| Document | Document Title |
|---|---|
| US08667611B2 |
Method and apparatus for measuring cantilever deflection in constrained spaces
Atomic Force Microscopes (AFMs) allow forces within systems under observation to be probed from the piconewton forces of a single covalent bond to the forces exerted by cells in the micronewton range. The pendulum geometry prevents the snap-to-contact problem afflicting soft cantilevers in AFMs which enable attonewton force sensitivity. However, the microscopic length scale studies of cellular/subcellular forces parallel to the imaging plane of an optical microscope requires high sensitivity force measurements at high sampling frequencies despite the difficulties of implementing the pendulum geometry from constraints imposed by the focused incoming/outgoing light interfering with the sample surface. Additionally measurement systems for biological tissue samples in vitro must satisfy complex physical constraints to provide access to the vertical cantilever. Embodiments of the invention address these geometrical restrictions by exploiting optical periscope approaches that further allows multiple probes to be deployed and multiple optical beams within each probe. |
| US08667609B2 |
System to inform about trademarks similar to provided input
Various embodiments of the present invention generally relate to trademark searching and notification systems. More specifically, various embodiments of the present invention relate to systems and methods for informing requesters about trademarks similar to a provided input. Some embodiments of the present invention provide for a proactive system in which users are notified of similar trademarks before using specific term(s) and users proceed after understanding which trademarks actually exist and what areas those trademarks actually entail, and possibly being notified of newly applied trademarks and modified trademarks at later times that are similar to the specific term(s) being used. |
| US08667606B2 |
Session-controlled-access of client data by support personnel
A method for controlling access to client data by support providers includes initiating a session on a server computer in response to receipt of a request for assistance from a client, the session having client data associated therewith. A session key is generated for the session. The session key includes a session identifier and a support provider identifier corresponding to an assignee. The session key may further include a client identifier corresponding to the client. Requests to access the client data include an assignee key including a session identifier and a support provider identifier, and potentially a client identifier if needed. The assignee key is compared to the session key. If correspondence is found between the identifiers in the assignee key and the session key, access is granted. A corresponding apparatus and computer program product are also described. |
| US08667604B2 |
Protection of software on portable medium
A portable rewritable medium and a method are provided for preventing unauthorized use of executable software stored on the portable rewritable medium. A portion of the software stored on the portable rewritable medium may include instructions for a processing device to determine whether execution of the executable software is permitted. If execution of the executable software is permitted, the processing device may execute the executable software directly from the portable rewritable medium. Characteristics of the portable rewritable medium may be checked to determine whether functionality of the executable software is to be limited. |
| US08667603B2 |
System and method for searching secure electronic messages
Systems and methods for searching secure electronic messages. An input search is received for use in searching content of electronic messages. The search includes searching content of secure electronic messages. The results of the search are provided. |
| US08667601B2 |
Method and device for upgrading rights object that was stored in memory card
Disclosed herein relates to a digital rights management, and more particularly, to a method for upgrading digital rights and a device for providing the same. A method of allowing a terminal to upgrade a rights object installed in a memory card according to an embodiment of the present invention may include allowing the terminal to receive a trigger message comprising a rights object identifier, upgrade information, and AssetID (Asset Identifier) to contents from a Rights Issuer, transmitting an asset identifier message comprising the AssetID to the memory card, receiving a rights information message comprising rights information selected based on the AssetID from the memory card, checking whether the rights information corresponds to the rights object identifier, and generating a rights object based on the rights information to upgrade the rights object. |
| US08667599B2 |
Image forming apparatus having a function that is validated by installing a license and method therefor
A multifunction peripheral is disclosed as an example of an image forming apparatus. The multifunction peripheral determines whether a license corresponding to a license identifier is present inside the image forming apparatus through a license management unit based on the license identifier corresponding to input license information. If the license is present inside the image forming apparatus, the license management unit as an example of the history determination unit determines whether there is any installation history of the license whose presence has been determined, on the image forming apparatus. |
| US08667598B2 |
Reproduction rule evaluation device, reproduction rule evaluation method, recording medium and program
When a viewer views content, it is reproduced by a reproduction procedure depending on a dynamic condition set in the content. Here, a content object data input unit obtains an externally-input content object. The content object is stored in a content object data retention unit, if necessary. The content object includes a reproduction rule and a content data. A reproduction rule evaluation and execution unit obtains the reproduction rule in the content object and performs processing in accordance with the reproduction rule. The reproduction unit reproduces a reproducible data specified by the reproduction rule evaluation and execution unit. An identifier management unit retains an identifier of a content object reproduction device and provides the identifier upon request. It is thus possible to reproduce in accordance with the reproduction rule set in the content object data and to control the reproduction procedure depending on the dynamic condition. |
| US08667594B1 |
Securing file trust with file format conversions
Approaches for ensuring a digital file does not contain malicious code. A digital file in an original format may or may not contain malicious code. An intermediate copy of the digital file in an intermediate format is created from the digital file in the original format. The intermediate format preserves a visual or audio presentation of the digital file without supporting metadata or file format data structures of the original format. A sterilized copy of the digital file is created from the intermediate copy. The sterilized copy is in the original format. The sterilized copy comprises a digital signature indicating that the sterilized copy has been converted from the intermediate format to the original format. Advantageously, the sterilized copy is guaranteed to not possess any malicious code. |
| US08667593B1 |
Methods and apparatuses for protecting against malicious software
A client computer maintains storage of a trusted set of files. For files that the client computer detects that are not part of the trusted set, a server scans copies of files to protect the client computer against malicious software. After scanning, the server sends to the client computer a scan report indicating in which, if any, of the files malicious software was found. The client computer then sets access directives for the files based on the scan report. The system may be configured so that, when the client computer detects a file that is not part of the trusted set, the client computer creates an identifier for the file and sends the identifier to the server. The server can use the file identifier to determine if it has a copy of the file, and only if it does not will it request a copy of the file. |
| US08667586B2 |
Backward researching time stamped events to find an origin of pestware
A system and method for identifying an origin of suspected pestware activity on a computer is described. One embodiment includes establishing a time of interest relating to a suspicion of pestware on the computer; issuing a timestamp in response to the establishing the time of interest; identifying, in response to the issuing the timestamp, indicia of pestware; and accessing at least a portion of a recorded history of sources that the computer received files from so as to identify, based at least in part upon the identified indicia of pestware, a reference to an identity of a source that is suspected of originating pestware. |
| US08667585B2 |
Transmission control protocol flooding attack prevention method and apparatus
Disclosed herein is a Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) flooding attack prevention method. The TCP flooding attack prevention method includes identifying the type of a packet received at an intermediate stage between a client and a server; determining the direction of the packet; defining a plurality of session states based on the type and the direction of the packet; detecting a TCP flooding attack by tracking the session states for each flow; and responding to the TCP flooding attack based on the type of the TCP flooding attack. |
| US08667584B2 |
Formal analysis of the quality and conformance of information flow downgraders
Mechanisms for evaluating downgrader code in application code with regard to one or more security guidelines are provided. Downgrader code in application code is identified, where the downgrader code is a portion of code in the application code that operates on an information flow of the application code to ensure confidentiality of information input to the downgrader code, in the output of the downgrader code. Processes of the downgrader code are evaluated against security guidelines to determine if the processes violate the security guidelines. A notification is generated in response to the evaluation indicating that the processes of the downgrader code violate the security guidelines. The notification is output to a computing device for consideration. |
| US08667580B2 |
Secure boot scheme from external memory using internal memory
A system may include a memory having a unique identifier that uniquely identifies the memory. A package may be communicatively coupled to the memory. The package may include a processor, an identifier storage, and a boot storage. The identifier storage may store the unique identifier from the memory. The boot storage may include instructions to control booting of the processor based on the unique identifier in the identifier storage. |
| US08667579B2 |
Methods, systems, and computer readable media for bridging user authentication, authorization, and access between web-based and telecom domains
Methods, systems, and computer readable media for bridging user authentication, authorization, and access between web-based and telecom domains are disclosed. In one example, a method includes issuing, to an application hosted in a web-based network, an access token associated with a user identifier subscribed to a telecommunications network, wherein the access token is issued in response to receiving telecommunications network credentials from a client device associated with the user identifier and receiving, at an over the top (OTT) proxy element in the telecommunications network from the application, the access token for requesting user data associated with the client device to be used to access the application. The method further includes retrieving the user data if the access token is valid a telecommunications network context condition is met and providing the user data to the application, wherein access to the application by the client device is based on the user data. |
| US08667573B2 |
Validating the origin of web content
Described herein is a technique of protecting users against certain types of Internet attacks. The technique involves obtaining certificates from visited web sites and qualifying communications with those web sites based on the content of the certificates. |
| US08667570B2 |
Home networking using LTE radio
A single identity and billing relationship can be employed for multiple UE (user equipment) associated with a subscriber. Specifically, each of the multiple UEs can employ LTE (Long Term Evolution) radio technology to authenticate and register with a femto access point. Further, the transport level billing associated with the multiple UE can be facilitated by the femto access point by employing a femto id (identity) and/or credentials. Moreover, the femto access point can be employed by the multiple UEs as a network hub and can be employed by the UEs to perform authentication to connect to a core network. In addition, the femto access point can determine an authorized IP cloud associated with a registered UE and allow the registered UE to access only the authorized IP cloud. |
| US08667568B2 |
Securing a password database
An apparatus and a method for storing an encrypted username and password. In one embodiment, a username is encrypted. A password associated with the username is encrypted. A user identifier associated with the username is encrypted. The encrypted username, the encrypted password, and the user identifier are stored in one or more database. |
| US08667567B2 |
Apparatus and method for managing access among devices
Provided are a method, system, and computer storage device for managing zone information for devices in a network. A zone group table includes entries for different pairs of zones, wherein each entry indicates whether access between a pair of the zones is permitted. An attribute zone table indicates whether devices in the zones are initiator, target and/or initiator/target. For a selected zone, indication is made of whether ports in the devices in the selected zone have an initiator, target and/or initiator/target attribute as indicated in the attribute zone table. A determination is made as to whether all the ports in the devices in the selected zone have the same attribute of initiator, target or initiator/target. If so, a division proposal is indicated for the selected zone proposing to separate devices in the selected zone into at least one new zone. |
| US08667566B2 |
Audio based human-interaction proof
A method and system for allowing access to computer functions such as websites that utilizes a user's ability to recognize sounds is described. The method presents a user a series of sounds. Some of the sounds presented in the series are labeled as validation sounds. The user is asked to provide an input every time he or she hears the validation sound. The user must identify the sound within a specified length of time. The system disclosed comprises a user interface, a sound database module, a generation module, and a sound database module. The generation module creates the validation test file and expected answer. The answer confirmation module checks the input from the requesting computer and provides access to the computer function if the computer input from the requesting computer meets the required parameters. |
| US08667562B2 |
Input to locked computing device
The subject matter of this specification can be embodied in, among other things, a method that includes receiving at a computing device that is in a locked state, one or more user inputs to unlock the device and to execute at least one command that is different from a command for unlocking the device. The method further includes executing in response to the user inputs to unlock the device an unlocking operation to convert the device from a locked state to an unlocked state. The method further includes executing the at least one command in response to receiving the user inputs to execute the at least one command. The at least one command executes so that results of executing the at least one command are first displayed on the device to a user automatically after the device changes from the locked state to the unlocked state. |
| US08667560B2 |
Authenticating a user with picture messaging
Systems and methods for authenticating a user of a service are disclosed. A host of a service provides a user interface that can be accessed via a display of a terminal. Upon successfully transmitting a first set of credentials, the host requests a random image to be generated by an authentication server. The authentication server transmits the random image to the host, as well as to a mobile device that is associated with the user of the service. The mobile device receives a picture message including the image. The user interface displays a list of images on the display. The user matches the received image with an image among the list of images, wherein a successful match follows in the user being granted access to the service. Consequently, an additional layer of security using a visual identification of a user is provided. |
| US08667559B1 |
Feature management of a communication device
A system and method for the real-time management of a device, and more particularly to the establishment and enforcement of policies or rules associated with the feature or functions that may be performed with the device, such as making and receiving calls, exchanging data, playing games and music, sending and receiving email, accessing web sites, and paying for goods and services. If a child or employee is using the device, there may be a need to regulate how that device can be used and to determine who will pay for what goods or services. In addition to providing all of the features associated with a device, service providers need to be able to establish and enforce rules (policies) regulating how and when that device can be used and who will pay for a good or service requested by the user of the device. |
| US08667555B1 |
Integrity plug-in-proxy
A system receives user data associated with a user device and integrity policies associated with the user data, and distributes the user data and the integrity policies to one or more remote integrity servers. The system further receives integrity results from the one or more remote integrity servers based on the user data and the integrity policies, and collates the integrity results to formulate an access recommendation or a single integrity result for the user device. |
| US08667549B2 |
Personal video recorder E-mail alerts and status
A web-based service which provides a notification such an email to a user to facilitate managing the recording of broadcast content using a personal video recorder (PVR). The user can agree to participate in the service in exchange for emails which can provide information such as a summary of programs recorded over a few days, missed recordings, and scheduling conflicts. The notification can include targeted recommendations, targeted advertising and information about recording habits of members of a social network of the user. A notification can be provided on an urgent basis if program schedule conflicts or hardware or software problems with the user's equipment are detected. The user's equipment can include a PC-based PVR, or a PC which communicates with a separate PVR device. PC-related information such as events thrown can also be reported up to the web service. |
| US08667544B2 |
Entertainment systems utilizing field replaceable storage units
Vehicular entertainment systems where devices in the systems can each utilize a common type of storage units are presented. A vehicular entertainment system can include a media server head unit in communication over a network with a plurality of media players that are installed about the cabin of a vehicle. Media content can be stored on a plurality of field replaceable storage units where each of the storage units can be installed in any one of the players or the server. Each of the storage units can store a substantially identical content set including passenger content, player content, server content, crew content, or other types of content. The server or players can be restricted from accessing content to which they lack rights, possibly based on a location identifier that indicates roles or responsibilities of the players at their installed location. |
| US08667542B1 |
System and method of filtered presentation of broadcast messages by mobile devices
A mobile electronic device is provided. The mobile electronic device comprises a radio receiver, an application that selects a message, and an output device to present the message. The radio receiver receives the message broadcast in a television spectrum band. The application, when executed on the mobile electronic device, selects the message for presentation on the mobile electronic device based on at least one of a location of the mobile electronic, a history based user profile associated with the mobile electronic device, and a selection criteria input into the mobile electronic device. The output device then presents the message. |
| US08667540B2 |
Web-based video broadcasting system having multiple channels
A web-based video broadcast system, comprising at least one web page in communication with a host system to permit a plurality of users and a plurality of content providers to access the host system. The host system is programmed to register a plurality of channels, each associated with a unique channel identifier, and to associate each of at least a portion of the plurality of channels with at least one content provider responsive to a request by the at least one content provider. The host system is further programmed to permit the at least one content provider associated with a channel to selectively upload to the host system at least one video file and associate the at least one video file with the channel. The host system is further programmed to store the at least one video file and continuously display the at least one video file responsive to a user selecting the channel via the at least one web page. |
| US08667538B1 |
Methods and devices for presenting an interactive media guidance application
Methods and devices that, in some embodiments, comprise: determining that a first portion of guide listings corresponding to guidance information for a first amount of time has been displayed on the user equipment device; automatically requesting a second portion of guide listings corresponding to guidance information for a second amount of time from a database having guidance information in response to determining that the first portion of guide listings has been displayed, wherein the second amount of time succeeds the first amount of time in time order and wherein the second portion of guide listings is stored in a cache located between the database and the user equipment device; receiving an indication that a user has requested at least one guide listing within the second portion of guide listings; and receiving the second portion of guide listings from the cache in response to receiving the indication from the user. |
| US08667537B2 |
Digital broadcast receiver and digital broadcast reception method
Upon start of processing, a digital broadcast receiver can acquire a CDN configuration information file (XML) after newly connected to a CDN by a user's operation. Next, the digital broadcast receiver acquires a PF configuration information file written in the CDN configuration information. The digital broadcast receiver judges whether there is an IP broadcast or not. If there is an IP broadcast, the digital broadcast receiver connects to a multicast address described in the PF configuration information file (XML), and acquires information on all channels in the PF from a SI dedicated stream (all station SI including no video or audio) (channel scan). The URL of a SNTP is described in the CDN configuration information file. Time information is acquired through the SNTP at the same time as (or at a timing near the timing of, such as immediately before or immediately after) the channel scan. The above processing enables easy time acquisition which is a problem peculiar to an IPTV with which viewing of an IP broadcast is possible. |
| US08667535B2 |
Information descriptor and extended information descriptor data structures for digital television signals
A digital television (DTV) data stream includes an event information table (EIT), the EIT including: a descriptor including: a descriptor tag identifying the descriptor as a genre descriptor, a descriptor length field, and at least one category code for an associated event in a DTV data stream. |
| US08667534B2 |
Method for performing broadcast channel zapping and broadcast receiving apparatus applying the same
A channel zapping method is provided. The channel zapping method includes setting a channel group selected from among a plurality of channel groups classified by genre as a target for group zapping, and if a channel zapping command is input, performing channel zapping to a next channel in the channel group to which a current channel belongs, and if a group zapping command is input, performing channel zapping to a channel in another channel group included in the target for group zapping, and the another channel group is a channel group in a highest class or in a sub class which belongs to the highest class in the each genre. |
| US08667533B2 |
Customizing streaming content presentation
Streaming content customization techniques are described. In an implementation, metadata, that is associated with an element, is synchronized with a stream of content that includes the element. The element is configured to accept an input to access related content that provides context for a scene that includes the element. After the related content is output, playback of the stream of content is resumed from the point at which the input was accepted to access the related content. |
| US08667532B2 |
Content recognition for targeting video advertisements
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer program products, for providing advertisements. A plurality of advertisement targeting criteria is determined from a video stream or file. A first advertisement targeting criterion of the advertisement targeting criteria is associated with a first time position in the video. A second advertisement targeting criterion of the advertisement targeting criteria is associated with a second time position in the video. One or more first advertisements are provided, for presentation at or after the first time position in the video, based on the first advertisement targeting criterion. One or more second advertisements are provided, for presentation at or after the second time position in the video, based on the second advertisement targeting criterion. |
| US08667527B2 |
Method, apparatus, and system for playing targeted advertisement
Embodiments of the present invention disclose a method, an apparatus and a system for playing a targeted advertisement. An access switch receives an IGMP join packet sent by a user end, snoops the IGMP join packet, and obtains a first mapping relationship; establishes a first multicast forwarding entry according to the first mapping relationship and a pre-saved second mapping relationship between the access port and a virtual local area network of a targeted advertisement user group; and receives an advertisement media stream sent by an access router, and forwards the advertisement media stream to the targeted advertisement user group by using the access port corresponding to the virtual local area network of the targeted advertisement user group according to the first multicast forwarding entry. In this way, the problems that placing precision of a region-targeted advertisement is low and audience rating is poor in the prior art is solved. |
| US08667525B2 |
Targeted advertisement selection from a digital stream
According to one embodiment, a method of targeted advertisement to a user that includes selecting advertisements based upon user preferences is disclosed. In particular, the method relates to receiving incoming content, which includes a primary advertisement and one or more replacement advertisements. If one of the replacement advertisements is determined to be more appropriate for the user than the primary advertisement, based upon user preferences, then the primary advertisement is substituted with the replacement advertisement. |
| US08667523B2 |
Systems and methods for soliciting feedback using print-augmented broadcast signal
A process for providing a print-augmented broadcast signal for transmission to one or more convention broadcast receiver includes receiving a broadcast signal comprising a program portion for a particular broadcast program and a non-program portion. Supplemental content which is associated with the program content of the particular broadcast program is additionally received. Next, the supplemental content is combined onto the non-program portion of the broadcast signal to form a print-augmented broadcast signal, the print-augmented broadcast signal comprising the program content, which can be rendered on a conventional broadcast receiver, and the supplemental content, which is printable on-demand at a destination conventional broadcast receiver substantially concurrently with the rendering of the program content. |
| US08667522B1 |
Channel scanning
Methods, systems, and apparatus can provide channel scanning. In various examples, a channel scanning module can instruct scanning of multiple channels within a wideband frequency range by assigning channels to one or more demodulators to attempt to lock onto a signal at the assigned channel. In other examples, a channel scanning module can instruct scanning for downstream channels by assigning channels to multiple narrowband tuners and multiple demodulators to attempt to lock onto a signal on the assigned channel. |
| US08667520B2 |
Mobile content tracking platform methods
The MOBILE CONTENT TRACKING PLATFORM METHODS (“Mobile-Track”) transforms TV program schedule listing information and user channel selection via Mobile-Track components, into TV audience viewing data and ad effects data. A method is disclosed, comprising: obtaining TV program schedule listing data; providing the obtained TV program schedule listing data to a user mobile device; receiving an indication of user channel selection; determining a media program associated with the received indication of user channel selection; determining an ad associated with the determined media program; providing a survey question related to the determined ad to the user mobile device; and receiving a user response to the survey question. |
| US08667514B2 |
Client application independent extensibility model
Information describing a type registration regarding which an action is being requested by the client application is received as one or more parameters of an application programming interface method invoked by the client application. Based on the one or more parameters, one of multiple type extensions to which the action being requested corresponds is determined. At least part of the information describing the type registration is sent to the one of the multiple type extensions, and the one of the multiple type extensions performs the action being requested. |
| US08667511B2 |
SAS SMP tunneling using SCSI commands
A storage system comprising: a SCSI initiator being configured for receiving a data request and providing a SMP request corresponding to the data request, the SCSI initiator being further configured for encapsulating the SMP request into a first SCSI command; a SCSI target being configured for receiving the first SCSI command, the SCSI target being further configured for recognizing encapsulation of the SMP request and obtaining the SMP request from the first SCSI command; and an SMP target being configured for processing the SMP request and providing an SMP response to the SCSI target. The SCSI target being further configured for acknowledging the SCSI initiator upon reception of the SMP response; and the SCSI initiator being further configured for sending a second SCSI command to the SCSI target to retrieve the SMP response. |
| US08667510B2 |
Method, device, and server for providing content to a handset
A system and method for providing time-sensitive information to a handset using a scrolling ticker. The method includes receiving the time-sensitive information at a server, determining the time period before the next update for a second set of information, and if less than a pre-determined value, then streaming the time sensitive information at the end of the time period to the handset. If the time period is greater that than the pre-determined value, then streaming the time-sensitive information immediately. In an alternative embodiment, a method is provided which includes determining a base schedule for periodically streaming the information to a handset via a scrolling ticker, receiving time-sensitive information relating to an event, determining a second schedule for periodically streaming time-sensitive information related to the event, and streaming the time-sensitive information in accordance with the second schedule during a time period associated with the event. |
| US08667508B2 |
Method for providing stand-in objects
A method for providing stand-in objects, where relationships among objects are automatically resolved in an object oriented relational database model without the necessity of retrieving data from the database until it is needed. A “fault” class is defined, as well as fault objects whose data haven't yet been fetched from the database. An object that's created for the destination of a relationship whenever an object that includes the relationship is fetched from the database. When an object is fetched that has relationships, fault objects are created to “stand-in” for the destination objects of those relationships. Fault objects transform themselves into the actual enterprise objects—and fetch their data—the first time they're accessed. Subsequently, messages sent to the target objects are responded to by the objects themselves. |
| US08667507B2 |
Deep copying objects in a collocated environment
Systems and methods of passing arguments between client and server contexts may provide for detecting an in-process call between a client and a server, wherein the client and the server share a common virtual machine instance. An object copy from a source object of the in-process call to a destination object can be conducted based on an internal class structure of the virtual machine instance. The object copy procedure may be repeated for a plurality of source objects of the in-process call. |
| US08667498B2 |
Modifying virtual universe display quality of virtual objects according to encoded virtual object settings and fee payment status
Described herein are some embodiments that use smart objects in a virtual universe to conserve computing resources. Some embodiments describe detecting that a virtual object of the virtual universe enters a resource conservation area in the virtual universe. Some embodiments further include, in response to determining that the virtual object enters the resource conservation area, detecting that the virtual object has a setting that enables automatic reduction of display quality of the virtual object from a first display quality level. Some embodiments further include, in response to determining that the virtual object has the setting that enables the automatic reduction in display quality from the first display quality setting, automatically reducing the display quality of the virtual object from the first display quality level to a second display quality level less than the first display quality level. |
| US08667497B2 |
Management of copy services relationships via policies specified on resource groups
At least one additional resource group attribute is defined to specify at least one policy prescribing a copy services relationship between two of the storage resources. Pursuant to a request to establish the copy services relationship between the two storage resources, each of the two storage resources exchange resource group labels corresponding to which of the plurality of resource groups the two storage resources are assigned, and each of the two storage resources validates the requested copy services relationship and the resource group label of an opposing one of the two storage resources against the individual ones of the at least one additional resource group attribute in the resource group object to determine if the copy services relationship may proceed. |
| US08667494B1 |
Controlling resource allocation using thresholds and scheduling
Described are techniques for allocating resources. Two consumer processes using two resources are provided. A first threshold of a first of the resources for a first of said two consumer processes is provided. A second threshold of a second of said resources for said first consumer process is provided. Consumption information is received regarding actual consumption of the two resources by the first consumer process. Execution of the first consumer process is scheduled in accordance with the first and the second thresholds and the consumption information. |
| US08667492B2 |
Control of the runtime behavior of processes
A method for controlling runtime behavior of processes of an automation system is provided. A priority is assigned to each of the processes, wherein an operating system of the automation system assigns runtime to the processes as a function of their priority. A scheduling service monitors starting and ending of all processes, wherein the highest priority available in the operating system is assigned to the scheduling service. Metadata is assigned to at least one process, the data including at least one rule on the priority of the process. The scheduling service analyzes the metadata and registers the process for monitoring when starting a process to which metadata is assigned, wherein the scheduling service monitors the registered processes for compliance with the at least one rule per process, and wherein the scheduling service modifies the priorities of the registered processes, the at least one rule of which is in non-compliance, according to the rule. |
| US08667489B2 |
Systems and methods for sharing the results of analyses among virtual machines
A computer-implemented method may include performing a first analysis on at least one file of a master virtual machine and inserting, into the master virtual machine, information that indicates at least one result of the first analysis. The computer-implemented method may also include maintaining at least one additional virtual machine that is based on the master virtual machine. The computer-implemented method may further include directing the additional virtual machine to reference the information in the master virtual machine instead of performing a second analysis on at least one file of the additional virtual machine. Various other systems, methods, and computer-readable media are also disclosed. |
| US08667479B2 |
Mobile specialized software code updated
A first host (60), computer readable medium and method for providing a specialized software package (24) to a second host (70). The method includes initializing, at the first host (60), an application (90) on the first host (60) for communicating with a corresponding application (100) on the second host (70); sending, from the first host (60), a message for verifying a presence of the specialized software package (24) on the second host (70); pushing, when the specialized software package (24) is not present on the second host (70), the specialized software package (24) from the first host (60) to the second host (70); performing, at the first host (60), a specialized activity based on the specialized software package (24) at the first host (60) and the specialized software package (24) at the second host (70); and receiving at the application (90) of the first host (60), a result of the specialized activity, wherein the result of the specialized activity is used by the application (90) at the first host (60) to communicate with the corresponding application (100) on the second host (70). |
| US08667478B1 |
Backward-compatibility using a plugin architecture
A method, to be performed in a computer, is provided. The method includes, for each of a plurality of devices, (a) detecting a hardware revision of that device, (b) selecting a version of a plugin associated with that hardware revision, and (c) loading the selected version of the plugin. At least one device of the plurality of devices has a different hardware revision than at least one other device of the plurality of devices. The version of the plugin associated with the one device is different than the version of the plugin associated with the other device. Corresponding computer program products and devices are also provided. |
| US08667477B2 |
Modifying software code
A computer-implemented method for modifying software code includes: processing a command to modify a first module of software code stored on a production system in a distributed computing environment, where the software code includes a first plurality of data objects and a first plurality of notes; generating at least one queue comprising the second plurality of notes; modifying a second module of software code stored on a development system in the distributed computing environment with the second plurality of notes, where the second module of software code comprising a version of the first module of software code; and transferring the second module of software code to the production system to modify the first module of software code such that the first plurality of notes are modified by the second plurality of notes. |
| US08667476B1 |
Instruction grouping and ungrouping apparatus and method for an adaptive microprocessor system
Multiple instructions including branch instructions are grouped into a condensed variable length instruction. A trimmed and grouped branch instruction branches to one of the instructions in the same group. Therefore, a grouped instruction including branch(es) inherently executes correct branch behaviors without deploying any branch prediction schemes. In addition, a grouped instruction in a condensed form delivers multiple operations to execute without fetching all of the instructions grouped separately from the instruction memory via its caches while conserving instruction memory and/or cache as well as decreasing the number of bit switching on the bus. Software developers can make their own compatible, compact and ciphered instruction sets after grouping existing instructions in their software compiled with existing software compilers and the associated microprocessors. |
| US08667471B2 |
Method and system for customizing profiling sessions
A system and method are provided to customize profiling sessions. In one embodiment, a profiling session at a first virtual machine is initiated, the profiling session including tracking a profiling event occurring at threads, each thread having associated semantical information corresponding to a plurality of profiling entities. A request from a second virtual machine is received specifying extracting profiling information when a profiling entity executes a thread where the profiling event occurs. The profiling information relating to the profiling entity is extracted as requested by the second virtual machine. The profiling information is communicated to the second virtual machine. |
| US08667468B2 |
Software accessibility testing
According to exemplary embodiments, method and systems for software accessibility testing are provided. Aspects of the exemplary embodiments include: obtaining accessibility information on content of a graphical user interface (GUI) of software under test, wherein accessibility information is content of the GUI for which describing text is available or content of the GUI which is accessible by keyboard use; determining content of the GUI which should not be available in a test due to a lack of accessibility information; restricting the GUI to restrict access to the content not available; and providing the restricted GUI to a user for testing. |
| US08667465B2 |
System for estimating a software product release time from version information
Systems and processes for migration of data stored in a label-based software configuration management (CM) system to records of a time-based CM system in a manner that permits for identification, in the time-based system, of contents of releases. In some exemplary implementations, techniques operating according to some of the principles described herein will accept as input information relating to a listing of a label-based system and estimate, based on the software component versions in the listing and their corresponding creation times, a release time indicating a time a release was created. The release time may then be used, in some, but not necessarily all, implementations to create a data structure in the time-based system indicating contents of the version at the particular time. Some exemplary implementations may additionally determine, from the estimated release time, whether any software component versions should be explicitly included or excluded from the data structure. |
| US08667462B1 |
Model and subsystem function signatures
A system and method enable a user to specify function signatures for automated code generators to generate code based on a model representation. The method for automatically generating a function based on the model representation includes providing at least a portion of the model representation. A function signature is received for the model representation. The function signature is generated by a user. The function is generated based on the model representation and the function signature. A user interface can be provided to enable the user to enter the function signature and also to present a preview of a function that results from the function signature as modifications are made to the function signature. The user can enter the function signature using regular expressions, if desired. |
| US08667460B2 |
Method for application authoring employing a child application template derived from a master application template
A computer system is used to create an application. An application is created using an authoring environment. The application is converted into a master application template by creating an application representation and creating associated metadata that define at least one allowable modification that may be made to the application representation. The master application template may be certified. A child application template is derived from the master application template by deleting at least one allowable modification of the master application template, or by deleting, adding, or modifying at least one constraint to at least one allowable modification of the master application template, where the effect of the deletion, addition, or modification is to reduce the scope of the allowable modification to the child application template source code. The child application template is used to create an application. |
| US08667455B1 |
Hierarchical visualization-based analysis of integrated circuits
A system or technique provides for a hierarchical visual-based analysis of electrical integrated circuit system simulation results. A 3D visualization may be used to identify and conduct an analysis of the integrated circuit. An analysis is done on a specific feature of the integrated circuit that is visible in the 3D visualization. The specific feature may be one that is obscured by other layers of the integrated circuit visualization. |
| US08667454B1 |
System, method, and computer program product for optimizing pins
The present disclosure relates to a computer-implemented method for synthesis of device I/O associated with a printed circuit board (PCB) design. The method may include generating a first programmable device model and a second device model. The method may further include determining one or more pin assignments associated with the first programmable device model and the second device model based upon, at least in part, one or more of a breakout pattern, a breakout location and a fanout location, the one or more pin assignments configured to minimize one or more crossovers. |
| US08667452B2 |
Wireless energy transfer modeling tool
A method includes defining and storing one or more attributes of a source resonator and a device resonator forming a system, defining and storing the interaction between the source resonator and the device resonator, modeling the electromagnetic performance of the system to derive one or more modeled values and utilizing the derived one or more modeled values to design an impedance matching network. |
| US08667440B2 |
TCAD emulation calibration method of SOI field effect transistor
A calibration method for a device using TCAD to emulation SOI field effect transistor, where process emulation MOS device structures with different channel lengths Lgate are obtained by establishing a TCAD process emulation program; the process emulation MOS device structures are calibrated according to a TEM test result, a SIMS test result, a CV test result, a WAT test result, and a square resistance test result of an actual device, so as to complete TCAD emulation calibration of key electrical parameters of an SOI field effect transistor. Thereby, providing effective guidance for research, development and optimization of a new process flow are realized. |
| US08667431B1 |
Test coverage of integrated circuits with masking pattern selection
A method of locating faulty logic on a semiconductor chip is disclosed. The method may include determining failure rates for the semiconductor chip, which contain one or more logic elements. The method also may include determining a masking pattern using failure rates. The masking pattern may mask less than all of the logic elements using a determination method. The method may also include applying a test vector to a selected logic element, wherein the result from a test vector is compared to a reference. |
| US08667430B1 |
