| Document | Document Title |
|---|---|
| US08661561B2 |
Metal tip for scanning probe applications and method of producing the same
A metal tip (1) for scanning probe applications is provided. The tip (1) has an axial extension (I), a radial extension (d), a pointy section (B) that extends axially from a section of maximum radial extension (5) to an atomically sharp end (9), and a blunt section (A) that extends axially from the section of maximum radial extension (5) to a blunt end (7), where the axial extension of the pointy section (B) is larger than the axial extension of the blunt section (A) The metal tip (1) has a mass of 10 μg or less. |
| US08661560B1 |
Microcantilever microwave probe
A microwave probe having a metal tip on the free end of a microcantilever. In one embodiment, a pyramidal pit is isotropically etched in a device wafer of monocrystalline silicon. Oxidation may sharpen the pit. Deposited metal forms the metal tip in the pit and a bottom shield. Other metal sandwiched between equally thick dielectric layers contact the tip and form a conduction path along the cantilever for the probe and detected signals. Further metal forms a top shield overlying the conduction path and the dielectrically isolated tip and having equal thickness to the bottom shield, thus producing together with the symmetric dielectric layers a balanced structure with reduced thermal bending. The device wafer is bonded to a handle wafer. The handle is formed and remaining silicon of the device wafer is removed to release the cantilever. |
| US08661558B2 |
Methods and systems for increasing the security of electronic messages
A method for accessing e-mail messages from a control system includes requesting access to e-mail message contents of a user stored in the control system, determining whether the user is enrolled in and activated by the control system, and authenticating the user when the user is enrolled in and activated by the control system. Moreover, the method includes permitting the user to view a list of e-mail messages when the user is successfully authenticated. The e-mail messages included in the list are associated with the user. Furthermore, the method includes permitting the user to access the contents of e-mail messages in the list having a security level equal to or less than a security level associated with the successful authentication. |
| US08661552B2 |
Provisioning a computing system for digital rights management
Various embodiments utilize hardware-enforced boundaries to provide various aspects of digital rights management or DRM in an open computing environment. Against the backdrop of these hardware-enforced boundaries, DRM provisioning techniques are employed to provision such things as keys and DRM software code in a secure and robust way. Further, at least some embodiments utilize secure time provisioning techniques to provision time to the computing environment, as well as techniques that provide for tamper-resistant storage. |
| US08661551B2 |
System and method for protecting data stored on a removable data storage device
A system for protecting data stored in a memory of a removable data storage device is provided. The system includes a personal electronic device, a removable solid state data storage device operatively coupled to the personal electronic device, and a circuit configured to protect data stored in a memory of the data storage device in response to detecting impending removal of the data storage device from the personal electronic device. |
| US08661548B2 |
Embedded system administration and method therefor
An administration system for use within a server system is provided. The server system having a server that provides host management functions and the server system being able to accept computer cards inserted therein. The administration system comprises a computing system that is inserted in the server system, the computing system having a controller that assumes control over the communications bus. |
| US08661547B1 |
System and method for protecting cloud services from unauthorized access and malware attacks
Disclosed are systems, methods and computer program products for protecting cloud security services from unauthorized access and malware attacks. In one example, a cloud server receives one or more queries from security software of the user device. The server analyzes a system state and configuration of the user device to determine the level of trust associated with the user device. The server also analyzes the one or more queries received from the security software to determine whether to update the level of trust associated with the user device. The server determines, based on the level of trust, how to process the one or more queries. Finally, the server provides responses to the one or more queries from the security software based on the determination of how to process the one or more queries. |
| US08661546B2 |
Wireless communication system congestion reduction system and method
A messaging server forwards emails to mobile communication devices of users to whom the emails were respectively addressed. An antivirus server determines whether an email addressed to a user of a mobile communication device, to be forwarded by the messaging server to the mobile communication device, is infected with a virus. In response to determining the email is infected with a virus, a bulletin generator transmits, to the mobile communication devices besides the mobile communication device of the addressee of the email determined to be infected, an all points bulletin message disclosing the existence of the virus. The bulletin message is transmitted directly to, instead of via email to, the wireless mobile communication devices. |
| US08661544B2 |
Detecting botnets
A method is disclosed for distributed detection of botnets via a plurality of sensors on a network. According to embodiments, DNS information, including domain names and addresses, is received at a sensor, the number of unique subnets corresponding to a domain name is determined and an alert is sent to other sensors when the number of unique subnets exceeds a first threshold. Other embodiments are also disclosed. |
| US08661540B2 |
Method and apparatus for secure credential entry without physical entry
A method and apparatus are disclosed wherein a portable memory storage device is provided for interfacing with a communications port of the computer system. During operating system start up of the operating system of the computer, fields relating to security of the operating system are prompted for. The portable memory store retrieves from memory therein data for populating said fields and provides same to the computer system mimicking a data entry device other than a portable memory store. |
| US08661536B2 |
Side channel attack analysis
A method described herein includes acts of executing a cryptographic function over input data utilizing a processor on a computing device and generating a data packet that indicates how the cryptographic function interacts with hardware of the computing device, wherein the hardware of the computing device comprises the processor. The method also includes acts of analyzing the data packet, and generating an indication of security of the cryptographic function with respect to at least one side channel attack based at least in part upon the analyzing of the data packet. |
| US08661532B2 |
Method and apparatus for authenticating password
Provided is a method and apparatus for authenticating a password, wherein the method includes: generating at least one input grid cell into which a password is input from among a plurality of grid cells realized on a screen of a user terminal; and authenticating the password when the password is identical to a number of identification grid cells included in an authentication range predetermined based on the at least one input grid cell, wherein the identification grid cells are set to authenticate the password from among the plurality of grid cells. Accordingly, password information may be prevented from being exposed to a third person observer since a variable password is input whenever a user tries password authentication in a terminal. |
| US08661531B2 |
System and method for secure control of resources of wireless mobile communication devices
Systems and methods for secure control of a wireless mobile communication device are disclosed. Each of a plurality of domains includes at least one wireless mobile communication device asset. When a request to perform an operation affecting at least one of the assets is received, it is determined whether the request is permitted by the domain that includes the at least one affected asset, by determining whether the entity with which the request originated has a trust relationship with the domain, for example. The operation is completed where it is permitted by the domain. Wireless mobile communication device assets include software applications, persistent data, communication pipes, and configuration data, properties or user or subscriber profiles. |
| US08661530B2 |
Multi-layer orientation-changing password
A method of authenticating a user of a computing device is proposed, together with computing device on which the method is implemented. In the method a modified base image is overlaid with a modified overlay image on a display and at least one of the modified base image and modified overlay image is moved by the user. In addition to the moving, a change in orientation of at least one of the modified base image and the modified overlay image is required. Positive authentication is indicated in response to the base image reference point on the modified base image being aligned with the overlay image reference point on the modified overlay image and the change in orientation matching a pre-selected orientation criterion. |
| US08661528B2 |
Providing notice of patent and other legal rights
A system for providing notice of legal rights corresponding to a computing device includes presenting a notice to the user through an I/O interface. The notice is in response to an attempt by a user to access at least one feature of the device through the I/O interface of the device and the notice further indicates that the device is subject to legal rights under a legal instrument. An acknowledgement of the legal rights is presented through the I/O interface. If the user selects the acknowledgement, the user is allowed to access at least one feature of the device. The user is prevented from accessing the at least one feature of the device if the user does not select the acknowledgement. |
| US08661526B2 |
Method and apparatus for performing login by mobile station in wireless communication system
There are provided a method and apparatus for performing a login by a Mobile Station (MS) in a wireless communication system. In an Internet Protocol Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) network in a wireless communication system, an MS transmits a temporary login request to an IMS server by using a subscriber identity (ID) as a virtual Private Identity (PRID) and receives information about registered PRIDs that are associated with the subscriber ID. The MS determines whether at least one of PRIDs managed by the MS is unregistered in the IMS server. If at least one of the managed PRIDs is unregistered in the IMS server, the MS performs login to the IMS server using one of the managed PRIDs that is unregistered in the IMS server. If none of the managed PRIDs are unregistered in the IMS server, the MS performs login to the IMS server using one of the managed PRIDs that is registered. |
| US08661524B2 |
Selective desktop control of virtual private networks (VPN's) in a multiuser environment
Techniques for selective desktop control of virtual private networks (VPN's) in a multiuser environment are provided. A multiuser desktop/workstation includes a first user that establishes a VPN session on the desktop for accessing protected resources. Other users are permitted to simultaneously access non-protected resources of the desktop during the VPN session. Other users are also permitted to log into the desktop during the VPN session. However, if the other users attempt to access the protected resources, the access attempts are denied. |
| US08661523B2 |
Mass storage lockout for USB devices on extended USB system
A method and system, used with an extended USB computer system, for locking out USB mass storage devices at the desktop. For lockout activation, a switch at each host computer is set, and causes a host-side lockout process to deliver a downstream lockout signal to the host's associated portal. This signal causes a portal-side lockout process to disallow USB data from a mass storage device from entering the network. |
| US08661522B2 |
Method and apparatus for probabilistic matching to authenticate hosts during distributed denial of service attack
A system and method to track external devices attempting to connect to a protected network using probabilistic filters. When a connection from a new external device attempts to access the protected network, the memory of a protection system, which is organized as a probabilistic filter, is searched to determine if the IP address already exists in the memory of protection system. If the search locates the IP address, the protection system terminates the connection to the external device. If the search is negative, then protection device begins the authentication process for the external device. |
| US08661517B2 |
Method and system for accessing network through public equipment
A method and system for accessing to a network through public equipment are provided. The method includes: after an access service node (ASN) receives a network access request message from a user on public equipment, the ASN sending the network access request message to an authentication center (AC), wherein, the network access request message comprises at least the user's account and password; the AC verifying validity of the account and the password, if the verification is passed, sending the user's access identifier (AID) to the ASN; and after the ASN receives the user's AID, the ASN sending the user's AID to the public equipment, the public equipment taking the user's AID as a virtual AID and using the virtual AID to send and receive user's messages. By the present invention, users who access to the network through the public equipment can be tracked and traced effectively. |
| US08661515B2 |
Audible authentication for wireless network enrollment
An audible authentication of a wireless device for enrollment onto a secure wireless network includes an unauthorized wireless device that audibly emits a uniquely identifying secret code (e.g., a personal identification number (PIN)). In some implementations, the audible code is heard by the user and manually entered via a network-enrollment user interface. In other implementations, a network-authorizing device automatically picks up the audible code and verifies the code. If verified, the wireless device is enrolled onto the wireless network. |
| US08661511B2 |
Apparatus registration method and server device
A method registers access permission from a first device to a second device over a network. When receiving via the network a connection request from the first device of which access permission is not registered, the second device rejects connection from the first device, and shifts to the first mode. In a first mode, the second device detects user's operation on the second device, and judges whether the detected user's operation is an operation regarding viewing of a reproduction signal from the second device. If the user's operation is not the operation regarding viewing, the second device shifts to the second mode for registering access permission. If the user's operation is the operation regarding viewing, the second device does not shift to the second mode. |
| US08661500B2 |
Method and apparatus for providing end-to-end privacy for distributed computations
An approach is provided for providing end-to-end privacy in multi-level distributed computations. A distributed computation privacy platform determines one or more privacy policies associated with at least one level of a computational environment. The distributed computation privacy platform also determines one or more computation closures associated with the at least one level of the computational environment. The distributed computation privacy platform further processes and/or facilitates a processing of the one or more privacy policies and the one or more computation closures to cause, at least in part, an enforcement of the one or more privacy policies. |
| US08661498B2 |
Secure and scalable detection of preselected data embedded in electronically transmitted messages
A method and apparatus for detecting preselected data embedded in electronically transmitted messages is described. In one embodiment, the method comprises monitoring messages electronically transmitted over a network for embedded preselected data and performing content searches on the messages to detect the presence of the embedded preselected data using an abstract data structure derived from the preselected data. |
| US08661494B2 |
Method and system for presenting media via a set-top box
An approach is provided for presenting media via a set-top box. A set-top box detects a wireless device according to a predetermined communication protocol. A communication channel is established with the wireless device according to the communication protocol. A command message is received, according to the communication protocol, from the wireless device over the communication channel, wherein the command message specifies playback of media resident on the wireless device via the set-top box. |
| US08661490B2 |
Method and apparatus for internet-based interactive programming
A method and system for the creation of interactive programming incorporating viewer interactions. An interactive program includes moderator content generated by the moderator and edited participant commentary, such as interactive messages, and is served by a moderator server. Moderators create and manage interactive programs using a Web site. Viewers register to be participants in interactive programs using the Web site. The interactive programs can be distributed as electronic documents written in a markup language such as HTML or XML over a communications network such as the Internet. The interactive programs can also be converted to conventional interactive television content for distribution over an interactive television network. The interactive programs can also be distributed over a virtual private network for use as a collaboration tool by an enterprise such as a business concern. The interactive programs can be embedded within other Web processes such as electronic commerce and television commerce transactions. |
| US08661486B2 |
System and method of delivering video content
Systems and methods of delivering video content are provided. A method of delivering video content is provided that includes predicting a channel change request at a network device. The predicted channel change request indicates a predicted stream of video content. The method also includes generating a control signal at the network device related to the predicted channel change request and storing the control signal at a data storage device associated with the network device. In an illustrative embodiment, the network device stores the control signal when the network device is associated with a first data capacity. Additionally, the network device sends a video content request to a service provider server when the network device is associated with a second data capacity. The video content request is related to the predicted stream. |
| US08661482B2 |
Method for reducing latency in an interactive information distribution system
A method and apparatus for reducing latency caused by information server processing of subscriber request wherein a plurality of content streams defined by a playlist are sequentially provided to a subscriber in a substantially seamless manner and wherein the playlist is updated and otherwise maintained in response to subscriber commands and requests. |
| US08661479B2 |
Caching large objects with multiple, unknown, and varying anchor points at an intermediary proxy device
Methods and arrangements for caching video object portions. A request for stand-alone content in a video object is received, the content neither being cached nor being adjacent to a cached video object portion, and a first portion of the video object is cached. A value is assigned to the first video object portion. A subsequent request for content in the video object is received, the subsequent request corresponding to access to the first video object portion and a second, uncached portion of the video object. The value of the first video object portion is updated. For the second video object portion, an amount to cache and a value are determined. |
| US08661478B2 |
Noise reduction apparatus with isolation transformers in an internet protocol television system
A residential gateway includes an Internet Protocol television (IPTV) network communication port and a first isolation transformer circuit. The IPTV network communication port is configured to receive a signal from an ITPV network. The first isolation transformer circuit is in communication with the IPTV network communication port. The isolation transformer is configured to receive the signal from the IPTV network communication port, and to transform a ground of the signal to float at a ground potential of a power source of the residential gateway. |
| US08661477B2 |
System for distributing and selecting audio and video information and method implemented by said system
A system for distributing and selecting audio and video information using a coaxial cable network includes a jukebox unit connected by a modulator to the cable television distribution network. A channel is allocated to the transmission of audio or video information. A device effects user interaction with the television for the remote selection of at least one audio or video information item from a plurality of information items to be transmitted by this channel using the cable network. An identifier identifies the ordering television, and a billing device accommodates for billing selections to the user. |
| US08661476B2 |
Managing compressed and uncompressed video streams over an asymmetric network
An asymmetric link configured to operate conflicting video source devices. The asymmetric link transmits, over a first direction, a first uncompressed video stream from a first source device to a first sink device. A switch coupled to the asymmetric link receives a request to transmit a second uncompressed video stream from a second source device to a second sink device over the opposite direction of the asymmetric link. The switch locates an accessible rendering device able to receive compressed video from the second source device and to transmit a third uncompressed video stream to the second sink device without flipping the first direction of the asymmetric link. |
| US08661472B1 |
Methods, systems, and media for providing media guidance with media content from alternate sources
In accordance with some embodiments of the disclosed subject matter, mechanisms for providing media guidance with media content from alternate sources are provided. In some embodiments, a method for providing media guidance with a plurality of media sources is provided, the method comprising: storing a plurality of media content listings corresponding to a plurality of media content items, wherein each of the plurality of media content items is provided by a content source; determining a subset of the plurality of media content listings for presenting to a user; determining, for each media content listing in the subset of the plurality of media content listings, whether an alternate source for providing a media content item corresponding to a media content listing is available, wherein the alternate source is different from the content source; and causing a subset of the plurality of media content listings to be presented to the user, wherein a selectable alternate source indicator is presented within the corresponding media content listing in response to determining that the media content item is available from the alternate source. |
| US08661468B2 |
Intelligent program guide time slot selection
Mechanisms are provided for allowing improved selection of program guide information. Program guide information includes channel, time, and program listing information. In particular examples, each program listing is associated with a time slot having beginning time slot boundary and an end time slot boundary. Program listing information can be viewed even after a current time passes an end time slot boundary. In some examples, program listing information may be removed after a predetermined period of time or after a predetermined period of disuse. |
| US08661466B2 |
Representation of online discussion in conjunction with primary visual content
A method of representing online discussions in conjunction with primary visual content is presented. In the method, the primary visual content is transmitted to a visual display for presentation to a user. A statement of an online discussion is received. In response to receiving the statement, a representation of the statement and an icon representing a source of the statement are transmitted in conjunction with the primary visual content for presentation on the visual display. The icon and the statement are coupled graphically on the visual display, and are placed near a periphery of the visual display. After a period of time while the icon and statement are presented on the display, presuming a second statement is not received from the source, the icon and the statement are removed from the display while the primary visual content is maintained on the display. |
| US08661464B2 |
Targeting in-video advertising
Techniques for presenting a content item with a media item are described. The techniques include receiving user input indicating a placement preference for a content item to be presented with a media item. The placement preference indicates a presentation preference of the content item relative to presentation of the media item. The placement preference is used to influence selection of a media item with which the content item is to be presented. |
| US08661463B2 |
Method and system of marking and recording content of interest in a broadcast stream
A system and method for marking and recording content includes a network operation center receiving an incoming programming stream, monitoring the incoming programming stream, generating descriptive data corresponding to the programming stream, combining the descriptive data with the programming stream to form a composite signal and broadcasting the composite signal to a receiving unit. The system may also include a receiving unit having a monitoring term stored therein. The receiving unit monitors the composite signal for the monitoring term within the descriptive data and storing content or sub-content in a memory of the receiving unit when a monitoring term corresponds to the descriptive data. |
| US08661462B2 |
Information processing apparatus and method, computer program thereof, and recording medium
An information processing apparatus is provided in which a first record control means controls record of user presence time information indicating time in which a user was present within a predetermined range around a display means displaying content, based on an output from a sensor detecting the user; a second record control means controls record of operation history information including content specifying information for specifying the content as target of operation, operation content information for indicating content of operation related to display of the content by the user, and operation time information for indicating time of the operation; and an audience-quality constituent item calculation means calculates an audience-quality constituent item constituting audience quality which indicates quality of content watched by the user, based on the recorded user presence time information and operation history information. |
| US08661461B1 |
In-home entertainment media streaming viewers headcount-based pricing model
The method and system of the present invention allows the media content providers to count the number of people watching the media content being streamed and apply the viewer headcount pricing model like how it is done in the movie theaters to capture revenues lost at the movie theaters from streaming video content directly to the home. The central component of the viewer headcount pricing model is the utilization of the facial recognition range camera and/or motion sensor to determine the number of viewers and charge the customers by the headcount. |
| US08661458B2 |
Multiprocessor system, and method for shared use of devices among operating systems of multiprocessor system
In a multiprocessor system with a plurality of Operating Systems (OSs) running thereon, each of the plurality of OSs has a device driver which accesses devices for shared use among the OSs. Each device driver has a task interface part which performs inter-Operating System communication at the Operating System (OS) kernel layer. A first device driver on one of the plurality of OSs includes a device interface part which accesses a device to be operated by a second device driver on a second one of the plurality of OSs. The task interface part of the second device driver receives a device access request from a task running on the second one of the plurality of OSs, adds processing request data to a request queue list of the first device driver, and returns a device access result to the task upon receipt of a notification from the device interface part. |
| US08661456B2 |
Extendable event processing through services
A system for extending event processing through services includes an event process module to process event data according to event processing rules and services. A build-time system provides an interface for adding or modifying services. A service request gateway receives service requests from service consumers and receives event data from event data providers and provides the service requests to a service container module and provides the event data to the event process module. The service container modules invokes services for the service requests. |
| US08661455B2 |
Performance event triggering through direct interthread communication on a network on chip
Performance event triggering through direct interthread communication (‘DITC’) on a network on chip (‘NOC’), the NOC including integrated processor (‘IP’) blocks, routers, memory communications controllers, and network interface controllers, with each IP block adapted to a router through a memory communications controller and a network interface controller, where each memory communications controller controlling communications between an IP block and memory, and each network interface controller controlling inter-IP block communications through routers, including enabling performance event monitoring in a selected set of IP blocks distributed throughout the NOC, each IP block within the selected set of IP blocks having one or more event counters; collecting performance results from the one or more event counters; and returning performance results from the one or more event counters to a destination repository, the returning being initiated by a triggering event occurring within the NOC. |
| US08661454B2 |
System and method for receiving and transmitting event information
In one example, a process manager is configured to receive events created by elements from other parts of enterprise software and to route the events to listeners within the enterprise software, and an evaluator is queried by the process manager and configured to determine the relationships between the event and the listeners in the enterprise software. In some embodiments, new listeners are added to the enterprise software without a significant change to the process manager. |
| US08661452B2 |
Service exception resolution framework
A service exception resolution framework provides a centralized exception handling console (EHC) used to reprocess unfulfilled service requests that have result in service request exceptions. The EHC allows an operator to analyze multiple service request exceptions simultaneously from disparate applications and domains. The framework greatly reduces the time, cost, and resource expenditures needed to analyze and resolve service request exceptions and reprocess service requests regardless of the applications and domains from which the service request exceptions result. |
| US08661450B2 |
Deadlock detection for parallel programs
A deadlock detection method and computer system for parallel programs. A determination is made that a lock of the parallel programs is no longer used in a running procedure of the parallel programs. A node corresponding to the lock that is no longer used, and edges relating to the lock that is no longer used, are deleted from a lock graph corresponding to the running procedure of the parallel programs in order to acquire an updated lock graph. The lock graph is constructed according to a lock operation of the parallel programs. Deadlock detection is then performed on the updated lock graph. |
| US08661449B2 |
Transactional computation on clusters
Computations are performed on shared datasets in a distributed computing cluster using aggressive speculation and a distributed runtime that executes code transactionally. Speculative transactions are conducted with currently available data on the assumption that no dependencies exist that will render the input data invalid. For those specific instances where this assumption is found to be incorrect—that the input data did indeed have a dependency (thereby impacting the correctness of the speculated transaction)—the speculated transaction is aborted and its results (and all transactions that relied on its results) are rolled-back accordingly for re-computation using updated input data. In operation, shared state data is read and written using only the system's data access API which ensures that computations can be rolled-back when conflicts stemming from later-determined dependencies are detected. |
| US08661448B2 |
Logical partition load manager and balancer
A mechanism is provided in a data processing system for managing and balancing load in multiple managed systems in a logical partitioning data processing system. Responsive to a critical logical partition requiring additional resources, the mechanism determines whether one or more managed systems have available resources to satisfy resource requirements of the critical partition. The mechanism performs at least one partition migration operation to move at least one logical partition between managed systems responsive to determining that one or more managed systems have available resources to satisfy resource requirements of the critical partition. The mechanism performs at least one dynamic logical partitioning operation to allocate resources to at least one of the one or more critical logical partitions responsive to performing the at least one partition migration operation. |
| US08661447B1 |
Method and apparatus for managing execution of a plurality of computer tasks based on availability of computer resources
A method and apparatus for managing execution of a plurality of computer tasks based on availability of computer resources is provided. In one embodiment, a method for managing execution of a plurality of computer tasks includes processing a schedule for executing the plurality of computer tasks, analyzing the schedule using dynamic timeout data to determine at least one overdue computer task of the plurality of computer tasks and modifying at least one resource requirement of the at least one overdue computer task of the plurality of computer tasks in accordance with the dynamic timeout data. |
| US08661444B2 |
Creation of flexible workflows using artifacts
Execution of flexible workflows using artifacts is described. A workflow execution engine is configured to instantiate a process execution (PE) artifact. The PE artifact includes one or more transitions. The workflow execution engine is further configured to execute the one or more transitions and determine if any of the one or more transitions are new or modified. The workflow execution engine is additionally configured to load and execute new or modified transitions, without reinstantiating the PE artifact, responsive to determining that at least one new or modified transitions exist. |
| US08661439B2 |
Method and system for supporting wake-on-LAN for selectively powering on a powered off virtual machine having no network connectivity
A method and system for supporting Wake-on-LAN technology in a virtualized environment is described. An improved virtual switch comprises a listener, which receives a power-on message on behalf of virtual machines, extracts addresses of the virtual machines to be powered on, which are embedded in the power-on message, compares the extracted addresses with addresses of the virtual machines stored in a database, and selectively powers on those virtual machines for which the extracted and stored addresses match. |
| US08661437B2 |
Apparatus and method for controlling live-migrations of a plurality of virtual machines
There is provided an apparatus and method for executing live-migrations concurrently on a plurality of virtual machines. Resource-usage state information is acquired from each of the plurality of virtual machines when a first live migration of a first virtual machine is started. A correlation factor indicating a degree of correlation between first resource-usage state information for the first virtual machine and second resource-usage state information for each of one or more virtual machines other than the first virtual machine is calculated using the acquired resource-usage state information. Next, a second virtual machine having a positive correlation factor with respect to the first virtual machine is selected from the one or more virtual machines where the positive correlation factor indicating a close similarity between the first and second resource-usage state information. Then, a second live-migration is executed on the second virtual machine in parallel with the ongoing first live migration. |
| US08661428B2 |
Updating a file using differences and file format therefor
A method for updating and formatting a local file is described. An update file, having a newer version of the local file, is accessed from a server over a network and a list of new hash values corresponding to data blocks of the update file is retrieved. Divisions between the data blocks are located when a value of a rolling checksum reaches a particular value, the data blocks being of variable size. New hash values of the update file are compared with local hash values of the local file. For each of the new hash value not having a matching local hash value, the corresponding data block is downloaded from the server and written to a new file. For each of the new hash value having a matching local hash value, the corresponding block is copied from the local file to the new file. |
| US08661427B2 |
Package design and generation
Solution packages for a product for deployment on a collection of servers can be designed using one or more designers that provide user interfaces for visually arranging and configuring elements of the product. A package object model includes a managed object model that represents a package or feature manifest as defined by a product manifest XML schema. The object model can be used to create references to other project item and feature definitions. The extended object model can be used to generate an equivalent package or feature manifest XML file. |
| US08661424B2 |
Auto-generation of concurrent code for multi-core applications
A code generation system comprises a model analyzer configured to identify data dependencies in a data flow diagram that describes functional behavior of an application, wherein the model analyzer is further configured to compute a data and computation map based on the data dependencies and to compute one or more implementation constraints; a model partitioner configured to compute one or more partition boundaries based on the data and computation map and the one or more implementation constraints; and a code generator configured to generate parallelized code based on the data flow diagram, the one or more implementation constraints, and the one or more partition boundaries, wherein the code generator is configured to map the code corresponding to each partition defined by the one or more partition boundaries to one of a plurality of cores of a multi-core processor, and to generate inter-core communication code for at least one line of the data and computation map crossed by the one or more partition boundaries. |
| US08661418B2 |
Setting program, workflow creating method, and work flow creating apparatus
A computer-readable, non-transitory medium storing a program that causes a computer to execute a procedure, the procedure includes acquiring a state from each of a plurality of components of a first server device group before and after execution of an execution control process in which the first server device group is caused to execute processes, the components being hardware or software and whose dependencies are previously defined, and storing, in a storage unit, information in which a component whose state is different before and after the execution of the execution control process is associated with the execution control process. |
| US08661413B2 |
Impact indication of thread-specific events in a non-stop debugging environment
A non-stop debugging environment includes a debugger configured to debug a multi-threaded debuggee, where encountering an event by one of the threads stops execution of only the one thread without concurrently stopping execution of other threads. In such a non-stop debug environment, impact indication of thread-specific events includes tracking, by the debugger, activity associated with a thread-specific event and displaying, by the debugger in a graphical user interface (‘GUI’), an indication of thread-specific event impact in dependence upon the tracked activity. |
| US08661410B2 |
Managed enterprise software components as dynamic services
A computer-implemented method, system, and medium is disclosed for implementing a hybrid application server. The server is configured to determine that a bundle deployed onto a dynamic module system defines a component that is manageable by an application server component container. In response to the determining, the application server deploys the component onto the component container and creates an instance of the component in the container so that the container can manage the component. Finally, the application server registers a proxy handle to the component as a service in the dynamic module system. Thereafter, the proxy handle is discoverable and invocable by another component. |
| US08661405B2 |
Pattern implementation technique
A pattern implementation technique in which a pattern is defined as a software artifact that comprises a pattern signature representing one or more parameters of the pattern and a pattern implementation model representing one or more methods for expanding the pattern in a selected software context by assigning one or more arguments to the one or more parameters. |
| US08661404B2 |
Method for improving execution efficiency of a software package customization
A method for improving execution efficiency of a software package customization is disclosed. The method includes identifying one or more components from a configuration table to implement at least one of a use case flow or a non functional requirement (NFR) or an interface document or combinations thereof derived using an use case of the software project, sequencing the identified one or more components to prioritize execution of the use case of the software project and attributing complexity of the identified one or more components to determine the effort estimation for execution of the use case. Attributing complexity includes using an unit effort table for determining the effort estimation requirement for execution of each component of the use case. The method further includes identifying a usage type, attributing the reuse level and resolving the dependencies among the identified components. |
| US08661401B1 |
Interactive graphical pin assignment
A design tool provides interactive graphical pin assignment. In one embodiment, the design tool identifies layout restrictions of a configurable processing device that includes a plurality of pins. The design tool further provides an interactive visual representation of a pin assignment that accommodates the layout restrictions and a user input. |
| US08661396B1 |
DSP design system level power estimation
Power consumption estimation is performed at the system level in a design process, thus allowing early evaluation of feasibility and other considerations relating to logic/DSP design and hardware implementation of a proposed electronic design. Evaluation of the system level power consumption estimate(s) permits adjustment of a system level representation of the proposed electronic design, prior to investment of substantial resources in the electronic design. Other estimates, including other power consumption estimates, may be performed to adjust the proposed electronic design as well. Such estimates may be made in response to gate level power consumption estimates and/or hardware level power consumption estimates. |
| US08661392B2 |
Methods for cell boundary encroachment and layouts implementing the Same
A semiconductor device is disclosed to include a plurality of cells. Each of the cells has a respective outer cell boundary defined to circumscribe the cell in an orthogonal manner. Also, each of the cells includes circuitry for performing one or more logic functions. This circuitry includes a plurality of conductive features defined in one or more levels of the cell. One or more of the conductive features in at least one level of a given cell is an encroaching feature positioned to encroach by an encroachment distance into an exclusion zone. The exclusion zone occupies an area within the cell defined by an exclusion distance extending perpendicularly inward into the given cell from a first segment of the outer cell boundary. The exclusion distance is based on a design rule distance representing a minimum separation distance required between conductive features in adjacently placed cells on the semiconductor device. |
| US08661390B2 |
Method of extracting block binders and an application in block placement for an integrated circuit
A method is directed to automatic extraction of block binders before block placement and application of block binders in block placement of an integrated circuit. Having block binders reduces the effective block count the block placement has to handle, and enables obtaining better placement result in shorter run time. The method includes an algorithm of processing the nodes of a hierarchical net-list to identify candidate nodes or create new candidate nodes to contain identified nodes. The method includes an algorithm of extracting a block binder out of blocks under each candidate node. The method includes an algorithm of automatic packing and generation of various configurations for a block binder to provide flexibility in block placement. The method also includes adapting any block placement algorithm to select to the best fit configuration of any block binder during the placement process. |
| US08661388B2 |
Method of packing-based macro placement and semiconductor chip using the same
A multi-packing tree (MPT) macro placer. The MPT macro placer comprises reading input files in a LEF/DEF format, creating a k-level binary multi-packing tree comprising k branch nodes each corresponding to one level and k+1 packing sub-trees each corresponding to one of the nodes and comprising a group of macros, optimizing the multi-packing tree according to a packing result thereof, and generating output files in a DEF format. |
| US08661385B1 |
Method and apparatus for performing delay annotation
A method for designing a system on a target device includes performing delay annotation where a first delay associated with a first aspect of the system is determined by a first software thread and a second delay associated with a second aspect of the system is determined by a second software thread and the first and second software threads operate in parallel. Ensuring independence between each aspect of the system will facilitate efficient parallelism (i.e. minimal synchronization) while still maintaining serial equivalency. |
| US08661380B1 |
Method and apparatus for performing parallel synthesis on a field programmable gate array
