| Document | Document Title |
|---|---|
| US08701591B2 |
Container for selectively dispensing a material
A dispensing container apparatus having a tubular container with a bottom end and a rotatable annular upper end connected to a tubular shaft, and a compression member associated with the tubular shaft which causes a material disposed within the containment region to communicate into the tubular shaft or into a containing area upon rotation of the rotatable annular upper end. A brush applicator removably fits into an open end of the tubular shaft for receiving paste to be dispensed via brush application. Also, the container apparatus includes a top member having paste-access holes sized and adapted to closely receive different threaded shaft sizes of fasteners. In one form, the top member is partially rotatable for closing the holes, and then further rotatable for moving the piston (and hence paste) within the container. |
| US08701588B2 |
Bookmarks including coupling features and related methods
Bookmarks can include a base that can couple with a cover of a book and a ribbon that can be attached to the base. For some bookmarks, the base includes a display body that can be positioned at an exterior of a cover of a book when the bookmark is coupled with the book, and also includes a rigid body coupled with the display body such that the rigid body can be positioned at an interior of the cover of the book when the bookmark is coupled with the book. The rigid body can include a coupling assist region having a cavity that extends rearwardly relative to the display body. An edge of a book cover can be received into the cavity before being advanced between clamping portions that are defined by the display body and the rigid body. |
| US08701585B1 |
Boat hull and method of making
A watercraft such as a boat that is molded in two sections such as the boat deck and the boat hull using a polyurea composition and polyurethane foam and chopped glass fibers. The resulting monolithic structure can be manufactured very quickly in a closed molding process that does not create volatile organic compounds. The resulting watercraft eliminates the use of fiberglass in the construction of boats. |
| US08701581B2 |
System and method for thruster protection during transport
A system and method protect a thruster assembly disposed with a pontoon of a semi-submersible drilling vessel during dry tow transport. A cover may be positioned over the thruster assembly and secured with the pontoon. A thruster cover support structure may be disposed with the pontoon. The thruster cover support structure may be a frame positioned around the pontoon for removable attachment with the thruster cover. The thruster cover support structure may be a bracket, ring or flange fixedly attached with the pontoon. The thruster cover may be removably disposed with the bracket, ring or flange, such as by bolting or welding. A spacer barge may be positioned below the pontoon between thruster assemblies for lifting the semi-submersible drilling vessel before placement of the spacer barge and semi-submersible vessel on the dry tow transporting vessel. The thruster assemblies may be elevated and in some embodiments positioned directly over the dry tow transporting vessel. |
| US08701577B2 |
Sewing machine with an adjusting structure capable of controlling a swing center of a swing arm
A sewing machine with an adjusting structure capable of controlling a swing center of a swing arm includes an adjusting apparatus and corresponding structures cooperating with the adjusting apparatus. The adjusting apparatus is provided on the pivotal portion with a sliding groove and a sliding block that can horizontally slide with respect to each other. Between the sliding groove and the sliding block are further provided an adjusting bolt and an elastic element. By rotating the adjusting bolt, the relative position between the swinging center around which the whole swing arm pivots and the whole structure of the swing arm can be changed in the horizontal direction accurately and conveniently, thus assuredly adjusting the start point of the travel of the presser foot, achieving the objective of accursedly adjusting position of the travel sensing apparatus. |
| US08701575B2 |
Seed metering assembly for farm implement and having quick-change capability and sectional control
A seed metering assembly for a farm implement has a meter roller that can be accessed and removed in a relatively quick manner. The seed metering assembly includes a fluted meter roller that is segmented into a number of discrete fluted sections. Each fluted section has an associated flow control member that is selectively operable to impede the flow of granular material from a seed hopper to its corresponding section of the fluted meter roller. |
| US08701572B2 |
Low NOx nozzle tip for a pulverized solid fuel furnace
A nozzle tip [100] for a pulverized solid fuel pipe nozzle [200] of a pulverized solid fuel-fired furnace includes: a primary air shroud [120] having an inlet [102] and an outlet [104], wherein the inlet [102] receives a fuel flow [230]; and a flow splitter [180] disposed within the primary air shroud [120], wherein the flow splitter disperses particles in the fuel flow [230] to the outlet [104] to provide a fuel flow jet which reduces NOx in the pulverized solid fuel-fired furnace. In alternative embodiments, the flow splitter [180] may be wedge shaped and extend partially or entirely across the outlet [104]. In another alternative embodiment, flow splitter [180] may be moved forward toward the inlet [102] to create a recessed design. |
| US08701570B2 |
Expandable modular interlocking pallet system
An expandable modular interlocking pallet system comprises a plurality of elongated modules, each including a lattice array for supporting a load. The module includes a first side having two female tracks and a second side opposite the first having two complementary male tracts adapted to interlock with the female tracks of an adjacent module. The module also includes a slam latch nested in the module which may engage a striker positioned on an adjacent module. The striker allows for disassembly of the pallet system as desired. Passageways are provided in each module that allow forks of a lift truck or the like to move the interlocked pallet. |
| US08701569B2 |
Pallet design with structural reinforcement
A reinforced pallet which is constructed of a generally planar surfaced body constructed of a corrugated material and including a plurality of partition defining members and a corrugated surface board material, such as a paperboard or plastic, applied over the body. A plurality of recessed notches are incorporated in the partition defining members for seating any number of skeletal inner reinforcing members, such as which may be arranged in any of crosswise or overlapping and grid defining fashion. |
| US08701564B2 |
Self-steering radial bogie
A self-steering system for a radial bogie of a railroad vehicle is provided. The self-steering system includes a plurality of links which connect the leading and trailing wheelsets to the bogie frame. Each of the links is adapted to provide a smaller degree of movement between the link and the wheelset at one end and a larger degree of movement between the link and the bogie frame at the other end. |
| US08701562B2 |
Signaling and remote control train operation
On-board model railroad speaker enclosure designs are presented that allow maximum sized speakers, improve impedance matching of sound to the outside of the locomotive, and isolate back and front speaker waves while maintaining the standard horizontal drive-train in model train locomotives. |
| US08701561B2 |
Projectile that includes a sensor to obtain environmental data during launch from a cannon
Some embodiments pertain to a projectile that includes a casing and a sensor that is wrapped around the casing. As an example, the sensor may be wrapped around a longitudinal axis of the casing. The sensor obtains environmental data that the projectile is exposed to when the projectile is inside a cannon tube. As an example, the sensor may obtain pressure data that the projectile is exposed to during launch of the projectile when the projectile is inside the cannon tube. The sensor may include a plurality of segments that at least partially surround the casing. In some embodiments, the segments may be separated from the casing due to pressure that the projectile is exposed to during launch. |
| US08701556B2 |
Handheld stamp assembly
One embodiment of the present invention sets forth a handheld stamp assembly. The handheld stamp assembly includes a stamp mount having a top member with an opening and a bottom member capable of being slid into the top member along a first direction through the opening, wherein the top member and the bottom member form an enclosure when the top member slides into and is secured with the bottom member; and a handle coupled to the stamp mount in a detachable manner along a second direction. |
| US08701553B2 |
Valve system
A valve system for a container or vat, such as a food cooking vat. The valve system includes a valve body and stem having a valve head with a sealing member. The valve body has an outlet configured to be in fluid communication with the vat, and the sealing member is in fluid communication with the outlet and the chamber and is selectively operable between a discharge position, allowing the vat's contents to drain from the chamber, and a closed position, allowing the contents to remain in the chamber. The sealing member preferably is comprised of polymer and has an O-type sealing ring interposed between a first portion and a second portion, where the diameter of the second portion is smaller than the diameter of the first portion. Embodiments may also include a snap-fit connection of the sealing member to the valve head. |
| US08701552B2 |
Forming device for articles of food
The present invention relates to methods and devices for forming articles of food. The methods and devices are configured for forming exterior portions and interior portions of a food article so as to form a cavity for placement of similar or different articles of food therein. In one exemplary embodiment, the present invention provides a forming device configured for forming an exterior portion of the food article in a first step, an interior portion of the food article in a second step and an interior and exterior portion in a third step. |
| US08701551B2 |
Adjustable antilip system for a patty forming machine
An antilip system for a food patty forming apparatus of the type having a reciprocating mold plate with at least one cavity. The system uses an adjustable escape passage to relieve pressure within a mold plate cavity. The system comprises a breather plate with antilip holes, a passage plate with antilip holes, and an adjusting bar movable between a full open position, a full closed position, and a plurality of intermediate positions. The passage plate also has a passage recycle channel for returning relieved materials to a hopper. |
| US08701550B2 |
Versatile tea infuser
An integral tea infuser apparatus is provided to compress brewed tea leaves. In accordance with one embodiment: a tea infuser apparatus comprises a top member and a bottom member set to slidably mate with each other forming open, closed and compressed positions. The top member has a top tea retainer cover and a top compressor side having a top push-pull handle, and the bottom member has a bottom tea retainer and a bottom compressor side having a bottom push-pull handle. |
| US08701546B2 |
Coupling arrangement providing an axial space between a plunger and plunger adaptor of a high pressure fluid pump
A coupling for a pump connects a plunger to a plunger adaptor. The coupling provides a space between an end of the plunger and an end of the adaptor. Upon disconnecting the plunger from the adaptor, the space provides for removal of the plunger from and through a well of the pump. |
| US08701542B2 |
Artillery ammunitions loading system
An artillery ammunition loading system (100), configured to load ammunitions includes at least one projectile in a cannon or a howitzer (11). The ammunition loading system includes a first mobile loader (102a) for loading projectiles and a second mobile loader (102b) for loading propelling charges, which alternatively and at least partially automatically feed the cannon or howitzer (11) for each firing cycle. |
| US08701538B2 |
System for protection against missiles
Multiple embodiments of a system are disclosed for defeating enemy missiles and rockets by the use of a non-lethal cloud of pellets that collide with the missile a certain distance away from the target causing premature detonation of the missile, and/or possible severe damage to the missile, and/or deflection of the missile, and/or a deformation to the ogive cones to cause a short in the fuze circuit, and/or deposition of conductive material to cause a short in the fuze circuit. |
| US08701537B2 |
Cutting tool with detachably connected inserts
A cutting tool that includes a base body including at least one deformable clamping element and at least one bit seat in which an insert is positionable, and at least one control element positioned in a recess of the base body. The at least one control element is positionable to bias the at least one deformable clamping element against the insert to hold the insert in the at least one bit seat. |
| US08701534B2 |
Machine tool
A machine tool, in particular a sawing machine, is described, having a work surface (14) for placing a workpiece (16) to be machined and a tool support unit (20) for supporting a tool (18), the tool support unit being supported movably relative to the work surface (14). The machine tool includes a tool operation monitoring device (60) for monitoring a tool range (68) at least during tool operation, the device having an imaging unit (62). |
| US08701528B2 |
Ratchet-action open-end wrench
A ratchet-action open-end wrench of the present invention has a simplified structure. Arc-shaped abutting surface and corresponding groove is dismissed from the present wrench. Thus, components of the wrench can be manufactured and fabricated easily, and specified producing process can be chosen for obtaining strengthened structure. In addition, cost of the wrench is abated, precision of the wrench is arisen, and lift-time of the wrench is prolonged. |
| US08701521B2 |
Pedal device for motor vehicle
A pedal device includes a pedal suspended from a supporting shaft penetrating through a pair of lengthwise walls of a pedal bracket, and shaft detachment means configured to allow one end portion of the supporting shaft to be disengaged from a corresponding one of the lengthwise walls at the time of frontal collision. A pedal stroke sensor is arranged on the pedal bracket at a distance from the pedal, and the pedal stroke sensor and the pedal are connected to each other by a transmission mechanism. The transmission mechanism includes permission means for permitting the end portion of the supporting shaft to be disengaged from the corresponding lengthwise wall at the time of frontal collision. |
| US08701520B2 |
Cable gland and gasket ring assembly
A cable gland and gasket ring assembly includes a gasket ring and a cable gland formed of a shell, a collar, a packing ring and a connection ring for securing a cable, or, a cable and a flexible conduit, to a junction box. The gasket ring is an annular member, having a first end face, a second end face opposing the first end face, a plurality of annular ribs concentrically arranged on the first end face and an annular convex portion located on the second end face. The connection ring has a recessed portion on a stop flange segment for receiving the annular convex portion and a tapered inner surface located on the inside of the stop flange segment for stopping against a tapered outside surface of the packing ring. |
| US08701516B2 |
Power transmission control apparatus for vehicle
A sleeve stroke SSt of a specific sleeve is gradually increased from “0” (after t1) in a state in which a vehicle is stopped, a transmission is in a neutral state (all sleeve strokes SSt=0 (original position)), a clutch is in a disengaged state (clutch stroke CSt=0 (original position)), and an engine is operating (engine rotational speed NE>0). Upon determination that the sleeve stroke SSt has reached a predetermined value A, at which synchronization operation of a corresponding synchronization mechanism is performed, the sleeve stroke SSt is fixed to the predetermined value A, and an operation of increasing the clutch stroke CSt from “0” in a press engagement direction is started (time t2). An engagement start point CStlearn of the clutch is obtained based on a change in the rotational speed Ni of an input shaft Ai of the transmission after that (time t3). |
| US08701514B2 |
Speed reducer used for wind power generation facility
A speed reducer used for a wind power generation facility includes a two-stage reduction mechanism of at least a front stage reduction mechanism and a rear stage reduction mechanism; a coupling that is arranged between the front stage reduction mechanism and the rear stage reduction mechanism and has a torque limiter mechanism which does not transfer a torque exceeding a predetermined value; and an oil seal that partitions and seals a space where the front stage reduction mechanism is accommodated and a space where the coupling is accommodated. The front stage reduction mechanism is separable from the coupling in a sealed state by the oil seal. |
| US08701513B2 |
Screw driven linear actuator and housing assembly
A linear actuator and housing assembly may be used to increase motor performance and dissipate excess thermal energy. One embodiment relates to an actuator housing and an electric motor coupled to the actuator housing, where the electric motor is disposed within the actuator housing such that there is a close proximity between the actuator housing and the motor. A linear actuator assembly may be operably coupled to the electric motor, where the linear actuator assembly is disposed within the actuator housing and a thermally conductive material is disposed between the actuator housing and motor. |
| US08701510B2 |
Smart milk sampler for VMS
A milk sampling apparatus and method receives milk from a milking machine and discharges discrete samples of the milk for analysis. In the method, milk is collected in a chamber, excess milk is emptied from the chamber by an emptying parts which reduces the milk in the chamber to a predetermined level, and milk samples of predetermined quantity are successively discharged through respective outlets located at different heights within the chamber and which are opened in turn from the uppermost outlet to the lowermost outlet. |
| US08701506B2 |
Liquid sampling apparatus
A liquid sampling apparatus. The liquid sampling apparatus includes a body, a first port, and a second port, and a liquid conduit therebetween. A nose portion is provided adjacent the first port sized and shaped for interfitting engagement with, and for opening of, a biased normally closed outlet valve in a liquid reservoir. When liquid is allowed to exit a liquid reservoir, the sampling apparatus allows flow of the liquid between the ports. The body may be provided having a flexible portion, allowing the second port to be directed at a sampling container. The liquid sampling apparatus maybe constructed in polyethylene or other material suitable for use with the liquid being sampled, such as lubricant. |
| US08701502B2 |
Corrosion-resistant coating for a vibratory flowmeter and method for forming the coating
A corrosion-resistant vibratory flowmeter (5) is provided. The flowmeter (5) includes a flowmeter assembly (10) including one or more flow tubes (103) configured to be vibrated and a diffusion coating (202) over at least a portion of the flowmeter assembly (10). The diffusion coating (202) is diffused into and comprises a part of the flowmeter assembly (10). |
| US08701501B2 |
Ultrasonic flowmeter
An ultrasonic flowmeter that measures flow velocity of a measured fluid by propagating ultrasonic waves through a measuring flow path with a rectangular cross section through which the measured fluid flows and the measured fluid that flows through the measuring flow path. The measuring flow path is provided with partition plates so that they are in parallel with the flow direction of the measured fluid. Simultaneously, the partition plates are placed in parallel with wall surfaces such that flow velocity distribution between opposing wall surfaces of the measuring flow path is more symmetrical with respect to the center of the flow direction of the measured fluid. |
| US08701500B2 |
Method and apparatus for fixing strained optical fibers against creep and temperature and strain sensors using said technology
Optical fiber anchors accomplishing low creep confinement or fixing of a section of optical fiber in an assembly compact enough to be used conveniently as an anchor or as an enabling part of a strain or temperature sensor while retaining low optical losses and the original buffer coating to prevent the fiber from being exposed to abrasion and other influences that could lead to breakage. A rigid body is used that is mechanically stiff and hard enough to prevent the fiber from cutting into it or distorting the medium or substrate when subjected to stress, even over a long period of years. Trapping can be accomplished by molding the bent fiber into the substrate or body, adhesively bonding or soldering the optical fiber into a confining curved groove in a body or substrate. |
| US08701499B2 |
Method and apparatus for the detection of defects in the raceways of bearing shells and in the rolling elements of ceramic hybrid bearings
A method and an apparatus detects defects in raceways of bearing shells and rolling elements of ceramic hybrid bearings. To enable the detection of such defects without falsifying measuring values of the ceramic hybrid bearings installed, the outer or inner ferromagnetic bearing shell of the ceramic hybrid bearing is magnetically coded in at least a partial area and the magnetic coding of the bearing shell is used as generator for testing the raceways of the bearing shells and the ceramic rolling elements by inverse magnetostriction. |
| US08701497B2 |
Fluid flow testing system
Apparatus for measuring a differential pressure of a fluid flowing through a fluid line includes a nozzle having a nozzle interior wall defining a nozzle chamber. The nozzle interior wall tapers at a constant rate of area reduction to generate a laminar fluid flow. A differential pipe is coupled to the nozzle and fluidly communicates with a downstream portion of the fluid line. The differential pipe has a pipe interior wall defining a differential chamber fluidly communicating with the nozzle chamber. A first pressure port is formed in the nozzle and fluidly communicates with the nozzle chamber to obtain a first gauge pressure of the fluid, and a second pressure port is formed in the differential pipe and fluidly communicates with the differential chamber to obtain a second gauge pressure of the fluid. |
| US08701493B2 |
Vibration monitoring apparatus and vibration monitoring method
The present invention provides a vibration monitoring apparatus that monitors vibration of a jet pump disposed in a reactor pressure vessel using ultrasonic wave, including: an ultrasonic sensor that is attached to an outside the reactor pressure vessel, and transmits and receives ultrasonic wave; a reflector that is mounted on a surface of a riser pipe of the jet pump, and includes a planar reflecting surface that can reflect ultrasonic wave; and a signal processing unit that performs signal processing of the ultrasonic wave transmitted by the ultrasonic sensor, reflected by the reflecting surface of the reflector, and received by the ultrasonic sensor, and measures a vibration amplitude of the riser pipe and calculates a vibration waveform. |
| US08701489B2 |
Inertial sensor
Disclosed herein is an inertial sensor. An inertial sensor 100 according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention includes a plate-shaped membrane 110, a mass body 130 that is provided under a central portion 111 of the membrane 110 and includes an integrated circuit, and a post 140 that are provided under an edge 112 of the membrane 110 to surround the mass body 130, whereby the overall thickness and area of the inertial sensor can be reduced by including the integrated circuit in the mass body 130 to implement a thin and small inertial sensor 100. |
| US08701484B2 |
Small form factor medical sensor structure and method therefor
A measurement system for measuring a parameter of the muscular-skeletal system is disclosed. The measurement system comprises a capacitor, a signal generator, a digital counter, counter register, a digital clock, a digital timer, and a data register. The sensor of the measurement system is the capacitor. The measurement system generates a repeating signal having a measurement cycle that corresponds to the capacitance of the capacitor. The capacitor comprises more than one capacitor mechanically in series. Electrically, the capacitor comprises more than one capacitor in parallel. In one embodiment, the capacitor includes a dielectric layer comprising polyimide. A force, pressure, or load is applied to the capacitor that elastically compresses the device. |
| US08701482B2 |
Methods, devices and systems for remote wind sensing a laser anemometer
A system for monitoring wind characteristics in a volume including a plurality of non-coherent laser anemometers operative to measure wind characteristics in a plurality of corresponding sub-volumes located within the volume and a data processing subsystem operative to receive data from the plurality of non-coherent laser anemometers and to provide output data representing the wind characteristics in the volume. |
| US08701479B2 |
System for characterizing tire uniformity machines and methods of using the characterizations
A tire uniformity machine includes an apparatus for receiving and rotating a tire. The apparatus includes opposed chuck assemblies for receiving, inflating and rotating the tire and a load wheel applied to the rotating tire to obtain tire test results. At least one characterizing device is associated with components of the apparatus to characterize forces of at least one of the components and the characterized forces are used in adjusting the tire test results. |
| US08701476B2 |
Sensor assembly with resilient contact portions
A sensor assembly for use in a vehicle. The sensor assembly has a housing for receiving a substrate. Terminals with substrate mating portions are provided in the housing. The substrate has components mounted thereon and plated openings which extend therethrough. The plated openings are provided in electrical engagement with the terminals. The openings are provided to mechanically and electrically engage the resilient contact portions of the terminals. The substrate mating portions are releasably pressure fit within the plated openings to allow the substrate to be removed and replaced as needed. The substrate mating portions maintain the electrical and mechanical connection between the substrate mating portions and the plated openings when the sensor assembly is exposed to vibration. |
| US08701475B2 |
Air flow measuring device
An air flow measuring device includes a housing, flow sensor, and a humidity sensor. The housing defines a bypass flow passage through which intake it passes. A part of intake air is taken into the bypass flow passage to pass through the bypass flow passage. The flow sensor includes a sensing part disposed in the bypass flow passage, and produces a signal which is in accordance with the flow rate of intake air as a result of heat transfer between intake air taken into the bypass flow passage and the sensing part. The humidity sensor includes a sensing part exposed to the intake passage, and projects from an outer wall of the housing into the intake passage. The humidity sensor produces a signal which is in accordance with humidity of intake ail flowing through the intake passage. |
| US08701474B2 |
Air flow measuring device
An air flow measuring device includes a housing, a sensor, and a projection portion. The housing defines a bypass flow passage through which taken-in intake air passes and which has an outlet that opens into an intake passage toward a downstream side of a mainstream of intake air. The sensor is accommodated in the bypass flow passage to produce an electrical signal as a result of heat transfer between the taken-in intake air and the sensor. The projection portion is provided on an outer wall of the housing on a downstream side of the outlet in the mainstream and extends outward of the housing. A projection-portion projected region and an outlet projected region, which are formed respectively by projecting the projection portion and the outlet perpendicularly onto a projection plane that is perpendicular to a direction of the mainstream, overlap with each other. |
| US08701473B2 |
End-of-life estimation device for air cleaner
An end-of-life estimation device for an air cleaner, which is capable of always accurately estimating an end of a service life of the air cleaner with an inexpensive construction, thereby enabling the air cleaner to be efficiently used until the service life comes close to the end. The end-of-life estimation device calculates a life parameter indicative of remaining service life of the air cleaner during running of an engine, on an as needed basis, and stores a relationship between the degree of clogging of the air cleaner, an intake air amount, and an intake parameter (an intake pressure on a downstream side of the air cleaner and/or a throttle valve opening). Further, the end-of-life estimation device calculates and updates a reference value with reference to which the life parameter is calculated, based on the stored relationship, according to the detected intake air amount and intake parameter. |
| US08701472B2 |
Method for determining centers of mass for large structures
The spatial center of mass and a mass of an object can be determined by orientating the suspended object in at least two different spatial positions and measuring the orientation of the object in each of the different spatial positions the forces acting on the suspension devices because of the suspended object, the forces acting on the suspension devices being resolved into three independent force components. A center of area of the object and the associated force effect lines are determined for each of the at least two spatial positions, the center of area of the respective spatial position being determined with an inclined tension compensation of the suspension devices. The spatial center of mass is determined by superimposing at least two force effect lines. |
| US08701468B2 |
Flow estimation based on anode pressure response in fuel cell system
A method for determining the flow of an anode gas out of an anode sub-system. The method includes providing pressure measurements at predetermined sample times over a predetermined sample period and using the pressure measurements to calculate a slope of a line defining a change of the pressure from the beginning of the time period to the end of the time period. The slope of the pressure line is then used in a flow equation to determine the amount of gas that flows out of the anode sub-system, which can be through a valve or by system leaks. |
| US08701464B2 |
Methods and devices for circulating air
A gas chromatography system comprising a sample introduction device, an oven coupled to the sample introduction device and a detector coupled to the oven is disclosed. In certain examples, the oven may be configured to receive a chromatography column in a space in the oven. In some examples, the oven may be constructed and arranged to provide a substantially constant temperature to the space during an analysis stage of the gas chromatography system. |
| US08701460B2 |
Method and system to compensate for temperature and pressure in piezo resistive devices
A method and system to calibrate temperature and pressure in piezo resistive devices for non-linear sensors having two variables, where a piezo resistive device such as a piezo resistive transducer (PRT) used for example in a pressure sensor system is calibrated to calculate actual/ambient temperature and pressure even though the PRT impedance is unbalanced relative to pressure. |
| US08701458B2 |
On-demand gas regulator for gas analyzer calibration
A gas regulating device for use in calibration of a gas analyzer has an inlet and an outlet, a valve arrangement comprising at least one valve, and valve regulator for regulating the at least one valve. The gas regulating device is intended to be connected between a calibration gas supply and a gas analyzer that is to be calibrated and the valve regulator is configured to regulate the at least one valve such that gas is allowed to flow through a gas flow path between the inlet and outlet only when a gas pressure in the gas flow path, between the at least one valve and the outlet, falls below a predetermined threshold value. The gas regulating device is used when calibrating side-stream gas analyzers in which case it reduces calibration gas consumption, prevents discharge of calibration gas into the ambient environment and prevents leakages jeopardizing correct calibration. |
| US08701457B2 |
Process and apparatus for positioning laminations
The present invention concerns a process and an apparatus for positioning blanks in a tool provided with at least one die, at least one locating device for centring the lamination and at least one stripper element for separating the blank from the locating device. The locating device has an engaging portion having shape and dimensions so as to engage the contour of a centring hole placed inside the profile of the lamination obtained as final product and having the shape of a portion previously blanked. |
| US08701455B2 |
Method for manufacturing a high alloy pipe
A method for manufacturing a high alloy pipe comprises hot working, a high alloy material pipe having controlled amounts of C, Si, Mn, P, S, Ni, Cr, Mo, Cu, Al, N, O, and optionally Ca, Mg, and rare earth elements, with the balance Fe. The pipe composition satisfies the formula N×O≦0.001. The pipe is subjected to cold working to form the high alloy pipe, wherein the final cold working process is performed under the condition that a working ratio Rd in the reduction of area satisfies 15≦Rd (%)≦370×(C+N), where N, O and C are the contents (by mass percent) of the respective elements, and Rd is the working ratio (%) in the reduction of area. The pipe has an excellent ductility and an excellent corrosion resistance when cold working is performed to obtain a high strength after pipe-making. |
| US08701454B2 |
Flow form tool mandrel
An apparatus includes a mandrel having a first end and a second end, the mandrel including a cavity formed therein, a pilot disposed in the cavity formed in the mandrel, a portion of the pilot extending outwardly from the first end of the mandrel, and an insert disposed in a channel formed in the mandrel and through an exterior surface of the mandrel, wherein a portion of the pilot abuts the insert and radial outward movement of the insert is caused by an axial movement of the pilot. |
| US08701452B2 |
Computer security device
A security device to secure a computer may include a substantially vertical pedestal, a fixed platform mounted on the pedestal, a clamping table to cooperate with the fixed platform to secure the computer and a locking assembly to allow the clamping table to be moved to allow the computer to be attached and released from the fixed platform in an unlocked state and to prevent the clamping table from being moved to hold the computer in a locked state, The locking assembly may include a locking knob to operate the locking assembly between the locked state and the unlocked state, and the locking knob may rotate freely in the locked state and rotates to allow the clamping table to be moved in the unlocked state. |
| US08701451B2 |
Laundry treating appliance with balancing system
A laundry treating appliance having a drum, defining a treating chamber, with a lifter and a balancing system having at least one balancing ring and a reservoir located in the lifter and a liquid supply system fluidly coupled to the reservoir. Liquid may be supplied to the ring and to the reservoir through the ring to offset an imbalance in a laundry load located within the drum. |
| US08701449B2 |
Water level/vibration sensing apparatus for washing machine and washing machine having the same
Disclosed herein are a water level/vibration sensing apparatus and a washing machine having the same. The water level/vibration sensing apparatus includes a housing provided with a pressure chamber communicating with an air inlet, a diaphragm unit moving forward and backward according to the variation of a pressure in the pressure chamber, a core and a coil forming a frequency varied according to the forward and backward movement of the diaphragm unit, and a collision member striking the diaphragm unit according to the movement of the housing. Therefore, the water level/vibration sensing apparatus simultaneously senses the washing water level and the vibration of the washing machine. |
| US08701448B2 |
Drum type washing machine
A washing machine includes a housing which forms an exterior of the washing machine and a tub mounted inside of the housing, the tub having an opening through which laundry may be inserted and removed. A drum is rotatably mounted inside of the tub, the drum having an opening substantially aligned with the opening of the tub, through which laundry may be inserted and removed. A foreign matter shield is configured to prevent foreign matter from entering a space between the tub and the drum by maintaining a gap between the opening of the drum and the tub at a predetermined size during movement of the drum relative to the tub from an initial position to a lower position. |
| US08701445B2 |
Optical fiber manufacturing apparatus and optical fiber manufacturing method
An optical fiber manufacturing apparatus for manufacturing an optical fiber by drawing a optical fiber preform, including: a drawing furnace having therein a muffle tube into which the optical fiber preform is inserted and heating the optical fiber preform; and a first seal member which is disposed at an insert side of the drawing furnace so as to be coaxial with the drawing furnace and which seals the optical fiber preform inserted into an opening formed at the center thereof, wherein the first seal member includes a plurality of inner-circumference slits formed in the inner circumference thereof and a plurality of outer-circumference slits formed in the outer circumference thereof. |
| US08701438B1 |
Reconfigurable bracelet system
A band has a major section of a major length with first and second free ends spaced by an opening of a minor length. First and second minor sections in a generally J-shaped configuration are coupled to each free end. The minor sections have lower, upper and intermediate segments. Each upper segment ends in a semicircular free tip. An opening is formed at each free tip. A decorative gem stone has an upper region in a generally dome-shaped configuration projecting above the upper segment. A topper is removably positioned within the opening and has a decorative center and opposed ends. The opposed ends include similarly configured first and second rings adapted to be removably coupled to the first and second minor sections of the band. |
| US08701436B2 |
Pivotable water dispenser for a refrigerator door
A refrigerator is provided to prevent sustaining of injuries by users, and which is capable of being hygienically used. The refrigerator prevents users sustaining injuries from inadvertently bumping into a dispenser or a tray when passing by the refrigerator. |
| US08701432B1 |
System and method of operation and control for a multi-source heat pump
A heat pump system having a heat pump unit that operates upon a heat exchange fluid. A ground heat exchanger and an ambient heat exchanger are provided. A first valve set is coupled to the heat pump unit, the ground heat exchanger and the ambient heat exchanger. The first valve set can interconnect the input of the heat pump to the ground heat exchanger or to the ambient heat exchanger. The first valve set can also interconnect the ground heat exchanger to the ambient heat exchanger. A second valve set is provided that interconnects the output of the heat pump unit to the ground heat exchanger or to the ambient heat exchanger. The second valve set can also interconnect the ground heat exchanger to the ambient heat exchanger. The multiple modes are offered by the first valve set and the second valve set. |
| US08701431B2 |
Air conditioner
An air conditioner is provided. The air conditioner includes: an indoor device installed at indoor; an outdoor device connected to the indoor device using a refrigerant pipe; a ventilation unit for exchanging heat of outdoor air and indoor air while ventilating indoor air and outdoor air; and a guidance duct for communicating the ventilation unit and an air inhalation portion of the outdoor device in order to guide indoor air exhausted from the ventilation unit to an air inhalation portion faulted in the outdoor device. Therefore, the number of ventilation holes to form in an outer wall of a building can be minimized, a construction cost can be reduced, and performance of the air conditioner can be improved. |
| US08701427B2 |
Fog detection error protection for window fog control
A method for controlling a vehicle HVAC system to automatically defog a windshield glass and to prevent fogging or condensation of the windshield glass. In-cabin air temperature and relative humidity are measured and used to determine a dewpoint. Further, ambient or outside temperature is measured. If windshield wipers are being used or if the cabin air temperature is less than a predetermined temperature, the ambient air temperature value is used as a glass temperature, otherwise the glass temperature is determined from the ambient air temperature and vehicle speed. A fog margin, which is a measure of the likelihood of fog formation, is based upon the difference between dewpoint and the windshield glass temperature. The fog margin is used to control the HVAC system to anticipate and respond to potential fogging conditions. |
| US08701426B2 |
Enhanced boiler
A method and apparatus for preventing loss of a cooling fluid from a boiler in an aircraft by incorporating an absorber material is provided. In some aspects, an apparatus may include a base section, a top section, a cooling fluid, and an absorber material disposed in the base section. The absorber material may be configured to retain the cooling fluid therein. The apparatus may further include a barrier disposed between the base and top sections. The barrier may be configured to retain the absorber material in the base section while allowing the cooling fluid to pass therethrough. |
| US08701425B2 |
Refrigeration air conditioning system
A refrigeration air conditioning system having a moisture adsorption means regenerated by discharged condensation heat or other discharged heat of a low temperature range in the refrigeration cycle, and exerting stable cooling performance even at a dry-bulb temperature of 0° C. or less. A desiccant rotor, holds an adsorbent having pore sizes of, for example, 1-1.4 nm in a space at a predetermined temperature range of a dry-bulb temperature of 0° C. or less. Forming of frost on an evaporator is prevented by supplying the dehumidified air by the desiccant rotor to the evaporator disposed on a leeward side thereof in a freezing room as the desiccant rotor is rotated, while the adsorbent having adsorbed moisture is dried and recovers its adsorbing ability by supplying the air dried by discharged heat from a condenser on the windward side thereof to the desiccant rotor outside of the freezing room. |
| US08701423B2 |
Dual mode automobile air-conditioning system and methods of use
The present inventive disclosure is directed generally to an improved automobile air-conditioning system that can be operated while the automobile's engine is not running. In variations, a typical vapor-compression-cycle air-conditioning system is modified to allow the refrigerant compressor to be driven from either of two power sources: (1) from a traditional engine-mounted pulley system, or (2) from a DC-motor powered by an electrical source independent from the engine. In another variation, the air-conditioning system is driven by one or more thermal-electric-cooling (TEC) modules, wherein the TEC-based system is powered by an auxiliary DC-power source that in some variations is powered by, or at least supplemented by, a solar-energy grid. Additionally, a variation of the modified automobile air-conditioning system includes both the modified-compressor-based system and the TEC-based system, wherein the compressor-based system is used to initially cool-down an automobile passenger compartment, then is shutdown in favor of the TEC-based system. |
| US08701415B2 |
Flexible metallic seal for transition duct in turbine system
A turbine system is disclosed. In one embodiment, the turbine system includes a transition duct. The transition duct includes an inlet, an outlet, and a passage extending between the inlet and the outlet and defining a longitudinal axis, a radial axis, and a tangential axis. The outlet of the transition duct is offset from the inlet along the longitudinal axis and the tangential axis. The transition duct further includes an interface member for interfacing with a turbine section. The turbine system further includes a flexible metallic seal contacting the interface member to provide a seal between the interface member and the turbine section. |
| US08701411B2 |
Heating medium supply system, integrated solar combined cycle electric power generation system and method of controlling these systems
A heating medium supply system is provided which, even when a temperature fluctuation of a heating medium occurs continuously, is capable of relieving a bad thermal influence upon a heat exchanging device due to the temperature fluctuation. The heating medium supply system includes: a heating system configured to heat a liquid heating medium by sunlight; a heat exchanging device configured to heat feedwater; heating medium supply piping for circulating the heating medium; a heating medium temperature detecting device, a heating medium flow rate detecting device and a first heating medium flow control valve; and a control device capable of calculating a value of supply thermal energy from results of detections by the heating medium temperature detecting device and the heating medium flow rate detecting device and controlling an operation of the heating medium flow control valve based on the value of supply thermal energy thus calculated. |
| US08701409B2 |
Method and system for a turbocharged engine
Methods and systems are provided for a boosted engine having a split intake system coupled to a split exhaust system. Aircharges of differing composition, pressure, and temperature may be delivered to the engine through the split intake system at different points of an engine cycle. In this way, boost and EGR benefits may be extended. |
| US08701405B2 |
Method of starting a heat engine
A method of starting a heat engine includes exposing an element of the heat engine to a source of thermal energy provided by a temperature difference between a heat source having a first temperature and a heat sink having a second temperature that is lower than the first temperature. The element is formed from a first shape memory alloy having a crystallographic phase changeable between austenite and martensite at a first transformation temperature in response to the temperature difference between the heat source and the heat sink. The method further includes changing the crystallographic phase of the first shape memory alloy to thereby convert thermal energy to mechanical energy, and inducing initial movement of the element in a desired operational direction to thereby start the heat engine. |