Methods for directed self-assembly process/proximity correction
A method of fabricating an integrated circuit includes designing an optical photomask for forming a pre-pattern opening in a photoresist layer on a semiconductor substrate, wherein the photoresist layer and the pre-pattern opening are coated with a self-assembly material that undergoes directed self-assembly (DSA) to form a DSA pattern. Designing the optical photomask includes using a computing system, inputting a DSA target pattern, and using the computing system, applying a DSA model to the DSA target pattern to generate a first DSA directing pattern. Further, the step of designing the optical photomask includes using the computing system, calculating a residual between the DSA target pattern and the DSA directing pattern, and using the computing system, applying the DSA model to the first DSA directing pattern and the residual to generate a second, updated DSA directing pattern. Generating the second, updated DSA directing pattern includes linearizing a self-consistent field theory equation. |
| US08667427B2 |
Method of optimization of a manufacturing process of an integrated circuit layout
A computer-implemented method, article of manufacture, and computer system for optimization of a manufacturing process of an integrated circuit or IC layout. The method includes: receiving input; organizing IC patterns; selecting IC patterns amongst the organized IC patterns; and optimizing a design of a manufacturing process of the IC layout based on the selected IC patterns. |
| US08667425B1 |
Touch-sensitive device scratch card user interface
This disclosure is directed to techniques for presenting a scratch-card style interface using a touch-sensitive device. The touch-sensitive device is configured to present a first image using a display of the device. The first image may include a plurality of portions. The plurality of portions may be a plurality of overlapping image particles, or may be a plurality of image layers. The device may detect a first user interaction, and graphically remove a first number of portions of the first image in response to detection of the first user interaction. The device may detect a second user interaction, and graphically remove a second number of portions of the first image in response to the detected second user interaction. Graphical removal of the second number of portions may at least partially reveal a second image presented using the display of the device. |
| US08667420B2 |
Techniques for presenting and browsing hierarchical data
Various technologies and techniques are disclosed for presenting and browsing hierarchical data. A hierarchical chart is displayed with a primary entity being displayed in a center region of the display. One or more peers to the primary entity are displayed along a horizontal axis in comparison to the primary entity. One or more parents to the primary entity are displayed above the primary entity, and one or more children to the primary entity are displayed beneath the primary entity. A method for performing searches against a hierarchical chart is also described. Input is received for a name to search for in a hierarchical chart. A filter criteria selection is received. A search is performed against the hierarchical chart to find one or more matching records that match the name and the filter criteria. The one or more matching records are displayed, with at least a name and photo. |
| US08667419B2 |
Method and apparatus for displaying a menu for accessing hierarchical content data including caching multiple menu states
A system and method for displaying a set of hierarchical menu items is disclosed. Each menu item may be associated with at least one sub-item and/or with content data. Each sub-item may be associated with content data for display upon selection of the sub-item. The system simultaneously displays each menu item in a list format. Upon selection of one of the menu items, the system displays each sub-item associated with the selected menu item. For any selected sub-item, the system displays the display data associated with the selected sub-item and stores data indicating that the selected sub-item is the most recently-selected sub-item associated with the selected menu item. When any menu item is selected, the system determines the most recently-selected sub-item (if any) associated with the selected menu item and displays the display data associated with the most recently-selected sub-item. |
| US08667418B2 |
Object stack
Stack elements corresponding to system object are associated with a stack item and aggregated in the stack item. A context engine provides contextual control of the stack item and stack elements. |
| US08667407B1 |
Graphical model preparation for embedded deployment
A computer implemented method for generating embedded code from a graphical model which includes: acquiring at least one condition related to at least one code generation goal, the at least one code generation goal being used to generate embedded code from the graphical model in a graphical modeling environment, the at least one code generation goal relating to a characteristic of the code to be generated from the graphical model, the graphical model representing a dynamic system having time-changing behavior modeled with differential, difference, and/or algebraic equations, the graphical model being capable of simulation based on the equations; and identifying, using a microprocessor, conditions that are inconsistent with the at least one code generation goal. |
| US08667406B1 |
Artboard creation and preview
Methods and apparatus provide for an artboard generator that detects a selection to create a new artboard on a digital canvas. The artboard generator provides a transparent rendition of the new artboard on the digital canvas and performs a placement operation of the new artboard. Upon completion of the placement operation, the artboard generator converts the transparent rendition of the new artboard to an opaque rendition of the new artboard. The artboard generator detects a selection to create a second new artboard. The artboard generator defines characteristics of the second new artboard in accordance with characteristics of the resized new artboard. The artboard generator provides a transparent rendition of the second new artboard and performs a placement operation of the second new artboard. Upon completion of the placement operation, the artboard generator converts the second new artboard from a transparent rendition to an opaque rendition. |
| US08667405B2 |
Browser-based development tools and methods for developing the same
A browser-based development tool is presented. The tool comprises an interactive user interface running in a browser resident on a client. The tool is programmed to enable a user to select a source of data from a server in communication with the client using the user interface and retrieve a limited data set from the selected data source. The data content of the limited data set is limited to that which is needed to populate a series of independent cells visible in a browser field. The tool is further programmed to display the retrieved data in the series of independent cells visible in the browser field and seamlessly scroll through the data displayed in the series of independent cells as requested by the user. Additionally, a browser-based application can be developed locally on the client using the tool, saved on the server and deployed to others through the server. |
| US08667403B2 |
Mobile terminal and group chat controlling method thereof
A mobile terminal and group chat controlling method thereof are disclosed, by which a chat content transceived in an performed group chat after a join-impossible state can be received in the course of performing the group chat if impossible to join the group chat. The present invention includes performing a group chat with a plurality of counterparts, displaying a chat window of the performed group chat, if the mobile terminal is impossible to join the group chat (i.e., if the mobile terminal enters a join-impossible state) in the course of performing the group chat, receiving chat contents transceived among a plurality of the counterparts in the performed group chat after the join-impossible state, and displaying the received chat contents. |
| US08667402B2 |
Visualizing communications within a social setting
A method is provided for visualizing communications in a social setting. A graphical virtual social venue is provided. Users of one or more social networks are invited to enter the venue and to participate in and share a social experience. Users are graphically represented within the virtual social venue and are able to communicate with each other. When users communicate with each other, the communications are tracked and visually represented in the virtual social venue with visual overlays. The visual overlays signify communicatively active parts of the social venue while keeping private the contents of the communication. |
| US08667397B2 |
Preventing messaging of co-users on user definable co-user lists
A real time notification system that tracks, for each user, the logon status of selected co-users of an on-line or network system and displays that information in real time to the tracking user in a unique graphical interface. The invention provides user definable on-line co-user lists, or “buddy lists”, that track specific co-users in real-time automatically. A user can create many separate buddy lists of co-users, either with intersecting or disjoint lists of users, and label these buddy lists according to the user's preference. The user can update a buddy list or create new buddy lists whenever necessary. When a user logs on to a system, the user's set of buddy lists is presented to the buddy list system. The buddy list system attempts to match co-users currently logged into the system with the entries on the user's buddy list. Any matches are displayed to the user. As co-users logon and loge, a user's buddy list is updated to reflect these changes. An indication can also be added to show that a co-user just logged on or just left the system. |
| US08667395B2 |
Method and apparatus for creating video game and entertainment demonstrations with full preview and/or other features
A computer system creates video game and movie demonstrations aids in the creation of viewable and/or playable demonstration software and storage media. Features include saving projects for demo purposes, previewing demos, previewing demo contents before creation on the final target, statistical data readouts, and directory structure updating and tracking. |
| US08667394B1 |
System for generating an intelligent cross-platform document
The present invention relates to a system for incorporating all or part of a database and/or data sources and data management interface into a transferable file that is in the form of a platform-independent, intelligent document and provides a user in real-time with a platform-independent file having data and a data management interface. The intelligent cross-platform document is generated by synthesizing information from diverse data sources, such as, but without limitation, database, architecture files, icons, images, reference data files, web links. The generation of the file encapsulated with data and an information management interface may be conducted in real-time and allows for all or part of an information management system to be transferred in a cross-platform file to a user that is not directly connected to the information management system. |
| US08667393B2 |
System and method for providing supplemental content related to printed content in a printed publication
A system for providing supplemental content, e.g. purchase information and/or URLs, to a user includes a server and client computing platforms. The supplemental content is related to printed content from a printed publication, such as a magazine. A specific set of printed content, such as a page in a magazine, may include multiple content items that may be of particular interest to the user. The user requests the supplemental content regarding a specific content item by selecting a user-selectable field, e.g. presented via a display of a client computing platform, that corresponds to the specific content item. |
| US08667385B1 |
Method and system for generating and sharing analytics annotations
A computer-implemented method for displaying annotations for a multidimensional dataset at a client device is disclosed. The client device is connected to a server system through a network. The client device displays a first view of the multidimensional dataset. The first view includes a first graph over a period of time and a plurality of annotations, each annotation corresponding to a respective time segment within the period of time. Upon receiving a user selection of one of the plurality of annotations, the client device displays a second view of the multidimensional dataset. The second view includes a second graph over the period of time and the plurality of annotation. Finally, the client device highlights the user-selected annotation among the plurality of annotations and the time segment corresponding to the user-selected annotation in the second graph. |
| US08667383B2 |
Unified electronic forms management system
A unified electronic forms management system that comprises a network-based software implemented process that is designed to provide its users with access to a unified system and process of managing form data and the creation, storage, update and distribution of electronic forms. The unified electronic forms management system may include a centralized and unified electronic forms management system remote server, which communicates over a network with a remote form designer used by a user to create a form, a remote form viewer used by a form user, a database that stores the form data associated with the remote server, and external database(s) that optionally receive data transmitted by the unified system. Form recipient(s) have the option of receiving over the network the form for approval and/or to provide additional information. |
| US08667382B2 |
Configurable field definition document
The present invention provides a configurable field definition document as well as a method, system and program product for configuring a field definition document. Specifically, under the present invention, fields of the field definition document are configured to store values of data elements used by a computer application. The computer application is then mapped to the fields. As needed, values of data elements for the computer application are accessed from the field definition document based on the mapping and at least one selection criterion. The at least one selection criterion can include, for example, a customer identity, a location, a language, a project type, etc. |
| US08667381B1 |
Block diagram change history
An element of a block diagram may be modified to produce a modified block diagram. A change record including a change entry associated with a modification of the element may be created. A commentary related to the modification may be received. The commentary may be associated with the change entry. The change record may be associated with the modified block diagram. The modification may be displayed. The change entry with the associated commentary my be displayed proximate to the displayed modification. |
| US08667380B2 |
Secure communication using non-systematic error control codes
A transmitter device (110T) for secure communication includes: an encoder (170) configured to apply a non-systematic error correcting code (NS ECC) to a message, thus producing encoded bits with no clear message bits; and a transceiver (720) configured to transmit the encoded bits over a main channel to a receiver. A method for secure communication includes: encoding a message with an NS ECC to produce an encoded message carrying no message bits in the clear; and transmitting the encoded message over a main channel (120). The NS ECC characteristics result in an eavesdropper channel error probability under a security threshold (320) and a main channel error probability over a reliability threshold (310), whenever an eavesdropper (140) listening on an eavesdropper channel (150) is more than distance Z (220) from the transmitter. Unreliable bits in the encoded bits render the eavesdropper unable to reliably decode messages on the main channel. |
| US08667374B2 |
Video transmission systems and methods over carrier ethernet
The present disclosure provides video transmission systems and methods with video data flows transmitted over a Carrier Ethernet Network at Layer 2 with redundancy in order to provide hitless protection switching and uninterrupted video service delivery, such as during periods of asymmetric congestion or hard network failures. In an exemplary embodiment, the video transmission systems and methods provide the redundancy in a manner similar to 1+1 linear protection with hit-less protection switching. In another exemplary embodiment, the video transmission systems and methods provide encapsulated video signals over Ethernet using standardized Carrier Ethernet frames with additional sequencing information. Optionally, the video transmission systems and methods may also include packet-based forward error correction information for additional resiliency. These video transmission systems and methods provide uninterrupted and error-free video during broadcast despite network events such as fiber breaks, equipment failures, congestion, etc. |
| US08667372B2 |
Memory controller and method of controlling memory
An estimating unit estimates, when there is a request for data in a system in which an error checking unit of data is formed with a plurality of memories each of which is a dual memory having an independent address line, whether an error has occurred on the address line based on a result of an error checking for data related to the request. A control unit generates, when it is estimated that an error has occurred on the address line, error data of the data related to the request, and controls the memory in such a manner that one line of the dual memory is disabled by switching the data related to the request to generated error data. |
| US08667371B2 |
Data distribution utilizing unique read parameters in a dispersed storage system
A centralized DVR includes a dispersed storage error encoding module, storage nodes, and a distribution module. The dispersed storage error encoding module encodes a broadcast of data in accordance with an error coding dispersal storage function to produce a plurality of sets of encoded data slices, which is stored in the storage nodes. For a first playback request, the distribution module determines a first unique combination and retrieves, as a first unique copy of the broadcast data from the storage nodes, encoded data slices of the plurality of sets of encoded data slices in accordance with the first unique combination. For a second playback request, the distribution module determines a second unique combination and retrieves, as a second unique copy of the broadcast data from the storage nodes, encoded data slices of the plurality of sets of encoded data slices in accordance with the second unique combination. |
| US08667366B1 |
Efficient use of physical address space for data overflow and validation
A storage access system stores block data into physical address blocks in a storage media. A last one of the physical address blocks that is either unfilled or only partially filled with the block data is used for storing extra data associated with the data blocks. A first portion of the last one of the physical storage blocks may be reserved for overflow data for different sizes of the block data. A second portion of the last one of the physical storage blocks may be used to store the validation information for the block data. |
| US08667364B2 |
Automatic data recovery circuit and data error detection circuit
An automatic data recovery circuit includes a register, an error detection unit and a data recovery unit. The register stores a register data including an input data and a remainder data generated by a cyclic redundancy check calculation on the input data using a predefined generation polynomial. The error detection unit performs a modular calculation on the register data stored in the register using the predefined generation polynomial to generate an error detection signal indicating whether an error is detected in the register data stored in the register. The data recovery unit recovers the input data when an error is detected in the input data based on the error detection signal and a comparison data generated by comparing the input data stored in the register with a reference voltage using a capacitor. |
| US08667363B2 |
Systems and methods for implementing cyclic redundancy checks
The present invention provides systems and methods for implementing cyclic redundancy checks to improve link initialization processing and to exchange system error information. In one aspect, a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) checker is provided that includes a unique pattern detector, a CRC generator, a CRC initializer and a CRC verifier. The CRC checker prepopulates the CRC generator for a unique pattern. Upon receipt of the unique pattern within a data stream received over a digital transmission link, the CRC checker proceeds to check CRCs without the need to queue and store data. In another aspect, a CRC generator system is provided that intentionally corrupts CRC values to transmit system error information. The CRC generator system includes a CRC generator, a CRC corrupter, an error detector and an error value generator. In one example, the digital transmission link is an MDDI link. |
| US08667362B2 |
System and method for mitigating burst noise in a communications system
A system, method and computer program product is provided for mitigating the effects of burst noise on packets transmitted in a communications system. A transmitting device applies an outer code, which may include, for example, a block code, an exclusive OR (XOR) code, or a repetition code, to one or more packets prior to adaptation of the packets for transmission over the physical (PHY) layer of the communications system, wherein the PHY layer adaptation may include FEC encoding of individual packets. The outer coded packets are then separately transmitted over a channel of the communications system. A receiving device receives the outer coded packets, performs PHY level demodulation and optional FEC decoding of the packets, and then applies outer code decoding to the outer coded packets in order to restore packets that were erased during transmission due to burst noise or other impairments on the channel. |
| US08667361B1 |
Systems and methods for performing bit flipping in an LDPC decoder
Systems and methods are provided for decoding data using hard decisions and erasures. Circuitry receives data from each of a plurality of variable nodes which correspond to bits of data being decoded. Each variable node stores one of at least three values. The circuitry determines processes the values received from the plurality of variable nodes according to a set of processing rules. The processing rules are used to determine a condition related to the values stored by the plurality of variable nodes. The circuitry stores an indication of the stored condition at a check node. |
| US08667360B2 |
Apparatus, system, and method for generating and decoding a longer linear block codeword using a shorter block length
An apparatus, system, and method for generating and decoding a longer linear block codeword using a shorter block length. The method comprises receiving data from a storage area and generating a codeword from the received data with an encoder, the codeword having a data portion and a parity portion, wherein the codeword has a first block length, and wherein the encoder applies a linear block code, the linear block code having a second block length that is shorter than the first block length. |
| US08667359B2 |
Reliable multicast with linearly independent data packet coding
Regular data packets are scheduled for transmission from a sender to multiple receivers in a multicast ARQ system. In a joint scheduling and encoding procedure, a composite data packet is formed as a weighted linear combination of regular data packets. The corresponding coding weights are adapted based on feedback information from the receivers about received data packets such the composite packet represents a new linearly independent coding of regular data packets different from any multicast data packet previously received in a selected set of the receivers during the multicast session. A weight vector with at least two different non-zero coding weights adds a further degree of freedom and guarantees the ability to form a composite data packet that represents a new linearly independent coding for transmission. |
| US08667357B2 |
Method for conducting HARQ with a wireless communications system
Provided is a method of performing hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) of a receiver in a wireless communication system. The method includes: receiving data in a transmission time interval (TTI) unit consisting of a plurality of consecutive subframes; and transmitting acknowledgment (ACK)/non-acknowledgment (NACK) for the received data, wherein the data is received using a plurality of redundancy versions respectively allocated to the plurality of subframes, and the ACK/NACK is transmitted with an interval of a predetermined processing delay from a transmission time of a specific redundancy version among the plurality of redundancy versions. |
| US08667355B2 |
Data source, destination and input/output circuit with multiplexer and flip-flop
The present disclosure describes a novel method and apparatus of using the JTAG TAP's TMS and TCK terminals as a general purpose serial Input/Output (I/O) bus. According to the present disclosure, the TAP's TMS terminal is used as a clock signal and the TCK terminal is used as a bidirectional data signal to allow serial communication to occur between; (1) an IC and an external controller, (2) between a first and second IC, or (3) between a first and second core circuit within an IC. |
| US08667354B2 |
Computer memory test structure
A method and apparatus for a computer memory test structure. An embodiment of a method for testing of a memory board includes testing a memory of the memory board, where testing the memory including use of a built-in self-test structure to provide a first test pattern for the memory. The method further includes testing an IO (input output) interface of the memory with a host, where testing of the IO interface includes use of the built-in self-test structure to provide a second test pattern for the IO interface. |
| US08667352B2 |
Semiconductor device and method for validating a state thereof
A semiconductor device comprises processing logic arranged to execute program instructions. The semiconductor device further comprises signature generation logic arranged to receive at least one value from at least one internal location of the semiconductor device, and to generate a current signature value, based on the at least one received value. Validation logic is arranged to validate the current signature value generated by the signature generation logic. The processing logic is further arranged, upon execution of a signature validation instruction, to enable the validation of the current signature value provided by the validation logic. |
| US08667351B2 |
Input, output, and link instruction circuits for hierarchical P1500 wrappers
A test architecture accesses IP core test wrappers within an IC using a Link Instruction Register (LIR). An IEEE P1500 standard is in development for providing test access to these individual cores via a test structure called a wrapper. The wrapper resides at the boundary of the core and provides a way to test the core and the interconnections between cores. The test architecture enables each of the plural wrappers in the IC, including wrappers in cores embedded within other cores, with separate enable signals. |
| US08667350B2 |
Multiplexers selectively coupling data scan cells in scan paths
An integrated circuit or circuit board includes functional circuitry and a scan path. The scan path includes a test data input lead, a test data output lead, a multiplexer, and scan cells. A dedicated scan cell has a functional data output separate from a test data output. Shared scan cells each have a combined output for functional data and test data. The shared scan cells are coupled in series. The test data input of the first shared scan cell is connected to the test data output of the dedicated scan cell. The combined output of one shared scan cell is coupled to the test data input lead of another shared scan cell. The multiplexer has an input coupled to the test data output, an input connected to the combined output lead of the last shared scan cell in the series, and an output connected in the scan path. |
| US08667348B2 |
Data writing method for non-volatile memory module and memory controller and memory storage apparatus using the same
A data writing method for a re-writable non-volatile memory module and a memory controller and a memory storage apparatus using the same are provided, wherein the re-writable non-volatile memory module has a plurality of physical writing units, and each of the physical writing units has a plurality of physical writing segments. The data writing method includes identifying at least one non-used segment among the physical writing segments of each of the physical writing units and writing a plurality of segment data streams into the physical writing units, wherein the non-used segments of the physical writing units are not used for writing the segment data. Accordingly, the data writing method can effectively use normal physical writing segments in the physical writing units. |
| US08667345B2 |
Burn-in method for embedded multi media card, and test board using the same, and embedded multi media card tested by the same
A burn-in method for an embedded Multi Media Card (eMMC), and a test board using the same, and an eMMC tested by the same. The disclosed burn-in method comprises the steps as below: writing a test pattern to a flash memory of the eMMC; electrically connecting a command line of the eMMC to ground to operate the eMMC in a boot state; performing a burn-in procedure on the flash memory when the eMMC is in the boot state and the test pattern is recognized as being contained in the flash memory; and collecting a test report during the burn-in procedure, wherein the test report is stored in the flash memory. |
| US08667344B2 |
Method and apparatus for concatenated convolutional encoding and interleaving
A method and apparatus encode a source data stream via convolutional encoding or selected encoding scheme. Plural encoded data streams are interleaved and transmitted on a transmission channel. Data groups generated via convolutional or selected encoding are interleaved via time-interleaving functions to disperse selected bits within data groups, bits in between data groups, and bits in selected sets of data groups to facilitate reconstruction of the source data stream from at least a portion of the interleaved data stream received on at least one transmission channel. Subsets of bits of data groups are selected to allow reconstruction of the source data stream from more than one of plural transmission channels using a minimum number of subsets. Multiple combinations of subsets can be received on both transmission channels to reconstruct the source data stream following blockage of one channel. |
| US08667342B2 |
Method and apparatus for reducing bit errors
The subject matter described herein is directed to an apparatus and a method for reduction of bit errors in continuous data transmission via a data transmission medium, the apparatus having a monitoring unit for monitoring of transceiver parameters of at least one transceiver transmitting said data and/or medium parameters of said data transmission medium and a calculation unit for predicting a time and a duration of an occurrence of at least one event affecting a bit error rate of said continuous data transmission depending on the monitored parameter; and a control unit for throttling a bandwidth of a data switch connected to said transceiver during the predicted duration of the event for bit error reduction. |
| US08667340B2 |
Method and system for distributed processing of alerts
A distributed computing system includes a plurality of intercommunicating component machines. In a method for alert processing, when a component machine fails to perform an operation, and no alert information regarding that operation is currently stored by that component machine, peer machines among the component machines are identified with regard to the operation. Notification is sent to the peer machines regarding failure to perform the operation, notifying the peer machines to store alert information regarding the operation. The component machine stores the alert information regarding the operation and issues an alert corresponding to the failure to perform the operation. A computer readable medium containing executable instructions is also described. |
| US08667339B2 |
Internet server apparatus and program causing a server apparatus to implement functions of preparation processing for direct connection of an appliance in a private network and a mobile terminal outside the private network
A server apparatus, a mobile terminal, an electric appliance, a communication system, a communication method and a program for notifying a mobile terminal user in the open of the cause of a failure of P2P connection. In a communication system, an electric appliance (101), a server apparatus (103) and a mobile terminal (105) each detect a failure in preparation for P2P connection between the electric appliance (101) and the mobile terminal (105). When the electric appliance (101) detects the failure, it notifies the mobile terminal (105) of the failure via the server apparatus (103). When the server apparatus (103) detects the failure, it notifies the mobile terminal (105) of the failure. The mobile terminal (105) notifies the user of the failure detected by the mobile terminal itself or of the failure notified of by the server apparatus (103). |
| US08667337B2 |
Storage apparatus and method of controlling the same
Deterioration of performance due to diagnosis processing performed when a failure occurs is prevented.A storage apparatus 10 includes a controller 11A and a plurality of expanders 112A, 121A coupled to the controller 11A to form a first system, and includes a controller 11B and a plurality of expanders 112B, 121B coupled to the controller 11B to form a second system. The controller 11A accesses the storage drive 171 through the expanders 112A, 121A, and the second controller 11B accesses the storage drive through the expanders 112B, 121B. In the storage apparatus 10, the controller 11A stores a maximum number (concurrently-executable maximum number) of communication ports 80 that are concurrently diagnosable in the first system, and repeatedly executes a process of selecting the communication ports 80 not exceeding the concurrently-executable maximum number and a process of causing the expanders 112A, 121A to diagnose the selected communication ports 80. |
| US08667334B2 |
Problem isolation in a virtual environment
Problem isolation in a virtual environment is described. In one example, a method is disclosed which includes maintaining a topology of network devices in a virtual environment in a performance management database hosted on a problem isolation server. The network devices can be monitored for metrics breaching a baseline. A snapshot of portions of the topology associated with the metrics breaching the baseline can be captured using a snapshot module. The snapshot captured can include a partial topology. Time stamps associated with the metrics can be maintained. The time stamps can include time stamps for when the metrics breach the baseline. The time stamps can be correlated with the snapshot to form a problem isolation timeline. |
| US08667331B2 |
Storage system and control method for storing write data requested by a host computer
It is provided a storage system for storing write data requested by a host computer, comprising: a data storage device, first and second cache memories, first and second non-volatile memories and at least one power storage device, wherein the storage system stores the requested write data in the data storage device, without storing the requested write data in neither the first cache memory nor the second cache memory in a case where the amount of charge of the at least one power storage device is smaller than the predetermined amount of power, and stores the requested write data in at least one of the first and second cache memories, and then store the requested write data in the data storage device in a case where the amount of charge of the at least one power storage device is equal to or larger than the predetermined amount of power. |
| US08667324B2 |
Systems and methods for CPU repair
In one embodiment, a cache element allocation method is provided. Each cache element on a CPU is assigned a quality rank based on the error rate of the cache element. If an allocated cache element is deemed to be faulty, the quality rank of the faulty allocated cache element is compared with the quality rank of the non-allocated cache elements. If a non-allocated cache element has a lower quality rank than the allocated cache element, the non-allocated cache element is swapped in for the allocated cache element. |
| US08667322B1 |
Achieving data consistency in a node failover with a degraded raid array
Technologies are described herein for achieving data consistency during a failover from a primary node to a secondary node in a storage cluster with a shared RAID array in a degraded mode. When the primary storage node receives a write I/O operation, a volume module on the primary node reads the missing data strip data from the failed disk belonging to the stripe targeted by the write I/O operation. The primary storage node communicates the missing data strip to the secondary storage node, which writes the missing strip data to an outstanding strip log. Upon the failure of the primary node, the secondary storage node reads the missing data strip from the outstanding strip log and writes the missing data strip to the shared RAID array, thus restoring data consistency to the stripe of the RAID array containing the missing data strip. |
| US08667321B2 |
Controlling method and controller for memory
A memory controller including a detection module and a protection module is provided. The memory controller is applicable to a memory having a command transmission port and a data transmission port. The detection module detects whether an error condition occurs in an electronic device associated with the memory. When the error condition is detected, the protection module sends an interrupt command to the memory via the command transmission port to stop an operation associated with the data transmission port. |
| US08667320B2 |
Deriving accurate media position information
Various embodiments utilize different counters or clocks, working in concert, to smooth out position information that is derived for a rendering/capturing device. Specifically, in at least some embodiments, each counter or clock has a different speed. A faster counter or clock is used to determine intra-transition position offsets relative to a slower counter or clock. |
| US08667319B2 |
System and method for clock control for power-state transitions
Clock management is implemented using a variety of systems, devices and methods. According to one embodiment a clock transitioning circuit arrangement (104) is implemented for receiving data from a processor system (102) via a data bus (212, 214) and for modifying a state a clock-generation unit (106) having a local memory for controlling a plurality of clock outputs that provide clock signals for use by the processing system (102). The arrangement has a memory circuit (206) for storing the data from the processor system (102) and a control circuit (208) for accessing the data in the memory circuit (206) in response to a request to change a clock signal provided by an output of the plurality of clock outputs and for providing corresponding data to the local memory of the clock generation unit (106). |
| US08667318B2 |
Method and apparatus for wireless clock regeneration
Methods and systems for operating a wireless clock system for multimedia datastream transmission and display. Source clock frames are compared with a reference clock frames and the clock difference are transmitted to a wireless clock receiver which also receives the same reference clock frames. Source clock frames are re-constructed using the reference clock frames, clock difference information and the receiver's local clock system. |
| US08667311B2 |
Method and system for optimized power management for a network device supporting PCI-E and energy efficient ethernet
Aspects of a method and system for optimized power management for a network device supporting PCI-E and energy efficient Ethernet are provided. In this regard, in a network interface controller that supports energy efficient Ethernet, a PCI-E core may be transitioned from a low power PCI-E state to a full power PCI-E state when a PHY core in the network interface controller initiates transition from a low power mode to a full power mode and before the PHY core receives an Ethernet packet. In another embodiment, the PHY core in the network interface controller may be transitioned from a low power mode to a full power mode when the PCI-E core initiates transition from a low power PCI-E state to a full power PCI-E state, and before the PCI-E core receives a command to send an Ethernet packet. |
| US08667307B2 |
Power control circuit and method of computer system
A power control circuit and a power control method applied to a computer system are disclosed. A regulator receives a first voltage, the regulator converting the first voltage to an embedded controller voltage when the regulator is enabled. A detecting and controlling circuit receives the first voltage and the button signal, and the regulator is enabled when the detecting and controlling circuit detects the button signal. An embedded controller connects to the regulator for receiving the embedded controller voltage and outputting the plurality of power control signals. The embedded controller sends a power on signal to the detecting and controlling circuit to keep the regulator enabled. |
| US08667306B2 |
Automatic security action invocation for mobile communications device
In one embodiment, there is provided a mobile communications device comprising: a processor; a communications subsystem operable to exchange signals with a wireless network; a storage element having application modules and data stored thereon, the data comprising at least user application data associated with the application modules and service data including data for establishing communications with the wireless network; and a security module operable to detect policy messages received by the device, and to perform a security action if a first policy message to enforce a first data protection policy is received and a subsequent policy message to enforce a second data protection policy is not received within a predetermined duration from the time at which the first policy message is received; wherein the security action comprises erasing or encrypting at least some of the data on the storage element. |
| US08667303B2 |
Peripheral authentication
This document describes techniques (300, 400) and apparatuses (100, 500, 600, 700) for peripheral authentication. These techniques (300, 400) and apparatuses (100, 500, 600, 700) may configure data lines for authentication between host device (102) and peripheral (106), use these configured data lines to authenticate the peripheral (106), and then reconfigure the data lines for use. |
| US08667300B2 |
Image processing apparatus and method
Encrypted video data is decrypted as first image data. If a first image processing module includes an output processing to an outside of a first secure memory which an access from an outside of an apparatus is restricted, the first image processing module is converted to a second image processing module including the output processing invalidated. The first image data is processed using the second image processing module, by accessing the first secure memory, and second image data is generated. If a first rendering module includes an output processing to an outside of a second secure memory which an access from the outside of the apparatus is restricted, the first rendering module is converted to a second rendering module including the output processing invalidated. The second image data is rendered using the second rendering module, by accessing the second secure memory. |
| US08667296B1 |
Generating a password from a media item
A method for generating a password for a user account. The method includes selecting a media item from a media library associated with a user; selecting a portion of the media item; generating a password based on the selected portion of the media item, where at least a portion of the password is based on selecting a first letter of a word included in the portion of the media item; and presenting the password as a suggested password to the user. |
| US08667287B2 |
Transaction auditing for data security devices
Data security devices are provided which store user data and interact with terminal devices to provide information about the stored user data. Security device has memory for storing user data, an interface for transmission of data communications connectable to a data communications network, and a controller. The controller processes a request from the terminal device for information about said user data by first generating a message. The message is generated to permit verification, using secret data, that the message was generated by the controller. The controller sends the message to the terminal device for communication to a publication entity for publication of the message. The controller then receives from the terminal device a cryptographic construction. The controller checks validity of the cryptographic construction for said message, and subsequent supply of the information requested about the user data to the terminal device is then dependent on said cryptographic construction. |
| US08667286B2 |
Host device, semiconductor memory device, and authentication method
According to one embodiment, encrypted secret identification information (E-SecretID) and the key management information (FKB) are read from a memory device. Encrypted management key (E-FKey) is obtained using the key management information (FKB) and index information (k). The index information (k) and the encrypted management key (E-FKey) are transmitted to the semiconductor memory device. An index key (INK) is generated using the first key information (NKey) and the received index information (k). The encrypted management key (E-FKey) is decrypted using the index key (INK) to obtain management key (FKey), which is transmitted to the host device. |
| US08667285B2 |
Remote authentication and transaction signatures
The invention provides a method, apparatus, computer readable medium and signal which allows the usage of devices containing PKI private keys such as PKI-enabled smart cards or USB sticks to authenticate users and to sign transactions. The authenticity of the user and/or the message is verified. Furthermore the operation (authentication and/or signing) occurs without the need for an application to have some kind of a direct or indirect digital connection with the device containing the private key. In addition the operation occurs without the need for the PKI-enabled device containing the private key (e.g. a PKI smart card or USB stick) to either support symmetric cryptographic operations or to have been personalized with some secret or confidential data element that can be read by a suitable reader. |
| US08667284B2 |
Detection of invalid escrow keys
A secure hash, such as a Hash-based Message Authentication Code (“HMAC”), is generated using a piece of secret information (e.g., a secret key) and a piece of public information specific to each escrow key (e.g., a certificate hash or public key). Using the secret key ensures that escrow key validation data can only be generated by knowing the secret key, which prevents an attacker from generating the appropriate escrow key validation data. Using the certificate hash as the public data ties each escrow key validation data to a particular certificate, thereby preventing the attacker from simply copying the validation data from another escrow key. Any escrow key that is found to be invalid may be removed from the file container and a system audit log may be generated so that a company, individual, or other entity can be aware of the possible attempt at a security breach. |
| US08667281B1 |
Systems and methods for transferring authentication credentials
A computer-implemented method for transferring authentication credentials may include 1) identifying a request to receive an authentication credential that is stored on a first computing device onto a second computing device, 2) identifying an asymmetric key pair on the second computing device, 3) generating an identifier of the asymmetric key pair on the second computing device, 4) transmitting an encryption key of the asymmetric key pair and the identifier of the asymmetric key pair to a credential repository, 5) displaying the identifier of the asymmetric key pair to facilitate retrieval of the authentication credential from the credential repository based on the identifier, and 6) retrieving the authentication credential, encrypted with the encryption key of the asymmetric key pair, from the credential repository. Various other methods and systems are also disclosed. |
| US08667280B2 |
Method and apparatus for applying a partial password in a multi-factor authentication scheme