A method for designing a system to be implemented on a target device includes performing a first synthesis run on an entire design of a system with a first setting to generate a first cell netlist for the entire design of the system. A second synthesis run is performed on the entire design for the system with a second setting and is performed in parallel with the first synthesis procedure to generate a second cell netlist for the entire design of the system. A merged cell netlist is generated that includes a first section of logic from the first netlist and a second section of logic from the second cell netlist. |
| US08661374B2 |
Placement aware clock gate cloning and fanout optimization
Gating clocks has been a widely adopted technique for reducing dynamic power. The clock gating strategy employed has a huge bearing on the clock tree synthesis quality along with the impact to leakage and dynamic power. This invention is a technique for clock gate optimization to aid the clock tree synthesis. The technique enables cloning and redistribution of the fanout among the existing equivalent clock gates. The technique is placement aware and hence reduces overall clock wire length and area. The technique involves employing the k-means clustering algorithm to geographically partition the design's registers. This invention improves the clock tree synthesis quality on a complex design. |
| US08661369B2 |
Mobile terminal and method of controlling the same
A mobile terminal and a method of controlling a mobile terminal may be provided. The mobile terminal may include a display to display one of a plurality of wallpapers including at least one icon; and a controller to display at least two of the plurality of wallpapers and a plurality of preview screens corresponding to the plurality of wallpapers on the display upon reception of an input of moving at least one icon, moving of the at least one icon being displayed on the displayed wallpapers and preview screens. The mobile terminal can display a movement of icon being displayed on the displayed wallpapers and preview screens. Accordingly, a user may intuitively recognize a location of icon and effectively move a location of icon. |
| US08661368B2 |
Scroll control according to input of cursor movement
In a main area of a display device, buttons and a map display area where a map is scrolled are provided. A cursor can be moved to an arbitrary position of the main area according to directional input received from an input device. When a decision input is performed with the input device when the cursor points to each button, processing assigned to the button to which the cursor points is performed. When a user inputs a direction and a special input button is not selected, the cursor is moved throughout the main area. When the user inputs a direction while the special input button is selected, the cursor is moved only within the map display area and the map is scrolled as required. |
| US08661365B2 |
Image processing apparatus and controlling method of the same
An image processing apparatus and a controlling method of the same are provided. The method includes displaying a first screen corresponding to a first application; displaying a second screen corresponding to a second application above the first screen such that the second screen overlaps at least a portion of the first screen; and displaying at least a portion of the second screen that overlaps the portion of the first screen, while controlling the first application. |
| US08661363B2 |
Application programming interfaces for scrolling operations
A method performed at an electronic device that has one or more processors, memory, and a touch-sensitive display includes transferring a set bounce call to provide a bounce operation. Transferring the set bounce call causes a bounce of a scrolled content region in an opposite direction of a scroll. The scrolled region includes an information object that bounces in the opposite direction of the scroll when the information object reaches or intersects a terminus, and the scrolled content region has a first velocity before the bounce and a second velocity, distinct from the first velocity, after the bounce. |
| US08661362B2 |
Methods and graphical user interfaces for editing on a multifunction device with a touch screen display
In some embodiments, a device displays content on a touch screen display and detects input by finger gestures. In response to the finger gestures, the device selects content, visually distinguishes the selected content, and/or updates the selected content based on detected input. In some embodiments, the device displays a command display area that includes one or more command icons; detects activation of a command icon in the command display area; and, in response to detecting activation of the command icon in the command display area, performs a corresponding action with respect to the selected content. Exemplary actions include cutting, copying, and pasting content. |
| US08661356B2 |
Time application having an intergrated check engine
A method, including executing instructions recorded on a non-transitory computer-readable storage media using at least one processor, may include loading a component from a repository in a first user interface, notifying a second user interface that the component is loaded in the first user interface, performing one or more checks on the component using a check engine and generating one or more check results, storing the check results in a buffer and displaying the check results in the second user interface. The first user interface, the second user interface, the buffer and the check engine may be integrated modules of a single application. |
| US08661354B2 |
Methods, apparatuses and computer program products for using near field communication to implement games and applications on devices
An apparatus for using Near Field Communication to facilitate implementation of an electronic game or application may include a processor and memory storing executable computer program code that cause the apparatus to at least perform operations including receiving data from a device via a Near Field Communication. The computer program code may further cause the apparatus to determine whether the received data was previously detected and translate the received data to correspond to at least one item of virtual data relating to the electronic game or the application in response to determining that the received data is being detected for the first time. The computer program code may further cause the apparatus to enable display of the item of virtual data in a virtual world of the electronic game or the application. Corresponding methods and computer program products are also provided. |
| US08661350B2 |
Mobile terminal and method of controlling operation of the mobile terminal
A mobile terminal and an operating method of the mobile terminal are provided. The mobile terminal may be coupled, either wirelessly or by wire, to an external terminal and the mobile terminal may thus receive sync data including information regarding a webpage currently being displayed by the external terminal from the external terminal or a server. The mobile terminal may display the same webpage as is currently being displayed by the external terminal based on the received sync data. |
| US08661349B2 |
System and method for the dynamic improvement of internet browser navigability
A method and system for dynamically providing the on-demand addition of graphic and other information to a web browser's toolbar. The HotbarToolbar comprises a plurality of categorized or rated links, which in the presently preferred embodiment are organized under customized, newly and dynamically added toolbar buttons known as hotbuttons. The name and/or content of the hotbuttons may change dynamically in accordance with various factors (including, but not limited to, changes in URL). |
| US08661348B2 |
Methods and systems to process an image
According to a first aspect there is provided a method for associating a file that contains the image with a second file that is identified by input received at a set-top box from a user. According to a second aspect there is provided a method for capturing an image that is displayed on a display device that is associated with the set-top box; and communicating the image over a network. According to a third aspect there is provided a method for adjusting a frame that is displayed on a display device that is associated with the set-top box; capturing an image that is displayed inside the frame on the display device; and processing the image. According to a fourth aspect there is provided a method for capturing an image displayed on a display device associated with the set-top box; associating the image with a rule; and processing the rule to prevent the image from being printed. According to a fifth aspect there is provided a method for communicating content that is received at a set-top box; and communicating a rule to prevent an image, that is captured from the content at the set-top box, from being printed. |
| US08661346B2 |
System for initiating communication between a user interface and a vision processor
A method is disclosed for instructing a user interface (UI) in communication with a first of vision processor (VP) to establish communication with a second (VP). The invention is useful in a machine vision system having a plurality of VPs and at least one UI. The method includes the steps of providing each VP with a link function for establishing communication between a VP and a UI; and activating the link function so as to issue instructions to the UI to establish communication with another VP. The link function enables local dynamic display of a remote VP on the UI, and a dynamic connection that provides a continually updated display representing a current state of the VP connected to the UI. An operator may observe results and alter parameters on any of the VPs in the system without having to first understand the architecture of the machine vision system. |
| US08661343B2 |
Computer-implemented systems and methods for an automated application interface
In accordance with the teachings described herein, systems and methods are provided for an automated application interface. One or more wizards may be used to receive user input in order to perform one or more software interface operations to manipulate a first set of data between data analysis software and database software. Information associated with the user input may be captured and used to generate one or more template data stores. A user interface may be used to modify at least one template data store to identify a subsequent set of data. The template data stores may be automatically executed in an identified sequence to perform software interface and data analysis operations for the subsequent set of data. |
| US08661341B1 |
Simhash based spell correction
Methods, systems, and apparatus for performing simhash based spell correction are provided. A character string is simhashed to generate a simhashed character string. A plurality of substrings is extracted from the character string by applying a sliding window of at least two characters to the character string. The plurality of substrings are hashed to produce a plurality of corresponding hash values. Each hash value is processed to generate a simhashed character string. The simhashed character string is then compared with character strings within a simhashed dictionary dataset to determine at least one candidate to replace the character string. Processing each hash value includes extracting a set of lowest bits from each hash value, and mapping each set of lowest bits to the bitmask. |
| US08661339B2 |
Devices, methods, and graphical user interfaces for document manipulation
An electronic device displays at least a portion of an electronic document with a predefined page layout at a first magnification level on a display; detects a first input indicating a first insertion point in the document, where the first insertion point is proximate to a first portion of text in the document; and in response to detecting the first input: selects a second magnification level different from the first magnification level, where the second magnification level is selected so as to display the first portion of text at a target text display size, and, while maintaining the predefined page layout of the document, displays, at the second magnification level, a portion of the document that includes the first portion of text. |
| US08661336B2 |
Mapping an object type to a document type
In general, the subject matter described in this specification can be embodied in methods, systems, and program products for mapping an object type to a document type. A computer system stores configuration templates that each identify a mapping of an object type to a markup language document type. The computer system displays a graphical user interface that permits a user of the computing system to select a configuration template. The computer system displays a list of the at least some attributes and, for each of the attributes, the associated markup language attribute or element that is identified by the selected configuration template. The computer system receives second user input that changes an association of one of the attributes so that the attribute is instead associated with a different markup language attribute or element. The computer system stores an updated mapping of the object type to the markup language document type. |
| US08661335B2 |
Methods and systems for identifying content elements
A method of identifying content of interest in a structured electronic document by an electronic device having a processor, an input device, and a display device, includes rendering a structured electronic document to the display device; receiving through the input device at least two separate indications of content elements within the rendered structured electronic document; and identifying with the processor a common characteristic of the indicated content elements, and identifying any further content element within the rendered structured electronic document sharing the common characteristic with the indicated content elements. |
| US08661330B1 |
Automatic field entries based on geographic location
Embodiments of a computer system, a method and a computer-program product (e.g., software) for use with the computer system are described. These embodiments may be used to assist users while they are filling in forms. In particular, based at least in part on a current location of a user (such as a location of a portable electronic device associated with the user), an association with location and non-location information for an entity may be identified. For example, a predetermined relationship between the user's current location and the location of the entity may be accessed. Alternatively, a relationship between the user's current location and the location of the entity may be determined, for example, based at least in part on proximity. This identified location and/or non-location information for the entity may be used to fill in one or more fields in a form associated with an application. |
| US08661327B1 |
Method and system for automated insertion of relevant hyperlinks into social media-based communications
A method and system for automated insertion of relevant hyperlinks into social media-based communications whereby a business owner defines one or more trigger terms associated with the business. For each defined trigger term, one or more hyperlinks to one or more webpages associated with the business are assigned to the trigger term. Social media communications associated with one or more social media systems are then monitored, and/or scanned, for the defined one or more trigger terms and, if a trigger term is detected in the text of a social media communication, the hyperlink assigned to the detected trigger term is inserted in the text of social media communication and/or a response to the social media communication. The modified social media communication and/or response to the social media communication, including the modified text, is then sent, and/or posted, through, and/or on, the social media system. |
| US08661321B1 |
Parallel processing error detection and location circuitry for configuration random-access memory
Error detection and error location determination circuitry is provided for detecting and locating soft errors in random-access-memory arrays on programmable integrated circuits. The random-access-memory arrays contain rows and columns of random-access-memory cells. Some of the cells are loaded with configuration data and produce static output signals that are used to program associated regions of programmable logic. Cyclic redundancy check error correction check bits are computed for each column of an array. The cyclic redundancy check error correction check bits are stored in corresponding columns of cells in the array. During normal operation of an integrated circuit in a system, the cells are subject to soft errors caused by background radiation strikes. The error detection and error location determination circuitry uses parallel processing to continuously monitor the data to identify the row and column location of each error. |
| US08661319B2 |
Memory system
A memory system according to the embodiment comprises a cell array including cell units having p or more physical quantity levels (p is a prime of 3 or more); a code generator unit operative to convert binary-represented input data to a write code represented by elements in Zp that is a residue field modulo p; and a code write unit operative to write the write code in the cell unit in accordance with the association of the elements in Zp to different physical quantity levels, wherein the input data is recorded in (p−1) cell units, the (p−1) cell units including no cell unit that applies the same physical quantity level for write in the case where the input data is 0 and for write in the case where only 1 bit is 1. |
| US08661317B2 |
Memory device using error correcting code and system thereof
A memory device using error correcting code and a system including the same are provided. The memory system includes a memory device, and a storage block connected to the memory device. The memory device includes a normal cell region including a first plurality of memory cells for storing data bits, and an error correcting code (ECC) cell region including a second plurality of memory cells for storing first through mth sets of ECC bits. The storage block includes a third plurality of memory cells for storing first through nth sets of the ECC bits. Each memory cell of the first and second plurality of memory cells is a first type of memory cell and each memory cell of the third plurality of memory cells is a second type of memory cell different from the first type of memory cell. |
| US08661315B2 |
Efuse devices, correction methods thereof, and methods for operating efuse devices
An efuse device for recording input data according to address data comprises a first check-bit generator, a programming unit, and an efuse array. The first check-bit generator receives the input data and generates first check-bit data according to the input data by a predetermined error correction code. The programming unit generates blowing signals according to the input data and the first check-bit data. The efuse array receives the blowing signals and the address data. The input data and the first check-bit data are recorded in the efuse array according to the blowing signals and the address data. |
| US08661299B1 |
Detecting abnormalities in time-series data from an online professional network
The disclosed embodiments relate to a system for detecting abnormalities in time-series performance data obtained from machines that implement an online professional network. During operation, the system receives the time-series data, including throughput measurements and/or latency measurements for requests made to back-end systems associated with the online professional network. Next, the system attempts to detect abnormalities in the time-series data. If such an abnormality is detected, the system looks up associated system metrics, which are temporally proximate to the abnormality. The system then generates a notification about the abnormality along with the associated system metrics to facilitate determining a root cause of the abnormality. |
| US08661294B2 |
Nonvolatile memory device and related program verification circuit
A program verification circuit comprises a failed state counting unit and a failed bit counting unit. The failed state counting unit counts failed program states among a plurality of program states, and generates a first program mode signal indicating whether counting of failed bits is required. The failed bit counting unit selectively counts failed bits in response to the first program mode signal, and generates a second program mode signal indicating whether a program operation is completed. |
| US08661290B2 |
Saving power in computing systems with redundant service processors
A mechanism is provided for saving power in redundant service processors of the data processing system. A redundant service processor places a plurality of components into a low power state in response to receiving a primary control signal from a primary service processor within a first predetermined time period. The redundant service processor monitors for a signal within a second predetermined time period from the primary service processor. The redundant service processor determines whether the signal is a heartbeat signal or an activate signal in response to receiving the signal from the primary service processor within the second predetermined time period. Responsive to receiving the activate signal, the redundant service processor wakes-up the plurality of components that are in the low-power state in order for the redundant service processor to collect data and recover the data processing system in an event of a failure. |
| US08661289B2 |
Systems and methods for CPU repair
In one embodiment, a CPU cache management system is provided. The CPU management system includes, for example, a CPU chip and cache management logic. The CPU chip include cache elements that are initially in use and spare cache elements that not initially in use. The cache management logic determines whether currently-used cache elements are faulty. If a cache element is determined to be faulty, the cache management logic schedules a reboot of the computer and swaps in a spare cache element for the faulty currently-used cache element during the reboot. |
| US08661283B2 |
Power distribution unit-device correlation
Apparatus, methods, and other embodiments associated with providing a correlation between a power distribution unit(s) and a device(s) are described. One example method includes storing first time series data that identifies, on a per power distribution unit (PDU) basis, current drawn from a set of PDUs. The example method may include storing second time series data that identifies, on a per device basis, power used by a set of related devices. With the two time series data available, the method may then provide a PDU-device correlation signal that identifies a correlation between current drawn from a PDU and power used by a device. |
| US08661282B2 |
System and method for energy savings on a PHY/MAC interface for energy efficient Ethernet
A system and method for energy savings on a PHY/MAC interface for energy efficient Ethernet. Power savings for a PHY due to low-link utilization can also be realized in the higher layer elements that interface with the PHY. In one embodiment, subrating is implemented on a MAC/PHY interface to match a subrating of the PHY with a remote link partner. This subrating is less than the full capacity rate and can be zero. |
| US08661281B2 |
USB HUB and power management method thereof
A USB HUB is provided. The USB HUB comprises a wireless communication module, a storage module, a USB interface connected to a host outside of the USB HUB and a HUB controller. The storage module stores a driver program of the wireless communication module. The USB interface transfers data with the host. The HUB controller is coupled to the USB interface, the wireless communication module and the storage module. The HUB controller disables the storage module and enables the wireless communication module when the driver program has been installed in the host. |
| US08661279B2 |
Power capping using C-states
An example system includes a power capping controller to assert an output based on exceeding a power threshold for a computer system. A central processing unit (CPU) core is provided to enter a low-power C-state based on the output being asserted via a control path that bypasses an operating system command. |
| US08661273B2 |
AC disconnect of power over ethernet devices
Embodiments of power sourcing equipment (PSE) utilizing AC disconnect are provided herein. In one embodiment, a PSE is provided that includes a DC supply configured to provide a DC voltage over a data communications medium, a controller configured to provide an AC disconnect signal over the data communications medium, and a parallel inductor-capacitor (LC) circuit coupled between the DC supply and the data communications medium. The parallel LC circuit is configured to isolate the DC supply from the AC disconnect signal. In another embodiment, a PSE is provided that includes a DC supply configured to provide a DC voltage at an output, an inductor coupled between the output of the DC supply and a data communications medium, and a capacitor coupled between the data communications medium and ground. The inductor and capacitor form a series LC circuit configured to generate an AC disconnect signal. |
| US08661272B2 |
Automated power management of a peripheral device
Based on bounds of a period of reduced operation for a base device, a base device generates a power management message for transmission to a peripheral device. In the power management message, the base device inserts bounds of a period of reduced operation for the peripheral device. As a result, the periods of reduced operation conserve battery power in both devices and the two devices may reestablish a communications channel upon reaching the end of the period of reduced operation and resuming normal operations. |
| US08661269B2 |
Image forming device and method therefor
An image forming device that forms an image on a print medium includes a power saving mode shifting part that shifts a mode of the image forming device to a power saving mode, in which power consumption is decreased, when a set power saving mode shifting time has elapsed during a standby mode, an idle time watching part that measures an idle time in the standby mode from a time of a completion of a previous printing to a time of starting a subsequent printing, a counting part that counts a number of times that the idle time has been equal to or longer than a preset idle reference time, wherein the number of times is a count value, and a shifting time setting part that sets the power saving mode shifting time in response to the count value. |
| US08661267B2 |
System and method for processing encoded messages
Systems and methods for processing encoded messages at a message receiver. A received encoded message is decoded and stored in a memory. The stored decoded message can subsequently be displayed or otherwise processed without repeating the decoding operations. Decoding operations may include signature verification, decryption, other types of decoding, or some combination thereof. |
| US08661266B2 |
System and method for secure device key storage
Disclosed are systems and methods for protecting secret device keys, such as High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP) device keys. Instead of storing secret device keys in the plain, a security algorithm and one or more protection keys are stored on the device. The security algorithm is applied to the secret device keys and the one or more protection keys to produce encrypted secret device keys. The encrypted secret device keys are then stored either on chip or off-chip. |
| US08661264B1 |
Security model for actor-based languages and apparatus, methods, and computer programming products using same
An application includes: a programming model including a service provider, first components, second components, and sinks communicating via messages. Each of the second components is assigned a unique capability. A given one of the first components routes a message from the given first component to second component(s) and then to a sink. Each of the second component(s) sends the message to the service provider. The service provider creates a token corresponding at least to a received message and a unique capability assigned to an associated one of the second component(s) and sends the token to the associated one of the second component(s). The selected sink receives the message and a token corresponding to each of the second component(s), verifies each received token, and either accepts the message if each of the received tokens is verified or ignores the message if at least one of the received tokens is not verified. |
| US08661263B2 |
Meta-complete data storage
The invention described herein generally relates to systems and methods of securely storing data so that the data contains information about the data and/or the encryption of the data, systems and methods of providing secure access to real world data through data transformations, and systems and methods of managing security parameters for data. |
| US08661259B2 |
Deduplicated and encrypted backups
A system and method for efficiently creating deduplicated and encrypted data across a plurality of computers allows local encryption and remote storage of deduplicated segments. Large data blocks may be divided into segments of data, and encrypted using a two-step process. A standard hash of the encrypted segment is used as an index into a remote deduplicated database so that only unique data segments are stored, and are stored only in encrypted form. When retrieving data, a data owner uses the stored digest to retrieve the data from the deduplicated database and the stored IV and second key to decrypt the data. Only the data owner has the second key and IV, so the encrypted data segment stored data in the deduplicated database is highly secure from information bleed during the storage process. |
| US08661258B2 |
Compact security device with transaction risk level approval capability
The present invention relates to the field of securing electronic transactions and more specifically to methods to indicate and verify the approval of the risk level of a transaction and to apparatuses for generating transaction risk level approval codes.In a method according to the invention transactions are classified into a limited number of categories. A user submitting a transaction to a server is requested to also generate and submit a dynamic transaction category approval code for the submitted transaction. On the server side a corresponding verification value is generated for the received transaction. In an alternative method according to the invention transactions are assigned one of a limited number of risk levels. A user submitting a transaction to a server is requested to also generate and submit a dynamic risk level approval code for the submitted transaction. On the server side a corresponding verification value is generated for the received transaction. The received dynamic risk level approval code is verified on the server side by comparing it with the generated verification value. A security token to secure electronic transactions adapted to generate dynamic transaction category approval codes and a security token to secure electronic transactions adapted to generate dynamic risk level approval codes are also described. |
| US08661251B2 |
Method and device for creating a group signature and related method and device for verifying a group signature
A method for creating a group signature of a message to be implemented by a member of a group in a system, the system including a trust authority, the group including at least the member provided with a secure portable electronic entity including storage elements and computing elements wherein are implanted a cryptographic algorithm. The method includes the following steps: generating via the computing elements a signature of the message using a private key common to the members of the group and integrating a data identifying the group member and a temporal data representing a temporal information of the member's membership to the group and of the date of the signature of the message, the private key common to the members of the group, the identifying data and the temporal data being stored in the storage elements. |
| US08661249B2 |
Health keyset management
Systems and methodologies that facilitate delegation of keyset management to a platform presenting a centralized health-related data repository are provided. Effectively, a central keyset manager is provided that generates, manages and distributes key material to client applications and servers deploying the platform. Thus, communications with the platform storing sensitive health-related data can be secured without incurring the costs associated with implementing and enforcing policies associated with key generation and expiration among a plurality of servers and client applications. Additionally, the innovation can scale keyset management to meet short term demand needs. |
| US08661248B2 |
Method, apparatus, and system for sending and receiving security policy of multicast sessions
A method, apparatus, and system for sending and receiving a security policy of multicast sessions are provided. The method for sending the security policy of multicast sessions includes: after a Datagram Transport Layer Security (DTLS) session is set up between a sender and a receiver, receiving a security policy request from the receiver, constructing a security policy response according to a security policy, multiplexing the security policy response and Secure Real-Time Transport Protocol (SRTP) multicast session data, and sending the multiplexed data to the receiver. |
| US08661245B1 |
Systems and methods for empowering IP practitioners
A browser application has at least two web browser objects for browsing Private PAIR while hiding multi-page navigation from a user. The browser application is configured to automatically download XML data from Private PAIR, and generate one or more reports therefrom, including a Daily Updates report, a Cross Checker report, and a Docket Listing report. The browser application is preferably configured to selectively provide limited access to Private PAIR by restricting user navigation to programmatic navigation. |
| US08661243B2 |
Storing and forwarding media data
A method apparatus for storing and forwarding media data in a communication network. An intermediate node disposed between a media data source node and a client node receives encrypted media data packets from the media data source node. The intermediate node stores the received media data packets in a memory for later sending to the client node, and adjusts fields in the original header of each stored media data packet to create modified media data packets having a modified header, and sends adjustment information to the client node. The adjustment information allows the client node to recreate the original headers from the modified headers, before decrypting the encrypted media packets with keying materials already sent between the media data source node and the client node. The modified media data packets are then sent to the client node for decryption. This allows the intermediate node to “store and forward” SRTP data without being able to access the encrypted data content. |
| US08661242B1 |
Autonomous password update in SNMPv3 computer network
A network running SNMPv3 includes conventional managed devices and a control provided with timed updating of the authentication and privacy password set. The timed updating function maintains memorized current and new password sets for each managed device. From time to time, a new set of passwords is automatically generated. A “change password” message including the new passwords is sent to the managed devices encoded with the current passwords. If the current passwords are authenticated by the managed device(s), the new passwords are adopted by the managed devices as current passwords, and an acknowledgement is sent to the control encoded with the new passwords. The control responds by updating its stored current passwords to the new passwords for each individual managed device. When a user wants information, the control encodes the request message with the current passwords, and the managed device responds with the information when the current passwords are verified. |
| US08661241B1 |
Data link layer switch with protection against internet protocol spoofing attacks
A network switch including a plurality of ports, a packet processor, and a first processor. The plurality of ports are configured to receive a plurality of packets transmitted from a network to the network switch. The packet processor comprises a classifier configured to select a subset of the plurality of packets according to sampling criteria. The first processor is configured to determine, based on the subset of the plurality of packets, whether the plurality of packets are associated with an attack on the network switch. The classifier is further configured to, prior to the first processor determining whether the plurality of packets are associated with an attack, copy the subset of the plurality of packets to the first processor while maintaining the plurality of packets in the packet processor. |
| US08661240B2 |
Joint encryption of data
A method for joint generation of a ciphertext by devices of a data processing system includes providing, by a first device, a first message, representing secret data of the first device, generating an initial ciphertext comprising an initial blinded encrypted message, in which the first message is encrypted under a public key of a trusted entity, and an initial consistency component for validating the initial ciphertext using the bilinear map; and sending the initial ciphertext to a second device; wherein the second device provides a second message, representing secret data of the second device, generates an updated ciphertext comprising an updated blinded encrypted message and an updated consistency component for validating the updated ciphertext, and generating a final ciphertext comprising the final encrypted message and a final consistency component for validating the final ciphertext, wherein the final consistency component is generated using the updated consistency component and the bilinear map. |
| US08661239B2 |
Encryption device and method for controlling download and access operations performed to a mobile terminal
An encryption device and method for controlling download and access operations performed to a mobile terminal are disclosed. A switch circuit (102) is disposed on download channels (107, 108) between the master chip (101) of the mobile terminal and the connector (103) of the mobile terminal, an access software (105) is opened and an encryption chip (106) is accessed by using a dongle (112), the on-off of the switch circuit (102) is controlled by setting states of the encryption chip (106), so as to control the on-off of download channels (107, 108) to control the download and access operations performed to the mobile terminal by a computer (104). According to the device and method, hackers cannot crack the internal procedure of the memory of the mobile terminal using substitute code segments, thereby effectively improving the security and reliability of the download and access operations performed to the mobile terminal. |
| US08661232B2 |
Register state saving and restoring
In a data processing apparatus 1 having registers 6, when a state saving trigger event occurs while a result value of a data processing operation is still to be written to a destination register then saving and restoring control circuitry 12 selects a state saving sequence defining a temporal order for saving register values to a backup data store 10. The sequence is selected to provide the destination register with a position within the sequence corresponding to a time after the result value has been written to the destination register. The register values are then saved to the backup data store 10 in the order of the selected state saving sequence. A similar technique can be used when a state restoring trigger event triggers loading of the data values from the backup data store 10 to the registers 6. |
| US08661229B2 |
Power efficient instruction prefetch mechanism
A processor includes a conditional branch instruction prediction mechanism that generates weighted branch prediction values. For weakly weighted predictions, which tend to be less accurate than strongly weighted predictions, the power associating with speculatively filling and subsequently flushing the cache is saved by halting instruction prefetching. Instruction fetching continues when the branch condition is evaluated in the pipeline and the actual next address is known. Alternatively, prefetching may continue out of a cache. To avoid displacing good cache data with instructions prefetched based on a mispredicted branch, prefetching may be halted in response to a weakly weighted prediction in the event of a cache miss. |
| US08661225B2 |
Data processing apparatus and method for handling vector instructions
A data processing apparatus and method and provided for handling vector instructions. The data processing apparatus has a register data store with a plurality of registers arranged to store data elements. A vector processing unit is then used to execute a sequence of vector instructions, with the vector processing unit having a plurality of lanes of parallel processing and having access to the register data store in order to read data elements from, and write data elements to, the register data store during the execution of the sequence of vector instructions. A skip indication storage maintains a skip indicator for each of the lanes of parallel processing. The vector processing unit is responsive to a vector skip instruction to perform an update operation to set within the skip indication storage the skip indicator for a determined one or more lanes. The vector processing unit is responsive to a vector operation instruction to perform an operation in parallel on data elements input to the plurality of lanes of parallel processing, but to exclude from the performance of the operation any lane whose associated skip indicator is set. This allows the operation specified by vector instructions to be performed conditionally within each of the lanes of parallel processing without any modification to the vector instructions that are specifying those operations. |
| US08661220B2 |
Computer system, and backup method and program for computer system
A backup is completed within a backup window designated by a user.When copying data in a first storage area, which is a backup target, to a second storage area, the capacity of a medium serving as a third storage area which is sufficient to complete a backup within the backup window, is calculated based on information about a differential bitmap describing an area in the second storage area to which the relevant data is copied from the first storage area, configuration information about a storage system where the storage areas are stored, and performance information about media constituting the storage areas; and differential data is copied using the second storage area and the third storage area; and the data written to the third storage area is copied to the second storage area. |
| US08661219B2 |
Storage device control method and computer system
A storage device control method for operating a logical volume to which a control command cannot be issued directly from a host computer is provided. The host computer manages a storage device. The storage device includes a disk device which provides logical volumes and a disk control device which controls the disk device. The host computer issues a control command to a recognized volume in the disk control device. The disk control device operates a recognized volume which is an issue destination of the control command or an unrecognized volume contained in the control command. A logical volume to which the control command is to be issued from the host computer is determined by using definition information (a disk information table, a copy pair information table, or a copy group information table) concerning copy operation retained by storage control software which operates on the host computer. |
| US08661217B2 |
Defragmentation of data storage pools
In a computer-implemented data storage system comprising at least one storage control and data storage, wherein data is stored in the form of volumes, at least a plurality of volumes having at least some freespace, and a grouping of a plurality of volumes comprises a pool. In response to a defragmentation request, the storage control initiates migration of data from a pool to generate additional freespace. Subsequent to the migration of data, fragmentation of data of the pool is computed, and the amount of existing freespace of the pool is determined. The amount of existing freespace is compared to a freespace threshold, where the freespace threshold is related to the computed fragmentation. If the comparison indicates the amount of freespace is below the threshold, spill volumes are added to the pool; and, else, the pool is kept intact without adding spill volumes. Then, defragmentation of the pool is initiated. |
| US08661212B2 |
Storage system
A storage system 300a that has a volume, manages the volume as a plurality of logical volumes, and can operate as a plurality of logical storage systems having at least one logical volume. The storage system comprises an IO transmission-reception unit 1320a that communicates with a management computer 100, a host computer 200, and a storage system 300b and a processor 1310a that causes the IO transmission-reception unit 1320a to perform transmission to the management computer 100 and storage system 300b by using an identifier of the storage system 300a as an identifier indicating a representative logical storage system that is one predetermined logical storage system from among a plurality of the logical storage system when the storage system operates as a plurality of the logical storage systems. |
| US08661211B2 |
Method for migrating contents of a memory on a virtual machine
A method for migrating contents of a memory on a virtual machine. The method includes computer instructions for establishing communication from a source virtual machine to a target virtual machine, the source virtual machine including a memory. The contents of the memory on the source virtual machine are transmitted to the target virtual machine. The contents of the memory on the source virtual machine include a plurality of pages. It is determined if all or a subset of the pages have been modified on the source virtual machine subsequent to being transmitted to the target virtual machine. If it is determined that all or a subset of the pages have been modified, then the modified pages, including a page location and page content for each of the modified pages, are transmitted to the target virtual machine. The determining and transmitting the modified pages continues until the number of remaining pages that have been modified is less than a threshold. The virtual machine is then paused the remaining pages are transmitted to the target virtual machine. |
| US08661208B2 |
Non-inclusive cache systems and methods
Non-inclusive cache systems and methods are provided. In one embodiment a non-inclusive cache system is provided comprising a non-inclusive cache and a cache agent that receives a request for access to the non-inclusive cache and denies the request for access to the non-inclusive cache if the non-inclusive cache system exceeds a predetermined level of activity. |
| US08661207B2 |
Method and apparatus for assigning a memory to multi-processing unit
A memory mapping apparatus for a multi-processing unit includes at least one memory matching unit configured to perform matching between a plurality of processing units and a plurality of memories, a memory controller configured to perform access control and arbitration for the respective memories, a memory mapping unit configured to include a window map for the respective processing units, make correspond the memories to the respective processing units with reference to the window map, and assign part of the entire address region of the corresponding memory, and a window map change unit configured to change a window map for a processing unit in which a request to use the memory has occurred in response to a request to use the memory from any one of the processing units. |
| US08661204B2 |