| US08701404B2 |
System and method for electrically-coupled thermal cycle
In one embodiment according to the invention, there is provided a method for generating electrical energy using a thermal cycle of a working gas. The method comprises using the motion of a piston in a cylinder, containing the working gas performing the thermal cycle, to electromagnetically induce current in an electrical circuit coupled to the cylinder; using the electrical circuit to store the electrical energy, produced by the current induced in the electrical circuit, in an electrical storage device; and using the electrical energy stored in the electrical storage device to electromagnetically provide a motive force to the piston. Cyclically using the electrical circuit to store the electrical energy and using the stored energy to provide a motive force to the piston effect a net positive average power transfer into the electrical storage device over the course of the thermal cycle. |
| US08701394B2 |
Electrically heated catalytic device and vehicle equipped with electrically heated catalytic device
An electrically heated catalytic device includes an electrically heated catalyst accommodated in an outer casing provided on an exhaust pipe. A heater ring made of an insulating material is provided adjacent to an outer peripheral edge portion of an upstream end face of the electrically heated catalyst. The heat of the electrically heated catalyst is transferred to the heater ring by generating resistive heat in the electrically heated catalyst. When the soot in exhaust gas accumulates on the surface of the heater ring, the deposits of soot is removed through combustion by the heat from the surface of the heater ring. |
| US08701390B2 |
Adaptive control strategy
A vehicle has an exhaust aftertreatment system including an LNT. The vehicle operates through a series of ignition cycles, deNOX cycles, and deSOX cycles. DeNOX operations begin when the LNT reaches a loading threshold. The applicable threshold depends on operating conditions, such as mean LNT temperature and mean exhaust flow rate. The thresholds are adapted based on NOX removal efficiency data. The data is compared to target values. The target values depend on the operating condition range, but remain fixed while the thresholds are adapted. NOX removal efficiency is measured over intervals corresponding to entire deNOX cycles. The data is sorted into bins according to operating conditions. The adaptations are only made if a bin has several data points accumulated over a minimum interval that is at least one ignition or deSOX cycle, preferably several. The method provides stable adaptations that compensate for aging. |
| US08701389B2 |
Reagent injector control system
A reagent injector control system includes a pulse width modulation (PWM) control module and an injector driver module. The PWM control module monitors current through a reagent injector during an injection control cycle, generates a PWM signal based on an amount of reagent to be injected during the injection control cycle, and at least one of selectively increases and selectively decreases a duty cycle of a PWM signal during the injection control cycle based on the current. The injector driver module selectively enables and disables the current based on the PWM signal. The reagent injector opens and injects a reagent into an exhaust system based on the current. The exhaust system receives exhaust output from an engine. The reagent reacts with nitrogen oxides (NOx). |
| US08701388B2 |
Exhaust treatment methods and systems
A method of controlling an exhaust treatment system, comprising: selectively determining a first control state from a plurality of control states based on an exhaust temperature and a plurality of activation temperatures; estimating a reductant dose based on the control state; and controlling an injection of a reductant to the exhaust treatment system based on the reductant dose. |
| US08701387B2 |
Exhaust gas treatment device
An engaging groove (47) with which a gasket (42) is engaged is provided in each of a front side projecting portion (44) and a rear side projecting portion (46) formed in a filter accommodating cylinder (37) to be positioned on an outer peripheral surface (44A, 46A) of each projecting portion (44, 46). Therefore, when the gasket (42) latches on each of the projecting portion (44; 46) to be fitted thereon from an outside, the gasket (42) can be engaged with the engaging groove (47) provided in each of the projecting portions (44, 46). In consequence, at the time of mounting and removing the filter accommodating cylinder (37), the falling-off of the gasket (42) can be prevented, and, for example, an inspection operation, a cleaning operation and the like of an accommodated particulate matter removing filter (41) can be easily performed. |
| US08701384B2 |
Hall effect thruster with cooling of the internal ceramic
The invention relates to the field of Hall effect thrusters. The invention provides a Hall effect thruster having a discharge channel of annular shape extending along an axis, the discharge channel being defined by an outer wall of annular shape and an inner wall of annular shape situated inside the space defined by the outer wall, a cathode situated outside the discharge channel, and an injector system situated at the upstream end of the discharge channel and also forming an anode, the downstream end of the discharge channel being open, wherein the thruster includes a heat sink device comprising a heat sink in contact with the inner wall and of thermal conductivity that is greater than the thermal conductivity of the inner wall, the heat sink being a sleeve and the heat sink device being suitable for discharging heat from the inner wall to the outside of the thruster so as to reduce the temperature difference between the inner wall and the outer wall. |
| US08701377B1 |
Dual bladed walk power mower with timed blade drive system carried on an apron of a power source mount
A walk power mower has a mower deck that encloses a pair of rotary cutting blades with the grass clippings from the blades being discharged through a rearwardly extending grass discharge tunnel in a rear bagging mode of operation. The blades are powered by a timed drive system that is carried by a horizontal apron that is part of a cast aluminum engine mount. The engine mount and the apron are bolted to a stamped steel deck shell that forms the cutting chamber in which the blades rotate. The mower has a side discharge mode in which a side discharge chute is releasably mounted over a side discharge opening. The chute carries a flow cutoff baffle having an inwardly protruding inner end that sticks through the side discharge opening to intercept and direct the clippings out through the side discharge opening and through the chute in the side discharge mode. |
| US08701373B2 |
Flashing member with a compensation member, a kit including such a flashing member and a method for mounting a flashing for a roof window
The invention relates to a flashing member for use with a roof window mounted on an upstand, said flashing member having at least one insulating member and a compensation member on the inner side. The compensation member, which allows use of one flashing member for different angles of the window, is preferably compressible, expandable or provided with removal indications, such as cutting lines, for allowing an easy removable of a part thereof as well as elastic. A kit including at least one such flashing member may include corner flashing members, gable flashing members, a ridge flashing members and/or supplementary insulating members. The invention further relates to a method for mounting a flashing for a roof window mounted on an upstand, where one or more connector brackets are attached to the window and where the/each flashing member is attached to the window frame via at least one connector bracket. |
| US08701368B2 |
Set of panels
A set of panels comprises a first panel having a first edge including an undercut which accommodates a fastening member, and a second panel having a second edge including a locking region. The first and second edges are positioned adjacent to each other when the panels are fastened to each other by means of the fastening member. The fastening member comprises a displaceable activating portion and a locking portion which is displaceable with respect to the first panel upon displacement of the activating portion in opposite direction of the displacement of the activating portion such that the locking portion engages the locking region of the second panel when the panels are fastened to each other by means of the fastening member. The activating portion is intended to be contacted by the second panel upon moving the second panel and the first panel with respect to each other to a fastened condition and the locking portion is intended to fasten the first and second panels with respect to each other at least perpendicularly to the direction of displacement of the locking portion. The activating portion is spaced from the locking portion in a direction substantially parallel to the first edge. |
| US08701366B2 |
Insulated metal roofing systems and related methods
An insulated roof deck system which can be used in installing metal roofs is set forth. The system includes a plurality of metal purlins (10), a plurality of metal roof panels (2), a plurality of thermal insulation blocks (4), cleats (14), and threaded fasteners (12). The metal purlins (10) can form a parallel array of purlins. The metal roof panels (2) can be attached to the metal purlins (10) in the parallel array. The thermal insulation blocks (4) can be disposed between the metal purlin (10) and the metal roof panel (2). The cleat (14) can be disposed between the thermal insulation blocks (4) and the metal roof panel (2) and has a protrusion which is capable of securing the thermal insulation block (4) and inhibits lateral movement between the thermal insulation block (4) and the cleat (14). The threaded fastener (12) secures the metal roof panel (2), the cleat (14), and the thermal insulation block (4) to the metal purlin (10). The threaded fastener (12) can include one or more unthreaded regions sufficient to reduce or prevent over-tightening during use. |
| US08701361B2 |
Rooftop system with integrated photovoltaic modules and method for constructing the same
This invention provides a novel design of a rooftop with structurally and functionally integrated photovoltaic modules that includes photovoltaic modules, which can be commercially available and which are augmented with additional framing including additional structural and functional layers. The modules are mounted on a grid like supporting structure sitting on vertical elevation structures, such as building walls or columns. The design enables cost reduction, fast installation and improved performance of rooftops with photovoltaic power. |
| US08701359B2 |
Cast structural connectors
A cast structural connector connects a structural member, such as a hollow structural section (HSS) or wide flange (W) section member, to a structural frame. The connector is particularly suited for lateral bracing and includes a first end configured to receive the structural member and be welded to the structural member, a second end for connecting to the structural frame, and an intermediate portion. The first end includes beveling allowing compatibility with structural members of varying sizes and enabling complete joint penetration welding thereby developing the full axial strength of the structural member. The intermediate portion provides for transmission of forces as the frame deforms, for example, under severe seismic conditions, and can include a flexural plastic hinge portion. The connector can be welded to the structural frame or connected by a standard fabricated end connection, such as a gusset plate. Casting manufacturing allows for mass production of the connector. |
| US08701357B2 |
Modular construction systems and methods
In certain embodiments, the inventive subject matter is directed to modular subunit based on a has a frame having three equal length structural segments joined at each end to form a triangular shape, and wherein the structural segments form a bounded section. The bounded section may be a load bearing structure. The bounded section may include three trapezoidal elements arranged to form a triangle. The bounded section may include one of the following: SIP, flooring system, a ceiling system, a roofing system, glass, drop panels, empty. A modular unit may be formed having two of the triangular frames separated by a perpendicular column at each corner to form a normal right pentahedral shape; and wherein the triangular frame further comprising three equal length structural segments joined at each end forming a triangular shape; wherein the structural segments form a bounded section. |
| US08701353B2 |
Deployable door handle for vehicles
A flush door handle includes a powered actuator that shifts the handle from a fully retracted position to an intermediate position. A user can then grasp the handle, and pull the handle to a fully open position to thereby unlatch the door latch. After a user releases the handle, it shifts to a closed position due to spring force or a powered actuator. The door latch may also comprise a fully powered version wherein the handle shifts from a closed position to an open position, and a powered door latch releases the door latch if predefined conditions are detected. |
| US08701348B2 |
Slide door device for vehicle
Provided is a slide door device for a vehicle, including: a body side lower rail disposed below a door opening formed on a side of a vehicle body and extends in a front-rear direction; a body side rail disposed above the body side lower rail and behind the door opening and extends in the front-rear direction; a door side lower guide roller unit and a door side guide roller unit connected to a slide door and configured to slide on the body side lower rail and the body side rail respectively; a door side lower rail disposed in a lower portion of the slide door positioned below the floor surface in the door opening and extends in the front-rear direction; and a body side lower guide roller unit connected to the lower portion of the door opening and configured to slide on the door side lower rail. |
| US08701346B2 |
Combined modular sealing systems and seal activation system for door/window
A combination sealing system and seal activation system for use with a combination of a panel and a frame includes a plurality of sealing systems and a seal activation systems. Each of the sealing systems include an anchor, at least one movable member, and an actuator. The anchor engages one of the panel and the frame, and the anchor movable from a first position to a second position towards the panel. The at least one movable member is positioned in an other of the panel and the frame and moves the anchor between the first position and the second position. The actuator is connected to the at least one movable member and drives the at least one movable member. The seal activation system is connected to each of the actuators of the plurality of sealing systems. |
| US08701342B2 |
Bouquet making apparatus and method
A bouquet making apparatus comprises a plurality of bouquet forms movably supported at spaced locations along a conveying device. Each bouquet form includes upper and lower stem supports that hold bouquet elements, such as flowers, at an angle with respect to vertical. As each bouquet maker travels along the conveying device, workers spaced along the conveying device sequentially insert sets of flowers into upper and lower stem supports until each bouquet maker hold a final bouquet set. Each of the final bouquet sets are removed from the bouquet form and secured with a fastener, thereby forming a plurality of twisted stem-type bouquets having a substantially identical design appearance. |
| US08701340B2 |
Methods and apparatus for improving plant growth
A mechanical device including two concentric space frame structures is used to enhance plant growth. Essentially identical in shape but with the inner space frame smaller than the outer by a 4:5 relationship the space frame structures independently rotate about a common axes line. Each space frame consists of a right square pyramid of rods with its apex pointing upward and a second similar pyramid directly below it by a distance approximately two and one half times the length of each rod comprising the pyramid. The second, lower pyramid however has its apex pointing downward and is turned 45-degrees about a line connecting the two apex points. Eight additional rods complete each space frame. They each, respectively connect a corner of the upper pyramid base to a corner of the lower pyramid base in a manner that is symmetric. |
| US08701339B1 |
Vacuum-based pest capture container
The vacuum-based pest capture container works in-line between an automated vacuum-based pest control system and an existing vacuum cleaner in order to detect a pest, operate the vacuum cleaner in order to generate a vacuum force capable of sucking said pest into the container for capture. The container includes an inlet opposite of an outlet, which enables fluid communication between the automated pest control system and a vacuum hose. The inlet features a one-way flap that opens inwardly upon reaction to a vacuum force generated by said vacuum; whereas the outlet includes a fixed screen so as to prevent a pest from traversing through the container. The container includes a removable lid to enable extraction of a caught pest from within. A handle shall be provided to enable articulation of the container as needed. |
| US08701338B1 |
Automated vacuum-based pest control system
The automated vacuum-based pest control system features a clear tube into which a sensing means and baiting means are located sequentially along the length of the tube. The tube attaches to the hose of an existing vacuum cleaner, and upon turning on said vacuum cleaner shall suck in and trap a pest allured via the bating means. The vacuum system includes a waste bin, which can be accessed to remove the trapped pest regardless of whether the pest is exterminated or relocated. The sensing means includes a plug that plugs into a standard wall outlet and is wired engaged to a switch that turns on or off the vacuum cleaner upon detection of a pest via the sensing means. |
| US08701336B2 |
Pest control device
An improved pest control device having a bottom, two side walls, two end walls with holes therethrough to permit an animal to enter, and a lid, with a bait holder inside the trap, which may optionally be raised off of the floor of the trap and magnets positioned near the top edge of at least two of the walls to secure the trap to a dumpster, thereby holding the lid in the closed position when the trap is secured to the dumpster to prevent access to the bait other than through the holes in the end walls. |
| US08701333B2 |
Fishing device
A fishing device, for use with a reel and rod combination having fishing line with attached terminal tackle, includes a base, an indicator device, a trigger mechanism, and a line device. The base has a hole and slot configuration to allow a fishing line to feed through the base. The indicator device is coupled to the base and is configured to indicate the presence of a fish. The trigger mechanism is configured to cause the indicator device to pop up when the trigger device is activated. The line device attaches to the fishing line and is configured to activate the trigger mechanism. When a fish pulls on the terminal tackle, the line device activates the trigger mechanism that causes the indicator device to pop-up indicating to a user the presence of a fish. |
| US08701329B2 |
Frame scratch prevention tool
A method for disassembling a pistol that includes the steps of coupling a tool to the pistol so that a portion of the pistol is interposed within a retaining aperture formed within the tool, removing a second portion of a slide stop from a notch formed within the frame, removing a first portion of the slide stop from an aperture formed within the frame of the pistol and rotating the second portion of the slide stop to an axis defined by the first portion of the slide stop as the second portion of the slide stop is permitted to contact the tool to prevent a scratch on a portion of the pistol that is prone to being scratched by the second portion of the slide stop. |
| US08701324B1 |
Forward facing thumb tab for firearms
A firearm slide stop having a forward facing thumb tab mounted within a semi-automatic handgun. The firearm slide stop having a forward facing thumb tab functions to give a visual indication when the firearm has expended all loaded ammunition. Firearm slide stop having a forward facing thumb tab also functions and facilitates faster re-loading by removing the step of pulling back the slide of firearm to advance the first round of a new magazine by replacing the magazine and activating a push-button or lever release to load the first cartridge into the chamber. The firearm slide stop having a forward facing thumb tab functions while accommodating a user utilizing variable firearm gripping techniques. Specifically, the user using current recoil control gripping techniques, may grasp firearm without interfering with the functionality of the slide stop and specifically the thumb tab. |
| US08701323B2 |
Rolling information display for roller grill
In one aspect, a rolling information display apparatus for use with a roller grill includes an elongated envelope. A cap is removably positioned over at least one opening of the envelope. An information bearing medium is removably positioned inside the envelope. In one embodiment, a sealing member is disposed to create a substantially watertight seal over at least one opening of the envelope. In another aspect, a rolling information display apparatus for use with a roller grill is a cylindrical rolling member having one or more rolling surfaces rolling in contact with heated rolling surfaces of the grill. The cylindrical rolling member also has one or more recessed surfaces bearing information about food items offered for sale on the grill. The recessed surfaces are provided in regions of the rolling member that are of diameter less than regions of the rolling member in which the rolling surfaces are provided. |
| US08701318B2 |
Angle adjustment apparatus of image display module
An angle adjustment apparatus of an image display module includes a display panel configured to have image display devices arranged and disposed therein; fixture frames disposed on the upper and lower sides of the display panel, respectively; rotation frames disposed on one side and the other side of the display panel, respectively; and step angle adjustment units disposed between the auxiliary frames of the display panel and the rotation frames and configured to adjust an angle of the rotation frames by stepwise moving the rotation frames at a constant angle when the rotation frames are rotated. The angle adjustment apparatus can reduce the time taken to install and dismantle image display modules because the angle adjustment work of an image display module is easy and can adjust the angle of the image display module precisely by moving the image display modules at a constant angle stepwise. |
| US08701314B2 |
Fluid jets
A fluid jet apparatus includes a body having a fluid flow path defined between a fluid inlet and a fluid outlet. A thrust device is mounted within the fluid flow path to direct in use a flow of fluid along the fluid flow path. At least a portion of the fluid flow path includes a duct. The thrust device includes a propeller mounted within the duct. The apparatus further includes a plate spaced from the fluid inlet defining a space therebetween. A plurality of elongate pivotable vanes is positioned in a generally circular orientation in the space and about the axis of the flow path and with their pivoting axes aligned with the axis of the flow path. The thrust device is adapted to rotate in a direction opposite the direction of flow of fluid through the vanes into the space. |
| US08701313B2 |
Blade assembly for an excavating apparatus
An improved blade assembly for an excavating apparatus having a front wall with a raised concave center section with sloping side gussets on each side of the center section for directing excavated material from the center to the side of the blade is described. There are improvements to the side gussets to further assist in directing excavated material, improvements to the shape of the front wall of the blade to retain excavated material and improved mountings to the dozer to improve blade control and balance and discharging of excavated material. |
| US08701311B2 |
Top of the boot
A tube of material comprising a decorative portion with an inner layer having an attachment member(s) inserted therein. The attachment member(s) is connected to the rim of a boot through user interaction with the boot. Various jewelry items have connection member(s) attached to the inner layer. Each of the connection member(s) is attached to another connection member and or to a decorative jewelry item. A tube comprising a decorative portion; an inner layer sewn at its border to the decorative portion; and a sock sewn to a top side of the sewn border so that it folds inwards into the sock. A connection member(s) is attached to the inner layer. Each of the connection member(s) is further attached to another connection member and or to a decorative jewelry item. The connection member(s) is from the group of: a spring activated jeweler's lock, a keychain ring and a strip of material. |
| US08701308B2 |
Fluid heater, manufacturing method thereof, substrate processing apparatus including fluid heater, and substrate processing method
A fluid heater includes a duct pipe through which a fluid to be heated flows, and a heating part configured to heat the duct pipe. One or more fillers is provided inside the duct pipe. A substrate processing apparatus includes: a supply source configured to supply a liquid of a volatile organic solvent; the aforementioned fluid heater configured to heat the liquid of the organic solvent supplied by the supply source so as to generate a steam of the organic solvent; and a chamber configured to accommodate a substrate W and to dry the substrate W accommodated therein, to which the steam of the organic solvent generated by the fluid heater is supplied. |
| US08701304B2 |
Measuring tool for vehicle pedals
A tool measures the vertical distance and lateral distance between a brake pedal pad and an accelerator pedal pad. A base plate lies atop the brake pedal pad. A first measuring plate is mounted on the base plate for movement laterally toward and away from the accelerator pedal pad. A second measuring plate is mounted on the first measuring plate for movement laterally with the first measuring plate to engage a lateral edge of the accelerator pedal pad and for movement vertically to engage with a top surface of the accelerator pedal pad. First measuring indicia provided on the base plate and the first measuring plate reads the lateral distance between the brake pedal pad and the accelerator pedal pad. And a second measuring indicia provided on the first measuring plate and the second measuring plate reads the vertical height between the brake pedal pad and the accelerator pedal pad. |
| US08701302B2 |
Quick composite repair template tool and method
A composite repair template tool includes a tool body, a convex radius edge on the tool body and a concave radius edge on the tool body. |
| US08701296B2 |
Shaving foil for an electric shaving apparatus
A shaving foil for an electric shaving apparatus. The shaving foil includes a perforated region with a plurality of holes which are separated from each other by bars. The perforated region is divided at least into two zones, preferably a central zone, a first edge zone, and a second edge zone. The central zone is arranged between the first edge zone and the second edge zone. The holes in the central zone have (i) an average size which is smaller than the average size of the holes in the first edge zone and in the second edge zone, (ii) a floating mean value of the size of the openings in the central zone smaller than a floating mean value of the size of the openings in the first edge zone and the second edge zone, or both (i) and (ii). |
| US08701293B2 |
Utility knife
A utility knife includes an elongaged handle having an internal cavity, two opposing ends and a side having at least one locking opening. A shuttle is sized to slide within the cavity and has a side surface. The shuttle has a spring-loaded locking button projecting from the side surface and into the handle. The button is sized and shaped to selectively project into the at least one locking opening. The shuttle is bonded to a conventionally shaped utility knife blade of the type which includes two opposing cutting regions. The shuttle can slide within the handle between the two opposing ends so that both cutting regions of the blade can be easily used as necessary. This utility knife is meant to be lost cost and disposable, but offers the user TWO cutting edges, doubling its effective use. |
| US08701290B2 |
Method of making compressible elastomeric spring
A method of making a compressible elastomeric spring including at least one compressible elastomeric pad enclosed by a pair of metal plates includes the steps of forming plates with a center aperture and a plurality of prongs positioned about a peripheral edge thereof, forming each end of the pad with an axial projection and abutting groove, aligning the plurality of prongs with each respective projection and respective groove and applying axial force to one end of the spring to frictionally interlock the plurality of prongs with such projection and groove. The method also provides for making a multi-tiered stack of pads separated by plates in the above described manner and pre-shortening the spring prior to installation into the conventional yoke. The above described method additionally improves axial straightness and lateral stability of the multi-tiered spring assembly. |
| US08701287B2 |
Method for aerodynamically shaping the leading edge of blisk blades
For shaping the leading edge (1) of blisk blades (2), the shape, amount and disposition of the material to be removed in a subsequent grinding and polishing process is determined beforehand over the entire blade length. The blade leading edge is milled such that an elliptical profile (3) has a material allowance (7) which over the length of the leading edge exactly corresponds to an expected material removal during the grinding and polishing process, so that a blisk blade is produced whose leading edge features an aerodynamically advantageous shape. |
| US08701282B2 |
Method for manufacturing a biosensor
A sensor utilizing a non-leachable or diffusible redox mediator is described. The sensor includes a sample chamber to hold a sample in electrolytic contact with a working electrode, and in at least some instances, the sensor also contains a non-leachable or a diffusible second electron transfer agent. The sensor and/or the methods used produce a sensor signal in response to the analyte that can be distinguished from a background signal caused by the mediator. The invention can be used to determine the concentration of a biomolecule, such as glucose or lactate, in a biological fluid, such as blood or serum, using techniques such as coulometry, amperometry; and potentiometry. An enzyme capable of catalyzing the electrooxidation or electroreduction of the biomolecule is typically provided as a second electron transfer agent. |
| US08701281B2 |
Substrate metallization and ball attach metallurgy with a novel dopant element
Surface-active dopants are added to a portion of a circuit package before a reflow process to promote wetting and reduce the formation of solder bump bridges. The circuit package has a solder element that electrically connects the circuit package to a substrate. A reflow process is performed to attach the solder element to a pad on the circuit package. During the reflow process, the surface-active dopants diffuse to the surface of the solder element and form an oxide passivation layer on the surface of the solder element. |
| US08701279B2 |
Method for assembling an electronic device
An electronic device is provided. The device may include a plate placed behind a screen formed from a window and a display module to provide the screen with additional stiffness (e.g., resist dropping events).The window may be maintained in the electronic device by trapping the window between a bezel and the display module. In some embodiments, the window may include a chamfered edge operative to be received by a recessed edge in the bezel. In some embodiments, the input mechanism of the electronic device may be metallic and need to be grounded, but may be surrounded by plastic or other non-grounding components. The device may include screws operative to pass through a circuit board to reach a frame, which may serve as a ground, where the screws are located in proximity of the button. In some embodiments, the circuit board may include an additional component for grounding the button. |
| US08701278B2 |
Method for attaching a connector to a prepared coaxial cable
A device is provided to attach a connector having an internally threaded base and external threads to a cable having a casing. The device includes a body having a bore therethrough. At least a portion of the bore is threaded and the external threads on the connector are threaded into the threads of the bore until a stop surface in the bore is engaged by a portion of the connector. The device may then be turned to thread the base onto the casing of the cable. |
| US08701274B2 |
Method for manufacturing a magnetic head
A manner for stabilizing the shield domain structure is described that employs the magnetic field of a hard bias layer. More particularly, it has been found that the shield domain structure is stabilized when the height of the hard bias layer in the depth direction is made substantially half the height of upper shield layer. In another embodiment of the invention, a stabilizing structure is provided at approximately the midpoint of the shield in order to fix the closure domain of the shield to the desired two-domain structure. In an embodiment of the invention, the stabilizing structure is made convex or concave as viewed from the air-bearing surface. |
| US08701269B2 |
Methods for forming female connectors integral with the stator winding conductors
Methods for forming female connectors integral with stator winding conductors, thereby avoiding the necessity of using a separate female connector. A typical connector in accordance with the present invention has a first length of the wire adjacent an end of the wire striped of insulation, and a second length of the wire adjacent the end not greater than the first length of wire being bent in a substantially closed loop, the loop preferably being pressed flat so as to have a thickness less than the wire. Also preferably the wire bends in a first direction and then bends in a circular arc to form the loop, the center of the loop being substantially aligned with a center of the wire. Various embodiments are disclosed as are exemplary simple methods for forming the female connector. |
| US08701268B2 |
Composite showerhead electrode assembly for a plasma processing apparatus
A method of forming an elastomeric sheet adhesive bond between mating surfaces of an electrode and a backing member to accommodate stresses generated during temperature cycling due to mismatch in coefficients of thermal expansion. The elastomeric sheet comprises a thermally conductive silicone adhesive able to withstand a high shear strain of ≧300% in a temperature range of room temperature to 300° C. such as heat curable high molecular weight dimethyl silicone with fillers. Installation can be manually, manually with installation tooling, or with automated machinery. |
| US08701261B2 |
Air handler quick sling
Apparatus for hanging a High Voltage Air Conditioning unit having an arm attached at its top end to a support member, a bar slidably coupled to the arm having a first horizontally extending arm at the bottom of the bar to form a J bar, and a second horizontally extending arm attached to the bottom of the J bar above the first horizontally extending arm. Clearance openings in the arm and J bar for fasteners for attaching the arm to the J bar to raise or lower the horizontally extending arms for units of different heights. Coupling sleeves coupled to the horizontally extending arms and extension member have lengths that provide for HVAC units of different widths and are adapted to be removably attached to coupling sleeves on an opposing J bar. The second horizontally extending arm and extension member provides support an HVAC unit; and the first provides to support a drain pan. |
| US08701260B1 |
Removal of aircraft window reveal
A window reveal is secured to an aircraft interior sidewall panel by a plurality of clips. Each clip engages a tab on the reveal. A method for removing the reveal includes using a tool to disengage the clips. The tool includes a tapered portion having tips separated by a notch. Using the tool includes inserting the tapered portion into a slot in the reveal with the tab received in the notch, and pressing the tips through the slot until a back of the notch abuts against the tab and stops the movement of the tips. The notch has a depth that allows the tips to press against the clip, yet stops the tips from damaging the clip. |
| US08701258B2 |
Jet pump diffuser weld repair device and method
A jet pump diffuser weld repair device includes a lower ring section and an upper ring section respectively sized to fit around a circumference of the diffuser on opposite sides of the weld to be repaired. The lower and upper ring sections are provided with a plurality of aligned gripper slots. A corresponding plurality of grippers are fit into the gripper slots, where at least one of the gripper slots and the grippers defines cam surfaces shaped to drive the grippers radially inward as lower and upper ring sections are drawn toward each other. A plurality of connector bolts are secured between the lower ring section and the upper ring section. Tightening of the connector bolts draws the lower and upper ring sections toward each other. |
| US08701257B2 |
Work holding devices
A work holding device that secures a workpiece includes a first support column, a second support column, and a plurality of part fixturing anchors. The first support column and the second support column are coupled to one another forming a longitudinal loading envelope having a width-wise dimension, a height-wise dimension, and a length-wise dimension. At least one of the support columns includes a plurality of part fixturing recesses passing through the support column in the width-wise dimension and arranged within the height-wise dimension and the length-wise dimension of the longitudinal loading envelope. The part fixturing anchors extend through the support column at the part fixturing recesses into the longitudinal loading envelope and couple the workpiece to the first and second support columns. |
| US08701256B2 |
Removing material from surfaces of metals processing chambers
Methods and apparatus for removing condensed metal from the surfaces of metal processing chambers, such as, vacuum induction melting (VIM) furnaces having, for example, condensed Mg or Ti, are disclosed. The methods and apparatus provide a robotic arm end positioned in the furnace having a nozzle operatively connected to a source of dry ice. The robotic arm end directs a stream of dry ice particles against the surface of the furnace to displace condensed metal. The displaced metal is collected for reuse or disposal. Aspects of the invention provide a safe and automated process for cleaning process chambers and recovering metal that can typically be dangerous when performed by conventional methods. |
| US08701253B2 |
Slide fastener
A slide fastener in which a fastener element has first and second leg portions continuously disposed at both ends of the coupling head is folded in half at its center, and the first leg portion is attached to a coupling element attaching portion of a fastener tape by a sewing thread. A vulnerable portion which is cut out into a V is formed on the bent end face of the coupling head. |
| US08701245B2 |
Height adjustment mechanism for a vacuum cleaner
A vacuum cleaner including a handle and a base. The base includes a housing, a nozzle defining an inlet of the vacuum cleaner, and a lift assembly including a guide member configured to support the base on a surface. The vacuum further includes a height adjustment mechanism including a knob and a ramp. The knob is operable to rotate the ramp with respect to the housing, and the lift assembly is coupled to the ramp such that the lift assembly moves along the ramp to move the inlet from the lower position to the upper position in response to rotation of the ramp by the knob. The ramp includes a first end that defines a lower position of the inlet and a second end that defines an upper position of the inlet, and the ramp has a continuous incline from the first end to the second end. |
| US08701240B2 |
Lens cleaning mechanism, projection lens, and projection type display device
A lens cleaning mechanism according to the present invention comprises: a cleaning unit (1a) that covers a standby area being a part of the surface of a front lens element (11), as the standby area is pressed, the cleaning unit (1a) being rotationally moved along the surface of the front lens element (11) to slide over the entire surface of the front lens element (11), including a remaining part of the surface and the standby area; a drive unit (3) connected to a holding member (1b); and a control unit (2) for rotationally moving the cleaning unit (1a) by driving the drive unit (3). |
| US08701239B2 |
Oral care device
A toothbrush head with a bristle support to which a plurality of tuft-shaped cleaning elements are affixed is described. The bristle support including at least one movable rocker having a first end attached to it on the side remote from a handpiece and having a free second end which is on the side close to the handpiece. Said rocker carrying at least one row of cleaning elements. At least the cleaning elements arranged on the rocker furthest from a longitudinal center plane of the toothbrush head have their free ends inwardly tilted towards said longitudinal center plane at an acute angle. |
| US08701236B2 |
Electric toothbrush
An electric toothbrush includes a handle housing a motor and a drive shaft. A brushing member includes a base removably secured to the handle. The base supports at least two brushes, each configured to rotate about separate axes, and at least one input shaft operatively coupling the drive shaft to the brushes. In one example, the handle includes an articulateable joint operatively connected to the brushing member and configured to permit the axes to cant relative to the handle. |
| US08701234B2 |
Pig receiver assembly
A pig receiver and method retrieve pigs in pipeline pigging operations. In one embodiment, a pig receiver includes a pig receiver unit. The pig receiver also includes a pig gate valve assembly disposed on the pig receiving unit. The pig gate valve assembly includes a gate valve. The pig gate valve assembly also includes a first actuator and a second actuator. The pig gate valve assembly further includes a cylinder guide. In addition, the pig gate valve assembly includes a tie bar. Actuation of the tie bar actuates the gate valve. An end of the tie bar is attached to the first actuator, and an opposing end of the tie bar is attached to the second actuator. |
| US08701230B2 |
Core instability system
A system to cause instability for a person supported by a person support surface is disclosed. The system is configured to cause the person supported by the person support surface to compensate for the instability caused by the system in order to exercise their core or trunk region. |
| US08701227B2 |
Mattress with attachment panels for removable attachment to a mattress support
An adjustable bed is provided having a mattress, a mattress support, and an attachment panel for removably attaching the mattress to the mattress support. The attachment panel can be disposed along at least a portion of at least one side of the mattress and extends below a bottom surface of the mattress. The attachment panel is attached to an underside of the mattress support. |
| US08701222B2 |
Sanitary washing device
A sanitary washing device includes: a water discharge nozzle configured to squirt water from a water discharge port; a first channel configured to guide water supplied from a water supply source to the water discharge nozzle; a first channel opening/closing valve provided in the first channel and configured to control passage of water through the first channel; a heat exchange unit provided in the first channel between the first channel opening/closing valve and the water discharge nozzle and configured to heat water passed therethrough; and a draining device configured to drain water in the heat exchange unit toward the water supply source. |
| US08701221B2 |
Water tank installation system
An installation system comprises a guide bolt, which is fastened to the toilet bowl and which comprises a slot which extends throughout the bolt, and a fastening element that secures the said bolt. The installation system comprises an installation element comprising a large diameter socket and a small diameter socket. The installation element is screwed to guide bolt through its large diameter socket. Passing through a hole on the water tank and a slot, a bolt is screwed into the small diameter socket of the element. The installation system ensures that the water tank is uninstalled from and installed to the toilet bowl without removing the toilet bowl from where it is installed. |
| US08701213B2 |
Body-shaping intimacy garment
A body-shaping intimacy garment for a woman has an upper portion that supports or at least contacts undersides of the breasts while leaving the breasts exposed, a torso portion extending from the upper portion, a lower portion that encircles the waist, buttocks and hips while defining a crotch opening through the garment for access during intimate encounters, and leg portions that extend to below the knee. The torso portion, lower portion and leg portions each include respective portions of inner and outer layers of stretchable fabrics. The inner layer fabric is worn stretched about the torso, waist, buttocks, hips and legs, with tension in shoulder straps maintaining some inner layer stretch along the torso portion while worn. The outer layer fabric has a lesser elasticity than the inner layer fabric, and the two fabric layers are connected at the bust but are otherwise disconnected throughout front and sides of the torso and lower portions, and throughout the leg portions to at least below the knee, such that the outer layer is configured to slide over the inner layer, and to flow over local curvature fluctuations of the inner layer, during movement. |
| US08707458B2 |
Location-enabled security services in wireless network
A method (300), an apparatus (100), and a computer program product for providing location enabled security services in a wireless network are disclosed. In the method, a network access request from a node requesting access to the wireless network is received (304). A probability level for a position for the requesting node is calculated (310) using position information claimed by the requesting node and position information about the requesting node derived from signal measurements for the requesting node received by at least one existing authorized node in the wireless network. Access for the requesting node to the wireless network is denied (314) if the probability level does not satisfy a specified threshold condition for network security (312). Access for the requesting node to the wireless network is granted (318) if the probability level does satisfy the specified threshold condition (312). |