A method includes receiving, via a server, a User ID and Password from a client device, and generating a Secret PIN (SPIN). Values for a Partial Password and an encrypted version of the SPIN (ESPIN) are determined. The method includes challenging a user of the client device with a challenge that prompts the user to enter the Partial Password and an ESPIN. An Additional Factor, e.g., a One-Time Password from a Shared Secret, is locked using the SPIN. The Partial Password and challenge unlock the Additional Factor. The method includes authenticating the identity using the unlocked Additional Factor. A system includes a server in communication with a client device, and a non-transitory memory device on which is recorded process instructions for authenticating the identity of a user of the client device. The server executes the instructions to thereby authenticate the identity of the user using the unlocked Additional Factor. |
| US08667276B2 |
Method and apparatus for article authentication
An authentication method for authenticating an article in a device includes the steps of (a) reading an identification number stored on the article, (b) reading an authentication number stored on the article, (c) determining an input number based at least in part on the identification number, (d) applying an authentication function to the input number to calculate an output number, (e) determining that the article is authentic only if the authentication number corresponds to the output number, and (f) permitting use of the article in the device if the article is authentic, and disabling use of the article in the device if the article is not authentic. |
| US08667274B2 |
System and method for WORM data storage
A system and method for Write Once, Read Many (WORM) compliant storage is disclosed. A storage administrator in user space is employed as an interface between the kernel space WORM VFS and the user applications. The storage administrator accesses the WORM VFS through the operating system's Virtual File System. The WORM VFS comprises of three layers: a data encryption\compression layer, the WORM filesystem layer and a logical volume manager. The data encryption\compression layer preprocesses the data as it moves between from the user space and the WORM filesystem layer. The WORM filesystem layer stores the compressed and encrypted data on the physical disk drives in a specialized disk format. The logical volume manager manages the physical disk drives. A NVRAM journal aids in crash recovery. |
| US08667270B2 |
Securely upgrading or downgrading platform components
A method for securely altering a platform component is provided, comprising: assigning certificates for public encryption and signature verification keys for the device; assigning certificates for public encryption and signature verification keys for an upgrade server; mutually authenticating a device containing the platform component and the upgrade server; causing the device and the upgrade server to exchange a session key; and providing an alteration to be made to the platform component from the upgrade server to the device using the session key. |
| US08667267B1 |
System and method for communicating with a key management system
A method for providing authenticated access to an encrypted file system includes generating a first seed; providing a request for a key to a key server, the request including at least a first seed block having a first encryption, a message block having a second encryption, and an encryption encapsulation block having a third encryption, the encryption encapsulation block including information for decrypting the message block; at the key server, decrypting the encryption encapsulation block and using the information therein to decrypt the at least a first seed block and the message block; and authenticating the message if the first seed in the at least a first seed block matches a first predetermined seed. |
| US08667265B1 |
Hardware device binding and mutual authentication
Detection and deterrence of device tampering and subversion by substitution may be achieved by including a cryptographic unit within a computing device for binding multiple hardware devices and mutually authenticating the devices. The cryptographic unit includes a physically unclonable function (“PUF”) circuit disposed in or on the hardware device, which generates a binding PUF value. The cryptographic unit uses the binding PUF value during an enrollment phase and subsequent authentication phases. During a subsequent authentication phase, the cryptographic unit uses the binding PUF values of the multiple hardware devices to generate a challenge to send to the other device, and to verify a challenge received from the other device to mutually authenticate the hardware devices. |
| US08667264B2 |
Expedited computer boot system and method
The present invention discloses an expedited computer boot system and method. The expedited computer boot system includes: ROM, RAM, and a module for selecting a boot mode. The module for selecting a boot mode at least includes: a detecting unit and a fast boot unit. The fast boot unit reads configuration settings stored in the RAM and loads into operating system based on the configuration settings if the detecting unit detects no device changed. Otherwise, the fast boot unit reads ROM and Power-On Self Test (POST) is executed if any device is changed. Therefore, the computer system can quickly boot and the time for booting computer is shortened. |
| US08667260B2 |
Building approximate data dependences with a moving window
Mechanisms for building approximate data dependences using a moving look-back window are provided. The mechanisms track dependence information for memory accesses over iterations of execution of a portion of code. The mechanisms receive a memory access of an iteration of the portion of code, the memory access having an address for access the memory and an access type indicating at least one of a read or a write access type. An entry in a moving look-back window data structure is generated corresponding to a memory location accessed by the memory access. The entry comprises at least an identification of the address, the access type, and an iteration number corresponding to the iteration of the memory access. The moving look-back window data structure is utilized to determine dependence information for memory accesses over a plurality of iterations of the portion of code. |
| US08667259B2 |
Data processor and memory read active control method
Instruction cache memory having a plurality of memory (for example, cache WAY), means 3 for storing prediction data of a conditional branch of a branch instruction being taken or not taken and for storing prediction data of memory storing the branch instruction data of the plurality of memory when the prediction is the branch being taken, and means for, when an instruction to be executed is a branch instruction, outputting a read active control signal to the plurality of memories 1 by using two pieces of prediction data obtained from the means by an index corresponding to the branch instruction, are comprised. |
| US08667257B2 |
Detecting branch direction and target address pattern and supplying fetch address by replay unit instead of branch prediction unit
Techniques are disclosed relating to improving the performance of branch prediction in processors. In one embodiment, a processor is disclosed that includes a branch prediction unit configured to predict a sequence of instructions to be issued by the processor for execution. The processor also includes a pattern detection unit configured to detect a pattern in the predicted sequence of instructions, where the pattern includes a plurality of predicted instructions. In response to the pattern detection unit detecting the pattern, the processor is configured to switch from issuing instructions predicted by the branch prediction unit to issuing the plurality of instructions. In some embodiments, the processor includes a replay unit that is configured to replay fetch addresses to an instruction fetch unit to cause the plurality of predicted instructions to be issued. |
| US08667254B1 |
Method and apparatus for processing data in an embedded system
In one embodiment, a network device is disclosed. For example, in one embodiment of the present invention, the device comprises a processor and a core memory having a receive buffer and a transmit buffer. The device comprises a bus coupled to the processor and the core memory. The device comprises at least one co-processor coupled to the core memory via a direct link, wherein the at least one co-processor is capable of accessing at least one of: the receive buffer, or the transmit buffer, without assistance from the processor. |
| US08667244B2 |
Methods, systems, and apparatus to prevent memory imprinting
In one implementation, a data set including a plurality of data values having an order is stored at a memory having a plurality of memory locations. Each data value from the data set stored a current memory location of that data value from the plurality of memory locations. Each data value from the data set is periodically moved from the current memory location of that data value from the plurality of memory locations to a next memory location of that data value from the plurality of memory locations. The next memory location of each data value from the plurality of memory locations is the current memory location of that data value from the plurality of memory locations after the moving. The plurality of data values is then provided in the order to a client in response to a request for the data set. |
| US08667241B2 |
System for data migration from a storage tier allocated to a virtual logical volume
In recent years, data life cycle management, in which data is relocated from, for example, a new storage sub-system to an older storage sub-system in accordance with how new the data is or the frequency of use of the data, has become important. One technology for achieving data life cycle management is technology for migrating the contents of a storage area (“volume”) of a storage sub-system to another volume without affecting the host computer that uses the volume. In the present invention, when an associated source volume (for example, the source volume in a copy pair association) of a pair of associated volumes is migrated, migration of an associated destination volume (for example, the target volume in the copy pair association) is also controlled. In this way, it is possible to control the migration of a pair (or a group) of associated volumes in accordance with the user's requirements. |
| US08667240B2 |
Method for automatically backing up digital data preserved in memory in a computer installation and data medium readable by a computer having the associated instructions stored in the memory thereof
The invention relates to a method for automatically backing up digital data preserved in memory in a computer installation to a remote backup system accessible through the computer installation via a data transmission network. This method comprises extracting and analyzing information regarding the operation of the computer installation and determining parameters of a data backup application for saving data to the backup system. Based on the result of this analysis, the digital data preserved in memory is analyzed and the digital data analyzed is classified into a plurality of classes of different priorities. The backup application is also executed on at least part of the digital data based on the parameters and classes of priorities determined. |
| US08667239B1 |
Assisted mainframe data de-duplication
Data de-duplication (“de-dupe”) allows IT organizations to replace aging tape systems with disk-based backup solutions and minimize the storage allocated to backup and data protection. The effectiveness of de-dupe technology is dependent on the data being protected. Data streams with little data repetitiveness provide disappointing results when processed through a block-level de-dupe engine. To avoid this problem, Assisted Mainframe De-Dupe (AMDD) technology can insure that filesystem block-level de-dupe products efficiently de-dupe tape backup streams received from IBM™ and/or compatible mainframes. By pre-processing backup tape volumes before sending the data to storage, AMDD insures that large amounts of unchanged data lines up on de-dupe block boundaries each time the data is sent to the de-dupe process engine. By providing “well-behaved” data to the de-dupe process, AMDD can improve the effectiveness of de-dupe processing and substantially reduce the storage used to backup critical mainframe DASD resources. |
| US08667231B2 |
Transactional memory system with efficient cache support
A computer implemented method for use by a transaction program for managing memory access to a shared memory location for transaction data of a first thread, the shared memory location being accessible by the first thread and a second thread. A string of instructions to complete a transaction of the first thread are executed, beginning with one instruction of the string of instructions. It is determined whether the one instruction is part of an active atomic instruction group (AIG) of instructions associated with the transaction of the first thread. A cache structure and a transaction table which together provide for entries in an active mode for the AIG are located if the one instruction is part of an active AIG. The next instruction is executed under a normal execution mode in response to determining that the one instruction is not part of an active AIG. |
| US08667230B1 |
Recognition and recall memory
A digital memory architecture for recognition and recall in support of a host comprises a plurality of pattern processors, each of which has its own random access memory (RAM) and controller, an external data bus and external data bus controller, a results bus and results bus controller, an internal data bus and internal data bus controller, and an external control bus and external control bus and controller. Each of the pattern processors may be a general purpose set theoretic processor (GPSTP) operating in interrupt and block modes. |
| US08667221B2 |
Detection of streaming data in cache
An apparatus to detect streaming data in memory is presented. In one embodiment the apparatus use reuse bits and S-bits status for cache lines wherein an S-bit status indicates the data in the cache line are potentially streaming data. To enhance the efficiency of a cache, different measures can be applied to make the streaming data become the next victim during a replacement. |
| US08667215B2 |
Dynamic SLC/MLC blocks allocations for non-volatile memory
Apparatus and methods are disclosed, such as those that provide dynamic block allocations in NAND flash memory between single-level cells (SLC) and multi-level cells (MLC) based on characteristics. In one embodiment, a memory controller dynamically switches between programming and/or reprogramming blocks between SLC mode and MLC mode based on the amount of memory available for use. When memory usage is low, SLC mode is used. When memory usage is high, MLC mode is used. Dynamic block allocation allows a memory controller to obtain the performance and reliability benefits of SLC mode while retaining the space saving benefits of MLC mode. |
| US08667209B2 |
Non-volatile memory access method and system, and non-volatile memory controller
A non-volatile memory access method and system, and a non-volatile memory controller are provided for accessing a plurality of physical blocks in a non-volatile memory chip, and each physical block has a plurality of physical pages. The method includes determining whether there is enough space in a first physical block to write a plurality of specific physical pages when data stored in one of the specific physical pages are to be updated; and writing valid data and data to be updated into the first physical block when the first physical block has enough space to write the specific physical pages. |
| US08667205B2 |
Deadlock resolution in end-to-end credit protocol
A system for deadlock resolution in end-to-end credit protocol includes a plurality of source controllers configured to receive data frames on an incoming link, wherein each source controller includes a plurality of credit counters. The system also includes a plurality of end controllers configured to receive data frames from the plurality of source controllers, wherein each end controller includes a buffer credit counter, a plurality of request counters, and an output buffer. Each of the plurality of credit counters corresponds to one of the plurality of end controllers and stores a number of credits received from that end controller. The buffer credit counter of each end controller stores a number of available credits of the end controllers. Each of the request counters corresponds to one of the plurality of source controllers and stores a number of credit requests received from that source controller. |
| US08667204B2 |
Method to differentiate identical devices on a two-wire interface
Systems and methods for providing a differentiation of two identical slave devices on a same I2C bus without any hardware (e.g. additional ID pins) or software overhead are disclosed. Each identical slave device is connected to the SDA/SCL lanes by interchanging its SDA/SCL ports. It is up to the slave device to detect its signal connectivity to the SDA/SCL lanes of the I2C bus. The slave devices detect the signal connectivity by interpreting the I2C transfer in normal and interchanged connectivity. |
| US08667203B2 |
Operation of video source and sink with toggled hot plug detection
Methods and systems are described for transmitting and displaying video data after a hot plug event during a start-up dead period. In particular, hot plug events occurring when a toggleable hot plug detection mechanism is used. |
| US08667201B2 |
Computer system interrupt handling
A system, method and article of manufacture for an accelerated processing device (APD) to request a central processing unit (CPU) to process a task, comprising enqueuing a plurality of tasks on a queue using the APD, generating a user-level interrupt and transmitting to the CPU the plurality of tasks in the queue using an interrupt handler associated with a CPU thread. |
| US08667199B2 |
Data processing apparatus and method for performing multi-cycle arbitration
A data processing apparatus and method are provided for arbitrating between multiple access requests seeking to access a plurality of resources sharing a common access path. At least one logic element issues access requests requesting access to the resources, and each access request identifies which of the resources is to be accessed. Arbitration circuitry performs a multi-cycle arbitration operation to arbitrate between multiple access requests to be passed over the common access path, the arbitration circuitry having a plurality of pipeline stages to allow a corresponding plurality of multi-cycle arbitration operations to be in progress at any one time. Filter circuitry is provided which has a plurality of filter states, the number of filter states being dependent on the number of pipeline stages of the arbitration circuitry, and each resource being associated with one of the filter states. For a new multi-cycle arbitration operation to be performed by the arbitration circuitry, the filter circuitry selects one of the filter states that has not been selected for any other multi-cycle arbitration operation already in progress within the pipeline states of the arbitration circuitry. Then, it determines as candidate access requests for the new multi-cycle arbitration operation those access requests that are seeking to access a resource associated with the selected filter state. Such an approach allows efficient multi-cycle arbitration to take place even where the resources may have inter-access timing parameters associated therewith which prevent them from being able to receive access requests every clock cycle. |
| US08667198B2 |
Methods and systems for time keeping in a data processing system
Data processing systems with interrupts and methods for operating such data processing systems and machine readable media for causing such methods and containing executable program instructions. In one embodiment, an exemplary data processing system includes a processing system, an interrupt controller coupled to the processing system and a timer circuit which is coupled to the interrupt controller. The interrupt controller is configured to provide a first interrupt signal and a second interrupt signal to the processing system. The processing system is configured to maintain a data structure (such as, e.g., a list) of time-related events for a plurality of processes, and the processing system is configured to cause the entry of a value, representing a period of time, into the timer circuit. The timer circuit is configured to cause an assertion of the first interrupt signal in response to an expiration of the time period. |
| US08667195B2 |
Bus-system including an interconnector, a master device, a slave device, and an operating method thereof
A system-on-chip bus system and an operating method of the same are provided. The bus system includes a master device, a slave device and an interconnector coupled between the master device and the slave device. The interconnector includes a synchronization/compaction block to control traffic provided from a master device to a slave device. When a write request traffic and a corresponding write data traffic are all provided from the master device, the synchronization/compaction block may transfer the two traffics to the salve device. |
| US08667193B2 |
Non-ported generic device (software managed generic device)
Techniques are disclosed for utilizing a non-ported generic device (NGD) or other non-ported hardware to couple processing device(s) to access components on a serial data bus without the need for integrated manager hardware. Using the NGD, a processing device(s) can utilize available unused bandwidth on the serial data bus to communicate with components coupled with the serial data bus, including a processing device having the manager hardware. Various alterations and embodiments are disclosed. |
| US08667192B2 |
Integrated circuit with programmable circuitry and an embedded processor system
An integrated circuit can include a processor system configured to execute program code. The processor system can be hard-wired and include a processor hardware resource. The IC also can include a programmable circuitry configurable to implement different physical circuits. The programmable circuitry can be coupled to the processor system. The programmable circuitry can be configurable to share usage of the processor hardware resource of the processor system. The processor system further can control aspects of the programmable circuitry such as power on and/or off and also configuration of the programmable circuitry to implement one or more different physical circuits therein. |
| US08667180B2 |
Compression on thin provisioned volumes using extent based mapping
For facilitating data compression, a set of logical extents, each having compressed logical tracks of data, is mapped to a head physical extent and, if the head physical extent is determined to have been filled, to at least one overflow extent having spatial proximity to the head physical extent. Pursuant to at least one subsequent write operation and destage operation, the at least one subsequent write operation and destage operation determined to be associated with the head physical extent, the write operation is mapped to one of the head physical extent, the at least one overflow extent, and an additional extent having spatial proximity to the at least one overflow extent. |
| US08667179B2 |
Dynamic utilization of condensing metadata
Dynamic utilization of condensing metadata is enabled by condensing information being communicated to/from a mobile device. The communication exchange occurs between a mobile device and an internet service, and it involves a mobile internet service proxy. The information is condensed responsive to condensing metadata and uncondensed using the condensing metadata. In an example embodiment, condensing metadata comprises encoding metadata for tags and compression metadata for other data. In a first described implementation, a mobile internet service proxy effectuates a static installation of condensing metadata to the mobile device from the internet service. In a second described implementation, the internet service lacks condensing metadata. The mobile internet service proxy therefore retrieves the schema defining the relevant information and dynamically generates condensing metadata. This dynamically-generated condensing metadata is copied to the mobile device so that condensed data may be communicated at least between the mobile device and the mobile internet service proxy. |
| US08667178B2 |
Transmitting apparatus for transmitting data and transceiving system for transmitting and receiving data
A transmitting apparatus includes an MPEG encoder; a baseband unit; transceiving devices for transmitting the video signal output from the baseband unit as a wireless LAN radio wave and for acquiring the incoming transmission rate that shows the receiving condition of the video signal from the receiving apparatus; and a control device. The control device controls the MPEG encoder and baseband unit so as to reduce the outgoing transmission rate of the video signal when the incoming transmission rate is smaller than a first threshold value, and reduce the resolution of the video signal when the incoming transmission rate is smaller than a second threshold value, which is smaller than the first threshold value. When the transmission condition is poor, it is possible to alleviate frame loss and breakup of vide signal to be displayed in a display apparatus. |
| US08667176B2 |
Network service access method and access gateway equipment
The present invention includes a network service access method. In one embodiment, such a method comprises: forwarding the domain name resolution requests to a local domain name server of each Internet service provider providing services through access link corresponding with the Internet service provider; receiving Internet Protocol address on the domain name resolution requests which the local domain name server of each Internet service provider returned from the corresponding access link; selecting the Internet Protocol address according to line state of the access link of each Internet service provider providing services and returning the selected Internet Protocol address to the user equipments; and visiting network services by the access link of the Internet service provider returning the selected Internet Protocol address. |
| US08667174B2 |
Method and system for survival of data plane through a total control plane failure
A system and method for retaining routes in a control plane learned by an inter-domain routing protocol in the event of a connectivity failure between routers. Routers are classified as either route reflectors or originators. A determination is made whether the connectivity failure occurred between a route reflector and an originator, two originators, or two route reflectors. A determination is then made whether to propagate a withdrawal of learned routes based on whether the connectivity failure occurred between a route reflector and an originator, two originators, or two route reflectors. A withdrawal of learned routes is propagated to neighboring routers if the connectivity failure occurred between two originators, or between a route reflector and an originator that is inaccessible via an intra-domain routing protocol. No withdrawal of learned routes is propagated if the connectivity failure occurred between two route reflectors, or between a route reflector and an originator that is accessible via an intra-domain routing protocol. |
| US08667172B2 |
Method and apparatus for content identifier based radius constrained cache flooding to enable efficient content routing
A networking system comprising a plurality of content routers coupled to each other and to a plurality of providers and configured to route and cache content data, wherein the content routers are further configured to locate and route requested content to a user node coupled to the content routers, wherein the providers are configured to publish content and the content routers are further configured to receive and cache the content data in response to an interest request for content and to flood a content identifier for the content data to a plurality of neighboring content routers within a specified radius, wherein the content identifier enables the plurality of neighboring content routers to determine a nearest location from which to obtain the content data to enable efficient content routing. |
| US08667168B2 |
Proximity control method for transmitting content and node in network using the proximity control method
A proximity control method for transmitting a content and a network node using the proximity control method is provided. A proximity control method for transmitting a content performs a different proximity control mechanism depending on each of a single proximity control (SPC) domain, a mixed proximity control (MPC) domain, and a network-based service domain, and each of nodes performs the different proximity control mechanism based on a physical distance from a neighboring node, the nodes being comprised in the SPC domain, the MPC domain, and the network-based service domain. |
| US08667162B2 |
Method, apparatus and computer program product for providing a mobile streaming adaptor
An apparatus for providing a mobile streaming adaptor includes a processor configured to receive media content from a remote camera, process the received media content by capturing, encoding and encapsulating the media content at a mobile electronic device, connect to a remote streaming server through function of a mobile networked device; and stream the encapsulated media content to the mobile networked device for communication of the encapsulated content to the remote streaming server through an Internet Protocol (IP) network for real-time distribution to a communication device. A corresponding computer program product and method are also provided. |
| US08667161B2 |
Personal broadcast server system for providing a customized broadcast
A personal broadcast server system provides a customized broadcast to one or more users over a transmission media. A data storage device stores a plurality of broadcast elements. A data management system stores a user profile and a user state for each of the one or more users and also stores information associated with each of the plurality of broadcast elements. A broadcast element selector, having at least one broadcast element selector function, selects broadcast elements from the data storage device based on information contained in the data management system. A broadcast server receives the selected broadcast elements from the data storage device and provides the selected broadcast elements to a user over the transmission media. The personal broadcast server system may provide streaming audio, streaming video, or other forms of broadcast signals. |
| US08667158B2 |
Video splitting and distributed placement scheme for clustered video servers
A method of video splitting and distributed placement scheme for clustered video servers including defining a network packet format for the streaming media and the distributed control file formats for the clips; obtaining the information of streaming media files, getting the basic information of streaming media files and accepting the preliminary splitting requirements of users; defining the placement strategy of clips, obtaining the placement requirements configured by users; analyzing the streaming media files and generating the lists of splitting tasks; running the splitting tasks. According to the number of the clips requested by users, the job is to created multi-threads and each thread processes a splitting task; clips transmission and storage. According to the placement strategy of clips, the job is to transfer the clips to the corresponding storage nodes. |
| US08667153B2 |
Using a virtual network interface to obtain access to resources
A first computing device maps a virtual network address for a virtual resource that is accessible to the first computing device to an address of a designated resource that is inaccessible to the first computing device but accessible to a remote second computing device. The first computing device generates a control message that, when acted upon by the second computing device, causes the second computing device to transmit the resource message to the designated resource. The first computing device then attaches the resource message to the control message. The first computing device sends the control message to the second computing device, wherein the second computing device acts on the control message to send the resource message to the designated resource without having a resource driver for the designated resource installed on the second computing device. |
| US08667151B2 |
Bootstrapping method for setting up a security association
In one embodiment, a method of the invention has the steps of: (A) establishing an access-layer security association (SA) between a mobile node (MN) and an authentication authorization accounting (AAA) server; (B) deriving a secondary key from an extended master session key (EMSK) corresponding to the access-layer SA; (C) providing the secondary key to a home agent; and (D) based on the secondary key, establishing an SA corresponding to an Open System Interconnection (OSI) layer higher than the access layer for securing communications between the home agent and a selected network node. In various embodiments, the selected network node can be (i) the MN, (ii) a proxy node configured on behalf of the MN, or (iii) a proxy node configured on behalf of the home agent. |
| US08667147B2 |
Monitoring related content requests
Multiple transaction components that comprise a transaction are correlated using a GUID generated at a browser application. The transaction components may occur asynchronously or synchronously between a network browser and one or more applications. An identifier is generated for a set of network browser requests corresponding to a single user input or some other event and the identifier is included in each request. Server traffic and the servers processing the request are monitored and data which includes the identifier is generated. Data for the transaction with multiple transaction components is reported using the GUID associated with the transaction. |
| US08667142B2 |
Communication terminal, terminal switching system, and terminal switching method
A transfer-source terminal, a communication-destination terminal, and a nearby terminal existing in the neighborhood of transfer-source terminal are provided. The nearby terminal collects connectivity information for monitoring connectivity after terminal switching by performing a communication process with the communication-destination terminal, and transmits the connectivity information collected to the transfer-source terminal. The transfer-source terminal receives connectivity information from the nearby terminal by a connectivity information receiving unit, determines a transfer-destination terminal from among the nearby terminals according to connectivity information by a transfer-destination terminal determinating unit, and transfers a communication session with a communication-destination terminal to the transfer-destination terminal determined, by a session transferring unit. |
| US08667139B2 |
Multidimensional modeling of software offerings
The disclosed embodiments provide a system that facilitates the deployment and execution of a software offering. During operation, the system obtains a service definition of the software offering and a resource definition of resources available for use by the software offering. Next, the system creates a multidimensional model of the software offering by mapping a first set of elements from the service definition to a second set of elements from the resource definition. Finally, the system uses the multidimensional model to manage the deployment and execution of the software offering without requiring manual configuration of the resources by a user. |
| US08667137B2 |
Method and apparatus for resource-allocation management
A resource-allocation management method includes generating budget-allocation-plan information indicating how a budget used by each client for auction is allocated to each interval on the basis of demand-estimation information indicating an estimation value of the amount of resources each client needs for each interval and of budget-estimation information indicating an estimation value of a budget each client uses in an auction, and determining the upper limit of a budget each client uses in the auction on the basis of the budget-allocation-plan information. |
| US08667135B1 |
Detecting and reporting on consumption rate changes
A method, system and computer readable storage medium for reporting on a measured change in a consumption rate. Media consumption histories for a plurality of entities are received. A monitored audience is selected from the plurality of entities by selecting entities which have completed an online purchase. A category value for each of two or more categories of media content is determined. One category of media content includes one or more items of media content. One category value represents the measured change in consumption rate for one category of media content for the monitored audience between at least two time intervals. One consumption rate is determined based on the number of times each item of media content in the one category has been delivered over a network during one time interval. A report including a reference to two or more categories and their associated category values is generated. |
| US08667133B2 |
Methods and systems for determining the effect of a host on network latency while delivering online ADS
Methods and systems for determining the effect of a host on network latency while delivering online ads are disclosed. Observational test data relating to one or more network latency tests conducted on a plurality of hosts may be obtained. A first group and a second group of hosts may be created, wherein the first group includes the host and the second group doesn't include the host. At least one predetermined metric for each of the first group and the second group is computed based on the test data. A ratio of the at least one predetermined metric for the first group to the at least one predetermined metric for the second group is computed. The host may then be ranked based at least in part on the ratio. |
| US08667130B2 |
Monitoring application for automatically requesting content
Embodiments of the instant invention are directed to a system, apparatus and method for monitoring a user's activities and displaying and presenting unsolicited content to users over a wide area network. Embodiments of the instant invention include a monitoring system comprising an activity monitor and a content transfer and display means, wherein the activity monitor comprises an event identifier and a timer. The monitoring system monitors user activities, identifies trigger events, measures the elapsed time of inactivity of the user and initiates the presentation of unsolicited data, or content, to the user computer. In general, the monitoring system identifies trigger events and measures the elapsed time between trigger events. If the elapsed time between the trigger events exceeds a predefined time period the monitoring system causes unsolicited data to be presented on the user computer. |
| US08667128B2 |
Collecting information regarding electronic aging of products
Monitoring aging information for multiple devices. Aging information of the devices may be received. Statistics regarding the multiple devices may be determined based on the aging information. For at least some of the devices, update information may be determined based on the respective aging information. The update information may include modifications to operating parameters of the devices. For example, the devices may operate according to initial parameters that are above sustainable parameters and the update information may lower the operating parameters based on the aging information. |
| US08667127B2 |
Monitoring web site content
Systems and methods for monitoring Web page content associated with processing a resource request are provided. A client computing device generates a sample image corresponding to a set of resources rendered in response to a resource request. A processing component, such as an image analysis component, then compares the sample image with an averaged reference image to identify a compared image. The averaged reference image is determined from averaging a pixel intensity value for each pixel in a first reference image with a pixel intensity value for each pixel in a second reference image. These first and second reference images both correspond to the same set of requested resources. The processing component then weights the compared image to produce a weighted compared image and determines whether a sum of the intensity values for each pixel in the weighted compared image exceeds a threshold. Aspects of systems and methods for generating an alert message if the threshold is exceeded are also provided. |
| US08667126B2 |
Dynamic rate heartbeating for inter-node status updating
A scheme for monitoring node operational status according to communications transmits messages periodically according to a heartbeat rate among the nodes. The messages may be gossip messages containing the status of the other nodes in the pairs, are received at the nodes and indications of the communications delays of the received messages are stored, which are used to compute statistics of the stored communications delays. Parameters of the node status monitoring, which are used for determining operational status of the nodes, are adjusted according to the statistics, which may include adjusting the heartbeat rate, the maximum wait time before a message is considered missed, and/or the maximum number of missed messages, e.g., the sequence number deviation, before the node is considered non-operational (down). |
| US08667125B2 |
Monitoring user activity on a mobile device
Monitoring user activity on a mobile device is described. In one aspect, video content is received and played to a user of the mobile device. The monitoring activity detects an interruption of playback of the video content and determines an event associated with the interruption. The event is stored in the mobile device and communicated to a remote device. |
| US08667122B2 |
Method and apparatus for message routing optimization
An approach is provided for optimizing message routing without repeatedly resolving a home location. A login request from a user equipment associated with a resource identifier is received. The user equipment is configured to operate within a network including a plurality of clusters. The resource identifier of the user equipment is modified to include home cluster information indicating a corresponding one of the clusters serving the user equipment. |
| US08667121B2 |
System and method for managing data and policies
In one embodiment, a method is provided and includes capturing a plurality of packet streams, recreating a plurality of flows from the packet streams, and analyzing the flows to identify one or more incidents. The incidents identify one or more pieces of data. The incidents are filtered and the incidents are rendered on a display for an end user that initiated the filtering operation. In other embodiments, the display allows the end user to view a selected one of a group of attributes for the incidents. The display allows the end user to open a captured object associated with a specific incident. In still other embodiments, the display allows a user to filter the incidents using a selected one of a group of group options such as content, destination IP, destination location, destination port, filename, host IP, etc. |
| US08667119B2 |
System and method for re-generating packet load for load test
A system for re-generating a packet load for a load test includes a packet collector for collecting a packet transmitted between a game client application and a game server application, a packet data storage for storing the collected packet in a list form, a central manager for editing and re-defining the stored packet as an action and constructing a test scenario by combining the re-defined packet and an agent for generating a load according to the re-defined packet and the test scenario. |
| US08667116B2 |
Method and system for providing reliable communication with redundancy for energy constrained wireless systems
A method and apparatus is provided to supervise a network, in which a first device supervises a network node element, and a second device partially supervises the network node element. |
| US08667111B2 |
Bandwidth reservation for authenticated applications
Methods, systems, devices, and software are disclosed for providing application levels of service over a network. Embodiments of the invention maintain a list of registered applications (or application providers) that have registered with a network resources provider. Customers of the network resources provider may authenticate some or all of the registered applications, indicating a desire to allow traffic relating to those applications over their access networks. Customers may further set application levels of service with respect to those authenticated applications. Certain embodiments may manage network traffic to accord with the application levels of service. |
| US08667110B2 |
Method and apparatus for providing a remotely managed expandable computer system
A remotely managed expandable multi-user computer system is provided. The computer system includes a removable compute cartridge and a removable storage cartridge allowing easy upgrade of the computer system. The computer system self-configures when powered on to allow remote management by another system over a network. Automatic failover support is provided without the need for a separate compute element. A self-configurable removable secure-to-wireless converter to couple to a client computer system allows secure communications between the multi-user system and the client computer system via a wireless network. |
| US08667109B2 |
User profile-based wireless device system level management
Techniques for user profile-based system level management (SLM) and creation of system level agreements of a wireless device are generally disclosed. In some examples, a predictor may be provided to predict a future task to be performed by a wireless device, including resource requirements, based at least in part on a profile of a user and at least one of a profile of a communication partner the user, an operational recommendation, a performance model or a current state. An optimizer/analyzer may be provided to generate a plurality of instructions to configure the wireless device, based at least in part on the predicted future task and resource requirement, and a quality of service requirement of the wireless device, in anticipation of having to perform the predicted task. In various examples, the predictor and the optimizer/analyzer may form a local or a remotely disposed system level manager. |
| US08667105B1 |
Systems and methods facilitating relocatability of devices between networks
Provided is a software entity adapted to operate in a first network on behalf of a relocatable device to negotiate services for the relocatable device from the network, and to be transportable or replicable to operate in a second network to negotiate services for the relocatable device from the second network. |
| US08667104B2 |
Firmware/software upgrade alert method and apparatus
A method and system for notifying a network administrator of any attempted or actual remote firmware upgrades, or software updates, occurring on a network device, particularly a printing device, wherein a network administrator may be informed of the remote firmware update by e-mail. |
| US08667102B1 |
Module-based device interaction system
A system that enables a person to monitor and/or control a device via a network, such as the Internet, via an interactive hardware module that interfaces with the device and communicates with a module server located locally or remotely from the placement of the module. The hardware module allows for the transmission and receipt of data between the device interfaced to the hardware module and the module server, thereby enabling the user manually or automatically to control or monitor the device via an access medium, such as an API. |
| US08667101B1 |
Enhanced throttle management system
Techniques for enhancing a throttle management system are disclosed. A throttle management system can be configured to scale down a number of permits available for connections to a data source. The throttle configuration parameters can be viewed by an administrator and modified during the runtime operation of the computer system effecting the throttle. |
| US08667099B2 |
Wireless synchronization of media content and subscription content
Arrangements are provided which use a host computer to configure a wireless portable device's network connection parameters. The radio on the portable device may be used to help locate nearby accessible wireless networks. Once a synchronization relationship between the portable device and a media library on a host computer is established, periodically updated content, such as podcasts, may be discovered and subscribed to using software on the host computer, and the content synchronized with the host computer. A portable device may manage episodic content, such as podcasts, using the device's own wireless connection, and may further send such content to other portable devices. A central user profile may be set up on a web server to synchronize multiple wireless or wired devices. |
| US08667097B2 |
Neighbor discovery using address registration protocol over ELMI
A system and method for mapping a network to facilitating configuration is disclosed. Address registration information is appended to an enhanced local management interface message sent between devices in a network of routers and switches. A network management system for an outside network can use that information to map out the network and configure the network as needed. The address registration information includes an Internet Protocol address and an interface index. The interface index includes both slot and port number. |
| US08667094B2 |
