. The present invention adjusts the luminance of the backlight source and the gamma reference voltage of the liquid crystal panel respectively, whereby enhancing the dynamic contrast of pictures, improving the LCD in terms of the low contrast and flicker, and saving the power consumption of the backlight source. |
US08629827B2 |
Display device and method of manufacturing the same
A display device includes a display panel, a data driving part and a gate driving part. The display panel includes a first pixel row. The first pixel row includes a first pixel connected to an (n+1)-th gate line and an (m+1)-th data line (where ‘n’ and ‘m’ are natural numbers), and a second pixel connected to an n-th gate line and an (m+2)-th data line. The data driving part applies a data voltage having a first polarity with respect to a reference voltage to the (m+1)-th data line, and applies a data voltage having a second polarity with respect to the reference voltage to the (m+2)-th data line. The gate driving part sequentially applies a gate signal to the n-th gate line and the (n+1)-th gate line. |
US08629826B2 |
Method for driving liquid crystal display and non-transitory storage medium thereof
The present invention discloses a method for driving thin film transistor liquid crystal display (TFT-LCD) and the storage medium for storing computer program representative of the method thereof. The method utilizes a timing controller to send polarity control signals to a plurality of source drivers in a TFT-LCD panel for changing the polarity distribution of the liquid crystal molecules in the panel. The method is characterized by dynamically changing the positions of polarity inversion for alleviating the problem of undercharging under high resolution and high frequency conditions; utilizing both polar and reverse polar driving signals for solving the problem of color shift in “checker board” checking signals; and providing a mechanism for mending the problem of undercharging of the first horizontal line. |
US08629825B2 |
Liquid crystal display device and method of driving the same
A liquid crystal display device and a method of driving the same are provided. The liquid crystal display device includes a first coupling capacitor and a second coupling capacitor, which are coupled to corresponding data lines among a plurality of data lines and are coupled to a first auxiliary data line and a second auxiliary data line, respectively. Using a plurality of the first and second coupling capacitors, the liquid crystal display device can be driven by a dot inversion driving method with reduced power consumption as a result of using a low data signal voltage. |
US08629822B2 |
Field sequential color display device with red, green, blue and white light sources
An highly bright and energy efficient FSC color liquid crystal display device incorporating a white light source is provided. The FSC color display device includes a first light source for emitting a light having a plurality of colors, a second light source for emitting a white light, and a light source controller for displaying a color image so as to control the first light source to repeat, in a predetermined cycle, sequentially making a selection from the plurality of color light sources to cause the selected color light source to emit a light, and to control the second light source so that the second light source emits a white light concurrently with light emission from the first light source. |
US08629817B2 |
Driving circuit of display element and image display apparatus
A new driving circuit is provided. The driving circuit according to the present invention comprises a first period for setting a current to be supplied to a display element, a second period for setting a gray-scale of the display element, and a third period for supplying a driving current to the display element. The present invention, in the driving circuit of the display element, is provided with a current source circuit for supplying a constant current to the display element and a control circuit for controlling the time to supply a constant current to the display element from the current source circuit. |
US08629809B2 |
Tag patch antenna and RFID tag using tag patch antenna
A tag patch antenna includes: a slit formed in the vicinity of an edge of an antenna pattern along a part of the edge; and a feeding point to which a tag LSI is connected and which is formed by cutting an intermediate portion of the part of the edge separated by the slit from a body of the antenna pattern by a width of the slit. |
US08629806B2 |
Differentially coherent strobe correlator
A GPS receiver for tracking a GPS signal. The receiver generates a mixed GPS signal by mixing the GPS signal with an oscillator signal, generates a first correlation signal by correlating the mixed GPS signal with a reference signal, and generates a filtered GPS signal from the GPS signal. The receiver also generates a filtered reference signal from the reference signal, generates a second correlation signal by correlating the filtered GPS signal with the filtered reference signal, and a generates a combined correlation signal by combining the first correlation signal with the second correlation signal. The receiver tracks the GPS signal by adjusting the phase of the oscillator signal based on the combined correlation signal. |
US08629795B2 |
Micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS), systems, and operating methods thereof
A micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) includes a micro-mechanical structure that is capable of generating a first electrical signal. An analog-to-digital converter (ADC) is coupled with the micro-mechanical structure. The MEMS is free from including any amplifier between the micro-mechanical structure and the ADC. |
US08629794B2 |
Integrated circuit and system including current-based communication
An integrated circuit includes a current-based digital-to-analog converter (IDAC) including a clock input and including an output. The integrated circuit further includes a sample synchronization generator to provide a clock signal to a clock output terminal and a first timing signal related to the clock signal to the clock input of the IDAC. The sample synchronization generator controls the clock signal and the first timing signal to communicate a control signal to a peripheral module. |
US08629793B2 |
Continuous-time delta-sigma ADC with compact structure
A continuous-time delta-sigma Analog to Digital Converter (ADC) includes: a loop filter, for receiving and noise-shaping an analog input signal, and outputting a first loop voltage; a first summing resistor, for transforming a first feedback current to be a first feedback voltage, and summing the first loop voltage and the first feedback voltage so as to generate a first summing voltage, wherein the first summing voltage is equal to a sum of the first loop voltage and the first feedback voltage; a quantizer, for outputting a digital output signal according to the first summing voltage; and a current Digital to Analog Converter (DAC), for generating the first feedback current according to the digital output signal. |
US08629792B2 |
A/D conversion circuit and test method