Mechanism to support flexible decoupled transactional memory
The present invention employs three decoupled hardware mechanisms: read and write signatures, which summarize per-thread access sets; per-thread conflict summary tables, which identify the threads with which conflicts have occurred; and a lazy versioning mechanism, which maintains the speculative updates in the local cache and employs a thread-private buffer (in virtual memory) only in the rare event of an overflow. The conflict summary tables allow lazy conflict management to occur locally, with no global arbitration (they also support eager management). All three mechanisms are kept software-accessible, to enable virtualization and to support transactions of arbitrary length. |
| US08661203B2 |
Efficient track destage in secondary storage
For efficient track destage in secondary storage in a more effective manner, for temporal bits employed with sequential bits for controlling the timing for destaging the track in a primary storage, the temporal bits and sequential bits are transferred from the primary storage to the secondary storage. The temporal bits are allowed to age on the secondary storage. |
| US08661202B2 |
Systems and methods for destaging storage tracks from cache
A system includes a cache and a processor coupled to the cache. The cache stores data in multiple storage tracks and each storage track includes an associated multi-bit counter. The processor is configured to perform the following method. One method includes writing data to the plurality of storage tracks and incrementing the multi-bit counter on each respective storage track a predetermined amount each time the processor writes to a respective storage track. The method further includes scan each of the storage tracks in each of multiple scan cycles, decrementing each multi-bit counter each scan cycle, and destaging each storage track including a zero count. Also provided are physical computer storage mediums including a computer program product for performing the above method. |
| US08661201B2 |
Systems and methods for managing destage conflicts
A system includes a cache partitioned into multiple ranks configured to store multiple storage tracks and a processor coupled to the cache. The processor is configured to perform the following method. One method includes allocating an amount of storage space in the cache to each rank and monitoring a current amount of storage space used by each rank with respect to the amount of storage space allocated to each respective rank. The method further includes destaging storage tracks from each rank until the current amount of storage space used by each respective rank is equal to a predetermined minimum amount of storage space with respect to the amount of storage space allocated to each rank. Also provided are physical computer storage mediums including code that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform the above method. |
| US08661197B2 |
Opportunistic block transmission with time constraints
A technique for determining a data window size allows a set of predicted blocks to be transmitted along with requested blocks. A stream enabled application executing in a virtual execution environment may use the blocks when needed. |
| US08661194B2 |
Cache control method for hybrid HDD, related program, and hybrid disk drive using same
A cache control method for a hybrid hard disk drive (HDD) comprising a nonvolatile cache (NVC) and a hard disk. When the hybrid HDD is operating in a non-parallel mode of operation, the control method sequentially searches the NVC and then reads the hard disk for requested data, but when the hybrid HDD is operating in a parallel mode of operation, the control method simultaneously searches the NVC and reads hard disk for the data requested. |
| US08661192B2 |
Refresh algorithm for memories
A method and apparatus for refreshing data in a flash memory device is disclosed. A counter is maintained for each memory block. When a memory block is erased, the counter for that erase block is set to zero while the remaining counters are incremented. When a memory block counter reaches a predetermined threshold value, the associated memory block is refreshed. |
| US08661191B2 |
Memory system
A memory system according to an embodiment of the present invention comprises: a data managing unit 120 is divided into a DRAM-layer managing unit 120a, a logical-NAND-layer managing unit 120b, and a physical-NAND-layer managing unit 120c to independently perform management of a DRAM layer, a logical NAND layer, and a physical NAND layer using the respective managing units to thereby perform efficient block management. |
| US08661190B2 |
Flash memory device and data access method thereof
In one embodiment, the flash memory device is coupled to a host, and comprises a flash memory and a controller. The flash memory is used for data storage. The controller receives write data and a write logical address from the host, calculates a running sum value according to the write data, determines whether target data with a running sum equal to the running sum value is stored in the flash memory, reads the target data from the flash memory when the target data is stored in the flash memory, determines whether the target data is identical to the write data, and records a mapping relationship between an original logical address of the target data and a write logical address of the write data in a remapping table without writing the write data to the flash memory when the target data is identical to the write data. |
| US08661183B2 |
Computer system, data storage method, and program for reduction of stored data after hibernation
In a computer system that can configure a virtual machine being able to transit to a hibernation state, data of a main memory of the virtual machine stored in an auxiliary storage device is reduced. At a point in time when the virtual machine has transitioned to a hibernation state, from consideration as to whether the data of the main memory of the virtual machine stored in the auxiliary storage device is unnecessary, data stored in the auxiliary storage device is rewritten in order to reduce the data. |
| US08661179B2 |
Cache memory architecture having reduced tag memory size and method of operation thereof
A cache memory architecture, a method of operating a cache memory and a memory controller. In one embodiment, the cache memory architecture includes: (1) a segment memory configured to contain at least one most significant bit (MSB) of a main memory address, the at least one MSB being common to addresses in a particular main memory logical segment that includes the main memory address, (2) a tag memory configured to contain tags that include other bits of the main memory address and (3) combinatorial logic associated with the segment memory and the tag memory and configured to indicate a cache hit only when both the at least one most significant bit and the other bits match a requested main memory address. |
| US08661175B2 |
Multiprocessor synchronization using region locks
Disclosed is a method of synchronizing a plurality of processors accesses to at least one shared resource. One of a plurality of processors requests an exclusive region lock for a shared resource using a logical block address (LBA) of a dummy target. The LBA is defined in a region map that associates LBAs to shared resources. The exclusive region lock request is inserted as a node in a region lock tree of the dummy target. Access to the shared resource is granted based on a determination whether there is an existing region lock in the region lock tree that is overlaps with the new exclusive region lock request. |
| US08661174B2 |
Master-slave system with reversible control direction function
A master-slave system includes a master and a slave. The master includes a first communication interface, a master controller, and a voltage meter. The voltage meter is connected to the first communication interface and the master controller. The slave includes a second communication interface, an input unit, a slave controller, and a control indicator unit. The control indicator unit is connected to the second communication interface and the slave controller. The salve controller controls voltage of a node between the control indicator unit and the second communication interface to change between a high logic level and a low logic level according to signals from the input unit. The voltage meter is connected to the control indicator unit to detect the voltage of the node. The master controller controls the master to execute a function according to change of the obtained voltage within a preset period. |
| US08661167B2 |
DMA (direct memory access) coalescing
In general, in one aspect, a method includes determining a repeated, periodic DMA (Direct Memory Access) coalescing interval based, at least in part, on a power sleep state of a host platform. The method also includes buffering data received at the device in a FIFO (First-In-First-Out) queue during the interval and DMA-ing the data enqueued in the FIFO to a memory external to the device after expiration of the repeated, periodic DMA coalescing interval. |
| US08661157B2 |
Application network communication
A method and apparatus is provided to discover and integrate applications in an application router framework. The discovery operation includes receiving a registration notification for an application on a network, adding information describing the application to a repository into a data structure and publishing the data structure onto an application router. The association operations include querying one or more application routers on an application network for meta-data and other information on applications, exchanging the meta-data and other information between the application routers and associating the applications together automatically using their respective application protocols. Routing operations include receiving application information in an application protocol format, converting the application information in the application protocol format into a neutral protocol format and forwarding the application information in the neutral protocol format along with state information to other application router devices on the network. |
| US08661155B2 |
Service layer assisted change of multimedia stream access delivery
A streaming server sends a multimedia stream for delivery by a hybrid unicast-broadcast delivery network to a mobile terminal. To assist that mobile terminal change access delivery from unicast to broadcast, the streaming server sends multimedia content timing information that indicates one or more interstices in the content of the multimedia stream. The mobile terminal receives such multimedia content timing information upon receiving the multimedia stream by unicast. Although the mobile terminal determines the same multimedia stream is also available by broadcast, the mobile terminal initiates a change from unicast to broadcast during an interstice. Because the mobile terminal delays the access change until an interstice, any data loss resulting from the access change has a minimal effect on a subscriber's experience of the multimedia content. Moreover, regular occurrence of interstices ensures that such change will not be significantly delayed, and thus, neither will use of broadcast. |
| US08661154B2 |
Managing objects using a client-server bridge
A method for supporting communication between a client and a server includes receiving a first message from a client. The method also includes creating an object in response to the first message. The method also includes sending a response to the first message to the client. The method also includes receiving changes to the object from a server. The method also includes storing the changes to the object. The method also includes receiving a second message from the client. The method also includes sending the stored changes to the client with a response to the second message. |
| US08661151B2 |
Dynamic playlist for mobile computing device
A method of managing electronic media items includes accessing first geographic information that indicates a first geographic location of a first device; accessing second geographic information that indicates a second geographic location of a second device; determining whether the first device and the second device are within a defined geographic proximity based on the first geographic location and the second geographic location; if the determination indicates that the first device and the second device are within the defined geographic proximity, generating at least one playlist of media items based on a set of media preferences shared between a first user of the first device and a second user of the second device; and sending the playlist to the first device such that the first user is able to select one or more of the media items on the playlist to be output by the first device. |
| US08661143B2 |
Reserving resources in centralized network by scanning superframes equal to or greater than maximum number of superframes allowed without listening to beacon period
A resource reservation method between a master device and a slave device or between slave devices in a centralized network. In resource reservation between slave devices, optimal resources may be allocated by performing link measurement between the slave devices before allocating the resources. |
| US08661140B2 |
Interface apparatus, exchange apparatus with the apparatus, and control method for use in the apparatus
According to one embodiment, an interface apparatus includes a connector which establishes connection with a plurality of Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) terminals which each include communication functions defined by SIP and with an SIP network to one port, a first processor which executes exchange processing for the plurality of SIP terminals, a second processor which executes exchange processing for the SIP network, and a sorting unit which sorts a control signal into the first processor or the second processor based on transmission destination identification information or transmission origin identification information in the control signal regarding exchange received by the connector. |
| US08661135B2 |
System and method for providing a platform as a service (PaaS) with a materialized shared space
A platform as a service (PaaS) is provided as part of a data sharing scheme. The PaaS is configured to setup a materialized shared space in a cloud. The materialized shared space includes a set of resources invested by the PaaS to permit data sharing between a tenant application and at least one consumer application. A sharing middleware configured to provide the at least one consumer application with access to the data in the materialized shared space. |
| US08661133B2 |
Method for allowing and blocking a user PC which can use internet at the same time in a private network thereof a method for analyzing and detecting a judgement about whether NAT(network address translation) can be used or not using a traffic data, and the number of terminals sharing NAT
The present invention provides according to an embodiment a method including analyzing traffic; judging whether NAT (Network Address Translation) use of a client configuring and using a private network as well as a being provided an authorized IP address (an Internet IP address) is allowed or not, for analyzing and detecting a number of sharing terminals; creating a database using data; and formulating a policy by using information in the database, so that when users of the private network connect to the Internet at the same time, permission or blocking of Internet use can be executed selectively. |
| US08661131B1 |
Managing resources in virtualization systems
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer program products, for managing resources in virtualization systems, including multi-cloud systems. The use of supply chain economics alone and in combination with other techniques offers a unified platform to integrate, optimize or improve, and automate resource management in a virtualization system. These techniques may be used to monitor and control the delivery of service level agreements and software licenses. They may also be used to monitor and control contention of computing resources in a virtualization system, and to suspend or terminate computing resources. |
| US08661125B2 |
System comprising probe runner, monitor, and responder with associated databases for multi-level monitoring of a cloud service
A multi-level monitoring system is provided for monitoring multiple performance aspects of a cloud service concurrently in order to generate a full and reliable performance analysis of the cloud service. The multi-level monitoring system may include a set of components for carrying out the performance analysis of the cloud service which may be deployed together to operate externally, internally, or concurrently with the cloud service. The component framework of the multi-level monitoring system may include a main component, a plug-in associated with the main component, a definition database, a log database, and an output database. The main components of an example multi-level monitoring framework may include a probe runner component for probing the cloud service, a monitor component for generating alerts based on probe results, and a responder component for processing the alerts and taking appropriate actions to improve the cloud service performance. |
| US08661120B2 |
Methods and systems for dynamically managing requests for computing capacity
Embodiments of systems and methods are described for dynamically managing requests for computing capacity from a provider of computing resources. Illustratively, the computing resources may include program execution capabilities, data storage or management capabilities, network bandwidth, etc. The systems or methods automatically allocate computing resources for execution of one or more programs associated with the user. The systems and methods may enable the user to make changes to the allocated resources after execution of the one or more programs has started. |
| US08661119B1 |
Determining a number of users behind a set of one or more internet protocol (IP) addresses
IP address-user number estimates may be determined by accepting IP address usage information associating various IP addresses with various client identifiers, and generating an estimate of a number of users for at least one of the IP addresses using the IP address usage information. If the client identifiers include cookies, the estimate of a number of users for at least one of the IP address can be generated by determining a number of cookies for the at least one IP address for a given period of time, and multiplying the number by a second, predetermined, ratio of a number of users per cookie for the given time period. Other user identifying information includes user-agent parameters, browser parameters, and uncookied network traffic. The estimate of a number of users per IP address can be generated by determining a ratio of unique sets of user agent, browser parameters, and/or uncookied network traffic. |
| US08661114B2 |
Service discovery aggregation method in a local area network and device implementing the method
The invention enables a standard client according to the DVB-IPI phase 1 standard and connected within a local area network interconnected with a service delivery network via a non-transparent gateway to discover all the services offered to it both by the external delivery network an d by the servers in its local area network. The invention is based mainly on a service discovery aggregation functionality that we call “SD & S proxy” implemented on any one of the devices connected to the local area network running jointly with an ad-hoc configuration of the gateway. |
| US08661109B2 |
Method for operating a network and a network
For allowing an enhancement of diversity of network applications in a simple way a method for operating a network, especially an IP (Internet Protocol) network, is claimed, wherein a local network is in connection with the network via a gateway and wherein a UE (User Equipment) of the local network is performing a session setup by communicating with a functional entity of the network in order to communicate with or to start a UE-related and/or session-related application. The method is characterized in that the application is communicating with a local network controller, wherein the network controller is receiving a UE-related and/or session-related parameter (LID—Local Identifier) from the application for locating a UE and/or a specific session within the local network based on the received parameter. Further, an according network is claimed, preferably for carrying out the above mentioned method. |
| US08661108B2 |
Status determination in computer network-based communications system
A method for determining a status of a presentity by determining a success rate for a plurality of transactions of the same transaction type that are initiated by at least one entity in a first computer network-based communications system in a plurality of corresponding transaction requests, where the transactions relate to a presentity, identifying a status descriptor that has a predefined association with the transaction type, identifying a condition that has a predefined association with the status descriptor and the transaction type, and associating the status descriptor with the presentity if the success rate meets the condition. |
| US08661107B2 |
Business network meta model
A computer program product tangibly embodied in a computer readable storage device includes a business network meta model comprising entity objects configured to generate interactive representations of a business network, including at least a business application representation and an information technology representation. |
| US08661105B2 |
Integrated video service peer to peer network system
An integrated video service peer to peer network system, includes: a media source system, configured to divide video service data into one or more segments and each of the one or more segments into a plurality of blocks, and to generate a media description file based on segment dividing information and media format information, wherein, each of the plurality of blocks is of a self-description type and comprises a block head and a block body, the block body including media data; a media distribution management system, configured to store media distribution information, wherein, the media distribution information represents the information of the storage status of divided video service data segments at a peer source node and the information of the serving capability status of the peer source node; and a plurality of the peer source nodes, configured to store the video service data, and to transmit the video service data to a service requesting node. With the present invention, the range of sharing can be effectively extended, the usage of the client resources can be optimized, while the provider system and the client system are significantly simplified, so the cost of the operation and maintenance are reduced. |
| US08661098B2 |
Live media delivery over a packet-based computer network
In general, this disclosure describes techniques of determining a backset for client devices attempting to download data of a live transmission. A backset is an amount of temporal delay that the client devices are delayed by when viewing the live transmission. As described herein, a media content provider may determine a recommended backset for each client devices based characteristics of the client device. Each client device may then be backset by the determined value, or may calculate its own backset based on the recommended backset. Establishing a backset for each client device may avoid rebuffering of live transmission data. |
| US08661094B2 |
WWW addressing
A method of WWW page retrieval from a web site, comprising entering information associated with the site; and directly displaying said page, using a browser, without any additional user intervention. Preferably, the information is in a non-Latin language. Alternatively or additionally, the information does not meet domain name specifications, for example, being in a free-form format. |
| US08661090B2 |
Systems and methods thereto for acceleration of web pages access using next page optimization, caching and pre-fetching techniques
A method and system for acceleration of access to a web page using next page optimization, caching and pre-fetching techniques. The method comprises receiving a web page responsive to a request by a user; analyzing the received web page for possible acceleration improvements of the web page access; generating a modified web page of the received web page using at least one of a plurality of pre-fetching techniques; providing the modified web page to the user, wherein the user experiences an accelerated access to the modified web page resulting from execution of the at least one of a plurality of pre-fetching techniques; and storing the modified web page for use responsive to future user requests. |
| US08661079B2 |
Method and apparatus for establishing an invite-first communication session
The disclosed embodiments provide methods and apparatus for establishing an invite-first communication session in a wireless communication network. The method includes receiving an invite message from an inviter, forwarding the invite message to at least one invitee, receiving a response from one of the at least one invitee in response to the invite message, and establishing the communication session between the inviter and the at least one invitee. |
| US08661071B2 |
Systems and methods for partially conditioned noise predictive equalization
Various embodiments of the present invention provide systems and methods for equalization. As an example, a circuit for data equalization is described that includes a 2N state detector circuit that provides a series of detected bits based upon a conditioned input, and a noise predictive filter having a plurality of taps and operable to provide at least a portion of the conditioned input. At least a first of the plurality of taps uses a first subset of the series of detected bits, and a second of the plurality of taps uses a second subset of the series of detected bits. The first subset of the detected bits includes one more bit than the second subset of the detected bits. |
| US08661070B2 |
File system location verification using a sentinel
A new file system is mounted to a mount point of an existing file system implemented in a computational system. A sentinel indicator is stored in the mount point. Prior to initiating an input/output (I/O) operation by a program, a determination is made by the program as to whether the sentinel indicator exists. In response to determining by the program that the sentinel indicator exists, the I/O operation is performed by the program. In certain alternative embodiments, in response to determining by the program that the sentinel indicator exists, the I/O operation is not performed by the program. |
| US08661068B1 |
Managing global metadata caches in data storage systems
A method is used in managing global metadata caches in data storage systems. Space is allocated in a memory of a data storage system to a global metadata cache which is configured to store metadata objects for a plurality of different file systems responsive to file system access requests from the plurality of different file systems. A metadata object associated with a file of a file system of the plurality of different file systems is stored in the global metadata cache. The metadata object is accessed by a plurality of different versions of the file. |
| US08661067B2 |
Predictive migrate and recall
Various embodiments for optimizing data migration and recall in a computing storage environment by a processor device are provided. Data stored in the computing storage environment is analyzed over a predetermined period of time to identify a usage pattern of a portion of the data. The portion of the data having the usage pattern is recalled in advance of a usage time, the usage time predicted by the usage pattern for the portion of the data to be accessed. |
| US08661066B2 |
Systems, methods, and software for presenting legal case histories
Systems and methods for automatically processing a textual document by identifying occurrences of a piece of text having a predetermined format in the textual document; determining a depth-of-treatment value for each piece of formatted text in the textual document, the depth-of-treatment value indicating a depth of treatment in the textual document afforded to the particular piece of formatted text; associating an abstract with each piece of formatted text in the textual document; and generating a data record containing each identified piece of formatted text from the textual document, the depth-of-treatment value and the abstract associated with each piece of formatted text in the textual document. |
| US08661064B2 |
File management system
Provided is a file (document) management process for efficiently understanding a summary of files in a folder without checking the contents of the individual subfolders or files. A summary of a plurality of files included in a folder is generated dynamically (each time the folder is accessed by placing a cursor on the folder, for example) and is displayed. For example, a summary of a feature of files included in a folder, which is recognized as being different from the feature of a plurality of files included in a sibling folder through comparison, determined on the basis of a feature or tendency of a file attribute, is described, and a location distribution of query-hit documents in the tiered folder is displayed. |
| US08661058B2 |
Human relationships registering system and device for registering human relationships, program for registering human relationships, and medium storing human relationships registering program and readable by computer
To provide a human relationships registering system, a method and a server for registering human relationships, a program for registering human relationships, and a medium storing human relationships registering program and readable by a computer, all of which are used to establish wide and close relationships with members having a variety of occupations or engaged in various technical fields and to obtain expert knowledge or information. The human relationships registering system comprises first data processing units 2 and 3 including sections for receiving personal data of a new member, and a second data processing unit including a section for storing the received personal data. The second data processing unit stores the personal data of the new member in correlation to an existing member when the existing member confirms the new member. |
| US08661056B1 |
System, method and computer program product for publicly providing web content of a tenant using a multi-tenant on-demand database service
In accordance with embodiments, there are provided mechanisms and methods for publicly providing web content of a tenant using a multi-tenant on-demand database service. These mechanisms and methods for publicly providing web content of a tenant using a multi-tenant on-demand database service can allow the web content to be published by a tenant using the multi-tenant on-demand database service for use by non-tenants of the multi-tenant on-demand database service. |
| US08661055B2 |
File server system and storage control method
In accordance with a first aspect of the present invention, an edge node is provided with the storage destination management information that is corresponded to the edge node. The storage destination management information includes the information that indicates a storage destination for a core node of a file that has been written to a file storage region (an edge storage region) for an edge node that is corresponded to the information and includes the information that indicates a recall date that is a date that has been read by the edge node. The edge node judges whether or not there is an old file (a file before an update) in an edge storage region for the edge node based on the storage destination management information that is corresponded to the edge node and the storage destination information that is corresponded to another edge node, and create a stub for only an old file without creating a stub for a file after an update (a latest file). |
| US08661052B2 |
Functional change tracking for independent software products
Techniques are disclosed that allow for automated tracking of changes to software modules between two or more software projects that use functionally similar but otherwise different software modules. The techniques can be used, for instance, to manage similar or identical changes to multiple otherwise independent software products. Thus, in accordance with an example embodiment, a software change that has been successfully applied to a first software product having a given functionality can be readily identified and applied to another software product that is independent of the first software product but can benefit from a similar software change. |
| US08661051B1 |
Contextual n-gram analysis
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer program products, in which a first search query in a session is compared to a second search query within the session to determine whether any terms included in the second search query differ from terms in the first search query. If differing search terms are identified in the second search query, the differing search terms can be excluded from bigram analysis with other search terms included in the second query. |
| US08661047B2 |
Geometric mechanism for privacy-preserving answers
A system for answering sets of queries on a set of private data while providing differential privacy protection is provided. The set of queries is received and applied to the set of private data to generate a set of results or answers. A geometric representation of the set of queries is generated. Example geometric representations include polytopes. Error values are generated for the set of queries using a K-norm mechanism based on values sampled from the geometric representation. The sampled values are added to the set of results to provide the differential privacy protection. By generating the error values based on the set of queries rather than the set of results or the set of private data, the amount of error added to the generated results to achieve a level of differential privacy protection is reduced. |
| US08661043B1 |
Distributed feature selection in social networks
Embodiments are directed to generating feature values for selectable features using feature recombination. In one scenario, a computer system accesses a set of selectable features where each feature includes one or more feature values. The computer system encodes the accessed set of selectable features, so that the feature values are available for selection by various different users. The computer system generates a first population of feature values from the encoded set of selectable features and ranks each feature value in the first population of feature values based on which feature values are selected by the users. The computer system also generates a second population of feature values by recombining the feature values proportional to the ranking, and further generates subsequent populations of feature values by recombining the values across multiple iterations of expression of preference by different users. These feature values then converge on a subset of preferred feature values. |
| US08661042B2 |
Collaborative filtering with hashing
Systems, methods, and machine readable and executable instructions are provided for collaborative filtering. Collaborative filtering includes representing users and objects by rows and columns in a binary ratings matrix having a particular dimensional space. Unknown values in the binary ratings matrix are weighted with a weight matrix having the particular dimensional space. The binary ratings matrix and the weight matrix are hashed into a lower dimensional space by one of row and column. The hashed binary ratings matrix and the hashed weight matrix are low-rank approximated by alternating least squares. A result of the low-rank approximation for the one of row and column is updated using the binary ratings matrix and the weight matrix. A recommendation of one of the objects can be generated for one of the users based on the updated result. |
| US08661041B2 |
Apparatus and method for semantic-based search and semantic metadata providing server and method of operating the same
A semantic-based searching apparatus and method which can search for desired information from various types of media using associative properties of search target objects are provided. The semantic-based searching apparatus stores an associative search structure that previously stores a semantic index. The associative search structure is to obtain a final search object corresponding to an input search query. The semantic index configuration includes feature metadata used to identify a specific object, semantic entity metadata to indicate semantic entities corresponding to the feature metadata, and semantic relation metadata to indicate a relation between the semantic entities. The semantic-based searching apparatus uses semantic metadata stored in conformity with the semantic index configuration, the semantic index, and the associative search structure to generate a search result corresponding to the input search query. |
| US08661039B2 |
Cross-domain clusterability evaluation for cross-guided data clustering based on alignment between data domains
A process for evaluating cross-domain clusterability upon a target domain and a source domain. The cross-domain clusterability is calculated as a linear combination of a target clusterability and a source-target pair matchability, by use of a trade-off parameter that determines relative contribution of the target clusterability and the source-target pair matchability. The target clusterability quantifies how clusterable the target domain is. The source-target pair matchability is calculated as an average of a target-side matchability and a source-side matchability, which quantifies how well target centroids of the target domain are aligned with the source centroids and how well source centroids of the source domain are aligned with the target centroids, respectively. |
| US08661038B1 |
Method and system for utilizing location data for automatic categorization of financial transactions
A system and method for utilizing location data for automatic categorization of financial transactions utilizes data indicating a user's location at various times, and mapping databases, including mapping and/or merchant websites, to determine a likely merchant payee associated with a financial transaction and the products sold by that merchant payee. This data is then used to determine, at least in part, a financial category to be assigned to the financial transaction. |
| US08661035B2 |
Content management system and method
A system and method for content management is disclosed. Textual content is parsed into forming identified content by excluding common words. The identified content is linked to relevant images. Relevant images are searched and from a number of candidate images suitable to be inserted proximate to the identified content. A relevant image based on a ranking of the images is selected and inserted proximate to the identified content with or without human intervention. |
| US08661034B2 |
Bimodal recommendation engine for recommending items and peers
A networked peer and item recommendation system makes recommendations to users such as documents of interest and peers with whom the users may want to connect. User profile information is maintained in a profiles database. A log enables the collection of user behavior information. A cluster filtering algorithm determines a cluster that a querying user belongs to. A collaborative filtering algorithm locates other users having implicit and explicit profiles in the database that are similar to the profile of the querying user. A dynamic expert verification algorithm is associated with the collaborative filtering algorithm to verify the qualifications of users and produce bias towards users with higher quality interactions. A search engine returns items based on a keyword provided by the querying user. A sorting algorithm sorts the items returned by the cluster filtering algorithm, collaborative filtering algorithm and search engine for presentation to the querying user. |
| US08661026B2 |
Entity representation identification using entity representation level information
Disclosed is a system for, and method of, searching for and identifying one or more entity representations using comprehensive search criteria built from known entity representations. The comprehensive search criteria are permitted to include inconsistent field values, that is, multiple different field values corresponding to the same field. The system and method may perform using search queries or batch files. |
| US08661025B2 |
System and methods for third-party access to a network-based system for providing location-based upcoming event information
A system and methods for third-party access to a network-based system for providing location-based upcoming event information are described. The location-based upcoming event information may be accessed from the network-based system by a server-side web application implemented by a third party. The server-side web application may be configured to communicate with the network-based system that provides online marketplace and ticket fulfillment services and to generate a query based upon the location of a user and other event criteria. The server-side web application may communicate the query to the network-based system and, in response, receive location-based upcoming event information which may be displayed to a user as a list and/or information on a map. The location-based upcoming event information may comprise an aggregate of ticket inventory available from multiple online marketplaces providing the user with multiple purchasing options. Other embodiments are described and claimed. |
| US08661023B1 |
Optimizing search query logic to speed retrieval
Systems and methods are provided for processing a query at a computer system. The method includes building a query tree based on the query and grouping at least some nodes of the query tree into a group of nodes. Grouping is based on an operator node that is a parent of the at least some nodes. The group of nodes retains the functionality of the operator node but the operator node is eliminated by replacing the operator node with the group of nodes in the query tree. The method also includes traversing the query tree to obtain a result list from a search index that is responsive to the query. |
| US08661020B2 |
System, method and computer program product for decoding vehicle identification numbers
A vehicle identification number (VIN) decoder (VDC) implementing a unique VIN decoding method may, for a given VIN, shorten the VIN and form a stem and a leaf therefrom. Utilizing the stem, the VDC may operate to find matching leaf values, if any, from a set of look up tables. Depending upon a match outcome, one or more trim identification code (TIC) values can be assigned to the VIN and a candidate list can be constructed utilizing the assigned TIC value(s). The candidate list, which can be optimized, may contain one or more candidate trims for the VIN. For each candidate trim, a confidence score and match probability can be generated. The VDC may provide decoded information containing trim data associated with at least one of the one or more candidate trims for the VIN to a client device over a network connection. |
| US08661017B2 |
Method and apparatus for generating merged media program metadata
A method, apparatus, article of manufacture for generating a media program database having a plurality of media programs is disclosed. In one embodiment, the method is comprises the steps of receiving first media program metadata from a first source, searching the Internet to find second media program metadata from a second source distinct from the first source, determining if the first media program metadata and the second media program metadata are associated with the same media program, merging the first media program metadata and the second media program metadata if the first media program metadata and the second media program metadata are associated with the same media program, and storing the merged first media program metadata and second media program metadata in the media program database. |
| US08661016B2 |
Methods and apparatus for specifying and processing descriptive queries for data sources
Improved descriptive query techniques are provided. More particularly, techniques are provided for specifying and processing descriptive queries for data providers grouped into provider kinds with hierarchical containment relationships. The query may include arbitrary boolean combinations of arbitrary tests on the values of attributes of the data providers. |
| US08661013B2 |
Method and apparatus for generating and providing relevant information related to multimedia content
A method of generating relevant information related to multimedia content at a client that reproduces the multimedia content includes accessing a blog service connected to the client, selecting the first content of the multimedia content, for which relevant information is to be generated, by using the blog service, generating the relevant information using a template according to the type of the relevant information generated with respect to the first content, and transmitting the generated relevant information to a server. |
| US08661010B2 |
Method and apparatus for providing supplemental video content for third party websites
A method, apparatus and article of manufacture for providing supplemental video content for third party websites is disclosed. In one embodiment, coded instructions are transmitted from a content enhancement server to a host server, for incorporation into the webpage source code. The host server is controlled by a first entity and the content enhancement server is controlled by a second entity commercially distinct from the first entity. Keywords are obtained by executing of the coded instructions in the webpage received in the client computer from the host server to send the address of the requested webpage to the content enhancement server, which generates supplemental substantive video content information for transmission to the client. |
| US08661009B2 |
Dynamic real-time reports based on social networks
A system for analyzing social networks includes a memory storing a social network data structure, a correlation engine, a trigger function module, and a reporting module. The social network data structure includes a plurality of attributes, a plurality of nodes, each of the nodes corresponding to an entity and having at least one of the attributes associated with the entity, and at least one connection connecting at least two of the nodes. The system also includes at least one processor, coupled to the memory. The at least one processor is operative to execute the correlation engine to examine at least one of the nodes as a subject node. The subject node is coupled to at least one other one of the nodes, comprising a data node, by at least the at least one connection. The examination by the correlation engine is carried out to determine at least one of the attributes comprising a related attribute of the subject node and the at least one other one of the nodes, comprising the data node. The at least one processor is also operative to execute the trigger function module to determine if the reporting module should be executed to provide the report. Further, responsive to determining that the reporting module should be executed, the at least one processor is operative to execute the reporting module to provide a report indicating a correlation assessment to the subject node, the correlation assessment being related to the at least one related attribute. A method, apparatus, and computer program product are also provided. |
| US08661008B2 |
Network browser supporting historical content viewing
An Internet infrastructure supports a timed window and version-based historical search service comprising a search server that receives a search string from a client device and a historical data repository from where the historical Internet data is retrieved when searching. A client device has a network browser that accesses a historical data support module that facilitates searching of historical data and displaying the historical Internet data to user. The network browser provides options for inputting a search string, accepting user search preferences, viewing timeline-based historical information, or viewing version-based historical search results. The network browser supports refinement of timeline searches with different historical version access, and vice versa. |