Method, system and apparatus for delivering web content
According to embodiments described in the specification, a method, system and apparatus for delivering web content are provided. The method comprises maintaining a web page in a memory of a web server identifiable by a network address, the web page including at least one reference to a foreign element maintained at a second web server identifiable by a second network address; identifying the at least one reference; transmitting a request from an interface of the web server for obtaining the second network address; receiving the second network address of the second web server and storing the second network address in the memory in association with an identifier of the web page. |
| US08667089B2 |
Apparatus and method for executing an application
Provided are an apparatus and method for executing an application. Using the apparatus and method, an application is executed in a terminal directly, or by receiving a computing service from a remote server. After an execution time and/or power consumption of when the application is executed in the terminal directly, and an execution time and/or power consumption when the computing service is received from the remote server are estimated, one of the application execution methods of the two cases may be selected according to the estimated values. The estimated values may be determined based on a state of the terminal, the quality of service (QoS) state of the remote server, and a characteristic of the application. |
| US08667087B2 |
Retrieving substitute data to replace damaged media data for playback in a media player
A media player is utilized to determine presence of defects in storage devices, and to retrieve replacement data from media management servers. The retrieval of the replacement data is performed during playback and/or use of the storage devices. The replacement data is only utilized during real time playback of the storage devices. The replacement data can also be stored within the data storage player, into the storage devices, and/or into external storage devices accessible during playback operations. Addressing information is created and/or modified to enable use of stored replacement data. A new copy of the data can be created in the same or in new storage device. The media management server performs access authentication operations during replacement data retrieval. The media management server is accessed via user-based webpage-like interfaces and/or dedicated APIs. |
| US08667085B2 |
Methods and apparatuses for a network based on hierarchical name structure
Provided are communication devices and methods for requesting content in a network based on a hierarchical name structure. A content requester may search for content without the use of the entire content name in the network based on the hierarchical name structure. |
| US08667077B2 |
Transmission device and method of controlling selection of received data
A transmission device includes: a first interface unit to receive data of a plurality of first paths transmitted corresponding to a first data stream and outputting the data per path; a second interface unit to receive data of a plurality of second paths transmitted corresponding to the first data stream and outputting the data per path; a switch unit to input the data which has been output from the first and second interface unit and select and output the data from the first interface unit or the data from the second interface unit per path; a phase detection unit to detect and output a phase difference among the paths of the data which has been output from the switch unit per path; and a control unit to control the switch unit on the basis of the detected phase difference. |
| US08667072B1 |
Method and apparatus of providing live support service in a notification system
A method and apparatus of providing notifications to a customer is disclosed. One example method of operation may include identifying a notification event associated with a customer via a customer management module and retrieving a customer preference record and determining a notification device preference for a customer Internet protocol (IP) device included in the customer preference record. The method may also include transmitting the notification event to the customer's IP device based on the notification device preference, the notification event may include a live agent support option which may be accessed in the event that the automated support options fail to satisfy the customer's questions and concerns. |
| US08667071B2 |
Communication terminal and mail return method
An object of the present invention is suppressing a mail transmission loop between the communication terminals. A communication terminal 1 according to the present invention includes: a communication unit 10 for receiving a mail from a transmitter; a flag confirming unit 18 for confirming whether an automatic reply flag is attached or not to the received mail; an automatic reply time confirming unit 19 for confirming the number of times of automatic replies; an automatic reply determining unit 20 for determining whether to perform the automatic reply function or not based on presence or absence of the automatic reply flag and the number of times of automatic replies; and a mail transmitting unit 23 for transmitting the automatic reply mail to the transmitter when the automatic reply function is determined to be performed; wherein the number of times of automatic replies is changed every time the automatic reply function is performed, and when the automatic reply flag is attached to the received mail and the number of times of automatic replies reaches a given value with respect to the received mail, the automatic reply determining unit 20 determines not to perform the automatic reply function. |
| US08667068B2 |
Method and apparatus for electronic message delivery
Timely delivery of electronic messages during a presentation is a valuable tool. The embodiments describe a method and apparatus for delivering electronic messages. One method includes creating the electronic message by identifying auxiliary media content associated with a main presentation and marking temporal locations within the main presentation to allow delivery of electronic messages based on auxiliary media content. Another method includes receiving a package containing first and second content, separating the first content from the second content, providing the first content on a first medium, and providing an electronic message based on the second content on a second medium. Finally, a composition playlist includes a main presentation file and an auxiliary content file containing temporal links associated with the main presentation with the auxiliary content file to be delivered as an electronic message at a predetermined time based on the temporal links during presentation of the main presentation file. |
| US08667061B2 |
Achieving interoperability for web services using a map engine
Embodiments of the invention address interoperability issues between incompatible applications by use of a map engine. In one embodiment the map engine enables a mapping between the messages exchanged between two incompatible applications thereby enabling the interacting applications understand messages exchanged between them. In other embodiments, the map engine maps a parameter associated with one application to a parameter associated with another application based on a mapping rule, where the applications differ from each other owing to non-conforming standards used for their implementation or to the two applications having different service description formats or different messaging formats, or to different platforms used for their implementation. In another embodiment of the invention, the map engine extracts the mapping rule from a knowledge base to enable the mapping between the two incompatible applications. The knowledge base stores data based on which the parameters associated with the two applications may be mapped. |
| US08667058B2 |
Transfer apparatus, transfer network system, and transfer method
When data is disclosed to a plurality of users by using a transfer network and a transfer apparatus, data disclosure time control which cannot be adversely affected by the users is performed to reduce the difference in data disclosure time among the users. A transfer network system includes a distribution server serving as a data-distribution-source transfer apparatus, and a network terminal connected to distribution-destination user equipment. The distribution server and the network terminal each have a time keeping function and a time synchronization function for matching the time of the time keeping function with a master clock. The distribution server sends in advance disclosure data and disclosure time to the network terminal. When the time of the time keeping function of the network terminal matches the disclosure time, the network terminal sends the disclosure data to the user equipment. |
| US08667056B1 |
Dynamic traffic management
Requests from multiple users for one or more shared resources can be dynamically throttled based on at least one allowance value determined for each user at a current point in time. One or more business functions or other such algorithms can be used to determine an appropriate allowance value for a user based on any of a number of appropriate factors, such as the cost of a resource, a value of the user, a request volume of the user, or other such factors. The values for each user can be fed into one or more algorithms to determine information such as request limits, burst limits, and costs per request. Such approaches provide for dynamic and fine-grained traffic shaping while allowing for variance of these limits or values over time. |
| US08667048B2 |
Method for managing internet protocol addresses in network
A method for managing Internet protocol (IP) addresses in a network is provided. IP addresses are assigned to a plurality of virtual machines of servers in the network according to media access control (MAC) addresses of the virtual machines, and IP addresses are assigned to the servers according to MAC addresses of the servers. An active server and the virtual machines thereof respectively record the assigned IP addresses thereof in a recording unit. Then, the assigned IP addresses recorded by the recording unit are transmitted to a storage module in the network. Accordingly, the IP addresses assigned to the servers and the virtual machines could be handled properly in the network, and the servers and the virtual machines could be remotely controlled according to the IP addresses recorded in the storage module. |
| US08667045B1 |
Generalized parallel counter structures in logic devices
Generalized parallel counter circuitry is configured from logic elements—e.g., on a programmable integrated circuit device. Each logic element includes a logic stage, an adder and an output stage. The logic stage includes logic units, and a logic stage selector for selectively outputting to an input of the adder at least one of (a) outputs of the logic units, and (b) a first logic unit output of another one of the logic elements, and for selectively outputting to the output stage one of (a) an output of the logic units, and (b) a first output of the adder. The output stage includes at least two outputs, an output selector for selectively outputting, to the at least two outputs, at least one of (a) a second output of the adder, and (b) an output of the logic stage selector. |
| US08667043B2 |
Method and apparatus for multiplying binary operands
Method and apparatus for multiplying a signed first operand na bits and a signed second operand nb bits, wherein na and nb are different positive integer numbers, the method comprising generating single bit products of pairs of a single bit from the signed first operand and a single bit from the signed second operand with a logical AND function to produce na times nb single bit products, selectively inverting for the signed first operand and the signed second operands the single bit products of the first operand bit na-1 multiplied with the second operand bits 0 to nb-2, selectively inverting the single bit products of the signed second operand bits 0 to na-2 multiplied with the signed second operand bit nb-1, after the step of inverting adding the single bit products in accordance with their respective order for producing an intermediate product, and adding a ‘1’ bit value at bit positions nb-1, na-1 and na+nb-1 for receiving a final product. |
| US08667032B1 |
Efficient content meta-data collection and trace generation from deduplicated storage
The method and apparatus collect file recipes from deduplicated data storage systems, the file recipes consist of a list of fingerprints of data chunks of a file. Detailed meta-data for each unique data chunk is also collected. In an offline process, research and analysis can be performed on either the meta-data itself or on a reconstruction of a full trace of meta-data constructed by matching recipe fingerprints to the corresponding meta-data. The method and system can generate the full meta-data trace efficiently in an on-line or off-line process. Typical deduplicated storage systems achieve 10× or higher deduplication rates, and the meta-data collection is faster than processing all of the original files and produces compact meta-data that is smaller to store. |
| US08667031B2 |
Reuse of shared metadata across applications via URL protocol
Techniques for facilitating the sharing of metadata. In one set of embodiments, a metadata document is referenced by a plurality of software applications as a URL, the URL comprising a protocol component identifying a specialized protocol name and a path component identifying a name and namespace of the metadata document. The specialized protocol name indicates that the metadata document is a shared document stored in a shared metadata repository. When an application in the plurality of software applications needs to access the metadata document, the URL is passed to a URL resolver configured to identify the shared metadata repository based on configuration information associated with the application. The metadata document is then retrieved from the shared metadata repository. Since many existing application framework components and standards are adapted to reference metadata documents as URLs, embodiments of the present invention facilitate metadata reuse with minimal or no code changes to the applications or their underlying framework. |
| US08667029B2 |
Optimized startup verification of file system integrity
A computer system having a transaction based file system is disclosed. The computer system includes file system software that manages the file data and the file system structure of files stored on a persistent data storage device and maintains a transaction file that includes a plurality of transaction records. The file system software executes a startup process in which a reconstructed file system is generated in random access memory from the transaction records. The startup process may skip verification of some of the transactions. The file system software may error check at least one of the skipped transactions in response to a request to access a file identified by a file node record in the reconstructed filed system after the startup process is completed. |
| US08667024B2 |
Shared data management in software-as-a-service platform
Shared data management in software-as-a-service platform may provide a common object data schema for one or more data objects and one or more data attributes associated with said one or more data objects stored in a master database. A plurality of applications may be enabled to be deployed dynamically on a platform and interoperate by sharing said data values stored in the master database. Data trading is enabled in which applications request permissions to read from or write to, or both, the master database, and in which the requests are mediated by granting or denying permissions. |
| US08667022B2 |
Adjustment apparatus, adjustment method, and recording medium of adjustment program
An adjustment method includes reading a record that includes a plurality of columns from a storage unit, determining whether data stored in a certain column in the plurality of columns of the read record has an attribute that corresponds to another column in the plurality of columns when the data does not have an attribute that corresponds to the certain column, and assigning the data to the another column when it is determined that the data has the attribute that corresponds to the another column. |
| US08667019B2 |
Placement goal-based database instance consolidation
Models and tools for facilitating database instance consolidation are described. One approach obtains standardized database instance performance data, receives instance isolation criteria which are applied to divide instances into sets, determines resource usage for each set, and assigns instance sets to target machines based on resource usage and capacity. Each instance set is associated with a virtual machine in some cases. A security isolation criterion indicates that specified instances shall not co-reside on a target machine; an organizational criterion indicates that specified instances shall be located together in a single data center; a compatibility criterion indicates that instances shall not reside in the same virtual machine, the same physical server, or the same server pool. Users iteratively reach an acceptable consolidation of instances at one or more data centers, such as an enhanced assignment of instances that is more efficient than a linear additive solution. |
| US08667018B2 |
Method and system for optimizing row level security in database systems
One embodiment of the present invention provides a system that implements a security policy in a database. During operation, the system receives a request associated with a set of objects in the database. Next, the system obtains a set of access control lists (ACLs) associated with the database, wherein a respective ACL specifies one or more access privileges associated with a user or user group, and wherein a respective ACLs is not specific to a particular object in the database. The system then evaluates the ACLs to obtain a set of ACL results associated with the request and processes the request by applying the set of ACL results to the objects without evaluating the ACLs repeatedly for each of the objects. |
| US08667016B2 |
Sharing of presets for visual effects or other computer-implemented effects
This application describes a system and associated methods for enabling users of video editing, compositing, motion graphics, and other applications to easily store and retrieve presets, have presets modified for compatibility with other applications, share presets with each other, and search for shared presets. The users may utilize different applications that store presets according to different application-specific schemas. The system can automatically translate or conform presets from one application-specific schema to a neutral schema and from the neutral schema to another application-specific schema. This allows a user of one application to share his or her presets with users of different applications. Among other things, this cross-application sharing of presets allows the system implementor to create one user community (e.g., of users of different applications), rather than several individual ones (e.g., an individual user community for each different application). Other features of the system and associated methods are also described. |
| US08667015B2 |
Data extraction method, computer program product and system
Disclosed is a method of automatically extracting data from a target web page, comprising selecting (302) data in a source web page; determining (304) the respective DOM (document object model) trees of the source and target web page, and identifying the one or more nodes comprising the selected data in the source web page DOM tree; determining (306) matching paths in the respective DOM trees; for selected data in a node of an unmatched branch of the source web page DOM tree, identifying (308) the nearest matched path in the source web page; identifying (310) the unmatched branch nearest to the corresponding matched path in the target web page; determining (312) if said identified unmatched branch in the target web page DOM tree comprises a target node matching the selected data node; and if so: extracting (322) data from the target node if the mismatch between the respective unmatched branches does not exceed a predefined threshold. A computer program product and system implementing this method are also disclosed. |
| US08667013B1 |
Systems and methods for determining an article association measure
Systems and methods for determining an article association measure are described. In one described method, a computer program receives a first article identifier associated with a first attribute and a second article identifier associated with a second attribute and determines a similarity measure of the first article identifier to the second article identifier based at least in part on the first attribute and on the second attribute. The similarity measure may provide a means for associating various article identifiers so that they may be, for example, retrieved and/or ranked in subsequent search queries. |
| US08667012B2 |
Methods and systems for using distributed memory and set operations to process social networks
Systems and methods for managing and evaluating a social network. The social network is represented as a graph structure and stored in distributed memory. A viable path from one node that is not directly connected to another node in the graph structure may be determined by traversing the graph in stages, moving outward from each node in stages until common midpoint nodes are found providing a connection between the nodes. When midpoint nodes are found, the paths connecting the one node to the other node may be reconstructed. |
| US08667005B2 |
Method and system to combine keyword and natural language search results
A search query is received from a single input field of a user interface. A keyword search is performed based on the search query to generate keyword search results. A natural language search is performed of a frequently-asked question (FAQ) database based on the search query to generate FAQ search results. The keyword search results and the FAQ search results are combined in a display page. |
| US08667004B2 |
Providing suggestions during formation of a search query
Various embodiments enable information, in addition to textual information, to be presented to a user when the user enters a search query in a search box forming part of a user interface of an application. In one or more embodiments, a Web browser provides a search box in which a user can enter a search query. While the user is entering a search query, the Web browser can communicate with a third-party search provider to receive information, such as non-textual information, which can be presented to the user to assist in formulating their search query. The non-textual information can include images and other visual information of a non-textual nature. |
| US08667003B1 |
Generating sibling query refinements
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media, for identifying query refinements from sibling queries. In one aspect, a method includes associating each of a plurality of parent queries with a respective group of one or more child queries for the parent query, identifying one or more candidate sibling queries for a particular child query, selecting one or more final sibling queries for the particular child query from the one or more candidate sibling queries, and associating the final sibling queries with the particular child query as query refinements. |
| US08666995B2 |
Method of generating search information and image apparatus using the same
A method of generating search information enables efficient navigation of content and an image apparatus therefore. The method of generating search information includes extracting and storing a portion of a plurality of searched screens, and generating search information using the stored screens. Accordingly, search information regarding digital content can be generated in a more convenient manner. In addition, since searched screens are generated as search information, search information which enables more efficient navigation can be provided to the user. |
| US08666994B2 |
Document analysis and association system and method
Methods and systems for indexing a plurality of documents, each document comprising a text portion, the method parses the text portion of each of the plurality of documents to form a plurality of respective local document indexes each associated with a respective document, and stores the local document index in a database, Each local document index has a plurality of local text terms and a local weighting associated with each text term From the plurality of local document indexes, forming a global document index associated with each global text term. The global weighting is determined with respect to a parameter associated with a reference global text term. Also, methods and systems for analyzing a text portion, retrieving documents from a database relevant to the text portion and for refining the results of a search are disclosed. |
| US08666990B2 |
System and method for determining authority ranking for contemporaneous content
Methods and systems are provided for weighting contemporaneous content includes, in response to a user content request, by determining a plurality of contemporaneous content items relating to the user content request, the contemporaneous content items including, ultra-fresh content items having been only recently generated. For each of the contemporaneous content items, one or more authors of the content items are identified, and an expertise level for the one or more authors and an expert weighting for each of the content items based on the expertise level for the corresponding one or more authors are determined. Weighting the contemporaneous content includes ranking the contemporaneous content items in response to the user content request based on the expert weighting and presenting at least a portion of the contemporaneous content items in response to the user content request. |
| US08666987B2 |
Apparatus and method for processing documents to extract expressions and descriptions
Disclosed is an apparatus and method for processing documents to extract expressions and descriptions. The apparatus for processing documents includes a document collection unit, which collects documents from websites and divides each of the collected documents into a script portion and a description portion to thus generate a script document and a description document, and an expression extraction unit, which extracts expression description sentences on the basis of the description document, and extracts expressions described by the expression description sentences from the script document. According to the invention, study material, including a pair that comprises an expression to be studied and a description thereof, can be automatically constructed. |
| US08666981B2 |
Bottom-up optimistic latching method for index trees
Methods, systems and computer program products for concurrency control in a hierarchical arrangement of nodes of a data structure by traversing a single search path in a hierarchical arrangement of nodes of a data structure, recording a version number for each node in the search path, identifying at least one node in the search path to be updated, latching the at least one node, reading a version number of the latched at least one node and comparing the recorded version number of the latched at least one node to the read version number of the latched at least one node. |
| US08666976B2 |
Methods and systems for implementing approximate string matching within a database
A computer-based method for character string matching of a candidate character string with a plurality of character string records stored in a database is described. The method includes performing a clustering operation on at least a portion of the plurality of character string records, the clustering operation generating a plurality of clusters, each cluster comprising a plurality of character strings from the plurality of character string records, the plurality of character strings in each cluster are determined to be similar with respect to each other based on at least one characteristic of the plurality of character strings. The method also includes generating a set of reference character strings that are selected from the plurality of character strings in each cluster, generating an n-gram representation for one of the reference character strings in the set of reference character strings, and generating an n-gram representation for the candidate character string. |
| US08666967B2 |
Scaled management system
An exemplary system for managing an applications and data space includes a strategy layer configured to receive a query statement and to formulate one or more custom queries based on the query statement and a query scheduler layer configured to schedule issuance of the one or more custom queries to one or more query response modules associated with the applications and data space. Other methods, devices and systems are also disclosed. |
| US08666966B2 |
Providing parallel result streams for database queries
A system and method for providing parallel result streams for database queries is provided. The system includes a network including a client, a server, and a database. The client executes an application and sends a query to the server. In response, the server compiles the query to produce a query plan, executes statements in the query plan and sends parallel result streams to the client. |
| US08666963B2 |
Method and apparatus for processing spoken search queries
Some embodiments relate to a method of performing a search for content on the Internet, in which a user may speak a search query and speech recognition may be performed on the spoken query to generate a text search query to be provided to a plurality of search engines. This enables a user to speak the search query rather than having to type it, and also allows the user to provide the search query only once, rather than having to provide it separately to multiple different search engines. |
| US08666962B2 |
Speculative search result on a not-yet-submitted search query
Providing a speculative search result for a search query prior to completion of the search query. In response to receiving a search query from a client node, a speculative search result is provided to the client node for the search query prior to receiving an indication from the client node that said search query is completely formed. The speculative search result may be displayed on the same web page on the client node as the search query, while the search query is being entered by the user. As the user further enters the search query, a new speculative search result may be provided to the user. |
| US08666959B2 |
Data access device, data access method and data access program
A data access device provided with a sequence storage unit which stores in advance a sequence for accessing the data contained in each of the multiple data units stored in a data storage section. The data access device receives and stores in the data access request storage section multiple data access requests for any of the multiple stored data units, determines an execution sequence for the multiple stored data access requests that corresponds to the aforementioned sequence stored in the sequence storage unit, locks the data units to be accessed as per the data access requests, sequentially implements the data access requests in the determined execution sequence, and removes all the locks after implementing all of the stored data access requests. |
| US08666958B2 |
Approaches to reducing lock communications in a shared disk database
Lock communications in a shared disk database system is reduced by several approaches: sending a single message to a lock manager for locks required for an operation and locks that will be required in the future, the operations may include row update, row delete, large scan, and row insert; performing an operation in two executions, where in a first execution locks required for the operation is determined without performing the operation, and in a second execution a single message is sent to a lock manager for the required locks and the operation is performed; in free space searching, sending a single message to a lock manager for row and page locks before a row insert is actually performed; and granting locks in an unfair manner. |
| US08666955B2 |
Data management method and data management system
A data management system respectively computes first hash values while sliding a window a prescribed amount at a time with respect to a prescribed range from a start location of a data block to a prescribed size. The system extracts, from among the first hash values, a first hash value, which is equivalent to a characteristic value, and partitions the data block into a first chunk of data at a location corresponding to this first hash value. The system determines coincidence between a first chunk of data and a stored second chunk of data, and prevents duplicate data from being stored twice. |
| US08666952B2 |
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. |
| US08666951B2 |
Managing multiple versions of enterprise meta-models using semantic based indexing
A method, system and program product of managing multiple versions of enterprise meta-models within an enterprise model using semantic based indexing. The steps include: receiving a query; determining from the query a topic and at least two versions of a topic map meta-model of the enterprise meta-models to compare; applying the query to a merged topic map meta-model of the at least two versions of the topic map meta-model by searching a topic map based index of the merged topic map meta-model for the topic, producing a result; and using the result to translate the topic from the query in at least one of the at least two versions of the topic map meta-model to coexist and correspond to the other version of the topic map meta-model, allowing data between the at least two versions topic map meta-model of the enterprise meta-models within the enterprise model to be correlated. |
| US08666947B2 |
Ensuring partitioned dataset extended (PDSE) critical dataset redundancy (CDR)
In one embodiment a method for providing recoverability to a system includes: protecting a critical PDSE by creating a copy of the critical PDSE, providing a CDR task with exclusive access to the PDSE copy, initiating a transaction queue for tracking updates to the critical PDSE, adding any updates performed to the critical PDSE to the transaction queue, updating the PDSE copy according to the transaction queue, quiescing the critical PDSE, corralling open connections to the critical PDSE, completing each update resident in the transaction queue to the PDSE copy up to a last known uncorrupted state of the critical PDSE, providing a replacement critical PDSE by redirecting the corralled connections to the PDSE copy, protecting the replacement critical PDSE by creating a copy of the replacement critical PDSE, referred to as a replacement PDSE copy, and providing the CDR task with exclusive access to the replacement PDSE copy. |
| US08666945B1 |
Method and apparatus for utilizing securable objects in a computer network
A method and apparatus for utilizing a securable object in a storage management system is described. In one example, a security descriptor from a securable object is obtained. At least one security identifier (SID) and an access mask are subsequently acquired from the security descriptor by a security reference monitor (SRM). Lastly, the backup process creates a database entry that associates the securable object with the at least one SID and the access mask. |
| US08666943B2 |
File cloning across different filesets
After a clone file is created from a file, a write request targeting the clone file can be handled. It is determined that the write request indicates the clone file that was cloned from a file in a first fileset. The clone file is of a second fileset and a clustered file system comprises the first fileset and the second fileset. A data block of the clone file affected by the write request is determined. It is then determined that the data block at a current location cannot be modified. The write request is implemented with respect to the data block at a different location. It is indicated that the data block at the different location can be modified for subsequent write requests that indicate the clone file. |
| US08666942B2 |
Systems and methods for managing snapshots of replicated databases
Systems and methods for managing copies of database data. For instance, in one configuration, prior to the database transactions being committed on either of the source data base and the target database, a first copy of the database can be stored on a target system. Subsequent to said generating the first copy, the data transactions are committed into the target database, and a second copy of the target database is created. Then the target database can be reverted back to a state in which the target database existed at the time of said generating the first copy. The second copy can be accessed without the use of the database application. |
| US08666939B2 |
Approaches for the replication of write sets
Approaches for replicating data in a distributed transactional system. At a first node of a cluster, a per-transaction write set that comprises a plurality of write operations that are performed against a first data store maintained by the first node is committed. The per-transaction write set is replicated from the first node to a second node of the cluster. At the second node, the plurality of write operations, specified by the per-transaction write set, may be performed in parallel against a second data store maintained by the second node. At the second node, two or more threads may perform a portion of the plurality of write operations against data blocks stored within an in-memory buffer. |
| US08666936B2 |
System and method for asset management
A system and method for asset management is disclosed. The method receives information from a first reporting source about an asset. In addition, information from a second reporting source about an asset is also received. A database is then populated with the information from the first reporting source and the information from the second reporting source such that information from the first reporting source and information from the second reporting source can be collected from the database. |
| US08666935B2 |
System and method of on-demand document processing for a medical office
A document processing method for a medical office includes receiving, at a server with a network interface, electronic documents from a medical office. The server includes a software application adapted to recognize an expected class of electronic documents corresponding to the medical office. The method also includes processing the electronic documents received from the medical office to extract data therefrom based on a recognition that the electronic documents belong to the expected class of electronic documents corresponding to the medical office. The method also includes automatically mapping the extracted data from the processed electronic documents to a data repository on the server. The data repository is accessible by the medical office through the network interface. The method also includes monitoring a behavior of the medical office based on access to the mapped data and electronically generating output data to the medical office based on the mapped data on the data repository and/or the monitored behavior of the medical office. The output data corresponds to operation of the medical office. |
| US08666929B2 |
Communication dashboard with dynamically configured agent interface
The method and system of the present invention include, responsive to a receipt of a customer input, customizing an agent interface menu. The customizing includes selecting a plurality of action items for the agent interface menu, and ordering the plurality or more action items in the agent interface menu. The customizing is performed using the customer input and an item of stored customer information. The method further includes presenting an item of the customer input in an agent interface. The agent interface includes the agent interface menu, a communication window, and a customer attributes display. Responsive to a selection of one of the plurality of action items, wherein the plurality of action items is presented by the agent interface menu, an input field in a form provided in support of an action selected from the agent interface menu is populated with the customer input received from the customer interface. |
| US08666928B2 |
Knowledge repository
A knowledge storage system is described. A specific embodiment is a computer system comprising a knowledge base of general knowledge in structured form which can be added to and queried by untrained users. Various embodiments include the facility for remote computers to access the knowledge stored in the system, natural language questions to be answered, profile screens giving general knowledge about an object in the system, and methods for distinguishing between reliable and unreliable facts. |
| US08666921B2 |
Technical support agent and technical support service delivery platform
An embodiment of a method for providing technical support service includes generating a plurality of problem resolutions that are determined to resolve an identified technical problem; attributing weights to each of said plurality of problem resolutions according to frequency of use; and in response to a request to resolve said identified problem, selecting a problem resolution from among said plurality of problem resolutions based at least in part on said attributed weights. |
| US08666918B2 |
Video-genre classification
An exemplary embodiment of the invention relates to a method for classifying a video sequence (VS), characterized by the steps of analyzing the video sequence using a plurality of genre-specific detector modules (M1-M5), each genre-specific detector module providing a probability value (P1-P5) indicating the probability that the video sequence belongs to the genre assigned to the genre-specific detector module; and analyzing the probability values of the plurality of genre-specific detector modules using a combiner (CM) which analyzes said probability values and generates a classification signal (SC) classifying the video sequence as belonging to a specific genre (g). |
| US08666916B2 |
Method for summarizing event-related texts to answer search queries
A method and apparatus for receiving training data that comprise a plurality of event-and-time-specific texts that are contextually related to a plurality of events; iteratively processing the training data to generate a modified network model that defines a plurality of states; receiving additional data that comprise a plurality of additional event-and-time-specific texts that are contextually related to a particular event; processing the additional data by applying the modified network model to the additional data to identify, within the plurality of additional event-and-time specific texts, a particular set of texts that belong to a particular state of the plurality of states; identifying, within the particular set of texts, one or more texts that are most representative of all texts in the particular set of texts that belong to the particular state; wherein the method is performed by one or more special-purpose computing devices. |
| US08666908B2 |
System and method for acquiring information during underground drilling operations
A preferred method for acquiring information during an underground drilling operation includes providing a sensing device capable of acquiring information concerning the underground drilling operation from a down-hole location on a selective basis in response to an input from the surface, and drilling for a first period of time. The preferred method also includes sending the input to the sensing device after drilling for the first period of time, and drilling during a second period of time while acquiring the information using the sensing device. |
| US08666906B1 |
Discrete verification of payment information
In a computing system, in response to an order placed by a customer, a request for verification information is received from a merchant. Customer information is communicated to an issuing organization associated with the customer, while the information is withheld from the merchant. The merchant is connected for communication with the issuing organization for verification of information associated with the order. |
| US08666904B2 |
System and method for trusted embedded user interface for secure payments
A security component may be associated with a network-enabled application. The security component may initiate the display of an embedded region of a window drawn according to display information received from a relying party. The security component may define at least a portion of the appearance of the embedded region; the relying party may not define this portion. The embedded region may include customization information configured by a user, and “Card” information received from an assertion provider, indicating how to authenticate user credentials in order to gain access to relying party restricted content. The security component may request authentication of user credentials from the assertion provider, which may be trusted by the relying party. The security component may receive an assertion token from the assertion provider indicating the credentials are authentic. The security component may forward the assertion token to the relying party to gain access to the restricted content. |
| US08666899B2 |
Information communication system, user management apparatus thereof, information providing apparatus thereof and user terminal apparatus thereof
In an information communication system, user personal information is batch-managed in a user management center apparatus. The center apparatus issues temporary information, which includes temporary user information and temporary authentication information, in response to a log-in request from a user terminal apparatus that designates a net-shop apparatus, and sends the information to the user terminal apparatus and the designated net-shop apparatus. Thereby, if the user terminal apparatus sends an authentication request to the net-shop apparatus on the basis of the information, the net-shop apparatus can authenticate the user terminal apparatus on the basis of the information from the user management center apparatus. At this time, the user personal information does not go to the net-shop apparatus, and there is no need for the net-shop apparatus to manage the user personal information. |
| US08666896B1 |
System, method, and business method for settling micropayment transactions to a pre-paid instrument
The invention provides a method, business method, and system for conducting micropayment transactions between consumers and merchants. A merchant offers micropayment transactions to a consumer. The micropayment transaction is authorized, and the micropayment transaction is executed between the merchant and the consumer. A value parameter associated with a prepaid instrument, such as a prepaid calling card, is decremented by an amount corresponding to the value provided by the merchant. A payment is transferred to the merchant to settle the micropayment transaction. The invention also provides a system for conducting micropayment transactions between consumers and merchants. At least one prepaid calling card is issued to a consumer in exchange for a payment from the consumer. A merchant site conducts micropayment transactions and accepts the prepaid calling card as payment. A clearinghouse receives data associated with the prepaid calling card from the merchant site and processes the data to settle the micropayment transaction. |
| US08666893B1 |
Electronic funds transfer authentication system
Embodiments of the present invention are directed to an electronic funds transfer authentication system and method to facilitate the verification and authentication of a user and the ownership of the source account from which funds are being transferred to another account. The user and transfer data is validated, and then the electronic funds transfer is validated using payment analytics that analyze the behavioral characteristics of the user which may be derived from both internal and external sources of information. Using a unique combination of security measures and procedures, the risk associated with various types of fund transfers is reduced, thereby enabling a financial institution to protect its customers' accounts with a greater degree of certainty. |
| US08666890B1 |
Multi-purpose transaction account
A transaction account is disclosed that includes attributes of a checking or savings account in that, for example, an account holder earns interest on a positive balance in the account. The transaction account additionally includes attributes of a credit-card-type account in that the account holder owes interest on a negative balance in the account. With such an account having the positive and negative balance attributes of checking or savings accounts and of credit-card-like accounts, the account holder or customer may manage the account more efficiently than by maintaining multiple accounts. The financial institution may save costs resulting from the overhead associated with maintaining numerous accounts for the same customer. Finally, the financial institution may benefit from charging a credit-card-like transaction fee to merchants that accept the card even if the transaction results in a positive balance in the transaction account. |
| US08666884B2 |
Methods of monitoring behavior/activity of an individual associated with an organization