An electric device includes first, second and third selectors. A first node connects to a first input of the first selector, a second node connects to a first input of the second selector, a third node connects to a second input of the first selector, and a fourth node connects to a second input of the second selector. A first switch connects to the first node, and a second switch connects to the second node. A first capacitor connects between the first switch and the third node, and a second capacitor connects between the second switch and the fourth node. A fifth node connects between an output of the first selector and a first input of the third selector, and a sixth node connects between an output of the second selector and a second input of the third selector. An A/D converter connects to an output of the third selector. |
US08629791B2 |
Data compression by multi-order differencing
Embodiments of the present invention enable compression and decompression of data. Applications of the present invention are its use in embodiments of systems for compression and decompression of GPS long-term Ephemeris (LTE) data, although the present invention is not limited to such applications. In embodiments, the LTE data may be grouped into a set of data values associated with a parameter. In embodiments, a data set may be compressed by using a multi-order differencing scheme. In such a scheme, a set of the differences between values may be compressed because the differences have smaller magnitudes than the values. In embodiments, a multi-order differencing scheme determines how many levels (orders) of differencing may be applied to an original data set before it is compressed. In embodiments, the original data may be recovered from a compressed data set based on the type of multi-order differencing scheme used to generate the compressed data. |
US08629789B2 |
Mobile communication device
A mobile communications device comprising a location sensing system, producing a location output; a memory, storing a set of locations and associated events; a telecommunications device, communicating event and location information between a remote system and said memory; and a processor, processing said location output in conjunction with said stored locations and associated events in said memory, to determine a priority thereof. |
US08629784B2 |
Peripheral salient feature enhancement on full-windshield head-up display
A method to selectively project graphical images upon a transparent windscreen head up display of a vehicle based upon visual information present in a peripheral zone of vision includes monitoring a location of visual information corresponding to critical information with respect to the windscreen, processing the location of the visual information to generate display requirements describing the visual information as present in the peripheral zone of vision, generating the graphical images to be projected based upon the display requirements, and projecting the graphical images upon the transparent windscreen head up display based upon the estimated operator gaze location. |
US08629781B2 |
Efficiency determination for a selective-catalytic-reduction catalyst
A method of assessing overall efficiency of a selective-catalytic-reduction catalyst includes monitoring instantaneous efficiency of the catalyst. The method also includes determining the overall efficiency by summing instantaneous efficiency values weighted by a first set of coefficients if the most recent instantaneous efficiency value is above an instantaneous efficiency threshold. The method additionally includes determining the overall efficiency by summing instantaneous efficiency values weighted by a second set of coefficients if the most recent instantaneous efficiency value is equal to or below the instantaneous efficiency threshold. Furthermore, the method includes determining whether the overall efficiency has dropped below an overall efficiency threshold and reporting when the overall efficiency has dropped below the overall efficiency threshold. The second set of coefficients weighs the most recent instantaneous efficiency value more heavily than preceding instantaneous efficiency values as compared with the first set of coefficients. A system and a vehicle are also disclosed. |
US08629780B2 |
Method of detecting and localizing a fire based on a time difference and air speeds of monitored air in pipe conduits
A method, a fire alarm, and a fire alarm system enable detection and localization of a fire in monitored rooms, having two detector units for detecting a fire parameter, wherein an evaluation unit connected to both detector units is used for evaluation. According to the invention, the air in the monitored rooms is fed to the first detector unit via a first pipe conduit and to the second detector unit via a second pipe conduit. Both pipe conduits are arranged in each monitored room and provided with suction intakes. The air is supplied to both detectors by means of at least one suction unit, and the air speed in each pipe conduit is different. If at least one threshold value is detected, a time difference between the detection of the threshold value at the first detector unit and the detection of the same threshold value at the second detector unit is determined by the evaluation unit and, using the determined time difference, the location of the fire is determined according to the air speed in the first pipe conduit and the second pipe conduits. |
US08629778B2 |
Fuel usage monitoring
Various methods and systems are provided for monitoring fuel usage and/or remaining run time of backup power sources. In one embodiment, a method includes tracking run time of a backup power source; determining a current fuel level associated with the backup power source; and providing a fuel level warning. In another embodiment, a system includes a fuel monitoring system including logic that obtains a current run time corresponding to a backup power source; logic that determines a current fuel level based at least in part upon the current run time, the current fuel level corresponding to a fuel source supplying the backup power source; and logic that provides a fuel level warning based upon the current fuel level and a predefined fuel level threshold. |
US08629777B2 |
System and method for magnetometer installation
A method and system for determining the suitability of a particular location on a mobile craft for mounting a magnetometer includes positioning a magnetometer in a particular location. The magnetometer including at least one output indicating magnetic measurements made by the magnetometer. A computer is connected to the magnetometer and programmed to monitor the output(s) of the magnetometer. An attempt is made to detect magnetic interference at the mobile craft and a human-perceptible indication is provided if the output(s) of said magnetometer changes by more than a specified amount while attempting to detect magnetic interference. |
US08629776B2 |
Systems and methods for disrupting criminal activity
Various embodiments of the present invention provide systems and method for behavior determination. As an example, a system for behavior determination is disclosed that includes: a first monitoring device, a second monitoring device, and a monitoring system. The monitoring system is operable to: receive information from the first monitoring device; receive information from the second monitoring device; identify at least a first zone around the first monitoring device; identify at least a second zone around the second monitoring device; and characterize an intersection of the first zone and the second zone. |