| US08661006B1 |
Data file management system and method for browsers
A data file management system and method for a web browser is disclosed. The data file management method may include the step of deleting certain data files upon termination of a browsing session of the web browser. The data file management system may relate to the management of data files stored in a storage area of a computer. The data files may include at least one of a graphic file, a text file, and a cookie file. |
| US08661005B2 |
Optimized deletion and insertion for high-performance resizable RCU-protected hash tables
Concurrent resizing and modification of a first RCU-protected hash table includes allocating a second RCU-protected hash table, populating it by linking each hash bucket of the second hash table to all hash buckets of the first hash table containing elements that hash to the second hash table bucket, and publishing the second hash table. If the modifying comprises insertion, a new element is inserted at the head of a corresponding bucket in the second hash table. If the modifying comprises deletion, then within an RCU read-side critical section: (1) all pointers in hash buckets of the first and second hash tables that reference the element being deleted are removed or redirected, and (2) the element is freed following a grace period that protects reader references to the deleted element. The first table is freed from memory after awaiting a grace period that protects reader references to the first hash table. |
| US08661001B2 |
Data extraction for feed generation
A system (and a method) automatically generates a feed from structured or unstructured data. The system identifies a resource having two or more data elements. The resource is matched with a pre-defined template. The pre-defined template is structured for a feed and includes a plurality of fields. The system extracts data elements from the two or more data elements of the resources. Each extracted data element corresponds to a field or the plurality of fields in the pre-defined template. Each extracted data element is then merged into the corresponding field or the plurality of fields in the pre-defined template to generate the feed. |
| US08660999B2 |
Method and apparatus for encoding media content and metadata thereof
Provided is a method of encoding media content and metadata. The method includes generating a scale indicator, which indicates a unit size of information about the media content, in the metadata, and determining data areas in the metadata that have different values based on the generated scale indicator. Accordingly, a range that can be expressed by the data area, that has a limited space in the metadata, can be increased. |
| US08660998B2 |
Duplicate file detection device, duplicate file detection method, and computer-readable storage medium
A duplicate file detection device 100 has a storage unit 101, a calculation unit 102, and a detection unit 103. The storage unit 101 stores calculation information that defines data used in the calculation of the hash values of files in association with the extensions of the files. The calculation unit 102 acquires the calculation information associated with the extension of each file to be examined from the storage unit 101 and uses the acquired calculation information to calculate the hash value of each file to be examined. The detection unit 103 detects duplicated files by comparing the hash values of the files to be examined that are calculated by the calculation unit 102. |
| US08660996B2 |
Monitoring files in cloud-based networks
Embodiments relate to systems and methods for monitoring files in cloud-based networks. In particular, a file managing module can manage the access and retrieval of files stored in cloud-based networks on a distributed basis. In embodiments, the file managing module can receive a file access request from a requesting entity. The file managing module can use the file access request to determine a storage location mapped to a hash structure. Generation numbers associated with the both the storage location and the actual file at the storage location can be compared to determine whether the file has been unexpectedly modified or relocated. The file managing module can sync any discrepancy between the generation numbers and retrieve the file for the requesting entity. |
| US08660991B2 |
Systems and methods for management of subscriber databases within mobile communications networks
Systems and methods system for managing data objects that support the personalization of mobile communications services are provided. The system includes one or more databases that contain subscriber data, such as usage, or state information related to the subscriber. For one or more of the databases within the system, a database federator and a distributed object repository having multiple nodes is provided. The nodes are used to store data objects and duplicate data objects. Data objects may be distributed to the nodes based on, a hashing algorithm. Additionally, graceful redundancy degradation of stored duplicate objects is provided. Further, time-based triggering of duplicate objects stored within separate nodes is provided. |
| US08660983B2 |
System and method for improving outcomes in enterprise level processes
A method and system for using a data warehouse to improve results of enterprise level processes are provided. The data warehouse typically includes industry-wide empirical data relating to corresponding operational practices, metrics, and outcomes. The method focuses on actual process results by taking a holistic, end-to-end view of the process in conjunction with using the data in the data warehouse to enable effective process improvements. |
| US08660979B2 |
Event prediction
A selected set of one or more first events that have occurred within current data is received. An episode set of which the selected set is a subset, the episode set including one or more second events that have occurred within historical data related to the current data is identified. One or more third events that occurred within the historical data within a predetermined time horizon after the one or more second events of the episode set occurred within the historical data are identified. The one or more third events are predicted to likely occur within the current data as a result of the one or more first events having occurred within the current data. |
| US08660976B2 |
Web content rewriting, including responses
A content rewriting system is described herein that allows web site administrators to setup rewriting of web responses in an easy and efficient manner. The system provides a configuration schema and an efficient workflow that enables web administrators to easily setup rules to modify HTML or other content without having a high performance penalty or losing flexibility. The content rewriting system applies regular expressions or wildcard patterns to a response to locate and replace the content parts based on the rewriting logic expressed by outbound rewrite rules. The system parses an initial response generated by a web application, applies one or more outbound rules to rewrite the response, and provides the rewritten response to a client that submitted a request for the response. |
| US08660975B2 |
System and method of matching content items and consumers
A matching between content items and consumers is discloses. More particularly, items and consumers are matched using a matching approach that uses capacity constraints associated with each consumer, capacity constraints associated with each item, and relationship weights, each relationship weight representing a similarity between a consumer and an item. Edges representing the relationships between consumers and items can be selected using an iterative selection that includes a matching approach that permits capacity constraints. Alternatively, edges can be selected using an iterative approach that allows a solution to be identified prior to completion of the selection processing. |
| US08660974B2 |
Inference over semantic network with some links omitted from indexes
An inference system responsive to omitting links from indexes in semantic network elements is described. The inference system prioritizes strategies that avoid trying to follow links from an index from which they may have been omitted. |
| US08660970B1 |
Passive learning and autonomously interactive system for leveraging user knowledge in networked environments
The different advantageous embodiments may provide a method, apparatus, and computer program product for passively learning and autonomously executing tasks on behalf of a user. The different advantageous embodiments may provide an apparatus that comprises a processing unit and a synthetic representation process executed by the processing unit. The synthetic representation process may be capable of executing a number of tasks for a user. |
| US08660962B2 |
Method and apparatus for providing coverage for transmission of data
The present invention provides systems and methods which afford a technical application for insuring, bonding, and underwriting a transmission of a data set, streaming data, and/or document over the Internet through TCP/IP and all other electronic media such as WAP, VOIP, fiber optic channels, microwave channels, and through standard electrical switches, electrical outlets and power lines. The present invention includes a computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions to cause a system perform a method for insuring, bonding, and/or underwriting data transmission. The method includes enabling a first remote client coupled to a communications network to insure, bond, and/or underwrite a transmission of an electronic data set, streaming data, and/or document, with a selected coverage type for a selected coverage amount, from the first remote client to one or more second remote clients. The method includes charging a fee to an appropriate account for the selected coverage type and amount. |
| US08660961B2 |
Method, system, and device for license-centric content consumption
A method, system, and device for license-centric content use or distribution, including a pre-existing digital rights management (DRM) system having a unique interface to a repository of data thereof to govern use of content; a shared license repository configured to access the data to govern the use of the content and to communicate with the unique interface of the pre-existing DRM system; and a user interface configured to interact with the pre-existing DRM system, and configured to allow the user to send a license associated with the content from the shared license repository to the pre-existing DRM system or to another shared license repository. |
| US08660960B2 |
Document digest allowing selective changes to a document
Methods and apparatus, including computer program products, implementing and using techniques for digital rights management. A set of content items is defined in an electronic document based on a set of rules. The rules in the set of rules are associated with one or more operations that can be performed on content items in the electronic document. The set of content items include only content items that are invariant to the operations associated with the rules in the set of rules. A representation of the content items in the set of content items is generated. An electronic document is also described. |
| US08660949B2 |
Method and system for working capital management
In accordance with aspects of the disclosure, a system and methods are provided for managing working capital by scheduling payments to be paid for accounts payable based on payments received for accounts receivable relative to one or more time intervals while maintaining a predetermined working capital reserve threshold. The systems and methods may include calculating accounts receivable patterns for each customer to determine a confidence level in receiving payments from each customer within the one or more time intervals, generating one or more potential payment schemes for each vendor, and generating a payment schedule for accounts payable for each vendor within the one or more time intervals based on the determined confidence level for each customer and the one or more potential payment schemes for each vendor while maintaining the predetermined working capital reserve threshold. |
| US08660947B2 |
Invoiceless trading and settlement method and system
Methods and systems consistent with the present invention overcome the shortcomings of existing trading systems by providing an invoiceless trading system that creates incentives for customers to pay suppliers within a predetermined period of time, such as a settlement period. Specifically, the invoiceless trading system enables a customer to obtain a discount on orders placed with suppliers in return for an immediate payment (e.g., within 24 hours) by the customer. The supplier receives payment within the predetermined period of time, and the customer receives additional cash benefits by providing an early payment to the supplier. To communicate with and transfer funds between customers and suppliers, the invoiceless trading system may use an electronic gateway and a settlement bank. In addition to creating an incentive to embrace e-commerce, both customers and suppliers avoid the need to manually process orders and use invoices to complete transactions. |
| US08660946B2 |
Apparatuses, methods and systems for a trackable virtual currencies platform
Method for detecting fraud includes receiving a fraud alert. The fraud alert is investigated by analyzing social graph information and other available information of one or more users associated with the fraud alert to determine likelihood of the users being involved in fraud. When it is determined that a fraud was committed based on the analysis, chain of fraudulent transactions related to the fraud are reversed and fraud events data related to the fraud are updated into a fraud event database for subsequent analysis. |
| US08660934B2 |
Order entry actions
Various embodiments disclosed herein relate to order entry. In the electronic trading process, order entry involves setting one or more order entry parameters, sending one or more order entry parameters, or both setting and sending one or more order entry parameters. As will be described in more detail below, various order entry actions, such as moving a cursor across an order entry line, moving a cursor into an order entry region, pressing an order entry button, or performing a gesture, may be used to trigger the setting, sending, or both setting and sending of one or more order entry parameters. At least some embodiments relate to enabling an order entry action before the order entry action is able to set, send, or both set and send one or more order entry parameters. |
| US08660931B2 |
Method and system for automatically generating invoices for contracts
Techniques to automatically generate invoices for contracts, each of which may include any number of line items. Each contract line item may be associated with (1) a particular invoice plan that defines one or more applicable billing types (e.g., for non-recurring, recurring, and use charges) and any adjustments to the total billed amount, (2) a particular invoicing schedule that defines the timing for the invoice generation, (3) a particular account to which invoices are addressed, and (4) a flag to selectively enable automatic invoice generation. An invoice engine automatically generates invoices for a set of one or more contracts by processing each enabled line item of each contract based on the associated invoice plan and invoicing schedule to generate a set of one or more invoice line items for the contract line item. All invoice line items for each account are aggregated into an invoice for the account. |
| US08660930B2 |
Target portfolio templates
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media, for preferred portfolio templates. One of the methods includes identifying a base data structure, the base data structure having nodes, each node of the base data structure having attributes. The method includes generating a dependent data structure based on the base data structure, each node in the base data structure having a corresponding a node in the dependent data structure. The method also includes determining whether to automatically change an attribute of a node in the dependent data structure in response to a change in an attribute of the corresponding node of the base data structure. |
| US08660929B2 |
Method and system for building and maintenance watch lists
A method and apparatus for monitoring a items such as stocks and other securities, suitable for use in portable devices, such as personal organizers, wherein instead of separate watch lists, a pool of items being watched is maintained, and the total number of items which can be contained in the pool is intentionally limited to a predefined number, and further wherein each of the items in the pool includes an associated tag which defines a watch list to which it belongs, and the pool of the items being watched can be viewed simultaneously as one coherent collection, or specific watch lists can be displayed. |
| US08660926B1 |
System for automatically transferring account information, such as information regarding a financial services account
A system for transferring a customer's account information from one account to a new account is described. The system utilizes a switch kit application and associated system that can determine services at the old account and facilitate the transfer of these services to the new account. |
| US08660924B2 |
Configurable interactive assistant
The present invention employs branded virtual characters across multiple network platforms throughout various stages of complex transactions (eg, selling insurance). These characters initially engage prospective customers on a network platform, such as a social network, and persist over time across other network platforms (eg, university and company websites) to educate consumers until they are ready to purchase—e.g., from their “trusted advisor”—particular products and services offered by various providers. An extensible configuration tool (“Config Tool”) is provided to simplify the continued development of such a system, as well as customization of individual Product Modules (e.g., a Life Insurance Module) by product and service providers (e.g., insurance companies and employers) and other third-party developers (before and during runtime). This Config Tool provides a variety of extension points permitting virtual characters to be added and their appearance and behavior modified, along with the details of the products and services being offered. |
| US08660923B2 |
Recurring money transfer
A system and method of performing a value-advance money transfer comprising: receiving a money transfer request; determining whether an account associated with a sender of funds includes a sufficient amount of funds to cover a money transfer request; providing an amount of funds from a money transfer provider to the account associated with the sender to cover the money transfer request; making the amount of funds available to the sender for use in the money transfer; and executing a money transfer from the account to the control of the receiver. |
| US08660921B2 |
System for categorizing inventory and securing purchase and sale
A method implemented by a first party to facilitate a sale by a second party of at least a subset of a set of items includes contractually committing, at a first time, to the second party to purchase title in the item subset, generating a displayable user interface accessible over a network to the second party, the user interface operable to allow the second party to input information describing the items, receiving the information over the network, and issuing via the network, at a second time of the first party's choosing and subsequent to the first time, a purchase order to the second party for the item subset. Alternatively, the purchase order may be issued by the second party at a second time of the second party's choosing and subsequent to the first time. |
| US08660920B2 |
Managed deposit program
A method and machine readable storage for an enhanced return federally insured deposit program. A banking method consistent with the present invention can include receiving deposits from multiple customers into a custody account at a bank for enabling management of the received deposits by an administrator of the deposits. The received deposits can be distributed into corresponding custody accounts at a multitude of different issuer banks. In this regard, the distribution of the received deposits can be managed to maintain an agreed upon minimum level of deposits at different contracted issuer banks. |
| US08660911B2 |
Systems and methods to facilitate online transactions
Systems and methods are provided to facilitate online transactions via mobile communications. In one aspect, a system includes a communication interface to receive an input from a merchant; a plurality of converters to interface with a plurality of controllers for delivery of messages sent by the system to collect funds for purchases made by customers; and a common format processor coupled with the plurality of converters to send the messages. The common format processor determines a total price of one or more messages, in response to a first customer making a first purchase from the merchant at a first price. The total price of the one or more messages is based on the first price and a portion of service charges associated with the one or more messages, where the portion is specified by the input received via the interface. |
| US08660909B2 |
Fuel stop analyzer system and method
A system and method of providing fuel pricing quotes for air travel trip having at least two trip legs. Via the system, a user is able to quickly and automatically retrieve fuel pricing quotes, thereby bypassing the time-consuming process of drawing up a flight plan and figuring out where and when to refuel in light of such variables as aircraft endurance, fuel economy, safety, and the numerous options in refueling locations. |
| US08660908B2 |
Online auction propagation
It has been discovered that instances of an item to be sold in online auctions may be linked to an already created online auction listing for the item. The associating propagates the online auction listing to these other item instances. The propagating allows junior bidders (i.e., losing bidders) to continue pursuing purchase of the associated item instances and allows the junior sellers of the associated item instances to leverage the information of the online auction listing. |
| US08660907B2 |
Methods for determining customer motivations in purchasing decisions
Systems, methods, and apparatus for determining motivator counts associated with purchase selections are presented herein. A data store can be configured to store purchase selections of respective products. A server can be configured to determine an incremental purchase time between a first purchase selection of the purchase selections and a second purchase selection of the purchase selections. Further, the server can be configured to determine a standard deviation of incremental purchase times between respective purchase selections of the purchase selections. Furthermore, the server can be configured to increment a prime motivator count associated with the second purchase selection based on the incremental purchase time and the standard deviation. |
| US08660904B2 |
Architectural design for service request and order management application software
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer program products, for implementing a software architecture design for a software application implementing service request and order management. The application is structured as multiple process components interacting with each other through service interfaces, and multiple service interface operations, each being implemented for a respective process component. The process components include an Outbound Delivery process component, a Site Logistics Processing process component, a Confirmation and Inventory process component, a Customer Requirement Processing process component, a Supply and Demand Matching process component, a Logistics Execution Control process component, a Service Request Processing process component, a Customer Quote Processing process component, a Service Order Processing process component, a Service Contract process component, and a Service Confirmation Processing process component. |
| US08660899B2 |
Transferring behavioral profiles anonymously across domains for behavioral targeting
A system and method are disclosed for transferring a behavior profile anonymously across multiple domains. The behavior profile may be established from a first domain, but transferred anonymously such that it is accessible by other domains. The behavior profile may be used for generating targeted advertisements. |
| US08660896B2 |
System for creating separate data serving spaces for each mobile carrier in a plurality of mobile carriers
A system is described for creating a separate data serving space for each mobile carrier in a plurality of mobile carriers. The system may include a processor, a memory and an interface. The memory may store a keyword, a plurality of mobile data items corresponding to the keyword and a plurality of mobile carriers, and a search request. The interface may communicate with a user through a mobile device. The processor may be operatively connected to the interface and the memory and may store the plurality of mobile data items in the memory. The processor may receive a mobile search request from a user via the interface, and may determine the mobile carrier in communication with the interface. The processor may then retrieve the mobile data item corresponding to the keyword and the determined mobile carrier and may serve the retrieved mobile data item to the user. |
| US08660894B2 |
Advertising proximity route selection
A request for route information to a destination is received by a route processing module. Available routes to the destination are determined in response to receiving the request. It is determined, for at least one available route to the destination, whether the available route provides proximity to at least one targeted advertisement. At least one available route to the destination is provided upon determining that the available route provides the proximity to the targeted advertisement. |
| US08660892B2 |
Coupon generation and redemption system
A coupon generation and redemption method that includes displaying on a video display associated with a computing device at least one product on which at least one promotion is available. An input device that is associated with the computing device is used to select at least one of the at least one product for which the consumer desires to receive at least one coupon. The at least one coupon is printed using the computing device. The at least one product referenced in the at least one coupon is purchased. The at least one coupon is redeemed. |
| US08660891B2 |
Interactive mobile advertisement banners
In embodiments, the present invention provides a method and system for associating an interactive element with a sponsored content, presenting the sponsored content to a mobile communication facility based at least in part on a relevancy to a mobile subscriber characteristic associated with the mobile communication facility, and allowing a user of the mobile communication facility to engage the interactive element within the sponsored content. |
| US08660890B2 |
Electronic toll management
Electronic toll management includes capturing an image of a vehicle triggered by a transaction event representing an interaction between the vehicle and a facility, determining a vehicle identifier based on the captured image, checking whether the vehicle identifier matches a vehicle identifier provided by a party, and notifying the party of an occurrence of a match. |
| US08660888B2 |
System, computer-implemented method, and non-transitory, computer-readable medium to determine relative market value of a sale group of livestock based on genetic merit and other non-genetic factors
Systems, computer-readable medium having computer program, and related computer implemented methods are provided to determine the relative market value of a sale group and to generate a genetic merit scorecard. Such systems, computer-readable medium having computer program, and related computer implemented methods utilize the genetic merit estimates of relatives of a sale group, along with associated economic weighting factors to determine the relative market value of the sale group. The genetic merit scorecard reflects the relative market value and ranking of the genetic merits of the sale group, as compared to the industry. |
| US08660886B1 |
Continuously updated data processing system and method for measuring and reporting on value creation performance that supports real-time benchmarking
The invention affords a data processing system and method for assessing the performance of a business enterprise in creating and realizing value. More particularly, the invention affords a data processing system and method that supports the provision of real-time benchmarking through a network of benchmarking service providers. |
| US08660883B2 |
System and method of estimating the cost of a print job
A method of estimating the cost of a target print job may include identifying a target print job having a document type and one or more attributes, for each attribute of the target print job, determining a correlation between the attribute and a cost of the target print job using a plurality of historical print jobs associated with the document type, and identifying one or more of the attributes as cost drivers based on the correlation of the attribute to the cost of the target print job. The method may include identifying one or more relevant historical print jobs from the plurality of historical print jobs based on values for the identified cost drivers, estimating a cost of the target print job using the one or more relevant historical print jobs, and displaying the estimated cost associated with the target print job. |
| US08660878B2 |
Model-driven assignment of work to a software factory
A computer implemented method, system, and/or computer program product assigns work to a software factory for implementing a project. A project model of a project is generated. Project model subcomponents are mapped to work packets that are available to a software factory, thus leading to the generation of a work plan for performing the project via an execution of the available work packets. |
| US08660877B2 |
Technician control system
Technician control, in which a control system is configured to control scheduling and dispatch operations for work orders being handled by technicians. Multiple technician devices are each associated with one or more technicians, are configured to communicate, over a network, with the control system, and also are configured to provide output in response to communications that are received from the control system and that are related to the scheduling and dispatch operations performed by the control system. A set of scheduling configuration options may be pre-defined and user input weighting at least one of the scheduling configuration options relative to other of the scheduling configuration options may be received. A scheduling application used by the control system to perform scheduling operations may be configured based on configuration data that reflects the weighting and scheduling operations may be performed using the configured scheduling application. |
| US08660875B2 |
Automated corrective and predictive maintenance system
A method and system for automated corrective and predictive maintenance is described herein. In one embodiment, a failure notification associated with a tool is received, wherein the failure notification indicates one or more failure events for the tool. Maintenance data associated with the tool is obtained, wherein the maintenance data includes one or more maintenance events for the tool. An optimal schedule is created for the tool by merging the failure notification and the maintenance data. |
| US08660874B2 |
Integrated technology (IT) estimation modeling
In general, the present invention provides a technique for IT estimation modeling of any organization. Although this estimation model is applied to SOA herein, it is not limited to solely estimating SOA activities; the maturity-based estimation modeling can be applied to other areas and disciplines, even beyond the IT industry. The maturity-based model of the present invention also offers executives and project managers a very effective estimating tool to analyze the impact of project variances. Resources do not need to be taken off projects and assigned to perform estimations, as this model acquires knowledge over time and delivers ever more precise estimates with each successive project. Executives and project managers may analyze the effects of additional staff, function changes, or other events to an overall project. Additionally, new projects may be estimated without utilizing current personnel with this adaptive learning model. |
| US08660873B1 |
Succession planning for registered investment advisors
Methods and apparatuses are described for determining a succession planning track for a registered investment advisor. A server generates a plurality of statements associated with business and personal goals, and each statement in the statement sets is associated with one or more succession planning tracks. The server determines one or more preliminary tracks based on selected statements received from the remote computing device. The server generates a set of business and personal value statements associated with the preliminary tracks. The server determines a final track based on a priority ranking for at least one of the business and personal value statements. The server generates a succession action plan corresponding to the final track. |
| US08660871B2 |
Apparatus and methods for providing career employment services
Systems, methods, distributed networks, and computer-readable media are provided that relate to recruiting and employment services. Background information associated with talent-capability attributes is received from talent. Job description information is received from employers. Prospective matches are identified between employers and talent, and employers and talent are given an opportunity to consent to exchange of talent contact information. |
| US08660868B2 |
Energy benchmarking analytics
A benchmarking computing application is configured to create a benchmark run for a segment of customer profiles. Customer profiles from the segment include a parameter, termed an adjustment parameter, that may affect energy consumption by the associated customer. The results of the benchmark run include energy consumption values for individual customer profiles in the segment, an average energy consumption value for the entire segment of customer profiles, and also adjustment energy consumption value. The adjustment energy consumption value reflects the portion of energy consumption by a particular customer attributed to the difference between the average value of the adjustment parameter for the segment and the value of the adjustment parameter for the particular customer profile. |
| US08660855B2 |
System and method using extended authorization hold period
Embodiments of the present invention relate to methods and apparatuses serving to provide assurance that healthcare providers will receive payment for services rendered. In one embodiment, a payment card (or other portable consumer device) provides an extended authorization hold period (for example up to 21 days). This hold period allows the healthcare provider to request authorization for payment from the patient's credit, debit, FSA, HRA, or HSA payment card, submit the insurance claim, and then upon receipt of a health insurance carrier's Explanation of Benefits (EOB) within the hold period, submit for settlement only that amount actually due from the patient. In accordance with an alternative embodiment, pending receipt of the EOB from the insurer, the healthcare provider flags a transaction in a point-of-sale (POS) terminal device or server for storage and delayed submittal over an electronic payment network. Embodiments in accordance with the present invention are particularly applicable to payment of claims in healthcare plans following adjudication by a payer. |
| US08660852B2 |
CRM office document integration
The method and system claimed recognizes phrases or segments within an electronic document, where the phrase or segment acts to trigger a function call to a sever component that connects to a CRM system or a CRM database and retrieves relevant information relating to and based on the recognized phrase. Further, the relevant information is formatted and displayed based on the content of the information retrieved and the context and content of the identified phrase. |
| US08660851B2 |
Stereo signal decoding device and stereo signal decoding method
A decoding device reduces abrupt changes in the number of channels in a decoded signal when transmission errors occur as a result of lost frames in an encoding/decoding system for multichannel signals. In the device, a demultiplexer receives an encoded monaural signal and an encoded differential signal and detects change over time in the received encoded differential signal. An M signal decoder decodes the encoded monaural signal and obtains a decoded monaural signal. An S signal decoder decodes the encoded differential signal and obtains a decoded differential signal. A smoothing unit performs smoothing on the decoded differential signal by means of a computation involving the decoded differential signal and coefficients corresponding to the change over time detected by the demultiplexer. An L/R signal computation unit computes a decoded stereo signal from the decoded monaural signal and the smoothed decoded differential signal. |
| US08660849B2 |
Prioritizing selection criteria by automated assistant
Methods, systems, and computer readable storage medium related to operating an intelligent digital assistant are disclosed. A user request is received, the user request including at least a speech input received from a user. The user request including the speech input is processed to obtain a representation of user intent for identifying items of a selection domain based on at least one selection criterion. A prompt is provided to the user, the prompt presenting two or more properties relevant to items of the selection domain and requesting the user to specify relative importance between the two or more properties. A listing of search results is provided to the user, where the listing of search results has been obtained based on the at least one selection criterion and the relative importance provided by the user. |
| US08660847B2 |
Integrated local and cloud based speech recognition
A system for integrating local speech recognition with cloud-based speech recognition in order to provide an efficient natural user interface is described. In some embodiments, a computing device determines a direction associated with a particular person within an environment and generates an audio recording associated with the direction. The computing device then performs local speech recognition on the audio recording in order to detect a first utterance spoken by the particular person and to detect one or more keywords within the first utterance. The first utterance may be detected by applying voice activity detection techniques to the audio recording. The first utterance and the one or more keywords are subsequently transferred to a server which may identify speech sounds within the first utterance associated with the one or more keywords and adapt one or more speech recognition techniques based on the identified speech sounds. |
| US08660845B1 |
Automatic separation of audio data
Systems and methods for audio editing are provided. In one implementation, a computer-implemented method is provided. The method includes receiving digital audio data including a plurality of distinct vocal components. Each distinct vocal component is automatically identified using one or more attributes that uniquely identify each distinct vocal component. The audio data is separated into two or more individual tracks where each individual track comprises audio data corresponding to one distinct vocal component. The separated individual tracks are then made available for further processing. |
| US08660844B2 |
System and method of evaluating user simulations in a spoken dialog system with a diversion metric
Systems, methods and computer-readable media associated with using a divergence metric to evaluate user simulations in a spoken dialog system. The method employs user simulations of a spoken dialog system and includes aggregating a first set of one or more scores from a real user dialog, aggregating a second set of one or more scores from a simulated user dialog associated with a user model, determining a similarity of distributions associated with each of the first set and the second set, wherein the similarity is determined using a divergence metric that does not require any assumptions regarding a shape of the distributions. It is preferable to use a Cramér-von Mises divergence. |
| US08660843B2 |
Management and prioritization of processing multiple requests
Systems and methods are described for systems that utilize an interaction manager to manage interactions—also known as requests or dialogues—from one or more applications. The interactions are managed properly even if multiple applications use different grammars. The interaction manager maintains a priority for each of the interactions, such as via an interaction list, where the priority of the interactions corresponds to an order in which the interactions are to be processed. Interactions are normally processed in the order in which they are received. However, the systems and method described herein may provide a grace period after processing a first interaction and before processing a second interaction. If a third interaction that is chained to the first interaction is received during this grace period, then the third interaction may be processed before the second interaction. |
| US08660838B1 |
System and method for marketing over an electronic network
A method, and system for implementing the method, comprising the steps of providing an object browser user supporting at least speech communication with the user, permitting user-controlled browsing of objects received through a computer communication network; downloading an object through the computer communication network in dependence on a user input, the object having an associated data file defining a predetermined vocabulary and a predetermined grammar; presenting the downloaded object through the object browser, wherein speech information received from the user is interpreted in conjunction with both the predetermined vocabulary and the predetermined grammar; and selectively generating at least one communication through the computer communication network, in dependence on the interpreted speech information. |
| US08660837B2 |
Language processor
A language processor according to the present invention includes a probability calculating section (103) having a probabilistic model by which a probability that a set of partial referring expression pairs represents an object, each pair consisting of an attribute value expression and a part expression modified by the attribute value expression, the set of referring expression pairs including a pair concerning the whole object, is represented by a product of probabilities each of which is a probability that each partial referring expression pair represents the object. The probability that each partial referring expression pair represents the object is obtained using a probability that the object is chosen, a probability that represents the salience of a part of the object, and a probability representing relevance between the part of the object and an attribute value, a probability that the part expression is used for a part of the object, and a probability that the attribute value expression is used for an attribute value. It further includes at least one memory section (101) for storing values of probabilities used for the probabilistic model. The probability calculating section calculates the probability that the set of partial referring expression pairs represents the object using the values of probabilities stored in the at least one memory section and the probabilistic model. |
| US08660836B2 |
Optimization of natural language processing system based on conditional output quality at risk
Techniques are disclosed for optimizing results output by a natural language processing system. For example, a method comprises optimizing one or more parameters of a natural language processing system so as to improve a measure of quality of an output of the natural language processing system for a first type of data processed by the natural language processing system while maintaining a given measure of quality of an output of the natural language processing system for a second type of data processed by the natural language processing system. For example, the first type of data may have a substantive complexity that is greater than that of the second type of data. Thus, when the natural language processing system is a machine translation system, use of a conditional value at risk metric for the translation quality provides for a high quality output of the machine translation system for data of a high substantive complexity (for sophisticated users) while maintaining an average quality output for average data (for average users). |
| US08660835B2 |
System and a method for automatically detecting text type and text orientation of a bidirectional (BIDI) text
A method for processing a bidirectional text is described. The method includes: dividing the text into a set of words; determining a first parameter representing a number of non-bidirectional words in the text, a second parameter representing a number of bidirectional words in the text, a third parameter representing a number of non-bidirectional words in reverse letter order in the text, and a fourth parameter representing a number of bidirectional words in reverse letter order in the text; and determining a text type attribute and/or a text orientation attribute of the bi-directional text from the values of the first parameter, of the second parameter, of the third parameter and the fourth parameters. |
| US08660828B2 |
Looking glass: a hybrid simulation system to model cascading events within a black box system
A hybrid simulation system to model cascading events within a black box system may include a tessellated field operable to allow a plurality of black box components to execute on a processor and communicate without needing a direct connection between the black box components. The black box components have transfer functions defined over a common coordinate system and time. |
| US08660822B2 |
System and method for generating three dimensional functional space reservation systems of a vehicle
A system and method for generating three dimensional functional space reservation systems of a vehicle from a conceptual space reservation is disclosed. In one embodiment, a method includes collecting functional, connectivity and geometrical information from design databases associated with a conceptual space reservation of a vehicle upon receiving a request from a client device for three dimensional functional space reservation systems. The method also includes creating a mathematical model in a binary form using the functional, connectivity and geometrical information. The method further includes applying a set of rules and checks governing a design of the vehicle to the mathematical model, and applying a set of functional attributes to the mathematical model for creating connectivity information in the mathematical model. Moreover, the method includes generating the three dimensional functional space reservation systems of the vehicle for a computer-aided design standard platform based on the mathematical model. |
| US08660802B2 |
Medical system and method for providing glycemic control based on glycemic response information
A medical device for providing information for glycemic control is provided, wherein the device comprises a storage unit arranged to store information on an initial dose of insulin and to store information on a blood glucose level measured after the initial dose of insulin was administered and after specific food was consumed, and a determining unit arranged to determine a subsequent dose of insulin to be administered before the specific food is consumed based at least on said information on the initial dose of insulin and said information on the blood glucose level. |