| US08707455B2 |
Content playback apparatus and content playback method
According to one embodiment, a content playback apparatus which acquires desired content from a specific site accessed via a network and plays back the acquired content, comprises a determination module configured to determine, when a data input request is received from a currently accessed site, whether or not the site is at least a site included in the specific site, and a controller configured to generate, when the determination module determines that the currently accessed site is not included in the specific site, a warning that advises accordingly. |
| US08707454B1 |
Multi party messaging
Multi-party messaging is disclosed. An encapsulation is received from a first client. The received encapsulation encapsulates an encrypted message encrypted using a symmetric key, and a plurality of keys. Each key in the plurality of keys comprises the symmetric key as encrypted with a respective public key of a respective recipient. An account associated with each of the respective recipients is determined. For each of the respective recipients, a flag is set that is indicative of the arrival of the encapsulation. For each of the respective recipients, which recipients have download the encapsulation is tracked. The encapsulation is deleted. |
| US08707450B2 |
Digital rights management (DRM) locker
Methods, apparatuses and storage medium associated digital rights management (DRM) using DRM locker is disclosed herein. In embodiments, a DRM locker is provided to a client device. The DRM locker may be configured to store a number of DRM licenses or keys for a number of DRM protected contents. The DRM locker, on presentation of an associated locker key, may respond to a request for one or more of the stored DRM licenses or keys, to enable consumption of the corresponding DRM protected contents using the client device. Other embodiments may be disclosed or claimed. |
| US08707449B2 |
Acquiring access to a token controlled system resource
Acquiring access to a token controlled system resource, including: receiving, by a token broker, a command that requires access to the token controlled system resource, where the token broker is automated computing machinery for acquiring tokens and distributing the command to the token controlled system resource for execution; identifying, by the token broker, a first need state, the first need state indicating that the token broker requires access to the token controlled system resource to which the token broker does not possess a token; requesting, by the token broker, a configurable number of tokens to gain access to the token controlled system resource, without dispatching an operation handler for executing the command until at least one token is acquired; assigning, by the token broker, an acquired token to the operation handler; and dispatching, by the token broker, the operation handler and its assigned token for executing the command. |
| US08707447B2 |
License registration device that registers license for use of program on data processing device
A storage medium storing a set of program instructions that becomes executable on a data processing device if license information is input to the data processing device within a limiting period set for the license information. The license information is provided by a license registration device after registration of a license for use of the program instructions on the data processing device. The instructions includes storing time information in association with the license information, the time information indicating a cancelable time that arrives at or after an expiration time of the limiting period, accepting input of a disabling command, disabling use of the program instructions, and providing, if the cancelable time has arrived and if the disabling command has been accepted, license cancel information necessary for canceling the license. |
| US08707443B2 |
Circuit with testable circuit coupled to privileged information supply circuit
A circuit is operable in a normal operating mode and a test mode. The circuit contains a privileged information supply circuit (12) coupled to the testable circuit (10). A test access circuit (19) provides access to the testable circuit (10). A test control circuit (18) controls switching of the test access circuit (19) to the test mode. A multiplex circuit (16) couples the privileged information supply circuit (12) to the testable circuit (10) for access to privileged information in the normal mode. In the test mode the shadow information supply circuit (14) is coupled to the testable circuit (10) instead. |
| US08707441B1 |
Techniques for identifying optimized malicious search engine results
Techniques for identifying optimized malicious search engine results are disclosed. In one particular exemplary embodiment, the techniques may be realized as a method for identifying optimized malicious search engine results comprising receiving a search item result, analyzing, using a computer processor, the search item result in a secure environment to detect malicious content hidden using network redirection, determining that the search item result is associated with malware, and providing an indicator that the search item result is associated with malware. |
| US08707440B2 |
System and method for passively identifying encrypted and interactive network sessions
The system and method for passively identifying encrypted and interactive network sessions described herein may distribute a passive vulnerability scanner in a network, wherein the passive vulnerability scanner may observe traffic travelling across the network and reconstruct a network session from the observed traffic. The passive vulnerability scanner may then analyze the reconstructed network session to determine whether the session was encrypted or interactive (e.g., based on randomization, packet timing characteristics, or other qualities measured for the session). Thus, the passive vulnerability scanner may monitor the network in real-time to detect any devices in the network that run encrypted or interactive services or otherwise participate in encrypted or interactive sessions, wherein detecting encrypted and interactive sessions in the network may be used to manage changes and potential vulnerabilities in the network. |
| US08707435B2 |
Method and system for identifying compromised nodes
The invention relates to a method for identifying compromised nodes in a ZigBee network comprising a general trust center, divided in at least two security domains, each security domain corresponding to a spatial or temporal area, and being associated with a different root keying material, and each node being identified by an identifier, the method comprising: upon detection of a node (U1) entering into a security domain (SD), the general trust center (TC) distributing to the node at least one keying material share corresponding to the entered security domain, and upon detecting corruption of at least two security domains, determining, for each security domain, based on information registered by the base station (BTS), a respective set of nodes having received keying material corresponding to said security domain,—comparing the respective sets of nodes and identifying the common nodes as being compromised. |
| US08707434B2 |
System and method for indirect interface monitoring and plumb-lining
A method is provided in one example embodiment that includes monitoring a first interface, monitoring a second interface, and taking a policy action if the second interface is not executed before the first interface. In more particular embodiments, monitoring the second interface may include walking a call stack associated with the first interface. Moreover, a program context for calling code associated with the second interface may be identified and acted upon. |
| US08707433B1 |
Fake exception handler detection
Fake exception handlers resulting from malicious stack buffer overflows that overwrite an exception handling record on the stack are detected. The operating system exception processing logic is monitored. Responsive to an exception occurring, an exception handler to be called by the monitored operating system exception processing logic is identified. A specific number of the first bytes of the identified exception handler are scanned to determine whether a return instruction is present therein. Instructions of the identified exception handler that are positioned prior to the return instruction are analyzed to determine whether they modify the value of the stack pointer so as to shrink the stack. The identified exception handler is adjudicated as being fake, responsive to determining that a return instruction is present in the first specific number of bytes of the exception handler and/or that the instructions positioned prior to the return instruction shrink the stack. |
| US08707431B2 |
Insider threat detection
Methods, systems, and computer program products for insider threat detection are provided. Embodiments detect insiders who act on documents and/or files to which they have access but whose activity is inappropriate or uncharacteristic of them based on their identity, past activity, and/or organizational context. Embodiments work by monitoring the network to detect network activity associated with a set of network protocols; processing the detected activity to generate information-use events; generating contextual information associated with users of the network; and processing the information-use events based on the generated contextual information to generate alerts and threat scores for users of the network. Embodiments provide several information-misuse detectors that are used to examine generated information-use events in view of collected contextual information to detect volumetric anomalies, suspicious and/or evasive behavior. Embodiments provide a user threat ranking system and a user interface to examine user threat scores and analyze user activity. |
| US08707426B1 |
Method and apparatus for resolving a cousin domain name to detect web-based fraud
A method and apparatus for resolving a cousin domain name to detect web-based fraud is described. In one embodiment, the method for resolving cousin domain names of a legitimate domain name comprising applying at least one rule to a domain name to generate one or more candidate cousin domain names and comparing the at least one candidate cousin domain name with legitimate domain information to identify the legitimate domain name that is imitated by at least one portion of the domain name. |
| US08707425B2 |
System, method, and computer program product for preventing scanning of a copy of a message
A system, method, and computer program product are provided for preventing scanning of a copy of a message. In use, it is determined whether an identifier of a message is stored in a data structure. Further, the scanning of a copy of the message is prevented, based on the determination. |
| US08707420B2 |
Trusted e-mail communication in a multi-tenant environment
Trusted e-mail communication may be provided. A message source organization may be validated. When a message is received from the validated message source organization for a recipient organization, a determination may be made as to whether the recipient organization supports an attribution data extension. If so, the message may be transmitted to the recipient organization with an attribution element associated with the message source organization. |
| US08707416B2 |
Bootstrapping kerberos from EAP (BKE)
The preferred embodiments involve a mechanism to bootstrap Kerberos from EAP in which EAP is used for initial network access authentication and Kerberos is used for provisioning session keys to multiple different protocols. The preferred embodiments make use of an EAP extension method (EAP-EXT) to realize the mechanism. |
| US08707414B2 |
Systems and methods for location aware access control management
Described herein are systems and methods for access control management, these generally being directed towards location aware access control management. Embodiments of the invention have been particularly developed for providing additional functionalities in access control systems having disconnected devices, and the present disclosure is primarily focused accordingly. For example, embodiments include access control devices configured to operate in conjunction with a GPS receiver or other source of geographical positional information, and methods associated with the use of such devices. |
| US08707412B2 |
Application identity design
Methods and apparatus, including computer program products, implementing and using techniques for providing user credentials over a network to a remote computer application. User credentials for the remote computer application are stored in a central repository that is accessible through the network. A request is sent to a service to perform, on behalf of a user, a particular task involving the remote computer application. It is determined whether the service has been granted permission to act on behalf of the user with respect to the remote computer application. When the service has permission to act on behalf of the user, the service is used to retrieve the user's credentials for the remote computer application from the central repository and to supply the retrieved user credentials to the remote computer application. |
| US08707409B2 |
Method and apparatus for providing trusted single sign-on access to applications and internet-based services
A method and apparatus for password management and single sign-on (SSO) access based on trusted computing (TC) technology. The methods implement the Trusted Computing Group (TCG)'s trusted platform module (TPM), which interacts with both proxy SSO unit and web-accessing applications to provide a secure, trusted mechanism to generate, store, and retrieve passwords and SSO credentials. The various embodiments of the present invention allow a user to hop securely and transparently from one site to another that belong to a pre-identified group of sites, after signing on just once to a secured proxy residing at the user's device. |
| US08707407B2 |
Account hijacking counter-measures
A method for providing an additional layer of authentication prior to accessing a user's account even though the user's credentials have previously been verified. User accounts are often accessed via a sign-in page that verifies the user's credentials. Upon detecting a device accessing the sign-in page, an identifier associated with the device is obtained. One such type of identifier is the IP address assigned to the device. Based on the identifier, it is determined whether the device is trusted or not. Even thought the user's credentials are verified via the sign-in page, if the device is not trusted, a second authentication page is presented to the user prior to proceeding to the account. The second authentication page presents at least one security question. The security question is based on information contained in the user's account (e.g., contact information, event information, electronic messages, etc.). The user is required to correctly answer the security question in order to access the account. |
| US08707404B2 |
System and method for transparently authenticating a user to a digital rights management entity
Various embodiments of a system and method for transparently authenticating a user to a digital rights management entity are described. In various embodiments, a digital rights management server may be configured to receive an authentication token from a first remote computer system. Such authentication token may indicate that a particular user of the first remote computer system was authenticated by a first content provider of one or more content providers. In various embodiments, the digital rights management server may also be configured to verify the authentication token by determining that one or more portions of the authentication token were generated based on respective authentication information issued to the first content provider. In various embodiments, the digital rights management server may also be configured to, in response to verification of the authentication token, issue to the first remote computer system one or more credentials. |
| US08707403B2 |
Subscription interface for providing access to digital publications
The present application provides a subscription interface positioned between client devices and third-party digital subscription providers. The subscription interface allows multiple different publication-related applications (e.g., Sports Illustrated, Time magazine, etc.) running on different client devices (e.g., tablets, desktop computers, laptop computers, smart phones, etc.) to obtain a list of digital issues available from an associated third-party digital subscription provider based on entitlements of the user of the client device. The subscription interface ensures that the application receives the list and associated metadata in a desired format for that particular application on a particular client device. |
| US08707402B1 |
Secure computer provisioning
A networked computer device can be provisioned by customizing the computer device to contain a specification of a particular provisioning server. For example, a network interface device can be pre-configured and installed in the computer device. The pre-configuration of the network interface device may include embedding a provisioning service identification in the network interface device. The network interface device may be further configured to perform provisioning from a provisioning service indicated by the embedded provisioning service identification. In addition, or alternatively, the network interface device, or the computer within which it is installed, may be configured to authenticate with a provisioning server based on authentication information that has been embedded within firmware of the computer or network interface device. |
| US08707396B2 |
Method and system for performing re-association due to handover in a WLAN mesh network
A method and system for performing re-association in a WLAN mesh network are provided. A mobile node transmits authentication request information to an old node via a new node along with a mesh re-association request message for re-association of the mesh network. Upon receiving the mesh re-association request message, the old node performs re-association and authentication according to the mesh re-association request message, and transmits a mesh re-association reply message to the mobile node via the new node. |
| US08707394B2 |
System and method for creating a secure trusted social network
A system for a plurality of users to share resources with access, control and configuration based on pre-defined relationships of trust between the users of the system. A computer-based authority provides the services of authentication, identification and verification of each user within network. Processes are described that leads to the formation of an electronic community, which facilitates electronic communication and transactions in a defined manner. |
| US08707390B2 |
System and method for secure access control in a wireless network
Secure access to a wireless network access can be provided in a system where wireless devices access a wireless network through a wireless access point (WAP). For example, a plurality of pre-shared keys (PSKs) may be generated and distributed to the WAP and the wireless device. The wireless device may automatically rotate an active one of the plurality of PSKs, while the WAP receives one or more rotation signals identifying the active one of the plurality of PSKs. The wireless device and the WAP may encrypt information relating to the active one of the PSKs within communications between them, thus securing the communications. |
| US08707387B2 |
Secure network computing
A host based security system for a computer network includes in communication with the network a credential host that is operative in concert with a local computer and a destination site. The destination site has a credential authentication policy under which credentials associated with the local computer upon being authenticated authorizes data to be communicated between each of the destination site and the local computer during a communication session over the network. The credential host stores the credentials to be used by the destination and is operative to transmit the credentials onto the network in response to a request received from the local computer. The destination site upon the credentials being received and authenticated thereat is operative to transmit session information onto the network. In turn, the local computer is then operative to commence the communication session upon receipt of said the information. |
| US08707381B2 |
Caption and/or metadata synchronization for replay of previously or simultaneously recorded live programs
A synchronization process between captioning data and/or corresponding metatags and the associated media file parses the media file, correlates the caption information and/or metatags with segments of the media file, and provides a capability for textual search and selection of particular segments. A time-synchronized version of the captions is created that is synchronized to the moment that the speech is uttered in the recorded media. The caption data is leveraged to enable search engines to index not merely the title of a video, but the entirety of what was said during the video as well as any associated metatags relating to contents of the video. Further, because the entire media file is indexed, a search can request a particular scene or occurrence within the event recorded by the media file, and the exact moment within the media relevant to the search can be accessed and played for the requester. |
| US08707379B2 |
Video transmission system with timing based on a global clock and methods for use therewith
A network module receives network global positioning system (GPS) signals and that transmits a video signal to a remote device that includes time stamps that are based on the network GPS signals. The network module receives a device parameter from the remote device that indicates that local GPS signals are available to the remote device. The network module reduces a frequency of the time stamps when the device parameter indicates that local GPS signals are available to the remote device. |
| US08707377B2 |
Program sending controlling apparatus, program sending controlling method and program
Disclosed herein is a program sending controlling apparatus, including: a retaining section adapted to retain a playlist in which cues which are progressing units of a program are disposed in a time series; an apparatus controlling section adapted to control on-air of a broadcasting-related apparatus based on the playlist; an editing section adapted to edit the playlist; a detection section adapted to detect, in response to editing carried out for the playlist corresponding to the program, presence or absence of a syntax error in the playlist; and a display controlling section adapted to cause the playlist corresponding to the program to be displayed and cause, when the syntax error is detected, an error indication to be displayed at a position of that one of the cues of the displayed playlist which corresponds to the detected syntax error. |
| US08707371B2 |
Method and system for an internet protocol LNB supporting positioning
An Internet protocol low noise block downconverter (IP LNB) assembly, within a satellite reception assembly, may be operable to determine location information and/or time information of the IP LNB assembly, via a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) module in the IP LNB assembly. The IP LNB assembly may provide services based on the determined location information and/or the determined time information of the IP LNB assembly. The IP LNB assembly may communicate the determined location information and/or the determined time information to a wireless communication device for determining location information of the wireless communication device. The IP LNB assembly may determine location information of a wireless source device, based on the determined location, information and the determined time information of the IP LNB assembly along with a plurality of other location information and a plurality of corresponding other time information associated with a plurality of other IP LNB assemblies. |
| US08707366B2 |
System and method for providing program criteria representing audio and/or visual programming
A system and method are disclosed for providing program criteria representing a plurality of audio and/or visual programs. A plurality of tokens are stored in a database of one or more computers, each token having an identifier for identifying a predetermined audio and/or visual program. Each token may be a universal program identifier that represents a specific program in a global programming environment (e.g., the token may identify a program across multiple tuning spaces). Alternatively or additionally, a token may be a tuning-space specific program identifier that represents program criteria associated with a specific program for particular tuning space. The server is programmed to provide at least one token to a remote computer based on selection criteria. |
| US08707359B2 |
Method and system for providing program preview of a particular program during channel changes via a gateway
A broadband gateway, which enables communication with a plurality of devices and handles at least one physical layer connection to at least one corresponding network access service provider, may be operable to receive one or more programs in preview formats from one or more program sources. Each of the one or more programs may be specified in a list. The programs specified in the list may be from different program sources. The broadband gateway may process the received one or more programs in the preview formats for presentation to one or more of the plurality of devices. The processed one or more programs in the preview formats may be communicated by the broadband gateway to the one or more of the plurality of devices, via a programming guide, for program preview by one or more users during program selections from the list. |
| US08707351B2 |
Method and apparatus for alternate content scheduling on mobile devices
Alternate digital content is inserted into mobile devices with a method and apparatus that comprises an alternate content scheduler, an alternate content reporter, and a micro-splicer. The alternate content scheduler further comprises a mobile network interface for interaction with a mobile data and broadcast network, a micro-splicer interface for interfacing with a micro-splicer, a rulebook that is shared with the network which provides the rules for alternate content scheduling, a preference provisioning module comprising an alternate content scheduler library for storing user or network preferences, a scheduler for providing tight synchronization between original program content and alternate content, and a metric recording interface to an alternate content reporter. The micro-splicer works in tandem with the alternate content scheduler to render synchronized display of alternate multimedia content on the mobile device. |
| US08707350B2 |
Time shifting enhanced television triggers
Enhanced television broadcasts including triggers with expires attributes may be utilized in a variety of situations where the expires attribute may adversely affect the utilization of the trigger. For example, in situations where the broadcast is recorded, playback may be enabled even after the trigger expiration. Similarly, local affiliates or FNOCs may rebroadcast enhanced television content by adjusting the expires attributes of the original trigger. |
| US08707348B2 |
Systems and methods for generating interactive video content
The present invention is directed towards systems and methods for generating interactive content from video content. The method according to one embodiment of the present invention comprises identifying at least one product within the video content and converting the product into an interactive element within the video content. The method then assigns a plurality of controlling parameters to said at least one interactive element at least one of said controlling parameters includes outline identification indicia of said interactive element consistent with movement of the product within the video content and assigns a product information identifier with the product and retrievable via the controlling parameters. Finally the at least one interactive element is integrated onto the video, such that when the video is displayed, the displayed video includes the outlined interactive element therein. |
| US08707342B2 |
Referencing data in triggers from applications
In accordance with one or more aspects of the referencing data in triggers from applications, a device can store multiple triggers for media content. For each of these triggers, a check is made as to whether a presentation of media content satisfies a criteria portion of the trigger. When the presentation satisfies the criteria portion, one or more actions in a payload portion of the trigger are performed. Additionally, data in the triggers can be referenced by applications executing on the device. These applications include applications that are launched as part of the one or more actions when the criteria portion of a trigger is satisfied, as well as other applications executing on the device. |
| US08707341B2 |
Methods and apparatus for audience measurement using global signature representation and matching
Disclosed example methods to determine a time offset between a first media content signature comprising a first sequence of first data pairs and a second media content signature comprising a second sequence of second data pairs include determining a histogram comprising a plurality of bins representative of a plurality of determined time differences. The plurality of determined time differences include each respective time difference determined between each first data pair and second data pair combination. Each respective bin of the histogram represents a respective window of time differences and has a respective value representative of a number of the plurality of determined time differences lying within the respective window of time differences represented by the respective bin. Such disclosed example methods also include selecting at least one bin of the histogram to correspond to the time offset between the first signature and the second signature. |
| US08707340B2 |
Methods and apparatus to maintain audience privacy while determining viewing of video-on-demand programs
Methods and apparatus to maintain audience privacy while determining viewing of video-on-demand (VOD) programs are disclosed. An example method disclosed herein comprises obtaining subscriber metering data from a site metering device monitoring presentation of VOD content at a first subscriber site, obtaining server metering data from a VOD server, the server metering data including identification information for a plurality of subscriber sites to identify particular VOD content provided uniquely to each of the subscriber sites, the identification information manipulated to preserve anonymity of the plurality of subscriber sites, manipulating at least a portion of the subscriber metering data to determine a first manipulated identifier to identify the first subscriber site, and using the first manipulated identifier to cross-reference the manipulated identification information included in the server metering data to merge the subscriber metering data and the portion of the server metering data uniquely associated with the first subscriber site. |
| US08707339B2 |
System and method for detecting hacked modems
A system, method, and computer program product are provided for detecting hacked modems in a cable network system. A cable Internet service provider can provide the disclosed heuristic to determine whether a particular cable modem has likely been hacked by obtaining a score corresponding to this likelihood. This score, as well as information regarding failure and success of various tests, can be used to generate a report identifying the likelihood that various modems have been hacked. |
| US08707335B2 |
Detecting patterns of events in information systems
There is provided a system having a plurality of information processing apparatuses, each of which includes a storage device where at least one piece of pattern data indicating an occurrence pattern of events to be detected in the information processing apparatus is stored, a generation section that specifies a collection of events to be detected in the occurrence pattern based on the pattern data read from the storage device and generates necessary event data indicating the specified collection of events, a selection section that selects an event included in the necessary event data from events which have occurred in the information processing apparatus and events transferred from another information processing apparatus, and a detection section that detects if the selected event matches with the occurrence pattern indicated by the pattern data, and outputs a detection result. |
| US08707329B2 |
Open framework system for heterogeneous computing and service integration
An open framework system for both heterogeneous computing and service integration includes Wrappers both registering and administrating services by service having similar function, a framework transferring an execution result of a service to the applications after discovering the service through the Wrappers and invocating the service in case of receiving a message requesting the service from the applications, a message broker transferring messages between the applications and the framework, and an external module converting the protocols for meeting specification of the Wrapper for an existing service in an open framework system for both heterogeneous computing and service integration efficiently establishing USS (Ubiquitous Smart Space) by systematically integrating services of various protocols using in a plurality of applications under ubiquitous environment. |
| US08707327B2 |
Methods and arrangements for effecting supplementary mail transfer or management
Arrangements for permitting incoming mail to be transferred from a WAN Drive to a notebook computer hard drive under conditions that are not stressful to the hard drive. Preferably, a WAN card is configured to wake a notebook when mail capacity is full or close to full. Mail is then preferably moved from the flash drive to the hard drive, subject to verification that this will not overly stress the hard drive. In a variant embodiment, the WAN card may preferably be configured to wake a notebook when mail is received at all. Again, mail is then preferably moved from the flash drive to the hard drive, subject to verification that this will not overly stress the hard drive. Once mail is moved to the hard drive, the system preferably runs an embedded email program that allows the user to employ an existing VPN infrastructure. |
| US08707322B2 |
Determining suitable network interface for partition deployment/re-deployment in a cloud environment
Migrating a logical partition (LPAR) from a first physical port to a first target physical port, includes determining a configuration of an LPAR having allocated resources residing on a computer and assigned to the first physical port of the computer. The configuration includes a label that specifies a network topology that is provided by the first physical port and the first target physical port has a port label that matches the label included in the configuration of the LPAR. The first target physical port with available capacity to service the LPAR is identified and the LPAR is migrated from the first physical port to the target physical port by reassigning the LPAR to the first target physical port. |
| US08707316B1 |
Methods and systems for mission-driven quality of service management
Method and apparatus including processes, mechanisms, and devices for use with a networked mission system. The method includes receiving a mission representation including a plurality of actions in a mission and temporal and functional associations between the actions, wherein the actions are to be executed using a plurality of computing nodes. A Time Petri Net (TPN) model of the mission is generated based on the mission representation. The TPN model represents the actions in the mission, temporal constraints for the actions, and functional associations between the actions. An importance value and an urgency value associated with each action are determined based on the TPN model. One or more QoS policies are generated based on the importance values and the urgency values of the actions, wherein the QoS policies are applied to the computing nodes. |
| US08707314B2 |
Scheduling compute kernel workgroups to heterogeneous processors based on historical processor execution times and utilizations
A system and method embodiments for optimally allocating compute kernels to different types of processors, such as CPUs and GPUs, in a heterogeneous computer system are disclosed. These include comparing a kernel profile of a compute kernel to respective processor profiles of a plurality of processors in a heterogeneous computer system, selecting at least one processor from the plurality of processors based upon the comparing, and scheduling the compute kernel for execution in the selected at least one processor. |
| US08707313B1 |
Scheduler for search engine crawler
A search engine crawler includes a distributed set of schedulers that are associated with one or more segments of document identifiers (e.g., URLs) corresponding to documents on a network (e.g., WWW). Each scheduler handles the scheduling of document identifiers (for crawling) for a subset of the known document identifiers. Using a starting set of document identifiers, such as the document identifiers crawled (or scheduled for crawling) during the most recent completed crawl, the scheduler removes from the starting set those document identifiers that have been unreachable in each of the last X crawls. Other filtering mechanisms may also be used to filter out some of the document identifiers in the starting set. The resulting list of document identifiers is written to a scheduled output file for use in a next crawl cycle. |
| US08707311B2 |
Method for dynamically throttling transactional workloads
Systems (100) and methods (200) for managing transactional processing. The methods involve executing a first transaction (120) which is blocked by an exclusive lock of at least one second transaction (110) from accessing at least one resource of a system. Thereafter, a determination is made as to whether a Service Level Agreement (“SLA”) associated with the first transaction is being met. If it is determined that the SLA is not being met, the resources needed by the first transaction are identified. Subsequently, all executing transactions, that are using the resources needed by the first transaction, are identified. At least one of the identified transactions is then dynamically slowed down or speed up. The transaction is slowed down or sped up by: adjusting how many records are to be processed in each sub-transaction of the transaction; and/or increasing or decreasing the time period between commit operations of the transaction. |
| US08707308B1 |
Method for dynamic management of system resources through application hints
A method, system and program product for dynamic management of system resources in a data storage system comprising producing a hint at a hint producer; wherein the hint contains information about the system, consuming the hint at a hint consumer, and determining, at the hint consumer, whether or not to act on the information in the hint. |
| US08707305B2 |
Failure management for a virtualized computing environment
For failure management for multiple operating systems in a virtual environment, an external virtual machine or agent is provided that has been granted rights to full physical memory space to perform a crashdump for the machine. To avoid exposing secret information during a crashdump, private information for a virtual machine or partition is encrypted prior to generating a dump. The storing of crashdump information for virtual machines may avoid storing crashdump information for virtual machines that are stateless. Instead of having an (unstable) operating system running within a virtual machine perform a crashdump, the provision of an external agent, e.g., an external virtual machine, to perform the crashdump avoids many limitations associated with a normal dump when performed by a crashed operating system. |
| US08707302B2 |
Techniques for personalizing feed content in virtualized computing environments
A technique for personalizing feed content in virtualized computing environments includes accessing, using a data processing system, metadata associated with a virtual machine instance that is stored in a database. The technique also includes prioritizing, using the data processing system, feed content delivered to a client associated with the virtual machine instance based on the metadata. |
| US08707300B2 |
Workload interference estimation and performance optimization
Architecture that facilitates the estimation of interference among workloads (e.g., virtual machines) due to sharing of a shared resource (e.g., a shared cache of a computer processor), and optimization of a desired performance objective such as power or energy use in the presence of the interference. Estimation is to the extent of interference by characterizing the nature of shared resource usage and its effect on performance. Performance optimization is accomplished using metrics based on the above estimation, or alternatively, an explicit measurement of the interference effects. Methods are employed to estimate interference on the workload's performance with changes in availability of the shared resource or with combinations of other workloads sharing the same resource and allocating workloads to one or more physical computers or resources to workloads such that a desired performance objective is optimized. The methods can include allocating workloads on demand. |
| US08707286B2 |
Unique context-based code enhancement
Unique context-based code enhancement of the core functionality of standard source code objects is performed at any position in the code. Desired insertion/replacement position(s) input by a user trigger the generation of a unique context for an enhancement. The unique context is based on characteristics of the code in the standard source code objects, such as the statements proximate to the insertion/replacement position(s). The unique context is associated with one or more extension source code objects that, when integrated into the existing source code at the insertion/replacement position(s), will provide the enhancement. At compile-time, the unique context used to unambiguously locate the insertion/replacement position(s). The extension source code objects can include industry or customer extensions, add-ons, plug-ins, and the like. |
| US08707283B2 |
Parallel DLL tree initialization
A parallel processing method and apparatus for initializing libraries is disclosed. Libraries for an application are identified, an initialization order for the libraries is determined, and the libraries are initialized in asynchronous stages. The initialization order is determined by forming a library tree of the libraries' references and determining a load order for the references according to the levels of the references in the library tree. The asynchronous stages comprise a loading stage that includes a load queue, a snapping stage that includes a snap queue, and an initializing stage that includes an initialize queue. |
| US08707282B2 |
Meta-data based data prefetching
A technique for prefetching data into a cache memory system includes prefetching data based on meta information indicative of data access patterns. A method includes tagging data of a program with meta information indicative of data access patterns. The method includes prefetching the data from main memory at least partially based on the meta information, by a processor executing the program. In at least one embodiment, the method includes generating an executable at least partially based on the meta information. The executable includes at least one instruction to prefetch the data. In at least one embodiment, the method includes inserting one or more instructions for prefetching the data into an intermediate form of program code while translating program source code into the intermediate form of program code. |
| US08707276B2 |
Method and system for managing programmed applications in an open API environment
A method and system for an open application programming interface (API) dashboard system for monitoring and managing one or more developer programmed applications configured to use one or more services provided by a service owner are provided. The system includes an application area associated with a corresponding programmed application, each application area including a call metrics group configured to display summarized metrics, a services used group configured to display a listing of each service called by the programmed application and metrics associated with each service, and a key management group configured to prompt a developer of the programmed application to request or revoke a key, wherein the key includes a developer identification, a programmed application identification, and signed certificates relating to services used by the programmed application. |
| US08707274B2 |
System and method for information extraction from within an active application during execution
A system and method for providing detailed information about how a software application is running has a processor and memory including a shared memory. The method provides an automated way of extracting information from a first software application having a plurality of libraries as the application executes. A special library used to interrogate an execution application is placed in the execution path but does not use I/O resources while it is extracting information about an executing software application. An intercept causes the special library to execute, and information is seamless provided to an output device during execution of the interrogated application. |
| US08707273B2 |
Precondition generating apparatus
There is provided a precondition generating apparatus in which a storage stores a set “S” of logical expressions; a creating unit creates a first logical expression being a logical product of the “S”, logical expressions of a program and a negation of a logical expression indicating a postcondition; a solver finds a solution that makes the first logical expression true and specifies a set of clauses that cannot be simultaneously true in the first logical expression if not found; wherein the creating unit sets relaxing variables for the logical expressions belonging to the set “S” in the set of clauses wherein the logical expressions indicates a precondition of the program, generates a second logical expression by alleviating the clauses of logical expressions corresponding to the relaxing variables in the first logical expression, and applies same process as in the first logical expression to the second logical expression. |
| US08707272B2 |
Scenario driven concurrency bugs: model and check