US08629775B2 |
Transmission of a binary switch position
The present disclosure relates to simplified monitoring and transmission of a binary switch position by means of coded switching, in which corrections caused by different pulse edge delays are eliminated. According to the disclosure, an auxiliary voltage which is to be transmitted when the switch position is closed is coded using two identical pulse edges of two different pulses, that is to say using either the two connection edges or the two disconnection edges of the two pulses. As a result, the previously known pulse duration modulation is replaced with modulation of the delay time between the two pulses. The two pulses mentioned can be repeatedly generated inside a basic period, which is independent of the auxiliary voltage, and have, for distinguishing purposes, a connection duration or pulse length which is different but is independent of the auxiliary voltage. |
US08629770B2 |
Sensor for container monitoring system
A detection system for an enclosed container for an enclosed cargo container includes a sensor device for sensing a material harmful to human beings within an enclosed cargo container and a detection device coupled to the sensor device for transmitting a corresponding signal to a monitoring device outside the cargo container. Containers which have harmful materials within them can be inspected or stopped before entering the country. |
US08629767B2 |
System for providing a mobile electronic device reminder
A vehicle system for providing a reminder that at least one mobile electronic device is being left in an interior cabin of a vehicle after a vehicle access event is provided. The vehicle system includes at least one indicator, a vehicle access system, and a control module. The indicator provides notification that the at least one mobile electronic device is being left in the interior cabin of the vehicle after the vehicle access event. The vehicle access system determines a vehicle access event. The control module is in communication with the at least one indicator and the vehicle access system. The control module includes a control logic for establishing a connection between the at least one mobile electronic device and the control module. |
US08629766B2 |
Portable information display apparatus
The present invention relates to an indicating display device which can be simply carried or worn. The indicating display device of the present invention comprises: a first display unit; a first transceiving unit for transceiving signals; a first sensor for sensing a motion; a first control unit for controlling the first transceiving unit, and controlling the first display unit in accordance with the signal received at the first transceiving unit or information sensed by the first sensor, such that the first display unit displays various states; a second display unit; a second transceiving unit for transceiving signals; a mode selection unit for selecting a mode; and a second control unit for controlling the second display unit and the second transceiving unit in the mode selected by the mode selection unit. |
US08629761B2 |
Selection of an IMD by means of directional antenna
In a method and a system for initiating communication with an implantable medical device to conduct a wireless communication session between the implantable medical device and an external programmer device. A directional antenna is employed for initiating communication between a programmer device and an implantable medical device (IMD). The IMD is targeted by the programmer device by having an operator of the programmer device orient the directional antenna toward the IMD and transmitting a communication-initiating signal from the programmer to the IMD via the directional antenna. The directional antenna has a directional characteristic and communication range. the IMD responds to the communication-initiating signal by sending identification information to the programmer. the programmer may then use this identification to establish a communication session with the IMD targeted by the directional antenna. |
US08629759B2 |
RFID transponder with PLL
An RFID transponder comprises an antenna for receiving data in a downlink mode and transmitting data in an uplink mode, with a modulation stage for modulating uplink data and a demodulation stage for demodulating downlink data. A class C amplifier is provided, which has a resonant circuit, a plucking device coupled to the resonant circuit, and a controllable pulse width generator coupled to the plucking device. The controllable pulse width generator is adapted to periodically switch the plucking device on and off so as to maintain an oscillation of the resonant circuit. The transponder further comprises a phase locked loop configured to be locked to an oscillating signal received through the antenna and to be switched into a free running mode without being locked to the oscillating signal received through the antenna, thereby being adapted to output an independent internal clock signal for the RFID transponder. |
US08629758B2 |
System and method for transmitting messages received from a paging network on a paging device to electronic devices
Systems, methods, and media are provided for transmitting a message received from a paging network on a paging device to wireless or other electronic devices. The paging device establishes a radio connection with the wireless device and transmits the received messages to the wireless device through the established radio connection. In response to receiving a message from the paging device, the wireless device sends an acknowledgment to the paging network that the message was received and displays the message. |
US08629757B2 |
Processing system for portable electronic apparatus, portable electronic apparatus, and processing apparatus for portable electronic apparatus
A portable electronic apparatus has a first storage section configured to store information to be communicated to the processing apparatus and formats for a frame to be transmitted to the processing apparatus, in association with one another. The processing apparatus has a second storage section configured to store information communicated by the portable electronic apparatus and the format of the frame transmitted by the portable electronic apparatus, in association with each other. The portable electronic apparatus select one of the formats stored in the first storage section based on the data to be transmitted to the processing apparatus. The processing apparatus recognize information communicated by the portable electronic apparatus based on the format of the frame received from the portable electronic apparatus. |
US08629756B2 |
Electronic seal system
An electronic seal system uses fingerprint recognition to prevent use by an unauthorized person and includes a mechanism for remotely destroying a stolen or missing seal. The system includes a fingerprint module for collecting an image of a fingerprint of an authorized individual. In addition, a processor for carrying out a comparison of a scanned fingerprint and a stored image of an authorized fingerprint is provided. The system also includes a printable seal for sealing a document and includes a mechanism for activating the system when a scanned fingerprint matches a stored image of a fingerprint and for deactivating the seal when the fingerprints do not match. Further, a preferred embodiment of the invention provides a time, date and location receiver for receiving signals from a GPS and automatically numbering and printing mechanism for printing the time, date, location and document numbers and seal on each page to which a seal is provided. |