A cooperative arrangement and method to monitor behaviors and other activities by an individual in an organization. Personal financial information associated with an individual who is associated with, or to be associated with, the organization are obtained. Information is extracted from the personal financial information and input into a risk assessment algorithm. The risk assessment algorithm operates on the input information and generates risk assessment data. The risk assessment data is evaluated to make a determination of certification with respect to the individual. A decision to certify means that the risk associated with the individual, with respect to committing fraud or some other improper act with respect to the organization, is acceptable. Risk assessment data on a plurality of key individuals within the organization may be generated and evaluated to make a determination of certification with respect to the organization as a whole. |
| US08666883B1 |
Transactions for preventing loan defaults, short sales, and foreclosures
A transaction process prevents short sales and foreclosures by changing a mortgage loan balance. Once it has been established that a borrowing owner of a home serving as collateral for a mortgage has an impending loan default, a transaction is initiated whereby the borrowing owner conveys a portion of ownership of the home to the lender for a credit amount. The lender agrees to convey the portion of ownership of the home back to the borrowing owner at a later time and the borrowing owner agrees to re-purchase the portion of ownership of the home from the lender at the later time. After the conveyance, the lender credits the credit amount to the borrowing owner in order to achieve decreased periodic payments associated with the mortgage due from the borrowing owner. |
| US08666879B1 |
Method and system for pricing forward commitments for mortgage loans and for buying committed loans
A method for managing best efforts forward commitments for loans to be sold by a lender, where each loan has loan level data and the best efforts forward commitments have commitment data includes determining a price for the best efforts commitment based on at least the loan level data and tracking the loan level data for each loan. Upon identifying a change to the loan level data, the loan level data and the commitment data including the price is updated based on the change. |
| US08666878B2 |
Trading of combinations and baits generated thereof in an automated trading exchange system
In automated exchange system, a matching unit is supplemented with a calculation unit and a global memory accessible by both the calculation unit and the matching unit. This computer architecture makes it possible to perform some of the calculations related to the volume and/or prices of the baits needed in the matching to be performed in advance. The matching process uses the values resulting from the pre-calculation when needed, and since no or few calculations are done in the matching unit, the process of matching combination contracts can be performed at a higher rate, thereby significantly improving the performance of the matching process. The provision of one or several calculation units makes it possible to perform very complex calculations since many calculations need not be performed in real time. |
| US08666872B2 |
Electronic spread trading tool
A versatile and efficient electronic spread trading tool to be used when buying and selling comparable commodities either simultaneously or in conjunction with one another. The spread trading tool involves a method of displaying, on an electronic display device, the market depth of a plurality of commodities including an anchor commodity and a non-anchor commodity, where the method includes dynamically displaying a plurality of bids and asks in the market for the commodities, statically displaying prices corresponding to those plurality of bids and asks, where the bids and asks are displayed in alignment with the prices corresponding thereto, displaying an anchor visual indicator corresponding to and in alignment with a desired price level of the anchor commodity, displaying a price level indicator corresponding to and in alignment with a price level of the non-anchor commodity. Based on an unhedged position, and taking into account the parameters and spread price point values, as determined by the trader, price level indicators are calculated and displayed, which provide a visual representation of where the trader should buy and sell the applicable commodities. The price level for the price level indicator in the non-anchor commodity is determined based upon said desired price level of the anchor commodity. The price level indicator also includes a first visual indicator corresponding to and in alignment with a first price level of the non-anchor commodity and a second visual indicator corresponding to and in alignment with a second price level of the non-anchor commodity. |
| US08666868B2 |
Adjustable derivative securities and method for adjusting the value of same due to a corporate event
The claimed invention relates to an adjustable derivative contract. Particularly a method and system for adjusting the derivative contract to account for time value of money due to an occurrence of a corporate event that affects the value of the derivative contract. The claimed method and system allocates distributions amongst different derivative contracts, each derivative contract representing a different economic interest of at least two shares of an underlying security. The claimed invention uses the concepts of present and future values to value derivative contracts in order to more fairly and accurately represent the interests of the various holders of such derivative contracts upon the occurrence of a corporate event affecting the value of these derivative contracts. |
| US08666861B2 |
Software and methods for risk and fraud mitigation
Systems and methods for risk and fraud mitigation are presented. According to one or more aspects of the disclosure, a plurality of transactions may be processed without applying one or more active fraud rules. A hit rate for at least one fraud rule of the one or more active fraud rules then may be determined. Thereafter, a positive hit rate for the at least one fraud rule may be determined based on fraud event data corresponding to the plurality of transactions. In some arrangements, each transaction of the plurality of transactions may be randomly selected, from a larger plurality of received transactions, for inclusion in the plurality of transactions to be processed without application of the one or more active fraud rules. Additionally or alternatively, in certain arrangements, one or more fraud rules may be activated or deactivated based on their corresponding hit rates and positive hit rates. |
| US08666857B2 |
System and method for administration of life insurance policy with accelerated benefits
A computer system for administering a life insurance policy is configured to, responsive to receipt of certification that the insured has either loss of ability to perform two activities of daily living or cognitive impairment, provide instructions to pay an owner of the policy, in periodic payments, an accelerated benefit, the accelerated benefit being in an amount less than the death benefit, a first of the periodic payments being for a time period commencing on a date of receipt of the certification, and continuing until the insured no longer has the loss of ability to perform two activities of daily living or cognitive impairment. The system is further configured to, responsive to each of the periodic payments, determine a reduction of the amount of the death benefit by an amount of each of the periodic payments. |
| US08666853B2 |
Method and system for distribution of user generated content
Systems and methods for distributing user-generated content are disclosed. Specifically, embodiments of the present invention may allow content to be generated by a user at a manufacturer's site with respect to a corresponding product and this content distributed to one or more retailers who sell that product such that the user-generated content may be incorporated into the retailer's site or brick and mortar location in conjunction with that product to allow consumers shopping at that retailer to access or view such user-generated content. |
| US08666850B2 |
Systems and methods for tracking intellectual property
Systems and methods are provides that access a tag cell file in computer storage media, wherein the tag cell file is associated with a abstract representation of a component to be included in a semiconductor device. The tag cell file includes a tag that identifies the component as being based on intellectual property of a third party. The abstract representation of the component is translated to a computer data file for manufacturing the semiconductor device. The tag associated with the component is included in the data file, and the data file may be parsed by accounting programs to determine the extent of usage of the intellectual property in the semiconductor device. |
| US08666847B1 |
Methods systems and computer program products for monitoring inventory and prices
Methods, systems, and computer program products for an inventory story monitor are disclosed. In one or more embodiments, the disclosed method involves predicting a number of inventory items on a future date based at least in part upon a number of the inventory items on the current date and a rate of consumption of the inventory items, which is determined based on prior sales of the inventory items. The method also involves determining a price trend of the inventory items. In addition, the method involves determining whether to purchase the inventory items on the current date based at least in part upon the predicted number of inventory items, a rate of consumption of the inventory items, and a price trend of the inventory items. Further, the method involves displaying to the user an indicator of whether to purchase the inventory items on the current date or on a later date. |
| US08666842B1 |
Transaction-driven social network
A transaction-based social network for a life science vertical industry is provided. A method for implementing the network includes qualifying a user to join the transaction-based social network based on a minimum set of qualifications. The method also includes creating, from input received by the user, an opportunity with respect to an offer, identifying members of a target user community in the network based on the input from the user, and posting the opportunity over the social network to the members of the target user community. The method further includes receiving at least one response from the target user community that is indicative of a bid to accept the opportunity. The method also includes providing a view of the bid for the user and, once accepted, executing a transaction based on a pre-negotiated fee. The executing includes validating regulatory compliance of content associated with the transaction. |
| US08666835B2 |
System for creating customized web content based on user behavioral portraits
A method is provided for determining a website user behavioral portrait based on navigation on the website and dynamically reconfiguring web pages based on those portraits. In accordance with the method, data relating to the progress of a user through a website is recorded, and an ongoing behavioral portrait of the user is built based on the data. The portrait is then used to dynamically reconfigure web content. |
| US08666832B2 |
System and method for managing recurring orders in a computer network
A recurring order management system and method for a computer network is disclosed. The system receives a request to suggest a recurring order for one or more products or services. The system generates a profile which stores the suggested products or services, the suggested recurrence for those products or services and the suggested quantities to deliver upon each recurrence. The order then automatically recurs one or more times according to the specified recurrence. |
| US08666828B1 |
Separating control of network sites
Disclosed are various embodiments for separating control of network sites through the use of a proxy server application. A proxy server application obtains a request for a network page associated with one customer out of several customers of an organization. Each of the customers has an online presence hosted in a trusted network. The trusted network is subject to security supervision by the same organization. It is determined whether the network page is within a customer-managed portion of the network site. The network page is obtained from an untrusted network that is not subject to security supervision by the organization when the network page is within the customer-managed portion of the network site. |
| US08666827B2 |
Contents servicing system and method through a network
Disclosed is an Internet broadcasting contents consignment sale system and method. An Internet broadcasting station makes a consignment sale contract with companies or individuals who have copyrights of authored pieces, such as computer and video game makers, filmmakers, music producers, television broadcasting stations, and publishers; generates the consigned authored pieces into specific contents data; allows users to use the contents data only through a specific execution program provided by the Internet broadcasting station; permits Internet users to download the contents data via wire and wireless Internet free of charge and keep them; and allows the users to use desired contents data by receiving restoration information on the Internet. |
| US08666824B2 |
Digital media content location and purchasing system
Systems and methods for locating digital media content. The systems and methods include receiving search terms from a client device through a single interface, searching a plurality of digital media content providers for digital media content using the search terms to obtain search results, sorting and organizing the search results, and returning the search results to the client device through the single interface. |
| US08666820B2 |
Ad rendering parameters, such as size, style, and/or layout, of online ads
Ad rendering parameters for a set of two or more ads may be determined by (a) accepting, for a set of two or more ads, ad information which includes at least one ad feature having a value that depends on ad rendering parameters, and (b) determining ad rendering parameters for at least one ad from the set of two or more ads using the accepted ad information. The act of determining ad rendering parameters may use accepted ad rendering constraints. The ad rendering constraints may include space available for rendering the ads, a footprint available for rendering the ads, and/or a maximum number of ads permitted to be rendered. The act of determining ad rendering parameters may include maximizing a value associated with serving at least one ad from the set of two or more ads with ad rendering parameters subject to the ad rendering constraints. The ad rendering parameters may include sizes of the served ads, and/or a layout of the served ads. |
| US08666818B2 |
Progress bar is advertisement
A progress bar for a multi media device, such as a television or a computer, can depict digital media streaming or otherwise where a progress bar operates during the media playback function. One embodiment of the present invention includes the progress bar as an advertisement including company logos. The progress bar is the advertisement and is operable to morph into various positions allowing the advertisement to develop during the playing of the video. Marketers promote their logo as the progress bar to increase brand exposure. |
| US08666816B1 |
Method and system for access point customization
In one embodiment, information pertaining to preferences of end users with respect to network access is received from a first entity, and properties of one of wireless access points (WAPs) are then configured based on the information pertaining to the preferences of end users. |
| US08666812B1 |
Distributing content based on transaction information
Content providers can target individuals for receipt of selected content based, at least in part, on profiles associated with users. The associations between the users and the profiles are determined based on analysis of receipts for transactions completed by the users. These receipts contain information that is indicative of the individuals' spending habits. Electronic correspondence associated with the users is scanned to identify the receipts and information is extracted from the receipts for use in the analysis. The individuals can opt-in to receive content targeted to the profiles associated with their accounts without allowing the content providers to have direct access to their receipts or their identity. The individuals can also opt-out if they no longer want to receive targeted content. |
| US08666809B2 |
Advertisement campaign simulator
A shadow ad can be evaluated by receiving an ad request, identifying at least one shadow ad and at least one actual ad based on the received ad request, generating an ad ranking by analyzing one or more criteria associated with the identified at least one shadow ad and the at least one actual ad, and selecting one or more of the identified at least one shadow ad and the at least one actual ad based on the ad ranking. Further, the at least one shadow ad can be associated with one or more campaign parameters corresponding to a shadow ad campaign. Additionally, the ad request can be received from an online advertising system. |
| US08666807B1 |
System and method for creating and managing media advertising proposals
A computerized method and system for managing a media advertising proposal from inception to completion of an order with one or more media outlets are described. An embodiment of the method includes receiving a customer request for placement of advertising in one or more media outlets, creating a media advertising proposal, that includes schedule of advertising for the requested placement, based on user inputs into a media proposal tool, storing the media advertising proposal in a database connected to the media proposal tool, accessing one or more external applications to integrate information and data into the media advertising proposal, assigning a grade to the media advertising proposal, entering the media advertising proposal into a computerized workflow in the media proposal tool for review and approval, and if the media advertising proposal is approved, injecting the media advertising proposal as an order into a traffic and billing system. |
| US08666805B2 |
Systems, methods, and media for inducing consumer loyalty
Systems, methods, and media are provided for inducing customer loyalty that are configured to: identify a loyalty account associated with a consumer, wherein the loyalty account is part of as loyalty program established by a retailer, create a monetary account linked to the consumer's loyalty account, designate an amount of change from a cash transaction at the retailer to be deposited into the monetary account, deposit the amount of change into the monetary account by adding the designated amount of change to an existing balance of the monetary account to create a new balance, determine if the consumer is entitled to a reward based on the depositing of the designated amount of change into the monetary account and at least one threshold; and display to the consumer the outcome of the determining. |
| US08666800B2 |
Method and system for providing guidance data
Described herein is a system and method for providing entity investment guidance via a communication network. The system includes a server, at least one entity-issued disclosure received by the server via the communication network and a storage accessible by the server. The storage includes at least one forecast data extracted from the at least one entity disclosure, said forecast data indicative of a projection of an entity performance parameter, and a context file for each of the forecast data, the context file including at least a portion of the entity disclosure associated with the forecast data. Also included in the system is a user interface in communication with the server, wherein the server generates an investment guidance display of the forecast data and the context file and transmits the display to the user interface via the communication network. |
| US08666799B1 |
System and method for generating a community contribution index
A system and method for generating a community contribution index (CCI) for organizations and providing reports pertaining to the CCI for one or more organizations is described. The CCI for an organization is calculated based upon monetary donations provided by the organization and the members associated with the organization and the number of volunteer hours provided by the members. The CCI provides a standardized way to measure an organization's contributions to the community. |
| US08666798B2 |
Method and system for rapidly projecting and forecasting pharmaceutical market information
A system and method for providing a monthly cumulative prediction of pharmaceutical sales of a particular pharmaceutical, or group of pharmaceuticals, in a current month is disclosed. In particular, the technique of the present invention provides for extrapolating a sample of sales data for a given day across that entire day (114), extrapolating sales data for at least 14 prior days across an entire month (116); adjusting the monthly cumulative prediction by comparing past predicted values with past actual values (118); adjusting the monthly cumulative prediction to account for sales anomalies created by national or local holidays (120); and provides confidence intervals indicating the believed accuracy of the current monthly cumulative prediction (122). |
| US08666795B2 |
Systems and methods of automatically scheduling a workforce
Systems and methods of workforce scheduling are disclosed. One example embodiment, among others, comprises a computer-implemented method of scheduling workers. Each worker is associated with one of a set of flexibility classifications, which include non-flex-time and at least one flex-time. The method includes generating a set of shift instances to cover forecasted demand over a planning period, and assigning the shift instances to the set of workers by iterating through the each of the workers to assign at least a portion of the shift instances to a selected one of the workers. The assigning is such that total hours assigned to the selected worker depends on a number associated with the classification of the selected worker. |
| US08666794B1 |
Project management tool
A computer implemented method for project management is provided. A project manager creates sub-project data for a sub-project based on project data for a project. The project manager also modifies the project data. A sub-project manager modifies the sub-project data, wherein modification of the sub-project data enables modification of the project data. The project data and the sub-project data are displayed. |
| US08666790B2 |
Point of view shopper camera system with orientation sensor
A point of view shopper camera system is provided to generate and analyze shoppers' view data. The point of view shopper camera system may comprise a head device including an eye camera and a head orientation sensor, a position tracking sensor to identify a shopper's position, and an analysis computing device. The eye camera may be configured to be mounted to the head of the shopper, and to capture a still or moving image of the field of view of the shopper. The analysis computing device may be configured to receive the captured image data from the eye camera, head orientation data from the head orientation sensor, and the shopper's position data from the position tracking sensor, and determine an estimated field of view of the shopper during a trip in a shopping environment. |
| US08666789B1 |
Bluetooth device to enable data collection for insurance rating purposes
The devices, methods, systems and computer-readable mediums of the present disclosure provide automatic data collection for insurance rating purposes. In particular, a battery powered Bluetooth device may be attached to a personal item of an insured individual. The Bluetooth device may automatically trigger a mobile telephone to begin storing data related to use of the personal item when the mobile telephone is proximate the Bluetooth device. The mobile telephone may periodically transmit the stored data to a remote server. |
| US08666786B1 |
Automated system to update insurance carrier with exposure data in real-time
A computerized method for a commercial insurance policyholder, agent and/or insurer to maintain and manipulate data that is relevant to the cost of their insurance and risk to a loss or injury. A number of parties may view the relevant data to determine the risk of the policyholder and determine if the premium charges forecasted are accurate preferably in real-time such as during the policy period. |
| US08666783B1 |
Methods and systems for stabilizing revenue derived from variable annuities regardless of market conditions
The present invention provides methods and systems for stabilizing revenue derived by a variable annuity provider from variable annuities having a mortality and expense fee computed based on at least one variable that is not directly affected by market conditions, e.g., the annuity premium or a portion thereof, such as the premium that has been paid, or the premium that has been paid and invested in one or more investment divisions available to an annuity owner. The mortality and expense fee may also account for any withdrawals paid out of and disbursements made from the premium paid accordingly. The mortality and expense fee generally funds at least in part a risk associated with an annuity death benefit, such as a return of premium that has been paid death benefit. |
| US08666777B2 |
Web-based data submission for nursing quality indicators
A method for providing comparative reports regarding nursing quality of nursing units at multiple healthcare facilities includes storing information received from multiple healthcare facilities, analyzing the information received from multiple healthcare facilities, obtaining first data associated with a first healthcare facility, transmitting the first data to and storing the first data in the database, obtaining second data associated with a second healthcare facility, and transmitting the second data to and storing the second data in the database. When the first unit type of the first data is a same type as the second unit type of the second data, the method includes performing statistical analysis on the first data and the second data, and outputting results of the statistical analysis. |
| US08666770B2 |
Objective model of apparent age, methods and use
Methods of developing equations for objectively assigning or predicting an apparent age are disclosed. Advantageously, the equations of objective apparent age may be based on a relatively small number of critical parameters combined in a way that accounts for all or most of the apparent skin aging in a defined population or sub-population. Despite the relatively small data collection requirements, the present invention includes an objective model of apparent age that is useful for evaluation of products, useful for predicting treatment outcomes and useful for predicting the effects of deteriorative factors. The formalization of an Objective Apparent Age Score allows one to identify the biophysical and biochemical parameters that mostly influence an individual's apparent age, and can be used to select specific anti-aging treatments with increased chances of visible success. The Objective Apparent Age Score may also be used to support marketing claims. |
| US08666769B2 |
System and method for comparing and utilizing activity information and configuration information from multiple medical device management systems
A method of aggregating and using medical device data from a plurality of remote institutions. The system and method electronically receives at a central computer system a plurality of established medical device data, each of the plurality of established medical device data being received from a respective medication delivery system, each of the respective medication delivery systems having a respective plurality of medical devices within the respective remote institution, such as medication delivery pumps, associated therewith and utilized therein. The system and method electronically combines and stores the plurality of established medical device data from each of the plurality of remote institutions within a memory, and electronically provides a remote client computer access to at least one of a central reporting application adapted for providing summary information to the remote client computer about the medical device data, and/or other applications. |
| US08666767B2 |
Apparatus for calculating nutrient requirement amount, an apparatus for suggesting a nutritional supplement, a blending apparatus of a nutritional supplement and a blending system of a nutritional supplement
It is provided with a medical inquiry processing unit for acquiring the response to a medical inquiry presenting medical inquiry items to a person to be examined, a nutrient requirement amount calculating unit for calculating the nutrient requirement amount of the person to be examined from the response to the medical inquiry, a nutritional supplement suggesting unit for suggesting the blend of a nutritional supplement based on the nutrient requirement amount of the person to be examined and a nutritional supplement blending unit for blending nutrients to prepare the nutritional supplement based on the blend of the nutritional supplement. |
| US08666764B2 |
Adverse event data capture software, systems and methodologies
Electronic capture of adverse event information includes selective input of adverse event information into a machine in response to prompt provided to the user based on a site visit. Such adverse event information is forwardable to a location over a communication link. The machine produces one or more alerts, if adverse event information has been input, after a prescribed period of time has transpired unless the machine is informed that the same information has already been forwarded to the location. In a preferred embodiment, the customer is a clinician. Optionally, received adverse event information can be parsed to audit whether any of the information, in fact, concerns an adverse event. Systems and software concerning related technological improvements are disclosed. |
| US08666763B2 |
System and method for a lifestyle management system
An apparatus, method, and system for the design, administration and implementation of a lifestyle management program. The lifestyle management system maximizes contact and enrollment rates of traditional lifestyle management. This is accomplished through the creation of a system that combines telephonic-delivered lifestyle management (i.e. traditional lifestyle management) with work-site based health center clinician (“trusted clinician”). The lifestyle management program is characterized by the involvement of a trusted clinician who actively participates in the program by being involved in the stratification process, the contact step and the process of creating and updating the patient's individualized care plan. Therefore, the lifestyle management program allows the clinician to be involved in both contact and enrollment phases of the program. The lifestyle management program further increases the efficiency of the program by improving overall health through behavior modification. The benefit of such a program is the reduction of health risk by effectively changing lifestyle behaviors which, in turn, allows employers administering the program to realize higher returns on their investment into such programs. |
| US08666761B2 |
System and method for an integrated disease management system
An apparatus, method, and system for the design, administration and implementation of integrated disease management. The integrated disease management (“IDM”) system maximizes contact and enrollment rates of traditional remote disease management alone. This is accomplished through the creation of a system that combines telephonic-delivered disease management (i.e. traditional disease management) with work-site based health center clinician (“trusted clinician”). The IDM program is characterized by the involvement of a trusted clinician who actively participates in the disease management program by being involved in the stratification process, the contact step and the process of creating and updating the patient's individualized care plan. Therefore, the IDM program also allows the clinician to be involved in both contact and enrollment phases of the program. The IDM program further increases the efficiency of the disease management program by allowing employers to realize higher returns on their investment into such programs. |
| US08666755B1 |
Method for forecasting housing prices using a dynamic error correction model
A system and method for forecasting a price of a property in a first housing sub-market based on data related to a second housing sub-market are described. A price index is derived for the second housing sub-market, and an error correcting function is calculated for the first housing sub-market. A price index for the first housing sub-market is derived from the second sub-market price index and the error correcting function. An estimate of the price of the price of the property in the first housing sub-market is then provided. The estimate of the price can be used as the basis for an economic decision. |
| US08666752B2 |
Apparatus and method for encoding and decoding multi-channel signal
Provided are an encoding apparatus and a decoding apparatus of a multi-channel signal. The encoding apparatus of the multi-channel signal may process a phase parameter associated with phase information between a plurality of channels constituting the multi-channel signal, based on a characteristic of the multi-channel signal. The encoding apparatus may generate an encoded bitstream with respect to the multi-channel signal using the processed phase parameter and a mono signal extracted from the multi-channel signal. |
| US08666751B2 |
Audio pattern matching for device activation
A system and method are disclosed for activating an electric device from a standby power mode to a full power mode. The system may include one or more microphones for monitoring audio signals in the vicinity of the electric device, and a standby power activation unit including a low-power microprocessor and a non-volatile memory. Audio captured by the one or more microphones is digitized and compared by the microprocessor against predefined activation pattern(s) stored in the non-volatile memory. If a pattern match is detected between the digital audio pattern and a predefined activation pattern, the electric device is activated. |
| US08666750B2 |
Voice control system
A voice control system allows a user to control a device through voice commands. The voice control system includes a speech recognition unit that receives a control signal from a mobile device and a speech signal from a user. The speech recognition unit configures speech recognition settings in response to the control signal to improve speech recognition. |
| US08666749B1 |
System and method for audio snippet generation from a subset of music tracks
The disclosure includes a system and method for generating audio snippets from a subset of audio tracks. In some embodiments an audio snippet is an audio summary of a group or collection of songs. |
| US08666748B2 |
Methods and systems for communicating audio captured onboard an aircraft
Methods and systems are provided for communicating information from an aircraft to a computer system at a ground location. One exemplary method involves obtaining an audio input from an audio input device onboard the aircraft, generating text data comprising a textual representation of the one or more words of the audio input, and communicating the text data to the computer system at the ground location. |
| US08666745B2 |
Speech recognition system with huge vocabulary
The invention deals with speech recognition, such as a system for recognizing words in continuous speech. A speech recognition system is disclosed which is capable of recognizing a huge number of words, and in principle even an unlimited number of words. The speech recognition system comprises a word recognizer for deriving a best path through a word graph, and wherein words are assigned to the speech based on the best path. The word score being obtained from applying a phonemic language model to each word of the word graph. Moreover, the invention deals with an apparatus and a method for identifying words from a sound block and to computer readable code for implementing the method. |
| US08666743B2 |
Speech recognition method for selecting a combination of list elements via a speech input
The invention provides a speech recognition method for selecting a combination of list elements via a speech input, wherein a first list element of the combination is part of a first set of list elements and a second list element of the combination is part of a second set of list elements, the method comprising the steps of receiving the speech input, comparing each list element of the first set with the speech input to obtain a first candidate list of best matching list elements, processing the second set using the first candidate list to obtain a subset of the second set, comparing each list element of the subset of the second set with the speech input to obtain a second candidate list of best matching list elements, and selecting a combination of list elements using the first and the second candidate list. |
| US08666741B2 |
System and method for remote speech recognition
A system and method for remote speech recognition includes one or more customer premise equipment, a speech engine, and a communication engine. The customer premise equipment interfaces with a host from which the customer premise equipment is remotely located. The speech engine, remotely located from the host, recognizes a plurality of speech spoken by a user of the customer premise equipment and translates the speech into the language of the host. The speech engine further converts the recognized speech into one or more text data packets where the text data packets include the recognized speech as data instead of voice. The communication engine encrypts the text data packets and transmits the text data packets to the host. Transmitting data instead of voice to the host reduces the computational demands on the host. Additionally, the communication engine receives a plurality of information from the host. |
| US08666740B2 |
Speech and noise models for speech recognition
An audio signal generated by a device based on audio input from a user may be received. The audio signal may include at least a user audio portion that corresponds to one or more user utterances recorded by the device. A user speech model associated with the user may be accessed and a determination may be made background audio in the audio signal is below a defined threshold. In response to determining that the background audio in the audio signal is below the defined threshold, the accessed user speech model may be adapted based on the audio signal to generate an adapted user speech model that models speech characteristics of the user. Noise compensation may be performed on the received audio signal using the adapted user speech model to generate a filtered audio signal with reduced background audio compared to the received audio signal. |
| US08666739B2 |
Method for estimating language model weight and system for the same
Method of the present invention may include receiving speech feature vector converted from speech signal, performing first search by applying first language model to the received speech feature vector, and outputting word lattice and first acoustic score of the word lattice as continuous speech recognition result, outputting second acoustic score as phoneme recognition result by applying an acoustic model to the speech feature vector, comparing the first acoustic score of the continuous speech recognition result with the second acoustic score of the phoneme recognition result, outputting first language model weight when the first coustic score of the continuous speech recognition result is better than the second acoustic score of the phoneme recognition result and performing a second search by applying a second language model weight, which is the same as the output first language model, to the word lattice. |
| US08666731B2 |
Method, a computer program and apparatus for processing a computer message
Embodiments of the invention provide a method, computer program and apparatus for processing a computer message, the method comprising: upon receipt of a computer message at a computer, classifying the computer message and assigning it a message cluster identification in dependence thereon; and, utilizing a message template to trans-denotate the message, wherein the message template is selected in dependence on the message cluster identification. |
| US08666728B2 |
Visual feedback based on interaction language constraints and pattern recognition of sensory features
A language model back-off system can be used with a user interface employing one or more language models to constrain navigation of selectable user interface input components. A user input interpretation module receives user input and interprets the user input to determine if a selection is made of one or more user interface input components. If a selection is not made, the user input interpretation module determines whether conditions are met for backing off one or more language models employed to constrain navigation of the user interface input components. If the conditions are met, a language model back-off module backs off the one or more language models. |
| US08666727B2 |
Voice-controlled data system
A voice-controlled data system may include a data storage unit including media files having associated file identification data, and a vocabulary generating unit generating phonetic data corresponding to the file identification data, the phonetic data being supplied to a speech recognition unit as a recognition vocabulary, where one of the media files may be selected according to a recognized speech control command on the basis of the generated phonetic data, where the file identification data include a language identification part for identifying the language of the file identification data, and where the vocabulary generating unit generates the phonetic data for the file identification data of a media file based on its language identification part. |
| US08666725B2 |
Selection and use of nonstatistical translation components in a statistical machine translation framework
A system with a nonstatistical translation component integrated with a statistical translation component engine. The same corpus may be used for training the statistical engine and also for determining when to use the statistical engine and when to use the translation component. This training may use probabilistic techniques. Both the statistical engine and the translation components may be capable of translating the same information, however the system determines which component to use based on the training. Retraining can be carried out to add additional components, or when after additional translator training. |
| US08666724B2 |
Translation support apparatus, translation delivery period setting method, and storage medium
An apparatus includes a translation memory storing previously translated sentences in association with source sentences; a matching rate calculation unit comparing original sentences in an original text to be translated with the source sentences in the translation memory and thereby calculating matching rates of the original sentences to the source sentences; a counting unit counting numbers of words for the respective matching rates; an adjusting unit adjusting the numbers of words of the respective matching rates by multiplying the numbers of words by the corresponding coefficients defined in a coefficient table; a total-no-of-words calculation unit adding the adjusted numbers of words to obtain a total number of words of the original text; and a delivery period setting unit obtaining a value corresponding to the obtained total number of words from a delivery period table and setting the value as a delivery period for a translation of the original text. |
| US08666714B2 |
Virtual prototyping and testing for medical device development
A system and method of developing better-designed medical devices, particularly cardiovascular stents and endovascular grafts. The system comprises a geometry generator, a mesh generator, a stress/strain/deformation analyzer, and a visualization tool. Using analysis, preferably non-linear analysis, the stress/strain/deformation analyzer determines the predicted stresses, strains, and deformations on the candidate medical device. Such stresses, strains, and deformations may optionally be simulated visually using a visualization tool. |
| US08666709B1 |
Verification and validation system for a graphical model
A verification tool in a graphical modeling environment allows the components in the graphical modeling environment to be used to define error or exceptional conditions without adverse affects on the ultimate implementation of the model. In one example, a system presents a graphical interface to facilitate design of a model constructed from graphical blocks; receives an association of a plurality of blocks with a verification subsystem; and performs an operation to verify that the blocks in the verification subsystem do not affect operation of the model external to the verification system. |
| US08666704B2 |
Visualization of radio frequency coverage
Radio Frequency (RF) coverage models are visualized by displaying three dimensional unity scaled models of antenna performance in a Geographic Information System (GIS), Traditional logarithmic scaled antenna models are converted to linear models and stored as three dimensional representations which are placed and scaled using a GIS to visualize RF coverage. |
| US08666703B2 |
Method for automated determination of an optimally parameterized scatterometry model
Provided is an automated determination of an optimized parameterization of a scatterometry model for analysis of a sample diffracting structure having unknown parameters. A preprocessor determines from a plurality of floating model parameters, a reduced set of model parameters which can be reasonably floated in the scatterometry model based on a relative precision for each parameter determined from the Jacobian of measured spectral information with respect to each parameter. The relative precision for each parameter is determined in a manner which accounts for correlation between the parameters for a combination. |
| US08666702B2 |
Method and apparatus for generating design drawings
A first data structure stores one or more components of a modular system, wherein each component includes a quantity of features. A second data structure stores one or more component position numbers, wherein at least one component is assignable to each of the one or more component position numbers, and each design variant is describable by assignment of the components of the modular system to component position numbers of the second data structure. A third data structure stores one or more rules, wherein each rule is to set at least two component position numbers in a relationship, and an assembly module in a computing device is to select the rules from the third data structure that correspond to the one or more component position numbers, and to cause a design drawing to be displayed according to the selected rules. |
| US08666700B2 |
Compact representation of a reflectance spectrum
The invention concerns the compact representation of a reflectance spectrum of a material. For example, for in compression, identification and comparison of reflectance spectrum data of multiple materials. The compressed representation interpolating a spline curve to the reflectance spectrum data, the spline curve having a set of control points, a knot vector, and representing wavelength and reflectance as functions of an independent parameter (42). Then removing one or more knots from the knot vector that minimise a cost function in a parameter domain of the spline curve based on the wavelength function (44). Aspects of the invention include a method, software, a computer system and the compact representation itself. |
| US08666697B2 |
Light condensing lens and three-dimensional distance measuring apparatus
A light directing system including first and second relay lenses through which light passes, the first and second relay lenses being positioned at conjugate positions, the first relay lens being positioned between the second relay lens and a light source, a focal length of the first relay lens being longer than a focal length of the second relay lens. |
| US08666693B2 |
Low average velocity pedestrial motion identification
Systems and methods for identifying a motion state of a mobile device are disclosed. In one embodiment, identifying a motion state of a mobile device using acceleration signals from one or more accelerometers comprises: detecting any pedestrial steps associated with a user of the mobile device during an observation period based on the acceleration signals; determining a maximum number of consecutive pedestrial steps taken during the observation period from the detected pedestrial steps; and declaring a high average velocity motion state or a low average velocity motion state for the observation period based on the determined maximum number of consecutive pedestrial steps. |
| US08666691B2 |
Test apparatus and test method
Provided is a test apparatus that tests a device under test, comprising a testing section that stores a program in which commands to be executed branch according to detected branching conditions and that tests the device under test by executing the program; and a log memory that stores test results of the testing section in association with command paths of the program executed to obtain the test results. The testing section sequentially changes a characteristic of a test signal supplied to the device under test, and judges pass/fail of the device under test for each characteristic of the test signal, and the log memory stores a test result of the testing section in association with a command path of the program, for each characteristic of the test signal. |