A computer implemented testing methodology employing a scenario-driven modeling of specific instances of bug patterns that commonly occur in concurrent programs which encodes these instances in an SMT-based symbolic analysis. Such modeling and encoding advantageously allow the symbolic analysis framework to focus on real bugs, thereby allowing effective utilization of resources. Experimentation determined a number of previously unknown bugs in public benchmarks and advantageously scenario-specific modeling and encoding improves the scalability of symbolic technique and, therefore, improves overall quality of concurrency testing. |
| US08707271B2 |
Fake check-in entries posted on behalf of social network users
An approach is provided in a fake check-in event is received at a software application corresponding to a user of the software application. Fake check-ins are initiated on behalf of the user in response to the fake check-in event. The software application posts a set of fake check-in entries on behalf of the user while the user is away. The posted fake check-ins are visible by other users of the software application and are used to obfuscate others that the user is out-of-town. In one embodiment, check-in entries that are received from the user after fake check-ins have been initiated are cached. In this embodiment, a local check-in event is received when the user is within the user's geographical local area and the cached check-in entries are posted so that they are now visible by the other users of the software application. |
| US08707269B1 |
Dynamic test generation based on entities in a graphical environment
A computing-device implemented method may include receiving an instruction and dynamically performing tests in a modeling environment in response to the instruction. The dynamically performing tests may include selecting a polymorphic entity, displaying a context menu associated with the polymorphic entity on a display, activating in the context menu a menu item that is linked to one of one or more requirements, generating the test, and performing the test to produce a test result. |
| US08707268B2 |
Testing operations of software
A method and system for processing test results from testing operation of software. A test result of pass, fail status, or unperformed is received for each test case of a test performed for each release of the software. A group to which each test belongs is ascertained which determines a group identifier of the group to which each test belongs. A test result stability index is calculated for each test case as being proportional to a total number of consecutive releases that include and are prior to the last release of the software such that the test result for each of the consecutive releases denotes a pass. The group identifier and the test result stability index are stored in a hardware storage unit. |
| US08707267B1 |
Debugging a computer program by interrupting program execution in response to access of unused I/O port
A method, computer-readable medium, and apparatus for debugging a computer program utilizing breakpoints triggered by accessing a rarely used or unused I/O port is provided. Rarely used or unused I/O ports are identified in a computer system and a debugger program is instructed to halt program execution when an access is made to one or more of the identified ports. An instruction for writing to one of the ports is then inserted in the program to be debugged. When the instruction is executed, the debugger program will cause the execution of the program to stop. When the breakpoint is no longer needed, the debugger program is instructed not to halt when an access is made to the I/O port. |
| US08707266B2 |
Command line interface robustness testing
One embodiment of the present invention sets forth a method for generating one or more tests for testing a command provided by a command line interface. The command is specified in a pre-determined meta-language. The meta-language is then converted in the tokenized post-fix notation, which is processed to generate a direct acyclic graph (DAG) that represents the different permutations of the command. By traversing the DAG from a root node to a leaf node, a test can be generated. The test is then executed within the command line interface, and the result analyzed to determine whether the command line interface is operating correctly. |
| US08707265B2 |
Test automation method for software programs
A method for testing a software program creates test data by simulating data exchange messages between a server and a client and stores test data in Comma Separated Value (CSV) files. Data repository files stored in the CSV format can be edited by common tools, like a spreadsheet program, and can be maintained easily. The test automation method provides a data capturer tool so that the data repository could be created based on any existing test environment. The test automation method converts data repository files and simulates messages in order to load data to a mobile infrastructure system and set up data fixtures. The test automation method could be integrated in a build process so that data repository and test cases are validated against any program changes periodically. |
| US08707263B2 |
Using a DSL for calling APIS to test software
A test case is abstracted into a re-useable script or other declarative form that expresses the intent of a task rather that defining how the test will be performed. Tools translate the declarative test into a series of steps corresponding to code that implements the action indicated in the declarative test. The schema for the tests can be dynamic. New forms of test cases can take advantage of new actions so that the library of actions can be extended. Libraries are interchangeable. Test cases can be generated using a state machine. New test cases can be composed dynamically using a state machine to create new test cases. |
| US08707262B2 |
Code scoring
Methods and apparatus, including computer program products, are provided for code scoring. In one aspect, there is provided a computer-implemented method. The method may include receiving metadata including information representative of at least one custom code module used in a business system; receiving at least one rule from a rules template; and calculating, based on the received metadata and the received at least one rule, a score representative of whether the at least one custom code module is maintained. Related apparatus, systems, methods, and articles are also described. |
| US08707261B2 |
Service integration modeling and execution framework
In one embodiment, a method for integrating a service into an application is provided. The method determines an application extensibility description for an application. The application extensibility description includes a set of application extension points. The method determines a service description for a service, the service description including a set of service elements. An adaptation pattern is determined and includes a first port connected to an application extension point in the set of application extension points and a second port connected to a service element in the set of service elements. A computing device generates an integration description based on the adaptation pattern having the first port connected to the application extension point and the second port connected to the service element. The integration description allows the application to be adapted or extended with the service. |
| US08707260B2 |
Resolving interdependencies between heterogeneous artifacts in a software system
An improved solution for resolving interdependencies between heterogeneous artifacts in software systems is provided. In an embodiment of the invention, a method for finding dependencies in a software system is provided, wherein the method includes: obtaining an input resource, wherein the resource includes a plurality of entry points to the software system and at least one strategy; identifying at least one artifact for each of the plurality of entry points; using the at least one strategy for gathering a plurality of related artifacts in the software system, wherein each of the plurality of related artifacts is heterogeneous in at least one of structure, composition, and relationships; determining a dependency between the gathered plurality of related artifacts; and outputting an output resource, wherein the output resource comprises the at least one dependency. |
| US08707258B2 |
Multi-modal/multi-channel application tool architecture
Services are integrated by providing a first component of a service via a first user interface over a first communications channel using a first communications mode. A second component of the service is provided via a second user interface over a second communications channel using a second communications mode. The first component of the service and the second component of the service are provided continuously in a single session using a common rule set for user interface dialog management. |
| US08707248B2 |
Transformation framework
A transformation framework accesses user story information inputted by a user into a pre-defined template designed to receive a user story and parses the accessed user story information to identify key pieces of the user story. The transformation framework identifies process components needed to implement the software system requirement defined by the user story and generates a process language model for each of the identified process components. The transformation framework maps the key pieces parsed from the user story to the generated process language models to define process language statements that correspond to the software system requirement defined by the user story. |
| US08707244B1 |
Methods and systems for performing signal activity extraction
In one aspect, a technique for performing signal activity extraction in an integrated circuit an integrated circuit is described. The integrated circuit includes multiple nodes. The technique includes compiling a design of the integrated circuit, estimating signal activities at the nodes, determining a node of interest from the nodes, and connecting a signal activity circuit to the node of interest. The determination of the node of interest and the connection of the signal activity circuit to the node of interest first compared to the remaining nodes of the integrated circuit improves efficiency in determining nodes of the integrated circuit at which signals can be analyzed first. Such signal activity extraction may involve power analysis and power optimization. |
| US08707239B2 |
Integrated circuit routing with compaction
An iterative technique is used to automatically route nets and alter spacing of an integrated circuit design to achieve a fully routed and compact result. After identifying solid and hollow channels, the technique automatically places route paths to connect pins of cells in the solid channels, where route paths may be placed within the solid channels or hollow channels. The technique can reduce a width of at least one hollow channel when an entire space of the hollow channel is not occupied by a placed route path. |
| US08707235B2 |
Techniques for use with automated circuit design and simulations
An apparatus having two or more parallel carry chain structures, each of the carry chain structures comprising a series of logical structures, where at least one of the logical structures within each of the carry chain structures has an associated input node, output node and carry node. The input node corresponds to a function input term, the output node corresponds to an output term of the function and the carry node corresponds to a carry value to a following logical structure in the series of logical structures. |
| US08707234B1 |
Circuit noise extraction using forced input noise waveform
Techniques for use in integrated circuit design systems for extracting noise threshold data for selected cells. For example, a method comprises the following steps. A cell is selected from one or more cells in a given collection of standardized cells. Each of the one or more cells represents one or more functional circuit design blocks that are usable as part of a design of an integrated circuit. A noise signal is generated or selected. The noise signal is applied to an input node of the selected cell. Noise threshold data is identified using a noise analysis module, for a given set of process, voltage and temperature variations, for an output node of the selected cell based on the noise signal applied to the input node of the selected cell. The noise threshold data is stored with the selected cell as part of the given collection of standardized cells such that the noise threshold data is subsequently usable during a post layout noise analysis operation of an integrated circuit design that includes the selected cell. |
| US08707227B2 |
Method and apparatus for synthesis of multimode x-tolerant compressor
Methods and apparatuses for synthesizing a multimode x-tolerant compressor are described. |
| US08707226B2 |
Manipulating parameterized cell devices in a custom layout design
A system, apparatus and computer-implemented method for manipulating a parameterized cell device into a custom layout design. The method begins by receiving at least one parameterized cell representing a physical circuit from, for example, a database or configuration file. The parameterized cell has a plurality of configurable attributes. The method continues by adjusting one of the configurable attributes of the parameterized cell according to a capability associated with the one attribute. The attributes may include one or more of a parameter mapping capability, a port mapping capability, an abutment capability, a directional extension capability, a channel width capability, and a boundary layer capability. The method then calculates a new configuration for the parameterized cell based upon the adjustment, and applies the new configuration for the parameterized cell to a layout of the represented physical circuit. |
| US08707225B1 |
Synthesis of area-efficient subtractor and divider functional blocks
In one embodiment of the invention, a method of designing an integrated circuit including a subtraction arithmetic function is provided. The method includes generating a netlist of an area-efficient subtractor to subtract a first input vector from a second input vector. A netlist of a plurality of reduced full subtractor cells is generated with each including an exclusive-NOR gate evaluating a shared Boolean expression to generate a sum bit output and a carry bit output. The netlist of the reduced full subtractor cell is replicated for all bits of the area-efficient subtractor but for the least significant bit. One of a plurality of netlists of subtractor cells is selected for the least significant bit of the area-efficient subtractor in response to a flex bit. |
| US08707224B2 |
Method of optimizing combinational circuits
A method of simplifying a combinational circuit establishes an initial combinational circuit operable to calculate a set of target signals. A quantity of multiplication operations performed in a first portion of the initial combinational circuit is reduced to create a first, simplified combinational circuit. The first portion includes only multiplication operations and addition operations. A quantity of addition operations performed in a second portion of the first, simplified combinational circuit is reduced to create a second, simplified combinational circuit. The second portion includes only addition operations. Also, the second, simplified combinational circuit is operable to calculate the target signals using fewer operations than the initial combinational circuit. |
| US08707223B2 |
Method for ensuring DPT compliance with autorouted metal layers
A method of generating an integrated circuit with a DPT compatible interconnect pattern using a reduced DPT compatible design rule set and color covers. A method of operating a computer to generate an integrated circuit with a DPT compatible interconnect pattern using a reduced DPT compatible design rule set and using color covers. A reduced DPT compatible design rule set. |
| US08707212B2 |
Graphical user interface for expandable menus
A graphical user interface for a display devised for presentation of hierarchical information includes a first menu field carrying a list of menu items, at least one of the menu items indicating a submenu field which is expandable within the first menu field. A graphical layer effect is applied to an expanded submenu field such that the submenu field is displayed as an underlying layer to the first menu field. |
| US08707208B2 |
Font selector and method for the same
A multi-glyph character selector is disclosed. The selector includes at least two glyphs associated with a character, wherein a microprocessor driven activation of the character selects a first of the at least two glyphs, and a subsequent activation of the character selects a second of the at least two glyphs, and a display driver, wherein the first glyph provides a first characterization of the character on a display in accordance with the display driver, and the second glyph provides a second characterization of the character on the display. |
| US08707204B2 |
Exploded views for providing rich regularized geometric transformations and interaction models on content for viewing, previewing, and interacting with documents, projects, and tasks
The present invention relates to a system and method to facilitate efficient and automated presentation of information to users. A decomposition component automatically decomposes an information item into sets of subcomponents in a two- or three-dimensional isometric space, and generates visualizations having interactive graphics that allow users to inspect respective subcomponents. Interface features are provided to enable hover, dwell, and clicking commands, for example, providing a variety of options to zoom in, or change configurations of the visualization in accordance with the users intentions or inferences about what they desire to see or inspect more closely. Beyond the use of decompositions into exploded views of the content of items typically viewed as singular documents, the methods can be applied to perform geometric transformations on visualizations of multiple windows and other resources based on content and activity to provide regularized visualizations of the multiple items. Such exploded views can provide visual geometric summaries of projects, and a set of handles into accessing more detail on the subcomponents of the project. |
| US08707202B2 |
Information processing device and program for display and use of multiple windows
To simplify an operation for displaying or hiding windows, depending on a user or usage by the user. An information-processing device, according to the present invention, stores for each window, a time during which the window has been displayed together with another window (simultaneous display time), as a relevance table. The information-processing device, when receiving an instruction to display a window (subject window), refers to a relevance table for the subject window to identify a window whose simultaneous display time is the longest (simultaneous display window), and displays the subject window and the simultaneous display window. Also, the information-processing device, when receiving an instruction to hide a subject window, hides the subject window and a simultaneous display window. |
| US08707201B1 |
Systems and methods for prioritizing notifications on mobile devices
Certain embodiments of the disclosed technology include systems and methods for determining the priority of a notification on a mobile device using machine learning. Other aspects of the disclosed technology include selectively displaying notifications based on the priority of a notification. According to an embodiment of the disclosed technology, a computer-implement method is provided that comprises outputting, to a display device operatively coupled to a mobile device, a plurality of notifications, wherein each respective notification from the plurality of notifications is associated with a respective priority score; modifying, by the mobile device, a ranking model based on a user input received responsive to a first notification from the plurality of notifications and a characteristic of a second notification from the plurality of notifications; determining, by the mobile device, a priority score associated with a third notification based on the modified ranking model; and outputting, to the display device, the third notification based on the priority score associated with the third notification, wherein the third notification is graphically emphasized responsive to the priority score associated with the third notification being greater than at least one respective priority score associated with a corresponding respective notification from the plurality of notifications. |
| US08707200B2 |
Object browser with proximity sorting
A method, apparatus, and article of manufacture provide the ability to interface with objects. A computer-implemented scene having two or more objects is displayed and a corresponding list of the two or more objects is displayed in independent categories called facets and in an ungrouped flat list. A user identifies a viewpoint within the scene that establishes a location and an orientation within a space of the scene from which to view the scene objects. Dynamically and independently from additional user actions, a proximity of each of the two or more objects from the viewpoint is determined. The ungrouped list of the two or more objects is sorted based on the proximities and displayed. |
| US08707196B2 |
Dynamic, set driven, ribbon, supporting deep merge
Displaying a ribbon user interface in a context dependant fashion. A method includes displaying a ribbon user interface. The ribbon user interface is associated with some set of user data and includes one or more displayed tabs. Each tab includes one or more groups that are displayed for a given tab. Each group includes one or more controls. Displaying a ribbon user interface includes displaying a single set of groups, and one or more sets of controls, one for each group, for a single tab that is selected. The method further includes receiving user input related to the user data resulting in a change of context related to the user data. Membership of at least one of the single set of groups or the one or more sets of controls is changed based on the change of context related to the user data. |
| US08707192B2 |
Browsing or searching user interfaces and other aspects
User interfaces for browsing and/or searching are described. In one embodiment, a method includes displaying a first display area for display representations of documents matching a search query, the first display area configured to display content of the documents which can have a plurality of different types of content including at least one of text-based content and a folder, and displaying a second display area for selecting a selected document to be displayed in the first display area. Other embodiments are also described, and computer readable media and apparatuses are also described. |
| US08707187B2 |
Concurrent document markup
A system, method, and computer readable medium are presented for concurrent markup of a document by a plurality of reviewers. A method includes combining a document and markups associated with a plurality of reviewers into a reviewing file for use by a user. Markups associated with the user are locked and a markup associated with the reviewer is updated. Then the markups associated with the user are unlocked. Updating the markup includes receiving a revised reviewing file that includes a change to the markup, extracting the change to the markup from the revised reviewing file, and saving the changed markup separate from the document. |
| US08707181B2 |
Preview of next media object to play
A system and method for presenting reproduction of media objects. A plurality of media objects is retrieved. The plurality of media objects is reproduced one after another on a media reproduction system. One or more graphical objects are presented on a display of the media reproduction system. Each graphical object of the plurality of graphical objects corresponds to each of the plurality of media objects being reproduced. As each of the plurality of media objects is reproduced, a corresponding graphical object presented on the display moves from a beginning side of the display to an end side of the display in relation to an amount of the corresponding media object being reproduced. As reproduction of the plurality of media objects transitions from one media object to a next media object, the graphical object corresponding to the next media object to be reproduced is presented from the beginning side of the display. |
| US08707180B2 |
System for cyber investigation and data management
A system for executing a cyber investigation by a non-expert user, including a computer having a processor, a memory, and a display; a computer-readable medium having stored thereon instructions for execution of a wizard application, the processor adapted to execute the instructions when the computer-readable medium is inserted into the computer, the processor programmed to: receive case information; receive a type of activity being investigated in response to user inputs to select the activity type from a list of possible activity types; guide the user through capturing data related to the selected activity type through steps presented to the user through one or more screens shown in the display, the steps presented such that a non-expert user can follow them; receive user inputs through a screens to obtain information needed to continue capturing the data related to the selected activity; and store the captured data in a removable data storage device or medium for analysis and use in the cyber investigation. |
| US08707177B1 |
Resource guide generator for resource pages
Methods, systems, and apparatus, for generating in-situ resource guides. In one aspect, a method includes receiving flow elements for a resource, and for each flow element, identifying the respective resource instructions in the resource document that match a selector of the flow element; sequentially display flow interface elements, and for each sequentially displayed flow interface element: monitoring for the occurrence a user input of data in a user interface element corresponding to the selector of the flow element; and in response to monitoring the user input of data in a user interface element, sequentially displaying another flow interface element. |
| US08707176B2 |
Display control apparatus and display control method
A display control method and a display control apparatus connected to a display apparatus acquires, from a recording apparatus which records drawn contents in a drawing area upon receiving operation information representing an operation in the drawing area, pieces of the operation information and the drawn contents, and determines, of the acquired pieces of the operation information, operation information which is not to be used for playback of drawn contents and decides a playback timing of drawn contents based on the order or the timing in which the operation information is received. Operation information other than the operation information determined not to be used for playback is extracted, and the drawn contents on the display apparatus are played back at the decided playback timing using the extracted operation information. |
| US08707171B2 |
Service registry policy editing user interface
A selection of a service domain policy definition is received in a service repository. A service policy document is created from the service domain policy definition. At least one user change to the service policy document is received in accordance with the selected service domain policy definition. The service policy document is saved in the service repository. |
| US08707165B2 |
Information processing apparatus, control method, and storage medium for adjustment of alternate document layers to reduce printed pages
An information processing apparatus for editing a document including a first layer and a second layer. The information processing apparatus determines, when a first layer is selected as a target layer, whether an object in a second page of the first layer, which follows a first page, can be relocated to a blank region in the first page of the first layer. When it is determined that the object in the second page of the first layer can be relocated, the information processing apparatus locates the object in the second page of the first layer to the first page of the first layer. |
| US08707164B2 |
Integrated document viewer
In various embodiments of the present invention, documents (eg, PDFs) are converted into HTML 5 (and CSS 3) formats and integrated into existing HTML 5 web pages to preserve the original embedded fonts. The fonts can also be integrated or embedded (e.g., via the standard HTML “iframe” tag) into other web pages. The original appearance of the source document is maintained, the text is preserved as searchable text, and the document is integrated into a web page that can be searched, zoomed, scrolled, and printed utilizing standard web browser controls. A significantly increased “ad inventory” is thereby enabled, wherein advertisements can be integrated between pages, or even within a page. Moreover, the resulting document can be passively shared with members of a user's external social networks (including those within the host website), along with other activities and behaviors performed by the user on the hosting website. |
| US08707160B2 |
System and method for inferring user interest based on analysis of user-generated metadata
User-generated tags from viewing web-based content are collected over a predetermined period of time. A subset of distinct or unique tags is identified from among the collected tags. A z-score is calculated for each identified distinct tag, where the z-score is a measure of the statistical significance of the tag. The subset of distinct tags is then sorted based on their corresponding z-score. All distinct tags having a corresponding z-score lower than a predetermined threshold are rejected and the remaining distinct tags, having a corresponding z-score higher than the threshold are used to infer a user's interest. The ability to infer a user's interests from the remaining distinct tags may thus benefit web-based applications by achieving a high degree of accuracy in predicting the interests of users by leveraging on the use of the user generated content tags and keywords. |
| US08707154B2 |
Apparatus, method, and recording medium for creating content-document reproduction data
In a slideshow which reproduces a content associated with comment information, the reproduction timing of the content can be controlled according to the reproduction timing of the comment information. In a reproduction table, the following are associated with each other: reproduction order; image-document combinations indicated by an image (or the identification information of the image, such as a JPEG file name) and a document (or the identification information of the document, such as a TXT file name); the number of characters in the document; and reproduction time of the image and the document identified by the identification information of the image and the document, respectively. The greater the number of characters the document has, the longer the reproduction time the image associated with the document has. Not every image needs to be associated with the document. For example, basic reproduction time of 5 seconds is assigned to image No. 3. |
| US08707152B2 |
Presenting images from slow image-event stream
A method of dynamically presenting temporally ordered image events includes providing a pre-determined presentation rate and a corresponding pre-determined presentation period; using a processor to receive at irregular intervals a plurality of temporally ordered image events at an average image event rate less than the presentation rate; storing the received image events in an ordered list corresponding to the order in which the image events were received; accessing, according to a pre-determined rule, stored image events from the ordered list; sequentially presenting the accessed image events for the presentation period; and interrupting the sequential presentation of the stored image events when a new image event is received and presenting the received new image event for the presentation period and resuming the sequential presentation of the accessed image events. |
| US08707151B2 |
Apparatus and method for composing scenes using Rich Media contents
A user interface method and apparatus for a Rich Media service in a terminal. A decoder decodes a received stream to check a header of the received stream. A renderer adaptively composes a scene using scene composition elements of the received stream, according to adaptation information in the header checked by the decoder, and a display displays the adaptively composed scene. |
| US08707146B2 |
Method and system for stopping execution of a turbo decoder
A method for conditionally stopping execution of a turbo decoder is proposed. The decoder has elementary decoders. Each elementary decoder performs a sequence of decoding operations and is arranged to receive an input from at least one other elementary decoder. The method determines for each specific decoding operation if the sequence of elementary decoding operations of the specific elementary decoder has substantially converged or substantially diverged. The method terminates the execution of decoding operations if a number of sequences has substantially converged or substantially diverged. |
| US08707142B2 |
Forward error correction de-mapping techniques
Briefly, techniques to provide varying levels of enhanced forward error correction without modifying a line rate of a frame. |
| US08707137B2 |
Adapting bit error rate to a target quality of service
Communication frames transmitted over a communication network may have different QoS requirements for each communication session. The required BER for different types of communication session is selected based at least in part on the required QoS for that communication session. When frames are received, the QoS level associated with the frame is determined. Based at least in part on the QoS level, the frames are routed toward the destination over a path that provides BER protection commensurate with the required QoS. Prior to transmission to the destination, the processed frames are multiplexed together into a single stream of segment. On the receiving side, the stream of segments is divided in accordance with the QoS level associated with the segments and the segments are routed over a path that is selected, at least in part, on the QoS level. Over this selected path, the original frames are restored and then provided to the destination node. |
| US08707135B2 |
Method and system of dynamic data storage for error correction in a memory device
A method of dynamic data storage for error correction in a memory device is disclosed. Data for storage is received, the received data is encoded and error correction code (ECC) is generated. The encoded data is stored in the memory device that includes a plurality of pages each having a plurality of data partitions. More corrected errors a marked page has, a smaller portion with a space of at least one datum of each of the corresponding data partitions associated with the marked page is allocated to store the encoded data, while a size of the ECC is fixed, thereby increasing capability of correcting errors in the marked page. |
| US08707131B2 |
Apparatus and method for fast tag hit
A method is described that includes reading a cache tag and the cache tag's corresponding ECC from storage circuitry of a cache. The method also includes generating an ECC for a search tag. The method also includes calculating a hamming distance between a) the cache tag and its corresponding ECC and b) the search tag and its corresponding ECC. The method also includes determining if the cache tag matches the search tag by comparing the hamming distance against a threshold. |
| US08707130B2 |
Multilevel semiconductor memory, write/read method thereto/therefrom and storage medium storing write/read program
A semiconductor device having multilevel memory cells is disclosed. In one embodiment, the device is operable to determine a state of a first bit of a memory cell by application of a first voltage to the memory cell, with the first voltage having a value to cause the memory cell to provide an output indicative of the state of the first bit. The device is further operable to select between a second voltage and a third voltage based on the output, and to determine a state of a second bit of the memory cell by application of the selected voltage to the memory cell, with the selected voltage having a value to cause the memory cell to provide an output indicative of the state of the second bit. |
| US08707128B2 |
Method and apparatus for channel encoding and decoding in a broadcasting/communication system using low density parity-check codes
An apparatus and a method are provided for encoding and decoding in a broadcasting/communication system using a Low Density Parity Check (LDPC) code. A weight-1 position sequence conversion procedure is performed on an initial parity check matrix. Shortening is applied on an information word. A codeword is generated by LDPC encoding the information word using a parity check matrix generated by performing the weight-1 position sequence conversion procedure. Puncturing is then applied to the codeword. |
| US08707126B2 |
Source-channel combined coding method and satellite broadcasting system using the same
A source-channel combined coding method including: determining whether a channel signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) is varied or not; when it is determined that the channel SNR is varied, selecting a MODCOD suitable for the channel SNR by referring to a first table defining an SNR threshold value at which data transmission is performed without an error, for each MODCOD designating a low density parity check (LDPC) code rate and a modulation scheme; calculating a source coding rate by using an effective information bit rate of the selected MODCOD; extracting network abstraction layer (NAL) units for each layer from an inputted video frame so as to satisfy the calculated source coding rate, and packetizing the extracted NAL units; binding packets to configure a baseband (BB) frame; and LDPC coding and modulating the BB frame through the code rate and the modulation scheme which are designated by the selected MODCOD. |
| US08707125B2 |
Method and apparatus for transmitting and receiving data in a communication system
A method for transmitting encoded data, which improves a diversity effect in a communication system, including generating parity bits for an information word, generating a codeword by encoding an information word using the generated parity bits, puncturing some of the parity bits of the codeword, transmitting a frame including the information word, and generating additional parity bits for decoding the information word and transmitting the additional parity bits in one or more other frames. |
| US08707123B2 |
Variable barrel shifter
In one embodiment a variable barrel shifter includes a shifter operable to apply a cyclic shift to each of a number of portions of a data word, a pivot circuit operable to swap sections of the data word around at least one pivot point in the data word, a first multiplexer operable to select between an input of the variable barrel shifter or an output of the pivot circuit as an input to the shifter, a second multiplexer operable to select between the input of the variable barrel shifter or an output of the shifter as an input to the pivot circuit, and a third multiplexer operable to select between the output of the shifter or the output of the pivot circuit as an output to the variable barrel shifter. |
| US08707122B1 |
Nonvolatile memory controller with two-stage error correction technique for enhanced reliability
A nonvolatile memory controller generates an error correction code for each data unit in a data stripe and generates a parity unit based on the data units of the data stripe. If a data unit of the data stripe has a number of data bit errors not exceeding the error correction capacity of the nonvolatile memory controller, the nonvolatile memory controller corrects any data bit errors in the data unit based on the error correction code of the data unit. Otherwise, if a data unit of the data stripe has a number of data bit error exceeding the error correction capacity of the nonvolatile memory controller, the nonvolatile memory controller recovers the data unit based on the other data units of the data stripe and the parity unit. |
| US08707112B2 |
Refresh of non-volatile memory cells based on fatigue conditions
In one or more of the disclosed embodiments, memory cells in a memory device are refreshed upon an indication of a fatigue condition. In one such embodiment, controller monitors behavior parameters of the cells and determines if any of the parameters are outside of a normal range set for each one, thus indicating a fatigue condition. If any cell indicates a fatigue condition, the data from the block of cells indicating the fatigue is moved to another block. In one embodiment, an error detection and correction process is performed on the data prior to being written into another memory block. |
| US08707110B1 |
Memory error detection
Systems and methods are provided for detecting and correcting address errors in a memory system. In the memory system, a memory device generates an error-detection code based on an address transmitted via an address bus and transmits the error-detection code to a memory controller. The memory controller transmits an error indication to the memory device in response to the error-detection code. The error indication causes the memory device to remove the received address and prevent a memory operation. |
| US08707108B1 |
Detecting memory failures in computing systems
Systems and methods for the analysis of memory information of a computing device are provided. One or more user computing devices may transmit memory information to a memory analysis system. The memory analysis system may generate a weighted object graph based on the received memory information, and identify subgraphs to inspect for potential memory use patterns. If such patterns are common in an identified subgraph, they may indicate a potential memory leak. The memory analysis system may further analyze a larger portion of the weighted object graph based on a detected common pattern. Each detected pattern may be ranked based on the likelihood that it corresponds to a memory leak. |
| US08707106B2 |
Key allocation when tracing data processing systems
A trace unit is provided which is configured to generate items of trace data indicative of processing activities, of a data processing unit. The trace unit comprises a trace indexing unit configured to associate an index value with at least a subset of the items of trace data generated by the trace unit. The trace indexing unit is configured to generate each index value as one of a predetermined sequence of index values, wherein an n+1th index value in the predetermined sequence can be determined from only an nth index value in the predetermined sequence. |
| US08707103B2 |
Debugging apparatus for computer system and method thereof
The present invention relates to a debugging apparatus for a computer system and a method thereof. A detecting unit detects if a debugging unit connects to the computer system. When a debugging unit connects to the computer system, the detecting unit produces a detecting signal, which contains information of a bus in the computer system electrically connected with the debugging unit. Then a selection unit selects the bus electrically connected with the debugging unit according to the detecting signal. Besides, a testing unit tests the computer system and produces a power-on self-test (POST) code, so that the selected bus can be used for outputting the POST code to the debugging unit. Thereby, the present invention can choose to use the bus reserved in the computer system for outputting the POST code to the debugging unit, and hence facilitating inspection personnel to debug the computer system. |
| US08707102B2 |
Method and program for verifying operation of processor
A method for verifying an operation of a processor, the method includes executing, by a software simulator, a test instruction used for verifying a model dependent operation of the processor, obtaining an expectation value from a result of the executed test instruction, obtaining a result value of the test instruction executed by the processor, and comparing, by a verification processor, the obtained expectation value with the obtained result value to determine a match or mismatch between the expectation value and the result value. |
| US08707099B1 |
Dynamic cue generator
A dynamic cue signal generator and method for processing one or more input and output signals to synchronize the operation of one or more associated machines and includes processes for creating a signal delay between receiving an input signal and issuing an output signal, for conditioning an input signal to produce an output signal with required parameters, for producing a plurality of outputs signals, for filling in undetected cues in an input signal to create a filled-in output signal, for filtering noise from an input signal to generate a noiseless output signal, and for generating an error output signal to indicate that an unusual event occurs in an input signal. |
| US08707097B2 |
Information processing apparatus, control apparatus, and method
An information processing apparatus includes a controller, a plurality of electric power supply units and a backup electric power supply unit that supply electric power to the controller. The controller detects a malfunction occurring in the plurality of electric power supply units, stops electric power supply from the plurality of electric power supply units, starts electric power supply from the backup electric power supply unit when a malfunction is detected, identifies an electric power supply unit having a malfunction from the plurality of electric power supply units, disconnects the identified electric power supply unit, resumes electric power supply from an electric power supply unit determined to function normally and stops the electric power supply from the backup electric power supply unit when the electric power supply unit having the malfunction is disconnected. |
| US08707096B2 |
Storage system, data backup method, and system restarting method of a storage system incorporating volatile and nonvolatile memory devices
In a storage system for performing data backup using a battery during blackout, when the blackout continues for a long time, problems such as the loss of volatile memory data due to the consumption of battery capacity and the difference in recovery time between controller units after power recovery occur during restarting of the system. The present invention solves the problems by selecting (a1) battery backup or (a2) saving of data in a nonvolatile device based on the battery capacity or setting of modes, and selecting (b1) inhibiting restart of the system or (b2) storing of data in the volatile memory to a nonvolatile memory means and performing access via write-through based on the remaining capacity of the battery when restarting the system after power recovery. Further, the system enables to increase and decrease the volatile memory capacity of the write area and mutually confirms synchronization of controller units and contents of volatile memories. Thereby, the system enables to prevent data loss and inconsistency of data. |
| US08707092B2 |
Failure recovery memory devices and methods
Memory devices and methods are described that include serially chained memory devices. In one or more of the configurations shown, a serial chain of memory devices includes a number of memory devices, and an error recovery device at an end of the chain. In one configuration shown, the serial chain of memory devices includes a chain of devices where each device is a stacked die memory device. Methods are described that show using the error recovery device in write operations and data recovery operations. |