US08629752B2 |
Suppressor
This invention relates to a suppressor, including an element having sheets printed with a first internal electrode and a second internal electrode, and a discharge material disposed in a gap between the first internal electrode and the second internal electrode, wherein the discharge material is composed of a SiC—ZnO-based component, in which ZnO is reacted with the surface of SiC, thereby imparting much higher insulating properties and improving ESD resistance. |
US08629749B2 |
Fuse assembly
The fuse assembly contains a first casing member with a first chamber, and a second casing member with a second chamber. An enclosed space is thereby formed by joining the first and second casing members together. A disconnection member is sandwiched between the first and second casing members. The disconnection member contains two electrodes and a fuse element between the two electrodes. Each electrode contains a first lateral section, a vertical section, and a second lateral section, jointly and integrally forming a C-like shape. The electrodes are positioned at two opposing ends of the second casing member and the fuse element is housed in the enclosed space. The enclosed space allows the fuse element to break off completely, thereby avoiding electrical arc and achieving enhanced usage safety. |
US08629748B2 |
Wire-wound inductor
Provided are a small wire-wound inductor having desired inductor characteristics, while allowing for high-density mounting and low-height mounting on circuit boards at the same time, as well as a method for manufacturing such wire-wound inductor which has a drum-shaped core member constituted by an assembly of soft magnetic alloy grains containing iron (Fe), silicon (Si) and 2 to 15 percent by weight of chromium (Cr), a coil conductive wire wound around the core member, a pair of terminal electrodes connected to the terminals of the coil conductive wire, and an outer sheath member covering the wound coil conductive wire and constituted by a magnetic powder-containing resin having a specified magnetic permeation ratio. |
US08629743B2 |
Latching apparatus and an operating mechanism with such a latching apparatus
A latching apparatus for an operating mechanism for an electrical switching apparatus includes a first member movable between a first position and a second position, in the first position the first member adapted to lock a drive member of the operating mechanism and a force of the drive member applied to the first member, and in the second position the first member is adapted to release the drive member from the locked position. Guiding means guides the movement of the first member. A trip member is movable between a third position and a fourth position, in the third position the trip member adapted to lock the first member, and in the fourth position the trip member is adapted to release the first member. The guiding means are adapted to guide at least a first portion of the first member in a first direction toward a counter roller. |
US08629742B1 |
VHF harmonic impedance tuner
An impedance synthesis method for fundamental and harmonic frequencies using multi section tuners, because of the huge amount of possible tuning permutations, employs a search strategy based on the minimization of an ERROR FUNCTION (EF), in two steps: in a first step a coarse calibration grid is generated and the raw area is found which allows an approximate solution to the tuning task at the fundamental frequency; then a fine impedance grid is generated around the first solution using calibrated and interpolated points at all harmonic frequencies; a second search step, using the same EF, then allows fine tuning. Among the several, numerically found solutions, the most reliable one is selected based on a sensitivity criterion, which calculates the impedance change for a possible small error in repeatability of each tuning element and selects the one with the lowest sensitivity to element setting errors. |
US08629740B2 |
Bandpass filter, wireless communication module and wireless communication device
A bandpass filter for a wide frequency band such as UWB is disclosed. The bandpass filter comprises a laminate of a plurality of dielectric layers, a first ground electrode connected to a ground potential, a plurality of resonant electrodes in a first inter-layer and a plurality of coupling electrodes in a second inter-layer. A transmission characteristic of the bandpass filter having flat and low loss over the entire region of the broad pass band can be achieved. |
US08629737B2 |
Signal processing apparatus
The signal processing apparatus contains a first signal transforming circuit and a second signal transforming circuit. The first signal transforming circuit includes four first coupled lines and two second coupled lines, wherein two ends of each first coupled line are configured to carry a first pair of differential signals respectively, each second coupled line is magnetically coupled to two of the first coupled lines in parallel and comprises two signal ports, to which the two ends of each of the magnetically-coupled first coupled lines are placed symmetrically for transferring a second pair of differential signals. The second signal transforming circuit is configured to convert between the second pairs of differential signals at the signal ports and a third pair of differential signals at connecting ports of the second signal transforming circuit. |
US08629736B2 |
Directional coupler
In a directional coupler, a first low pass filter includes a first coil that is connected between a first outer electrode and a main line and has a characteristic in which attenuation increases with increasing frequency in a certain frequency band. A second low pass filter includes a second coil that is connected between a second outer electrode and the main line and has a characteristic in which attenuation increases with increasing frequency in the certain frequency band. A high pass filter is connected, in parallel to the main line, between a point between the first coil and the first outer electrode and a point between the second coil and the second outer electrode and has a characteristic in which attenuation decreases with increasing frequency in the certain frequency band. |
US08629735B2 |
Electronic component
In an electronic component, a main line includes a spiral-shaped portion having a central axis that is parallel or substantially parallel to a z-axis direction. A sub line is electromagnetically coupled with the main line to define a directional coupler, and includes a spiral-shaped portion having a central axis that is parallel or substantially parallel to the z-axis direction. Outer electrodes are provided on an end surface of a multilayer body and are respectively electrically connected to the two ends of the main line. Outer electrodes are provided on an end surface of the multilayer body and are respectively electrically connected to the two ends of the sub line. A region in which the main line is provided and a region in which the sub line is provided are superposed with each other in the z-axis stacking direction. |