| US08660799B2 |
Processing and detecting baseline changes in signals
According to embodiments, systems and methods for detecting the occurrence of events from a signal are provided. A signal processing system may analyze baseline changes and changes in signal characteristics to detect events from a signal. The system may also detect events by analyzing energy parameters and artifacts in a scalogram of the signal. Further, the system may detect events by analyzing both the signal and its corresponding scalogram. |
| US08660797B2 |
Method and system of calculating a fault throw
Calculating a fault throw. At least some embodiments are methods of determining an underground surface or horizon including: identifying an occluded zone residing between a first and second faults, the occluded zone not penetrated by an actual borehole, and the first and second faults intersect an expected location of the surface; calculating a fault throw for the first fault; and calculating the underground surface using the fault throw. Calculating the fault throw may include: calculating a first pseudo depth at a first end of the first fault, the calculating the first pseudo depth using at least one actual depth value that resides across the first fault from the first end; calculating a second pseudo depth at a second end of the first fault, the second end distinct from the first end; and determining the fault throw using the first and second pseudo depths. |
| US08660793B2 |
Expediting reverse geocoding with a bounding region
A method for reverse geocoding location information obtained by a wireless communications device comprises determining the location information for a location, communicating the location information to a reverse geocoding server that reverse-geocodes the location information to generate location description data for a bounding region that geographically surrounds the location, receiving the location description data from the reverse geocoding server for the bounding region containing the location, and caching the location description data for the bounding region in a memory cache on the device. When the current location remains within one or more bounding regions cached on the device, location description data is fetched from the cache, thus improving application responsiveness. Only when the current location is no longer within the bounding region(s) does the device communicate a new request to the reverse geocoding server. |
| US08660788B2 |
Navigation system with audio and method of operation thereof
A method of operation of a navigation system includes: configuring a preference; selecting an introduction point based on the preference; composing an introduction message about the introduction point; and displaying a non-intrusive notification for the introduction message on a device. |
| US08660784B2 |
Methods and systems for determining driver efficiency in a vehicle
A method for determining driver efficiency in a vehicle includes the steps of measuring a vehicle parameter, and calculating the driver efficiency based, at least in part, on the vehicle parameter. The vehicle parameter is influenced, at least in part, by an action taken by a driver. |
| US08660782B2 |
Method of displaying traffic information and displaying traffic camera view for vehicle systems
A method or a system for displaying a traffic camera view of a road on a display within a vehicle. The method or the system may include monitoring a movement of the vehicle, determining an existence of a traffic event based on the movement of the vehicle, receiving a traffic camera view on the road, and displaying the traffic camera view if the traffic event is detected. |
| US08660780B2 |
System and method for delivering departure notifications
The present invention provides a system and method for determining the necessary departure time to allow for an on-time or desired arrival time at a particular location over a particular route based on the evaluation of historic, present, and predicted road conditions. |
| US08660767B2 |
Apparatus and system for controlling automatic stopping of vehicle
A control apparatus is provided to control the stopping of a vehicle. The control apparatus comprises a speed detector that detects a speed of a vehicle, speed acquiring means, target setting means, and control means. The speed acquiring means acquires an actual speed of the vehicle from detected results of the speed detector. The target setting means sets a target acceleration of the vehicle depending on the actual speed when the vehicle is stopped automatically. The control means controls an actual acceleration of the vehicle at the target acceleration. |
| US08660766B2 |
Method for computational determination of the oil temperature in a clutch unit
A clutch unit (47) comprises a wet friction clutch for controllable transmission of a torque from an input element (41) to an output element (45), housing that contains the friction clutch and oil for cooling the friction clutch, and an actuator (51) for actuating the friction clutch. The actuator is attached to the housing in a thermally conductive way and has a temperature sensor (108) for sensing a temperature of the actuator. In order to computationally determine the oil temperature (TÖl) in the clutch unit (47), a thermal input power to the clutch unit is determined as a function of at least a speed of the input element and/or of the output element. The difference between the thermal input power and the thermal output power is determined, and the oil temperature is determined as a function of the difference that was determined. |
| US08660764B2 |
Method for actuating a friction clutch
A method for actuating a friction clutch, in particular for a motor vehicle drivetrain. The friction clutch is acted on with a clutch pressure generated by a hydraulic actuator arrangement which has an electrically actuable fluid source and which has a hydraulic actuator whose state is characterized by an actuator actual value. The actuator actual value is related to the clutch pressure. The method has the steps: forming a regulation-oriented model of the actuator arrangement, which model has at least one fluid source actuating variable as an input and at least the actuator actual value as a flat output and which model can be inverted; forming an inverse model of the actuator arrangement; and inputting an actuator nominal value into the inverse model and using the model actuating variable which emerges therefrom for actuating the fluid source. |
| US08660762B2 |
Automatic transmission and protection method thereof
When temperature increase promotion processing (for example, prohibiting lockup application and prohibiting shifts to a high gear position) is started while an initial value of an ATF temperature is in a low temperature region, an ATCU determines whether to terminate the temperature increase promotion processing on the basis of a current ATF temperature, and when the temperature increase promotion processing is started while the initial value of the ATF temperature is in an extremely low temperature region, the ATCU determines whether to terminate the temperature increase promotion processing on the basis of a duration of the temperature increase promotion processing. When the temperature increase promotion processing is determined to be complete, the ATCU terminates the temperature increase promotion processing. |
| US08660759B2 |
Traveling crane operation control apparatus and method
To provide a traveling crane operation control apparatus and method enabling an operator to operate a traveling crane quickly and accurately by one hand and by a motion of his or her body with a controller worn thereon, without the need to gaze at his or her hand, and also allowing variable-speed control and fine speed control of each drive unit.An operation control apparatus for a traveling crane has an operation control circuit section 1 including a base unit 2 wearable on an arm 4 of an operator and a control unit 3 operable by a hand. The base unit 2 has base unit tilt detecting means detecting a tilt direction and tilt angle of the base unit 2 in a vertical plane, base unit direction detecting means detecting a direction in which the base unit 2 points in a horizontal plane, and command signal generating means generating a travel command signal and a travel speed command signal for a travel motor, a traverse command signal and a traverse speed command signal for a traverse motor, and an elevation command signal and an elevation speed command signal for an elevation motor. The traveling crane can be controlled to perform travel, traverse, lifting and lowering operations simply by pointing the base unit 2 in a direction in which travel and traverse motions are desired to occur and in a vertical direction in which a lifting or lowering motion is desired to occur, and actuating the control unit 3. |
| US08660749B2 |
Motor vehicle steering system
A motor vehicle steering system steers vehicle wheels in response to the operation of an operation member for steering a vehicle. The system includes a rutted road judging unit which judges whether the vehicle is driving on a rutted road or not, and a steering enhancement control unit which enhances steering of vehicle wheels in response to operation of the operation member when the rutted road judging unit judges that the vehicle is driving on a rutted road than when the rutted road judging unit judges that the vehicle is not driving on a rutted road. |
| US08660747B2 |
Electrical auxiliary heating unit for a motor vehicle
An electric auxiliary heating unit reliably avoids temperature overshoots of the heated air. To this end, the temperature of the air flowing into the heating is determined and converted into a heating power for controlling the heating elements. This is preferably done via a stored characteristic field via which a plurality of vehicle parameters, such as the vehicle speed, the opening condition of the convertible top, etc., can be taken into account. Also, the temperature of the incoming air can be derived from temperature values which are already available in the vehicle. A user-friendly electric heating can be realized very easily in this way. Temperature fluctuations in the heated air can be avoided reliably and easily even in the case of dynamically varying operating conditions of the motor vehicle. |
| US08660746B2 |
Accelerator pedal apparatus
An accelerator pedal apparatus includes a torque motor which generates operational reaction force corresponding to operation of an accelerator pedal, an accelerator pedal position sensor (APS) which detects an accelerator opening rate of an accelerator pedal and outputs the accelerator opening rate to an engine control unit (ECU) being an upper device, and a control unit which applies the operational reaction force as controlling driving of the torque motor. The control unit applies the operational reaction force as controlling driving of the torque motor based on the accelerator opening rate when being commanded to apply the operational reaction force by the ECU. |
| US08660744B2 |
Speed control system for walk behind powered equipment
A walk-behind self-propelled apparatus having a mobile structure and a handle assembly coupled to the mobile structure. The handle assembly includes a pair of grip portions. A ground engaging traction member is rotatably coupled to the mobile structure and imparts traction movement to the mobile structure for movement on the ground. A power source outputs drive power and a drive system, coupled between the power source and the ground engaging traction member, selectively transmits the drive power to the ground engaging traction member. A speed control actuation system coupled to the drive system includes a control member pivotable about an axis. An electronic member senses a control member rotation and relays an electronic signal to a controller which generates a linear speed control signal to the drive system. |
| US08660743B2 |
Torque detection device
An output section of one detection coil of a first resolver and an output section of one detection coil of a second resolver are connected by a first inter-coil resistor element, and an output section of the other detection coil of the first resolver and an output section of the other detection coil of the second resolver are connected by a second inter-coil resistor element. A sin wave signal for excitation is supplied to one of first and second excitation coils, and a cos wave signal for excitation having the same frequency as that of the sin wave signal for excitation and having a phase delay of 90° in relation to the sin wave signal for excitation is supplied to the other of the first and second excitation coils. By virtue of this configuration, the rotational angles of the two resolvers can be calculated even when one of detection lines is broken. |
| US08660740B2 |
System for monitoring vehicle use
A system for monitoring of vehicles and particularly heavy vehicles and their compliance with specific network (e.g. road) access conditions uses vehicle telematics solutions. The system includes an in-vehicle unit (IVU) associated with a vehicle being monitored. The IVU includes a receiver for receiving positioning signals, a processor for processing a time-marked log of vehicle data, a storage element for storing the time-marked log and a first wireless communication element for communicating time marked data to a Service Provider (SP) processing apparatus. One or more Service Providers operate Service Provider (SP) processing apparatus. The SP processing apparatus include a SP wireless communication element for receiving time-marked data from one or more IVUs and a SP processor for processing received data. The SP processor is adapted to compare received data from the time-marked log of a vehicle with one or more vehicle-use conditions applicable to that vehicle, and to generate a non-compliance report where the comparison indicates that non-compliant activity has occurred. A SP storage element stores non-compliance reports and relevant time-marked data. |
| US08660737B2 |
Vehicle handling assistant apparatus
A vehicle handling assistant apparatus is discloses, the vehicle handling assistant apparatus utilizes an environment acquisition means to acquire an environment signal and utilizes an environment presentation means to present the environment signal. The vehicle handling assistant apparatus also utilizes an obstacle detection means to detect an obstacle from the environment signal acquired by the environment acquisition means and output an obstacle signal. The obstacle detection means may be implemented by an infrared sensor, a radar sensor, an ultrasonic sensor or a camera. An obstacle region generation means generates an obstacle region signal from the environment signal based on the obstacle signal generated by the obstacle detection means. The obstacle region signal includes information about a position of the foot point line and a width of the obstacle region. An environment signal adjustment means adjusts the environment signal presented by the environment presentation means based on the obstacle region signal. |
| US08660735B2 |
Method of providing information to a vehicle
A method of providing information to a vehicle involves selecting content, and a source from which the information is retrievable. The information pertains to the content and the content is associated with an entity. The vehicle is tracked in real time. Via a telematics unit of the vehicle, vehicle data obtained from the tracking (including at least a then-current vehicle location and speed) is uploaded to an offboard server. The data is utilized, by a processor associated with the offboard server, to identify the entity that is within proximity of the vehicle. Information from the selected content source is obtained via the offboard server. The information is associated with the entity. The information is transmitted to the telematics unit. The information that is displayed to the vehicle is associated with an object representing the entity that is within the field of view of a vehicle occupant. |
| US08660734B2 |
System and method for predicting behaviors of detected objects
Aspects of the invention relate generally to autonomous vehicles. Specifically, the features described may be used alone or in combination in order to improve the safety, use, driver experience, and performance of these vehicles. |
| US08660729B2 |
Limp-home mode control device for electric vehicle
A control device for a vehicle includes a motor configured to drive wheels, a high-voltage battery configured to supply electric power to the motor, and a battery charger configured to charge the high-voltage battery by using a power supply outside the vehicle. The control device further includes a failure detection unit configured to detect a specific failure, and a drive prohibition unit configured to prohibit driving of the vehicle. The drive prohibition unit prohibits the driving of the vehicle when the failure is detected by the failure detection unit in an initial check before start of driving of the vehicle and when the high-voltage battery is charged by using the power source outside the vehicle immediately before the initial check. |
| US08660728B2 |
Bicycle motor-assist control system
A bicycle motor control system is configured to control a drive assistance motor that can be installed on a bicycle having a drive force transmitting body. The bicycle motor control system comprises a memory device, a pedaling force detecting device, a propulsion force calculating section and a motor control section. The memory device stores a tooth count of a plurality of transmitting teeth of the drive force transmitting body. The pedaling force detecting device detects a pedaling force. The propulsion force calculating section calculates a propulsion force based on a pedaling force detected by the pedaling force detecting device and the tooth count of the transmitting teeth stored in the memory device. The motor control section controls the motor based on the propulsion force. |
| US08660723B2 |
Method for determining run-curves for vehicles in real-time subject to dynamic travel time and speed limit constraint
A method reduces the computational complexity for determining optimal run-curves for a specific travel time of a vehicle along a route between two locations, when travel time and speed limit requirements are subject to change. The determination is partitioned into preprocessing and real-time steps. A set of weights are generated, and run-curves for the weights are obtained and stored during the preprocessing. A state transition matrix is generated in the preprocessing step and updated partially in the real-time step only for a subspace of velocities and locations constrained by speed limits. The optimal weight for solving an objective function to obtain an optimal run-curve can be obtained by searching with an initial estimation of multiple weights, and interpolating from the relation between the travel time and the initial weights to obtain the optimal weight. |
| US08660722B2 |
Method for optimizing aircraft landing on a runway
A target vertical speed, to be applied to the aircraft upon the initiation of the aircraft's flaring phase, is defined in relation to the ground. An optimized ground slope associated with an approach path to be tracked during the landing, is then determined as a function of the determined target vertical speed and of at least one outside parameter. This optimized ground slope is at least equal to a predefined ground slope. Upon interception by the aircraft with the approach path, the aircraft is guided to track the determined optimized ground slope associated with the approach path and reach the target vertical speed upon initiation of the flaring phase. |
| US08660718B2 |
Flight operational consequences system
According to an embodiment, a method provides flight operational consequence information by receiving a status indication associated with an aircraft component at a processing device in the aircraft during a flight. The processing device ascertains one or more operational consequences that includes displaying text strings associated with the status indication, wherein each of the one or more operational consequences are associated with one or more flight segments of the flight. At least a subset of the one or more operational consequences are provided on a display associated with the processing devices and an indication is provided on the display of the one or more flight segments associated with the one or more operational consequences. |
| US08660716B1 |
Comparative vertical situation displays
Methods, systems, and computer-readable media are described herein for providing comparative vertical situation displays of multiple flight routes. According to embodiments presented herein, information regarding a currently active flight route of an aircraft and one or more proposed alternate flight routes is combined with airborne constraint data to display a comparative vertical situation display for each of the active route and/or the proposed routes. Each of the comparative vertical situation displays shows the vertical component of the corresponding flight route along with the vertical components of one or more airborne constraints along the corresponding flight route. The comparative vertical situation displays are concurrently shown on a display unit, allowing the flight crew of the aircraft or route planning personnel to compare the impact of the airborne constraints along the vertical component of each of the flight routes. |
| US08660715B2 |
Method and device for automatically monitoring air operations requiring navigation and guidance performance
A monitoring device includes one or more devices for implementing monitoring, in order to check whether two flight management systems are able to operate in dual mode during operations requiring navigation and guidance performance. For example, a change condition verification device may be included in a second or slave flight management system so that sequencing requests and resynchronization requests received from a first or master flight management system are verified for accuracy before implementation. The verification may include comparison of positional data used by the first and second flight management systems or a comparison of a resynchronized flight plan to information from a navigation data database. |
| US08660714B2 |
Aircraft systems and methods for providing exhaust warnings
Aircraft system and method are provided for a first aircraft in an airport environment, the airport environment including a second aircraft. The system includes a sensor on the first aircraft configured to determine a temperature profile of engine exhaust from the second aircraft; and a processing unit coupled to the sensor and configured to construct a velocity profile of the engine exhaust from the second aircraft based on the temperature profile and to generate a warning for a pilot of the first aircraft based on the velocity profile. |
| US08660713B2 |
Methods and systems for an improved in-trail procedures display
Systems and methods for improving situational awareness on an in-trail procedures display. The present invention provides a display with visual identification and indication for aircraft that do not meet the ITP criteria. In the in-trail procedures display, feedback is provided when a pilot selects an invalid ITP flight level, unambiguous feedback is provided to the pilot upon selection of a valid flight level, and valid inter-target aircraft located in intervening flight levels after selection of a valid flight level are positively identified and invalid target aircraft for selection are uniquely identified. |
| US08660708B2 |
Method and system for healthy home zoning control configured for efficient energy use and conservation of energy resources
A system provides space conditioning zone control in a building for efficient energy use and conservation of energy resources. The system includes an energy transfer module coupled to a solar thermal system to receive a first airflow and an auxiliary thermal module coupled to the energy transfer module for processing a return airflow to provide a conditioned airflow for one or more spatial zones. The system further includes a zone controller coupled directly to the auxiliary thermal module and a thermostat in each spatial zone for operating the auxiliary thermal module. Furthermore, the system includes a master control module wirelessly communicated with each thermostat and configured to operate the energy transfer module. The master control module initiates a transfer of the first airflow based upon a first setpoint before the zone controller initiates a generation and transfer of the conditioned airflow based upon a second setpoint. |
| US08660706B2 |
SCADA unit
In order to improve a decentralized control and data recording unit (2) (SCADA unit) for installation in decentralized energy resources (DER), in particular, wind turbine units, and/or for decentralized use at the site of a decentralized energy resource (DER), in particular a wind turbine unit, wherein this control and data recording unit comprises a control unit, in particular a turbine control unit (11), for controlling the decentralized energy resources (DER), in particular wind turbines, a database (10) for storing operating data and/or operating parameters, and also a network communications interface (13) for exchanging data and/or control commands with external units (1, 14, 15, 29) via an external network (7), so that this control and data recording unit can be better integrated into the business processes of stakeholders and have the capability of flexibly adapting to different systems, changing customer wishes, and also changing hardware, it is proposed that said unit have a SCADA operating system kernel (9) for controlling and/or managing the turbine control unit (11), the database (10), and the communications unit (13). |
| US08660703B2 |
Method and device for controlling a wastewater network
A control method for controlling a wastewater network, said network including actuators suitable for influencing the flow rates of water in the network, with the behavior of the actuator depending on setpoints, the method comprising: a step of selecting a rain type from a list of predetermined rain types, as a function of forecast or measured rain; a step of selecting a set of setpoints from a list of predetermined setpoints, as a function of the selected rain type; and a step of sending the setpoints of the selected set of setpoints to said actuators. The method further comprises a step of obtaining first state information representative of the current state of the network, said set of setpoints being selected from the list of predetermined sets of setpoints as a function of the selected rain type and as a function of the first state information. |
| US08660702B2 |
Central cooling and circulation energy management control system
A novel central cooling and circulation energy management control system is provided, including an energy management controller device, a central cooling system, and associated methods, according to various embodiments. In one illustrative embodiment, a central cooling energy management controller device includes one or more signal connections, one or more electronic memory elements, and one or more processors. The controller device has access to resources that are either stored on the electronic memory elements or are accessible via the signal connections. The resources include an equipment data table, an equipment and operational configuration table, an operational efficiency matrix, and executable instructions. The processor determines operational control signals for energy-efficient operation of a central cooling system, based on sensor input from the central cooling system, and on data from the equipment data table, the equipment and operational configuration table, and the operational efficiency matrix; and provides the operational control signals via the signal connections. |
| US08660699B2 |
Behavior control system and robot
A behavior control system capable of controlling the behavior of an agent (robot) such that the agent securely applies a force to a moving object. The behavior control system calculates the degree of overlapping of a time-series probability density distribution between a predicted position trajectory of an object (ball) and a position trajectory candidate of a counter object (racket). Further, a behavior plan of the agent (robot) is generated such that the counter object is moved according to a desired position trajectory, which is a mean position trajectory or a central position trajectory of a position trajectory candidate of the counter object which has the highest degree of overlapping with the predicted position trajectory of the object among a plurality of position trajectory candidates of the counter object. |
| US08660698B2 |
Line inspection robot and system
The present invention relates to an overhead transmission line inspection robot and system for inspecting transmission line components and right of way conditions. The line inspection robot includes at least one drive system for propelling the robot along a line, a platform adapted to pivot relative to the at least one drive system, and a control system adapted to control the robot. |
| US08660696B2 |
Robot and method for controlling the same
A robot and a method of controlling the same are disclosed. The robot determines a presence or absence of a non-registration object if a registered object is not present in a photographing area, obtains an object name by communicating with a user if the presence of the non-registration object is decided, and additionally registers the object name in a database. Therefore, the robot recognizes the non-registration object present in the photographing area. |
| US08660687B2 |
Medication bin having an electronic display and an associated method and computer program product
A medication bin is provided that includes a bin housing configured to carry medication and other medical supplies, an electronic display, such as a liquid crystal display or electronic paper, carried by the bin housing and a processor carried by the bin housing and configured to control the electronic display. The processor is configured to receive information relating to a destination of the medication or other medical supplies to be carried by the medication bin. The processor is also configured to direct the electronic display to present a representation of the destination. Corresponding methods and computer program products are also provided. |
| US08660686B2 |
Method and device for fixing and transporting impact sensitive sheets in sputter feed systems
The invention relates to a device and method for fixing glass sheets in a superclean room for feeding a sputter system, comprising the following: a) a roller drive (12), designed to convey a transport frame (19) to a centering unit that centers the transport frame (19) horizontally and to convey the frame from the unit to a sputter system; b) a frame lifting device (7) which lifts and lowers the transport frame (19) in a magnetic rail mounting (2); c) a fixing unit (5, 8) which fixes and releases the transport frame (19), opening heads (3) being provided for opening and closing frame clips (17) that receive a glass plate (18); d) a lifting unit for lifting and pivoting said glass plate (18), the unit bringing the plate into a vertical position and placing said plate in the transport frame (9). |
| US08660685B2 |
Robot system and workpiece picking method
A robot system includes a robot. A robot control device is configured to control an operation of the robot, and includes a workpiece shape memory configure to store a shape of workpieces. A shape sensor is configured to detect shape information about the workpieces. A target workpiece detector is configured to detect a graspable workpiece based on the shape information detected by the shape sensor. A grasping information memory is configured to store a grasping position indicating which portion of the graspable workpiece is to be grasped by the robot. A grasping operation controller is configured to control the robot to grasp the graspable workpiece detected by the target workpiece detector and to pick the grasped workpiece. A disturbing operation controller is configured to control, if no graspable workpiece is detected by the target workpiece detector, the robot to perform a workpiece disturbing operation. |
| US08660680B2 |
Methods of monitoring acceptance criteria of pharmaceutical manufacturing processes
Methods of monitoring an acceptance criteria of pharmaceutical manufacturing processes are described and disclosed herein. Consequently, the methods provide a means to perform validation and quality control on an integrated level whereby a pharmaceutical manufacturer can ensure data and product integrity and minimize cost. |
| US08660678B1 |
Automatic score following
A method for audio processing includes receiving in an electronic processor an audio input from a performance of a musical piece having a score. A two-dimensional state space is defined, including coordinates modeling the performance, each coordinate corresponding to a respective location in the score and a tempo of the performance. For each of a plurality of times during the performance, a probability distribution is computed over the two-dimensional state space based on the audio input. Based on the probability distribution, the performance is matched to the score. |
| US08660676B2 |
Mitigating the impact of nonlinear echos by dynamic range compression
Mitigation of nonlinear echoes by dynamic range compression may be provided. An audio output may be evaluated to determine whether nonlinear echoes are interfering with an audio signal. In order to reduce such nonlinear echoes, a dynamic range compression algorithm may be applied to the audio signal prior to output. The signal may be modified according to a compression wave and/or subjected to an attenuation factor. |
| US08660674B2 |
Information types for an APP rating system
A technique to automatically provide assistance with the selection of an app for an electronic game is described. An apparatus may comprise an app rating application arranged to receive as input game performance information representing gameplay of an electronic game. The app rating application may process the game performance information and output an app rating indicator of an app corresponding to the app identifier parameter based on the performance information to assist a user in selecting the app. Other embodiments are described and claimed. |
| US08660673B2 |
In-game contextual telemetry systems and methods
A gaming analysis engine is presented. The analysis engine acquires gaming telemetry data representative of a game player's interactions with a game. The engine can compare the acquired telemetry data against known gaming contexts comprising disparate telemetry data sets or marketing performance data to determine if the telemetry data satisfies triggering criteria. When the triggering criteria are satisfies, the engine can trigger an event representing a signal that desirable information is available to a user or an action is to be taken. |
| US08660672B1 |
Systems and methods for managing emissions from an engine of a vehicle
Disclosed embodiments include methods of removing carbon dioxide from combustion gas from an engine of a vehicle, systems for removing carbon dioxide from combustion gas from an engine of a vehicle, vehicles, methods of managing carbon dioxide emissions from an engine of a vehicle, and computer software program products for managing carbon dioxide emissions from an engine of a vehicle. |
| US08660667B1 |
Styletless cardiac lead extraction with rolling traction handle
A cardiac lead extraction system is described that is styletless in nature. A cord is provided having at least one crimping bead or other deformable mass thereon. A wire associated with the lead, such as an inner wire thereof is exposed. The crimping bead on the cord is then brought adjacent the wire and crimped onto the wire. Preferably, multiple crimping beads are used for securing the cord at multiple places to the wire. The cord can also be looped and crimped back on itself. Tension is then applied to the cord and correspondingly to the lead. An extraction sheath can then be advanced over a cover of the lead to separate it from adjacent body tissues before lead removal. A traction handle allows a distal end of the cord to be readily held and tensioned by a medical practitioner, especially while advancing the extraction sheath over the lead. |
| US08660664B2 |
Methods for forming implantable medical devices
A method of forming an implantable medical device includes providing an implantable microstimulator. The microstimulator includes a body with a first end and an opposing second end. The microstimulator further includes internal circuitry that is disposed in the body and that provides stimulation energy. The microstimulator additionally includes a first microstimulator electrode that is electrically coupled to the internal circuitry and that is disposed along the first end portion of the body. The method further includes providing a first lead assembly that includes an insulated conductor with at least one first remote electrode disposed at a distal end of the insulated conductor, and a first connector disposed at a proximal end of the insulated conductor. The first connector is disposed over the first microstimulator electrode to completely cover the first microstimulator electrode. The first connector also electrically couples the insulated conductor to the first microstimulator electrode. |
| US08660662B2 |
Low impedance, low modulus wire configurations for a medical device
Techniques are disclosed related to wires that may be used within a medical device. According to one example, a wire may include a core formed of a material having a resistivity of less than 25 micro-ohm-cm and a layer of a biocompatible beta titanium alloy surrounding the core. As one example, the beta titanium alloy has an elastic modulus ranging from 30 GigaPascals (GPa) to 90 GPa and comprises at least two elements from a group consisting of titanium, molybdenum, niobium, tantalum, zirconium, chromium, iron and tin. In one embodiment, the core may be formed of silver, tantalum, a tantalum alloy, niobium, a niobium alloy, platinum, a platinum alloy, palladium, or a palladium alloy. In some examples, one or more wires may be incorporated into a coil or a cable and one or more such coils or cables may be carried by a medical device such as a medical electrical lead. |
| US08660659B2 |
Cross-band communications in an implantable device
An ambulatory monitoring device includes a sensor to monitor a physiological signal and a battery power source. The device also includes a wireless receiver adapted to monitor a first frequency band having frequencies below 1 MHz and configured to detect and receive, using less than 10 micro-amps of current from the battery power source when operating, wireless communications within the first frequency band from a remote device at least one meter away. The device further includes a wireless transmitter adapted to transmit—after receipt from the remote device of a first wireless communication within the first frequency band that includes an invitation for further communication—a second wireless communication in a second frequency band having frequencies above 10 MHz, the second wireless communication comprising data indicative of the physiological signal as sensed by the sensor. |
| US08660642B2 |
Lumen-traveling biological interface device and method of use
Lumen-traveling biological interface devices and associated methods and systems are described. Lumen-traveling biological interface devices capable of traveling within a body lumen may include a propelling mechanism to produce movement of the lumen-traveling device within the lumen, electrodes or other electromagnetic transducers for detecting biological signals and electrodes, coils or other electromagnetic transducers for delivering electromagnetic stimuli to stimulus responsive tissues. Lumen-traveling biological interface devices may also include additional components such as sensors, an active portion, and/or control circuitry. |
| US08660641B2 |
Method for identifying and evaluating parallel motor control function in the brain based on electromyogram signals
The present invention provides a system for evaluating motor control function in the brain. This system is for evaluating the motor control function in the brain of a subject from the electromyogram (EMG) data of joint prime movers and the data on the position, velocity and acceleration of the joint, wherein both of the data have been obtained by measuring a target-tracking movement performed by the subject with a motion measurement unit that tracks a moving target, the system comprising the following means (a) to (c): (a) means for separating the frequencies of the EMG data and the frequencies of the data on the position, velocity and acceleration into a plurality of frequency components; (b) means for determining the ratio of viscosity coefficient to elastic coefficient (B/K ratio) for each of the frequency components by applying the EMG data and the data on the position, velocity and acceleration to a specific movement equation; and (c) means for evaluating the causal relationship between the motor control function in the brain and the target-tacking movement using the B/K ratio as an index. |
| US08660640B2 |
Determining a size of a representation of a tracked member
An volume of a patient can be mapped with a system operable to identify a plurality of locations and save a plurality of locations of a mapping instrument. The mapping instrument can include one or more electrodes that can sense a voltage that can be correlated to a three dimensional location of the electrode at the time of the sensing or measurement. Therefore, a map of a volume can be determined based upon the sensing of the plurality of points without the use of other imaging devices. An implantable medical device can then be navigated relative to the mapping data. |
| US08660639B2 |
Method of noninvasive electrophysiological study of the heart
The invention relates to medicine, namely to cardiology, cardiovascular surgery, functional diagnosis and clinical electrophysiology of the heart. The invention consists in reconstructing electrograms, whose experimental registration requires an invasive access, by computational way on unipolar ECGs recorded at 80 and more points of the chest surface. An application of the method allows one to improve the accuracy of non-invasive diagnosis of cardiac rhythm disturbances and other cardio-vascular diseases. |
| US08660636B2 |
Regional reconstruction and quantitative assessment in list mode PET imaging
A method for reconstructing list mode data comprises: reconstructing all list mode data of a list mode data set (30, 160) to generate a first reconstructed image (32, 62); selecting a sub-set of the list mode data set; and reconstructing the sub-set of the list mode data set to generate an enhanced reconstructed image (84, 86). An image generation system comprises: a reconstruction module (24) configured to perform a standard reconstruction of a list mode data set to generate a standard reconstructed image (32, 62); and a re-reconstruction module (24, 70, 80, 82, 150, 152, 154) configured to perform a reconstruction other than the standard reconstruction of at least a portion of the list mode data set to generate an enhanced reconstructed image (84, 86). |
| US08660634B2 |
System and method for improved lung fourier decomposition magnetic resonance imaging
A system and method for producing a more accurate ventilation image, as compared to existing lung Fourier decomposition methods, and an image of ventilation dependent blood volume are provided. A time series of images depicting a subject's lungs during free-breathing are acquired and co-registered to a reference image. From the registration process, geometric information indicative proton density changes due to inhalation and exhalation of gas is obtained. This geometric information is used to correct the proton density values in the time series of image frames. These corrected proton density values are Fourier transformed to produce a Fourier spectrum, from which a signal peak occurring at the breathing frequency is extracted and Fourier transformed to produce a more accurate ventilation image. This more accurate ventilation image can be subtracted from a breathing frequency image produced by conventional lung Fourier decomposition methods to produce a ventilation dependent blood volume image. |
| US08660632B2 |
Medical image processing apparatus, X-ray CT apparatus, MRI apparatus, ultrasound diagnostic imaging apparatus, and medical image processing method
A medical image processing apparatus has a parameter calculating unit, a storage unit, and an image generating unit. The parameter calculating unit analyzes data of a plurality of time-series medical images, each containing an image of an organ having a functional blood vessel and a feeding blood vessel, and calculates a parameter based on at least a blood volume in the feeding blood vessel. The storage unit stores in advance a table that associates parameters with degrees of a cancer progression of the organ. The image generating unit refers to the table, obtains a degree of the cancer progression corresponding to the calculated parameter, and generates an image to which the obtained degree is applied on a region-by-region basis. |
| US08660631B2 |
Torsional support apparatus and method for craniocaudal rotation of animals
A torsional support apparatus is disclosed for craniocaudal rotation of test animals to enable multiple-view imaging. The animal is supported in a U-shaped loop of optically transparent material and the loop is moved to apply torsion to the animal to rotate it about its craniocaudal axis. Methods of imaging also are disclosed that use the torsional support technique. |
| US08660624B2 |
Determination of the state of health of a human being
The invention provides a method for the determination of the state of an entity, in particular the state of health of a human being or animal. The method includes the step of contacting secreted compounds or related reaction products with a surface linked to an optical waveguide in such a way that compounds binding to the surface can influence the propagation of light in the waveguide, determining the occurring influence by means of an optical interferometric measuring principle, and deducing the state from the occurring influence. The invention further provides a device for the determination of such a state. |
| US08660622B2 |
Roller assembly for a mobile communication device
The disclosure is directed at a roller assembly for a mobile communication device having a top portion and a bottom portion, the top and bottom portions slidably connected, the roller assembly comprising a slide plate; a guide plate including guide rails for receiving the slide plate; an actuator connected to the slide plate and the guide plate; a shuttle portion, located within the slide plate; and a cam portion for engaging with the shuttle portion, the cam portion including an intermediate detent portion; whereby when the slide plate is moved between open and closed potions, the slide plate can be stopped in an intermediate position by the intermediate detent portion. |
| US08660612B2 |
Electronic device having an NFC antenna in a speaker compartment and related methods
An electronic device may include a housing including a speaker compartment, processing circuitry within the housing, and wireless transceiver circuitry within the housing and coupled to the processing circuitry. The electronic device may also include NFC transceiver circuitry within the housing and coupled to the processing circuitry, a speaker in the speaker compartment and coupled to the processing circuitry, and an NFC antenna positioned within the speaker compartment and coupled to the NFC transceiver circuitry. |
| US08660605B2 |
Mobile communications device interface device and method
A telephone includes a full-sized telephone handset, a telephone base unit including a plurality buttons including numeric buttons and function buttons, a display for displaying status data to a user, a physical interface for irremovably restrain a cellular telephone, a Bluetooth interface for transmitting control data and digital audio data to and from the cellular telephone, a processor for receiving user inputs and communicating the inputs to the cellular telephone, and an audio processor for processing audio data prior to output to and for processing audio data input from the telephone handset. |