| US08707086B2 |
System recovery using external communication device
A method for computer system recovery is presented. In one embodiment, the method includes establishing a connection, via an interface, to a computer system to support the system recovery of the computer system. The method includes executing an emulation application as a recovery agent. The method includes retrieving, based on identifiers associated with the computer system, remote data via another interface. The method further includes performing the system recovery by using at least a part of the remote data. |
| US08707083B2 |
Virtualized cluster communication system
A method includes executing, in each of a number of nodes of a cluster communication system, a specialized instance of an operating system privileged to control a corresponding hypervisor configured to consolidate one or more VM(s) on a system hardware. The one or more VM(s) is configured to be associated with a non-privileged operating system. The method also includes providing a cluster stack associated with the specialized instance of the operating system on the each of the number of nodes to enable communication between peers thereof in different nodes, and controlling the one or more VM(s) as a cluster resource through the cluster stack. |
| US08707079B2 |
Method and apparatus for transmitting data
A semiconductor device comprising an interface logic module for transmitting data frames across an interface, and controller logic module arranged to control a rate at which the interface logic transmits data across the interface. Upon receipt of data frames to transmit across the interface, the controller logic module is arranged to determine a sequence of data rates with which to transmit sequential data frames across the interface, and to configure the transmission of the data frames across the interface according to the determined data rate sequence. The selection of these data rates will be dependent on specific critical RF frequencies where EMI impacts have to be minimized. |
| US08707076B2 |
System and method for power management of storage resources
A system and method for power management of storage resources are disclosed. A method may include detecting an occurrence of an event associated with a storage resource disposed in an array of storage resources. The method may further include transitioning the storage resource into a specified power state in response to the detection of the occurrence of the event. A system may include a storage resource and a power management module communicatively coupled to the storage resource. The storage resource may be disposed in an array of storage resources. The power management module may be operable to detect an occurrence of an event associated with the storage resource, and may be operable to transition the storage resource into a specified power state in response to the detection of the occurrence of the event. |
| US08707070B2 |
Power management of data processing resources, such as power adaptive management of data storage operations
A system and method for performing power conservation actions is described. In some examples, the system determines a power conservation policy based on information from the system, and implements that policy in an enterprise or in one or more buildings, such as within a data storage environment. In some examples, the system adds or modifies global filters or system performance based on information from the system. |
| US08707068B2 |
USB host wake up via a USB device when in shut down mode
A system and method for communicating between a controller and a device is provided: The controller communicates with the device over a communication link. The controller shutting off a power supply that is connected to the communication link, for example, due to inactivity parameters. The device generating a wake up signal and transmitting the wake up signal from the device to the controller while the power supply is shut off. |
| US08707066B2 |
Method and apparatus for a zero voltage processor sleep state
Embodiments of the invention relate to a method and apparatus for a zero voltage processor sleep state. A voltage regulator may be coupled to a processor to provide an operating voltage to the processor. During a transition to a zero voltage power management state for the processor, the operational voltage applied to the processor by the voltage regulator may be reduced to approximately zero while an external voltage is continuously applied to a portion of the processor to save state variables of the processor during the zero voltage management power state. |
| US08707065B2 |
Method and system for monitoring module power status in a communication device
A method for monitoring operating status of a device includes receiving within a chip, a plurality of signals, each of the plurality of signals being indicative of a power status of a respective one of a plurality of on-chip devices. The method may also include generating from within the chip, a corresponding plurality of output signals. Each of the corresponding plurality of output signals respectively being indicative of the power status of the respective one of the plurality of on-chip devices. Each of the corresponding plurality of output signals may include a clock signal and a data signal. The corresponding plurality of output signals that are indicative of the power status may be output from the chip in a round robin manner. Each of the output signals that are indicative of the power status may be measured in real time by one or more resistor drops within the chip. |
| US08707061B2 |
System and method of providing scalable computing between a portable computing device and a portable computing device docking station
A method of managing processor cores within a portable computing device (PCD) is disclosed and may include determining whether the PCD is docked with a PCD docking station when the PCD is powered on and energizing a first processor core when the PCD is not docked with the PCD docking station. The method may include determining an application processor requirement when an application is selected, determining whether the application processor requirement equals a two processor core condition, and energizing a second processor core when the application processor requirement equals the two processor core condition. |
| US08707060B2 |
Deterministic management of dynamic thermal response of processors
Methods and apparatus relating to deterministic management of dynamic thermal response of processors are described. In one embodiment, available thermal headroom may be used to extract the performance potential in a deterministic way, e.g., such that it reduces or even eliminates the product-to-product variations. Other embodiments are also disclosed and claimed. |
| US08707059B2 |
End to end encryption for intrusion detection system
An intrusion detection module includes an enclosure and a sensor to detect a predetermined type of intrusion. The module further includes a tamper sensor to detect a tampering attempt. An encryption mechanism is coupled to receive signals from the sensor and tamper sensor and encrypt such signals for transmission to a control panel. |
| US08707056B2 |
Security provision for a subject image displayed in a non-secure domain
A data processing device is provided with a processor core 8 that can operate in either a secure domain or a non-secure domain. Data stored within a secure region 34 of a memory 10 can only be accessed when the processor core 8 is executing in the secure domain. A frame buffer 36 for storing a display image 20 to be displayed is stored within a non-secure region of memory which can be accessed by the processor core 8 irrespective of whether it is in the secure domain or the non-secure domain as well as a display controller 12. When a subject image 22 is written to the frame buffer 36, validation data for the subject image 22 is stored within the secure region 34. When a user input is received the displayed data stored at a validated display area to which the subject image was written is read back and used to generate check data with is compared with the validation data before the user input is authenticated. |
| US08707055B2 |
Recording medium with copy protection information formed in intermittent or alternate wobbled pits and apparatus and methods for forming, recording, and reproducing the recording medium
A recording medium, such as a high-density and/or read-only recording medium, such as BD-ROM, which contains copy protection information encoded in intermittent or alternate wobbled pits, and to methods and apparatuses for forming, recording, and reproducing data on the recording medium. |
| US08707054B2 |
Establishing a secure memory path in a unitary memory architecture
A functional unit of a device is associated with a secret. Data stored in a memory location of the device is encrypted using the secret. The memory location of the device is accessible to other functional units; but without knowledge of the secret, the stored encrypted data is useless. The sharing of the secret creates a secure path between memory locations and functional units of the device while maintaining a unitary memory architecture. This abstract is not to be considered limiting, since other embodiments may deviate from the features described in this abstract. |
| US08707045B2 |
Method and apparatus for traffic count key management and key count management
Various methods and apparatuses for managing count values (e.g. key counts) to manage a TEK in various communication environments are disclosed. Also, various methods and apparatuses for generating and maintaining a traffic key encryption key by using key count values are disclosed. |
| US08707044B2 |
System and method for using networked mobile devices in vehicles
A system and method for using networked mobile devices in a vehicle in a tightly integrated manner is presented. The vehicle has an OBE, a mobile device client, and vehicle components, and the mobile device has a mobile device proxy and applications, such that the mobile device client and the mobile device proxy communicate, enabling dynamic transfer of the applications to the OBE and execution of the applications on the mobile device and the OBE using the plurality of vehicle components at runtime. In one embodiment, the mobile device client and the mobile device proxy authenticate each other. The authentication can be performed using digital certificates. The mobile device client can communicate the vehicle components on the vehicle to the mobile device proxy. The mobile device client and the mobile device proxy can communicate using Bluetooth. The vehicle components can include dashboard displays, speakers, and voice I/O systems. |
| US08707042B2 |
Sharing keys between cooperating parties
An apparatus and a method for generating a secure cipher key over an insecure channel. In one embodiment, a set of polynomials is generated and shared between a first party and a second party over the insecure channel. The first party generates a first random exponent for its private cipher key. The second party generates a second random exponent for its private cipher key. The first party operates on the set of polynomials with the first random exponent and sends the results to the second party. The second party operates on the set of polynomials with the second random exponent and sends the results to the first party. A shared cipher key is computed based on the exchanged operation results. |
| US08707040B2 |
Establishing secure communication between an implantable medical device and an external device
Establishing secure communication between an implantable medical device and an external device includes: accessing, at the implantable medical device, biological data; utilizing the biological data, at the implantable medical device, to generate a public cryptographic key; and utilizing the public cryptographic key, at the implantable medical device, to generate a private cryptographic key. |
| US08707038B2 |
Method for the encrypted data exchange and communication system
The embodiments relate to a method for the encrypted data exchange between subscribers of a communication system using cryptography based on elliptical curves, wherein upon a query by a first subscriber a scalar multiplication is calculated by the second subscriber, wherein merely part of the result of the scalar multiplication is returned to the first subscriber as a response. The invention relates to a communication system. |
| US08707031B2 |
Identity-based certificate management
Methods for managing digital certificates, including issuance, validation, and revocation are disclosed. Various embodiments involve querying a directory service with entries that correspond to a particular client identity and have attributes including certificate issuance limits and certificate validity time values. The validity time values are adjustable to revoke selectively the certificates based upon time intervals set forth in validity identifiers included therein. |
| US08707030B2 |
Distributed delegated path discovery and validation
Providing path validation information for a system includes determining paths between a subset of certificate of the system and at least one trust root, storing each of the paths in a table prior to a request for path validation information, and fetching the validation information stored in the table in response to a request for path validation information. Providing path validation information may also include digitally signing the validation information. Providing path validation information may also include applying constraints to the validation information and only providing validation information that is consistent with the constraints. Determining paths may include constructing a directed graph of trusted roots and the subset of certificates and performing a depth-first acyclic search of the graph. |
| US08707029B2 |
Mobile handset identification and communication authentication
Disclosed is a system and method for authenticating a communications channel between a mobile handset associated with a user and an application server, for uniquely identifying the mobile handset and for encrypting communications between the mobile handset and the application server over the communication channel is provided. The system includes a certificate authority configured to issue digital certificates to the handset and the application server, as well as software applications operating on both the handset and application server. The digital certificates may be used by the handset and application server to uniquely identify one another as well as to exchange encryption keys by means of which further communication between them may be encrypted. |
| US08707019B2 |
Component update using management engine
Embodiments of systems and methods for applying a component update using a management engine are disclosed. In some embodiments, the method may comprise storing a bootable image containing an update for a component of a computing device in a secured memory location and configuring the computing device to boot from the bootable image. Such configuration may include configuring the computing device for integrated device electronics redirection (IDE-R) to the bootable image. |
| US08707018B1 |
Managing initialization of file systems
A method is used in managing initialization of file systems. Activity of file systems is monitored. The file systems include a first and second set of file systems. Based on activity of the file systems, the first set of file systems is associated with a first section of a boot configuration file and the second set of file systems is associated with a second section of the boot configuration file. The first and second sets of file systems are initialized for providing access to the first and second sets of file systems. Access to the first set of file systems is provided before initializing the second set of file systems. |
| US08707012B2 |
Implementing vector memory operations
In one embodiment, the present invention includes an apparatus having a register file to store vector data, an address generator coupled to the register file to generate addresses for a vector memory operation, and a controller to generate an output slice from one or more slices each including multiple addresses, where the output slice includes addresses each corresponding to a separately addressable portion of a memory. Other embodiments are described and claimed. |
| US08707009B2 |
Memory systems and methods for dividing physical memory locations into temporal memory locations
Described are memory modules that support dynamic point-to-point extensibility using fixed-width memory die. The memory modules include data-width translators that allow the modules to vary the effective width of their external memory interfaces without varying the width of the internal memory interfaces extending between the translators and associated fixed-width dies. The data-width translators use a data-mask signal to selectively prevent memory accesses to subsets of physical addresses. This data masking divides the physical address locations into two or more temporal subsets of the physical address locations, effectively increasing the number of uniquely addressable locations in a given module. Reading temporal addresses in write order can introduce undesirable read latency. Some embodiments reorder read data to reduce this latency. |
| US08707004B2 |
Computer system and storage consolidation management method
In order to properly use resources according to the application or search for available resources in an environment in which a block storage apparatus and a file storage apparatus coexist, knowledge and experience of applications and storage apparatuses, as well manpower were required. Thus, a policy pre-defined with a preferred type of interface and a preferred type of storage area for each type of application that is loaded in the host computers is predetermined, configuration information is collected from each storage apparatus, each intermediate storage apparatus and each host computer, respectively, a combination of a storage apparatus, an intermediate storage apparatus and a host computer that is suitable for the type of application designated by a user is detected based on the collected configuration information of each storage apparatus, each intermediate storage apparatus and each host computer, the policy, and the type of application designated by the user, and the detected combination is presented to the user. |
| US08706999B2 |
Method and system for cascaded flashcopy zoning and algorithm and/or computer program code and method implementing the same
A method of performing cascaded flashcopy (FC) including starting a flashcopy map when a target disk is already a source of an active FC map. A computer storage system includes a configuration that allows a flashcopy (FC) map to be started when a target disk is already the source of an active FC map. |
| US08706995B2 |
Field device with separated memory areas
A field device for measuring a filling level, a pressure or a density of a medium in a container includes data memory with two memory areas that are separated from one another. First data for safety-critical program modules is stored in the first memory area. Second data for safety-uncritical program modules is stored in the second memory area. The two memory areas are separated from one another. All access to these memory areas is controlled by a memory management unit. |
| US08706993B2 |
Systems and methods for storage modeling and costing
The present invention provides systems and methods for data storage. A hierarchical storage management architecture is presented to facilitate data management. The disclosed system provides methods for evaluating the state of stored data relative to enterprise needs by using weighted parameters that may be user defined. Also disclosed are systems and methods evaluating costing and risk management associated with stored data. |
| US08706989B2 |
Data storage device with power-off recovery system and method thereof
A data storage system and method are disclosed. The data storage system includes a first and a second memory and a memory control unit. The first memory is non-volatile, and the second memory is designed to store dynamic information of the first memory. The memory control unit includes a snapshot module, a recording module and a power-off recovery module, and is operative to handle the data loss of the second memory when an unexpected power-off occurs. When the power of the system is recovered, an initial address stored in the first memory by the snapshot module and link information and updating information recorded in the first memory by the recording module are obtained by the power-off recovery module to recovery the second memory. |
| US08706988B2 |
Memory system
A memory system comprising a volatile memory unit, a nonvolatile memory unit, and a controller that performs data transfer between a host system and the nonvolatile memory unit via the volatile memory unit stores management information including a storage position of the data stored in the nonvolatile memory unit during a startup operation into the volatile memory unit, and performs, while updating stored management information, data management in the volatile and nonvolatile memory units based on the stored management information. The nonvolatile memory unit includes a snapshot storing area storing a snapshot which is the management information stored in the volatile memory unit at a certain point, a main log storing area storing a main log which is an update information of the management information stored in the volatile memory unit, and a backup log storing area storing a backup log having contents same as contents of the main log. The controller stores the management information of the volatile memory unit in the snapshot storing area as a snapshot when a predetermined condition is satisfied, and sequentially stores the main log in the main log storing area when the management information is changed and the backup log in the backup log storing area. |
| US08706984B2 |
Delete notifications for an entire storage device
A delete notification can be received at a storage stack filter in a storage stack. It can be determined whether the delete notification applies to an entire storage device. If the delete notification does not apply to the entire storage device, a first set of actions can be taken with the storage stack filter in response to the delete notification. If the delete notification does apply to the entire storage device, a second set of actions can be taken with the storage stack filter in response to the delete notification. |
| US08706983B2 |
Garbage collection of memory blocks using volatile memory
A method and system for performing garbage collection operations on update blocks in a memory device using volatile memory is disclosed. When performing a garbage collection operation, a first part of the data related to the garbage collection operation is written to a volatile memory in the memory device, and a second part of the data related to the garbage collection operation is written to a non-volatile memory in the memory device. The first part of the data that is written to the volatile memory (such as a random access memory) may comprise control information (such as mapping information of the logical addressable unit to a physical metablock). The second part of the data related to the garbage collection that is written to the non-volatile memory (such as a flash memory) may comprise the consolidated data in the update block. |
| US08706982B2 |
Mechanisms for strong atomicity in a transactional memory system
A method and apparatus for providing efficient strong atomicity is herein described. Optimized strong operations may be inserted at non-transactional read accesses to provide efficient strong atomicity. A global transaction value is copied at a beginning of a non-transactional function to a local transaction value; essentially creating a local timestamp of the global transaction value. At a non-transactional memory access within the function, a counter value or version value is compared to the LTV to see if a transaction has started updating memory locations, or specifically the memory location accessed. If memory locations have not been updated by a transaction, execution is accelerated by avoiding a full set of slowpath strong atomic operations to ensure validity of data accessed. In contrast, the slowpath operations may be executed to resolve contention between a transactional and non-transaction access contending for the same memory location. |
| US08706981B2 |
Configurable status processing unit for sensor-actuator systems
An electronic communication unit which is in the form of a sensor and/or actuator unit, including at least a first status information processing module having a status memory unit which stores status information for the communication unit in the form of a status data item (stat), wherein the first status information processing module further includes a masking memory unit connected to the status memory unit and also a status processing element connected to the masking memory unit, wherein the first status information processing module is designed such that at least one status information item from the status data item (stat) is selected by the masking memory unit and the resultant selective status data item (sel-stat) is processed by the status processing element such that the output of the latter provides a short status data item (k-stat) which has a shorter data word length than the selective status data item (sel-stat). |
| US08706978B2 |
Semiconductor storage device having nonvolatile flash and ram with simultaneous data copy and data receive
A semiconductor storage device includes a first nonvolatile memory to store user data of a file, a second nonvolatile memory to store management data of the file, the second nonvolatile memory being different in type from the first nonvolatile memory, and a controller to control read/write of data with respect to the first and second nonvolatile memories. |
| US08706973B2 |
Unbounded transactional memory system and method
An unbounded transactional memory system which can process overflow data. The unbounded transactional memory system may include a host processor, a memory, and a memory processor. The host processor may include an execution unit to perform a transaction, and a cache to temporarily store data. The memory processor may store overflow data in overflow storage included in the memory in response to an overflow event in which the overflow data is generated in the cache during the transaction. |
| US08706970B2 |
Dynamic cache queue allocation based on destination availability
An apparatus for controlling operation of a cache includes a first command queue, a second command queue and an input controller configured to receive requests having a first command type and a second command type and to assign a first request having the first command type to the first command queue and a second command having the first command type to the second command queue in the event that the first command queue has not received an indication that a first dedicated buffer is available. |
| US08706968B2 |
Apparatus, system, and method for redundant write caching
An apparatus, system, and method are disclosed for redundant write caching. The apparatus, system, and method are provided with a plurality of modules including a write request module, a first cache write module, a second cache write module, and a trim module. The write request module detects a write request to store data on a storage device. The first cache write module writes data of the write request to a first cache. The second cache write module writes the data to a second cache. The trim module trims the data from one of the first cache and the second cache in response to an indicator that the storage device stores the data. The data remains available in the other of the first cache and the second cache to service read requests. |
| US08706967B1 |
Cache management system and method
A method, computer program product, and cache management system for receiving an indication of a data portion update within an electromechanical storage system. Information concerning the data portion update is provided to at least one proprietary, solid-state, non-volatile, cache memory system. The proprietary, solid-state, non-volatile, cache memory system is associated with at least a first of a plurality of computing devices and is not associated with at least a second of the plurality of computing devices. |
| US08706966B1 |
System and method for adaptively configuring an L2 cache memory mesh
A system and method are provided for adaptively configuring L2 cache memory usage in a system of microprocessors. A system-on-chip (SoC) is provided with a plurality of n selectively enabled processor cores and a plurality of n L2 cache memories. The method associates each L2 cache with a corresponding processor core, and shares the n L2 caches between enabled processor cores. More explicitly, associating each L2 cache with the corresponding processor core means connecting each processor core to its L2 cache using an L2 data/address bus. Sharing the n L2 caches with enabled processors means connecting each processor core to each L2 cache via a data/address bus mesh with dedicated point-to-point connections. |
| US08706964B1 |
Automatic generation of cache-optimized code
A system receives cache conditions and software information related to a software application, and automatically generates an optimal cache management scheme for the software application based on the received cache conditions and software information. |
| US08706961B2 |
Storage apparatus and data management method
Data is managed efficiently by switching between block level hierarchical control and file level hierarchical control according to file characteristics. A storage apparatus which is connected via a network to a host computer which requests data writing comprises storage media of a plurality of types of varying performance, a volume management unit which manages storage areas provided by the storage media of the plurality of types as different storage tiers and manages storage tiers of the same type or different types as a pool and provides predetermined areas of the pool to the host computer as volumes, and a file management unit which constructs file systems, for managing data in file units configured from a plurality of blocks, in the volumes, and receives file unit data write requests from the host computer. |
| US08706955B2 |
Booting a memory device from a host
In one implementation, a method includes receiving, at a memory device, an instruction to boot the memory device, wherein the memory device includes non-volatile memory accessible by a controller of the memory device; and, in response to receiving the instruction to boot the memory device, obtaining, by the memory device, firmware from a host device, wherein the host device is separate from and communicatively coupled to the memory device. The method can also include booting the memory device using the firmware from the host device, wherein the memory device boots separately from the host device, and the host device performs operations using data or instructions stored in the non-volatile memory and obtained through communication with the memory controller of the memory device. |
| US08706952B2 |
Flash memory storage device, controller thereof, and data programming method thereof
A flash memory storage device, a controller thereof, and a data programming method are provided. The flash memory storage device has a flash memory comprising a plurality of physical blocks, each physical block includes a plurality of physical addresses, and the physical addresses comprises at least one fast physical address and at least one slow physical address. The method comprises at least grouping the physical blocks into a data area and a spare area; setting a predetermined block number; obtaining m physical blocks from the spare area, receiving a write command comprising a write data and a logical address, determining a logical address range of a buffer according to the logical address and the predetermined block number. When all logical addresses to be programmed with the write data are within the logical address range of the buffer, using a fast mode to program the data into the m physical blocks. |
| US08706949B2 |
Monolithic read-while-write flash memory device
A memory device includes an executable flash memory partition and a non-executable partition, both partitions being fabricated on a common die. Preferably, both partitions are fabricated using the same flash memory technology. Most preferably, the flash cells of both partitions have insulating floating gates. |
| US08706942B2 |
Direct memory access (DMA) address translation between peer-to-peer input/output (I/O) devices
A method and apparatus is described herein for supporting direct memory accesses between peer I/O devices. It is determined whether a guest physical address (GPA) referenced by an access generated from an I/O device, is within a range of GPAs associated with local I/O devices based at least in part on a GPA base and a GPA window size. If the GPA is within the window, then the GPA is translated to an HPA based at least in part on a base HPA associated with a local device and then forwarded to that local device. However, if the GPA is not within the window, then the access is forwarded upstream. |
| US08706940B2 |
High fairness variable priority arbitration method
Multiprocessor systems often share access to a centralized memory and experience conflicting access requests. An arbitration unit mediates priorities of requestor preferably ensuring both priority and fairness. In this invention upon an access conflict the arbitrator grants access to one requestor having the highest priority level and stalls other conflicting requestors. If plural requestors have the same priority level, the arbiter grants access to one and stalls the others. The arbiter then adjusts the priority levels of the requestors. The priority of the requestor granted access is decreased by the number of stalled requestors. The stalled requestors have their priority levels increased by one. The arbitration decision is thus based on the stall history and the caused stall history of each requestor. |
| US08706937B2 |
Method and system of debugging multicore bus transaction problems
A bus monitoring and debugging system operating independently without impacting the normal operation of the CPU and without adding any overhead to the application being monitored. Users are alerted to timing problems as they occur, and bus statistics that are relevant to providing insight to system operation are automatically captured. Logging of relevant events may be enabled or disabled when a sliding time window expires, or alternatively by external trigger events. |
| US08706934B2 |
System and method for automatic decommissioning of network participants by closing select circuits in order to change a plurality of mechanical states of the network participants
Disclosed is a memory device in which the state of the memory may be set by a mechanical action, with or without mains power present. The memory state may be detected by a microcontroller. The state for the memory device may be reset by a microcontroller. The microcontroller may be external to an apparatus containing the memory device, adjacent to or within the apparatus. |
| US08706933B2 |
Bus control for a domestic appliance
A domestic appliance (1) with a bus (2) is disclosed. A plurality of modules (3) are connected to the bus, each controlling an operational component (4). Initial programming of the modules may take place from a single connection point (61). The modules may be configured to control the domestic appliance jointly and non-hierarchically. Suitably, all modules are identical up to content of a data memory provided therein. |
| US08706931B1 |
Tool selection and implementation of port adapters
Methods and apparatus are provided for allowing interconnection between ports associated with primary and secondary components in an embedded system. Ports may only support a particular bus type or set of attributes and a variety of ports may be incompatible. Bus types include Peripheral Components Interface (PCI) and Advanced Microcontroller Bus Architecture (AMBA) while attributes include bursting, non-bursting, word-wide, byte-wide, etc. Port adapters components are automatically selected from a library of port adapter components to allow connection of incompatible ports. Port adapters can be shared, chained, and intelligently selected for increased efficiency. |
| US08706924B2 |
PCI-express data link transmitter employing a plurality of dynamically selectable data transmission priority rules
A data link transmitter in a PCI Express device for managing PCI-Express TLPs and DLLPs. The data link transmitter includes a priority system in which a DLLP for initializing flow control has highest priority, and an idle data character has lowest priority. Various embodiments include: a DLLP for power state entrance is lower priority than the DLLP for initializing flow control; a replay TLP for retry buffer re-transmission is lower priority than the DLLP for power state entrance, and a new TLP is lower priority than the replay TLP; an Ack/Nak DLLP is lower priority than the new TLP, a DLLP for updating flow control is lower priority than the Ack/Nak TLP, and a DLLP for acknowledging the DLLP for power state entrance is lower priority than the DLLP for updating flow control; a DLLP for updating flow control is lower priority than the DLLP for power state entrance. |
| US08706918B2 |
External environment sensitive predictive application and memory initiation
An input tracker learns relationships between end user inputs made at a computer and external environment conditions sensed at the computer by external environment sensors integrated in the computer, such as a camera, microphone, hard disk drive motion detector, display ambient light sensor and display orientation accelerometer. An input predictor interfaced with the input tracker applies current external environment conditions sensed by the external environment sensors to the relationships defined by the input tracker to predict future user input and initiates actions by the computer responsive to the predicted future user input before the input is detected to have results responsive to the input prepared for the user upon detection of the input. |
| US08706916B2 |
Adaptable datapath for a digital processing system
The present invention includes an adaptable high-performance node (RXN) with several features that enable it to provide high performance along with adaptability. A preferred embodiment of the RXN includes a run-time configurable data path and control path. The RXN supports multi-precision arithmetic including 8, 16, 24, and 32 bit codes. Data flow can be reconfigured to minimize register accesses for different operations. For example, multiply-accumulate operations can be performed with minimal, or no, register stores by reconfiguration of the data path. Predetermined kernels can be configured during a setup phase so that the RXN can efficiently execute, e.g., Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT), Fast-Fourier Transform (FFT) and other operations. Other features are provided. |
| US08706915B2 |
Computing infrastructure
An affordable, highly trustworthy, survivable and available, operationally efficient distributed supercomputing infrastructure for processing, sharing and protecting both structured and unstructured information. A primary objective of the SHADOWS infrastructure is to establish a highly survivable, essentially maintenance-free shared platform for extremely high-performance computing (i.e., supercomputing)—with “high performance” defined both in terms of total throughput, but also in terms of very low-latency (although not every problem or customer necessarily requires very low latency)—while achieving unprecedented levels of affordability at its simplest, the idea is to use distributed “teams” of nodes in a self-healing network as the basis for managing and coordinating both the work to be accomplished and the resources available to do the work. The SHADOWS concept of “teams” is responsible for its ability to “self-heal” and “adapt” its distributed resources in an “organic” manner. Furthermore, the “teams” themselves are at the heart of decision-making, processing, and storage in the SHADOWS infrastructure. Everything that's important is handled under the auspices and stewardship of a team. |
| US08706905B1 |
Method and system for routing information in a network
Method and system for a network is provided. The system includes a computing system operationally coupled to a first switch via a first adapter; a first storage system operationally coupled to the first switch via a second adapter; and a second switch operationally coupled to the first switch and to a second storage system. The second switch allocates addresses from an address range to the first adapter and the second adapter such that the first switch is able to route information between the computing system, the first storage system and the second storage system. The first switch upon receiving a frame from the second switch uses a dual stage selection mechanism for determining a port for routing the frame to the first storage system and to the computing system. |
| US08706900B2 |
Dynamic storage resources
A storage server in a distributed content storage and access system provides a mechanism for dynamically establishing storage resources, such as buffers, with specified semantic models. For example, the semantic models support distributed control of single buffering and double buffering during a content transfer that makes use of the buffer for intermediate storage. In some examples, a method includes examining characteristics associated with a desired transfer of data, such as a unit of content, and then selecting characteristics of a first storage resource based on results of the examining. The desired transfer of the data is then affected to use the first storage resource element. |
| US08706899B2 |
Transmitting petroleum well data from a mobile drilling rig
Computer-implemented methods, computer-readable media, and computer systems for transmitting petroleum well data from a mobile drilling rig. A rig computer system at the mobile drilling rig receives a request for petroleum well data from a first real-time operations center (ROC) computer system at a ROC over a network. The rig computer system has previously transmitted the requested data to second ROC computer system over the network. The rig computer system determines that the first and second ROC computer systems are connected by a network of greater bandwidth than the network that connects the rig computer system and the first ROC computer system. The rig computer system responds to the first ROC computer system by re-directing the first ROC computer system to the second ROC computer system rather than by transmitting the petroleum well data to the first ROC computer system. |
| US08706897B2 |
Multiple control channels for multicast replication in a network
Network devices, such as a router and a downstream multicast distribution device, may use multiple control channels when setting up a multicast stream for a multicast request. For example, first messages may be transmitted using a first protocol to an upstream device over a first channel, the first messages indicating when a first multicast media stream is being requested by at least one of a number of client devices. Second messages may be transmitted using a second protocol over a second channel, the second messages being transmitted on a per-client basis and each identifying a one of the client devices as requesting the first multicast media stream. By using two control channels to convey the multicast channel requests, the router may obtain visibility into the action of the subscriber and can consequently perform per-subscriber operations such as access-control, bandwidth based admission control, statistics, and QoS adjustment for multicast IPTV streams received by the subscriber. |
| US08706894B1 |
System and method for providing content to a user
A system, method and a computer-readable medium having a computer-readable code embodied therein for providing content to a user, the method includes: generating, by a media provider, an instruction to fulfill a preliminary condition for receiving a second media conveying stream; transmitting the instruction to the user while also sending a first multicast media conveying stream; waiting for a preliminary condition fulfillment time period to lapse from an end of the transmitting of the instruction; and transmitting, by the media provider, the second media conveying stream towards the user, wherein the transmitting is initiated without being aware of an exact timing of a fulfillment of the preliminary condition. |
| US08706889B2 |
Mitigating connection identifier collisions in a communication network
A new instance of a connection that is in the wait state can be established while mitigating connection identifier collisions. Based on a connection identifier in a connection request received at a server from a client, it is determined that a previous instance of a connection represented by the connection identifier is in a wait state. An acknowledgement message comprising wait state parameters associated with the connection identifier and original connection parameters associated with the previous instance of the connection in the wait state is provided from the server to the client. In response, the server receives a compliance message comprising updated wait state parameters and updated connection parameters from the client. The new instance of the connection represented by the connection identifier that previously represented the previous instance of the connection is established based, at least in part, on the updated wait state parameters and the updated connection parameters. |
| US08706887B2 |
Multi-channel sessions
Implementations of the present disclosure provide multiple communication channels between a client and a session and include establishing a first communication channel between the session and a first application program executed on the client, the session being active on an application server, the first application program using a first communication protocol, and instantiating a second application program on the client. A second communication channel is established between the second application program and the session, the second application program using a second communication protocol different from the first. |
| US08706883B2 |
Technique for using OER with an ECT solution for multi-homed sites
In one embodiment, a plurality of spoke-to-hub virtual private network (VPN) tunnels are established from a spoke router located at an edge of a spoke network to a hub network. The spoke router is configured as an optimized edge routing (OER) node. The spoke router monitors a network statistic for each of a plurality of prefixes on each of the plurality of spoke-to-hub VPN tunnels. The monitored network statistic is analyzed to determine whether a distribution of traffic between the spoke network and the hub network can be optimized. In the event the distribution of traffic between the spoke network and the hub network can be optimized, traffic is redistributed on a per-prefix basis among the plurality of spoke-to-hub VPN tunnels based on the monitored network statistic, such that at least a portion of the traffic is routed over each of the plurality of spoke-to-hub VPN tunnels. |
| US08706881B2 |
Automatic registration of enterprise resources in a dynamic module system services registry