US08629734B2 |
Systems and methods for power smoothing in power distribution
A system for power smoothing in power distribution and methods are provided. In one embodiment, a power multiplying network is provided that comprises a multiply-connected, velocity inhibiting circuit constructed from a number of lumped-elements. The power multiplying network is coupled to a power distribution network. The power multiplying network is configured to store power from and supply power to the power distribution network. |
US08629733B2 |
Adaptive on die decoupling devices and methods
Semiconductor dies and methods are described, such as those including a first capacitive pathway having a first effective series resistance (ESR) and a second capacitive pathway having an adjustable ESR. One such device provides for optimizing the semiconductor die for different operating conditions such as operating frequency. As a result, semiconductor dies can be manufactured in a single configuration for several different operating frequencies, and each die can be tuned to reduce (e.g. minimize) supply noise, such as by varying the ESR or the capacitance of at least one of the pathways. |
US08629730B2 |
Oscillator
Provided is a temperature compensated oscillator includes an oscillation circuit for oscillating an oscillator. In the oscillator, when an oscillation frequency is changed by a second control signal after being controlled by a first control signal, variation in the oscillation frequency due to a second control signal is set to a fixed amount. The oscillation frequency of the oscillator is controlled on the basis of both the first control signal and the second control signal, but an oscillation amplitude adjusting section is also added, the oscillation amplitude adjusting section allowing the oscillation amplitude of the oscillator to be changed by the second control signal. The oscillator thus allows a fixed amount of oscillation frequency control over a wide range (full range) of oscillation frequency control due to the first control signal. |
US08629729B2 |
Aggregated spin-torque nano-oscillators
A nano-oscillator magnetic wave propagation system has a group of aggregated spin-torque nano-oscillators (ASTNOs), which share a magnetic propagation material. Each of the group of ASTNOs is disposed about an emanating point in the magnetic propagation material. During a non-wave propagation state of the nano-oscillator magnetic wave propagation system, the magnetic propagation material receives a polarizing magnetic field. During a wave propagation state of the nano-oscillator magnetic wave propagation system, each of the group of ASTNOs initiates spin waves through the magnetic propagation material, such that a portion of the spin waves initiated from each of the group of ASTNOs combine to produce an aggregation of spin waves emanating from the emanating point. The aggregation of spin waves may provide a sharper wave front than wave fronts of the individual spin waves initiated from each of the group of ASTNOs. |
US08629728B2 |
VCO control circuit and method thereof, fast locking PLL and method for fast locking PLL
A voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) control circuit, used for controlling a VCO to process phase locking procedure after receiving a frequency locking signal, comprises an operating frequency controller and a judgment unit. The operating frequency controller, coupled to the VCO and the judgment unit, generates one of a first control code and a second control code to the VCO. The judgment unit, coupled to an input end of the VCO, generates a phase locking signal according to a voltage control signal inputted to the VCO. When the operating frequency controller receives the frequency locking signal, the operating frequency controller generates a first control code to control the VCO to switch from a first candidate VCO curve to a second candidate VCO curve. When the operating frequency controller receives the phase locking signal, the operating frequency controller generates a second control code to control the VCO to switch from the second candidate VCO curve to the first candidate VCO curve. |
US08629722B2 |
Doherty amplifier and method for operation thereof
An amplifier having a Doherty-type architecture and a method for operation thereof are provided. The amplifier comprises a main amplifier path comprising a main amplifier, an auxiliary amplifier path comprising an auxiliary amplifier, and an signal preparation unit configured to develop a main amplifier input signal for the main amplifier path and an auxiliary amplifier input signal for the auxiliary amplifier path based on an amplifier input that is to be amplified and a transition threshold associated with the amplifier input. By driving the main and auxiliary amplifiers as a function of the transition threshold, the gain of the Doherty-type amplifier may be increased. |
US08629721B2 |
Output stage formed inside and on top of an SOI-type substrate
A method for controlling an output amplification stage comprising first and second complementary SOI-type power MOS transistors, in series between first and second power supply rails, the method including the steps of: connecting the bulk of the first transistor to the first rail when the first transistor is maintained in an off state; connecting the bulk of the second transistor to the second rail when the second transistor is maintained in an off state; and connecting the bulk of each of the transistors to the common node of said transistors, during periods when this transistor switches from an off state to an on state. |
US08629718B2 |
Signal splitting apparatus suitable for use in a power amplifier
Disclosed is a signal splitting apparatus useable in a power amplifier having two or more power amplifiers. The apparatus includes a direct gain component; and a derived gain component connected to the direct gain component. The derived gain component derives the derived gain from the direct gain by imposing a constraint which is valid over the entire dynamic range of the input signal, e.g. the sum of the power of the direct split signal and the derived split signal are constrained to be substantially equal to the power of the input signal. The use of combining additional direct gain and derived gain components, as well as a delay element, are disclosed so as to enable n-component splitting that for adaptation to different applications by the use of suitable coefficients. |
US08629711B2 |
Precise control component for a substarate potential regulation circuit
A control circuit for substrate potential regulation for an integrated circuit device. The control circuit includes a current source configured to generate a reference current. A variable resistor is coupled to the current source. The variable resistor is configured to receive the reference current and generate a reference voltage at a node between the current source and the variable resistor. The reference voltage controls the operation of a substrate potential regulation circuit coupled to the node. |
US08629709B2 |
High frequency switch circuit device