| US08660603B2 |
Mobile radio module for multiband-multimode operation
A module for a mobile radio device is proposed, whose central element is a multiswitch MS, which, as desired, can connect outputs for transmission and/or reception branches SZ, EZ of different mobile radio systems to an antenna ANT. The module is suitable for a multiband operation and, optionally, additional multimode operations and includes at least one pair of outputs for transmission and reception branches of a frequency duplexed mobile radio system. Between each output of the multiswitch and the antenna, a matching element is provided, which allows an electrical matching of the branches to be connected to it. The duplex operation is carried out via separate transmission and reception filters, or on the switch via separate outputs for transmission and reception branches. |
| US08660600B2 |
Over-the-air overload indicator
Methods, systems, apparatus and computer program products are provided to facilitate power control in wireless communication systems. A cell that is experiencing excessive interference conditions may generate an over-the-air overload indicator indicative of interference conditions at the cell. The over-the-air overload indicator is received by one or more user equipment in a neighboring cell. In response, the user equipment determines adjustments to its transmit power that reduce and/or eliminate the interference. This determination may be carried out by the user equipment, by the serving base station, or through cooperation between the user equipment and the serving base station. This Abstract is provided for the sole purpose of complying with the Abstract requirement rules that allow a reader to quickly ascertain the disclosed subject matter. Therefore, it is to be understood that it should not be used to interpret or limit the scope or the meaning of the claims. |
| US08660598B2 |
Systems and methods for prioritizing beams to enable efficient determination of suitable communication links
Methods and systems for enabling the rectification of deteriorated channel conditions on a communication link are described. In particular, the methods and systems can employ mechanisms that prioritize beams in accordance with signal quality measures, direction of departures of transmission beams and/or direction of arrivals of reception beams to address variable channel conditions. |
| US08660595B2 |
Communication arrangement for transmission of communication signals along a pipe line
It is disclosed a communication arrangement for transmission of communication signals along a pipe line where the communication arrangement comprises: a pipe with outer pipe walls made of a conductive material, a non conductivity coating surrounding said pipe where the coating has dielectric properties, an outer coating/layer or fluid that has conductive properties which encapsulates the non conductivity coating, and at least one radio frequency transmitter and one radio frequency receiver configured to transmit electromagnetic fields in the coating. |
| US08660593B2 |
Method and system for the prevention of unwanted wireless telecommunications
A method and system for filtering unwanted wireless telecommunications includes structure and steps/function for monitoring traffic associated with roaming subscribers, the traffic being carried via inter-network Internet Protocol links. Structure and steps/function are also provided for intercepting a send-routing-information message from an originating node within the traffic, and initiating a response to the originating node so as to direct the originating node to send a short message service (SMS) or Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) associated with the send-routing-information message to a SPAM-filter via an SMS or MMS delivery message. Structure and steps/function are further provided for receiving the SMS or MMS at the SPAM-filter, and determining, at the SPAM-filter, whether the SMS or MMS constitutes an unwanted message. Also, structure and steps/function are provided for invoking an action for managing the SMS based on results of the determining process. |
| US08660591B2 |
Terminal and no-disturbance method thereof
A terminal and the no-disturbance method thereof are provided, the method comprises: the terminal sends a power-off registration message to the network side, and completes the power-off registration process; in the case that a voice or short message calls the terminal, the network side returns a prompt that the terminal has been powered off to the calling party. By the processing above, it is ensured that in the case of initiating a call and sending short messages normally, the terminal can effectively prevent the user from being disturbed, and return a prompt that the terminal has been powered off to the calling party. |
| US08660587B2 |
Method for providing position information using time period
A method for providing position information and identifying positions of others, using an electronic apparatus, includes detecting first position information regarding a current position of the electronic apparatus, transmitting a position inquiry request and information regarding a predetermined time period to an external apparatus, receiving second position information regarding a position of the external apparatus from the external apparatus for the predetermined time period, and displaying positions of the electronic apparatus and the external apparatus on a screen using the first position information and the second position information. |
| US08660586B2 |
Indoor positioning using joint likelihoods
A method in a mobile terminal for estimating a position of the mobile terminal includes: receiving an expected measurement map indicative of an expected measurement of a parameter by the mobile terminal; receiving parameters of a matrix corresponding to the expected measurement map; capturing, by the mobile terminal, actual measurements of the parameter for a plurality of communication devices; and utilizing the received parameters and actual measurements to estimate the position of the mobile terminal, where each of the actual measurements and the expected measurement map comprise values indicative of a delay in a communication path between the mobile terminal and one or more of the plurality of communication devices. |
| US08660584B2 |
Equipment managing system, terminal device, and location information displaying method
Equipment information including an installation height, which is an elevation, is stored as equipment information in an equipment management DB as location information for the location wherein an applicable piece of equipment is installed, and in a terminal device, the equipment information for the applicable equipment is acquired from the equipment management DB by a location information displaying unit in response to a display request operation, and a differential height, acquired through subtracting the current height, detected by a height detecting unit, from the installation height of the equipment, included in the equipment information that was acquired, is displayed on the screen of a screen displaying unit. |
| US08660579B2 |
Method and a device for enabling a mobile terminal to be detected by at least one base station
A method and associated device for enabling a mobile terminal to be detected by a first base station of a wireless cellular telecommunication network. The method receives from the mobile terminal a message comprising information representative of the location of the mobile terminal in the geographical area of the first base station, and transfers a predetermined signal if the location of the mobile terminal is comprised in a geographical area of the first base station, the predetermined signal being representative of a request to the first base station to start to transfer signals in the cell of the first base station. |
| US08660578B1 |
Proximity human motion detection using wireless signals
A device, system, and method are presented for detecting motion. The system may include the device and a first transmitter and a second transmitter configured to transmit a first set of wireless signals and a second set of wireless signals, respectively. The device may have a receiver configured to receive the first and second set of wireless signals, and may further include a processing unit that determines a first value and a second value indicative of fading attenuations experienced by the first set of wireless signals and the second set of wireless signals, respectively. The processing unit may further determine whether the first and second values are each consistent with motion of an object in proximity to the device. The processing unit may cause the device to output an indication of presence of the object if both values are consistent with motion of the object in proximity to the device. |
| US08660577B2 |
Method and apparatus for on-device positioning using compressed fingerprint archives
A method and apparatus are provided for on-device positioning using compressed fingerprint archives. The method and apparatus may be configured to provide compression of localization fingerprints, to facilitate efficient on-device positioning based on the RF fingerprint model, and to estimate the physical distance between two or more devices. Embodiments of the method may receive a space-to-access point histogram that corresponds to an access point as observed in a space. The histogram may be normalized and a mean and standard deviation may be calculated from the histogram. A weight may be assigned to the access point corresponding to the frequency with which the access point is observed within the space. |
| US08660576B2 |
Adaptive location determination
Methods, program products, and systems for adaptive location determination are described. A server computer can receive location information from location-aware mobile devices (e.g., GPS-enabled devices) located in a cell of a cellular communications network. The server computer can calculate an average geographic location using the received locations and distance between each location and the calculated average. The server computer can exclude locations that are sufficiently far away from the average. The server computer can repeat the calculation and exclusion until a level of precision is achieved for the average geographic location. The average geographic location and an error margin can be associated with the cell. The server computer can provide the average geographic location and the error margin to a mobile device (e.g., a non-GPS-enabled device) that is in the cell. The mobile device can display the information on a map display of the mobile device. |
| US08660575B2 |
Method for tracking area management of a mobile terminal using a discontinuous reception (DRX) mode
Methods and a mobile terminal for tracking area management of a mobile terminal using a discontinuous reception (DRX) mode are provided. By having the mobile terminal indicate information to the network related to the cells and/or tracking areas on which the mobile terminal has camped, selection of the most suitable tracking areas for the mobile terminal is facilitated. |
| US08660570B2 |
Physical cell ID allocation method and base station
The present invention discloses a Physical Cell ID (PCI) allocation method and a base station. The PCI allocation method includes the following steps: a target base station obtains a usable PCI list sent by an Operations And Maintenance (OAM) function entity, and removes limited PCIs of the target cell from the usable PCI list to obtain a selectable PCI set (step S102); the target base station obtains the E-UTRA Absolute Radio Frequency Channel Number (EARFCN) information of neighbor cells of serving cells via an X2 interface message, and obtains a first reference PCI set in a predefined manner, cell EARFCN information in the first reference PCI set is different from that of the target cell of the target base station (step S014); the target base station forms a second reference PCI set based on the intersection of the usable PCI list and the first reference PCI set (step S106); if the selectable PCI set is empty, then a PCI is randomly selected from the second reference PCI set as the target PCI (step S108). The success rate of the PCI allocation for the target cell is improved by the present invention. |
| US08660563B2 |
Preamble design method for reducing overhead during handover in hierarchical cellular system
Provided is a handover method of a wireless communication system using a hierarchical cellular scheme. In the method, signal quality of a serving node is measured, so that whether to start scanning for a handover is determined. When the scanning for the handover starts, signal qualities of a serving cell including the serving node and one or more neighbor cells are measured through a first preamble including a first identifier for distinguishing a cell. An intra-cell handover or an inter-cell handover is selected using the signal qualities of the serving cell and the neighbor cells. Therefore, a terminal can easily distinguish between the inter-cell handover and the intra-cell handover, and an overhead during a handover can be reduced because an intra-cell handover procedure is simplified. |
| US08660560B2 |
System for updating a neighbour cell list (NCL) of a wireless access node of a telecommunications architecture and method therefore
The invention relates to a system and method for updating a neighbour cell list of a wireless access node. User terminals to be to be transferred from a first wireless access node of a first wireless access network to a second wireless access node of a second wireless access network are detected. From the first wireless access node, one or more of the detected user terminals are requested to report cell information of a plurality of wireless access nodes of at least one of the first wireless access network and the second wireless access network. The cell information is received from the one or more of the detected user terminals and at least one of the first neighbour cell list and the second neighbour cell list is updated using the received cell information. |
| US08660558B2 |
Method for load balancing of devices in idle mode
The invention discloses a method for a cellular communications system, in which there is a first plurality of cells and a second plurality of base stations, each base station controlling the traffic to and from user terminals in a cell. User terminals can assume an idle mode, where a user terminal when in an idle mode performs cell reselection, comprising an evaluation of the cells which are available to the user terminal. The base stations of a number of cells in the system transmit a set of reselection probabilities, each probability in said set being the probability with which a terminal when in idle mode may carry out a reselection from its present cell to the cell to which the probability refers. |
| US08660556B2 |
Femtocell use for radio frequency network sweeps
Systems and methods that utilize femtocell access points (FAP) to perform radio frequency (RF) network sweeps are provided. In one embodiment, a method includes: predicting an availability of an access point (AP) to perform an RF network sweep; and determining that the access point is available to perform the RF network sweep based, at least, on a prediction that a mobile device on a white list for the access point is not likely to access the access point during a time interval associated with performing the RF network sweep. In another embodiment, a method includes: comparing a network quality characteristic for a wireless channel associated with a FAP with a network quality characteristic for a wired network communicatively coupled to the FAP. The network quality characteristics can be the same. The method can then include employing the comparison to determine to which network an impairment is attributable. |
| US08660555B2 |
Quality of service mechanism
A system comprises a subscriber station and a network, the network comprising an access service network and connectivity service network. In an improved communication method an access service network a quality of service profile for a subscriber is received by an anchor gateway of the subscriber. On the basis of the quality of service profile, a first set of transmission control parameters for the subscriber is determined. The anchor gateway applies the first set of transmission control parameters to user data packets addressed to the subscriber. |
| US08660552B2 |
Device and system for suppression of interference linked to distant paths
An onboard device for receiving a signal coming from an aircraft at a distance d from the device, said signal resulting from the combination of multiple propagation paths, one of the paths corresponding to the main echo of the transmitted signal, said device including an equalizer of processing depth T. The device includes means for estimating the distance covered by the second path, means for deducing therefrom a delay value τ associated with it, means for estimating when τ is greater than or equal to T the interfering signal associated with the main echo and for reducing the contribution of said signal to the total level of interference received. Also a system of communication between aircraft using the onboard device. |
| US08660549B2 |
Avoiding battery depletion of a mobile device
A method of regulating the battery usage of a wireless device includes receiving information indicating the battery charge level of a wireless device over a first wireless communication channel using a short-range wireless communication protocol; choosing a wireless communication protocol for use by the wireless device with a second wireless communication channel based on the received battery charge level information; constructing a message instructing the wireless device to use the chosen wireless communication protocol for communications via the second wireless communication channel; and sending the message from a vehicle telematics unit to the wireless device. |
| US08660546B2 |
Information processing apparatus, navigation system, and data updating method
An information processing apparatus includes a data storage portion that stores data records in which second data is associated with first data; a communicating portion that communicates with an external device; an updating portion that receives the data records from the external device and updates the data records; a screen controlling portion that displays one or more of the first data or the second data, and that receives a specifying operation specifying the first data; a determining portion that determines whether the information processing apparatus is in a state, in which control that uses the first data will be started in response to the screen controlling portion receiving the specifying operation; and a caching portion that caches the first data specified by the specifying operation separately from the data records stored in the data storage portion, when it is determined that the information processing apparatus is in the state. |
| US08660545B1 |
Responding to a video request by displaying information on a TV remote and video on the TV
A handheld device displays multiple applications (“apps”), from which a user selects one app. The selected app displays multiple descriptions of videos, from which the user selects one video. The handheld device transmits a video request containing an identification of the user-selected video. The computer system transmits the user-selected video to the television and transmits a signal to the handheld device, based on the video request. The television responds by automatically displaying on a television screen, a series of frames in the video, on receipt therein. The handheld device automatically displays on a handheld screen, information that is directly or indirectly based on the video request, as the signal is received from the computer system. Two displays based on a single video request, provide a richer viewing experience than a single display. |
| US08660542B2 |
Method and apparatus for allocating frequencies among multiple talkgroups
A multi-carrier receiver radio monitors frequency channels associated with at least one talkgroup to which a multi-carrier receiver radio subscribes. The talkgroup is associated with a set of frequency channels that may carry group call activity. The radio monitors each frequency channel of the set of frequency channels associated with the talkgroup for group call activity. During monitoring, when a new call is detected on one frequency channel of the set of frequency channels associated with the talkgroup, the radio joins the new call. While joined to the new call, the radio continues to monitor the set of frequency channels associated with the talkgroup for additional transmissions to the talkgroup and to monitor a set of frequency channels associated with another talkgroup to which the multi-carrier receiver radio also subscribes for group call activity on the other talkgroup. |
| US08660540B2 |
Supporting version negotiation for positioning for terminals in a wireless network
Techniques for supporting positioning for terminals in a wireless network are described. In an aspect, a message is prepared and transmitted with a message segment including a version of a protocol used to encode the message and a compatibility level associated with inter-operable protocol versions, wherein different compatibility levels indicate non-compatibility between protocol versions. In another aspect, a message is received with a message segment including a version of a protocol used to encode the message and a compatibility level associated with inter-operable protocol versions, wherein different compatibility levels indicate non-compatibility between protocol versions. The compatibility level included in the received message is compared to an internal compatibility level and a response message is prepared and transmitted with a message segment including the internal compatibility level. |
| US08660537B2 |
System for the storage and retrieval of messages
A system for the centralized storage of messages on a telecommunications network includes a processor, memory, and a storage device. The storage device has a message store portion for storing message information, a transaction segment portion for storing segment information, and a message device status portion for storing device information. The message store portion is associated with the transaction segment portion and the device status portion. |
| US08660536B1 |
Mobile Device Management Solution
The use of mobile devices which are capable of communicating using uncontrolled networks (e.g., cellular networks) can be managed using multi-band access points and multi-band controllers which can monitor and apply policies to data sent over the uncontrolled networks. Technology for applying policies to data sent over uncontrolled networks can be deployed in a variety of configurations, including configurations where the application of policies is performed using functionality built into a multi-band access point, rather than a separate multi-band controller. These configurations also include configurations which use access points and/or controllers which are specifically designed for uncontrolled networks (e.g., cellular access points). Applications of this technology can be made in a wide variety of contexts, including corporate, military and law enforcement contexts. |
| US08660528B2 |
Adaptive coverage area by beacon breathing
The embodiments disclosed herein relate to a system and method for redirecting unauthorized user equipment (UE) from a femto base station (BS) to a macro network. The system checks whether the UE is authorized or not by comparing the identifier of the UE with a list of authorized UE that are stored in the memory of the femto BS. If the UE is found to be unauthorized, the UE is redirected to the macro network. |
| US08660526B1 |
Location-based intrusion detection system
A method of detecting messages from an unwanted source in an ad-hoc network is disclosed. According to the method, a first message is received that purports to be from a mobile communication device. The first purported message has a first location component incorporated therein. A second message is received that purports to be from the mobile communication device. The second message has a second location component incorporated therein. The first location component is compared with the second location component. It is determined that one of the first purported message and the second purported message is not from the mobile communication device when the first location component is inconsistent with the second location component. |
| US08660524B2 |
Enforcing limits on free and/or discounted electronic communications
Limits are placed on the number of free and/or discounted communications (such as voice calls and text messages) available to a user, based on the number of communications received by the user. A user is given an allotment of credits, each worth one or more free and/or discounted communications. A credit balance is established and is continually adjusted as follows: it is increased whenever qualifying communications of a given type are received, and is decreased whenever free and/or discounted communications of the given type are initiated by the user. Once the credit balance has been depleted, the user may be blocked from initiating additional free or discounted communications, until the credit balance is increased. In at least one embodiment, different types of credits can be earned and/or used for different types of communications. In at least one embodiment, exchanges between the different types of credits may be permitted. |
| US08660522B1 |
Directing wireless customers to a network service using an incentive
Architecture for offering enticements to cellular customers that will lead the customers to use the available services at times away from peak usage. For example, the provider can offer incentives (or enticements) that direct users to make phone calls during off-peak times of the hour or day. An incentive can include charging customers reduced minutes (e.g., 0.75 minutes) for each minute used from the customer plan when the customer uses services during off-peak time of the day. This applies to text messaging where users can attach files such as images and short video clips for communication to other cellular users, and to cellular devices via which users can access websites. In general, any services supported by the wireless provider can benefit by providing incentives to move users away from times of high network usage during the day. |
| US08660520B2 |
Emergency notification system for devices within a targeted boundary
An emergency shepherd service includes at least one communications facility configured to provide communication services to at least one communication device in a service area and a notification subsystem including at least one processor and a computer readable medium with instructions. The instructions may be configured to cause the processor to receive information relevant to an affected area and identify at least one communication facility associated with the affected area based on a predetermined knowledge of a site of the communication facility. The instructions may be further configured to cause the processor to discover at least one communication device associated with the communication facility, determine that the communication device should be notified about the information, and send a message based on the information to the communication device. |
| US08660518B2 |
Integration of emergency alert information
A subscriber of the Emergency Alert System (EAS) receiving an EAS alert message can obtain additional multimedia information in based upon the location of the subscriber. The additional multimedia information can include information pertaining to available shelter, medical facilities, the location of emergency supplies, a plume map, evacuation routes, or the like. In an example embodiment, the Global Positioning System or other device location systems is utilized to determine the location of the subscriber. The location information along with EAS alert information is used to query a database to obtain the additional information. |
| US08660517B2 |
Personal assistance monitoring system
A personal assistance monitor for estimating whether a person needs assistance or not, and for requesting assistance, when appropriate. Some embodiments of the present invention can request help for a person even if the person is unconscious or paralyzed. The illustrative embodiment comprises two bracelets—one is worn on a person's right wrist and the other is worn on the left wrist. Each bracelet comprises an acceleration sensor that detects the acceleration of the wrist to which it is affixed. The measures of motion detected by both bracelets are analyzed for insight into the person's well-being. When the illustrative embodiment estimates that the person needs assistance, the illustrative embodiment prompts the person to decline assistance. When the person declines assistance, the illustrative embodiment continues monitoring the person. In contrast, when the person fails to decline the offer of assistance, the illustrative embodiment requests help. |
| US08660514B1 |
Multiple mode RF circuit
A multiple mode RF circuit includes a switching network to switch the RF circuit between a mixer mode and amplifier mode of operation. Two differential amplifier stages coupled to a differential transistor pair form the core of the circuit. A differential local oscillator (LO) source is selectively coupled to the two differential amplifier stages for mixer operation by the switching network and a feedback loop is selectively coupled between the input of the differential transistor pair and the output of the two differential amplifier stages by the switching network for amplifier operation. Gain is controlled in both modes by varying the DC bias on the two differential amplifier stages so that partial cancellation of the amplified signal from the differential transistor pair occur at the RF output. The multiple mode RF circuit operates over a large dynamic range by adjusting a bias current to scale linearity. |
| US08660511B2 |
Antenna diversity scheme employing band pass sampling and fast semiconductor switching
A vehicle or other host station includes first and second antennas, a fast semiconductor switch, a switching controller, and an RF receiver. The controller toggles the switch at a calibrated switching rate to selectively and alternately connect the first antenna to one of the RF receiver and a load having a calibrated impedance value. The first antenna may be a parasitic element in any embodiment using the load. The semiconductor switch may be a CMOS device or a Gallium Arsenide semiconductor switch. A switching control method for use in a vehicle or other host station having the first antenna, the second antenna, and the RF receiver includes transmitting a switching signal from the controller to the switch, and toggling the switch at a calibrated switching rate in response to the switching signal to selectively and alternately connect the first antenna to one of the RF receiver and the load. |
| US08660508B2 |
Calibration of passive harmonic-rejection mixer
An electronic device comprising a passive harmonic-rejection mixer (400) and a calibration circuitry (425). The passive harmonic rejection mixer has an input (102) connected to several sub-mixer stages (402), and the sub-mixer stages are connected to a summing module (406, 408) for generating the output (104). Each sub-mixing stage comprises a gating module (414), an amplifier (416), and a weighting module (418), the gating module selectively passing the input signal or the input signal with inverted polarity under the control of control signals. The calibration circuitry (425) is adapted to input a reference signal (430) to the input of the mixer, receive an output signal (104) from the output of the mixer, and set the weights (K1, K2, K3, K4) of the weighting modules to make the output signal match an expected output signal. |
| US08660507B1 |
Diversity signal reception
A signal is received at a plurality of antennas of a wireless device, and a signal strength indicator is calculated for the signal received at each of the plurality of antennas. From the plurality of antennas, a subset of antennas associated with the highest signal strength indicators are selected, and maximum ratio combining is performed on the signals received by the selected subset of antennas. |
| US08660506B2 |
Residual signal generating circuit, successive approximation ad converter, pipelined ad converter, and radio receiver
There is provided with a residual signal generating circuit in which the capacitive DA converter generates a first difference signal with respect to an input signal based on a criterion voltage, the criterion voltage being indicative of an input range of the input signal, the reference voltage generating circuit divides the criterion voltage to obtain at least one partial voltage signal, the residual signal generating section generates 2N−1 first residual signal according to a difference between the first difference signal and 2N−1−1 first reference signal, the 2N−1−1 first reference signal being 2N−1−1 partial voltage signal among said at least one partial voltage signal generated by the reference voltage generating circuit, the comparator compares the 2N−1 first residual signal with a fixed voltage to obtain 2N−1 first comparison signal each indicative of a logical value, and the decoder decodes the 2N−1 first comparison signal to obtain first data of N bits. |
| US08660505B2 |
Integrated transmitter with on-chip power distribution
Methods and systems for an integrated leaky wave antenna-based transmitter and on-chip power distribution are disclosed, and may include supplying one or more bias voltages and ground for a chip including a plurality of power amplifiers (PAs) utilizing bias voltage and ground lines. One or more leaky wave antennas (LWAs) may be communicatively coupled to the power amplifiers. Wireless signals may be transmitted utilizing the LWAs integrated in the lines in the chip. Radio frequency (RF) signals may be transmitted via the plurality of LWAs. The RF signals may include 60 GHz signals and the LWAs may include microstrip and/or coplanar waveguides. A cavity length of the LWAs may be configured by a spacing between conductive lines in the microstrip and/or coplanar waveguides. The LWAs may be configured to transmit the wireless signals at a desired angle from a surface of the chip. |
| US08660502B2 |
High frequency antenna switch module
In a high frequency antenna switch module, an I/O interface generates various control signals for controlling a switch module on the basis of a system data signal and a system clock, a decoder generates a switch control signal SWCNT for controlling a switch in response to a control signal CNT in the control signals, a timing detector for switch-ports switching generates a switch-port switching detection signal t_sw in response to the switch control signal, a frequency control signal generator generates frequency control signals ICONT and CCONT in response to the signal t_sw, and a negative voltage generation circuit generates a negative voltage output signal NVG_OUT while switching the frequency of the clock signal generated in the negative voltage generation circuit to different frequencies in response to signals ICONT and CCONT. The switch switches the paths among the plural switch ports in response to the signals SWCNT and NVG_OUT. |
| US08660498B2 |
Method for database driven channel quality estimation in a cognitive radio network
A method of determining operating parameters for a secondary system transmitter is described. The transmitter characteristics, including location and operating frequency band, are provided to a geo-location database. The database determines the maximum allowable transmission power that meets various specifications for different channels and conveys the power and channel(s) to the transmitter. The database estimates channel incumbent signal strengths based on the transmitter location and primary and higher-priority secondary incumbent systems, estimates the splatter levels, determines whether adjacent and co-channel interference protection ratios are met, and adjusts the allowable power level accordingly. The database also estimates aggregate co- and adjacent channel primary and secondary incumbent system interference levels at the transmitter location and predicts channel quality for each allowable channel. The estimated levels are updated using measurements of actual levels at the transmitter location. The database dynamically allocates channels using the secondary system priorities. |
| US08660493B2 |
Handheld electronic device including simplified enabling and disabling of short-range wireless communications element, and associated method
An improved handheld electronic device and an associated method provide a simplified mechanism for enabling and disabling a short-range wireless communications element used to create a connection to a short-range wireless network, such as a Bluetooth™ network. The method, implemented by the handheld electronic device, includes enabling the short-range wireless communications element, pairing the handheld electronic device with a second electronic device using the short-range wireless communications element, and providing a first icon on the handheld electronic device after pairing the handheld electronic device with the second electronic device. Thereafter, the method includes disabling the short-range wireless communications element and providing a second icon on the handheld electronic device whenever the first icon is activated, and enabling the short-range wireless communications element and providing the first icon on the handheld electronic device whenever the second icon is activated. |
| US08660489B2 |
System and method for receiving data across an isolation barrier
In one embodiment, A system for communication has a receiver for receiving data from a passive transmitter capacitively coupled to the receiver. The receiver has a sensing element having a plurality of terminals configured to be capacitively coupled to the passive transmitter and DC isolated from the passive transmitter. |
| US08660486B2 |
Method and system for providing concurrent wireless universal serial bus (WUSB) hub and wireless audio/video interfaces within a single device
Systems and methods are disclosed that provide WUSB (wireless universal serial bus) and wireless audio/video interfaces within a single device by integrating a Bluetooth subsystem with a WUSB hub and by providing shared operation between the UWB (ultra wide band) and Bluetooth subsystems. In one embodiment, a system includes both a UWB subsystem and a Bluetooth subsystem that are configured to share one or more operational parameters, such as device pairing information. As such, Bluetooth subsystems and the WUSB subsystems are allowed to cooperate and share information to streamline operation, and this streamlining allows the Bluetooth subsystem to handle isochronous operations, such as audio/video communications, and allows the UWB subsystem to continue to handle USB connected peripheral devices. The disclosed systems with WUSB and wireless audio/video interfaces can also be included as subsystems within other devices, such as display monitors or speaker systems for computer systems. |
| US08660477B2 |
Intra-premises wireless broadband service using lumped and distributed wireless radiation from cable source input
A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, includes a broadband signal access point, which may be located internally or externally to the premises, in combination with the existing cabling is used with radiation device(s) to provide distribution of services, including broadband services, within the premises. Additional embodiments are disclosed. |
| US08660475B2 |
Printer maintenance by application of a service patch
This disclosure relates to instructing deposition of a service patch for different toners, and determining the respective different toner amounts as a function of toner coverages on at least one previous media unit. |
| US08660466B2 |
Development device and image forming apparatus including the same
A development device comprising a developer conveying member and a developer raking member that are rotatably disposed in the developer conveyance path to conveying and agitating the developer in the developer conveyance paths, wherein the developer conveyance path includes first and second developer conveyance paths and first and second communication paths that communicating the first and second developer conveyance paths on both sides, the developer conveying member includes first and second developer conveying members that are disposed in the first and second developer conveyance paths, the developer raking member is disposed in at least one of the first and second communication paths. |
| US08660465B2 |
Surface-patterned photoreceptor
Presently disclosed embodiments relate generally to layers that are useful in imaging apparatus members and components, for use in electrophotographic, including digital, apparatuses. More particularly, the embodiments pertain to an electrophotographic imaging member having its outer surface patterned such that friction with the cleaning blade is significantly reduced. |
| US08660461B2 |
Image forming apparatus including drum unit attachable and detachable along drum shaft
An image forming apparatus includes a drum unit configured to be attachable to and detachable from the body through inserting the drum shaft into the hollow portion of the photoreceptor drum, a plurality of ribs formed on the drum unit, a guide rail formed in a body, and a plurality of cutouts that is formed in the guide rail is configured to engage with the plurality of ribs when the drum unit is positioned at a regular position. The drum shaft and the guide rail are configured with respect to each other such that a center of the drum shaft is substantially coaxial with a center of the photoreceptor drum when the drum unit slides relative to the body in a state in which the plurality of ribs is placed on the guide rail. |
| US08660453B2 |
Image forming apparatus
An image forming apparatus includes an image forming apparatus main body, and a replaceable part detachably attached to the image forming apparatus main body and movable in attaching-and-detaching direction to be attached to or detached from the image forming apparatus main body. The replaceable part includes a storage portion, the storage portion including a memory for storing information of the replaceable part and/or the image forming apparatus main body, and a first contact portion electrically connected to the memory. The image forming apparatus main body includes a second contact portion that electrically contacts the first contact portion. The first contact portion has an inclination at a predetermined angle with respect to the attaching-and-detaching direction. |
| US08660450B2 |
Fixing device
In a fixing device for electrophotography, a fixing sheet carrying thereon a toner image is passed under application of heat and pressure between a toner heating member and a press roller to fix the toner image onto the a fixing sheet. The fixing device is so controlled that a temperature of the toner heating member is set higher and a temperature of the press roller is set lower in a ready-display state during warm-up for starting the fixing device or returning from a power save mode, respectively compared with corresponding set temperatures of the toner heating member and the press roller in a normal ready state. As a result, consumption of fixing energy is suppressed and the time until the ready state is reduced by a relatively simple control. |
| US08660449B2 |
Developer concentration adjustment apparatus, method for adjusting developer concentration, and image forming apparatus using the same
This invention provides a developer concentration adjustment apparatus, a method for concentration adjustment, and an image forming apparatus, in which concentration adjustment is performed by use of a stirring load as a substitute characteristic of viscosity which represents a developer concentration, wherein a trouble of abnormality generation in toner concentration detection due to drying-adhesion of a residual developer on the stirrer is reduced. At the time of finishing the concentration adjustment, a concentration adjustment tank is made to be empty and the stirrer is cleaned by carrier liquid or a liquid developer having a concentration lower than a predetermined concentration. Alternatively, the stirrer is cleaned by empty-stirring operation not being put in a cleaning developer. |
| US08660445B2 |
Fuser unit
A fuser unit includes: a cylindrical member; a heat generator; a nip member; a backup member, which configures a nip part between the cylindrical member and the backup member with the cylindrical member; a conductive member, which is arranged to cover the heat generator at the inside of the cylindrical member; a temperature detection unit; a wiring; a first frame having insulation, which is arranged at an opposite side to the heat generator with respect to the conductive member being interposed therebetween at the inside of the cylindrical member, and which extends along the conductive member; and a second frame, which is arranged at an opposite side to the conductive member with respect to the first frame being interposed therebetween at the inside of the cylindrical member, and which extends along the first frame, wherein the wiring is arranged between the first frame and the second frame. |
| US08660444B2 |
Image forming apparatus with operation stopping control upon temperature sensing in fixing device
An image forming apparatus includes a heat source, a thermal fixing member, a temperature sensing unit, a temperature change determining unit and a halting unit. The heat source generates heat. The thermal fixing member is heated by the heat source and performs a thermal fixing operation by thermally fixing a toner image deposited on a sheet of paper. The temperature sensing unit senses a temperature of the thermal fixing member and outputs temperature data. The temperature change determining unit determines that the temperature of the thermal fixing member decreases based on two pieces of temperature data sensed by the temperature sensing unit at two different timings. The halting unit halts the thermal fixing operation when determination made by the temperature change determining unit is consecutively made for a predetermined number of times. |
| US08660440B2 |
Self-adaptive receivers not requiring FEC feedback
Optical communications networks rely on optical receivers to demodulate optical signals and convert the demodulated optical signal into an electrical signal. Optical receivers may be associated with one or more characteristics which can be made to vary during a transmission of an optical signal in order to improve the quality of the received signal. The present invention may determine a value for the characteristics based on an amount of optical filtering on a communications link which transmits the signal. The value for the characteristics of the receiver may be determined by observing a characteristic of a detector associated with the receiver, such as a ratio of the average photocurrents of the constructive and destructive ports of the detector. The observed characteristic of the detector may be mapped to a predetermined value for the characteristic of the receiver in a lookup table, which may be queried during operation of the receiver. |
| US08660438B2 |
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. |
| US08660436B2 |
Coded light transmission and reception
Coded light has been proposed to enable advanced control of light sources and transmit information using light sources. An assignment for the identification frequencies of light sources enables more unique frequencies to be assigned, i.e. more light sources to be uniquely identified in the system. An available frequency band is divided into non-uniform frequency regions and frequencies are selected from a set of uniformly spaced frequencies in the non-uniform frequency regions. A receiver is based on a successive approach and is enabled to analyze higher harmonics of the received light signals. The light contributions are successively estimated group by group. |
| US08660430B2 |
Method and a system for optimizing radio network layer to implement the network interconnection, and a method for interconnection between the radio network and the wired network