A computer-implemented method, system, and medium are disclosed for implementing a hybrid application server. The server comprises an application server container, a dynamic module system, and a resources-exporter module deployed on the dynamic module system. The resources-exporter module is configured to detect that a system-level resource of the application server container has been deployed. In response to detecting that the container resource has been deployed, the resources-exporter is configured to register a proxy object for the system-level resource as a service in the dynamic module system. |
| US08706872B2 |
Agreement compliance controlled information throttle
Controls electronic devices and/or throttles electronic devices and/or information for electronic devices based on agreements or events or any combination thereof. An agreement includes one or more conditions to satisfy the agreement, such as one or more tasks or activities to be performed by an agreement performer or events that may be detected, and actions performed to enforce or assert the agreement such as controlling the electronic device and/or enabling or disabling or otherwise limiting, reducing or increasing the amount or type of information allowed with respect to any or all electronic devices associated with the agreement performer. For example, the system controls the electronic device and/or enables, disables or limits the amount or type of information on an electronic device, e.g., telephone, computer, game, television, vehicle based on whether the child has finished assigned homework, chores or extracurricular activities as specified as conditions of the agreement. |
| US08706868B2 |
Image processing apparatus, information processing apparatus, and method therefor
An image processing apparatus capable of requesting a service providing apparatus via an external network to perform processing and communicating with an information processing apparatus via an internal network includes an activation unit configured to activate a check unit configured to check a status of the processing acquired by the information processing apparatus, a stopping unit configured to stop the check unit if the check unit activated by the activation unit recognizes that the status of the processing is not a stopped state, and a request unit configured to request the service providing apparatus to perform the processing if the check unit is stopped. |
| US08706867B2 |
Realtime streaming of multimedia content from secondary storage devices
A method and system for streaming media to a client from a media server is described. In some examples, the system utilizes a virtualization layer to generate a virtual computing environment, or virtual machine, at a UPnP server, which is configured to receive requests for media, identify locations for the media within the secondary storage devices, access the media, and present the media to a client computing device associated with the media requests. |
| US08706866B2 |
Virtual server and method for identifying zombie, and sinkhole server and method for integratedly managing zombie information
Provided are a virtual server and method for identifying a zombie, and a sinkhole server and method for integratedly managing zombie information. The virtual server includes an authentication processing module authenticating a host using a CAPTCHA test and providing a cookie to the authenticated host when a web server access request message received from the host does not include a cookie, a cookie value verification module for extracting a cookie value from the web server access request message and verifying the extracted cookie value when the web server access request message includes a cookie, a web page access inducement module for inducing the host to access a web server when the cookie value is verified, and a zombie identification module for blocking access of the host when the cookie value is not verified, and identifying the host as a zombie when the number of blocking operations exceeds a threshold value. |
| US08706861B2 |
Dynamically allocating network resources for communication session
A primary call admission controller (CAC) system receives a request from a client to allocate a network resource such as a network bandwidth. The primary CAC system may determine subordinate CAC to delegate the allocation and transfer the request to the subordinate CAC. Subsequently, the subordinate CAC analyzes the communication session attributes to determine an available network resource for the communication session. Upon a positive determination, the subordinate CAC allocates the network resource and signals the allocation up the network chain to the primary CAC and the client. |
| US08706860B2 |
Remote browsing session management
A remote browsing process is directed to the generation and management of a remote browse session at a network computing and storage provider. A client computing device requests a remote browse session instance at a network computing and storage provider. The browse session instance may correspond to one or more requested network resources. The network computing and storage provider instantiates the browse session instance and retrieves the requested content. The network computing and storage provider processes the requested content for display, and provides display data corresponding to a processed representation of the requested content to the client computing device in accordance with a display protocol configuration. The client computing device may display the representation of the requested content in a browser, and may send user interaction data based on user interactions with the representation to the network computing and storage provider for processing. |
| US08706859B2 |
Method and apparatus of data center file system
Embodiments of the invention provide a capability to validate volume status on the host and storage system stored virtual machine image in the datacenter management server. In one embodiment, a server system includes a storage system having a plurality of volumes, a plurality of host systems, and a management server coupled with the storage system and the host systems via a network. A method of managing the server system comprises: generating a golden image in the storage system corresponding to a virtual machine image file; copying virtual machine data from the golden image to some of the plurality of volumes in the storage system; and keeping track, by the management server, of status of the volumes which have copied virtual machine data by monitoring activity of the virtual machines. |
| US08706858B2 |
Method and apparatus for controlling flow of management tasks to management system databases
A management task data storage capability is provided for facilitating storage of management task data within a database of a management system, such as a network management system that is managing network elements of a telecommunication network. In one embodiment, the management task data storage capability controls storage of management tasks within a database of a management system based on respective priority levels associated with groups of network devices from which the management tasks are received. In this manner, the management task data storage capability ensures that higher priority network devices are provided an appropriately larger amount of management system resources than lower priority network devices, thereby enabling an appropriately larger amount of management task data storage operations to be performed for higher priority network devices than for lower priority network devices and enabling the use of database resources, for handling management tasks of network devices, to be as effective as possible in view of the priorities of the network. |
| US08706856B2 |
Service directory
Service endpoints that provide services to client devices send registration data to a service directory service. The registration data includes addresses that client devices can use to access the service endpoints along with descriptive data that describes the services that each endpoint provides, along with other information such as version numbers of applications that are supported by the service endpoints, and whether the service endpoints are running an experiment. Client devices request a manifest from the service directory service. Each request includes client metadata that describes the requesting client device. The service directory service uses the registration data and the client metadata to generate a manifest for the client device that identifies the services that the client may access and an address that the client may use to access each service. |
| US08706854B2 |
System and method for organizing, managing and running enterprise-wide scans
Disclosed is a system and method for creating, organizing, and monitoring computer searches across a large number of networked computers. The system allows individual searches to be created and tailored depending upon specific objectives. Once established, the system permits the search parameters to be subsequently edited as needed. A graphical user interface (GUI) allows users to view established searches and to monitor searches once activated. Search results can also be tabulated by way of the GUI. |
| US08706853B2 |
Content processing apparatus, content processing method, and recording medium
A content processing apparatus includes an extracting part extracting undownloaded contents from a list of downloadable contents, a providing situation storage part that stores a providing situation of the contents that content processing apparatus provided to other apparatuses, a priority order determining part determining the priority order of download in the extracted undownloaded contents based on the providing situation stored in the providing situation storage part, and a downloading part downloading the contents in accordance with the priority order determined by the priority order determining part. |
| US08706849B1 |
Systems and methods for increasing the scalability in a client/server environment
A method and system for polling an administrative system for one or more managed nodes is described. The administrative system is connected to a managed node. The administrative system is polled for data to be downloaded. A node list is sent to the administrative system. A connect list is received from the administrative system. The connect list is multicast to the one or more managed nodes. |
| US08706848B2 |
Control apparatus, communication control method executed by the control apparatus, communication control program controlling the control apparatus, and data processing system
A control apparatus is provided between a first network and a second network different from the first network, in which a data processing apparatus is connected to the first network. The control apparatus notifies the data processing apparatus of a change of setting information that is set for network communications. Then, the control apparatus rewrites information involved in received data according to the changed setting information, when the data processing apparatus transmits data to be transmitted to a destination apparatus connected to the second network under a condition that the data processing apparatus is not yet operating based on the changed setting information. |
| US08706846B2 |
Method and system for transmitting live media streaming in peer-to-peer networks
A method and a system for transmitting a live media stream to a plurality of nodes under a multicast tree in peer-to-peer (P2P) networks are provided. First, the reliability of each node is calculated according to a number of child nodes that can be supported by the node and an accumulated on-line time of the node. According to the number of child nodes and the reliability of each node, the nodes are rearranged in a database to establish an ideal reliable multicast tree. Finally, according to the reliability of each node, a location of each node in the multicast tree is practically adapted in sequence in a descending order, and a relative delay between nodes is weighted and compared, so a level difference between the adapted level of the node in the multicast tree and the level of the node in the ideal reliable multicast tree is the smallest. |
| US08706841B2 |
Automatic selection of digital service feed
Methods and systems for presentation of content through an interface to provide personalized video feeds to a user. A user's interaction with Internet services automatically generates services preferences indicating a media entity. That media entity is correlated to one or more feed items or feeds. A video feed is harvested from feed items or feeds gathered at various Internet services. |
| US08706839B2 |
Virtual serial port and protocol for use in serial-over-LAN communication
A method and system of conveying data to a remote computer, which may act as a management console. A virtual communications port is provided to a central processing unit. The virtual communications port is provided using a device distinct from the central processing unit, such as a network controller card with manageability features inborn. The device providing the virtual communications port receives the data written to the virtual communications port. Thereafter, the device transmits the data into a network, addressed for reception by the remote computer. The remote computer may be used as a management console so that keystrokes entered thereupon may be relayed through the virtual communications port to the aforementioned central processing unit. |
| US08706836B2 |
Live streaming media and data communication hub
A method for delivering multimedia services by providing a virtual machine having preconfigured components unique for a client and saving software image of the virtual machine under a special code that serves as a tag that uniquely identifies a networking site of the client. A local partition on the client's physical machine such as a laptop is isolated and the isolate local partition is virtualized to one or many virtual machines to allow the transport of media to a web server of choice that has the capability of streaming back to the interface constantly and instantly for full round trip interactions. The isolated partition of a user can become a live T.V. or radio station via a virtual channel. |
| US08706830B2 |
Device and method for enabling hierarchical quality of service services
The invention discloses a device for enabling hierarchical quality of service (HQOS) services, the device including: an information receiving module for receiving service types and service processing information; an information distribution module for determining an object service tree according to the received service types and service processing information, and storing the received service types on the node to be processed of the object service tree; and a service management module for traversing the object service tree and performing corresponding operations on the identified nodes in the traversing process. The invention also discloses a method for enabling the HQOS services, the method including: the service management module traversing the object service tree, and performing the corresponding operations on the identified nodes in the traversing process. |
| US08706829B2 |
Communication apparatus, control method for communication apparatus, and communication system
In a system that performs communication between master and slave, the device better suited as the master device is not always the master device, since the device that initially constructs the network becomes the master device. A device that enters the network later transmits a restart request on detecting the master device, and if a restart permission is received, the device transfers to a restart state and transmits a master inquiry before the device that was the master device up until that point. Thus, a device that newly enters a network is able to operate as the master device even if a master device already exists in the network. |
| US08706825B2 |
Method and system for implementing instant message and e-mail interworking
The disclosure discloses a method for implementing instant message and E-mail interworking, comprising: corresponding an IM user applying a service of IM and E-mail interworking to at least one E-mail address, either being constructed from an IM address of the IM user or being a pre-allocated E-mail address; determining the E-mail address or IM address of a destination user from a received IM or a received E-mail from a user, converting the IM into a E-mail or the E-mail into an IM, and sending the E-mail or IM to the determined receiving address of the destination user. The disclosure also discloses a system for implementing IM and E-mail interworking. The disclosure realizes a free interworking between IM and E-mail. |
| US08706822B2 |
Delivering messages from message sources to subscribing recipients
Many scenarios involve the delivery of messages received from various message sources to recipients, based on subscriptions established between various recipients and message sources. The recipients may be distributively assigned to one or more message servers, either operating independently or as part of an interoperating message server set. Respective message servers may generate a subscription filter indicating whether at least one assigned recipient subscribes to respective message sources, and may utilize the subscription filter to determine, upon receiving a message from a message source, whether to discard the message or store the message for delivery. Interoperating message servers may also exchange subscription filters, and upon receiving a message from any message source, a message server may utilize the subscription filters of the other message servers to determine which other message servers are assigned at least one subscribing recipient, and may retransmit the message only to such message servers. |
| US08706819B2 |
Electronic mail delay adaptation
A electronic communication system that can detect and adapt to delays in delivery of e-mail messages. The system may adapt to delays by using other mechanisms to convey the information intended for delivery by e-mail. Delays may be detected using a low-latency channel to send notifications of e-mails to recipients. The notifications are likely to be received in advance of a delayed e-mail, allowing an intended e-mail recipient to detect that delivery of an e-mail has been delayed. The recipient may adapt to the delay in delivery, when a notification is received without a corresponding electronic mail message. The notification may be small relative to an e-mail message but may include enough information to allow the recipient to identify the subject matter of the corresponding e-mail message, an importance level of the e-mail message, a preferred mechanism of the sender for out-of-band communications, and/or the location from which the e-mail was sent. |
| US08706817B2 |
Sender managed message privacy
Embodiments of the present invention address deficiencies of the art in respect to securing the privacy of messages and provide a method, system and computer program product for sender managed message privacy. In an embodiment of the invention, a data processing system for sender managed privacy can include a sender messaging client coupled to privacy management logic and configured for communicative linkage to a recipient messaging client coupled to proximity detection logic over a data communications network. The privacy management logic can include program code enabled to secure a message designated for delivery in the recipient messaging client responsive to the proximity detection logic. |
| US08706812B2 |
Communication console with component aggregation
Systems methods and devices are provided for a presentation including a communications console with component aggregation. In one potential implementation, a computing device with an application framework receives a communication manager object via a network connectivity device and executes the communication manager object within the application framework. The computing device may then receive and execute communications components and a presentation components within the application framework using the communication manager object. The communication manager object may then manages interface and display of the presentation information via the application framework, as modified by communication components. |
| US08706803B1 |
Client-side generation of preliminary version of network page
Disclosed are various embodiments that facilitate client-side network page generation. A request for a network page is obtained from a client computing device in one or more computing devices. Network page generation code for generating the network page is sent to the client computing device in response to the request and in place of the network page. The network page generation code is executable within a local application that is executed in the client computing device. The network page generation code includes code that obtains multiple data elements from the one or more computing devices. The network page generation code also includes code that generates a network page. The data elements are included within the network page. |
| US08706802B1 |
Latency-guided web content retrieval, serving, and rendering
Embodiments of the present invention relate to the retrieval, serving, and rendering of web content provided from a web content server to a requesting client device, e.g., over a network, based on target latency. A computer-implemented method includes determining, by a web content server, a requesting client device in communication with the web content server, or both, latency-related limitations of the client device. The method also includes determining, by the web content server, the client device, or both, web content needs of the client device based on a web content request from the client device. The method further includes adjusting web content to be displayed at the client device based on the determined latency-related limitations and needs of the client device. At least a portion of the adjusting of web content can occur at the web content server, the client device, or both. Related systems are also presented. |
| US08706801B2 |
Rendering a web page using content communicated to a browser application from a process running on a client
The functionality of a browser application is enhanced using a browser plug-in, which enables the browser application to access portions of a file system not otherwise accessible to the browser application. The enhanced functionality provided by the browser plug-in is used in one example by an image uploading web application. The browser application may also start a task in the background, such as a task for uploading several images, and then monitor the progress of the task even when the browser application navigates away from the page that initiated the task. The browser application may use a local web server running on the client device to perform tasks, including the rendering of images and monitoring progress of long running tasks. |
| US08706798B1 |
Systems, methods, and devices for dynamic resource monitoring and allocation in a cluster system
In an embodiment, the systems, methods, and devices disclosed herein comprise a computer resource monitoring and allocation system. In an embodiment, the resource monitoring and allocation system can be configured to allocate computer resources that are available on various nodes of a cluster to specific jobs and/or sub-jobs and/or tasks and/or processes. |
| US08706796B2 |
Managing a cluster of computers
A system has a set of servers utilizing different operating systems to constitute a cross-platform system. A central management server has a set of objects characterizing the set of servers. The set of objects have relationship edges to related objects. A server intelligence agent coordinates the start-up of the central management server and the set of servers and coordinates the control of state changes within the set of servers. |
| US08706794B1 |
No-multiply digital signal processing method
A method for processing a digital signal, comprising the following steps: receiving a complex-valued input data array with a processor; converting the complex-valued input data array into a quantized polar domain by approximating magnitude and quantizing the phase data of the input data array with the processor; storing the approximated magnitude in a phase-column indexed matrix in a memory store that is operatively coupled to the processor; processing the input data array with the processor such that all multiplications and summations that would occur during signal processing of the input data array in the Cartesian domain are substituted with circular row shifts and additions of phase-column indexed values in the quantized polar domain; and converting the processed input data array back into the Cartesian domain. |
| US08706789B2 |
Performing reciprocal instructions with high accuracy
In one embodiment, the present invention includes a method for receiving a reciprocal instruction and an operand in a processor, accessing an entry of a lookup table based on a portion of the operand and the instruction, generating an encoder output based on a type of the reciprocal instruction and whether the reciprocal instruction is a legacy instruction, and selecting portions of the lookup table entry and input operand to be provided to a reciprocal logic unit based on the encoder output. Other embodiments are described and claimed. |
| US08706778B2 |
Methods and systems for an action-based interface for files and other assets
An “asset-based” user interface can be provided based on consulting metadata with an asset and presenting an interface to allow selection of actions associated with that particular asset. By presenting a listing of actions in response to a single command, the user can be spared the need to navigate through contextual menus to determine available services. The interface can be presented in a file selection interface provided by an operating system, e.g., in response to an “open” command in a folder. A method can comprise identifying a command referencing an asset and accessing metadata associated with the asset. The accessed metadata can comprise a unique metadata record for the asset available locally and/or accessible from a remote computing system. The method may further comprise determining one or more actions available for use with the referenced asset and providing an interface for selecting one or more of the determined actions. |
| US08706770B2 |
Method and apparatus for creating and categorizing exemplar structures to access information regarding a collection of objects
A method for managing a collection of objects, comprises selecting a property which is common to all of the objects; creating a plurality of exemplar structures, at least one exemplar structure for each object; prototypically categorizing the exemplar structures; and using the exemplar structures to access information regarding said collection. Each exemplar structure comprises an exemplar, which is a good example of the property; a broader term, which provides context to the exemplar; an object identifier, which identifies one of the collection of objects; and at least one attribute, which describes the exemplar. |
| US08706768B2 |
Managing to-do lists in task schedules in a project management system
A project management system manages project schedule data using separate current and historical task schedule data structures. In general, current schedule data is stored separately from historical schedule data, so that the current schedule data may be retrieved separately from the historical task schedule data. The project management system may also maintain unscheduled tasks as “to-do lists.” Tasks may be added to a member's schedule without specifying any planned dates and the tasks are added to the database. The tasks have an associated revision number of 0 to indicate that the tasks were added, but not yet scheduled. The tasks are displayed in the member schedule editor and in Web page schedules. The tasks may then be displayed in the member schedule editor and in Web page schedules in a manner that allows a user to readily determine that the tasks are “to-do list” tasks. |
| US08706767B2 |
Computer systems and methods for performing a database access to generate database tables based on structural information corresonding to database objects
Systems and methods are provided for performing a database access. In one embodiment, a computer system is provided that comprises means for receiving and storing structural information, the structural information being descriptive of a number of objects, each of the objects having sub-objects, the structural information comprising a first table and a second table for each sub-object, the first and second table including descriptive information for each sub-object, means for assigning a unique identifier to each sub-object name identified by the structural information, means for storing a mapping table of sub-object names and unique identifiers, and means for requesting generation of a database table for each sub-object identified by the structural information. |
| US08706758B2 |
Flexible account reconciliation
Disclosed are improvements to a method for account reconciliation comprising improved, extended, and more flexible algorithms for (1) automatically determining what transaction features are best candidates for matching diverse datasets; (2) automatically determining how logically to subdivide accounting datasets prior to reconciliation; (3) matching groups of transactions (allowing one-to-many, many-to-one, and many-to-many matches instead of just one-to-one matches); (4) making use of more types of transaction feature, including transaction dates (where proximity of two transactions in date may be significant even if the dates do not exactly match). The improved method is, therefore, better able to perform its intended function of identifying matching transactions. It is applicable to a wider class of problems while still saving significant costs and labor, and still retaining flexibility in not requiring source data in a particular format, and not being domain-dependent or requiring extensive user setup. |
| US08706756B2 |
Method, system and apparatus of hybrid federated search
A client device comprising a search module configured to receive a search instruction from a federated search server, query one or more search services based on the search instruction, receive a first search result that comprises one or more search results from one or more search services, send the first search result to the federated search server, and receive a second search result from the federated search server. Also disclosed is a federated search server comprising a search instruction generator configured to send a search instruction to a client device, and a search result consolidator configured to receive a first search result from the client device, wherein the first search result comprises one or more search results and is obtained by the client device from one or more search services. |
| US08706751B2 |
Method for providing a user interface driven by database tables
Embodiments of the invention provide a method, article of manufacture, and an apparatus used to provide an interface driven by database tables. The method includes receiving a query identifier associated with a database query. The query is executed to generate a set of query results, and a set of actions associated with the set of query result is also identified. The set of query results and the set of actions are provided to a client component of the database-driven interface. |
| US08706750B2 |
Predictive query completion and predictive search results
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer program products, for processing search query suggestions. In one aspect, a search service provides query suggestions responsive to a query suggestion request from a client device, and determines if a prediction criterion is met. The prediction criterion is independent of a user selection of a query suggestion provided in response to one or more query suggestion requests. In response to determining that the prediction criterion is met, the search system provides search results to the client device. The search results are responsive to one of the query suggestions provided in response to the query suggestion request or one or more previous query suggestion requests. |
| US08706749B1 |
Data querying method using indexed structured data strings
A method involves identifying, within each of a plurality of structured data strings within a data file having a serialized data format, each of the plurality of structured data strings contained within an atomic element of an atom within the data file, data particles located within substantially the same location within each structured data string and that match a pre-defined regular expression, and generating a plurality of indexed structured data strings by creating, within each of the plurality of structured data strings, a separate index across all of the plurality of structured data strings for each identified data particle matching a particular pre-defined regular expression. The method may be incorporated into a GUI, where the indexed structured data strings may be displayed to a user and the user may then provide feedback. The user feedback may be a data query, resulting in data that was otherwise not readily searchable. |
| US08706747B2 |
Systems and methods for searching using queries written in a different character-set and/or language from the target pages
Methods and apparatus consistent with the invention allow a user to submit an ambiguous search query and to receive relevant search results. Queries can be expressed using character sets and/or languages that are different from the character set and/or language of at least some of the data that is to be searched. A translation between these character sets and/or languages can be performed by examining the use of terms in aligned text. Probabilities can be associated with each possible translation. Refinements can be made to these probabilities by examining user interactions with the search results. |
| US08706746B2 |
Method, device, and system for realizing fingerprint technology
A method, a device, and a system for realizing a fingerprint technology are provided. The method includes: based on a predetermined rule, determining whether a fingerprint corresponding to a data element needs to be generated. If it is determined that the corresponding fingerprint needs to be generated, fingerprint calculation is performed for the data element, and the obtained fingerprint is sent to a data receiver. If it is determined that the corresponding fingerprint does not need to be generated, the data element is sent to the data receiver. Therefore, fingerprint calculation for data elements with short lengths and unnecessary data transmission during a data synchronization (DS) process can be avoided, and the efficiency of the DS is improved. |
| US08706741B2 |
Information processing apparatus and play list display method
Apparatus and method for information processing may control reproducing from a play list. When reproducing is switched from a first play list to a second play list, the play list reproduction unit controls reproducing from the second play list to start from a reproduction segment of the second play list having a start time closest to a time point at which the reproducing from the first play list is stopped when the reproducing is switched from the first play list to the second play list. |
| US08706736B2 |
Extended width entries for hash tables
A hash table supports extended entries. The extended entries permit a base entry to extend its associated data into one or more neighboring entries. Extended entries thereby provide a mechanism through which a hash table entry may store additional data compared to a base entry. Extended entries may coexist with base entries in the hash table. The hash table thereby provides the flexibility to adapt dynamically to meet system requirements and to balance the needs of additional data storage by blending the number of extended entries (that each store more data than a base entry) and the number of base entries (each storing less data than an extended entry). |
| US08706734B2 |
Electronic resource annotation
A distributed system is described in which resource utilisation decisions depend upon the categorisation of resource descriptions stored in the distributed system. In the principal embodiment, the resource descriptions are web service descriptions which are augmented with tags (i.e. descriptive words or phrases) entered by users and/or by web service administrators. A service taxonomy is constructed on the basis of the tags, and is subsequently used in suggesting tags to the user which the user might want to ascribe to the service in question. This leads to a more coherent and focused set of tags in the system, which in turns results in better resource utilisation decisions and hence a more efficient use of the resources of the distributed system. |
| US08706724B2 |
Feature extraction device and feature extraction method
A feature extraction device obtains a partial feature vector having the precision required for the partial document. The feature extraction device searches a document tree, and detects elements as search elements. The device calculates an inter-element distance between an extraction target element within elements of the document tree and the search element. The device refers to an exclusive element name and generates exclusivity information indicating, for the extraction target element, whether the search element is the exclusive element. The device calculates, based on an inter-element distance and the exclusivity information, a weight for a word included in the element, and relates and calculates, for each search element, based on weights, an element feature vector having each of dimensions that uniquely corresponds to a word. The device calculates based on the element feature vector, a partial document feature vector of a partial document related to the extracted target element. |
| US08706723B2 |
Name-search system and method
A computer-implemented method is disclosed. The method may include receiving a portion of a personal name and converting the portion to a normalized portion by reducing the one or more characters to their simplest equivalents. The method may further include searching a typographical index tree and a phonetic index tree to identify one or more keys matching the normalized portion. The method may further include compiling, ranking, and presenting a plurality of suggested matches identified during the searching. |
| US08706713B2 |
Associative search engine
This invention relates to an advertisement machine which provides advertisements to a user searching for desired information within a data network. The machine receives, from a user, a search request including a search argument corresponding to the desired information and searches, based upon the received search argument, a first database having data network related information to generate search results. It also correlates the received search argument to a particular advertisement in a second database having advertisement related information. The search results together with the particular advertisement are provided by the machine to the user. |
| US08706710B2 |
Methods for storing data streams in a distributed environment
Systems and methods for storing and retrieving data elements transmitted via data streams received from distributed devices connected via a network. The received data elements may be stored in block stores on the distributed devices. The stored data-elements may be allocated to data-blocks of a block-store that have assigned block-identifiers and further allocated to events of the data-blocks that have assigned token-names. Stream-schema of the received data-streams may comprise a list of token-names and an index-definition for each corresponding data-stream. Indices may be generated for the event-allocated data-elements. A query may be executed in order to retrieve data-elements of the received data-streams based on the indices. |
| US08706707B2 |
Systems and methods for modeling costed entities and performing a value chain analysis
Methods and systems are disclosed for modeling costed entities and performing a value chain analysis. In one implementation, methods and systems may implement a costing platform. The costing platform may be adapted for modeling any set of costed entities and processing value chains. Value chains may be modeled by a user via the costing platform, so that networks comprised of objects and edges, and costed entities located at the objects can be modeled and functions can be added to determine key figures. |
| US08706704B2 |
Method and system for creating semantic relationships using hyperlinks
A method and system are disclosed for creating a hyperlink together with an associated semantic link between a source entity, and a target entity. The source entity includes descriptive text. The system includes means for selecting text within the source entity, and means for selecting the target entity. Also, means are provided for selecting a type of semantic link, and means are provided for creating a hyperlink between said selected text and said target entity. The system further includes means for creating a semantic link of said type between said source entity and said target entity, including means for including in the hyperlink a reference to said semantic link. In the preferred embodiment of the invention, the means for selecting the type of semantic link includes means for prompting a user to select from among a plurality of candidate types of semantic links. |
| US08706701B1 |
Scalable cloud file system with efficient integrity checks
Example embodiments of the present invention provide authenticated file system that provides integrity and freshness of both data and metadata more efficiently than existing systems. The architecture of example embodiments of the present invention is natural to cloud settings involving a cloud service provider and enterprise-class tenants, thereby addressing key practical considerations, including garbage collection, multiple storage tiers, multi-layer caching, and checkpointing. Example embodiments of the present invention support a combination of strong integrity protection and practicality for large (e.g., petabyte-scale), high-throughput file systems. Further, example embodiments of the present invention support proofs of retrievability (PoRs) that let the cloud prove to the tenant efficiently at any time and for arbitrary workloads that the full file system (i.e., every bit) is intact, leveraging integrity-checking capabilities to achieve a property that previous PoRs lack, specifically efficiency in dynamic settings (i.e., for frequently changing data objects). |
| US08706694B2 |
Continuous data protection of files stored on a remote storage device
Technologies are described herein for providing file-level CDP of files stored on a remote storage system. A client module executing on a client computer monitors for modifications made at the client computer to files or folders stored on a virtual storage volume provided by the remote storage system. Upon detecting a modification of a monitored file, the client module sends a message to the remote storage system identifying the file. A server module executing in the remote storage system receives the message identifying the modified file and copies a version of the file containing the modification from the virtual storage volume to a backup volume located in the remote storage system. |
| US08706691B2 |
System for managing insulin dosage data
A method is provided for managing insulin dosage data collected over a complete day and a partial day. The method includes providing, by an insulin pump, a plurality of insulin dosages over a complete day and a partial day and recording the insulin dosages. The method also includes recognizing a completion of the complete day, recording an end-of-day marker, and associating the end-of-day marker to the dosages delivered during the complete day. Moreover, the method includes identifying complete day dosage data and partial day dosage data. Additionally, the method includes performing a calculation of insulin dosage statistics and/or displaying and distinguishing between the complete day dosage data and the partial day dosage data. The calculation includes the complete day dosage data and excludes the partial day dosage data. |
| US08706690B2 |
Systems and methods for space management in file systems
Apparatus and methods for space management in file systems provide a mechanism to enhance user interaction with multimedia devices. For example, an apparatus may be configured to execute a method of synchronizing media content with a destination file system, including: receiving a request to synchronize one or more playlists from a music library to a destination file system; determining an amount of space on the destination file system utilized for files from external sources; predicting an amount of space on the destination file system to hold the one or more playlists; and displaying the amount of space utilized for files from external sources and the amount of space to hold the one or more playlists prior to synchronizing with the destination file system. Additional apparatus, systems, and methods are disclosed. |
| US08706689B1 |
System and method for media lifecycle management for recorded media in a contact center environment
A system for media lifecycle management for recorded media in a contact center environment, comprising a plurality of recording servers operating on network-attached computers and adapted to record interactions in a contact center, a media lifecycle management service operating on a plurality of network-attached server computers and comprising software modules adapted to carry out relocation, archive, backup, restore, delete, and synchronize processes, a configuration service operating on a plurality of network-attached server computers, and a plurality of data storage devices attached to a network and each accessible to at least one recording server and to the media lifecycle management service and configuration service. |
| US08706686B2 |
Method, computer system, computer program and computer program product for storage and retrieval of data files in a data storage means
A method and a computer system for storing data files in a data memory, wherein meta attributes comprising subject attributes, object attributes and relationships between these attributes are assigned to a data file. The meta attributes are selected from a meta attribute model or a knowledge card in which the meta attributes are structured in accordance with their meaning and context. A respective datafile is stored in the data memory on the basis of the meta attributes assigned thereto. The meta attributes assigned to a data file can be added to the data file or can be associated with the data file by means of a unique link. |
| US08706685B1 |
Organizing collaborative annotations
Organizing collaborative annotations of digital items is described. In a particular embodiment, a server system receives a filter request from a client device to filter a plurality of annotations according to criteria included in the filter request. The plurality of annotations is stored at an annotations database coupled to the server system. The server system sends filter results to the client device based upon annotations matching the criteria of the filter request. The annotations may be filtered based on tags associated with respective annotations, where the tags categorize the respective annotations. |
| US08706683B1 |
Knowledge management across distributed entity