A switch circuit device includes a switch circuitry and a driver circuitry. The switch circuitry switches an electrical connection between first and second terminals between the on-state and the off-state in response to a set of control signals. The driver circuitry is configured to generate the control signals and includes an N-latch circuit and a leakage current suppression circuitry. The N-latch circuit selectively outputs lower one of two input voltages fed thereto as one of the control signals. The leakage current suppression circuitry suppresses the leakage current through the N-latch circuit. |
US08629706B2 |
Power switch and operation method thereof
A power switch includes a control circuit, a cross-coupled amplifier, a first switching circuit coupled between a first output terminal and the first controlled ground terminal, and a second switching circuit coupled between a second output terminal and the second controlled ground terminal. The control circuit is configured to connect the second controlled ground terminal to a ground during a first period that a voltage level at the first output terminal is switched from the ground to a first voltage level and to set the second controlled ground terminal at an elevated ground level during a second period that the voltage level at the first output terminal remains at the first voltage level. |
US08629700B2 |
Capacitive multiplication in a phase locked loop
A frequency synthesizer circuit is disclosed. The frequency synthesizer circuit includes a phase and frequency detector. The frequency synthesizer circuit also includes a first charge pump and a second charge pump, each coupled to the phase and frequency detector. The frequency synthesizer circuit also includes a loop filter that includes a resistor and at least two capacitors. The second charge pump is coupled between the resistor and a capacitor that creates a zero in a transfer function of the loop filter. The frequency synthesizer circuit also includes a voltage controlled oscillator that produces an output frequency based on an output of the loop filter. |
US08629698B2 |
Mixing circuit
There is provided a mixing circuit in which a rise of the consumption current can be suppressed while decreasing a non-linear component. The mixing circuit includes: an input unit 803 including a grounded-gate MOS transistor M1 with a source into which an input signal is input, and a grounded-source MOS transistor M2 with a gate into which the input signal is input; a frequency converter 802 for converting frequencies of a first current signal output from the grounded-gate MOS transistor M1 and a second current signal output from the grounded-source MOS transistor M2, and for generating a third current signal and a fourth current signal; a load MOS transistor M7, with a gate and a drain connected, for receiving a third current signal; and a load MOS transistor M8, with a gate and a drain connected, for receiving a fourth current signal. |
US08629694B1 |
Method and apparatus of voltage scaling techniques
A voltage scaling circuit includes a first critical path and an edge detection unit. The first critical path includes an input and an output. The edge detection unit includes a first input, a second input, a counter and a time-to-digital converter (TDC). The input of the first critical path is electrically connected to the first input of the edge detection unit, and the output of the critical path is electrically connected to the second input of the edge detection unit. The counter is configured to measure a duration between an active edge of a start signal on the first input of the edge detection unit and an active edge of a stop signal on the second input of the edge detection unit in a clock period basis. The TDC is configured to measure a beginning portion and an end portion of the duration. |
US08629692B1 |
State definition and retention circuit
State definition and retention circuits are described. In one embodiment, a circuit includes two cross-connected PMOS transistors, first, second, and third NMOS transistors coupled to the PMOS transistors, an inverter circuit, and an output transistor connected to the PMOS transistors and to an output terminal of the circuit. The second NMOS transistor is connected to an input terminal of the circuit. A drain terminal and a gate terminal of the third NMOS transistor are connected to gate terminals of the PMOS transistors. The inverter circuit is coupled to the first and second NMOS transistors and to the input terminal. The inverter circuit is connected between a first power supply and a first base voltage. The PMOS transistors, the NMOS transistors, and the output transistor are connected between a second power supply and a second base voltage. Other embodiments are also described. |
US08629686B2 |
Noise measurement in capacitive touch sensors
In particular embodiments, an apparatus includes a charge-measurement capacitor having a first plate coupled to a second plate of a coupling capacitor and a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium embodying logic that is operable when executed to ground a first plate of the coupling capacitor; inject a pre-determined amount of charge onto the charge-measurement capacitor; and transfer an amount of charge accumulated on the second plate of the coupling capacitor to the first plate of the charge-measurement capacitor. The charge accumulated on the second plate of the coupling capacitor is due at least in part to noise. The logic is also operable when executed to determine, through a measured voltage across the charge-measurement capacitor, the amount of charge. |
US08629684B2 |
Electronic circuit with a capacitive sensor for measuring a physical parameter and method of activating the electronic circuit
The electronic circuit has a capacitive sensor that includes two capacitors mounted in differential, whose common electrode can move relative to each fixed electrode of the two capacitors to alter the capacitive value of each capacitor. The electronic circuit has an interface connected to the capacitive sensor, which includes a charge transfer amplifier unit connected to the common electrode, an integrator unit, and an excitation unit arranged between the output of the first integrator unit and the sensor to polarise each fixed electrode of the sensor capacitors at a determined voltage value. A compensation capacitor is connected to the input of the integrator unit. The electronic circuit interface includes comparison means for comparing the output voltage with a comparison voltage to control disconnection of the compensation capacitor at the integrator unit input, if the deviation between the output voltage and the comparison voltage exceeds a determined voltage threshold. |
US08629683B2 |
Touch-sensitive sensor arrangement including a planar-shaped element having a conductive layer and a number of connecting points that are each arranged in an edge area of the element and contacting the conductive layer
A touch-sensitive sensor arrangement includes a planar-shaped element having a surface provided with a conductive layer, and a plurality of connecting points that are each arranged in an edge area of the element and contacting the conductive layer, wherein a respective decoupling device is arranged for decoupling a current, which is applied to at least two connecting points, from an evaluating signal, between each of the respective connecting points and associated connecting lines for the evaluation of a position of a contact of the element with a contacting object, where the element is heatable by the current. |