| US08666690B2 |
Heterogeneous multi-core integrated circuit and method for debugging same
A heterogeneous multi-core integrated circuit includes first and second sets of processor cores and corresponding first and second test access ports (TAPs). The first and second TAPs are connected to corresponding first and second debug ports by way of corresponding first and second TAP controllers. A debug control circuit is connected between the first and second TAP controllers and the first and second debug ports. Based on external configuration signals, the debug control circuit configures the connections between the first and second TAP controllers and the first and second debug ports according to predetermined configuration modes, which allows flexibility in debugging the heterogeneous multi-core integrated circuit. |
| US08666686B2 |
Method and apparatus for detecting possible correlations between signal patterns
A method for detecting possible correlations between signal patterns of a power signal used by an electronic device during execution of operations, including setting couples of windows including respective pairs of sequences of the sampling values. The method includes computing values of correlations between the respective pairs of sequences. Each values may be determined by computing a maximum value of correlation between one sequence of a couple and a plurality of sequences of sampled values included in corresponding moving windows. |
| US08666683B2 |
System, method and apparatus for monitoring fluid storage and dispensing systems
In one aspect, the invention relates to a system for monitoring a fluid dispensing system having a storage tank and a piping system having a maximum output flow rate threshold. The system includes a dispenser configured to dispense fluid from the fluid dispensing system during a dispensing time interval, a metering device in fluid communication with piping system, the metering device configured to measure a plurality of sample flow rates over time in response to fluid passing through the metering device, a gauge for measuring a volume of fluid dispensed from the storage tank during the dispensing time interval and a processor for executing a monitoring application which generates an alert within a substantially real-time period in response to an event of interest, the monitoring application comparing the maximum output flow rate threshold to the plurality of sample flow rates over time to generate the alert when one of the sample flow rates exceeds the maximum output flow rate threshold. |
| US08666678B2 |
Predictive model for use in sequencing-by-synthesis
A method of obtaining a more accurate estimate of a signal correction parameter(s) in sequencing-by-synthesis operations, such as incomplete extension rates, carry forward rates, and/or signal droop rates. The sequencing operation produces signal data. A model is constructed to simulate a population of template strands as it undergoes the sequencing process and becomes divided into different phase-states as the sequencing-by-synthesis progresses. For example, the model may be a phase-state model. The output from the model is used to adjust the signal correction parameter(s). For example, the model may be fitted to the signal data. This fitting results in a more accurate estimate of the signal correction parameter(s). In another embodiment, the signal droop rate is modeled as a decaying function and this decaying function is fitted to the signal data to obtain an improved estimate of the signal droop rate. |
| US08666675B2 |
Computer method and system for predicting physical properties using a conceptual segment model
Method of conducting chromatography comprising controlling a retention time of one or more chemical species in a mixture by determining at least one conceptual segment of: a) the one or more chemical species, b) a mobile phase component, and c) a stationary phase component. The method further includes defining an identity and an equivalent number of each of the at least one conceptual segment. |
| US08666669B2 |
Method for determining the likelihood that a test polynucleotide sequence differs from a driver polynucleotide
The present invention relates generally is a method for determining the likelihood that a test polynucleotide sequence differs from a driver polynucleotide sequence. More particularly, the present method uses fluorescence-based technology in the assessment of the results of competitive hybridization between polynucleotide sequences. The present method does not require nucleotide sequencing or gel electrophoresis and is capable of being multiplexed and automated. The methods of the present invention will find broad application in the analysis of polynucleotides, inter alia in genetic analysis, specific locus testing, genotyping, mutation detection, the discovery and detection of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and mapping. |
| US08666663B2 |
Route search device and route search method
A technology for searching for a recommended route matched to a search condition is provided for route search that involves substitution with a learned route. A route search device comprises: a storage unit to store therein, as learned routes, routes corresponding to sections where traveling deviated from recommended routes have been performed; a setting unit to set a search condition matched a recommended route; a recommended-route search unit to find a recommended route on the basis of the search condition; an application unit to select any one of the learned routes that is applicable to the thus found recommended route, and apply the selected learned route to the recommended route; and a display unit to display the recommended route to which the learned route has been applied. The storage unit stores therein category information of the learned routes in association with the respective learned routes. The application unit selects, from the storage unit, any one of the learned routes that is associated with the category information matched to the search condition. |
| US08666659B2 |
System and method for providing geographic information in private webpage
A geographic information providing system in a personal webpage is disclosed. The geographic information providing system can include a GPS information storing unit, receiving GPS coordinate information related to a location of a user and additional information from a mobile communication terminal and storing the received GPS coordinate information and additional information; a map data loading unit, loading map data having a location corresponding to the GPS coordinate information if a request to access the stored GPS coordinate information and additional information is received; and a temporary layer generating controlling unit, generating a temporary layer to mark the location corresponding to the GPS coordinate information on a loaded map in a form capable of being identified by the user and providing control information for displaying the location corresponding to the GPS coordinate information. |
| US08666645B2 |
Method of selecting a traffic pattern for use by a navigation system
A method for selecting a traffic pattern for use by a navigation system is disclosed. When unusual traffic conditions exist, a message is sent to the navigation system. The message includes a code that identifies a traffic pattern. The navigation system uses the code to select a traffic pattern to use when calculating a route or to provide other navigation system functions. |
| US08666630B2 |
Method for increasing active duration time of an automatic freewheeling function in a vehicle
A method for increasing active duration time of an automatic freewheeling function in a vehicle with cruise control and during a cruise control active period is provided. The function includes an arrangement for determining a vehicle set speed for when the function is allowed to he activated and an arrangement for calculating a predetermined allowable vehicle speed drop to a first under speed value below the vehicle set speed. The function is controlled based on the under speed value, m order to extend active duration time of the function. |
| US08666629B2 |
Method and apparatus for determining a driving strategy
A method for determining a driving strategy for a driver of a motor vehicle includes receiving local information about a plurality of other motor vehicles using a receiving device, wherein the plurality of other motor vehicles are ahead of the motor vehicle and are relevant to the traffic situation. The method further includes recording the local information using the receiving device and deriving driving information from the local information so as to provide a driving strategy in the form of at least one action recommendation for the driver, the at least one action recommendation including a recommended speed based on an average speed of the plurality of other motor vehicles and on a desired speed of the motor vehicle. |
| US08666627B2 |
Aircraft brake control architecture having improved antiskid redundancy
An electromechanical braking system includes first and second electromechanical actuator controllers (EMACs) that each independently generate a complete set of drive control signals for an associated set of electromechanical actuators (EMAs). The drive control signals are generated in accordance with an antiskid algorithm to impart antiskid control to the braking of wheels associated with the EMAs. Drive signals for some of the EMAs from the set of EMAs are output by drivers of the first EMAC and drive signals for the other EMAs from the set of EMAs are output by drivers of the second EMAC. Drive control signals from one of the EMACs are used to control output the drive signals for all the EMAs from the set of EMAs, regardless of the EMAC in which the associated drivers are present. The drive control signals from the other of the EMACs are used as a backup set of drive control signals. |
| US08666625B1 |
Automatic adjustment of electric brake actuators for a dragging brake condition
A method of automatically adjusting at least one electric actuator of a brake to prevent dragging is provided including measuring a force applied by the at least one electrical actuator to a load measuring device The measured force is determined to be below a predetermined threshold. A predefined offset is subtracted from a current zero torque position of the at least one electrical actuator. Similarly, a drag offset is subtracted from the current zero torque position of the at least one electrical actuator to compensate for a dragging brake condition. The new zero torque position is then stored within a brake actuator controller coupled configured to control the brake. |
| US08666624B2 |
Clutch control device and clutch control method
A clutch control device that controls a clutch by driving a piston using a working fluid, having: stroke start determining means (S1) for determining that a stroke of the piston has started and detecting a stroke start oil pressure at that time; stroke end determining means (S4) for determining that the stroke of the piston is complete and detecting a stroke end oil pressure at that time; stroke end range estimating means (S3) for estimating a range of the stroke end oil pressure from the stroke start oil pressure detected by the stroke start determining means; and learning means (S5, S6) for learning the stroke end oil pressure detected by the stroke end determining means when the stroke end oil pressure is within the estimated range of the stroke end oil pressure. Learning precision of the stroke end oil pressure can be improved. |
| US08666623B2 |
Method for control and/or regulation of a motor vehicle automatic transmission according to driving route slope
A method for controlling and/or regulating an automatic transmission of a vehicle, depending on the driving route slope in which a winding mountain pass road detection is carried out, depending upon a topography of the driving route, in such a way that a time for either setting or resetting winding mountain pass road detection is determined. |
| US08666622B2 |
Method to define a gear step for a shifting
A method of determining the size of a gear interval from a currently engaged gear to a target gear in a transmission. The method includes the steps of, for each current gear and for each possible gear interval from the current gear, recording a limit value for an acceleration or a deceleration in the target gear corresponding to the current gear and the respective gear interval used; for the current gear, starting with the smallest gear interval, applying a loop with successive increases of the gear interval to determine, depending on the current driving situation and characteristic parameters of the vehicle, the acceleration or the acceleration theoretically obtainable in the target gear produced by using the gear interval, which is compared with the respective recorded limit value until the acceleration or the deceleration theoretically obtainable no longer contravenes the limit value. The gear interval is then selected for a gearshift. |
| US08666620B2 |
Method for controlling an automated geared transmission
A method of controlling an automated stepped transmission disposed in a drive train of a motor vehicle in conjunction with a turbo-charged internal combustion engine. In which the control of start-up and shifting procedures depends on the response behavior of the internal combustion engine. In order to enable control of the start-up and shifting processes with considerably lower coordination effort, the actual response behavior of the internal combustion engine is taken from an engine dynamics characteristic map in which the immediately available maximum torque (Mmax) of the internal combustion engine is stored as a function of the current engine torque (MM) and the current engine speed (nM, thus (Mmax=f(MM, nM)). |
| US08666617B2 |
Gear shift control unit for automatic transmission
In a gear shift control unit for an automatic transmission, when an up-shift switch or a down-shift switch of a paddle shift switch is turned ON, a gear shift mode is set to a temporary manual shift mode, and a target transmission gear stage is shifted up or shifted down. Subsequently, a manual assist control is executed. In the manual assist control, an acceleration is calculated from a temporal differentiation of a vehicle speed. After it is detected that the acceleration is larger than or equal to an acceleration determination threshold, an accelerator pedal return acceleration is calculated from a double temporal differentiation of an accelerator opening degree. When the accelerator pedal return acceleration is smaller than or equal to another acceleration determination threshold, the current target transmission gear stage is automatically shifted down. |
| US08666615B1 |
Method of controlling transmission of vehicle
A method of controlling a transmission of a vehicle with a DCT or AMT in which a reference center point of an actuator for gear shifting with respect to a shift direction can always be maintained at a correct position. Therefore, despite different kinds of electrical disturbances or mechanical vibration or deformation which may be caused when the vehicle is running, reliable gear shifting manipulation ability can always be secured, thus enhancing the merchantability of the vehicle. |
| US08666611B2 |
Method and system for preventing herbicide application to non-tolerant crops
A method controlling an agricultural sprayer includes identifying an herbicide to be sprayed using the agricultural sprayer, determining a geoposition associated with the agricultural sprayer within a field, determining if crop planted at the geoposition is tolerant to the herbicide using as-planted data, and if the crop is not tolerant of the herbicide, preventing herbicide spraying operations while the agricultural sprayer is at the geoposition. An agricultural sprayer adapted for performing the method is also provided. |
| US08666608B2 |
Air cart metering system
An agricultural cart including a product metering system comprising an auger assembly extending generally along an axis non-parallel to a horizontal plane and non-perpendicular to the horizontal plane, and a holding chamber disposed at an upstream end of the auger assembly and configured to reduce pulsations within a flow of agricultural product from the auger assembly. The agricultural cart also includes an air source coupled to the product metering system and configured to transfer the agricultural product to an agricultural implement via an airflow. |
| US08666607B2 |
Vehicular steering control system and steering control method
In a vehicle including a VGRS actuator capable of changing the steering transmission ratio by rotating an upper steering shaft and a lower steering shaft relative to each other, an ECU performs a lock releasing process when the VGRS motor is locked. In the process, an actual steering angle is calculated, and is compared with a lock release threshold value that is set in advance in view of the axial force applied to the lower steering shaft during steering. If the actual steering angle is equal to or smaller than the lock release threshold value, the ECU performs driving control of a lock mechanism so as to release the locked state of the VGRS motor. |
| US08666606B2 |
Power steering device for automobile
The steering system of the invention includes a processing means (26) comprising a means for determining (30) a driving signal (S3) of the power means (25) on the basis of: a first control signal (S1) determined from the measure of a torque applied by the driver on the steering wheel by applying a gain that depends on the longitudinal speed of the vehicle; a second correction signal (S2) determined from the measure of the torque applied by the driver on the steering wheel, and a setpoint determined on the basis of at least one characteristic parameter of the lateral dynamics of the vehicle. |
| US08666605B2 |
Securing the assistance torque by means of an estimator of the force on the rack
A method for securing the assistance torque (15) supplied by an electric assistance motor (8) in a motor vehicle power steering system includes the steps of: estimating the force on the steering system rack from the torque exerted by the driver on the steering wheel (2), from the assistance torque (15), and optionally from other parameters such as the speed of the electric assistance motor; comparing a target assistance torque with an authorized assistance range, defined with respect to the estimated rack force (17) at any moment, and in the event the target assistance torque is maintained above predefined limits for a predefined duration, correcting and optionally interrupting the power steering. |
| US08666604B2 |
Method of detecting external impacts in vehicle steering systems
The invention relates to a method of detecting external impacts in vehicle steering systems (12) which include a rotatable steering shaft (16) and a servomotor (22) for generating a steering assist torque, the method including the steps of: (a) continuously measuring a first characteristic; (b) continuously measuring a second characteristic; (c) forming tuples of characteristics at least from a measured value of the first characteristic and a simultaneously picked up measured value of the second characteristic; (d) comparing the tuples of characteristics of step (c) with a predetermined normal operating range (36) of a multidimensional characteristic diagram (34) which is defined at least by the first characteristic and the second characteristic; and (e) storing a tuple of characteristics of step (c) and/or triggering an alarm signal if this tuple of characteristics from step (c) is outside the normal operating range (36). |
| US08666600B2 |
Rear toe control system and method
A rear toe control (RTC) system and method for a vehicle includes rear actuators for applying rear steering to rear wheels of the vehicle and rear sensors for measuring individual toe angles of the rear wheels. The system further includes a RTC failure module that determines when the RTC system has failed and a road condition determining module that determines whether the vehicle is encountering a poor road surface condition. An electronic control unit (ECU) is disposed on the vehicle and is configured to impose a speed limit for the vehicle when the RTC failure module determines that the RTC system has failed and the road condition determining module determines that the vehicle encountering a poor road surface condition. |
| US08666599B2 |
Driving support system
A driving support system includes a first, a second, and a third imaging units capturing images of front view, right rear view, and left rear view from the vehicle, respectively, a turn signal indicator operation detection unit detecting an operation state of a turn signal indicator of the vehicle, a steering control unit controlling a steering operation of the vehicle, a lane keeping support unit performing driving support for lane keeping, and a lane change support unit performing a lane change by instructing the lane keeping support unit to cancel lane keeping based on the the image of the rear view from the vehicle when an operation of the turn signal indicator is detected, and withholding a lane change and wait until there is no obstructing vehicle and then cancelling withholding of the lane change when it is determined that there is no obstructing vehicle. |
| US08666598B2 |
Method of controlling the yawing movement of an aircraft running along the ground
A method of controlling a yawing movement of an aircraft running along the ground, the aircraft comprising at least one first landing gear with a steerable bottom part bearing wheels. The method comprises the steps of (1) on the basis of a yaw rate setpoint {dot over (φ)}c, determining a wheel-steering prepositioning angle θp; and (2) using closed-loop control which as its input has the yaw rate setpoint and which generates a command to steer the bottom part in order to steer it through a steering angle θc equal to the sum of this prepositioning angle θp and of an angle θz which is determined taking account of an error between the yaw rate setpoint {dot over (φ)}c and the measured yaw rate {dot over (φ)}m when the steerable bottom part is steered by the steering angle θc. |
| US08666597B2 |
Electrical power assisted steering system
An electric power assisted steering system for a vehicle, comprising: a steering mechanism which operatively connects a steering wheel to road wheels of the vehicle, a torque sensor arranged to, in use, produce a torque signal indicative of the torque carried by a portion of the steering mechanism, an electric motor operatively connected to the steering mechanism, a signal processing unit arranged to, in use, produce from the torque signal a torque demand signal representative of a torque to be applied to the steering mechanism by the motor, the signal processing unit comprising a first calculating unit arranged to calculate an initial torque demand signal dependent on the torque signal, and a second calculating unit arranged to, in use, calculate a torque damping signal indicative of an amount the initial torque signal is to be damped in order to generate the torque demand signal, and a motor drive stage arranged to provide, in use, a drive current to the motor responsive to the torque demand signal, in which the second calculating unit comprises an input for a signal dependent upon the torque demand signal, a differentiator, arranged to, in use, differentiate the input signal dependent upon the torque signal and a high pass filter arranged to filter the input signal to reduce low frequency components thereof. |
| US08666596B2 |
Method and system for manipulating the movement of a vehicle body of a motor vehicle controllable or adjustable with respect to its movement processes and vehicle
A method and a system generates signals for influencing the movement of the body of a vehicle, wherein the chain of movements of which can be controlled or adjusted. The movement of the vehicle body is determined by sensors in relation to at least three wheels of the motor vehicle and the vertical acceleration of the vehicle body, the sensor signals that correspond to the determined sensor values are fed to a shock absorber controller which delivers at least one control signal to control actuators, in particular semi-active or active shock absorbers which are used to influence the movement of the body. The control signal for controlling the actuators is determined by the shock absorber controller from the sensor signals, with the aid of condition-dependent adjustment algorithms, taking into consideration current and/or expected conditions in conjunction with selectable requirements for the movement of the vehicle body and driving safety requirements. |
| US08666595B2 |
One-touch controller for tarp systems
A one-touch controller for a tarp system with varying phases or modes based on a single touch to operate. The one-touch controller module controls a motor of a tarp, such as a geared brake motor, and a switch or a remote control system with a button to push to operate a vehicle tarp system with one touch of the button. The one-touch controller preferably has solid state circuitry that controls power to and direction of the motor and detects amp variations from the motor to automatically shut off the system. The remote control system preferably operates in various modes based on how long the button of the remote control is touched, such as with short touches of the button being incremental operation, other touches permitting the entire cycle in automatic operation, and touches longer than a set time being “press and hold” operation. |
| US08666588B2 |
Fraud detection in an OBD inspection system
A vehicle testing system and method includes a vehicle testing system that is operatively connected with a vehicle computer whereby the system is able to evaluate signals within the vehicle computer. The system includes a tamper testing sequence for detecting vehicle tampering comprising applying a test action to the vehicle intended to generate a signal in the vehicle computer responsive to the test action, monitoring the signal of the vehicle computer associated with the test action, and determining whether the signal meets an expected response. A determination that the signal of the vehicle computer associated with the test action does not meet the expected response indicates that tampering has occurred. |
| US08666586B2 |
Enterprise fuel management system
An enterprise fuel management system for managing fueling operations of an aircraft fleet operated by a fleet operator having a central computer system at a data center and operating aircraft at multiple airports avoids reliability problems associated with synchronizing a central database with local databases. Data collection units communicate collected fueling information wirelessly to a central data center, and the data collection units are not in direct communication with the fleet operator's central computer system. Moreover, the central data center gathers fueling information from the various data collection units and communicates the gathered fueling information to the fleet operator's central computer system as data messages for subsequent processing and action. In this way, the fleet operator's central computer system can maintain the only database of fueling information and flight information, obviating the need to synchronize the data in the fleet operator's computer system with data in some other computer system. |
| US08666584B2 |
Method for operation of a drive train
A method of operating a drive train of a motor vehicle in which the drive train comprises at least a hybrid drive with an internal combustion engine and an electric motor, a clutch connected between the combustion engine and the electric motor, a transmission arranged between the hybrid drive and a drive output, and preferably a transmission-internal or -external starting element. When the combustion engine is entrained into motion with the help of the electric motor, the clutch connected between the internal combustion engine and the electric motor is partially engaged to a slipping condition where the clutch transmits a constant torque, and during this entrainment, and comparing an actual gradient of the combustion engine's speed produced with a nominal gradient of the combustion engine's speed. When the actual gradient is greater than the nominal gradient, the method concludes that the combustion engine is started and actively providing torque. |
| US08666578B2 |
Method and system for cutting fuel for hybrid vehicle
Disclosed is a method and a system for cutting fuel for a hybrid vehicle. More specifically, a control unit in the vehicle is configured to determine margin torque according to each driving mode, determine whether a current vehicle driving condition is a coasting driving condition, compare a engine torque and a sum of friction torque and the margin torque to determine whether the engine torque is greater than the sum of the friction torque and the margin torque and cut fuel injection to the engine when the engine torque is equal to or less than the sum of the friction torque and the margin torque. |
| US08666576B2 |
Technique for calculating distance to empty in electric vehicle
Disclosed is a technique for calculating Distance to Empty (DTE) in an electric vehicle. In the disclosed technique, a past driving average fuel efficiency is calculated. An air conditioning average energy consumption rate during past driving is calculated. A past driving average fuel efficiency when assuming an air conditioning apparatus is not used from the past driving average fuel efficiency and the air conditioning average energy consumption rate is calculated. A current driving fuel efficiency is calculated. Then the past driving average fuel efficiency when assuming the air conditioning apparatus is not used and the current driving fuel efficiency are blended, and the DTE is calculated from the blended driving fuel efficiency. |
| US08666574B2 |
In-vehicle estimation of electric traction motor performance
A vehicle is provided having an electric motor and a controller configured to control the electric motor. The controller may calculate the torque output of the motor based on the acceleration and deceleration rates of the motor. Moments of inertia for components rotationally coupled to the motor may be employed in the torque calculation. |
| US08666573B2 |
Shift control system and shift control method for hybrid vehicle
A shift control system for a hybrid vehicle having an engine and a motor as power sources may include a driving condition detector which detects whether a kick-down shift-request occurs in EV (Electric Vehicle), and a hybrid control unit which changes a driving mode from the EV (Electric Vehicle) mode to HEV (Hybrid Electric Vehicle) mode by connecting an engine clutch when the kick-down shift-request may be detected and an engine may be operated, and executes a kick-down shift. |
| US08666570B1 |
Volcanic ash detection by optical backscatter using standard aircraft lights
Onboard systems and methods for detection of airborne volcanic ash. One or more cameras are added to an aircraft. Each camera is configured to view a volume of air illuminated by a standard aircraft light, such as a strobe warning light (e.g., located on a wing tip) or a forward-facing landing light (e.g., located in the nose). Each camera is connected to a data processor. When diffuse volcanic ash is present, it scatters light transmitted from the standard aircraft light. Each camera converts impinging backscattered light into digital data which is sent to the processor. The processor processes the data from the camera or cameras to derive a measurement of the backscattered light and issues an alert when the amount and type of backscatter are compatible with the presence of volcanic ash. |
| US08666567B2 |
Systems and methods for controlling the speed of an aircraft
A system is provided for controlling the speed of an aircraft with a speed brake during flight. The system includes a guidance system configured to determine a target speed for the aircraft; a speed brake control system coupled to the guidance system and configured to compare the target speed to a current speed to generate speed brake guidance; and a display unit coupled to the speed brake control system and configured to display a visual representation of the speed brake guidance to a pilot of the aircraft. |
| US08666566B2 |
Aircraft control system containing an aeronautical data base
The invention relates to an aircraft control system containing several aircraft control computers (14, 16, 18, 20) for said aircraft, said system having at least one server (10) which: contains at least one aeronautical data base (12); is connected to at least one subassembly of said control computers through data transmission links (26a, 26b, 26c, 26d); is able to supply information from said at least one aeronautical data base to the computers of said control computer subassembly, said at least one server being able to supply information from said at least one aeronautical data base to a computer of said control computer subassembly, in a period of time less than a predetermined duration, upon request from said computer, when said information is not available in a local data base of said computer. |
| US08666560B2 |
Power control system and method
A power control system/method implementing Internet based access to hybrid home automation networks is disclosed. The system utilizes a smart gateway power controller (SGPC) to selectively switch an AC power source to a load device under control of local or remote network commands that may be routed through a variety of network interfaces and protocols present within home or other structure-local communications network. SGPC configurations may be nested within a home automation network to permit separation of control for load devices within a common home automation environment. Present invention methods may include routing protocols between disparate home automation networks as well as remote access protocols that permit control of disparate home automation networks via the Internet using a wide variety of remote access interfaces including mobile devices, tablet computers, laptops, desktop computers, and the like. |
| US08666559B2 |
System and method for reducing peak and off-peak electricity demand by monitoring, controlling and metering high intensity fluorescent lighting in a facility
A method of reducing electricity usage during peak demand periods includes the steps of establishing predetermined load reduction criteria representative of a desire by a power provider to reduce loading on an electricity supply grid, and coordinating with a facility having lighting equipment to permit the power provider to turn-off one or more of the lighting equipment by sending instructions to a master controller at the facility in response to the predetermined load reduction criteria, and establishing a list of lighting equipment to be turned-off in response to the instructions, and configuring the master controller to send an override control signal to the lighting equipment to implement the instructions, and configuring the lighting equipment to send a response signal to the master controller providing a status of the lighting equipment. |
| US08666558B2 |
Hybrid distribution network power restoration control
A power outage restoration system manages a power network including a plurality of switching devices. The power outage restoration system includes an outage management system having a network model of said power network. A plurality of local restoration controllers are in communication with the outage management system and each said local restoration controller includes a trimmed network model correlating to a respective area of responsibility. |
| US08666549B2 |
Automatic machine and method for controlling the same
An automatic machine includes N output units, a storage unit and a control unit. The control unit is electrically connected to the output units and the storage unit. The storage unit stores a first reaction pattern corresponding to a first command. The first reaction pattern includes a header and N reaction modes and each of the reaction modes is corresponding to one of the output units. Each of the reaction modes includes M reaction frames. The header records a number of the reaction frames of each reaction mode. The control unit receives the first command, looks the first reaction pattern up in the storage unit according to the first command, and selectively controls at least one of the output units to perform the reaction frames correspondingly according to the header and the reaction modes. |
| US08666548B2 |
Path planning apparatus of robot and method thereof
Disclosed are a path planning apparatus of a robot, which generates a path plan to control movements of the robot, and a method thereof. An improved RRT algorithm is employed, when a tree is extended in a configuration space so as to satisfy a constraint, and thus steeply bent or roundabout portions of the tree are reduced. |
| US08666547B2 |
Cellular automotion digital material
Cellular automotion digital material is useable for rapid prototyping and fabrication of continuous string conformations and two- or three-dimensional shapes through actuation of a string, surface, or volume composed of identical discrete units. Each unit is an actuated joint having a single degree of freedom. The actuated joint includes a two-part actuator having an inner active portion and an outer passive portion that are controllably rotatable relative to each other, the outer portion being configured to fit within the housing of an adjacent cellular automotion unit, and a linkage element that includes a main strut and a housing and is connected to the actuator by a pin connector. The housing is configured to house the actuator of an adjacent cellular automation unit, and the opening in the strut is rotated about the axis of symmetry of the cellular automotion unit relative to the opening in the housing so that the alignment of the cellular automotion unit will be rotated with respect to the alignment of any adjacent unit. The cellular automotion unit may include an on-board processor for controlling actuation of the cellular automotion unit. |
| US08666545B2 |
Intelligent user interface apparatus and control method for control of service robots
Disclosed herein is a user interface apparatus and control method for the control of service robots. The user interface apparatus for the control of service robots includes an interaction server, an index block, and a robot control server. The interaction server receives control commands to control a service robot from a user, analyzes the control commands, and outputs the results of the analysis to the user. The index block determines the degree of difficulty of each of the analyzed control commands. The robot control server determines the operating mode of the service robot depending on the analyzed control command and the degree of difficulty, and controls the service robot in the determined operating mode. |
| US08666542B2 |
Multi-channel controller
One aspect of the present invention provides a multi-channel controller that can control a plurality of fuel pump devices, with each fuel pump device having its own dedicated communications channel. Accordingly, aspects of the present invention enable existing wiring and fuel pump devices to be preserved while turning an existing fuel pump device installation into a network of may point-to-point networks. |
| US08666539B2 |
Method, system and apparatus for controlling patient access to medicaments
A method, system and apparatus for controlling and tracking patient access to medicaments. A patient is provided with medication in locked pill containers that must be unlocked with an access code before the patient can access a limited quantity of medication in each container. Thus the patient is forced to go through an interactive session periodically with a master system, via a communicative intermediary, in order to obtain a valid passcode for each batch of medications and follow a treatment regimen. The patient may be assessed during each interaction with the master system. That assessment can include various questions, including questions about status codes that may optionally be displayed on each medication container. These status codes may optionally encode detail about the patient's pattern of accessing medication. The general rate of medication usage can also be deduced by the rate at which the patient contacts the master system. After patient assessment, the master system may elect to not provide the patient with an access code, typically if the patient meets certain criteria that indicate overuse of the medication. Conversely, the master system can elect to proactively contact the patient if the patient fails to make contact with the master system at an expected time, as this lack of contact suggests that the patient is underusing the medication and requires a reminder. |
| US08666538B2 |
Information filling station facilitating wireless transfer of data content to a portable device or other pre-defined locations
Data content providers transfer data content (including DRM protected content) over a broadband network onto one or more information filling stations (IFSs) situated at one or more physical locations. Users are able to wirelessly communicate with the IFSs via one or more of portable devices that are operable in close proximity to the IFS. Data content requested by the portable devices include, but are not limited to: multimedia files, WWW data, real-time and interactive games, e-mail (with or without attachments), electronic newspapers, news and sports information, traffic and weather information, e-books, interactive messaging, and/or data files. Additionally, the portable devices are also capable of facilitating point-of-sale purchases and electronic funds transfers. Optionally, the IFS also forwards advertisements promoting products and services to the portable devices. The portable device is also able to instruct the IFS to selectively send each content of interest or product of interest to one or more identified locations (e.g., users can send large multimedia to their home PCs). |
| US08666536B2 |
Process and device for manually commissioning individually packaged products with a flow shelf
A method and an apparatus for manual order picking of items in an order-picking installation with a dynamic-storage rack (1) as a store for the manual order picking. It is proposed that the items are automatically transported, preferably separately according to type, in containers or boxes (2) to the dynamic-storage rack/flow shelf (1) on a driven conveying line (4). After reading and identifying the containers (2), they are automatically introduced by an activated stationary lift (5) and activated level conveyor unit (6) of the dynamic-storage rack (1) into selected dynamic-storage channels (3) of the dynamic-storage rack. The channels have exits (A) that can be manually reached by an order picker (17). Items are fed by an order picker (17) at the picker's order-picking station in an order-related manner from a container/box (2) at a selected exit (A) of a dynamic-storage channel (3) to a provided order container (30). |
| US08666532B2 |
Method and system for controlling a manufacturing process
A method, system and computer program product for controlling a manufacturing process of an electronic circuit, the method includes: calculating at least one layer misalignment between layers of an electrical circuit that are expected to be mutually aligned; wherein the layers are manufactured by at least a direct imaging device that exposes a photo-resistive material to radiation to provide a pattern; selecting, in response to the at least one layer misalignment and in response to at least one allowable misalignment threshold, a selected response out of: manufacturing at least one additional layer of the electrical circuit; and stopping the manufacturing process of the electrical circuit; and participating in executing the selected response. |
| US08666527B2 |
System for elimination of acoustic feedback
A method and system is provided for eliminating acoustical feedback in a system. The method determines a parameter for at least one notch filter, adjusting the notch filter based on the parameter, processing the digital signals through the notch filter, testing at the effect of the notch filter in the system, and removing the notch filter if the notch filter is not effective. Also disclosed is a method and system of selecting candidate frequencies which might be feedback, as opposed to other wanted sound frequencies. The selection method sampling the digital signals, converting the time domain digital signal samples by a fast Fourier transform algorithm into the frequency domain, using a ballistics approach to find prominences in the frequency spectrum, and testing the sizes of the prominences. |
| US08666518B2 |
Monitoring and control of electronic devices
A method, a system, and a computer program product for managing one or more electronic devices. Performance of an electronic device is monitored and presented to a user through a digital agent interface. The performance of the electronic device is controlled automatically by digital agent through the digital agent interface. The invention also enables automatic testing of the electronic device through the digital agent interface by setting up test configurations, activating test signals, and interpreting any error codes that may be generated. |
| US08666517B2 |
Extremum seeking control with reset control
An extremum seeking control method optimizes a control process for a plant such as an air handling unit. The method compensates for abrupt changes in the operation of the plant by resetting the extremum seeking control strategy in response to a detection of the abrupt change. |
| US08666514B2 |
Peel-away IS-4/DF-4 lead implant tool with electrical contacts
A peel away lead implant tool is adapted to be disposed over the terminal connector of a lead during an implantation procedure to protect the terminal connector. The peel-away lead implant tool includes a flexible polymer sheath including electrical contacts formed in a contact region of the sheath. The electrical contacts can be either metal foil contacts or conductive polymer contacts and extend from an outer surface to an inner surface of the sheath such that when the testing apparatus is coupled to the lead implant tool, the electrical contacts are pressed into electrical contact with the ring electrodes located on the terminal connector. The lead implant tool configured for facilitating the easy removal of the implant tool from the terminal connector when the implantation procedure is complete. |
| US08666511B2 |
Magnetic resonance imaging compatible medical electrical lead and method of making the same
This disclosure describes an implantable medical lead, and method of making such a lead, that reduces the undesirable effects the fields generated by an MRI device may have on the implantable medical lead and the implantable medical device. The implantable medical lead has a proximal end configured to connect to an implantable medical device and a distal end. The lead also includes at least one electrode located near the distal end and at least one coiled conductor that extends along a length of the lead from the proximal end to a respective electrode. The lead further includes an outer jacket that is configured to only partially extend between turns of one or more of the coiled conductors. |
| US08666510B2 |
Lead connection system for an implantable electrical stimulation system and methods for making and using the systems
A lead connection system includes a connector housing. A plurality of lead retainers disposed in the connector housing are configured and arranged to removably attach to a proximal end of one of a received plurality of leads. The plurality of lead retainers include at least one of a slidable drawer and at least one pivotable hinged panel. A plurality of connector contacts are configured and arranged for making electrical contact with one or more of the terminals of one or more of the plurality of received leads. A single connector cable has a distal end that is electrically coupled to the plurality of connector contacts and a proximal end that is configured and arranged for insertion into a trial stimulator. A cable connector is electrically coupled, via the connector contacts, to at least one terminal of each of the received plurality of leads. |
| US08666509B2 |
Electrode array with electrodes having cutout portions and methods of making the same
A lead for brain stimulation includes a lead body having a distal end. At least one cable extends within the lead body, each cable comprising at least one conductor. The lead further includes a plurality of electrodes coupled to the at least one cable. Each of the plurality of electrodes defines a cutout portion that receives and attaches to a one of the at least one cable. |
| US08666508B2 |
Lead with MRI compatible design features
Implantable medical leads with magnetic shielding and methods of shielding implantable leads from magnetic fields during medical procedures such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) are disclosed. An exemplary implantable medical lead includes a helically coiled inner electrode conductor wire, a helically coiled outer electrode conductor wire disposed radially about the inner electrode conductor wire, and at least one layer of insulation that electrically isolates the inner and outer electrode conductor wires. The inner electrode conductor wire can have a hollowed, multifilar configuration including six or more co-radially wound wire filars. The outer electrode conductor wire is electrically isolated from the inner electrode conductor wire, and may have either a single or double filar configuration. |
| US08666507B2 |
Various apparatus and methods for deep brain stimulating electrodes
An apparatus and related methods for a deployable deep brain stimulating probe with multiple, extendable tendrils capable of independently deploying from openings within the shaft of the probe into surrounding tissue. An electrode is disposed on at least one of the tendrils for treatment of deep brain tissue. |