Information processing techniques are disclosed for managing knowledge across a distributed entity. For example, a method comprises the following steps. A database of information is maintained representing knowledge attributable to at least one distributed entity. An interface is provided for presenting at least a portion of the information maintained in the database and for presenting one or more responses to one or more queries to the database. At least a portion of the one or more responses is indicative of at least one of an expansion, a transfer and a leveraging of the knowledge attributable to the at least one distributed entity. |
| US08706680B1 |
Automated report generation system using a structured lexicon of active lexemes and method
A computer system and database adapted to help with the synthesis and assembly of informational units (lexemes) required for the preparation of professional reports. The system works iteratively, and uses certain characteristics of professional reports to predict which lexemes a user is likely to need at each iteration, allowing the user to select the most useful lexemes from a very large number of lexemes stored in a lexicon for this purpose. The characteristics of professional reports that enable the process of selection include context, predicance and coherence. The report, consisting of an assembly of lexemes, can be exported as text files having different linguistic styles, or as computer code permitting efficient retrieval and computerized analysis of the content of the report for billing, administration, or research. |
| US08706677B2 |
Methods and apparatus for determining an identity of a user
Methods and apparatuses for determining the identity of the user detect a current user's electronic device activity pattern; compare the detected activity pattern against a plurality of user action identification profiles, wherein each user action identification profile is associated with a particular user; and use the comparing to identify the current user as being the particular user. |
| US08706673B2 |
Dynamic playbook: experimentation platform for social networks
Embodiments are directed towards dynamically managing contextual recommendations that can be employed with content when provided to a channel. A test for a variable having at least two outcomes may be determined to be employed with selected content. Each outcome may correspond to a different contextual recommendation. An outcome to employ with the content may be randomly determined/selected such that each of the outcomes of the test is selected a substantially similar number of times. The content may be modified and/or provided to the channel based on contextual recommendations that correspond to the determined outcome. Actions associated with a plurality of content may be monitored and/or analyzed to determine metrics for each outcome of a test. A comparison of the metrics for each outcome may be utilized to determine a preferred outcome for the test. |
| US08706672B2 |
Computer-assisted creation of a custom tooth set-up using facial analysis
A method for automatic, or semi-automatic, planning of dental treatment for a patient comprises: (a) obtaining data about an area which is to be treated and data about a face of a patient; (b) performing a computer-assisted analysis of the data to determine properties of at least the face of the patient; (c) creating a modified tooth set-up using a set of stored rules which make use of the determined facial properties. A three-dimensional representation simulates the appearance of the modified tooth set-up and the patient's face surrounding the treatment area. The method also determines properties of existing teeth and creates a modified tooth set-up which is also based on the existing teeth of the patient. The method can be implemented as software running on a workstation. |
| US08706665B2 |
Predictive model for density and melt index of polymer leaving loop reactor
The present invention discloses a method for predicting the melt index and density of the polymer in terms of the operating conditions in the reactor and vice-versa, to select the operating conditions necessary to obtain the desired product specifications. |
| US08706664B2 |
Determining relevant information for domains of interest
Techniques are described for determining and using relevant information related to domains of interest. In at least some situations, the techniques include automatically analyzing documents, terms and other information related to a domain of interest in order to automatically determine information about relevant themes within the domain and/or about which documents have contents that are relevant to such themes. Such automatically determined information related to a domain may then be used in various ways, including to assist users in specifying themes of interest and/or in obtaining documents and/or document fragments with contents that are relevant to specified themes. In addition, information about how the automatically determined information is used by users may be tracked and used as feedback for learning improved determinations of relevant themes and relevant documents within the domain, such as by using automated machine learning techniques. |
| US08706657B2 |
Vector smoothing of complex-valued cross spectra to estimate power spectral density of a noise signal
Systems/methods for computing a power spectral density estimate for a noise signal. Where the noise signal appears in two channels (a single channel), n successive data acquisitions from the two channels (the single channel) are used to compute n respective cross (power) spectral densities, which are then averaged. The averaged cross (power) spectral density may then be smoothed in the spectral domain. The magnitude of the smoothed cross (power) spectral density comprises an estimate for the noise power spectral density. An effective number of independent averages may be computed based on the number n, the time-domain window applied to the acquired sample sets, the amount of overlap between successive sample sets, and the shape of the frequency-domain smoothing function. A statistical error bound (or uncertainty measure) may be determined for the power spectral density estimate based on the effective number of averages and the averaged single-channel and cross-channel spectral estimates. |
| US08706652B2 |
System and method for controlling power consumption in a computer system based on user satisfaction
Systems and methods for controlling power consumption in a computer system. For each of a plurality of interactive applications, the method changes a frequency at which a processor of the computer system runs, receives an indication of user satisfaction, determines a relationship between the changed frequency and the user satisfaction of the interactive application, and stores the determined relationship information. The determined relationship can distinguish between different users and different interactive applications. A frequency may be selected from the discrete frequencies at which the processor of the computer system runs based on the determined relationship information for a particular user and a particular interactive application running on the processor of the computer system. The processor may be adapted to run at the selected frequency. |
| US08706651B2 |
Building and using predictive models of current and future surprises
Methods are described for identifying events that would be considered surprising by people and identifying how and when to transmit information to a user about situations that they would likely find surprising. Additionally, the methods of identifying surprising situations can be used to build a case library of surprising events, joined with a set of observations before the surprising events occurred. Statistical machine learning methods can be applied with data from the case library to build models that can predict when a user will likely be surprised at future times. One or more models of context-sensitive expectations of people, a view of the current world, and methods for recording streams or events before surprises occur, and for building predictive models from a case library of surprises and such historical observations can be employed. The models of current and future surprises can be coupled with display and alerting machinery. |
| US08706650B2 |
Optimization of microgrid energy use and distribution
Systems and methods for energy optimization may receive receiving energy provider data, near-real time individualized energy usage data for each of a plurality of end-uses or near-real time individualized whole premise energy usage data, customer preferences, and near-real time and forecasted weather information. The systems and methods may forecast, for a selected time period, individualized energy usage for each of the plurality of end-uses or individualized whole premise energy usage data for a customer location using: (1) the energy provider data, (2) the near-real time individualized energy usage data, (3) the customer preferences, and (4) the near-real time and forecasted weather information. The systems and methods may optimize, for the selected time period, energy usage at the customer location using (1) the individualized energy usage, (2) the energy provider data, and (3) the customer preferences. |
| US08706649B1 |
Electronic single action software distribution
Deep linking to a URL of a download is obviated by the generation of a dynamic symbolic system link. When a user is at a download page, the HTML source for the displayed download button does not contain the URL of the download site. Selection of the button sends as form values the product ID and a session ID to the server which generates a dynamic link. This link is returned to the browser to redirect it to the download site. The link is further set to expire after the session so that, even if the link is captured, after expiration it will be unable to reach the download site. |
| US08706647B2 |
Estimating value of user's social influence on other users of computer network system
The social influence that each person in a computer network system exercises over others in the system may be valued by aggregating the differences in value of each of the others to the network both with and without the person being present. This calculated influence may be used as a basis for charging advertisers for advertisements to the users, as well as for providing preferential treatment to users that exert the greatest influence. |
| US08706646B2 |
System and method of producing construction specifications
A system for producing a configured construction specification for a construction product includes a website and an unconfigured specification accessible by the website, the unconfigured specification including a plurality of portions of construction specification information relating to the at least one construction product, each of the plurality of portions corresponding to at least one of a plurality of characteristics that define the at least one construction product. A webpage is displayed on the website, the webpage containing a plurality of indicia selectable by a user via the website, each of the plurality of indicia corresponding to at least one of the plurality of characteristics. Software executing on the website prepares a configured specification based at least in part upon the construction specification information contained in the unconfigured specification and the indicia selected by the user via the webpage. |
| US08706640B2 |
Systems and methods for enrolling consumers in goods and services
Systems and methods for enrolling consumers in goods and services offered by a consumer provider are disclosed herein. Various of the methods include providing an enrollment system and displaying enrollment options via the enrollment system. Further, the methods include receiving enrollment requests and enrolling a consumer based on the enrollment request. The systems can be configured for effectuating the various enrollment methods. |
| US08706637B2 |
Allowing conversion of one digital rights management scheme to another
A method of providing information about supported digital rights management features in relation to an electronic communication device includes providing a reference to listings, or listings, of digital rights management features supported by at least two different digital rights management schemes related to the communication device, and transmitting the reference to the listings, or the listings, to a content provider. An electronic communication device for communication with a content provider, a system for managing digital rights, and related computer program products are also described. |
| US08706636B2 |
System and method for unique digital asset identification and transaction management
Digital assets are tracked through the use of digital serial numbers. Systems equipped with the present invention can uniquely identify copies of assets within it. Assets that originate within the system can be uniquely identified even outside the system. The transaction history can be traced by looking up the transaction history associated with an assets' serial number. The serial number applied to an asset is unique to each transaction and can be applied at the time a copy is made. Database entries are created that link each unique serial number to aspects of the transaction. Each serial number can reference details about a particular transaction such as parties involved, date and time of copy, ownership, terms of use, and payment terms. |
| US08706628B2 |
Automated opening of electronic wallet function in mobile device
A method includes bringing a mobile device into proximity with an indicium, the indicium adjacent a radio frequency identification (RFID) integrated circuit (IC), the RFID IC coupled to an antenna. The method further includes the mobile device reading a message from the RFID IC, where the message is transmitted by the RFID IC via the antenna. The method further includes the mobile device responding to the message by opening an electronic wallet function in the mobile device. |
| US08706627B2 |
Apparatus, systems and methods for wirelessly transacting financial transfers , electronically recordable authorization transfers, and other information transfers
The present invention provides apparatus, systems and methods to wirelessly pay for purchases, electronically interface with financial accounting systems, and electronically record and wirelessly communicate authorization transactions using Personal Digital Assistant (“PDA”)(also referred to as Personal Intelligent Communicators (PICs), and Personal Communicators), palm computers, intelligent handheld cellular and other wireless telephones, and other personal handheld electronic devices configured with infrared or other short range data communications (for referential simplicity, such devices are referred to herein as “PDA's”). The present invention further provides apparatus, firmware, software programs and computer-implemented methods for making service and/or sale service charge payments for credit card charges, debit card charges, electronic cash transfers, ticket and other like financial transactions and for other types of transactions, such as for electronic coupons, where the amount of the transaction is for a small amount of money, such as, for example, less than $5.00. |
| US08706623B2 |
Upgrading of recurring payment cancellation services
A method of reducing chargebacks due to a cancelled recurring payment, wherein the payment occurs within a card-based financial network, and wherein the network includes a database of unauthorized recurring charges and a defined chargeback procedure. The method generally includes the step of upgrading a recurring payment cancellation services file based on predefined occurrences relating to the identifying of cancelled recurring payments. |
| US08706622B2 |
Account holder demand account update
Account holder identification is used to access and retrieve the account holder's accounts and attributes thereof. A user interface receives a selected account for which merchants having conducted transactions on the selected account are retrieved and displayed on the user interface. The account holder selects which merchants are to receive updated attributes of the selected account, such as a new expiration, a new billing address, a new credit limit, a name change of the account holder, etc. Each user selected merchant is notified of the user selected attributes of the user selected account. |
| US08706620B2 |
Restricted use currency
A first method comprises receiving at a computer apparatus an authorization request message comprising a first merchant identifier. The request message may also comprise an account identifier associated with an account and a first transaction amount for a first transaction conducted with a first merchant. The first method further comprises determining, by the computer apparatus, if an account comprises merchant specific currency associated with the first merchant that may be used to conduct the first transaction. It may then be determined if there is sufficient merchant specific currency associated with the first merchant in the account to pay for the first transaction amount. If there is insufficient merchant specific currency associated with the first merchant to pay for the first transaction amount, then non-specific currency in the account is applied automatically to a remainder of the first transaction amount. |
| US08706612B2 |
System and method for trading multiple tradeable objects using a single trading interface
A system and method are provided for displaying information related to a plurality of tradeable objects using a single graphical interface. One example graphical interface includes at least two screen regions displayed in relation to each other, with each region including a plurality of locations. Each location in the first screen region corresponds to a value along a first value axis, and each location in the second screen region corresponds to a value along a second value axis. The graphical interface also includes a first indicator in the first region and a second indicator in the second region. In response to a repositioning command based on an algorithm, the graphical interface includes a repositioned first value axis and the second value axis, such that the indicators are displayed in new locations determined based on the algorithm. |
| US08706606B2 |
Automated trading system
A communication interface (1) for an Automated Trading System is disclosed. The communications interface (1) has dedicated hardware (1) array to process messages (4) between an external network (2) and a matching engine (3) in the automated trading system. |
| US08706604B1 |
System and method for hedging risks in commercial leases
A system and method for hedging risks in commercial leases is disclosed. In one particular exemplary embodiment, a method for hedging risks in a commercial lease may comprise: receiving information related to a lease agreement between a lessor and a lessee, the lease agreement calling for the lessor to lease an asset to the lessee for a period of time in return for lease payments; estimating potential losses that the lessor will suffer if at least one credit event causes the lessee to default on the lease agreement; and providing the lessor a put option, whereby, upon the at least one credit event, the lessor can choose to sell a claim against the defaulting lessee at a strike price, the strike price being an amount that varies based at least in part on the estimated potential losses and the time at which the lessee defaults. |
| US08706602B2 |
Finance and configuration method and apparatus
A method and apparatus for automatically evaluating financing plans are presented. In one embodiment, a method for automatically evaluating financing plans comprises receiving an input message comprising base data; selecting one of a plurality of financing plans in accordance with the base data and data defining the plurality of financing plans; determining values of one or more terms associated with the selected financing plan; and generating an output message including the determined values of the one or more terms. |
| US08706599B1 |
System and method of generating investment criteria for an investment vehicle that includes a pool of escrow deposits from a plurality of merger and acquisition transactions
An automated method is provided for generating investment criteria for an investment vehicle that includes a pool of escrow deposits from a plurality of merger and acquisition transactions. An escrow history database is maintained of data derived from historical behavior of escrows from a plurality of previous merger and acquisition transactions. An escrow pool database is maintained of current escrow deposit data from a plurality of current merger and acquisition transactions. The escrow pool database includes the current deposit amounts in the pool of escrow deposits, and stated terms governing the release of each deposit amount in the pool of the escrow deposits. A set of investment criteria for selecting an asset pool is generated using a processor operating on the escrow history database and the escrow pool database. The set of investment criteria includes maturity metrics selected from the group consisting of weighted average maturity, convexity, and maturity distribution profile. |
| US08706598B2 |
Basket option hedging method
A method and system for hedging a correlation risk associated with a basket option that includes a plurality of securities that includes the step of selecting at least two of the plurality of securities and, in the next step, forming a best-of option for the at least two of the plurality of securities. Finally, the best-of option is combined with the basket option to hedge the correlation risk associated with the basket option. |
| US08706595B2 |
Flexible premium income annuity system and method
A computerized method and system for providing a flexible income annuity includes inputting a plurality of premium payments for the income annuity from an investor, the flexible premium payments being received on different dates. The computerized method and system further includes computationally aggregating income benefits from the one or more investment vehicles of the income annuity where the income benefits are associated with premium payments received on different dates. The method and system further includes calculating an income payment based the aggregated income benefits and outputting the income payments to a payee on one or more selected disbursement dates. Therefore, the investor is provided the flexibility to make premium payments for the income annuity on varying dates. |
| US08706591B2 |
Event participation
Methods, devices and systems are provided for event participation. One method embodiment includes a method for generating income for an owner of an entrant to an event. The method includes defining the event by the owner. The method further includes offering remuneration based upon a fulfillment of the defined event. The remuneration can be memorialized by a remuneration right. The remuneration can be granted from the owner to a participant. And, the remuneration right is granted in exchange for the participant accepting to give consideration to the owner for receiving the remuneration. |
| US08706586B2 |
Method and system for identifying subrogation potential and valuing a subrogation file
A method for identifying select ones of insurance records which possess a favorable subrogation potential. The method includes receiving data indicative of a plurality of claims; automatically calculating a base score to identify select ones of the claims which demonstrate at least a given probability of expected subrogation recovery dependently upon the received data; automatically identifying risk factors for each of the select claims; and, automatically scoring each of the select claims dependently upon the base scores and identified risk factors to provide a value indicative of an expected subrogation recovery. |
| US08706582B2 |
Managing service subscriptions in a network
A computer-implemented method may include associating a first bundle with a subscriber on a first subscription date, the first bundle defining a pre-paid service, a first renewal date, and a first renewal price. The method may include associating a second bundle with the subscriber on a second date different than the first subscription date and different than the first renewal date, the second bundle defining a feature, not defined in the first bundle, of the prepaid service and a second renewal price, the second bundle having the first renewal date. The method may also include renewing the first bundle and the second bundle on the first renewal date if a balance of an account associated with the subscriber is greater than or equal to the first renewal fee plus the second renewal fee. |
| US08706578B2 |
Using account symbols instead of general ledger accounts in the transaction messages of the business applications of an enterprise
Systems and methods for using account symbols instead of general ledger accounts in the accounting documents generated by the business applications running in an enterprise environment are described. A correspondence between account symbols and general ledger accounts is defined and stored in a memory of a computer system. A business application generates accounting entries using account symbols instead of general ledger accounts. The generated account messages are received at an accounting application through an inbound interface. The account symbols in the accounting entries are replaced with the corresponding general ledger accounts. Financial documents are generated at the receiving accounting application based on the financial entries. |
| US08706575B2 |
Method and apparatus for transaction management
A system, method, apparatus, means and computer program products for establishing, monitoring and maintaining spending controls in a payment system are provided. |
| US08706572B1 |
Generating product image maps
Systems and methods for generating product image maps are disclosed. An image containing at least one object is received, and the object is extracted to determine whether it corresponds to a product available via an electronic commerce system. An image map can be generated so that a user interface including hyperlinks to the product in the electronic commerce system can be employed. |
| US08706571B1 |
Method, medium, and system for flipping a list
Disclosed is a system for transitioning between views in a network page. An application that is executed in at least one computing device encodes a network page for rendering in a client, the network page including a region, and the region being configured for the rendering of at least two views. The network page is encoded to depict a transition between the two views. A first one of the views depicts at least one mechanism to add a depicted item in the network page to a list, and a second one of the views depicts at least a portion of the list. Once encoded, the network page is sent to the client. |
| US08706567B2 |
System to generate an aggregate interest indication with respect to an information item
A method is provided to publish a list of top ranked listings. The method may include configuring a database to store a plurality of listings published over a network. An interest indication may be received from a user for a listing in the plurality of listings. An interest indication data structure may be created and stored that associates the user with the listing. Also, the top ranked listings may be identified from the plurality of listings based on the number of stored interest indication data structures for each listing. Further, the list of the top ranked listings may be published. |
| US08706564B2 |
Methods for dynamic discounting
The subject invention relates to electronic buying and selling systems and methods. In particular, the invention concerns relations among distinct price curves, price curve attributes (i.e., factors of the offer that can affect the price curves) and buyers or potential buyers. For instance, a price offered to a system user can vary based on total volume of all people aggregating in private environments, cumulative total order by user, ship date, optimal time, as well as terms and conditions associated with the offer (e.g., no cancellation of order, cancellation possible, payment method . . . ). |
| US08706563B2 |
Communication method
There is provided a communication device including a secure communication unit configured to perform secure communication, the secure communication being secure close-proximity communication, a high-speed communication unit configured to perform high-speed communication, the high-speed communication being close-proximity communication that is faster than the secure communication, and a power transmission unit configured to perform power transmission. Communication via the secure communication and the power transmission of the power transmission unit may be performed at timings that do not temporally overlap with each other. |
| US08706560B2 |
Community based network shopping
A system receives item data corresponding to an item list from a user. The item list may include one or more items. The system communicates the item list to a community group associated with the user and the system then receives member data from one or more members of the community group, wherein the member data is associated with the one or more items on the item list. |
| US08706557B1 |
Systems and methods to identify merchants
A system and method including a mobile application installed on a mobile device and configured to authenticate a merchant represented by a unique identifier, determine a position of the mobile device while the mobile device is co-located with a transaction terminal of the merchant, communicate the position to a portal to associate the position with the unique identifier and to receive an account number, and provide the account number to generate an authorization request on the transaction terminal. The authorization request includes a terminal identifier of the transaction terminal. When the authorization request generated using the account number is detected, the association between the account number provided to the mobile application and the location received from the mobile application is replaced with the association between the terminal identifier extracted from the authorization request and the location. Thus, subsequent authorization requests generated by the transaction terminal can be determined to contain the terminal identifier and identified to be associated with the location and the merchant identifier. |
| US08706556B2 |
Methods for risk management in payment-enabled mobile device
A payment-enabled mobile device such as a “smart phone” incorporates risk management features that are applicable to its use in contactless payment transactions. Some features may govern when verification of the cardholder's identity is required for consummation of the current transaction. The features may be configurable by the payment card account issuer and/or the user of the mobile device. |
| US08706552B1 |
Targeted advertisements to scheduled transportation users
A method of targeting an advertisement to users of scheduled transportation operating at a transportation facility having a set of programmable signs at distinct locations in the facility includes in a first computer process determining a dynamic profile of users proximate to the location of a selected programmable sign of the set for a relevant time window. The method further includes in a second computer process selecting from an advertisement database an advertisement having a set of selection criteria that are compatible with the dynamic profile for the relevant time window and in a third computer process causing display of the advertisement on the selected programmable sign during at least a portion of the relevant time window. |
| US08706549B2 |
System supporting seller's promotion creation
An online sales/automatic rebate and coupon redemption system provides online customers automatic retrieval and redemption of all applicable rebates and coupons during purchase. Purchase orders from customers are selectively fulfilled and products are shipped to the customers either by the system for online sales with automatic rebate and coupon redemption or by other merchant or manufacturer environments. The system purchases from merchants using applicable coupons and rebates and then sells the products to the customers, passing the savings to them. The system makes it possible to automatically retrieve coupons and rebates for items in a shopping cart during the activity of an online purchase at an electronic mall or an online merchant site. The system provides coupons to potential customers via email, based on customer profile, geographical information, etc. Manufacturers and merchants can update coupon value and content based on ongoing sales and volume of customer activity. |
| US08706542B2 |
Allocation of location-based orders to mobile agents
A method of allocating a location-related order to one of a number of mobile agents, such as taxicabs, delivery or repair vehicles. The method involves the following steps: a) holding current order details which identify at least the location and time at which each agent is expected to become free to fulfill new orders; b) keeping a listing of locations, where each location in the listing is prioritised for an agent according to the availability of the agent to reach that location after the agent becomes free; c) receiving a new order and recording the location and time at which this order is to be fulfilled; d) deciding, based on the prioritised listing of locations, which agent(s) are most suitable to take the new order; and e) allocating the new order to the identified agent(s). |
| US08706541B2 |
Reservoir management linking
A method of reservoir management linking. The method includes receiving a reservoir volume from a submitter, the reservoir volume modeling hydrocarbons in a reservoir, and determining that the submitter is authorized to submit the reservoir volume and sending notification of the reservoir volume to a first approver. The method further includes storing the reservoir volume on a storage device, receiving approval of the reservoir volume from the first approver, determining that the first approver is authorized to approve the reservoir volume, generating a standardized report associated with the reservoir volume, and displaying the standardized report. |
| US08706540B2 |
Task management in a workforce environment using an acoustic map constructed from aggregated audio
Incoming audio from mobile devices can be centrally processed, where a server can filter background noise in real time, such as by using an XOR function. Instead of discarding the filtered noise, however, it can be processed in parallel to dynamically construct an acoustic map of the environment. The acoustic map can be generated from an aggregation of sound data from multiple devices positioned in a geographic environment. The acoustic map can be linked to a configurable set of rules, conditions, and events, which can cause dynamic adjustments to be made to a workforce task management system. For example, employee availability can be assessed using the acoustic map and workforce tasks can be assigned based in part upon this availability. |
| US08706534B2 |
Method and apparatus for customer direct on-line reservation of rental vehicles including deep-linking
A method and apparatus are disclosed for expediting how rental vehicle reservations can be booked by employing deep-link uniform resource locators (URLs) that encode aspects of a rental vehicle reservation transaction to relieve users of a need to enter reservation data themselves when booking a rental vehicle reservation. |
| US08706531B1 |
Automatic insurance quote system and method
The present disclosure includes a method and system for detecting a change in circumstances of a customer and for proactively providing a response thereto, such as insurance quotes and/or coverage changes, to the customer and/or to one or more dependents of the customer. The customer may also initiate and accept an insurance quote for the dependent, and the dependent may initiate and accept an insurance quote on his/her own behalf. The insurance company may utilize data known to the company, or provided by an existing dependent of the customer, to communicate the response to the customer. The response may be communicated independently of a direct request from the dependents. Other dependents of the customer may also receive communications and provide authorization to change an existing policy. The response may also be communicated to a batch of customers meeting certain common criteria, independent of a direct customer request. |
| US08706528B2 |
Pricing and distribution of medical diagnostics
In one embodiment, a method of pricing a diagnostic test includes receiving data associated with the diagnostic test and setting a price of the diagnostic test. The data associated with the diagnostic test includes an indication of one of a first result of the diagnostic test and a second result of the diagnostic test. The price of the diagnostic test is set based on the indication included in the data associated with the diagnostic test. In another embodiment, a method of pricing a diagnostic test includes receiving data associated with the diagnostic test and charging a first price or a second price for the diagnostic test. The data associated with the diagnostic test includes an indication of one of a first result of the diagnostic test and a second result of the diagnostic test. The first price is charged if the indication is of the first result. The second price is charged if the indication is of the second result. The second price is greater than the first price. |
| US08706526B2 |
Neuropsychiatric test reports
Methods and reports for presenting genetic information that is patient-specific and relevant to treatment of neuropsychiatric disorders, including treatment resistant psychiatric disorders, to aid in patient treatment in a phenotype, genotype or biomarker-specific manner. The methods and reports examine biomarkers for dysfunction of three axes relevant to treating neuropsychiatric disorders and provide interpretive comments to aid in treatment. Combining biomarker information from each of the three axes (the autonomic arousal axis, the emotional valence, attention, reward and executive brain function axis, and the long-term potentiation and long-term depression (LTP-LTD) function axis) provides an unexpectedly comprehensive and effective means for directing treatment of neuropsychiatric disorders, including particularly treatment resistant disorders (TRD). |
| US08706525B2 |
Method and system for suggesting meals based on tastes and preferences of individual users
A system and method for generating meal suggestion messages using an expert system and then pushing those suggestions to users. Meal suggestions are tailored to users based on their tastes and preferences. Users specify preferences related to a diet plan, food preferences, meal time preferences, and meal preparation preferences. An expert system considers each user's preferences and nutritional data to generate meal suggestion messages consistent with the user's preferences and dietary goals. Meal suggestions are pushed to the user according to the user's preferred time for eating each meal. The user can accept or reject the suggested meal or one or more foods within a suggested meal. For rejected meal suggestions, a meal substitution message is generated and sent. The expert system uses accepted and rejected meal suggestions to determine if certain foods or entire meals should no longer be recommended to individual users or to system users as a whole. |
| US08706520B2 |
Metadata tagging system for a diabetes management system of devices
A diabetes management system having a reliable data management scheme is disclosed. The system comprises a plurality of devices, each device performing a different function relating to treatment of diabetes. Each device has a device identifier and generates data records. Each device includes a metadata generator configured to generate a metadata tag for a data record generated by the device. A metadata tag includes the device identifier of the corresponding device, a record identifier, and a source identifier indicating whether the record was originated by a human or the device. The system further includes a diabetes management device. When a device generates a new record, the metadata generator generates a new record identifier and a new metadata tag based on the new record identifier and the device identifier of the device. The first device propagates the new record and the new metadata tag to the diabetes management device. |
| US08706518B2 |
Methods and systems for presenting an inhalation experience
Methods, computer program products, and systems are described that include accepting at least one indication of use of an inhalation device configured to dispense a bioactive agent to an individual and presenting at Least one artificial sensory experience to monitor at Least one side effect of the bioactive agent on the individual. |
| US08706516B2 |
System and method to manage a workflow in delivering healthcare
A system and method to manage progression of patients through a workflow of events that employs at least one resource in delivering healthcare is provided. The system comprises a sensor operable to track at least one property of the plurality of patients, and at least one processor in communication with the sensor. The processor is operable to execute computer readable program instructions generally representative of the steps of calculating a bid of the more than one of the series of patients relative to one another directed to a slot in a schedule of utilization of the at least one resource dependent on tracked data of the at least one property of the more than one of the series of patients, and assigning one of the patients to the slot in the schedule of the at least one resource dependent on a comparison of the bids. |
| US08706511B2 |
Low-complexity spectral analysis/synthesis using selectable time resolution
The signal processing is based on the concept of using a time-domain aliased frame as a basis for time segmentation and spectral analysis, performing segmentation in time based on the time-domain aliased frame and performing spectral analysis based on the resulting time segments. The time resolution of the overall “segmented” time-to-frequency transform can thus be changed by simply adapting the time segmentation to obtain a suitable number of time segments based on which spectral analysis is applied. The overall set of spectral coefficients, obtained for all the segments, provides a selectable time-frequency tiling of the original signal frame. |
| US08706504B2 |
Computerized information and display apparatus
Apparatus useful for obtaining and displaying information. In one embodiment, the apparatus includes a network interface, display device, and speech recognition apparatus configured to receive user speech input and enable performance of various tasks via a remote entity, such as obtaining desired information relating to maps or directions, or any number of other topics. The downloaded data may also, in one variant, be displayed with contextually related advertising or other content. |
| US08706502B2 |
Electronic equipment and television receiver utilizing multimodal multifunction voice commands
Disclosed an is an electronic equipment including: a command information storage section to store command pieces for controlling the electronic equipment each associated with a plurality of processing contents pertaining respectively to operation control in a plurality of operation states; a speech information obtainment section to obtain speech information; a command information extraction section to perform speech recognition of the obtained speech information so as to extract the corresponding command information stored in the command information storage section; a judgment section to judge an operation state of the electronic equipment when the command information is extracted; a control section to extract one of the plurality of pieces of control information associated with the extracted command information from the command information storage section based on the judged operation state of the electronic equipment so as to control the television receiver based on the extracted control information. |
| US08706500B2 |
Establishing a multimodal personality for a multimodal application
Methods, apparatus, and computer program products are described for establishing a multimodal personality for a multimodal application that include selecting, by the multimodal application, matching vocal and visual demeanors and incorporating, by the multimodal application, the matching vocal and visual demeanors as a multimodal personality into the multimodal application. |
| US08706499B2 |
Periodic ambient waveform analysis for enhanced social functions
Client devices periodically capture ambient audio waveforms, generate waveform fingerprints, and upload the fingerprints to a server for analysis. The server compares the waveforms to a database of stored waveform fingerprints, and upon finding a match, pushes content or other information to the client device. The fingerprints in the database may be uploaded by other users, and compared to the received client waveform fingerprint based on common location or other social factors. Thus a client's location may be enhanced if the location of users whose fingerprints match the client's is known. In particular embodiments, the server may instruct clients whose fingerprints partially match to capture waveform data at a particular time and duration for further analysis and increased match confidence. |
| US08706496B2 |
Audio signal transforming by utilizing a computational cost function
A sequence is received of time domain digital audio samples representing sound (e.g., a sound generated by a human voice or a musical instrument). The time domain digital audio samples are processed to derive a corresponding sequence of audio pulses in the time domain. Each of the audio pulses is associated with a characteristic frequency. Frequency domain information is derived about each of at least some of the audio pulses. The sound represented by the time domain digital audio samples is transformed by processing the audio pulses using the frequency domain information. The sound transformation utilizes overlapping windows and a computational cost function which depends on a product of the number of the pitch periods and the inverse of the minimum fundamental frequency within the window is determined. |
| US08706494B2 |
Content and advertising service using one server for the content, sending it to another for advertisement and text-to-speech synthesis before presenting to user
Methods and systems for providing a network-accessible text-to-speech synthesis service are provided. The service accepts content as input. After extracting textual content from the input content, the service transforms the content into a format suitable for high-quality speech synthesis. Additionally, the service produces audible advertisements, which are combined with the synthesized speech. The audible advertisements themselves can be generated from textual advertisement content. |
| US08706489B2 |
System and method for selecting audio contents by using speech recognition
A system and method for selecting audio contents by using the speech recognition to obtain a textual phrase from a series of audio contents are provided. The system includes an output module outputting the audio contents, an input module receiving a speech input from a user, a buffer temporarily storing the audio contents within a desired period and the speech input, and a recognizing module performing a speech recognition between the audio contents within the desired period and the speech input to generate an audio phrase and the corresponding textual phrase matching with the speech input. |
| US08706487B2 |
Audio recognition apparatus and speech recognition method using acoustic models and language models