US08629679B2 |
Circuits and methods for measuring cell voltages in battery packs
A circuit used to measure cell voltages in a battery pack can include a cell voltage level shifter, a sense block, and a compensation current generator. The cell voltage level shifter selects a cell and shifts the terminal voltages of the selected cell from a first voltage level to a second voltage level. The sense block monitors the current consumed by the level shifter, and generates a signal indicative of the consumed current. The compensation current generator generates compensation currents to compensate the current consumed by the level shifter. Therefore, unbalance of the cell capacities caused by the current consumed by the level shifter can be reduced or eliminated, and thus the overall capacity of the battery pack can be improved. |
US08629677B2 |
Hybrid induction balance/pulse induction metal detector
A new hybrid metal detector combines induction balance and pulse induction technologies. Target signals are generated from a transmitted wave that has both induction balance and pulse current inducing characteristics and uses pertinent sampling of the receive data. Combining the two data sources provides eddy current target identification while excluding ground permeability and remanence obscuration. |
US08629674B2 |
Current detection printed board, voltage detection printed board, current/voltage detection printed board, current/voltage detector, current detector and voltage detector
A current and voltage detection printed board includes a board formed with a penetration hole; a first pattern wire formed at a periphery of the penetration hole; a second pattern wire formed at the periphery of the penetration hole; a plurality of first through holes that penetrate the board between the first and second pattern wires; a third pattern wire formed at the periphery of the penetration hole; a fourth pattern wire formed at the periphery of the penetration hole; and a plurality of second through holes that penetrate the board between the third and fourth pattern wires. |
US08629672B2 |
Generator circuit breaker with fiber-optic current sensor
The current in a generator circuit breaker is measured using the Faraday effect of an optical sensing fiber looped around the breaker's conductor. The sensing fiber is arranged in a sensing strip, which can be mounted to the enclosure of the generator circuit breaker or to the conductor. Exemplary embodiments can have a wide measuring range and can easily be fitted to new or existing generator circuit breakers. |
US08629655B2 |
Battery control system and vehicle
A battery control system controls an external charging unit in a vehicle including a vehicle body, engine, motors, secondary battery, and the external charging unit, and includes a degradation detecting unit that detects degradation of the secondary battery, during charging of the second battery by the external charging unit. |
US08629652B2 |
Power source, charging system, and inductive receiver for mobile devices
A power source, charging system, and inductive receiver for mobile devices. A pad or similar base unit comprises a primary, which creates a magnetic field by applying an alternating current to a winding, coil, or any type of current carrying wire. A receiver comprises a means for receiving the energy from the alternating magnetic field and transferring it to a mobile or other device. The receiver can also comprise electronic components or logic to set the voltage and current to the appropriate levels required by the mobile device, or to communicate information or data to and from the pad. The system may also incorporate efficiency measures that improve the efficiency of power transfer between the charger and receiver. |
US08629651B2 |
Portable wireless charging device
A wireless charging device includes a charging battery, a transmitter coupled to the charging battery, and a controller coupled to the charging battery and the transmitter. The controller is configured to direct power from the charging battery to the transmitter and wirelessly transmit the power to a receiver. The wireless charging device also includes a housing, wherein the charging battery, the transmitter, and the controller are disposed at least partly within the housing. |
US08629638B2 |
Lock protection and standby mode control circuit of motor driving apparatus
A motor driving apparatus including a lock protection unit, a standby mode control unit, and a motor control circuit is provided. The lock protection unit receives a motor speed signal representing the rotation of the motor and generates a lock signal accordingly. The standby mode control unit receives a PWM signal and the lock signal and generates a standby mode control signal accordingly. The lock protection unit decides whether to stop generating the lock signal or not accordingly to the standby mode control signal. The motor control circuit controls the rotation of the motor according to the PWM signal and changes the operation mode according to the standby mode control signal and the lock signal. |
US08629636B2 |
Alternating-current electric motor of a combined electric device for powering and charging
The present invention relates to an alternating-current electric motor of a combined electric device for powering and charging, the said electric motor being formed by a stator connected to an electricity network of which the number of phases is lower than the number of phases of the said motor, the said charging current of the said network being injected via a connection point dividing each phase of the said stator connected to a phase of the said network into two half-windings, the said motor being characterized in that each half-winding of a phase comprises a plurality of coils wired together so as to reduce the magnetic linkage of each half-winding at the said connection point so that there exists an apparent non-zero inductance at the said connection point in charging mode of the said device. |
US08629635B2 |
Methods for operating an electrostatic drive, and electrostataic drives
A method for operating an electrostatic drive having a stator electrode and an actuator electrode which are designed as multilayer electrodes having subunits includes: predeflecting the actuator electrode with respect to the stator electrode from its non-energized starting position into a first end position by applying a first potential to the first stator electrode subunit, and applying a second potential which is different from the first potential to the first actuator electrode subunit, and applying a third potential which is different from the first potential and the second potential, to the second stator electrode subunit and to the second actuator electrode subunit. |
US08629634B2 |
Apparatus and method for optimizing current use during control of multiple motors
A method for is disclosed for using pulse-width modulated (PWM) signals in the control of a plurality of electric motors or of at least one electric motor with multiple windings. The method comprises steps of: measuring the current being drawn by each of said electric motors; transmitting signals corresponding to the current being drawn said plurality of motors to a central controller; transmitting from said central controller signals corresponding to the amount of current to be drawn by each motor, whereby the relative phases and durations of said signals are distributed according to a predetermined protocol; and repeating steps (a) through (c) while said electric motors are in operation. The distribution of PWM signals defines the total current drawn from said source of electricity as a function of time. |