| US08666506B2 |
Selecting electrode combinations for stimulation therapy
Techniques for selecting electrode combinations for stimulation therapy are described. The techniques include selecting one or more electrode combinations based on information associating a plurality of electrode combinations with at least one value of a therapy metric. The therapy metric comprises a quantifiable result of delivery of stimulation, and may be generated computer modeling of delivery of stimulation via the electrode combinations. In one embodiment, a clinician may deliver stimulation via a baseline electrode combination, receive patient feedback to the baseline electrode combination, select a therapy metric based on the patient feedback, and select additional electrode combinations based on the selected therapy metric and the information associating the electrode combinations with therapy metric values. In another embodiment, the clinician may select a therapy metric prior to providing a test stimulation and select additional electrode combinations based on the selected therapy metric and the information associating electrode combinations with metric values. |
| US08666493B2 |
Fixation of implantable pulse generators
Systems and techniques for improving the fixation of implantable pulse generators. In one aspect, a device includes an implantable pulse generator that comprises electrical circuitry configured to generate an electrical pulse and a biocompatible casing that houses the electrical circuitry and on which a collection of electrodes and a collection of fixation elements are mounted. The electrodes are in electrical contact with the electrical circuitry and the fixation elements increase the surface area of the biocompatible casing to reduce the likelihood that the biocompatible casing shifts after implantation. |
| US08666492B2 |
Safety system for electrostimulation device
A housing for an electrostimulation device comprising a charger plug and a stimulation plug, designed to receive respectively a connector linked to a charger and a connector linked to a stimulation electrode, characterized in that it comprises a mobile locking element designed to alternately lock the charger plug or the stimulation plug. |
| US08666488B2 |
Post-download patient data protection in a medical device
Patient data is stored in a medical device, such as an external defibrillator, and may be transferred, or downloaded, from the medical device to a computing device for storage or analysis. In response to the transfer, the medical device protects the patient data so that at least a subset of users cannot access the patient data from the medical device. The other device to which patient data is transferred from the medical device may be remote from the medical device or may be configured to be part of the medical device. The device to which the patient data is transferred from the medical device can be a remote computing device like a computer or server and/or may include or may be an intermediary data management device (DMD). The medical device may be a wearable medical device, such as a wearable defibrillator or a wearable automatic external defibrillator (AED). |
| US08666484B2 |
Method and system for displaying EEG data
A method and system for displaying EEG data is disclosed herein. A plurality of epochs are stitched together with an overlapping section in order to present a continuous EEG recording. Artifact reduction is performed on the epochs and then the epochs are combined together with overlapping sections of preferably two to four seconds. |
| US08666481B2 |
Fetal movement monitor
A monitoring system includes a physiologic monitoring device (102) with an accelerometer (202) that senses fetal movements of a fetus in the womb of a human or animal patient and generates signals indicative thereof, a signal identifier (108) that identifies signals from the generated signals that correspond to a predetermined fetal movement, and a counter (112) that counts the identified signal. |
| US08666478B2 |
Method for determining locations of implanted electrodes with medical images
A method for accurate localization and visualization of implanted electrodes, such as implanted intracranial electrodes, is provided. More particularly, a realistic representation of intracranial electrode positions on patient-specific post-implantation MRI brain renderings is obtained. The resulting computer models provide an accurate depiction of electrode locations on three-dimensional brain renderings that are suitable for use in surgical planning of resection boundaries around, for example, epileptic zones. Electrodes placed inter-hemispherically are also visible with this method. In addition, a method for creating electrode “shadows” cast upon the brain model surface is provided. These electrode shadows are useful for estimating cortical areas sampled by iEEG and for locating electrodes that may straddle sulci and contact two adjacent cortical gyri. |
| US08666476B2 |
Surgery assistance system
Provided is a surgery assistance system to perform relatively fast and accurate alignment between three-dimensional surface shape data acquired by measurement using a three-dimensional surface shape scanner and three-dimensional internal shape data acquired in advance, even when the position of the patient and the surface shape of the skin of the patient change during the surgery. A surgery assistance system (1) includes a three-dimensional surface shape scanner (20) for acquiring three-dimensional surface shape data by measuring a three-dimensional surface shape of a patient (60) and a computing device (40) for processing the data from the three-dimensional surface shape scanner. The computing device stores therein three-dimensional internal shape data of the patient that is acquired in advance by measurement using a three-dimensional tomography scanner (30). The computing device has a unit that aligns the three-dimensional internal shape data and the three-dimensional surface shape data with each other by using data of a portion where a distance between a skeleton and a skin surface is small in the three-dimensional internal shape data and three-dimensional surface shape data corresponding to this portion. |
| US08666471B2 |
Implantable biomedical devices on bioresorbable substrates
Provided herein are implantable biomedical devices, methods of administering implantable biomedical devices, methods of making implantable biomedical devices, and methods of using implantable biomedical devices to actuate a target tissue or sense a parameter associated with the target tissue in a biological environment. Each implantable biomedical device comprises a bioresorbable substrate, an electronic device having a plurality of inorganic semiconductor components supported by the bioresorbable substrate, and a barrier layer encapsulating at least a portion of the inorganic semiconductor components. Upon contact with a biological environment the bioresorbable substrate is at least partially resorbed, thereby establishing conformal contact between the implantable biomedical device and the target tissue in the biological environment. |
| US08666469B2 |
Analyte monitoring device and methods of use
An analyte monitor includes a sensor, a sensor control unit, and a display unit. The sensor has, for example, a substrate, a recessed channel formed in the substrate, and conductive material disposed in the recessed channel to form a working electrode. The sensor control unit typically has a housing adapted for placement on skin and is adapted to receive a portion of an electrochemical sensor. The sensor control unit also includes two or more conductive contacts disposed on the housing and configured for coupling to two or more contact pads on the sensor. A transmitter is disposed in the housing and coupled to the plurality of conductive contacts for transmitting data obtained using the sensor. The display unit has a receiver for receiving data transmitted by the transmitter of the sensor control unit and a display coupled to the receiver for displaying an indication of a level of an analyte. The analyte monitor may also be part of a drug delivery system to alter the level of the analyte based on the data obtained using the sensor. |
| US08666465B2 |
Non-invasive ocular monitoring
A device for measuring an analyte concentration level in a subject. The device includes: a light source configured for illuminating at least a portion of an anterior region of an eye of the subject with incident light having a substantially broad illumination spectrum at an angle substantially tangential to the surface of the eye; an optical collector configured for detecting reflected light from the at least a portion of the anterior region of the eye; an analyzer configured for analyzing the detected reflected light; and a processor configured to determine the analyte concentration level in the subject based on the analyzed reflected light. |
| US08666464B2 |
Vehicle interior component for supporting a communication system
An vehicle interior component for supporting a communication system is disclosed herein. The vehicle interior component includes, but is not limited to, a body that is adapted for attachment to an interior of the vehicle and that is configured to receive a smartphone. The vehicle interior component further includes a hardware module that is configured to communicatively couple with the smartphone. The vehicle interior component still further includes a user input module communicatively coupled with the hardware module. The user input module is configured to generate a first input signal in response to a first user input and to transmit the first input signal to the hardware module. The hardware module is further configured to generate a first output signal and to transmit the first output signal to the smartphone in response to receiving the first input signal. |
| US08666463B2 |
Portable communication apparatus with automatically rotating display by actuating a switch unit
A portable communication apparatus in which an LCD can slide and stand at a desired angle is provided. To this end, the portable communication apparatus includes a first housing extending in a longitudinal direction and a second housing that slides substantially perpendicularly to the longitudinal direction and rotates while facing the first housing to stand at a desired angle. A guide member guides the sliding and rotational movement of the second housing, and a rotational moving member is included between the first housing and the second housing to make the second housing stand at the desired angle. |
| US08666459B2 |
Cellular phone
Cellular phones include a power reception resonance coil arranged inside a first outer surface side of a housing, a power extracting unit for extracting power of an induction current of the power reception resonance coil, a magnetic core that has one end arranged inside the first outer surface side and the other end arranged inside a second outer surface side of the housing, and penetrates into the power reception resonance coil, and a printed board that is arranged in a space between the first outer surface and the second outer surface and has an area where circuit elements are not arranged on a periphery of the core. |
| US08666458B2 |
User interface
An electronic device comprising: a display; a housing enclosing the display and defining an exterior surface region adjacent to the display, the exterior surface region having a plurality of surface zones indicated thereon, the surface zones being capable of being written on by a user to save a written marking thereon; a memory; and user input apparatus; the device having: a first mode in which the device performs a function in respect of a subject entity and in which in response to operation of the user input apparatus to indicate one of the zones the device stores the entity in the memory in association with that zone; and a second mode in which in response to selection of a zone by means of the user input apparatus the device performs a function in respect of an entity stored in association with the selected zone. |
| US08666457B2 |
Device, methods, and user interface for providing optimized entry of alphanumeric text
The present invention includes a device, method, and user interface for providing optimized entry of alphanumeric text. In one form, a method for providing selectable characters within a user interface includes determining an operating mode of a communication device and receiving an input associated with a selected input key. The method determines a group of characters associated with the selected key based on the operating mode and displays the group of characters within the user interface. The user interface may display a first character of the group of characters within a first portion of the user interface and the group of characters proximal to the first character within a second portion of the user interface. |
| US08666454B2 |
Mobile terminal and method of controlling the same
A mobile terminal and a method of controlling the same are provided. The mobile terminal comprises a camera; a display displaying an image obtained by the camera; and a controller superposing one or more information items corresponding to one or more specific locations included in the obtained image on the one or more specific locations and displaying the obtained image with the one or more information items. The one or more information items and position information tagged on the one or more specific locations are acquired from a social network service (SNS) server. The present invention acquires information on which position information is tagged from the SNS server, superposes the information on a obtained image and displays the obtained image with the information superposed thereon to thereby effectively transmit information to a user of the mobile terminal. |
| US08666453B2 |
Method of adjusting event prompt degree, and mobile electronic device and computer program product using the same
A method of adjusting an event prompt degree and a mobile electronic device and a computer program product using the same are provided. In the present method, whether at least two detection regions of the mobile electronic device simultaneously detect a touch when the mobile electronic device executes a vibration prompt corresponding to an event is determined, wherein the detection regions are independent of each other. A vibration intensity of the vibration prompt is reduced when the detection regions simultaneously detect the touch. Thereby, continuous vibration prompt is prevented from bothering other people. |
| US08666452B2 |
Method of setting ending time of application of mobile communication terminal, method of ending application of mobile communication terminal, and mobile communication terminal for performing the same
A method of setting an ending time of an application of a mobile communication terminal, a method of ending an application of a mobile communication terminal, and a mobile communication terminal for performing the same are provided. The method of ending an application of a mobile communication terminal includes performing a multitasking function in which a specific application enters a background state as another application is executed while the specific application is executed, displaying a menu screen for selecting whether to end the specific application when a predetermined end time of the specific application elapses from a time point at which the specific application entered the background state; and ending the specific application, if a user requests to end the specific application through the menu screen. |
| US08666451B2 |
Array antenna arrangement
A wireless communication system comprising at least one base station in a communication cell, wherein the base station is equipped with at least one array antenna comprising at least two antenna ports which are connected to respective at least two corresponding antenna elements, wherein at least two of the at least two antenna elements have essentially the same polarization. The array antenna is arranged for communication via at least two antenna radiation lobes, each antenna radiation lobe communicating an information stream to at least one user equipment (UE) in the cell, wherein each antenna radiation lobe is individually controllable both in azimuth and elevation, whereby the communication of the information streams is optimized. |
| US08666439B2 |
Scheduler, radio base station apparatus including the scheduler, and scheduling method
In the scheduler, for each of the mobile terminals which are the objects of scheduling, calculation is performed of an evaluation value relating to the priority of allocation of radio resources by means of a predetermined evaluation formula including radio quality information relating to radio quality between a base station and the mobile terminal; and controlling is performed of the evaluation value of a mobile terminal whose instantaneous radio quality is evaluated to be lower than the required radio quality by said radio quality evaluating means, to a value lower than an evaluation value of a mobile terminal whose instantaneous radio quality is evaluated to be equal to or higher than the required radio quality. As a result, it becomes possible to realize effective use of radio resources following the instantaneous variation of radio quality and to assure the coverage of a cell. |
| US08666434B1 |
Adaptive location updating
A location of a network user computing device is determined relative to a location of a point of interest. If the user device is determined to be stationary, the user device is monitored for movement, the movement resulting in re-determining the location of the user device relative to a location of the point of interest. If the user device is determined to be moving, the velocity of the user device is matched with a predetermined velocity, and a preliminary estimated time of arrival to the point of interest is determined based on the predetermined velocity matched to the user device. At a later time that is based on a function of the preliminary estimated time of arrival, an estimated time of arrival to the point of interest is verified based on the predetermined velocity matched to the user device. |
| US08666433B2 |
Location positioning method and device using wireless LAN signals
A location positioning methoded device using a wireless LAN signal, comprising: a database that includes a first DB, which matches grid cells distinguished by pCell ID with partial wireless LAN-related information related to a wireless LAN signal and stores the matched information, and a second DB, which stores overall wireless LAN-related information related to the wireless LAN signal; an information reception unit that receives terminal wireless LAN-related information from a terminal, which performs communication by using the WLAN signal; a record determination unit; and a location positioning unit. |
| US08666425B2 |
System and method for semi-static downlink inter-cell interference coordination for wireless communications
In accordance with an embodiment, a method of operating a base station in a wireless system, includes partitioning a frequency band into at least one band of a first type and at least one band of a second type, and coordinating the partitioning with at least one further base station. The at least one band of the first type includes a band on which the base station transmits power proportional to a distance of a user device from the base station, and the at least one band of the second type comprises a band on which base station transmits a data rate inversely proportional to a distance of a user device from the base station. |
| US08666424B2 |
Systems, methods, and media for reducing femtocell interference
Systems, methods, and media for reducing femtocell interference are provided. In some embodiments, systems for reducing femtocell interference are provided, the systems comprising: at least one hardware processor that: estimates a total path loss between a macrocell user (MU) and a mobile base station (MBS); estimates a path loss from the MU user to a femtocell access point (FAP); determines whether the MU can meet a first target signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR); determines whether a transmission from the MU will prevent a femtocell user (FU) of the FAP from achieving a second target SINR; and restricts the MU to using subcarriers not used by the FAP when it is determined that the MU cannot meet the first target SINR and/or it is determined that the transmission from the MU will prevent the FU from achieving the second target SINR. |
| US08666413B2 |
Base station and handover control method
Embodiments of the present invention make it possible to reduce loss and delay of downlink user data transmitted at regular time intervals in a mobile communication system employing a hard handover method, and make it possible to easily perform high-quality handover solely by a handover-starting base station. A base station for transmitting downlink user data at regular time intervals to a mobile station is disclosed. The base station is configured to transmit a handover-command signal immediately after transmitting the downlink user data to the mobile station. |
| US08666410B2 |
Method of controlling cell selection for a wireless communication system and related device
A method of controlling CSG, known as closed subscriber group, cell selection for a wireless communication system is provided. The wireless communication system includes a network and a user equipment including a whitelist capable of providing a list of accessible CSG cells. The method includes updating the whitelist when the user equipment subscribes to a CSG cell that is not included in the whitelist or does not subscribe to a CSG cell in the whitelist. |
| US08666406B2 |
Gesture-based commands for a group communication session on a wireless communications device
In an embodiment, a user equipment (UE) detects that a user has made a pre-defined gesture that is associated with setting up a group communication session (GCS) with a communication group. The UE transmits a call request message to an application server to request set-up of the GCS. In another embodiment, the UE receives a user input requesting the UE to monitor for gestures by a user of the UE during the GCS. The UE then monitors one or more sensors during the GCS to detect whether the user of the UE has made a pre-defined gesture. In another embodiment, during the GCS, the UE detects that the user has made a pre-defined gesture, maps the detected gesture to a gesture-based command associated with transitioning the UE's floor-holder status and then transmits a request to facilitate the floor-holder status transition to the application server in accordance with the gesture-based command. |
| US08666405B2 |
LI/DR service continuity in case of number portability
The present invention relates to methods and arrangements to perform monitoring-continuity in case of number portability in a telecommunication system. The method comprises a step wherein a monitored user (B) requires number portability from an operator of a donor network (DNW) to an operator of a recipient network (RNW). The method further comprises the receiving of a number portability event—temporary address (NPE1) to an agency controlled receiving entity (LEMF, ADRS), which event (NPE1) comprises information related to the user's ported identity and the user's new identity. |
| US08666402B2 |
Method for triggering user registration in IP multimedia subsystem
A method for triggering an IMS (IP Multimedia Subsystem) registration in the IMS, includes sending, by network side or a user who initiates the triggering, an IMS registration triggering indication message to a user who needs the IMS registration, to prompt the user who needs the IMS registration to initiate the IMS registration to the IMS; according to the IMS registration triggering indication message, trigging the user who needs the IMS registration to initiate the IMS registration to the IMS. Since the network side or the user who initiates the triggering triggers the IMS registration for the user who needs the IMS registration, the problem that the SIP messages may not be issued to the user who needs the IMS registration and the IMS session may not be performed because the user who needs the IMS registration does not register in the IMS during the IMS session, can be avoided. |
| US08666401B2 |
Method and system for selecting candidate neighboring cells
Disclosed is a method and system for selecting a candidate neighbor cell in the present invention. The method includes: determining a candidate cell set of a serving cell; acquiring a base station closest to the serving cell from the candidate cell set, and adding all the cells under the base station into a neighbor cell set; deleting a cell sheltered by the base station and cells included in the neighbor cell set from the candidate cell set; judging whether the candidate cell set is empty; if not, then returning to the step of acquiring a base station closest to the serving cell; and if yes, then taking cells in the neighbor cell set as a first layer of neighbor cells of the serving cell. |
| US08666399B2 |
Methods and apparatus for use in efficiently scanning for wireless networks based on mobile device velocity
Techniques for efficient scanning for WLANs based on mobile device velocity are described. In one illustrative example, a mobile device identifies whether its velocity is less than or greater than a threshold value. While it is identified that the velocity of the mobile device is less than the threshold value, the mobile device scans to search for one or more WLANs identified in a first subset of WLAN profiles (e.g. “stationary” WLANs). While it is identified that the velocity of the mobile device is greater than the threshold value, the mobile device scans to search for the one or more WLANs identified in a second subset of WLAN profiles (e.g. “mobile” WLANs). Advantageously, a suitable WLAN may be more efficiently identified with use of a technique which reduces power consumption of the mobile device. |
| US08666396B2 |
Providing user location and time zone information for LTE/IMS charging
A method may include receiving a request from an Internet Protocol Multimedia Subsystem, where the request relates to an Internet Protocol Multimedia Subsystem service associated with user equipment. The method may further include obtaining location or time zone information associated with the user equipment from an access network; providing the obtained location or time zone information to the Internet Protocol Multimedia Subsystem; and providing the obtained location or time zone information to an on-line or off-line charging system. |
| US08666391B2 |
Interference control method, macro terminal, macro base station, and femtocell base station
Provided is an interference control method that, in the case where a macro terminal does not exist close to the femtocell terminal, improves the coverage performance and bit rate of femtocell terminals, and also prevent deterioration in the performance of femtocell base stations, femtocell terminals, or macro terminals. In this method, the macro terminals (102, 103) will transmit, when the difference value between the RSRQs of the femtocell base stations (104) and the RSRQ of a macro base station (101) is greater than a prescribed threshold value, a request to start an interference control, the difference value, and identification information of the femtocell base station (104), to the macro base station (101). The macro base station (101) will transmit, on the basis of the request, the difference value, and identification information, an interference-control start-up request signaling to the femtocell base station (104) specified by the identification information. The femtocell base station (104) will conduct interference control, on the basis of the interference-control start-up request signaling, to femtocell terminals (105) registered with the femtocell base station (104). |
| US08666389B2 |
Method of handling system information reception with measurement gap configuration and related communication device
A method of handling system information reception with measurement gap configuration for a mobile device in a wireless communication system is disclosed. The method comprises performing reception of a first system information broadcasted by a network of the wireless communication system, and prioritizing reception of the first system information over utilization of a measurement gap for measurement when the measurement gap overlaps a period for the reception of the first system information, wherein the mobile device is configured with the measurement gap. |
| US08666387B2 |
Apparatus and method for determining transmit signal parameters using real-time channel measurements
A method and wireless system that is able to adapt forward channel signal parameters to the different channel characteristics in each deployment environment. For example, the base station may update the waveform parameters based upon the real-time channel measurement feedback as received from the subscriber stations. |
| US08666386B2 |
Method and system for self-terminating a media service due to an out-of-coverage condition
A method and mobile device that self-terminates a media service if an out-of-coverage condition is detected. The media service operates on top of a connectionless peer-to-peer packet-based transport protocol. The out-of-coverage condition may relate to the mobile device itself or to a remote mobile device engaged in the media service. The loss of coverage by the remote mobile device may be detected by observing whether the remote mobile device has failed to send any data packets for more than a predetermined period of time. If an out-of-coverage situation is detected, then the method or device initiates service cancellation or release. |
| US08666382B2 |
Controlling mobile device calls, text messages and data usage while operating a motor vehicle
Disclosed are an system and method of regulating mobile device communications while operating a motor vehicle. One example method may include determining a speed event indicating that a speed of the motor vehicle has performed at least one of exceeded a first threshold above which mobile device usage restriction policies are invoked and fallen below a second threshold allowing the mobile device restriction policies to be removed. The first threshold may be equal to or greater than the second threshold. As a result of obtaining the speed event, the method may also provide transmitting the speed event to a remote edge gateway server located remotely from the motor vehicle, which stores the speed event for reference purposes when determining a policy for routing a particular mobile device call, text message and/or mobile data session. |
| US08666380B2 |
Communication method and system
The present invention relates generally to a method and system for communicating over a telecommunications network between a service provider and one or more users, wherein the service provider has access to multiple distinct addresses in the telecommunications network and each user is identified by an address, more specifically where a first message can be sent over at least a portion of the telecommunications network to a user's address, the reply address of the message having a first reply address selected from the multiple distinct addresses and determining, based on a reply from a user's address to the first reply address, a second message and a second reply address, wherein the second reply address can be selected from the available multiple distinct addresses and is distinct from the first reply address. |
| US08666373B2 |
System and method for determining a zone of relevance for subscriber location and notification
A computer-implemented method for determining a zone of relevance for locating wireless subscribers of interest to a location based application and making a user notification decision including: obtaining application specific information from an application service provider; obtaining wireless subscriber profile and real time information from a serving wireless network operator; accessing a geographical database to extract related geographic information; extracting relevant dynamic inputs from external sources; determining the value of user notification based on weighting of said extracted information and historical use information; and determining a corresponding zone of relevance wherein notifying the user meets certain criteria for the determined value of notification. |
| US08666372B2 |
Method and apparatus for notifying a user of presence information
A method and apparatus for displaying presence information for buddies who are at a particular televised event is provided herein. During operation location information for a remote device is received by a presence server. A database is then accessed to determine if the location maps to a TV venue such as a sports stadium. If a match is found between the location of the remote device and its database of venues then currently-available multimedia content is analyzed to determine if an event is being broadcast at that venue at the current time. If it is determined that an event is being broadcast at the venue, then presence data is transmitted to the users having the user of the remote device as part of their buddy list. This causes the users to display the presence information on an ambient display, a display device, an electronic program guide, a banner, or in a list. |
| US08666371B2 |
Information providing system and information providing method
An information providing system including a communication device; an information providing apparatus; and a mobile terminal device carried by a shopper to communicate by wireless communication with the communication device and to communicate via a network with the information providing apparatus. The information providing apparatus supplies information to the mobile terminal device via the network or via the communication device and the wireless communication. |
| US08666370B2 |
Method for updating phonebook and portable terminal adapted thereto
A portable terminal can analyze a voice of the other party and update a phonebook. A voice pattern can be extracted from an incoming voice signal. A determination is made whether the extracted voice pattern is contained in a list of voice patterns stored in the portable terminal. If the extracted voice pattern is contained in the list, a determination is made whether a stored phone number matches a received phone number. If the stored phone number is not identical to the received phone number, the stored phone number is changed with the received phone number. Therefore, the phonebook can be automatically (e.g., without user input) updated although the user does not directly change and store phone numbers of other parties. |
| US08666367B2 |
Remotely locating and commanding a mobile device
Methods, systems, and apparatus are presented for processing a remote command message. In one aspect, a method includes accessing a subscribed topic hosted on a notification service, the subscribed topic corresponding to a mobile device, retrieving a remote command message included in the subscribed topic that identifies a command to be executed by the mobile device, determining whether the command can be executed by the mobile device, publishing a result message associated with the command, and executing, by the mobile device, the command based on the determining. Publishing the result message further can include identifying in the remote command message a result topic corresponding to the notification service and publishing the result message to the identified result topic. Additionally, the subscribed topic can be uniquely associated with the mobile device. |
| US08666365B2 |
Automated device provisioning and activation
A method and network system for obtaining, from a management entity, a bill-by-account service policy applicable to a device group managed at least in part by the management entity, the device group including a plurality of devices including a particular device identified by a particular credential, the bill-by-account service policy comprising classification and accounting policies; identifying wireless access network data traffic associated with the particular device; based on the classification policy, identifying a particular service activity within the wireless access network data traffic, the particular service activity being a bill-by-account service activity; obtaining a record comprising the particular credential and a usage measure indicating a wireless access network usage associated with the particular service activity; and, based on the accounting policy, allocating the usage measure to an account associated with an entity that is financially responsible for usage of the wireless access network associated with the device group. |
| US08666364B2 |
Verifiable device assisted service usage billing with integrated accounting, mediation accounting, and multi-account
A wireless device capable of communicating over a first wireless network and a second wireless network, the wireless device comprising one or more processors for executing one or more agents including an application interface agent for assisting in applying a policy by communicating with a software component associated with a service activity, the policy for reducing data usage over the first wireless network associated with the service activity, the policy enabling control of the service activity on the first wireless network that is different from how the service activity is controlled on the second wireless network, the one or more agents configured to: obtain a user input specifying at least an aspect of the policy, identify that the wireless device is connected to the first wireless network, identify an intended, attempted, or successful data communication over the first wireless network associated with the service activity, and apply the policy. |
| US08666362B2 |
Emergency service warning system
An emergency service warning system, arranged to warn a user of approach of emergency services, provided with: at least one movable emergency service transmitter (T) and at least one stationary base station (M), which emergency service transmitter (T) and base station (M) are arranged to communicate utilizing uplink signals (S) and respective downlink signals (d); at least one user receiver (R) which is arranged to detect uplink signals (S) transmitted by the emergency service transmitter (T) and to deliver a warning signal upon detection of an uplink signal (S); wherein the user receiver (R) is arranged to search for uplink signals utilizing information concerning the at least one base station. |
| US08666361B2 |
System and method of providing information access on a portable device
A portable device and method of providing information stored in a memory is provided. A portable device may be capable of storing In Case of Emergency (ICE) information comprising a number of ICE entries and which may be placed in a locked condition, the portable device comprising: a man-machine interface; a display; and, a processor coupled to the display and to the man-machine interface, wherein the processor is adapted to cause the display, in response to detection of one or more predetermined gestures on the man-machine interface, to display at least one ICE entry; and wherein the display displays the at least one ICE entry even if the portable device is in the locked condition, and if the at least one ICE entry is displayed while the portable device is in the locked condition, other information stored on the portable device remains protected. |
| US08666360B2 |
Contact communication tracking system
Methods, devices, and storage media for tracking communications between a user and a user-selected party; obtaining communication tracking information based on the tracking, wherein the communication tracking information includes a time associated with each communication; calculating a communication gap pertaining to the user-selected party based on the communication tracking information, wherein the communication gap is a period of time that elapsed from a last communication with the other party to a current time; and providing the user with communication gap information in response to receiving a user request. |
| US08666357B2 |
System and method for transmitting an emergency message over an integrated wireless network
An emergency message system provides a system and method for generating and transmitting emergency messages. In one embodiment, the emergency message system employs a transceiver network with a plurality transceivers coupled to monitoring devices residing at a plurality of customer premises. Control room operators receive an emergency message from an identifiable transceiver. The transceiver, identified by an identification code, indicates a location and the nature of the emergency condition so that the control operators may request appropriate emergency assistance. |
| US08666356B1 |
Providing concurrent voice and data capabilities using a single communication path
Systems, methods, and computer-readable media, for facilitating voice and data transmission over a single communication path during an aggregate communication event are provided. In some embodiments, the method includes aggregating voice data until a full voice frame can be transmitted or a maximum delay of voice transmission exists. A voice frame comprising the aggregated voice data is transmitted upon attaining the full voice frame or the maximum delay in voice transmission. |
| US08666353B2 |
Multiple frequency band information signal universal front end with adjustable ADC(s)
A wireless device includes processing circuitry, a receiver section, a transmitter section, and an antenna. The processing circuitry determines a set of information signals of a RF Multiple Frequency Bands Multiple Standards (MFBMS) signal. The receiver section down-converts a portion of the RF MFBMS signal by one or more respective shift frequencies to produce a corresponding baseband/low Intermediate Frequency (BB/IF) information signal from which the processing circuitry extracts data. The transmitter section converts a respective BB/IF information signal received from the processing circuitry by a respective shift frequency to produce a corresponding RF information signal and a combiner that combines the RF information signals to form a RF MFBMS signal. The receiver section and the transmitter section include ADCs and/or DACs, respectively, that are adjustable based upon characteristics of the RF MFBMS signal, the BB/IF MFBMS signal, and/or based upon signals carried therein, e.g., modulation type, SNR requirements, etc. |
| US08666351B2 |
Multiple band saw-less receiver including a frequency translated BPF
A SAW-less receiver includes an FEM interface module, an RF to IF receiver section, and a receiver IF to baseband section. The RF to IF receiver section includes a frequency translated bandpass filter (FTBPF), an LNA, and a mixing section. The FTBPF includes a switching network and baseband impedances. The switching network is operable to frequency translate a baseband filter response to a first RF band frequency response and/or to a second RF frequency band response. The FTBPF filters the inbound RF signal to pass, substantially unattenuated, the first and/or second RF band signal components. The LNA amplifies the first and/or second filtered inbound RF signals and the mixing section mixes the first and/or second amplified inbound RF signals with a corresponding first and/or second local oscillation. The IF to baseband section converts the first and/or second inbound IF signals into first inbound symbol stream(s) and/or second inbound symbol stream(s). |
| US08666350B2 |
Analog front end circuit for cable and wireless systems
A circuit includes, an attenuator responsive to an input signal and a feedback signal, a variable gain low-noise amplifier responsive to the attenuator and to the feedback signal, a tracking filter, a frequency converter, and an RSSI responsive to the variable gain amplifier to generate an output signal to which the feedback signal is responsive. The frequency converter may be a mixer having a single-ended input and a differential output. The circuit may further include an analog baseband block responsive to the mixer to filter out high frequency signals. The tracking tuner performs bandpass filtering operation on the output signals of the variable gain low-noise amplifier. |
| US08666349B2 |
Radio frequency (RF) receiver with dynamic frequency planning and method therefor
A radio frequency (RF) receiver comprises an analog receiver, a digital signal processor, a clock synthesizer, and a microcontroller. The analog receiver has an input for receiving an RF input signal, and an output for providing a digital intermediate frequency (IF) signal. The digital signal processor has a first input for receiving the digital IF signal, a second input for receiving a clock signal, and a signal output for providing an IF output signal. The clock synthesizer has an input for receiving a clock control signal, and an output for providing the clock signal. The a microcontroller has an input for receiving a channel selection signal, wherein the microcontroller provides the clock control signal to control a frequency of the clock signal dynamically in response to a channel selection input to place a sub-harmonic at a tolerable frequency of a selected channel. |
| US08666338B2 |
Multi-mode bypass driver amplifier with tunable load matching
A multi-mode driver amplifier with tunable load matching is disclosed. In an exemplary design, an apparatus includes a multi-mode driver amplifier and a tunable impedance matching circuit. The driver amplifier amplifies an input radio frequency (RF) signal and provides an amplified RF signal. The tunable impedance matching circuit matches an output impedance of the driver amplifier. The apparatus may include a main transmit path and a bypass transmit path. The bypass transmit path may include the driver amplifier and the tunable impedance matching circuit and no power amplifier. The main transmit path may include a second driver amplifier and a power amplifier. The main transmit path may be selected for transmit power levels higher than a threshold level, and the bypass transmit path may be selected for transmit power levels lower than the threshold level. |
| US08666328B2 |
Wireless circuitry with reduced harmonic interference
An electronic device has wireless communications circuitry that includes transmitters and receivers. Antenna structures may be coupled to the transmitters and receivers to support radio-frequency signal transmission and radio-frequency signal reception operations. Switching circuitry such as first and second radio-frequency switches may be used to support multiple communications bands of interest. A low band set of transmitters may be associated with the first switch and a high band set of transmitters may be associated with the second switch. The switches can be configured in real time to switch a desired communications band into use. As transmitted signals at frequency f pass through the switches, harmonics at 2f, 3f, and other integral multiples of the transmitted signals may be produced. A diplexer may be interposed between the switching circuitry and the antenna structures that prevents the harmonics from reaching the antenna structures. |
| US08666326B2 |
Method and system for a reconfigurable filter that is utilized by a RF transmitter and a RF receiver which are integrated on a single substrate
An RF receiver and an RF transmitter, which are integrated in a single substrate, are operable to share a single reconfigurable filter to perform RF receiver filtering and RF transmitter filtering. The reconfigurable filter is configured to operate as a bandpass filter such as an image rejection bandpass filter for receiving RF signals by the RF receiver. The reconfigurable filter operates as a low pass filter for transmitting RF signals by the RF transmitter. The reconfigurable filter is configured to operate in a RF receiver filtering mode or a RF transmitter filtering mode, respectively. The reconfigurable filter is enabled to share configurable circuit components of the radio transceiver in both the radio frequency receiver filtering mode and the radio frequency transmitter filtering mode. The reconfigurable filter transitions between the radio frequency receiver filtering mode and the radio frequency transmitter filtering mode via reconfiguring the shared configurable circuit components. |
| US08666323B2 |
RFID reader and method for suppressing transmission leakage signal thereof
Provided are an RFID reader and a method for suppressing transmission leakage signals thereof. The RFID reader includes a first loop, a second loop, and a digital signal processor. The first loop suppresses a first transmission leakage signal of an RX signal in response to a first leakage control signal. The second loop suppresses a second transmission leakage signal of the RX signal, received through the first loop, in response to a second leakage control signal. The digital signal processor generates the first leakage control signal and the second leakage control signal. The digital signal processor generates the first leakage control signal until the level of the first transmission leakage signal becomes equal to or lower than the level of a first reference transmission leakage signal. |
| US08666320B2 |
Radio wave propagation characteristic estimating system, its method, and program
The amount of operation processing is reduced without largely degrading an estimation precision of radio wave propagation estimation.The radio wave propagation characteristic estimating system for estimating a radio wave propagation characteristic by taking into decision-theoretical consideration such a structure as a building or indoor furnishings includes the object selecting unit for selecting, from objects within a region to be analyzed, an object whose effect on an estimation precision is small by using position data of a transmission point, the number of constituent faces reducing unit for reducing the number of constituent faces of the selected object, and the radio wave propagation estimating unit for estimating radio wave propagation by using an object within the region to be analyzed which is not selected by the object selecting unit and an object whose number of constituent faces is reduced by the number of constituent faces reducing unit. |