Acoustic models and language models are learned according to a speaking length which indicates a length of a speaking section in speech data, and speech recognition process is implemented by using the learned acoustic models and language models. A speech recognition apparatus includes means (103) for detecting a speaking section in speech data (101) and for generating a section information which indicates the detected speaking section, means (104) for recognizing a data part corresponding to a section information in the speech data as well as text data (102) written from the speech data and for classifying the data part based on a speaking length thereof, and means (106) for learning acoustic models and language models (107) by using the classified data part (105). |
| US08706485B2 |
Method and device for mnemonic contact image association
The present invention pertains to method and a communication device (100) for associating a contact record pertaining to a remote speaker (220) with a mnemonic image (191) based on attributes of the speaker (220). The method comprises receiving voice data of the speaker (220); in a communication session with a source device (200). A source determination representing the speaker (220) is registered, and then the received voice data is analyzed so that voice data characteristics can be extracted.Based on these voice data characteristics a mnemonic image (191) can be selected, and associated to a contact record in which the source determination is stored.The mnemonic image (191) may be selected among images previously stored in the device, or derived through editing of such images. |
| US08706479B2 |
Packet loss concealment for sub-band codecs
Packet loss concealment systems and methods are described that may be used in conjunction with a Bluetooth® Low-Complexity Sub-band Coding (LC-SBC) codec or other sub-band codecs, including but not limited to an MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3 (MP3) codec, an Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) codec, and a Dolby AC-3 codec. |
| US08706466B1 |
Computer-based computational tools for use in electrophysiology
Computer-based computational tools for use in determining spatial charge distributions for biological systems that include one or more biological membranes are provided. At least one of the biological membrane includes at least two regions having different electrical properties, e.g., the biological membrane can include a pore having a higher conductivity than the surrounding bulk membrane. In other cases, the membrane can include non-active and active regions, with conservative fields acting at the non-active regions and a combination of conservative and non-conservative fields acting at the active regions. The non-conservative fields can, for example, originate from differences in ionic concentrations of the type which generate Nernst potential differences across membranes. Using the computer-based computational tools, charge distributions not previously known to exist have been discovered, e.g., ring-shaped charge distributions in the vicinity of an active pore. |
| US08706463B2 |
System and method for completion optimization
A system for completing a wellbore (38) having multiple zones. The system includes a completion (42) having a plurality of landing points defined therein positioned within the wellbore (38). A service tool is axially movable within the completion (42). The service tool is coupled to a pipe string (36) extending from the surface and selectively supported by a movable block (30) above the surface. A subsurface model is defined in a computer operably associated with the wellbore (38). The model is operable to predict the position of the service tool relative to the landing points of the completion (42) based upon a dynamic lumped mass model of the service tool and a dynamic lumped capacitance thermal model of the wellbore environment. |
| US08706458B2 |
Traffic sensor management
An apparatus and an article of manufacture for selecting a subset of at least one traffic sensor include modeling multiple sensor types to generate at least one sensor model, creating a sample space of at least one sensor combination of multiple sensors, modeling traffic movement of a region, running a traffic simulation based on the at least one sensor model, the sample space of at least one sensor combination and traffic movement of the region, wherein the traffic simulation generates multiple candidate sets of sensors, and selecting a subset of the multiple sensors based on the multiple candidate sets of sensors. |
| US08706457B2 |
Method and system for providing information from a patient-specific model of blood flow
Embodiments include a system for providing blood flow information for a patient. The system may include at least one computer system including a touchscreen. The at least one computer system may be configured to display, on the touchscreen, a three-dimensional model representing at least a portion of an anatomical structure of the patient based on patient-specific data. The at least one computer system may also be configured to receive a first input relating to a first location on the touchscreen indicated by at least one pointing object controlled by a user, and the first location on the touchscreen may indicate a first location on the displayed three-dimensional model. The at least one computer system may be further configured to display first information on the touchscreen, and the first information may indicate a blood flow characteristic at the first location. |
| US08706456B2 |
System and method for hazardous area classification
A computer processor driven system and method capable of identifying and constructing representations of hazardous areas. The hazardous area classification system has one or more processors, and a computer readable medium containing instructions that, when executed, cause the one or more processors to perform the steps of determining a position of a hazardous area for a predetermined location using a calculation based on a plurality of parameters, and generating a representation of the hazardous area. |
| US08706455B2 |
Methods and apparatus for calculating electromagnetic scattering properties of a structure using a normal-vector field and for reconstruction of approximate structures
A projection operator framework is described to analyze the concept of localized normal-vector fields within field-material interactions in a spectral basis, in isotropic and anisotropic media. Generate a localized normal-vector field n in a region of the structure defined by the material boundary, decomposed into sub-regions with a predefined normal-vector field and possibly corresponding closed-form integrals. Construct a continuous vector field F using the normal-vector field to select continuous components ET and Dn. Localized integration of normal-vector field n over the sub-regions to determine coefficients of, C. Determine components Ex, Ey, Ez of the electromagnetic field by using field-material interaction operator C to operate on vector field F. Calculate electromagnetic scattering properties of the structure using the determined components of the electromagnetic field. |
| US08706453B2 |
Techniques for processor/memory co-exploration at multiple abstraction levels
Processor/memory co-exploration at multiple abstraction levels. An architecture description language (ADL) description of a processor/memory system is accessed. The ADL description models on one of a plurality of abstraction levels. The abstraction levels may include a functional (or bit-accurate) level and a cycle-accurate level. Further, a communication protocol for the processor/memory system is accessed. The communication protocol is formed from primitives, wherein a memory interface formed from the primitives is useable in simulation at the abstraction levels. A processor/memory simulation model is automatically generated from the description and description of the communication protocol. The processor/memory simulation model comprises a processor/memory interface comprising the primitives and based on the communication protocol. The memory interface allows simulation of the processor/memory on the appropriate abstraction level for the simulation. For example, the processor/memory interface may be a functional interface or a cycle-accurate interface. |
| US08706452B2 |
System and method for collision-free CAD design of pipe and tube paths
A system, method, and computer program product for automated creation of collision-free paths for pipes and tubes in a CAD system. A method includes receiving inputs, in a data processing system, defining at least a start point and destination point for a pipe in a CAD environment, and a diameter for the pipe. The method includes determining sample points between the start point and destination point. The method also includes building a graph including the sample points and the start point and the destination points as nodes and a plurality of edges connecting the nodes. The method also includes computing a path through the graph between the start point and the destination point. The method also includes, for each node in the path, testing each edge connected to the node to determine if there is a collision along the edge between a test object model and a background model geometry in the CAD environment, and removing from the graph any edge that has a collision. If there is no collision along an edge of the path, then designating the path as a successful path and displaying the successful path to a user by the data processing system. |
| US08706444B2 |
Method for accurately acquiring multiple analog input signals, analog input circuit, and measuring sensor and measuring transducer having an analog input circuit of this type
A method for accurately acquiring multiple analog input signals that are converted using a plurality of A/D converters into corresponding digital single measured values. A first measurement averaging cycle having a predetermined total number of measuring intervals is predetermined by a higher-order control unit. First and second input signals are acquired by first and second A/D converters in a first and second number of measuring intervals, the second number being smaller than the first number. The first and second input signals are averaged to form first and second measured values, respectively. The first input signal is acquired by the second A/D converter in a third number of measuring intervals as at least one further single measured value. A message is output if a deviation of the at least one further single measured value from a single measured value of the first input signals measured by the first A/D converter or from the first measured values averaged up to that point exceeds a maximum permissible absolute value of the deviation. |
| US08706436B2 |
Manufacture of engineering components with designed defects for analysis of production components
An engineering component with a designed defect and use of an engineering component with a designed defect to evaluate a production component are disclosed. A test component having a known defect is manufactured. This known defect is a flaw that is intentionally included in the test component. The test component is then analyzed to obtain a test profile of the defect. In addition, the engineering component to be tested is analyzed to obtain a production profile. This production profile is compared with the test profile to determine whether the engineering component has a defect that corresponds to the known defect. |
| US08706435B2 |
Signal detection and triggering using a difference bitmap
A test and measurement instrument converts digital data that represents an input signal into a plurality of bitmaps, and then subtracts one of the bitmaps from another one of the bitmaps to produce a difference bitmap. The difference bitmap does not contain density values that are common to the two bitmaps, but instead only contains the density differences between the two, thereby revealing very small density variations in the presence of large density values. In some embodiments, the difference bitmap is displayed on a display device. In other embodiments, the difference bitmap is used to generate a trigger signal. |
| US08706431B2 |
Direct sequence spread spectrum predictive cable and component failure technology
There are disclosed systems and methods of determining a fault location on a wire. In an embodiment, a system includes a PN code having a chip-time. Software code is provided for delaying the PN code a series of delays to form delayed PN samples, a sum of the series of delays being less than one chip-time. Software code is provided for summing the delayed PN samples with the PN code to form a summed sequence. Software code is provided for transmitting the summed PN sequence to the wire. Software code is provided for receiving a signal from the wire related to the summed PN sequence. Software code is provided for mixing the signal received from the wire with a delayed copy of the summed PN sequence so as to form a mixed signal. Software code is provided for integrating the mixed signal to map faults. Other embodiments are also disclosed. |
| US08706428B1 |
System and method for determining instantaneous deflection of a structure
A system may include a laser device, a target and a processor. The laser device may be mounted to the structure and may emit a laser beam. The target may also be mounted to the structure at a predetermined distance from the laser device. The laser beam may strike the target at a strike point. The target may include a plurality of photo-sensors sensing displacement of the strike point along the target corresponding to deflection of the structure. The processor may be coupled to the photo-sensors and may record a time history of the strike point displacement. The processor may determine at least one loading cycle of the structure based upon the predetermined distance and the displacement time history. |
| US08706425B2 |
Method for validation of polymer aqueous solutions concentration and activation in water treatment applications and polymer make-up unit therefor
The method of quantifying and of validation of activation status of a water treatment polymer in an aqueous sample includes the following steps: supplying polymer, e.g. continuously, to the aqueous sample; monitoring electrical conductivity measurements in the aqueous sample; thoroughly mixing the aqueous sample; correlating the conductivity measurements with the polymer concentration and activation status; and suspending mixing once conductivity steady state is achieved upon the aqueous solution polymer becoming fully activated. |
| US08706419B1 |
System and method for monitoring the change in permeability of a water well
A system and method for monitoring the permeability of a well structure defining a bore hole. The system comprises a wave generator, a sensor adapted to receive current wave data, and a processor programmed to compare the current wave data to prior wave data in order to determine the permeability of the well structure. The processor can calculate a correlation value and/or a decay value that reflects changes between the current wave data and the prior wave data, and these values can be displayed for the user. The method comprises creating a pressure wave in the bore hole, sensing current wave data, and comparing the current wave data to prior wave data in order to determine the permeability of the well structure. The step of comparing can include calculating a correlation value and/or a decay value that corresponds with the change in the data, and the values can be displayed. |
| US08706414B2 |
Method and system for locating and monitoring first responders
The invention is directed to methods and systems for locating and monitoring the status of people and moveable assets, such as first responders, including firefighters and other public service personnel, and their equipment both indoors and out. The invention provides for locating and monitoring the status of people and assets in environments where GPS systems do not operate, or where operation is impaired or otherwise limited. The system and method uses inertial navigation to determine the location, motion and orientation of the personnel or assets and communicates with an external monitoring station to receive requests for location, motion orientation and status information and to transmit the location, motion orientation and status information to the monitoring station. |
| US08706410B2 |
Navigation system with enhanced point of interest arrival guidance
A computer-implemented method for delivering arrival guidance comprising of receiving inputs defining a destination point of interest (POI). The method includes determining whether the destination POI has a parent-child POI relationship with respect to a second POI. The method further includes outputting guidance at a predetermined distance from the destination POI, wherein the guidance comprises a notification concerning the parent-child relationship between the destination POI and the second POI. |
| US08706405B2 |
Systems and methods for off-board voice-automated vehicle navigation
A system for providing navigational information comprises a mobile system processing and transmitting via a wireless link a continuous voice stream spoken by a user of the mobile system, the continuous voice stream including a complete destination address and a data center processing the continuous voice stream received via the wireless link into voice navigational information. The data center performs automated voice recognition processing on the voice navigational information to recognize destination components of the complete destination address, confirms the recognized destination components through interactive speech exchanges with the mobile system user via the wireless link and the mobile system, selectively allows human data center operator intervention to assist in identifying the selected recognized destination components having a recognition confidence below a selected threshold value, and downloads the complete destination address for transmission to the mobile system derived from the confirmed recognized destination components. |
| US08706402B2 |
Vehicle control apparatus and vehicle control method
In a vehicle control, a future travel locus of a vehicle is computed by using an evaluation function, and travel road surface information regarding a travel road surface on which the vehicle travels is stored. According to the travel road surface information stored, a convergence criterion for the evaluation function is variably set. |
| US08706401B2 |
Travel guide and schedule-based routing device and method
A navigational aid device is provided that includes a GPS module, a processor, and memory. The device is configured to automatically determine a route to a destination and to account for, in its determination of a route, a plurality of modes of public, private, or both public and private transportation. Some of these configurations may also be configured to recommend a mode or modes of transportation to take to get to a destination, and/or accept user preferences in recommending a route or the mode or modes of transportation to take to get to the destination. |
| US08706399B2 |
Computer-implemented system and method for triggering events based on user location with respect to zones of influence
A computer-implemented system and method for triggering events based on user location with respect to zones of influence is described. One or more zones of influence each having a plurality of points of geolocational data are defined. One or more user events are associated with each of the zones of influence. A location of a wireless device is identified based on geolocational data obtained by the wireless device. The geolocational data of the wireless device is compared with the geolocational data for one or more of the zones of influence. The user events associated with one such zone of influence are triggered when the geolocational data of the wireless device correlates with at least one of the points of geolocational data for that zone of influence. |
| US08706394B2 |
Control and systems for autonomously driven vehicles
An autonomous controller for a vehicle. The controller has a processor configured to receive position signals from position sensors and to generate operation control signals defining an updated travel path for the vehicle. The controller has a programmable interface providing communication among the position sensors, the operation control mechanisms, and the processor. The controller is configured to normalize inputs to the processor from the position sensors and to generate compatible operation control signals applied as the inputs to the operation control mechanisms. The processor and the programmable interface define a self-contained unit configurable for operation with a variety of different remote sensors and different remote operation control mechanisms. |
| US08706393B2 |
Intersection collision avoidance with adaptable vehicle dimensions
A method for avoiding a collision between a host vehicle and a target vehicle defines the intersection of their trajectories as the potential collision zone. The method calculates the distance to be traversed and the time required for the target vehicle to reach the collision zone and to clear it. The method then incorporates the possible cases when the target vehicle may be towing a trailer, and uses an adjusted value for the length of the target vehicle for further calculations in such cases. Further, the deceleration required by the host vehicle to allow the target vehicle to pass safely under a ‘brake to pass’ condition is calculated. The method then evaluates a break threat number based on this deceleration value and provides warning signals to the occupant of the host vehicle, to apply the brakes immediately or after a certain time, based on the break threat number value. |
| US08706392B2 |
Distance detection device and collision determination device
A collision determination ECU (1) includes: a first information generation section (101) that acquires time information from a timer (4) every predetermined time period PA, and associates own vehicle time information representing an own vehicle time, which is the acquired time information, with own vehicle identification information, to thereby generate first output information; a transmission control section (102) that transmits the generated first output information by broadcasting; a reception control section (103) that receives own vehicle time information representing an own vehicle time and own vehicle identification information, which are included in first output information from an other vehicle VCB, as other vehicle time information representing an other vehicle time and other vehicle identification information, respectively; a reception time acquisition section (104) that acquires reception time information representing a reception time from the timer (4), when the first output information is received by the other vehicle VCB; and a distance calculation section (105) that obtains a distance to the other vehicle, based on the other vehicle time information included in the received first output information and the acquired reception time information. In this manner, a distance to a vehicle in a wide range is accurately detected through car-to-car communication. |
| US08706390B2 |
Gyroscopic stabilized vehicle
Embodiments of the invention describe receiving, via a plurality of sensors, data indicating vehicle information. Said information may indicate at least orientation of a frame of a vehicle, orientation of a front wheel of the vehicle with respect to the frame, orientation and rotational speed of a first and second flywheel, and speed of the vehicle. In one embodiment, each flywheel is included in a first and second gyroscope coupled to the vehicle frame. Based, at least in part, on the data received from the plurality of sensors, at least one of the orientation and rotational speed of at least one of the flywheels may be adjusted. Said adjustment may further be based on an input to change at least one of speed and direction of the vehicle. |
| US08706388B2 |
Identifying restricted movement areas on electronic airport charts
A method, apparatus, and computer program product for graphically identifying operational restrictions for an airport area. The aircraft type is identified to form an identified aircraft type. A number of restrictions are identified for the airport area using the identified aircraft type to form a number of associated restrictions. The number of associated restrictions is presented as a number of graphical indicators on a display of the airport area in locations for the number of associated restrictions. |
| US08706385B2 |
Exhaust gas recirculation device of internal combustion engine, and control method for the device
An exhaust gas recirculation device of an internal combustion engine (1) including a low-pressure EGR passage (20), a high-pressure EGR passage (21), a low-pressure EGR valve (23) and a high-pressure EGR valve (24) further includes an air-fuel ratio sensor (12) that is disposed in the exhaust passage (4) upstream of the position of its connection with the low-pressure EGR passage (20). In the case where a predetermined fuel-cut condition is satisfied, an ECU (30) estimates the flow amounts of exhaust gas flowing in the low-pressure EGR passage (20) and the high-pressure EGR passage (21), on the basis of the oxygen concentrations acquired by the air-fuel ratio sensor (12) at timings at which the exhaust gases recirculated into the intake passage (3) via the low-pressure EGR passage (20) and via the high-pressure EGR passage (21) reach the air-fuel ratio sensor (12), respectively. |
| US08706378B2 |
Systems and methods for determining road mu and drive force
The vehicle described herein employs a mu logic module. The mu logic module monitors vehicle operating conditions, and based on those operating conditions determines a road surface mu in response to a wheel slip event. The road surface mu is then used to determine a drive force to minimize or control the wheel slip event. The mu logic module continually monitors and adjusts the drive force provided to at least one of the wheels to maximize the applied drive force, while stabilizing and controlling wheel slip events to ensure safe operation of a vehicle. |
| US08706375B2 |
Braking force control device for vehicle
A brake control device is provided for a vehicle that includes a brake pedal, an electric booster, a master cylinder, a pedal depression force calculator, a pedal stroke sensor, a first target braking force portion calculator, a second target braking force portion calculator, a contribution degree setting section and a target braking force calculator. The contribution degree setting section sets the contribution degree of a first target braking force based on a pedal depression force to be greater than a contribution degree of a second target braking force based on a pedal stroke when a target braking force is estimated to be low. The target braking force calculator calculates the first target braking force portion and the second target braking force portion according to the contribution degrees and obtains the final target braking force by adding the first target braking force portion and the second target braking force portion. |
| US08706366B2 |
Apparatus and method for controlling engine of vehicle using height information
Disclosed is an apparatus for controlling engine using height information capable of preventing an engine from stopping according to a position of a vehicle. An apparatus for controlling an engine of a vehicle using height information includes: a height information management unit storing a plurality of height information; and an idling controller that extracts one or more height information according to a position of the vehicle from the height information management unit to determine a slope of the vehicle and controls the idling of the vehicle according to the determination result. |
| US08706361B2 |
Method and apparatus for selectively activated powered actuation of a hydraulic drive system
A method and apparatus for selectively activating a gravity down mode of a hydraulic system during operation of a lift gate. An electronic control circuit is added to hydraulic control circuitry and is configured to selectively interrupt the power down mode or gravity down mode of operation of the hydraulic system based on either a manual input (override) or a sensed condition and switch to the other mode of operation. |
| US08706358B2 |
Method of controlling braking in a vehicle
A braking control system includes sensors for detecting pressure applied to a brake pedal. The system can also include a pressure sensor capable of detecting the hydraulic pressure of the braking system. The system can also include a position sensor for detecting a position of the brake pedal. The pressure applied to the brake pedal is compared to either the hydraulic pressure or the pedal position. If the resulting measurements are not correlated properly, braking countermeasures are applied. Braking countermeasures can include engine braking, regenerative braking, hydraulic assist, and brake pad assist. |
| US08706347B2 |
Diagnosis of wheel alignment using GPS
A method to monitor alignment of wheels of a vehicle through analysis of a GPS signal includes monitoring the GPS signal, determining an actual trajectory of the vehicle based upon the GPS signal, monitoring a vehicle sensor indicating an expected change in vehicle heading, determining an expected trajectory of the vehicle based upon the vehicle sensor, and indicating misalignment of the wheels of the vehicle based upon a comparison of the trajectories. |
| US08706346B2 |
Robust motor torque performance diagnostics algorithm for electric drive systems in hybrid vehicles
A method to control a powertrain having an electric motor includes monitoring a torque command to the motor, predicting a motor torque for the motor based upon the torque command, monitoring an actual motor torque of the motor, comparing the actual motor torque to the predicted torque, and indicating a motor fault when the actual motor torque and the predicted torque differ by more than a calibratable threshold. |
| US08706344B2 |
Impact sensing and identification system for pedestrian protection device
A system for identifying an object impacting a vehicle bumper during a collision. The system receives acceleration values from each of a plurality of sensors and calculates a center strength value based on the acceleration values. The center strength value is indicative of the amount of force that is applied to the center of the vehicle bumper. The system then determines a preliminary impact location on the vehicle bumper based at least in part on the acceleration values. A normalized intrusion value is calculated based on the center strength value, the impact location, and a bumper stiffness factor. The bumper stiffness factor is indicative of the stiffness of the bumper at the impact location. The system then identifies the object impacting the vehicle bumper based at least in part on the normalized intrusion value. |
| US08706343B2 |
Method for detecting leaks in a tank system
The invention relates to a method for preparing models of technical devices, wherein each technical device comprises units that are connected to each other by means of connection point, wherein, when performing the method, at least one structure made of units connected to each other by means of connection points comprising commonalities for all technical devices is integrated and automatically described as at least one common module (8) for all models. |
| US08706342B1 |
User interface for displaying internal state of autonomous driving system
Autonomous vehicles use various computing systems to transport passengers from one location to another. A control computer sends messages to the various systems of the vehicle in order to maneuver the vehicle safely to the destination. The control computer may display information on an electronic display in order to allow the passenger to understand what actions the vehicle may be taking in the immediate future. Various icons and images may be used to provide this information to the passenger. |
| US08706341B2 |
Method of detecting a structure in a field, a method of steering an agricultural vehicle and an agricultural vehicle
An agricultural vehicle has a steering system providing steering signals and including an imaging device for imaging surroundings of the vehicle and an image processing device, the steering system operates to provide by the imaging device an image of the field, analyze the image to obtain texture information, assign to a plurality of areas of the image probability-values reflecting the likelihood that the respective area relates to a specific structure, assume at least one geometric property of the specific structure, and establish a most possible position parameter of the specific structure taking into account the probability-values and the assumed geometric property; and to provide a steering signal in accordance with the position parameter thus established. |
| US08706340B2 |
Underground utility vault inspection system and method
An underground utility vault inspection system and method includes a pre-defined railway installed in an underground utility vault, and an inspection vehicle adapted to traverse the railway to provide inspection results to inspection personnel. The inspection vehicle includes inspection tools for inspecting underground power lines and equipment, recording inspection results, and transmitting the inspection results to the inspection personnel. |
| US08706339B2 |
Robotic mower boundary sensing system
A robotic mower boundary sensing system includes a boundary driving circuit on a charging station transmitting an encoded signal on a boundary wire, a boundary sensor on a robotic mower and including an inductor receiving the encoded signal, and a vehicle control unit on the robotic mower receiving the encoded signal from the boundary sensor and decoding the signal and cross correlating the received signal to determine the distance of the boundary sensor from the boundary wire. |
| US08706334B2 |
Technique for inducing economic driving of hybrid vehicle
Disclosed is a technique for inducing economic driving of a hybrid vehicle. Exemplary embodiments of the present invention is to provide an apparatus and method for inducing economic driving of a hybrid vehicle, which can efficiently induce economic driving by stimulating a driver's desire to achieve better fuel efficiency by calculating an accumulated mileage based on both fuel consumption and battery consumption, displaying the accumulated mileage as a grade, and assigning score according to that particular driver's grade. |
| US08706329B2 |
Facilitating navigation of vessels in specific water environments
A method of facilitating movement of a vessel in a specific navigation environment. Characteristics of the vessel are evaluated relative to conditions in the environment to define a navigation procedure. The procedure is described on a navigational chart that includes information from sources of navigation-related experience, e.g., sovereign governmental authorities, hydrographic offices, port authorities, communication authorities, vessel masters, operators and port pilots. The vessel is indicated as geographically referenced to points in the environment indicative of successive positioning of the vessel in accordance with the procedure. Using such procedures can streamline coordination among masters, operators and ports and can shorten time needed to plan and perform navigation in complex environments. |
| US08706328B1 |
Vehicle-based switch mechanisms in fixed guideway transportation systems and methods for controlling same
The present invention relates generally to ground transportation systems, and more particularly to a fixed guideway transportation system that achieves a superior ratio of benefits per cost, is lower in net present cost and thus more easily justified for lower density corridors, and can provide passenger carrying capacities appropriate for higher density corridors serviced by mass rapid transit systems today. According to certain aspects, the present invention increases traffic densities by removing fixed obstacles such as track switches. In embodiments, this is achieved by providing vehicle-based switching mechanisms that interoperate with corresponding track structures to allow vehicles to switch tracks without any moving components on the track itself. According to further aspects, the invention provides a method of operating vehicle-based switching mechanisms that comply with safety requirements. |
| US08706326B2 |
Method and device for aiding the piloting of an aircraft during a landing phase
Method and device for aiding the piloting of an airplane during a landing phase for ensuring, during rollout on a landing runway, that in the nominal case the airplane will stop level with a selected exit, while guaranteeing that in the case of a fault the airplane will stop before the end of the runway. |
| US08706325B2 |
Evaluating airport runway conditions in real time
A computer-implemented method, system, and/or computer program product evaluates a real-time condition of a construct of an airport runway. A processor receives a set of temporally-spaced runway vibrations. This set of temporally-spaced runway vibrations is measured by a set of smart sensors on an airport runway after a landing aircraft touches down on the airport runway. Using data that describes the set of temporally-spaced runway vibrations as inputs to an analysis algorithm, a real-time physical condition of a construct of the airport runway is determined. |
| US08706321B1 |
Longitudinal and vertical gust feed forward compensation using lateral control surfaces
In one embodiment of a method to reduce vertical position errors of an aircraft, a disturbance input acting on the aircraft may be determined. The magnitude of the disturbance may be converted into a delta lift command if the magnitude of the disturbance is outside a criteria. The delta lift command may be post processed. The delta lift command may be converted into symmetric lateral surface position commands for control surfaces. The symmetric lateral surface position commands may be communicated to lateral control surface actuators to move the control surfaces according to the symmetric lateral surface position commands. |
| US08706318B2 |
Docking terminal and system for controlling vehicle functions
A docking terminal for controlling a plurality of vehicle functions of a motor vehicle by a control device connected to the vehicle, including a wireless data exchange with a control device, an input unit, and an energy store. A greater range of functions, which can also include control of safety-relevant vehicle functions, is facilitated by the connection of the wireless data exchange to a data processing system integrated in the docking terminal. The system is designed to use at least one cryptologic method. |
| US08706316B1 |
Method and system for enhanced scanner user interface
A method and system for presenting vehicle information. A functional part of a vehicle is selected to be examined and information related to the selected function part is received. A vehicle model corresponding to the vehicle is retrieved. Based on the selected functional part and the vehicle model, a mode of operation is determined and used in presenting the vehicle model and the information so that a portion of the model corresponding to the functional part is visible and the information is presented with respect to the visible functional part of the presented model. |
| US08706314B2 |
Method and apparatus for regulating temperature in a computer system
Embodiments of a system for regulating temperature in a computer system are described. During operation, the system estimates a thermal trajectory as a function of time in at least a portion of the computer system. Then, the system modifies a flow resistance of a cooling mechanism in a thermal-regulation system in the computer system based on the estimated thermal trajectory, where the flow resistance is modified to regulate a temperature of at least the portion of the computer system. |
| US08706310B2 |
Goal-based control of lighting
A goal-based control system may be provided that controls lighting based on high-level management goals for the operation of a lighting system. The system may include a lighting system model. The system may convert the high-level management goals into low-level device control parameters that include a power level for each respective one of the light fixtures, where the system determines that a modeled operation of each respective one the light fixtures at the power level meets the management goals based on the lighting system model. The system may cause each respective one of the light fixtures to operate at the power level. The system may determine a likelihood of satisfying the management goals. |
| US08706309B2 |
Systems and method for obtaining a load model and related parameters based on load dynamics
Disclosed are systems and methods for calculating load models and associated tunable parameters that may be used to describe the behavior of loads connected to an electric power distribution system. The load models may be utilized to predict variations in demand caused by changes in the supply voltage, and may be utilized in determining an optimized control strategy based on load dynamics. Any action which causes a disruption to the electric power distribution system may provide information regarding the composition or dynamics of connected loads. Such actions may be referred to as modeling events. Modeling events may occur with some frequency in electric power distribution systems, and accordingly, a number of data sets may be acquired under a variety of conditions and at a variety of times. Load models may include static load models, dynamic load models, or a combination of static and dynamic load models. |
| US08706305B2 |
Feedback control for shape memory alloy actuators
Control feedback for regulating strain output of a shape memory alloy (SMA) actuator using a stress sensor for outputting an indication of a mechanical resistance applied against the SMA actuator, and a state sensor for outputting an indication of a state of actuation of the SMA actuator has been found to be surprisingly accurate. Advantageously feedback detection can be provided with sensors that have low power requirements and can be controlled with simple electronics. |
| US08706299B2 |
Method and system for controlling a dexterous robot execution sequence using state classification
A robotic system includes a dexterous robot and a controller. The robot includes a plurality of robotic joints, actuators for moving the joints, and sensors for measuring a characteristic of the joints, and for transmitting the characteristics as sensor signals. The controller receives the sensor signals, and is configured for executing instructions from memory, classifying the sensor signals into distinct classes via the state classification module, monitoring a system state of the robot using the classes, and controlling the robot in the execution of alternative work tasks based on the system state. A method for controlling the robot in the above system includes receiving the signals via the controller, classifying the signals using the state classification module, monitoring the present system state of the robot using the classes, and controlling the robot in the execution of alternative work tasks based on the present system state. |
| US08706298B2 |
Temporal tracking robot control system
A temporal controller for mobile robot path planning includes a sensor module for receiving data corresponding to spatial locations of at least one object, and a temporal control module operatively coupled to the sensor module, the temporal control module configured to predict future locations of the at least one object based on data received by the sensor module. The controller further includes a temporal simulation module operatively coupled to the temporal control module, wherein the temporal simulation module configured to use the predicted future locations of the at least one object to simulate multiple robot motion hypothesis for object avoidance and trajectory planning. |
| US08706293B2 |
Vending machine with automated detection of product position
Embodiments of a vending machine are disclosed that can comprise one or more horizontally oriented shelves for supporting products to be vended, a plurality of vertically oriented dividers coupled to the shelves, a plurality of location markers located on the dividers and/or on the shelves, and an optical recognition module configured to optically recognize the location markers and to determine positions of the location markers and products relative to the shelves. In some embodiments, the optical recognition module can recognize the products by comparing images of the products to stored product images. |
| US08706292B2 |
Apparatus for receiving and dispensing cards automatically
An apparatus for receiving and dispensing cards automatically includes a card receiving and dispensing main body (1000) and a card dispensing box (1001) removably installed on said main body (1000). Said card dispensing box (1001) includes a card dispensing box body, a card outlet (141) and a card gate (90) configured on said card dispensing box body. Said card dispensing box (1001) also includes a card gate locking device for controlling the opening and closing of said card gate (90). Said apparatus also includes an identification and unclocking device, which controls the activity of the card gate locking device on the card dispensing box (1001) associated with the card receiving and dispensing main body (1000) to open the card gate (90) of the card dispensing box (1001). |
| US08706289B2 |
Pre-aligner search
Methods and systems, in one embodiment, for receiving a warped flexible wafer to be transferred between a first mechanism and a second mechanism are described. The method and system senses a first vacuum suction between the warped flexible wafer and the first mechanism. The warped flexible wafer is positioned to define a gap between the warped flexible wafer and the second mechanism. Methods and systems for closing the gap incrementally between the warped flexible wafer and the second mechanism are described. At each increment, the methods and systems detect whether a second vacuum suction is created between the warped flexible wafer and the second mechanism. When a second vacuum suction is detected between the warped flexible wafer and the second mechanism, the first vacuum suction between the warped flexible wafer and the first mechanism is released. |
| US08706286B2 |
Method and system for detecting suitability of an image to embroidery
Methods and systems are presented for determining the suitability of an original image to embroidery based on analysis of the image and calculation of various metrics indicative of embroidery suitability. |
| US08706283B2 |
System for evaluating manufacturability of a casting design
A system for evaluating a manufacturability of a casting design. The system includes at least one of a geometry analyzer, a casting evaluation tool, a residual stress evaluation tool, and a machining evaluation tool. The geometry analyzer analyzes a geometric design of the casting design to determine its geometric design-ability, the casting evaluation tool evaluates the casting design to determine its cast-ability, the residual stress evaluation tool evaluates the casting design to determine its heat treat-ability, and the machining evaluation tool evaluates the casting design to determine a machine-ability of the casting design. If the casting design is determined as not geometrically design-able, not cast-able, not heat treat-able, or not machine-able by the geometry analyzer, the casting evaluation tool, the residual stress evaluation tool, or the machining evaluation tool, respectively, then modifications to the casting design are recommended to optimize the casting design for manufacturing. |