A method for optimizing a radio network layer to implement a network interconnection is provided. A radio network controller is divided into radio access network servers and wireless adapters configured in a base station. The wireless adapters are adapted to process related radio interface protocols, and are connected to an optical access network via an adaptation function. The radio access network servers and a core network are respectively connected to optical network units to implement the interconnection between an optical network and a radio communication network. Therefore, the single-point failure is effectively prevented, the flexibility and extensibility are improved, it is convenient for networking, and the network coverage is enlarged. It is suitable for the service development and radio access applications in the future, and facilitates the combination with the wired network. |
| US08660429B2 |
Wavelength division multiplexing module
A telecommunications module includes an optical wavelength division multiplexer/demultiplexer configured to demultiplex a first optical signal input into the telecommunications module into a plurality of different wavelengths, a fiber optic splitter configured to split a second optical signal input into the telecommunication module into a plurality of optical signals, and a plurality of optical add/drop filters, each of the optical add/drop filters configured to combine one of the optical signals that has been split by the fiber optic splitter and one of the wavelengths that has been demultiplexed by the optical wavelength division multiplexer/demultiplexer into a combination output signal that is output from the telecommunications module. |
| US08660421B2 |
Method and system for imaging high density biochemical arrays with sub-pixel alignment
A method and associated system for imaging high density biochemical arrays comprises one or more imaging channels that share a common objective lens and a corresponding one or more time delay integration-type imaging cameras with optical alignment mechanisms that permit independent inter-channel and intra-channel adjustment of each of four degrees: X, Y, rotation and scale. The imaging channels are configured to independently examine different spectra of the image of the biochemical arrays. |
| US08660420B2 |
Adjustable dual lens camera
A dual lens camera includes a main circuit board, two lens modules positioned on the main circuit board, a controller positioned on the main circuit board, a position sensors positioned on each lens module, two tilting mechanisms positioned on the main circuit board, and each tilting mechanism being connected to a corresponding one of the lens modules, and two flexible circuit boards connecting the position sensors to the main circuit board. The controller controls the tilting mechanisms to tilt the lens modules to a position detectable by the position sensors. |
| US08660416B2 |
Optical unit with shake correcting function
An optical unit with a shake correcting function may include a fixed body, a movable body holding an optical element, a swing support point which supports the movable body so that the movable body is capable of swinging, a spring member formed in a plate shape for urging the movable body toward the swing support point, a shake correction drive mechanism structured to swing the movable body with the swing support point as a swing center, a first stopper part which is protruded in a direction perpendicular to the optical axis direction on a front side in the optical axis direction of the movable body with respect to the spring member for determining a moving range of the movable body, and a second stopper part which is structured to face the first stopper part in the optical axis direction through the spring member on the rear side in the optical axis direction of the fixed body with respect to the spring member for determining a moving range of the movable body in the optical axis direction by restricting movement of the first stopper part. |
| US08660409B2 |
Predictive personal video recorder operation
A predictive personal video recorder (PVR) can include a tuner, a buffer, a predictive tuner, and a predictive buffer. The tuner can be configured to allow viewing of a currently-selected digital video channel chosen from a plurality of digital video channels received by a predictive PVR. The buffer can be configured to store video data of the currently-selected digital video channel, allowing time-shifted viewing of the currently-selected digital video channel. The predictive tuner can be configured to capture video data for a predicted digital video channel. The predicted digital video channel can be selected based upon a predictive factor. The predictive buffer can be configured to store the captured video data for the predicted digital video channel received by the predictive tuner to allow time-shifted viewing of said predicted digital video channel. |
| US08660406B2 |
Playback apparatus for performing application-synchronized playback
A playback apparatus includes a package management unit operable to generate package information by merging files recorded on a first recording medium and a second recording medium, in accordance with merge management information. A selection unit is operable to detect a plurality of playable titles from the package information and select one of the detected titles as a current title. A processing unit is operable to execute an application specified in the current title and that is included in the package information. A playback control engine is operable to control playback of a digital stream in the current title and that is included in the package information. Status registers each store a parameter relating to a playback status of the digital stream, and backup registers each save one of the status registers. |
| US08660402B2 |
3D mode selection mechanism for video playback
The invention relates to a signal comprising video information and associated playback information, the video information and associated playback information being organized according to a playback format, the video information comprising a primary video stream for two-dimensional (2D) display, and an additional information stream for enabling three-dimensional (3D) display, wherein that the associated playback information comprises display information indicating the types of display possible. The invention also relates to a method and device for playback of such a signal, the method comprising receiving the video information and the associated playback information, processing the display information to determine that both two-dimensional (2D) display possible and three-dimensional (3D) display are possible for the received video information; determining a playback setting of a playback device indicating whether the video information should be displayed two-dimensional (2D) or three dimensional (3D); and processing for display either the primary video stream or the primary video stream and the additional information stream, in accordance with the playback setting of the playback device. |
| US08660401B2 |
Information processing device, information processing method, playback device, playback method, and recording medium
The present invention relates to an information processing device, an information processing method, a playback device, a playback method, and a recording medium, which enable the same information to be added to pictures corresponding to a basic stream and an extended stream to be used for display of a 3D image.At the time of encoding, Picture Timing SEI to be added to each picture of a Base view video stream, and Picture Timing SEI to be added to each picture of a Dependent view video stream are generated so that a Picture Timing SEI set to be added to the corresponding pictures represents the same content. The present invention can be applied to a playback device compatible with the BD-ROM standard. |
| US08660397B2 |
Multi-layer module
A multi-layer module that includes a multi-fiber cable storage layer having a cable entry opening and a cable winding structure is disclosed. Also included is a splice storage layer that is discrete from the multi-fiber cable storage layer, the splice storage layer having a splice layer receiving opening in communication with the multi-fiber cable storage layer and a slack storage area. The multi-layer module includes a pigtail storage layer that is discrete from both the multi-fiber cable storage layer and the splice storage layer, the pigtail storage layer having a pigtail connector area and a pigtail storage area, the pigtail storage area comprising a pigtail storage layer receiving opening in communication with the splice storage layer. |
| US08660390B2 |
Redundant ring resonators of varying dimensions to reduce ring resonator tuning requirements
Various embodiments of the present invention relate to systems for reducing the amount of power consumed in temperature tuning resonator-based transmitters and receivers. In one aspect, a system comprises an array of resonators (801-806) disposed adjacent to a waveguide (646) and a heating element (808). The heating element is operated to thermally tune the array of resonators so that each resonator in a subset of the array of resonators is in resonance with a wavelength of light traveling in the waveguide. |
| US08660385B2 |
Feature-based signatures for image identification
A method for deriving a representation of an image is described. The method involves processing signals corresponding to the image. At least one region of the image that is representative of the image is identified. In one embodiment, each identified region corresponds to a feature of the image. For each identified image region, a two dimensional function of at least part of the image region is derived and processed to obtain an intermediate representation of the at least part of the image region. A representation of the image is derived from the intermediate representation of at least one of the image regions. |
| US08660384B2 |
Method and system for predictive scaling of color mapped images
A method for determining a scaled color map of a scaled image is described using the transformation of the original color map and the original image only, independently of the scaled image. A number of colors N in the original color map is determined; and provided N>Nmax, all colors in the original color map are reused in the scaled color map. If N |
| US08660376B2 |
Apparatus and method for data processing based on vertex grouping
A data processing apparatus and method. A vertex grouping unit of the data processing apparatus may group, into at least one group, a plurality of vertices included in a three-dimensional (3D) object desired to be compressed. A prediction mode determination unit may determine a prediction mode for compressing a vertex position with respect to each of the at least one group. A coder may code a prediction error vector and an identification (ID) index of the prediction mode determined with respect to each of the at least one group. |
| US08660374B1 |
Selecting transform paths for compressing visual data
Encoding data includes: determining multiple patterns for computing one-dimensional transforms over a first array of data elements. Each pattern includes multiple subsets of data elements of the first array. Each subset included in a first pattern has substantially the same number of data elements as each of the other subsets included in the first pattern. Each data element of the first array is included in a single one of the subsets included in the first pattern. At least one subset included in the first pattern consists of data elements that are not in a contiguous sequence along a single dimension. Encoding the data includes: computing, for each pattern, multiple one-dimensional transforms over data elements of respective subsets included in the pattern selecting a set of transform coefficients from a group of multiple sets of transform coefficients; and encoding the selected set of transform coefficients to represent the first array. |
| US08660373B2 |
PDF de-chunking and object classification
Systems and methods are described that facilitate identifying objects in a document (e.g., a PDF document) for automatic image enhancement (AIE). A PDF document is “chunked” or segmented into chunks, and boundaries between chunks are identified as real or imaginary. Chunks sharing imaginary boundaries are combined, while real boundaries are retained, to generate “de-chunked” objects. These objects are then classified, and an AIE application is executed on objects meeting pre-specified classification criteria. In this manner, objects of r which AIE is not desired are not subjected to the AIE application, thereby saving time and processing resources associated with enhancing the document. |
| US08660372B2 |
Determining quality of an image or video using a distortion classifier
Techniques and structures are disclosed in which one or more distortion categories are identified for an image or video, and a quality of the image or video is determined based on the one or more distortion categories. The image or video may be of a natural scene, and may be of unknown provenance. Identifying a distortion category and/or determining a quality may be performed without any corresponding reference (e.g., undistorted) image or video. Identifying a distortion category may be performed using a distortion classifier. Quality may be determined with respect to a plurality of human opinion scores that correspond to a particular distortion category to which an image or video of unknown provenance is identified as belonging. Various statistical methods may be used in performing said identifying and said determining, including use of generalized Gaussian distribution density models and natural scene statistics. |
| US08660368B2 |
Anomalous pattern discovery
A trajectory of movement of an object is tracked in a video data image field that is partitioned into a plurality of different grids. Global image features from video data relative to the trajectory are extracted and compared to a learned trajectory model to generate a global anomaly detection confidence decision value as a function of fitting to the learned trajectory model. Local image features are also extracted for each of the image field grids that include object trajectory, which are compared to learned feature models for the grids to generate local anomaly detection confidence decisions for each grid as a function of fitting to the learned feature models for the grids. The global anomaly detection confidence decision value and the local anomaly detection confidence decision values for the grids are into a fused anomaly decision with respect to the tracked object. |
| US08660366B2 |
Smart creation of photobooks
A method for proactively creating a photobook includes identifying a group of images by a computer system and automatically creating a design for a photobook by the computer system without receiving a user's request for designing a photobook if the number of images in the group is determined to be within a predetermined range. Pages of the photobook incorporate a plurality of images in the group. The method further includes presenting the design of the photobook to a user for preview and receiving an order from the user for a physical manifestation of the photobook based on the design. |
| US08660365B2 |
Systems and methods for processing extracted plane features
Systems and methods for processing extracted plane features are provided. In one embodiment, a method for processing extracted plane features includes: estimating an area of each plane of a plurality of planes extracted from data collected by an imaging sensor; generating a list of detected planes including the area of each plane; filtering the list of detected planes to produce a list of candidates for merger, filtering the list of detected planes discarding any plane not satisfying an actual points received criteria; applying a primary merge algorithm to the list of candidates for merger that iteratively produces a list of merged planes by testing hypothetical merged planes against a merging criteria, the hypothetical merged planes each comprising a plane from the list of merged planes and a plane from the list of candidates for merger; and outputting a final list of planes. |
| US08660359B2 |
Estimating atmospheric parameters and reducing noise for multispectral imaging
A method and system for estimating atmospheric radiance and transmittance. An atmospheric estimation system is divided into a first phase and a second phase. The first phase inputs an observed multispectral image and an initial estimate of the atmospheric radiance and transmittance for each spectral band and calculates the atmospheric radiance and transmittance for each spectral band, which can be used to generate a “corrected” multispectral image that is an estimate of the surface multispectral image. The second phase inputs the observed multispectral image and the surface multispectral image that was generated by the first phase and removes noise from the surface multispectral image by smoothing out change in average deviations of temperatures. |
| US08660355B2 |
Methods and systems for determining image processing operations relevant to particular imagery
Image data, such as from a mobile phone camera, is analyzed to determine a colorfulness metric (e.g., saturation) or a contrast metric (e.g., Weber contrast). This metric is then used in deciding which of, or in which order, plural different image recognition processes should be invoked in order to present responsive information to a user. A great number of other features and arrangements are also detailed. |
| US08660351B2 |
Auto-cropping images using saliency maps
A method for auto-cropping includes, creating a saliency map corresponding to a digital image, the saliency map indicating a relevance of pixels within the digital image with saliency values within a number range, a lower end of the number range being less than zero and an upper end of the number range being greater than zero. The method further includes, analyzing the saliency map to find a potential cropping rectangle, the potential cropping rectangle having a maximum sum of saliency values within borders of the rectangle. |
| US08660347B2 |
Image processing apparatus and processing method therefor
In an image processing apparatus for dividing image data into blocks having a predetermined number of pixels and processing each of the divided blocks in sequence, color data of pixels in a block to be processed is compared to identify a pattern flag that corresponds to a placement pattern of the color data included in the block. The identified pattern flag and the color data for the number of colors included in the block are output and, assuming that output color data that corresponds to a pixel at a predefined position in the block is first color data, the pattern flag, the first color data, and other color data that are output for each of the divided blocks are collectively stored in respectively different memory areas. |
| US08660342B2 |
Method to assess aesthetic quality of photographs
A method that includes classifying photographs into categories; generating computational models of image aesthetics, each computational model of image aesthetics associated to one different category of the categories; extracting a plurality of features from a photograph, the plurality of features including simplicity features, global features computed in the whole image and/or low-level features in contrasting regions of an image of the photograph, the contrasting regions being partitions of the image obtained by applying an image segmentation algorithm based on feature contrast to the photograph; and applying a computational model of image aesthetics to at least part of the plurality of features extracted from the photograph, the computational model applied according to the category of the photograph, in order to assess aesthetic quality of the photograph. |
| US08660341B2 |
Color converting apparatus, color converting method, and color converting program
A color converting apparatus includes: an input section acquiring image data of moving image content from each frame; an object detecting section detecting an object from the image in each frame; a confusing region extracting section extracting a confusing region having a confusing hue from the detected object; and a color converting section performing color conversion at least on a region including the confusing region in a particular frame or another frame including the object from which the confusing region has been extracted, when the confusing region is extracted from the particular frame. |
| US08660339B2 |
Method and system for low complexity transcoding of image with near optimal quality
Method and system for low complexity transcoding of images with near optimal quality for display on a terminal are presented. Generating effective transcoding parameters prior to transcoding and retrieving the transcoding parameters based on the features of the input image and the characteristics of the terminal, an output image quality close to that produced by optimal quality transcoding is achieved. The processing time is much smaller in comparison to that required for optimal quality transcoding. |
| US08660338B2 |
Wide baseline feature matching using collobrative navigation and digital terrain elevation data constraints
A method for wide baseline feature matching comprises capturing one or more images from an image sensor on each of two or more platforms when the image sensors have overlapping fields of view, performing a 2-D feature extraction on each of the captured images in each platform using local 2-D image feature descriptors, and calculating 3-D feature locations on the ellipsoid of the Earth surface from the extracted features using a position and attitude of the platform and a model of the image sensor. The 3-D feature locations are updated using digital terrain elevation data (DTED) as a constraint, and the extracted features are matched using the updated 3-D feature locations to create a common feature zone. A subset of features from the common feature zone is selected, and the subset of features is inputted into a collaborative filter in each platform. A convergence test is then performed on other subsets in the common feature zone, and falsely matched features are pruned from the common feature zone. |
| US08660329B2 |
Method for reconstruction of a three-dimensional model of a body structure
Method for reconstruction of a three-dimensional model of a body structure of a subject, said structure comprising a plurality of objects, wherein a database (21) of the structure is provided, the database comprising means to estimate, from a parameter of any object of the structure, another parameter for an object of the structure, a preliminary solution for a first object (L1) is modified to be brought in concordance with subject-specific data (23a, 23b), a reconstruction of the second object (T12) is obtained based on the modified first object and on the database of structure (21). |
| US08660327B2 |
Workstations with circuits for generating images of global injury
Physician interactive workstations with global voxel distribution visualization may also include one or more of a 3-D color scale image of a population of voxel in target regions, organs or systems. The workstation may be configured to evaluate intensity or other measures of voxels of patient images associated with tissue for early detection of a global injury. |
| US08660324B2 |
Textured pattern sensing using partial-coherence speckle interferometry
A system for imaging a textured surface includes a light source that is configured to project an electromagnetic radiation beam onto the textured surface, wherein the projected beam generates first radiation reflected from a first portion of the textured surface to form a speckle pattern, and second radiation reflected from a second portion of the textured surface which is substantially uniform in intensity. The reflected first and second reflected radiation is received by an optical detector, and may be processed to generate an image of the textured surface from the first and second reflected radiation. Methods for textured surface sensing are also disclosed. |
| US08660322B2 |
Passive continuous authentication method
The passive continuous authentication method uses biometric feedback to perform the authentication processes. Computer software and sensors are provided to acquire, memorize, and authenticate both the user's hard (facial) and soft (clothing) biometric information. A registration phase compels the user to register his/her face image into a registration database. Subsequently, the system permits the user to login the system based on facial recognition of the image presented by an attached webcam of the system. During a computing session the system repetitively authenticates the user's identity by comparing the user's acquired face image (hard biometric) to the registered face image in the database. A clothes color histogram (soft biometric) is also computed. The hard biometric recognition mainly decides the authentication result. Otherwise, clothes color histogram matching takes place to decide the result. When the user leaves the terminal the screen locks up. Successful authentication unlocks the screen upon user return. |
| US08660320B2 |
Image processing apparatus and image processing method
An image processing apparatus includes: a data processing section which processes input image data and obtains output image data; a face detecting section which detects a face image on the basis of the input image data and obtains information about a face image region in which the face image exists; and a processing controller which controls the process of the data processing section on the basis of the information about the face image region obtained in the face detecting section. |
| US08660319B2 |
Method, system and computer program product for automatic and semi-automatic modification of digital images of faces
The present invention is directed at modifying digital images of faces automatically or semi-automatically. In one aspect, a method of detecting faces in digital images and matching and replacing features within the digital images is provided. Techniques for blending, recoloring, shifting and resizing of portions of digital images are disclosed. In other aspects, methods of virtual “face lifts” and methods of detecting faces within digital image are provided. Advantageously, the detection and localization of faces and facial features, such as the eyes, nose, lips and hair, can be achieved on an automated or semi-automated basis. User feedback and adjustment enables fine tuning of modified images. A variety of systems for matching and replacing features within digital images and detection of faces in digital images is also provided, including implementation as a website, through mobile phones, handheld computers, or a kiosk. Related computer program products are also disclosed. |
| US08660316B2 |
Navigating on images
Systems, devices, features, and methods for navigating on images are disclosed. For example, one method includes identifying a point selected on an initial image. An image component, such as a pixel, of the initial image corresponding to the identified point is determined. The image component of the initial image represents an origin. A route from the origin to a destination is generated, and the destination corresponds to another image component, such as another pixel. |
| US08660313B2 |
Correction for un-voluntary respiratory motion in cardiac CT
A CT angiography apparatus compensates for respiratory motion. During a helical scan, a radiation source and a detector generate data sets corresponding to a plurality of sub-volumes of a blood vessel over a plurality of cardiac cycles. Sub-volume data sets corresponding to a selected cardiac phase are reconstructed into a plurality of sub-volume images. Characteristic points in the sub-volume images are identified. A computer routine or processor calculates a respiratory motion vector based on the identified characteristic points in a plurality of the sub-volume images. An image reconstruction routine or processor reconstructs the original sub-volume data in the selected cardiac phase into a volume image representation using the calculated respiratory motion vector. |
| US08660310B2 |
Systems and methods for tracking a model
An image such as a depth image of a scene may be received, observed, or captured by a device and a model of a user in the depth image may be generated. The background of a received depth image may be removed to isolate a human target in the received depth image. A model may then be adjusted to fit within the isolated human target in the received depth image. To adjust the model, a joint or a bone may be magnetized to the closest pixel of the isolated human target. The joint or the bone may then be refined such that the joint or the bone may be further adjusted to a pixel equidistant between two edges the body part of the isolated human target where the joint or bone may have been magnetized. |
| US08660309B2 |
Image processing apparatus, image processing method, image processing program and recording medium
There are provided an image processing apparatus, an image processing method and an image processing program for transforming a target image having no contour of straight line portions. An ellipse E1 by which the target image is approximated is calculated (S20), a center candidate O.sub.A of the target image is decided (S21), a first polygon P1 associated with the ellipse and the center candidate is calculated (S22), a projective transformation matrix for projectively transforming the first polygon into a second polygon P1′ associated with an ellipse whose center is a point where the center candidate is projectively transformed is calculated (S23), and the target image is projectively transformed based on the projective transformation matrix to obtain a transformation image (S24). |
| US08660306B2 |
Estimated pose correction
Embodiments are disclosed that relate to the correction of an estimated pose determined from depth image data. One disclosed embodiment provides, on a computing system, a method of obtaining a representation of a pose of articulated object from image data capturing the articulated object. The method comprises receiving the depth image data, obtaining an initial estimated skeleton of the articulated object from the depth image data, applying a random forest subspace regression function to the initial estimated skeleton, and determining the representation of the pose based upon a result of applying the random forest subspace regression to the initial estimated skeleton. |
| US08660303B2 |
Detection of body and props
A system and method for detecting and tracking targets including body parts and props is described. In one aspect, the disclosed technology acquires one or more depth images, generates one or more classification maps associated with one or more body parts and one or more props, tracks the one or more body parts using a skeletal tracking system, tracks the one or more props using a prop tracking system, and reports metrics regarding the one or more body parts and the one or more props. In some embodiments, feedback may occur between the skeletal tracking system and the prop tracking system. |
| US08660302B2 |
Apparatus and method for tracking target
A target tracking apparatus and method according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention may quickly and accurately perform target detection and tracking in a photographed image given as consecutive frames by acquiring at least one target candidate image most similar to a photographed image of a previous frame among prepared reference target images, determining one of the target candidate images as a target confirmation message based on the photographed image, and calculating a homography between the determined target confirmation image and the photographed image, and searching the photographed image of the previous image for feature points according to the calculated homography, and tracking an inter-frame change from the previous frame of the found feature points to a current frame. |
| US08660298B2 |
Encoding in two chrominance directions
The present disclosure relates generally signal processing. One claim recites an apparatus comprising: memory for storing a color video signal comprising first data and second data; and a processor. The processor is programmed for: modifying first color information and second color information of the first data by encoding a signal in the first color information such that the signal includes a first signal polarity, and encoding the signal in the second color information such that signal includes a second signal polarity that is inversely related to the first signal polarity, and modifying first color information and second color information of the second data by encoding the signal in the first color information such that signal includes the second signal polarity, and encoding the signal in the second color information such that the signal includes the first signal polarity. Of course, different combinations and claims are provided too. |
| US08660293B2 |
Imaged image data processing apparatus, viewing information creating apparatus, viewing information creating system, imaged image data processing method and viewing information creating method
An imaged image data processing apparatus includes obtaining means for obtaining imaged image data, which is imaged by an imaging section that images the sight of a user, extracting means for extracting identification data for identifying a viewed program from the imaged image data obtained by the obtaining means, and transmitting means for transmitting the identification data extracted by the extracting means to an external viewing information creating apparatus. |
| US08660292B2 |
Multifunctional vibrator
A multifunctional vibrator includes a frame, a vibrating unit receiving in the frame and including a magnetic circuit part with a magnetic gap, a plurality of elastic members connecting the vibrating unit and the frame, and a voice coil partially inserted into the magnetic gap. Each elastic member includes a retaining portion assembling to an inner face of the frame, a connecting portion attached to the vibrating unit, and an elastic portion extending from the retaining portion to the connecting portion along a devious way. The elastic portion of elastic members includes a first arm capable of generating elastic deformation along a short axis direction of the vibrating unit and a second arm capable of generating elastic deformation along a long axis direction of the vibrating unit. |
| US08660291B2 |
Speaker device and electronic device having the same
A speaker device is disclosed. The speaker device is mounted in an electronic device that includes a plurality of positioning elements. The speaker device includes a speaker main body, at least one pair of buffer arms, a plurality of fixed elements, and a plurality of buffer members. One end of each buffer arms is connected to the speaker main body and located at the opposite sides of the speaker main body. The fixed elements is connected to the other end of each buffer arm and movably combined with each positioning element, such that the speaker main body is fixed in the electronic device. The members is mounted in between each fixed element and each positioning element, allowing the buffer arms and the buffer members to reduce vibration generated by the speaker main body passing to the electronic device when the speaker main body is vibrating. |
| US08660290B2 |
Display device
A display device includes an image display component, first and second speakers, and a stand. The first and second speakers are mounted to the image display component. The first and second speakers are spaced apart from each other in a first direction of the image display component. The stand includes a base with first and second sound reflecting faces. The first and second sound reflecting faces are opposite the first and second speakers in a second direction of the image display component, respectively. The second direction is perpendicular to the first direction. The first sound reflecting face slopes downward as moving away from the second sound reflecting face and forward of the image display component. The second sound reflecting face slopes downward as moving away from the first sound reflecting face and forward of the image display component. |
| US08660288B2 |
Twin driver earphone
Provided is a technique for improving frequency characteristics by an acoustics-related method so that a sound is heard with natural frequency characteristics when a sound-isolating earphone is fitted in a human ear. A sound-isolating earphone is provided with two or more electroacoustic transducers, wherein independently generated sound waves are passed through isolated sound leading pipes and are mixed just before an entrance of an external auditory canal, and a sound wave of which is twice the difference between path lengths of the two sound leading pipes is attenuated. This serves to provide an easy-to-hear improved sound quality by suppressing the sound wave at around 6 kHz that is transmitted with characteristically high intensity in a sound-isolating earphone. |
| US08660278B2 |
Headset systems and methods
A digital audio player device can be attached, adhered, or otherwise embedded into or upon a removable oral appliance or other oral device to form an intraoral MP3 player. In another embodiment, the device provides an electronic and transducer device that can be attached, adhered, or otherwise embedded into or upon a removable oral appliance or other oral device to form a DAP. Such an oral appliance may be a custom-made device fabricated from a thermal forming process utilizing a replicate model of a dental structure obtained by conventional dental impression methods. The electronic and transducer assembly may receive incoming sounds either directly or through a receiver to process and amplify the signals and transmit the processed sounds via a vibrating transducer element coupled to a tooth or other bone structure, such as the maxillary, mandibular, or palatine bone structure. |
| US08660270B2 |
Method and arrangement in a telecommunication system
A security key, K_eNB, for protecting RRC/UP traffic between a User Equipment, UE, and a serving eNodeB is established by a method and an arrangement in a Mobility Management Entity, MME, and in said UE, of an Evolved Packet System, EPS. The MME and the UE derives the security key, K_eNB, from at least an NAS uplink sequence number, NAS_U_SEQ, sent from the UE to the MME, and from an Access Security Management Entity-key, K_ASME, shared between the MME and the UE. |
| US08660268B2 |
Keyed pseudo-random number generator
A method and apparatus for client authentication using a pseudo-random number generation system. The pseudo-random number generation utilizes a secret key as well as state information as input into the hash function to generate a pseudo-random number. The state information that is part of the input can be any number of prior generated pseudo-random numbers. The authentication allows for synchronization of the client and server by exchanging state information. The authentication is not dependent on any absolute time and consequently the client and servers are not required to maintain a reliable shared time base. |
| US08660266B2 |
Method of delivering direct proof private keys to devices using an on-line service
Delivering a Direct Proof private key to a device installed in a client computer system in the field may be accomplished in a secure manner without requiring significant non-volatile storage in the device. A unique pseudo-random value is generated and stored in the device at manufacturing time. The pseudo-random value is used to generate a symmetric key for encrypting a data structure holding a Direct Proof private key and a private key digest associated with the device. The resulting encrypted data structure is stored on a protected on-line server accessible by the client computer system. |
| US08660261B2 |
System and apparatus for integrated video/image encoding/decoding and encryption/decryption
An encryption-enabled entropy coder for a multimedia codec is disclosed. The entropy coder implements a randomized Huffman coding scheme without storing multiple sets of Huffman tables in a ROM. The entropy coder includes a ROM storing a single set of code tables, a table lookup section coupled to the ROM which converts symbols to original codewords and vice versa by performing table lookup, and a table randomizer section for converting original Huffman codewords to randomized Huffman codewords and vice versa using an isomorphic code generator algorithm. The table randomizer section performs the conversion based on a key hopping sequence generated by a pseudorandom bit generator using an encryption/decryption key. |
| US08660260B1 |
Protective cover
A protective cover for protecting a panel-shaped electronic device is illustrated. The protective cover includes a polygonal frame and a number of resilient members. The frame is made of soft material and configured for surrounding and retaining the electronic device therein. The frame includes a number of corners. The resilient members entirely are received in the respective corners. Each resilient member includes a hub body and at least three distinctly oriented resilient portions extending from the hub body. |
| US08660258B2 |
System and methods for selecting a dialing strategy for placing an outbound call
A dialing strategy determination engine (DSDE) for selecting a dialing strategy for placing an outbound call has determination software executing on a computerized server from a machine-readable medium, access to stored dialing strategies, contact data, and a rules set, and a port for receiving a request for dialing strategy from an outbound dialer. The determination software, upon receiving a request for a dialing strategy associated with a contact identification, consults the rule set and the contact data, selects a dialing strategy based on the rules and the data, and returns the selected strategy to the outbound dialer. |
| US08660256B2 |
Dynamic load balancing between multiple locations with different telephony system
A method includes receiving a call from a primary interactive voice response (IVR) system at a load-balancing IVR system. The primary IVR system routes a first percentage of calls to routing logic and a second percentage of calls to the load-balancing IVR system. A telephony system is selected from among a plurality of telephony systems based on agent availability data associated with call center sites of the plurality of telephony systems. The method includes routing the call to a routing protocol component of the routing logic, where the routing protocol component routes the call to a call center of the selected telephony system. |
| US08660254B2 |
System and method for call management
A method and system for call management is provided. In a system embodiment a call manager server is provided that can managing incoming call requests from certain telephony devices and effect connections to other telephony devices based on those incoming call requests. The call manager server can also maintain a policy that defines permissions as to whether certain telephony devices can request interruption of an ongoing phone call at a destination telephony device. |
| US08660252B2 |
Control of execution time of time-dependent services by defining different time zones for the subscriber's location, the execution server, and the service subscription information
A data layered architecture (DLA) system includes a front end (FE) server and a common directory (CD). The FE server includes a processing unit which defines an FE time zone (FETZ) based on the FE server's geographical location and that defines a current date and time of the FETZ. The FE server includes a network interfacing unit which obtains from the CD through the network a subscriber default time zone (SDTZ), a subscriber service time zone (SSTZ), a service activation date (SAD) and a service activation time (SAT). The processing unit selects as service time zone (STZ) for executing the service the SSTZ, if a valid SSTZ exists, or the SDTZ, if a valid SSTZ does not exist, or the FETZ, if a valid SDTZ does not exist. Furthermore, the processing unit only executes the service after checking that the SAD and SAT of the STZ correspond to the current date and time of the FETZ. |
| US08660251B2 |
Alerting a participant when a topic of interest is being discussed and/or a speaker of interest is speaking during a conference call
A method, system and computer program product for alerting a participant when a topic of interest is being discussed and/or a speaker of interest is speaking during a conference call. A participant to a conference call identifies the topics and/or speakers of interest which is stored for future use along with the participant's contact information. When a participant's identified topic of interest is being discussed and/or a participant's identified speaker of interest is speaking during a conference call, the participant will be alerted to that fact, such as via the means specified in the participant's contact information. |
| US08660248B2 |
Method and structure for controlling incoming communication notification
A method and structure for avoiding undesirable interruptions by incoming calls during face-to-face conversations or oral presentations. A speaker recognition circuit is trained to recognize the user's voice, even in the presence of other voices and ambient noise. A number of speaker recognition algorithms may be employed within the scope of the invention. The phone is configured to constantly monitor the aural phone environment, while recording in a FIFO memory a short interval of digitized sound. When an incoming call is received, the Caller ID is checked against a pre-defined Priority List of numbers to be directed to the user's attention as in the prior art. If the Caller ID is not on the Priority List, speaker recognition verifies whether the user has been speaking within the past few seconds, and, if so, directs the incoming call to voice mail without interrupting the user. Other sensor input and criteria can also be used to determine how to route an incoming communication. |
| US08660247B1 |
Method and apparatus for content presentation in association with a telephone call
A method and apparatus are provided for presenting multimedia content to caller and/or a called party in association with a telephone call. Content may be presented pre-ring (before the called party's telephone rings), in-call and/or post-call. Content presented to a party may be related to another party participating in the call or may be related to a third party (e.g., an advertiser that paid for the ability to have its content presented). Presented content may be actuable, and allow a caller to change the destination of a call, take advantage of an offer presented to him, redeem a coupon, schedule or queue a subsequent call, etc. To find a desired destination party, a caller may initiate a manual or automatic search of his local contacts (on his telephone) and/or a central or global directory or contact list. |
| US08660246B1 |
Method and apparatus for content presentation in association with a telephone call
A method and apparatus are provided for presenting multimedia content to caller and/or a called party in association with a telephone call. Content may be presented pre-ring (before the called party's telephone rings), in-call and/or post-call. Content presented to a party may be related to another party participating in the call or may be related to a third party (e.g., an advertiser that paid for the ability to have its content presented). Presented content may be actuable, and allow a caller to change the destination of a call, take advantage of an offer presented to him, redeem a coupon, schedule or queue a subsequent call, etc. To find a desired destination party, a caller may initiate a manual or automatic search of his local contacts (on his telephone) and/or a central or global directory or contact list. Calls to or from certain parties or numbers may be screened or filtered. |
| US08660242B2 |
System and method for electronic message notification
A system includes an interface to receive a signal associated with a call from a first communication device to a second communication device. The system also includes a call suspension mechanism to suspend the call. The system further includes a call disposition engine to send an electronic mail message associated with the suspended call to a device identified by a subscriber address. |
| US08660240B2 |
Notification system management