US08629630B2 |
LED driving circuit and control circuit
A control circuit adapted to control a power converting circuit for stabilizing an output of the power converting circuit is provided. The control circuit includes a capacitor, a charging unit, a discharging unit, a feedback control unit, and a duty-cycle adjusting unit. The charging unit has a first current source coupled to the capacitor for charging the capacitor. The discharging unit is coupled to the capacitor for discharging the capacitor. The feedback control unit controls the charging unit to charge the capacitor according to a feedback signal which represents the output of the power converting circuit. The duty-cycle adjusting unit generates a control signal and adjusts a duty cycle of the control signal according to a voltage of the capacitor. |
US08629629B2 |
Power factor correction in and dimming of solid state lighting devices
An apparatus and method provides a driver circuit that provides for power factor correction (PFC) to a load, such as a solid-state lighting (SSL) device, such as, for example, a light emitting diode (LED) or an array or cluster of LEDs. A programmable reference is provided in the circuit to operate in a fixed frequency peak current mode control (FFPCMC) or in a fixed frequency average current mode control (FFACMC). A driver circuit is employed to operate the SSL device using power derived from a main power source which may be DC or AC. In a FFPCMC embodiment, a programmable power reference is programmed to be a fixed DC voltage. In a FFACMC embodiment, source input current to the circuit can be programmed to be proportional to the rectified AC voltage after a bridge rectifier. |
US08629625B2 |
Method and apparatus providing universal voltage input for solid state light fixtures
A method for providing universal voltage input to a solid state lighting fixture (140) supplied by an AC line voltage includes converting an analog voltage signal corresponding to the line voltage to digital values indicating a waveform of the line voltage (S312) and calculating slopes corresponding to rising edges of the waveform using select values of the digital values (S453). A value of the line voltage is determined based on the calculated slopes (S458). |
US08629624B2 |
Method and apparatus for measuring operating characteristics in a load control device
A load control device, such as an electronic ballast, for controlling the power delivered from an AC power source to an electrical load, such as one or more fluorescent lamps, comprises a power converter having an inductor and a power switching device coupled to the inductor, a load control circuit adapted to be coupled to the electrical load, and a control circuit operable to calculate an average input power of the load control device. The control circuit may be operable to calculate a cumulative output power of the power converter while the ballast is preheating filaments of the lamps, and to subsequently determine a fault condition in the lamps in response to the calculated cumulative output power of the power converter. Further, the control circuit may be operable to transmit a digital message including the calculated average input power of the load control device. |
US08629623B2 |
Smart illumination for electronic devices
A handheld device includes control elements, an illumination element operable to illuminate the control elements, a light sensor that detects an illumination level, and a sensor that detects whether or not the device is being held. When the illumination level is below an ambient light threshold and the device is being held, the illumination element and activates. However, when either the illumination level is not below the ambient light threshold or the handheld electronic device is not being held, the illumination element deactivates and/or does not activate. In some implementations, the sensor includes a capacitance touch switch and/or a resistance touch switch that detects contact with skin, a gyroscope and/or an accelerometer that detects movement of the handheld device, a pressure sensors that detects exertion of pressure on the handheld device, and/or an additional light sensor that detects when a portion of the handheld electronic device is covered. |
US08629619B2 |
Method and apparatus for controlling dimming levels of LEDs
Circuits useful in achieving efficient current control of LEDs based on a dimming control input are described. The circuits use a combination of PWM dimming and analog dimming to achieve a highly efficient LED driver over a wide range of dimming from near 0% to 100% light output. |
US08629618B1 |
Backup lighting apparatus
A backup lighting apparatus includes a light housing having a conductive base selectively connected to a light socket and a bulb portion extending upwardly therefrom that defines an interior area. A processor, battery, light, and audio sensor are situated in the interior area. The audio sensor is configured to detect a predetermined sound. Another sensor in the interior area is configured to detect a power outage and if a light switch is in an “on configuration.” The processor causes the battery to energize the light if a power outage is detected, the light switch is “on,” and a predetermined sound—such a hand clap—is detected. Accordingly, only a room in which a light was already on when an outage occurred and in which a person is present and signals for a backup is illuminated, such that electricity and battery power is conserved. |
US08629616B2 |
Arc tube device and stem structure for electrodeless plasma lamp
A plasma lamp apparatus. The apparatus has an arc tube structure having an inner region and an outer region in one or more embodiments. The arc tube structure has a first end comprising an associated first end diameter and a second end comprising a second end diameter according to a specific embodiment. The apparatus also has a center region provided between the first end and the second end in one or more embodiments. The center region has a center diameter, which is less than a first end diameter and/or a second end diameter. |
US08629609B2 |
High frequency triode-type field emission device and process for manufacturing the same
Disclosed herein is a triode-type field emission device, in particular for high frequency applications, having a cathode electrode, an anode electrode spaced from the cathode electrode, a control gate electrode arranged between the anode electrode and the cathode electrode, and at least a field-emitting tip; the cathode, control gate and anode electrodes overlapping in a triode area at the field-emitting tip and being operable to cooperate with the field-emitting tip for generation of an electron beam in the triode area. The cathode, control gate and anode electrodes do not overlap outside the triode area, and have a main direction of extension along a respective line; each of these respective lines being inclined at a non-zero angle with respect to each one of the others. |