| US08666314B2 |
Bluetooth transmission facility for hearing devices, and corresponding transmission method
A wireless audio transmission, for example from a television to a hearing device, is to be achieved simply and with a low signal delay. For this purpose are proposed a transmission facility with a transmission device for transmitting audio data in a signal conforming to a Bluetooth® communications protocol, a hearing-aid-specific coder which is integrated into the transmission device for the purpose of compressing the audio data before its transmission, and a relay station for converting the Bluetooth® signal from the transmission device into a signal for inductive transmission to the hearing device. In the relay station, no recoding is performed during the conversion. The transmission device transmits in accordance with the Bluetooth® A2DP protocol. The hearing-aid-specific coder has a lower sampling rate than the standard Bluetooth® coder SBC. Encoding delays and processing delays in the relay station can be minimized by this system. |
| US08666308B2 |
Apparatus for viewing content contained therein on a nearby display screen with payment module for charging an account for viewing the content
An apparatus is provided for viewing content. The apparatus includes a portable device and a payment module. The portable device enables viewing of content on a nearby display screen which is not physically connected to the portable device. The portable device includes a button and a transmitter. The button initiates wireless communication between the portable device and a payment module. The transmitter electronically wirelessly communicates a signal from the portable device to the payment module upon selection of the button. The signal includes customer identity information that identifies an account that can be charged for viewing the content. The payment module receives the signal, allows the display screen to be used for viewing the content, and charges the account for viewing the content. |
| US08666303B2 |
Methods and apparatus to collect media exposure information
Methods and apparatus to collect media exposure information are described. An example apparatus includes an identifier card including a plurality of machine readable codes corresponding to one or more media stations and a metering device including a scanner to read a first one of the codes and a memory to record media exposure information identifying exposure of a user to a media station associated with the first one of the codes, the media information being stored in association with a timestamp corresponding to a time at which the first one of the codes was read. |
| US08666298B2 |
Differentiated, integrated and individualized education
A computer-based learning system uses knowledge points organized with a predefined multilevel arrangement. Each knowledge point has an information set which may include a knowledge content, an evaluation content and a solution content. For a given knowledge point, the learning system provides the knowledge content and evaluation content, analyzes the user's answers to the evaluation content and determines the next knowledge point to be studied by the user based on the user's answers and the predefined multilevel arrangement of the knowledge points. The learning system thus provides a different learning course for different users to achieve individualized learning. User's learning history may be recorded to facilitate reviews by the user and improve the selection of the next knowledge point. Users may provide feedbacks on knowledge contents and evaluation contents, and may even suggest their own knowledge contents and evaluation contents to improve the learning system and user participation. |
| US08666297B2 |
Image forming apparatus which determines whether a sheet stacking unit is full
An image forming apparatus includes an image forming unit forming an image on a sheet transported along a transport path in a printing operation; a sheet stacking unit in which the sheet ejected at the end of the transport path is stacked; a sheet detecting unit detecting the presence or absence of the sheet in the transport path; a counting unit counting number-of-sheet data of the sheet detected by the sheet detecting unit; and a control unit controlling the printing operation in accordance with a first print request from a print instructing unit for a print job and based on a count value obtained by the counting unit. The control unit clears the count value in the absence of a next print request from the print instructing unit within a predetermined time after completion of the printing operation. |
| US08666295B2 |
Image forming apparatus
An intermediate transfer belt having a circumferential length not less than 2,000 mm and is driven at a linear speed not less than 350 mm/sec and an inner circumferential surface having a surface roughness Ra of from 0.2 to 0.4 μm (JIS B0601: '01), and including a substrate layer and a high-resistivity layer having a resistivity higher than that of the substrate layer, wherein the high-resistivity layer has a surface resistivity higher than that of the substrate layer by 0.3 to 2.5 log Ω/□ in common logarithm value when applied with a voltage of 500 V. |
| US08666294B2 |
Carrier removing device and image forming apparatus
A carrier removing apparatus, including: an electrode, having a plurality of openings through which a carrier passes, disposed to oppose an image carrier, and a power source to apply a voltage onto the electrode so as to separate the carrier on the image carrier from the image carrier, wherein the electrode has a surface along a surface of the image carrier. |
| US08666292B2 |
Developer case and image forming apparatus to which developer case is applied
A developer case has a main body, a cylindrical portion, and a rotating unit. The main body has a bottom wall. The cylindrical portion has a discharge port. The rotating unit is located so as to extend across the main body and the cylindrical portion, transports developer in the main body, and has a rotating shaft, a first transport member, a second transport member, and dispersing members. The rotating shaft has a first portion located in the main body and a second portion located in the cylindrical portion. The first transport member transports developer in a first transport direction from the cylindrical portion to the main body. The second transport member transports developer in a second transport direction from the main body to the cylindrical portion. The dispersing members move developer in the radial direction. |
| US08666287B2 |
Cleaning device, charging device, and image forming apparatus
A cleaning device includes a cleaning member provided at a first side of a curved grid electrode plate that is curved in a short-side direction, the cleaning member being pressed against the curved grid electrode plate to clean the first side thereof; a receiving member provided at a second side of the curved grid electrode plate, the receiving member receiving a pressing load applied by the cleaning member; and a moving unit that moves the cleaning member and the receiving member in a long-side direction of the curved grid electrode plate. The cleaning member and the receiving member are formed such that a pressure based on the load that is applied to an end portion of the curved grid electrode plate in the short-side direction is higher than that applied to a central portion of the curved grid electrode plate in the short-side direction. |
| US08666285B2 |
Fixing device and image forming apparatus
A fixing device for fixing a toner image onto a recording paper sheet includes a heating member for heating the recording paper sheet, a pressing member for applying a pressure by forming contact with the heating member, a casing accommodating the heating member and the pressing member, and provided with an exit port for discharging the recording paper sheet, and a closing portion arranged at the exit port for keeping a temperature of the casing. The closing portion has a rotation member, and an opposed member forming a nip region together with the rotation member. A separating unit for changing at least a part of the closing portion from a closed state to an open state. |
| US08666279B2 |
Image forming apparatus having process cartridge guide portions
An image forming apparatus includes a belt member for transferring a developed image formed on an image bearing member onto a recording material, and an opening provided to permit a cartridge including the image bearing member to enter inside of the image forming apparatus. In addition, a first guide portion guides the cartridge through the opening from a position where a bottom end portion of the image bearing member is below, with respect to a vertical direction, a transfer position where the image bearing member and the belt member contact each other when the cartridge is mounted, a second guide portion guides the cartridge from a position where the bottom end portion is below, with respect to the vertical direction, the transfer position to a position where the bottom end portion is above the transfer position, and a third guide portion guides the cartridge from the position where the bottom end portion is above, with respect to the vertical direction, the transfer position to the transfer position. |
| US08666277B2 |
Developer supply container
A developer supply container includes a cover plate mounted on an outer surface of a container body and provided with an opening corresponding to a developer supply port of the container body, which is sealed by a seal tape. The seal tape has a folded section extending through a gap between the container body and the cover plate and a through hole of the cover plate such that an end portion of the seal tape is exposed. A seal piece is mounted on an outer surface of the cover plate. On the outer surface of the container body a door member is slidably mounted. The developer supply container can prevent developer from leak out and has a good manufacturing yield rate. |
| US08666271B2 |
Image forming apparatus and storage medium for image quality stabilization
An image forming apparatus is capable of more directly solving a problem of unevenly formed line images. The image forming apparatus includes a rotatable photosensitive member, a light emission unit configured to emit a laser beam based on image information, and a transfer unit configured to transfer a toner image developed on the photosensitive member. The image forming apparatus acquires variable speed information, which indicates a variable rotation speed of the photosensitive member. In addition, the image forming apparatus executes image position correction on the image information based on the acquired variable speed information. |
| US08666268B2 |
Fixing device, image forming apparatus and heat generating rotational body
The present invention provides a fixing device that can interrupt power supply to the resistive heat layer more reliably than the conventional technology, for example, at occurrence of abnormality. Electrodes 52a and 52b are provided on a circumferential surface of a fixing roller that includes a resistive heat layer that generates heat by receiving power supply, and power is supplied to the resistive heat layer when power supplying electrodes 54a and 54b that are electrically connected to an electric power source 55 are slidingly in contact with the electrodes 52a and 52b. An insulating tape 522a is attached on the electrode 52a, and the drive controller 59 rotates a motor 58 until the electrode 52a and the insulating tape 522a are in contact with each other, so that power supply to the resistive heat layer is interrupted. |
| US08666266B2 |
Image forming apparatus and image forming method using a controlled toner supply operation
An image forming apparatus includes an image forming unit including a developing device, a toner cartridge to supply toner to the developing device, a toner remaining amount sensor to detect a toner remaining amount in the developing device, a toner use amount detection mechanism to detect a parameter value for obtaining a use amount of toner, a first memory which is provided in the toner cartridge and to which a threshold of the parameter indicating a near empty state is previously inputted, and a control mechanism which determines necessity of a forcible toner supply operation based on a comparison between the detected parameter value and the threshold, and the toner remaining amount detected by the toner remaining amount sensor, and controls the image forming unit. |
| US08666262B2 |
Method for adaptive blind equalization of PSK signal, equalizer and receiver
The present application discloses a method for adaptive blind equalization of a PSK signal, an equalizer and a receiver. According to embodiments as provided, a conjugate product of a current output and a precedent output of an FIR filter is calculated, an equalization coefficient is updated using the conjugate product, and then an input signal is filtered using the FIR filter with the updated equalization coefficient. The embodiments as provided is applicable to adaptive blind equalization of any phase shift keying signal including a BPSK signal. |
| US08666255B2 |
Circuits, architectures, apparatuses, systems, and methods for merging of management and data signals, and for recovery of a management signal
An optical and/or optoelectrical transceiver and system are disclosed that enable parallel transmission of data and management signals via an optical fiber without affecting data signal transmissions transmitted on the optical fiber. Furthermore, the present transceiver and system provide a fault diagnosis function for an optical fiber link. The transceiver and system generally comprise an interface, an intersecting transmission management unit, a driver, a management signal driving unit, an optical transmitter, an optical receiver, an amplifier, a management signal recovery unit, a management unit, and optionally, a power supply unit. |
| US08666251B2 |
Electronic dispersion compensation system and method
The invention provides a system and method, for an optical communication network to compensate impairments in the network, using electronic dispersion compensation, said system comprising optical means comprising two or more optical-to-electrical converters for generating at least two electrical signals, comprising amplitude and instantaneous frequency of a received distorted optical signal, and an electrical circuit adapted to perform a full-field reconstruction of the received distorted optical signal using said electrical signals. The system is characterised by a dispersive transmission line circuit with compensation parameters updated at a selected rate to process said full-field reconstructed signal and compensate for coarse chromatic dispersion; and an adaptive electronic equalization circuit with compensation parameters updated at a rate faster than those in the said dispersive transmission line circuit to provide a fine impairment compensation of said reconstructed signals. The system and method of the invention achieves low-cost long-distance transmission, up to 2000 km, while maintaining the fast-adaptive compensation capability and provide a method for transparent long-haul and metro-optical networks. |
| US08666249B2 |
Method, device, and system for implementing LR-PON
A method, device and system for implementing a long reach passive optical network (LR-PON) are provided, which solve the problem that the cost for establishing an LR-PON system is high. The method includes: receiving an uplink burst packet transmitted by an optical network unit (ONU) in a burst manner (101), converting a burst optical signal of the uplink burst packet into a continuous optical signal, and transmitting the continuous optical signal to a receiving device (105). The present invention is applicable to an LR-PON. |
| US08666245B2 |
System and method for measuring optical signal-to-noise ratio
The invention provides a system and method for measuring optical signal-to-noise-ratio (OSNR) in an optical communication system. A channel filter is adapted to select one specific optical communication channel from a wavelength-division-multiplexing (WDM) optical communication system, wherein the channel comprises an optical signal carrying digital bit information and noise from associated optical power amplifiers in the system. At least one optical delay interferometer is adapted to measure at least two interferograms of the noisy signal. The invention provides a mechanism for calculating the in-band OSNR from extinctions of the interferograms measured at different optical delays by referring to each other, wherein said optical delays are selected to be substantially less than a bit period of the optical channel. Because of the selection of the optical delays and/or the self-reference between the two measurements, the system can follow any changes happening to the signal such as additional filtering, self (cross)-phase modulation, the bias and drive signal change of the modulator used to generate the optical signal. |
| US08666239B2 |
Image capturing apparatus and control method thereof
In an image capturing apparatus that allows input of instructions to the image capturing apparatus by shaking the apparatus, without using an operation unit, it is determined whether or not the image capturing apparatus is shaking. Then, in a case in which it is determined that the image capturing apparatus is shaking, at least some of the operations of the operation unit are invalidated. |
| US08666236B2 |
Heater assembly for volatile liquid dispenser
Disclosed herein are more energy efficient heaters for dispensing volatile air treatment chemicals. The heaters have a housing with a base and a cover, the base and cover together defining an enclosure with an internal generally ring-shaped cavity and an axial through bore. One of the base and cover has an essentially cylindrical extension that is integral therewith, extends towards the other of the base and cover, and forms a portion of the axial through bore. First and second electrical contacts are positioned in the cavity with portions overlapping against a heater. A metallic heat transfer sleeve formed separately from the base and cover is positioned radially outward and around the essentially cylindrical extension, and has a flange abutting one of the contacts. Also disclosed are dispensers that incorporate these heaters. |
| US08666235B2 |
Liquid fuel vaporizer and combustion chamber having an adjustable thermal conductor
The efficiency and effectiveness of apparatuses for vaporizing and combusting liquid fuel can be improved using thermal conductors. For example, an apparatus having a liquid fuel vaporizer and a combustion chamber can be characterized by a thermal conductor that conducts heat from the combustion chamber to the vaporizer. The thermal conductor can be a movable member positioned at an insertion depth within the combustion chamber that corresponds to a rate of heat conduction from the combustion chamber to the vaporizer. The rate of heat conduction can, therefore, be adjusted by positioning the movable member at a different insertion depth. |
| US08666234B1 |
Film mounted aroma device
An aroma dispensing device includes a flexible film having opposite first and second sides, with the first side having a releasable agent to removably adhere the film to a surface. An aroma source is mounted to the second side of the film for dispensing a fragrance to an area adjacent the surface. The film adheres by static cling or an adhesive which does not leave a residue on the surface when the film is removed. The device may include an activator for actuating dispensement of the fragrance from the aroma source, as well as a power source for actuating a fan and providing power to the activator. |
| US08666230B2 |
Multiple physical optical disc formats in backwards compatible order
A mechanism that enables authoring of new optical disc physical media (e.g., HD-DVD) while maintaining backwards compatibility with previous physical media (e.g., DVD-ROM, DVD-Video). The system eliminates film system “switching” and avoids adding new commands to the command specification, while still allowing legacy (e.g., DVD-ROM) drives to use of the content on the legacy layer. The mechanism enables seamless use of any layer should the drive be able to recognize it. The system can employ a single logical block address (LBA) range together with the concept of “sessions” to effect backwards compatibility. As well, logical overwrite techniques can also be employed to accomplish seamless backwards compatibility. |
| US08666229B2 |
Favorite program extracting device and method
Provided is a technology for recording the information of contents recorded in a recording medium, when the reproduction of the contents is instructed by a user, thereby to extract a favorite program of the user on the basis of that information. For the technology, the contents stored in the recording medium in accordance with the operation of the user are reproduced. In case the contents are reproduced, the information indicating the reproduced contents is read out and recorded as reproduction history information. A list of programs to be broadcast is received, and the program according to the reproduction history information is extracted as the favorite program of the user from that list. |
| US08666223B2 |
Electronic apparatus and image data management method
According to one embodiment, an electronic apparatus includes a storage device, a first display process module, and a second display process module. The storage device is configured to store a plurality of moving picture data, and still images which are composed of a plurality of still images extracted from the moving picture data with respect to each of the moving picture data. The first display process module is configured to display a list of the plurality of moving picture data. The second display process module is configured to display, in a case where to-be-deleted moving picture data is selected by a user from the list of the moving picture data, a deletion confirmation screen on which still images corresponding to the to-be-deleted moving picture data are arranged and which prompts the user to confirm whether or not to delete the to-be-deleted moving picture data. |
| US08666222B2 |
Video encoding
Some embodiments provide a method of processing digital video in a computer. The method receives a first video clip. It stores the first video clip at a first rate in a storage of the computer. From the first video clip, the method generates a second video clip that is at a second rate different than the first rate. The method then outputs the second video clip from the computer. In some embodiments, the first rate is the native rate that a camera originally shot at least a portion of the first video clip, and the second rate is an encoded rate. In some embodiments, the method generates the second video clip from the first video by using the 2:3:3:2 encoding format. Also, in some embodiments, the method outputs the second video clip as the method generates the second video clip. |
| US08666220B2 |
Recording/reproducing apparatus and method of controlling the apparatus
A recording/reproducing apparatus includes an operating section having dual functions depending on being in an image capture mode or in a reproduction mode respectively. While one of the recording mode and the reproduction mode is being carried out, in response to start of the other mode, a controlling function of the operating section is switched to the function of the other mode, and in response to the completion of the other mode, the function of the operating section is switched to the function of the one mode. |
| US08666219B2 |
Telephone call recording interface cable assembly for smartphones
An interface cable assembly, which enables the user of either an iPhone® or Android® smartphone to record both incoming and outgoing telephone conversations on a standard dual channel (stereo) audio recorder in either WMA or MP3 format, includes one four-conductor plug that engages the audio input/output jack of the smartphone, one three-conductor plug that engages the dual-channel input jack of an audio recorder, and one four-conductor jack that engages the plug of a standard earphone and microphone assembly. In addition, the cable assembly includes resistors and capacitors which provide an impedance match between the input/output circuitry and the audio recorder input circuitry. In order to clearly distinguish between the participants in a recorded telephone conversation, outgoing voice signals are recorded on one channel of the audio recorder, while incoming voice signals are recorded on the other channel. |
| US08666216B2 |
Adjustable trough-couplers
A telecommunications infrastructure includes first and second trough members for routing signal-carrying fibers. Coupling members may be used to adjustably couple a first trough member arranged alongside a second trough member together. Coupling members may also be used to adjustably couple a first trough member together with a second trough member terminating at the first trough member. |
| US08666208B1 |
Moldable waveguide with embedded micro structures
A waveguide suitable in form factor and weight for use in a heads-up display or similar wearable display and a method of manufacturing the waveguide are disclosed. The waveguide comprises a waveguide body of light-weight, optically transparent solid material, such as plastic, with a series of micro structures embedded in the waveguide body at a top surface of the waveguide body. A first set of the micro structures near one end of the waveguide body serves to couple light into the waveguide, whereby a portion of the coupled light propagates subject to total internal reflection toward a second set of micro structures that reflects a portion of the propagated light out of the waveguide at a bottom surface of the waveguide body. The waveguide can deliver an image provided by an input light source to a human eye (or other detector) situated near the bottom surface of the waveguide body. In particular, the source image can be focused at infinity so that it appears in focus as viewed by the eye at the output of the waveguide. Methods for simple and inexpensive mass production of the waveguide are also disclosed. |
| US08666207B2 |
System and method for coupling a multi-mode optical fiber to a single mode optical fiber
A multi-mode to single mode optical interface device includes an optically pumped edge emitting semiconductor laser device and a lens. The optically pumped edge emitting semiconductor laser device includes (1) a gain area, and (2) an edge located single mode output. The lens focuses a multi-mode optical fiber output beam into a substantially line shaped output beam focused onto the gain area of the optically pumped edge emitting semiconductor laser device. A method for converting a multi-mode optical signal into a single mode optical signal includes (1) focusing the multi-mode optical signal onto a gain area of an optically pumped edge emitting semiconductor laser using at least a line focusing lens, and (2) converting the multi-mode optical signal into the single mode optical signal using the semiconductor laser. |
| US08666205B2 |
Optical device
An optical device (20) are formed by bonding a optical element (6) having an optical waveguide (8) with a substrate (2). On a surface of the optical element (6) facing the substrate (2) formed are the optical waveguide (8) and a thin film heater (4) that heats the optical waveguide (8). The optical element (6) and the substrate (2) are bonded through a first bonding part (12) and a second bonding part (14) made of metal material. The thin film heater (4) is electrically connected with a wire on the substrate (2) through the first bonding part (12) and the second bonding part (14). In this way, additional wires for electrical connection can be omitted, the optical element 6 can be miniaturized removing a superfluous region, and the manufacturing process can be simplified. |
| US08666204B2 |
Optical transmission module
An optical transmission module includes a semiconductor substrate, a first film layer, an electronic component layer and a waveguide structure. The electronic component layer is used for converting a first electrical signal into an optical signal. The waveguide structure is formed on the first film layer, and includes a first reflective surface, a waveguide body and a second reflective surface. After the optical signal is transmitted through the semiconductor substrate and the first film layer and enters the waveguide structure, the optical signal is reflected by the first reflective surface, transmitted within the waveguide body and reflected by the second reflective surface. After the optical signal reflected by the second reflective surface is transmitted through the first film layer and the semiconductor substrate and received by the electronic component layer, the optical signal is converted into a second electrical signal by the electronic component layer. |
| US08666199B2 |
Gesture-based selection text recognition
An image is displayed on a touch screen. A user's underline gesture on the displayed image is detected. The area of the image touched by the underline gesture and a surrounding region approximate to the touched area are identified. Skew for text in the surrounding region is determined and compensated. A text region including the text is identified in the surrounding region and cropped from the image. The cropped image is transmitted to an optical character recognition (OCR) engine, which processes the cropped image and returns OCR'ed text. The OCR'ed text is outputted. |
| US08666198B2 |
Relationship mapping employing multi-dimensional context including facial recognition
A system and method for mapping interpersonal relationships, the method including processing a multiplicity of images and contextual information relating thereto including creating and prioritizing a list of a plurality of candidate persons having at least a predetermined relationship with at least one person connected to at least one image, using multi-dimensional information including visually sensible information in the multiplicity of images and contextual information relating thereto and searching the list of a plurality of candidate persons based at least in part on the prioritizing to select at least one of the candidate persons as having at least a predetermined relationship with the at least one person. |
| US08666197B2 |
Method of generating image, apparatus for performing the same, diagnosis system, and medical image system
A diagnosis image generation apparatus is provided. The diagnosis image generation apparatus includes a low resolution image signal synthesis unit configured to synthesize each of a plurality of low resolution image signals by using a signal reflected from a subject, a weight calculation unit configured to calculate a weight, which is used to synthesize a high resolution image signal, with a signal value which corresponds to each of positions of some pixels among a plurality of signal values corresponding to respective positions of a plurality of pixels forming each of the synthesized low resolution image signals, and a high resolution image signal synthesis unit configured to synthesize the high resolution image signal by applying the calculated weight to each of the low resolution image signals. |
| US08666196B2 |
System and method for super-resolution imaging from a sequence of color filter array (CFA) low-resolution images
A method and system for improving picture quality of color images by combing the content of a plurality of frames of the same subject; comprising: at least one processor; the at least one processor comprising a memory for storing a plurality of frames of a subject; the at least one processor operating to combine the content of plurality of frames of the subject into a combined color image by performing: a process in which at least two multicolored frames are converted to monochromatic predetermined color frames; a gross shift process in which the gross shift translation of one monochromatic predetermined color frame is determined relative to a reference monochromatic predetermined color frame; a subpixel shift process utilizing a correlation method to determine the translational and/or rotational differences of one monochromatic predetermined color frame to the reference monochromatic predetermined color frame to estimate sub-pixel shifts and/or rotations between the frames; and an error reduction process to determine whether the resolution of the resulting combined color image is of sufficient resolution; the error reduction process comprising applying at least one spatial frequency domain constraint and at least one spatial domain constraint to the combined color image to produce at least one high-resolution full color image. |
| US08666195B1 |
Image alignment
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for graphical overlay object translation. One of the methods includes receiving a first plurality of first feature points, each first feature point being associated with a plurality of feature descriptors and a respective location on the first digital image. The method includes receiving a second plurality of second feature points, each second feature point being associated with a plurality of feature descriptors and a respective location on the second digital image. The method includes determining the translation offset for the second digital image from the first digital image by matching locations of the first feature points with locations of the second feature points without regard to the feature descriptors. |
| US08666191B2 |
Systems and methods for image capturing
Systems and methods for generating an image determine scene information based on a first image of a scene, the first image including an image of a subject at a first position in the scene, and the first image information including a first field of view of the first image and a first capture location where the first image was captured, acquire a second image of the scene from a repository storing a plurality of images based on the scene information, the second image having a second field of view similar to the first field of view and a second capture location similar to the first capture location, adjust light parameters of the image of the subject based on the light parameters of the second image, and generate a combined image based on the second image and the image of the subject, the combined image including at least part of the second image, and the adjusted image of the subject at a position in the scene similar to the first position in the scene. |
| US08666189B2 |
Methods and apparatus for flat region image filtering
An image filter and method of smoothing pixel values. A pixel value of a pixel to be smoothed is compared with block average pixel values of each of a plurality of pixel blocks. The pixel to be smoothed may be downstream from each of the pixel blocks. If the difference between the pixel value and each of the block average pixel values is less than a corresponding sigma threshold value for each of the pixel blocks, a first sigma filter utilizing the block average pixel values is applied to the pixel to be smoothed. If the difference between the pixel value and any one of the block average pixel values is not less than a corresponding sigma threshold value, a second sigma filter is applied to the pixel to be smoothed. |
| US08666184B2 |
Variable length coding system
Systems, methods, and processor executable code for high quality wide-range multi-layer image compression of a sequence of video images. A non-transient electronic storage media stores the processor executable code configured and is capable of causing one or more processors to compress a sequence of digitized video images. The method includes generating a hierarchy of processed images from a digitized video image, determining a plurality of regions within each processed image, each region being selected based on lossless coding efficiency; and applying a lossless variable-length coding independently to each such region. |
| US08666181B2 |
Adaptive multiple engine image motion detection system and method
The present invention facilitates efficient and effective detection of pixel alteration. In one embodiment a pixel alteration analysis system includes a difference summing multiple engine component and a control component. The difference summing multiple engine component determines the sum of differences between pixel values in a plurality of pixels. The control component determines an indication of motion based upon said relationship of said pixels in said plurality of pixels. In one exemplary implementation, the difference in values corresponds to a relationship between values of pixels in a block of pixels at different frames. The number and configuration of pixels in a block partition can be flexibly changed. |
| US08666180B2 |
System and methods of compressed sensing as applied to computer graphics and computer imaging
Compressed sensing can be mapped to a more general set of problems in computer graphics and computer imaging. Representation of a rendered scene in the formulation y=A{circumflex over (x)} produces higher-quality rendering with less samples than previous approaches. A filter formulation Φ makes point samples compatible with wavelet and therefore allows reconstruction of 2-D images from a set of measured pixels (point samples). |
| US08666178B2 |
Method and system for the treatment of multiple-description signals, and corresponding computer-program product
A processing system, such as typically a CPU, is used for converting a digital signal organized in pixels, such as a video signal, between a first format and a second multiple-description format. The system comprises at least one input register and at least one output register, and is configured via instructions, that can be constituted at least in part by instructions of a SIMD type, so as to: order the pixels of the signal to be converted in a set of input registers; and take selectively the pixels from the aforesaid set of input registers and place them in an orderly way in at least one output register. |
| US08666176B2 |
Object recognition apparatus and object recognition method
Recognition target area images are sequentially clipped out from an input image. Each of the clipped-out recognition target area images is recognized as or not as an image related to an object by referring to each of a plurality of dictionary data items stored in advance for recognizing the object. Based on the recognition result for a recognition target area image, the order in which each of the plurality of dictionary data items is referred to for a partial image in the neighborhood of the recognition target area image is determined. Thus, the time required for recognizing the object is reduced. |
| US08666170B2 |
Computer system and method of matching for images and graphs
It is provided a computer system for matching between images/graphs comprising a processing unit, a storage unit, an input unit and a data recording unit, wherein the computer system includes a feature pattern generating unit for generating a set of feature patterns of the image and the graph from the received image and the received graph, segmenting each of the image and the graph into a plurality of regions centered on a sample point, and determining characteristics of the plurality of regions; a correspondence computing unit for computing correspondence between the image and the graph to be matched by comparing the generated feature patterns; a transform unit for transforming a coordinate system of at least one of the image and the graph to be matched; and a combination unit for combining the image and the graph that have been subjected to the transform of the coordinate system. |
| US08666163B2 |
Apparatus and method for matching colors between various image devices
An apparatus for matching colors between various image devices includes a characterization model generation unit configured to generate characterization models for color conversion using gamut information on the image shooting device and the output imaging device; a color conversion unit configured to convert all colors corresponding to a gamut of the image shooting device into colors corresponding to a gamut of the output imaging device using the characterization models; a lookup table generation unit configured to generate a lookup table between the image shooting device and the output imaging device based on color conversion information of the colors corresponding to the gamut of the image shooting device; and an image conversion unit configured to generate an output image of the output imaging device, of which the colors are matched with those of the image inputted from the image shooting device, using the lookup table. |
| US08666159B1 |
Real time feature extraction
A computer-implemented method for method for detecting features in an image, comprising, receiving a first image at a GPU, wherein the GPU comprises a plurality of memory units and wherein the first image is stored in a first memory unit of the plurality of memory units, processing a second image stored in a second memory unit, of the plurality of memory units, to detect one or more features within the second image and writing one or more processed portions of the second image to a third memory unit of the plurality of memory units. In certain aspects, the method further comprises steps for outputting a third image stored in a fourth memory unit of the plurality of memory units. A mobile computing device and GPU are also provided. |
| US08666155B2 |
Method and system for gray content detection in output documents for billing determinations
A method and system implementing the method for color pixel counting in images by determining color pixels that, upon marking, appear as visibly color or gray to the human eye by applying a 2-dimensional filter and a reverse color lookup process. An area color computation is performed on a window around each pixel of interest to determine average gray level values for output colors (C, M, Y). Gray line values for each output color are determined and the values for at least two output colors are compared to the average gray level values. If average gray level value for both colors is within a tolerance for the gray line, the pixel is determined as visibly gray. Otherwise, if at least one count is not within the tolerance, the pixel is determined as visibly color. The count of visibly color pixels can be used to determine the billable color pixel count. |
| US08666153B2 |
Image input apparatus
Provided is an image inputting apparatus wherein luminance signals having a high S/N ratio can be generated even during nighttime with a small quantity of photons. An imaging element images image components. A color signal generating section generates color signals from the image components. A color space conversion section converts the color signals into a color space that includes luminance signals and color difference signals. The color space conversion section calculates a luminance signal obtained by adding the image components, as the luminance signal of the color space to be converted. |
| US08666151B2 |
Apparatus and method for enhancing visibility of color image
An apparatus for enhancing the visibility of color images includes: a luminance value cumulative distribution calculator that calculates a cumulative distribution function of the number of pixels from a minimum value of luminance values; a baseband signal determining unit that determines baseband signal pixels having luminance values smaller than a threshold level; a luminance compensation value generator that generates luminance compensation values to apply the lower-level luminance compensation values as the pixels have higher-level luminance values, for the pixels having the luminance values larger than the threshold level; a luminance gain generator that determines a luminance gain applied to the luminance compensation values according to a mean luminance values of the input images and the level of the luminance values of the pixels to which the luminance compensation values are applied; and a luminance value enhancing unit that summing the luminance compensation values including the gain with the luminance values. |
| US08666145B2 |
System and method for identifying a region of interest in a digital image
A system and method for identifying a region of interest in a digital image. A first and second images of a scene may be obtained from a respective first and second points of view. Following an acquisition of a first image from a first point of view, a subsequent image may be automatically acquired upon determining that a second view point is achieved. Based on two or more images of a scene, a background object may be removed from an image to produce an image that only includes a foreground object or a region of interest. |
| US08666144B2 |
Method and apparatus for determining disparity of texture
A method and system to determine the disparity associated with one or more textured regions of a plurality of images is presented. The method comprises the steps of breaking up the texture into its color primitives, further segmenting the textured object into any number of objects comprising such primitives, and then calculating a disparity of these objects. The textured objects emerge in the disparity domain, after having their disparity calculated. Accordingly, the method is further comprised of defining one or more textured regions in a first of a plurality of images, determining a corresponding one or more textured regions in a second of the plurality of images, segmenting the textured regions into their color primitives, and calculating a disparity between the first and second of the plurality of images in accordance with the segmented color primitives. |
| US08666142B2 |
System and method for manufacturing
A method includes receiving a predetermined object pattern representing a portion of a three-dimensional object, modifying the predetermined object pattern to correct for geometric distortion of a pattern generator, and generating the modified pattern using the pattern generator. The generated pattern interacts with a reactive material to form the portion of the three-dimensional object defined by the predetermined object pattern. |
| US08666140B2 |
Defect inspection method for wafer and wafer defect inspection system using the same
A defect inspection method for a wafer is provided. The wafer comprises a component pattern. The method comprises the following steps: providing a defect inspection apparatus for inspecting the defects on the wafer to obtain a defect distribution map; providing a photo mask, wherein the photo mask comprises a exposure pattern corresponding to the component pattern; and comparing the defect distribution map with the exposure pattern and dividing the defects in the defect distribution map into a first killer defect group and a first non-killer defect group according to their corresponding locations in the exposure pattern. In addition, a wafer defect inspection system applying the same method is also provided. |
| US08666135B2 |
Image processing apparatus
An image processing apparatus includes: an image input section via which a medical image picked up of a mucous surface of a living body is inputted; a setting section that sets a region of interest as a first region and a second region including a unit region in the medical image; a feature value calculating section that calculates a first feature value relating to a shape of the region of interest based on pixel values of the region of interest and a region in a periphery thereof and a second feature value relating to a shape of the unit region based on pixel values of the unit region and a region in a periphery thereof; and an matching section that matches the region of interest with a predetermined shape based on distributions of the first feature value and the second feature value calculated by the feature value calculating section. |
| US08666134B2 |
Method for the fully automatic segmentation of an organ, in particular the renal parenchyma, from volume data sets in medical imaging
A method is disclosed for segmenting an organ from volume data sets in medical imaging. A likelihood data set is generated. A binary data set is generated with the aid of a threshold value method, in which the organ region is eroded step by step. When the organ region is separated into a number of subregions, only one of the subregions, which is most likely to contain the organ, is selected for further erosion in each instance. This subregion is identified from geometrical features of the organ, which are known from the training data sets. In the likelihood data set the likelihood values of voxels of the subregions separated in the binary data set are reduced, so that a correspondingly corrected likelihood data set results. On the basis of this corrected likelihood data set the organ from the likelihood data set is segmented. |
| US08666130B2 |
Systems and methods for bio-image calibration
Systems, methods, apparatuses and computer program products for bio-image calibration are described. One aspect provides a bio-image calibration device including: a calibration portion comprising predetermined color areas; wherein the predetermined color areas are arranged in a predetermined pattern corresponding to a watermark; wherein the predetermined color areas are a predetermined size and a predetermined shape; and wherein the predetermined color areas are located on one or more edges of the bio-image device. Other embodiments are described. |
| US08666124B2 |
Real-time face tracking in a digital image acquisition device
An image processing apparatus for tracking faces in an image stream iteratively receives an acquired image from the image stream including one or more face regions. The acquired image is sub-sampled at a specified resolution to provide a sub-sampled image. An integral image is then calculated for a least a portion of the sub-sampled image. Fixed size face detection is applied to at least a portion of the integral image to provide a set of candidate face regions. Responsive to the set of candidate face regions produced and any previously detected candidate face regions, the resolution is adjusted for sub-sampling a subsequent acquired image. |