Methods and systems for providing electronic notifications are described. A server is configured to serve an interface, such as a Web page, to a terminal that requests from a user a first set of user contacts to be used to provide notifications to the user by a telephonic notification system in response to a notification process initiated by an organization associated with the user. The interface further requests a first set of priorities corresponding to the first set of user contacts, wherein the notification system will attempt to provide notifications to the first set user contracts in an order based at least in part on the first set of priorities. A database is configured to store the first set of user contacts and the first set of priorities. A voice interface circuit is configured to transmit a voice notification to at least one of the first set of user contacts. |
| US08660237B2 |
Apparatus and method for viewing an object
An apparatus and method for generating and displaying an image of an object is described and includes a radiation source and a series of at least two linear detectors capable of detecting incident radiation after transmission through an object to define a scanning zone there between. The object is moved relative to and through the scanning zone in successive passes along at least two linear directions at an angle to each other. An image generation apparatus generates for each successive pass at least a first image from the first linear detector, a second image from the second linear detector, and a third image. An image display is adapted successively to display at least the first, second and third images and display the monocular movement parallax between the images. Each image is processed before display to reduce distortion attributable to beam spreading in a direction perpendicular to a scan direction. |
| US08660230B2 |
System and method for the ventilated storage of high level radioactive waste in a clustered arrangement
A system for receiving and storing high level radioactive waste comprising: an enclosure comprising walls having inlet ventilation ducts, a roof comprising an array of holes, and a floor; an array of metal shells located in an internal space of the enclosure, the array of metal shells being co-axial with the array of holes in the roof so that containers holding high level radioactive waste can be lowered through the array of holes in the roof and into the array of metal shells; the array of metal shells acting as load bearing columns for the roof; and each of the metal shells comprising (i) an expansion joint for accommodating thermal expansion and/or contraction of the metal shells; and (ii) one or more holes at a bottom portion of the metal shell. |
| US08660226B2 |
Systems and methods for multichannel noise reduction
Systems and methods for multichannel noise reduce are provided. One method includes acquiring a multichannel signal, obtaining a noise correlation between a plurality of channels of the multichannel signal, and obtaining a signal characteristic in each of the plurality of channels. The method also includes removing signal noise based on (i) the correlated noise and (ii) at least one of an uncorrelated noise in each channel or the obtained signal characteristic in each channel. |
| US08660223B2 |
PLL circuit, communication device, and loopback test method of communication device
A controlling unit disposed in a PLL circuit controls a phase interpolator to gradually change a phase shift amount applied to a phase shift signal C_PS by a unit of basic delay amount Δ at a timing predetermined in accordance with a modulation profile of an SSC. Further, the controlling unit controls a total phase shift amount applied to the phase shift signal C_PS output from the phase interpolator in one period of a feedback clock signal C_FB obtained by dividing frequency of the phase shift signal C_PS in a way that a difference between the total phase shift amount and a total phase shift amount in a previous one period of C_FB is always equal to or less than the basic delay amount Δ. |
| US08660222B2 |
Wireless reception device, wireless reception method, and wireless communication system
A wireless reception device includes a determination section to determine, based on reception power of each of subcarriers of a multicarrier signal and a transfer function of each of the subcarriers, a value relating to an interference component between subcarriers, the interference component being from another subcarrier for each of the subcarriers, with respect to each of the subcarriers, and a removal section to remove the interference component from each of the subcarriers, based on the value relating to the interference component. |
| US08660219B2 |
Circuit and method for distinguishing between an OFDM signal and a radar signal
A radar detector determines whether an input signal is an orthogonally frequency division multiplexed (OFDM) signal or a radar signal by applying at least first and second bandpass filtering operations having substantially non-overlapping passbands to the input signal, each filtering operation having a passband of width substantially less than a relatively large instantaneous bandwidth characteristic of an OFDM signal and substantially greater than a relatively small instantaneous bandwidth characteristic of a radar signal. The detector multiplies power levels of output signals of the first and second filtering operations to form a power product signal and compares the power level of the power product signal with a threshold level and providing an indicating signal in a first state if the power level of the power product signal exceeds the threshold level and otherwise providing said indicating signal in a second state. |
| US08660218B2 |
Systems and methods for signal detection and estimation
Systems and methods are disclosed for detecting and/or measuring signals contained in modulated sample data, and that may be implemented in one embodiment to detect and measure signals by producing a representation and/or visualization of the signal information of the wide band spectral environment. Signals may be detected and/or measured by demodulating and estimating signal spectra from the modulated sample data that contain the individual signals, and by then forming a frequency representation of the demodulated Nyquist zone spectral estimates into a visual representation in which the frequency of the original signals is visible or otherwise indicated. |
| US08660215B2 |
Decoding algorithm for frequency shift key communications
A method and apparatus for decoding binary frequency shift key signals in which an exclusive-OR of the sign of a real waveform with a sign of the imaginary waveform at a time shortly after the real (or, alternatively, the imaginary) waveform crosses zero is used to determine a bit represented by the signal. In some embodiments, particularly those in which the bit period is about one-half of the carrier signal frequency, both the real and imaginary waveforms are monitored to detect the zero crossing in order to account for the situation in which data transitions prevent zero-crossings on one of the waveforms. |
| US08660212B2 |
Interference classification with minimal or incomplete information
Interference classification with minimal or incomplete information. Receivers in access points and in other network devices on a wireless digital network may be switched to a spectrum monitor mode in which they provide amplitude-versus-frequency information for a chosen part of the spectrum. This may be performed by performing a FFT or similar transform on the signals from the receiver. Receivers are calibrated with known interference sources in controlled environments to determine peaks, pulse frequency, bandwidth, and other identifying parameters of the interference source in best and worst case conditions. These calibrated values are used for matching interference signatures. Calibration is also performed using partial signatures collected over a short period in the order of microseconds. These partial signals may be used to detect interferers while scanning. Another aspect of the invention is to record the variation of noise floor in the presence of interference sources. Multiple interference sources may be detected. While data collection is performed in one or more APs, classification may be performed in the AP or on other systems associated with the network collecting and processing spectrum information from one or more APs. |
| US08660211B2 |
Digital broadcast transmission and receiving system having an improved receiving performance and signal processing method thereof
A digital broadcast transmitter comprising: a randomizer to receive a data stream of which stuff bytes are inserted into a specified position and to randomize the received data stream; a stuff-byte exchange unit to generate known data having a predefined pattern and to insert the known data into the specified position of the data stream into which the stuff bytes are inserted; an encoder to encode the data stream output from the stuff-byte exchange unit for an error correction; and a modulator and RF converter to modulate the encoded data stream, RF-convert the modulated data stream and transmit the RF-converted data. |
| US08660210B2 |
Method of packet format dependent selection of MIMO-OFDM demodulator
Systems and methodologies are described that facilitate code rate and modulation order dependent selection of a suitable demodulator for a received data packet. According to various aspects, systems and/or methods are described that enable selection of an optimal demodulation scheme such that signal receiver complexity is not increased and optimal decoding throughput performance is achieved. |
| US08660209B2 |
Transmitter and frequency deviation reduction method thereof
A transmitter is provided. The transmitter includes a phase/frequency deviation input, a controller and a frequency modulating path. The phase/frequency deviation input receives multiple phase/frequency deviation samples. The controller outputs a modified phase/frequency deviation signal and generates a phase/frequency deviation carry-out signal in response to the phase/frequency deviation samples and a previous time sample of the phase/frequency deviation carry-out signal. The frequency modulating path performs frequency modulation in response to the modified phase/frequency deviation signal and outputs a frequency modulated carrier signal. |
| US08660206B2 |
Method of generating pulse waveform
The present invention forms, in UWB communications in which a pulse of short duration is transmitted, a transmission signal with a desired frequency characteristic by adjusting the shape of a pulse signal used in data transmissions. As a result, radio interference with other wireless systems in UWB communications is reduced. As aspects for adjusting the pulse signal, the present invention comprises an aspect for generating a pulse signal having a desired frequency characteristic by adjusting the shape of a single pulse itself, an aspect for generating a pulse signal having a desired frequency characteristic by combining a plurality of pulses, and an aspect for finding a combination of pulse signals from the frequency characteristic of an object transmission signal. |
| US08660202B2 |
Robust precoder and receiver filter design for Gaussian interference channel
A system and method for providing at least one transmit precoder includes transforming at least one of a weighted sum-rate and max-min rate objective into two or more sub-problems by introducing at least one slack variable. The two or more sub-problems are iterated on a computer readable storage medium to provide at least one transmit precoder for each transmitter. |
| US08660199B2 |
Method of demodulating a quadrature amplitude modulation signal and method of data communication
To demodulate a quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) signal, a reception point is determined corresponding to a symbol in the QAM signal that is received where the symbol is mapped to one reference point of a plurality of reference points in a rotated constellation and the plurality of reference points are represented by an in-phase (I) coordinate and a quadrature-phase (Q) coordinate. A plurality of candidate points corresponding to a portion of the plurality of reference points are selected based on distances between the reception point and the respective reference points. The reception point is demapped by calculating a plurality of log-likelihood ratios based on the plurality of candidate points, the plurality of log-likelihood ratios corresponding to bits of data represented by the reception point. |
| US08660198B1 |
Multipath diversity in a quadrature bandpass-sampling OFDM receiver
A quadrature bandpass-sampling receiver providing time diversity for OFDM is provided. A quadrature bandpass-sampling analog-to-digital demodulator down converts an OFDM signal in the RF frequency range to baseband based on a high-frequency sampling clock equal to the RF frequency and generates the in-phase and quadrature outputs in form of high-frequency bit streams. The period of the bit stream is the inverse of the OFDM carrier frequency, which is much higher than the OFDM symbol rate, allows usage of multipath diversity to improve the communication link. |
| US08660197B2 |
Method of and equipment for compensating carrier frequency offset in an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing wireless radio transmission system
For compensating carrier frequency generation in communication equipment for radio transmission in an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplex, OFDM, based wireless radio communication system, in which reference signals known communication equipment are transmitted in a regular time repetitive manner, carrier frequency generation is compensated (63) by a calculated carrier frequency offset estimate. The carrier frequency offset estimate in the communication equipment is calculated from coarse (61) and fine carrier frequency offset estimates (62). The coarse carrier frequency offset estimate (61) is calculated in the frequency domain from reference symbols of a reference signal received (60) at the communication equipment and the fine carrier frequency offset estimate (62) is calculated in the time domain from reference symbols of reference signals repetitively received (60) at said communication equipment. An algorithm and an estimator module (90) for calculating a coarse carrier frequency offset are provided. |
| US08660184B2 |
Motion picture encoding device and motion picture decoding device
When a prediction is made between fields with different parity, the predicative efficiency of a chrominance vector is improved by adaptively switching the generation of a chrominance motion vector depending on a encoding/decoding field parity (top/bottom) and a reference field parity (top/bottom), and the coding efficiency is improved accordingly. |
| US08660183B2 |
Moving-picture compression-encoding apparatus
Re-encoding information indicating whether or not an input moving picture has been compression-encoded is provided to a mode determining unit. The mode determining unit determines an optimal encoding mode for the input moving picture, out of a plurality of encoding modes. The mode determining operation is controlled by the re-encoding information. According to a mode determination result of the mode determining unit, a prediction error value corresponding to the determined mode is selected by a selection switch, and then, an encoding process is performed. As the re-encoding information, a pre-determined value, a bit rate, and a quantization parameter, etc., could be provided. |
| US08660180B2 |
Method and apparatus for scalably encoding and decoding video signal
In one embodiment, the method includes predicting at least a portion of a current image in a current layer based on at least an intra-coded portion of a base image in a base layer, a reference image, shift information for samples in the predicted current image, and offset information indicating a position offset between at least one boundary pixel of the reference image and at least one boundary pixel of the current image. |
| US08660179B2 |
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. |
| US08660177B2 |
Parallel entropy coding
Parallel coding of digital pictures is described. A digital picture is divided into two or more vertical sections. Two or more corresponding Stage 1 encoder units can perform a first stage of entropy coding on the two or more vertical sections on a row-by-row basis. The entropy coding of the vertical sections can be performed in parallel such that each Stage 1 encoder unit performs entropy coding on its respective vertical section and returns a partially coded Stage 1 output to a Stage 2 encoder unit. Each partially coded Stage 1 output includes a representation of data for a corresponding vertical section that has been compressed by a compression factor greater than 1. The Stage 2 encoder unit can generate a final coded bitstream from the partially encoded Stage 1 output as a Stage 2 output. |
| US08660174B2 |
Apparatus and method of adaptive offset for video coding
The method selects a region for processed video data and determines a class for each pixel in the region of the processed video data based on characteristic measurement of said each pixel. The processed video data corresponds to the reconstructed, deblocked reconstructed or deblocked-and-loop-filtered reconstructed video data. An intensity offset is then determined for the class according to the pixels in the region of the processed video data and respective pixels in a respective region of associated original video data. The intensive offset determined is applied to the processed video data to compensate the intensity offset. The region is smaller than a picture so that adaptive offset can adapt to dynamic characteristics of a picture. In one embodiment, the characteristic measurement is based on pixel patterns consisting pixels around an underlying pixel. |
| US08660170B1 |
Apparatus and method for calibrating the I/Q mismatch in a quadrature bandpass sampling receiver
A calibration technique to compensate for the quadrature phase error between the in-phase and quadrature sampling clocks controlling the quadrature bandpass sampling delta-sigma analog-to-digital demodulator (QBS-ADD) is provided. A low-frequency test tone is injected in the feedback path, up-converted to the radio frequency (RF) frequency, and added to the input of the QBS-ADD. The test tone is demodulated by the QBS-ADD into an in-phase signal and a quadrature signal. The in-phase and quadrature signals are converted into the frequency domain by the discrete Fourier transform. The quadrature phase error is quantified based on the complex Fourier complex coefficients; and the phase difference between the in-phase and quadrature sampling clocks is corrected. |
| US08660168B2 |
Method and system for communicating via a spatial multilink repeater
Aspects of a method and system for communicating via a spatial multilink repeater are provided. In this regard, a received signal may be frequency shifted to generate a plurality of repeated signals, wherein each repeated signal may be shifted by a different frequency with respect to the received signal. Each repeated signal may comprise one or more signal components and a phase and/or amplitude of each of the components may be controlled to control a directivity of the repeated signals. Each of the repeated signals may be generated by quadrature down-converting said received signal by mixing the received signal with a first LO signal pair, up-converting the down-converted signal by mixing it with a second LO signal pair, and adding or subtracting an in-phase portion and a quadrature-phase portion of the up-converted signal. |
| US08660164B2 |
Method and system for avoiding package induced failure in swept semiconductor source
Dry oxygen, dry air, or other gases such as ozone are hermetically sealed within the package of the external cavity laser or ASE swept source to avoid packaging-induced failure or PIF. PIF due to hydrocarbon breakdown at optical interfaces with high power densities is believed to occur at the SLED and/or SOA facets as well as the tunable Fabry-Perot reflector/filter elements and/or output fiber. Because the laser is an external cavity tunable laser and the configuration of the ASE swept sources, the power output can be low while the internal power at surfaces can be high leading to PIF at output powers much lower than the 50 mW. |
| US08660163B2 |
Amplification of long-range surface plasmons with reduced noise
An optical amplifier suitable for coherently amplifying surface plasmon-polariton waves with high gain and low noise over visible and infrared wavelengths. The optical amplifier is comprised of a thin strip of material having a complex permittivity with a negative real part, in contact on at least one side with an optical gain medium, where the strip has finite width and thickness such that optical radiation couples to the strip and propagates along its length as a surface plasmon-polariton wave. The surface plasmon-polariton amplifier can also be incorporated into a resonant cavity to form a plasmon-polariton laser. |
| US08660161B2 |
Push-pull modulated coupled vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers and method
A laser system having separately electrically operable cavities for emitting modulated narrow linewidth light with first, second and third mirror structures separated by a first active region between the first and the second and by a second active region between the second and the third. The second mirror structure has twenty of more periods of mirror pairs. |
| US08660160B2 |
Semiconductor laser element and method of manufacturing the same
A semiconductor laser element includes a substrate of a first conduction type and a layered semiconductor structure formed on the substrate. The layered semiconductor structure includes a first semiconductor layer of the first conduction type formed on the substrate, an active layer formed on the first semiconductor layer, and a second semiconductor layer of a second conduction type formed on the active layer, the second conduction type being opposite to the first conduction type. The first semiconductor layer, the active layer, and the second semiconductor layer include a non-window region through which a light emitted from the active layer passes and a window region surrounding the non-window region. Band gap energy of the active layer is larger in the window region than in the non-window region. The second semiconductor layer includes a current confinement layer. |
| US08660159B2 |
Laser diode, optical pickup device, optical disk apparatus, and optical communications equipment
A laser diode capable of reducing a radiating angle θ⊥ in the vertical direction, an optical pickup device, an optical disk apparatus, and optical communications equipment, all equipped with the laser diode which increases optical coupling efficiency. It has a first cladding layer of the first conductive type formed on a substrate, with an active layer on top of the first cladding layer and a second cladding layer of the second conductive type on top of the active layer. In at least the first or second cladding layer, it is formed of at least one optical guide layer having a higher refractive index than the first or second cladding layer and operating to expand a beam waist in the waveguide. This operation contributes to widening a region in which to shut up light, enabling a radiating angle θ⊥ in the vertical direction to be reduced. |
| US08660158B2 |
Semiconductor laser drive circuit and semiconductor laser apparatus
A semiconductor laser drive circuit controlling a semiconductor laser diode connected to an output terminal by providing a drive electric current to the semiconductor laser diode includes: a constant electric current source configured to provide an electric current to the output terminal, the constant electric current source being connected to a first electric power terminal and the output terminal; a current sinking circuit connected to the output terminal and a second electric power terminal; a current sourcing circuit configured to provide a predetermined electric current to the output terminal or the current sinking circuit, the current sourcing circuit being connected to the first electric power terminal and the output terminal; and a terminating resistor having a resistance component equal to that of the semiconductor laser diode, the terminating resistor being connected to the circuit sinking circuit and the current sourcing circuit. |
| US08660155B2 |
Method and apparatus for cooling semiconductor pumped lasers
A laser system having a cooling apparatus is disclosed. The laser system includes a resonator, a gain medium and multiple heat-absorbing discs. The resonator is formed by a first mirror and a second mirror. The gain medium, which is contained within the resonator, is collectively formed by a group of gain medium segments. Each of the gain medium segments is preferably in the shape of a cylindrical disc. The heat-absorbing discs are interleavely disposed among the gain medium segments to provide face cooling for the gain medium segments during the operation of the laser system. |
| US08660154B1 |
Laser device with digitally controlled resonator
A digitally-controllable laser apparatus includes a resonator, which includes a two-dimensional micromirror array, and an output facet configured to output a laser beam. The array has a controllable two-dimensional reflectivity to provide control of a two-dimensional wave front of the laser beam. A digitally-controlled Q-switching of the laser apparatus, and shaping of the laser beam wave front to thereby steer the laser beam can be realized. |
| US08660151B2 |
Encoding system and encoding apparatus
An encoding apparatus 2 includes: an encoding unit 21 that encodes and multiplexes a video signal V2, an audio signal A2 and a data signal D2 to be given to the encoding apparatus 2; a timer 22 that outputs time information T2; a timer adjusting unit 23 that adjusts the timer 22 so that the time information T2 and time information T1 within a multiplexed stream S1 outputted from an encoding apparatus 1 are synchronized with each other; and a multiplexing unit 24 that multiplexes the multiplexed stream S1, an encoded stream S21 outputted from the encoding unit 21 and the time information T2, and outputs the resultant multiplexed stream and information as output of the encoding apparatus 2. Third and subsequent encoding apparatus are configured to have the same configuration as that of the encoding apparatus 2. |
| US08660146B2 |
Telecom multiplexer for variable rate composite bit stream
A multiplexer/demultiplexer (MUX/DEMUX) system for multiplexing and demultiplexing information from a plurality of traffic channels is configured according to a Plesiochronous Digital Hierarchy (PDH) standard into a composite signal transferred to and from a telecommunciations interface. A PDH traffic interface receives PDH channel signals from a plurality of PDH channels and a bit-pipe interface receives bit-pipe traffic transported as a packet data stream. A composite signal generation module and interface then creates, outputs and receives a single composite serial data stream including, in a single composite format, information from the received PDH channel signals as well as the packet data stream. The rate of the bit-pipe traffic may be adaptively modulated as a function of the composite rate. |
| US08660143B2 |
Data packet interception system
A method and apparatus for managing data packets in a network data processing system. The data processing system monitors for the data packets on the network data processing system. The data processing system sends a response data packet to a source endpoint that sent a request data packet in response to detecting the request data packet in the data packets requesting a first identifier for a first device at a target endpoint in the network data processing system. A response data packet has a selected identifier for a selected device in the monitoring data processing system. The data processing system processes a set of data packets in response to detecting the set of data packets having the selected identifier. The data processing system sends the set of data packets to the target endpoint with the first identifier for the first device in place of the selected identifier. |
| US08660142B2 |
Scheduling virtual bandwidth requests
Disclosed is a method of scheduling bandwidth, comprising, receiving a first bandwidth request associated with the first communication device. Receiving, from a policy agent, a second bandwidth request associated with a second communication device. The second bandwidth request does not originate from the second communication device. Bandwidth is granted to the first communication device based on the first bandwidth request. Bandwidth is granted to the second communication device based on the second bandwidth request. |
| US08660140B2 |
Method and apparatus for transmitting and receiving legacy format data in high throughput wireless network
A method and an apparatus are provided for enabling a legacy station to perform virtual carrier sensing when a plurality of stations with heterogeneous capabilities coexist in a wireless network. The method includes receiving first data compliant with a first protocol, and transmitting second data compliant with a second protocol, where the first protocol is downward compatible with the second protocol. |
| US08660139B2 |
Systems, methods and computer products for pooling of wireless collection bandwidth
Systems, methods and computer products for pooling of wireless collection bandwidth. Exemplary embodiments include a bandwidth management method, in a wireless device, the method, including querying for additional wireless devices within a communication range of the wireless device, the wireless device and additional wireless devices being in communication with a network having downloadable content, initiating communication between the wireless device and the additional wireless devices, establishing an ad-hoc network among the combination of the wireless device and the additional devices, establishing communication between the combined wireless device and additional devices as the ad-hoc network, and the network having the downloadable content and requesting the downloadable content from the network to the wireless device, wherein the downloadable content is transferred over a bandwidth collectively pooled among individual bandwidths of the wireless device and the additional wireless devices. |
| US08660136B2 |
Measurement coordination for dynamic spectrum access measurements in a time division duplex system
The invention disclosed in this application describes methods to coordinate spectrum measurement periods in access points or base stations in a time division duplex (TDD) system where the super frame is divided into uplink and downlink portions for use in cognitive radio systems. |
| US08660129B1 |
Fully distributed routing over a user-configured on-demand virtual network for infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) on hybrid cloud networks
A layer-3 virtual router connects two or more virtual networks. Virtual networks are overlaid upon physical networks. Each virtual network (VN) is a layer-2 network that appears to expand an organization's LAN using virtual MAC addresses. The network stack forms a virtual-network packet with a virtual gateway MAC address of the virtual router to reach a remote virtual network. A VN device driver shim intercepts packets and their virtual MAC and IP addresses and encapsulates them with physical packets sent over the Internet. A VN switch table is expanded to include entries for nodes on the remote virtual network so that all nodes on both virtual networks are accessible. A copy of the VN switch table is stored on each node by a virtual network management daemon on the node. A Time-To-Live field in the virtual-network packet is decremented for each virtual hop and a checksum recalculated. |
| US08660127B2 |
Cascaded load balancing
A first network device and a second network device for forwarding data units are included in a network. The second network device is configured to receive data units from the first network device via an output interface from the first network device. Each of the network devices is further configured to form a first value derived from information pertaining to a received data unit, perform a function on the first value to provide a second value, wherein the function of the first network device is different from the function of the second network device when forwarding a same data unit, select an output interface based on the second value, and forward a received data unit via an interface. |
| US08660125B2 |
Node device, integrated circuit and control method in ring transmission system
A node device in a ring transmission system in which a plurality of node devices are connected as a ring via serial links has a PHY transitioning between a normal mode and a loopback mode with timing that maintains symbol lock between an idle frame transmitted to a later serial link in the normal mode according a transmission instruction, and an idle frame from an earlier node device looped back for output to a later serial link during the loopback mode, thus performing relay processing on non-locally addressed data packets during the loopback mode. |
| US08660124B2 |
Distributed overlay network data traffic management by a virtual server
An approach is provided in which a data traffic module executing on a network interface card receives a data packet initiated by a first virtual machine with a destination at a second virtual machine. The data traffic module identifies one or more physical path translations corresponding to a logical connectivity that is independent of physical topology constraints of a physical network. In turn, the data traffic module encapsulates the data packet with the one or more physical path translations and sends the encapsulated data packet to the second virtual machine over the physical network. |
| US08660118B2 |
Methods, systems, and computer readable media for next hop scaling
The subject matter described herein includes a packet forwarding device that implements next hop scaling. Rather than storing a complete set of next hop bindings at each packet processor, the storage of next hop bindings is distributed among packet processors in the packet forwarding device such that each packet processor stores next hop bindings for the hosts that are directly connected to the packet processor. For hosts that are not directly connected to a packet processor, the packet processor stores relay entries. Because of the distributed storage of next hop bindings, the number of hosts that can be served by a single packet forwarding device is increased over packet forwarding devices where each packet processor stores a complete set of next hop bindings for all connected hosts. |
| US08660115B2 |
Method for content-aware redirection and content renaming
The present invention is directed to mechanisms for content-aware redirection and content exchange/content discovery that permit a request for content to be redirected to a particular advantageous server that can serve the content. |
| US08660114B2 |
Method and apparatus for routing data
A method and apparatus for handling internet access telephone calls made via cable company telephone services. A head end data terminal receives cable signals and converts them into individual signals. An intelligent switch detects signals destined for an internet service provider and routes those signals on a separate path to the internet service provider. A central switch routes the other signals along a telephone network. A computer program can control the steps of receiving cable signals, converting them into voice band signals, routing the signals that are not for the intended recipient to a central switch, multiplexing the signals for the intended recipient together, and sending the multiplexed signals to the intended recipient. |
| US08660113B1 |
Method and apparatus for providing enhanced services local routing
A method and apparatus for enabling a call originated in the VoIP network to be routed from the egress of the VoIP network to the terminating PSTN network using an egress route, such as an appropriate egress access trunk, that is in the same Local Calling Area (LCA) of the called party number are disclosed. This allows the call to be completed to the called party without paying access charge. For example, the method assigns a Billing Telephone Number (BTN) or a Charge Number (CgN) to an egress route between a communication network and a Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) network. The method then routes a call originating from the communication network and terminating to the PSTN network using the egress route without incurring an access charge. |
| US08660111B2 |
Method and apparatus for tracking a channel timing channel message and supporting channel scanning in a digital mobile radio system
A method and apparatus for enabling a radio to track channel timing and support channel scanning A non-leading radio operating on a communications channel, determines a diffusion period during which channel timing is to be propagated from a leading radio to non-leading radios operating on the communications channel. The non-leading radio implements a first scanning pattern during the diffusion period to scan a CT designated channel for a control timing message with a timing signal sent from the leading radio. The first scanning pattern involves scanning the CT designated channel during every other scan interval and scanning non-priority channels and priority channels during scan intervals not used on the CT designated channel. |
| US08660110B2 |
Reduced power synchronization of wireless devices
Synchronizing at least one wireless sensor includes sending at least one reference message along with a request for acquired data from an access point to the at least one wireless sensor, where the reference message includes a first timestamp indicating when the reference message was sent according to time of a clock of the access point, receiving from the at least one wireless sensor a response that includes the requested data, the first timestamp, and at least one other timestamp corresponding to time of a clock of the at least one wireless sensor, and determining a relative clock offset of the at least one wireless sensor using the timestamps. |
| US08660106B2 |
Optimizing code utilization regarding a secondary scrambling code
The present invention relates to a method, arrangement and computer-readable medium for optimizing code utilization in a code division multiple access (CDMA) communication network comprising a first communication network entity (10), a second communication network entity (15) connected to said first communication network entity over a communication interface and one or more user equipments (18) transmitting data using a scrambling code to said second communication network entity (15) over a radio interface on an uplink channel (14). Firstly, in what type of radio environment said one or more user equipments are is identified. Secondly, a traffic activity over the radio interface is measured. Thereafter, when and how to use a secondary scrambling code is determined based on the type of radio environment and traffic activity. |
| US08660105B2 |
Downlink transmit beamforming
A wireless network access point can operate as a closed loop MIMO device when communicating with a station that is operating as an open loop MIMO device. Transmit/receive chains in the access point are calibrated to support aggregate channel reciprocity. |
| US08660100B2 |
Method for transmitting information in wireless local area network system
A method for transmitting information of a network interworking with a wireless LAN (802.11, Wi-Fi) network or EMID (ESS MAC ID) provided from an EMID server to a wireless user equipment if the wireless user equipment accesses the wireless LAN network is disclosed. A wireless communication system which performs communication using a plurality of subcarriers includes at least one access point receiving messages from at least one wireless user equipment and communicating with another access point through a distribution system, and at least one interworking information broker receiving information request message of subscriber service provider network (SSPN) through interface with the at least one access point and acquiring response information corresponding to the information request message through interface with a network entity which includes information of the SSPN, the information request message of the SSPN being transmitted from the wireless user equipment to the at least one access point. |
| US08660099B2 |
Call admission control within a wireless network
An association request from a wireless station is received at an access point. A determination is made whether a reservation threshold for a pre-determined number of wireless stations for the access point has been met. If the reservation threshold has not been met, the wireless station is associated with the access point. If the reservation threshold has been met, and the wireless station is not already on a call through another access point, the association of the wireless station with the access point is rejected. |
| US08660097B2 |
Methods and apparatus for service continuity in a communication network
Methods and apparatus for service continuity in a communication network. A method includes receiving a service in a first network coverage area, detecting entry into a second coverage area, acquiring control signaling information of the second coverage area in response to entering into the second coverage area, establishing traffic channels in the second coverage area while the service is received from the first coverage area, and switching to receive the service on the traffic channels in the second coverage area so that service disruption is minimized. Another method includes receiving a service in a first network coverage area, acquiring control signaling information associated with other coverage areas while in the first coverage area, detecting entry into a second coverage area, establishing traffic channels in the second coverage area, and switching to receive the service on the traffic channels in the second coverage area so that service disruption is minimized. |
| US08660095B2 |
Reverse link transmit power control in a wireless communication system
In one embodiment, the patent application comprises an apparatus, method and means for controlling power of an access terminal by adjusting a power of at least one secondary reverse link carrier by computing a forward link power differential, computing a reverse link power differential, and adding a power level of a primary reverse link carrier pilot with the forward link power differential and the reverse link power differential. In another embodiment, the patent application comprises an apparatus, method and means for controlling power of an access terminal by adjusting a power of at least one secondary reverse link carrier by computing a forward link power differential, computing a reverse link load differential, and adding a power level of a primary reverse link carrier pilot with the forward link power differential and the reverse link load differential. |
| US08660094B2 |
Method and apparatus for data transmission using a plurality of resources in a multiple antenna system
A method and apparatus are provided for data transmission using a plurality of resources in a multiple antenna system. An m (m>1) number of bits from each encoded bit are mapped onto a resource to form a plurality of modulation symbols. With respect to said plurality of modulation symbols, spatial processing is performed according to a plurality of resources and a plurality of antennae to generate a plurality of transmission symbols. Each of said plurality of transmission symbols is transmitted via each of the corresponding multiple antennae. |
| US08660093B2 |
Apparatus, method, and tangible machine-readable medium thereof for callback handover procedure in a femto-network
An apparatus, a signaling method, and a tangible machine-readable medium thereof for callback handover procedure in a femto-network are provided, wherein the femto-network comprising a plurality of femto base stations. The apparatus comprises a storage module, a receiving module, a transmission module, and a determination module. The storage module is configured to store and restore information of the femto BS, the information indicating a relation between the apparatus and the related stations. The receiving module is configured to receive the inbound handover signals and outbound handover signals. The transmission module is configured to transmit the inbound handover signals and outbound handover signals. The determination module is configured to determine whether generating inbound handover signals or outbound handover signals. |
| US08660092B2 |
Method and apparatus for handover in wireless communication system
A method and an apparatus ensure efficient handover in a wireless communication system even when a User Equipment (UE) moves at a high speed. A serving eNB receives interference power information of an uplink (UL) signal and interference increase/decrease information of the UL signal from at least one adjacent eNB. an adjacent eNB, for which the received interference power information indicates that interference power of the UL signal is equal to or greater than a threshold value, is selected as a target eNB for a User Equipment (UE) among the at least one adjacent eNB. Whether handover of the UE is delayed is determined based on the interference increase/decrease information received from the target eNB. And if the handover of the UE is delayed, a handover parameter is transmitted to the UE to perform handover to the target eNB. |
| US08660087B2 |
Apparatus and method for handover in broadband wireless communication system for supporting mobile relay station
An apparatus and a method for handover in a broadband wireless communication system supporting a Mobile Relay Station (MRS) are provided. The method includes transmitting a Connection ID (CID) of Mobile Stations (MSs), the CIDs pre-allocated by a target BS, to the MSs; sending a resource allocation message comprising uplink resource allocation information for bandwidth request of the MSs, to the MSs; receiving a bandwidth request message which comprises security authentication information of each MS, from the MSs using an uplink resource allocated through the uplink resource allocation information; and aggregating bandwidth request messages of the MSs and sending a ranging request message comprising the security authentication information and bandwidth request information of the MSs to the target BS. Thus, the handover delay time, which is inevitable for the bandwidth request in the conventional connection set-up procedure, can be reduced, and the handover with the reliability guaranteed can be achieved by allowing the security related processing in the network re-entry procedure. |
| US08660083B2 |
Uplink scheduling in a cellular system
A method (1000) for scheduling uplink transmission resources such as transmission duration and frequency to users (120) in a cell (110) of a cellular system (100). Grants for the use of uplink transmission resources are sent (1005) on a downlink control channel to users in the cell and the users' uplink transmissions are sent (1010) in subframes which have a certain extension in time and frequency. For each of at least a number of subframes, a decision (1015) is made on the number of users that will be scheduled resources for uplink transmission in the subframe, so that said number of users is maximized (1020) with respect to the control channel's capacity to transmit uplink grants for that subframe. |
| US08660080B2 |
Mapping uplink acknowledgement resource based on downlink control channel
Techniques for determining an uplink (UL) acknowledgment (ACK) resource based on a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) carrying a resource allocation for a user equipment (UE) are disclosed. The mapping between the UL ACK resource and the PDCCH may be implicit, which may reduce overhead. The UL ACK resource may be associated with a time-varying cyclic shift of a base sequence used by the UE to send ACK information. The UE may send the ACK information based on the time-varying cyclic shift of the base sequence, which may randomize interference. |
| US08660079B2 |
Method for sensing whitespace in a wireless LAN system, and apparatus for performing same
Provided is a method for sensing a channel of a whitespace band in a wireless LAN system. A method for sensing and reporting a channel of a whitespace band in a wireless LAN system according to one embodiment of the present invention comprises the steps of: receiving a sensing request including a candidate report channel and a target channel of a whitespace band to be sensed; sensing the target channel; and determining a channel for transmitting sensed results in accordance with whether a licensed user is detected on the target channel, and transmitting the sensed results. |