| Document | Document Title |
|---|---|
| US08701548B2 |
Beverage preparation device having a closing mechanism with force demultiplying means
A device (50) for preparing a beverage from a food substance contained in a capsule (24) by feeding a liquid into the capsule (24) provided to the device (50), said device comprising an extraction head (20) which comprises: a first and second enclosing members (10a, 10b) delimiting a receptacle (25) for enclosing a capsule (24); a closing mechanism (1) to act on at least one (10a) of the enclosing members (10a, 10b) in relative displacement of the enclosing members, between an open position of the receptacle (25) and a closed position of the receptacle (25) with the capsule positioned therein; the closing mechanism (1) further comprising a locking means (13), a lever (21) and force demultiplying means (11) for transmitting a movement of the lever (21) into the relative displacement of the enclosing members (10a,10b); wherein the demultiplying means (11) are designed to vary a transmission ratio of the closing mechanism (1) acting between the lever (21) and at least one (10a) of the enclosing members (10a, 10b). |
| US08701547B2 |
Coffee maker with coffee bean grinder
A coffee maker has a water reservoir, an in-line water heater, a brew basket for receiving coffee grounds, a water passage between the water reservoir and the brew basket, a water level sensor located in the water reservoir, a water level indicator, and a controller in communication with the water level sensor and the water level indicator. The passage passes through the in-line water heater for delivering heated water to the brew basket. The controller activates the water level indicator in response to a signal from the water level sensor. A method of making coffee in the coffee maker includes determining, in the controller, an operating condition for a coffee bean grinder and operating the coffee bean grinder based on the operating condition to grind coffee beans and produce a quantity of ground coffee beans. |
| US08701543B2 |
Adjustable gas system for firearms
This application discloses a firearm gas system that includes a gas block that defines a gas port and a passage that receives a gas tube and an orifice plate that defines at least two orifices, where the orifice plate is positioned between a gas port in the barrel and the gas port on the gas block and where the orifice plate is movable with respect to the gas ports in the barrel and gas block to selectively position one of the orifices between the gas ports in the barrel and gas block where the orifices in the orifice plate have different orifice sizes. |
| US08701539B1 |
Expandable electromagnetic launcher
An electromagnetic launcher operable to accelerate launch packages of various transverse sizes, the launcher comprising, in one example, two high-current linear motors having longitudinally extending, laterally open propulsion channels configured to receive and accelerate metal armatures integrated with a launch package; and a power actuated repositioning mechanism for spacing the motors apart as needed. |
| US08701532B2 |
Reprocessed dies
A method includes removing material from a die and thereby changing a location of a cutting edge of the die in a punch entry direction and changing a cutting edge cross-section of the die; and assigning a punch and/or a workpiece thickness to the die based, at least in part, on the change in the cutting edge cross-section of the die. |
| US08701531B2 |
Dicing element assembly for a food processor
A food processing dicing method and assembly is disclosed. The food processing dicing assembly may comprise a dicing element having multiple dicing openings through which food may pass, a frame configured to selectively retain the dicing element, and a management tool having multiple projections sized to be received by the dicing openings, the management tool may include at least one coupling element for releasably coupling the management tool to at least one of the dicing element and the frame. |
| US08701530B2 |
Method of cutting thin-walled material
A method is provided to cut a thin-walled member without causing chattering vibration, without using a chattering vibration preventing retainer, that performs the following: (A) preparing a material having much stock for obtaining a thin-walled material, (B) while rotating the material about a center axis, cutting the inner round surface of the material within a predetermined range by feeding a cutting tool relative to material by the desired distance from one end side to the other end side of the material along the center axis, (C) while rotating the material about the center axis, cutting the outer round surface of the material within a predetermined range by feeding the cutting tool relative to the material by the desired distance from the one end side to the other end side of the material along the center axis, and (D) alternately repeating (B) and (C) to finish cutting the material. |
| US08701525B2 |
Nut driver drill bit
A nut driver bit is designed to install nuts onto threaded shafts, such as all-thread rods and bolts. The nut driver bit may be driven by a power drill which causes a driver end of the nut driver bit to rotate. The driver end may contact a nut, thereby causing the nut to rotate. The driver end may be covered in with a contact grip for gripping the nut during use. A worker may install and spin a nut on a threaded shaft without requiring their fingers to manually rotate the nut. The nut driver bit may drastically reduce the time required to install nuts onto threaded rods. |
| US08701523B2 |
Coupling device for a hybrid power train that operates in at least two, electrical/combustion-electrical modes, intended for a vehicle
A coupling device for a hybrid power plant operates in at least two electrical/internal-combustion-electrical modes designed for a vehicle, whereby the coupling device includes a first drive shaft that is coupled to an electric motor and a second drive shaft that is coupled to an internal combustion engine. The coupling device includes at least one primary shaft that can be coupled by first or second transmission element to the first or the second drive shaft under the action of selection element that can assume a first position and a second position in such a way that: In the first position of the selection element, the primary shaft is coupled to the first or to the second drive shaft by the first or the second transmission element; and In the second position of the selection element, the primary shaft is coupled to the first drive shaft by the first transmission element. |
| US08701522B2 |
Operation mode pendant type adjustment pedal apparatus
A pendant type adjustment pedal apparatus includes an adjustment accelerator pedal that adjust a pedal clearance by the rotation of a motor, and an adjustment brake pedal that receives the rotation of motor through a rotary drive cable. Accordingly, convenience in adjusting a pedal clearance is provided, and particularly, adjustment accelerator pedal achieves a vibration mode in addition to a foot effort mode, which is an eco mode, by an electric mode generating device, such as a solenoid or a linear motor. Therefore, it is possible to improve fuel efficiency and to provide a danger recognition function using an accelerator pedal. |
| US08701517B2 |
Method of gear shifting a dual clutch transmission
A method for gear shifting a dual clutch transmission from an initial gear into a target gear and a respective dual clutch transmission are described. The dual clutch transmission comprises a first partial transmission and a second partial transmission. When shifting from an initial gear into a target gear which are both allocated to the first partial transmission, gears are shifted at least for a short time period into the support gear prior to gear shifting from the support gear into the target gear. A process of an uninterrupted reduction of the transmitted clutch torque down to zero at a first clutch allocated to the initial gear is started prior to starting a process of closing the second clutch allocated to the support gear. |
| US08701515B2 |
Drive assembly for a motor vehicle, comprising a power take-off clutch
A drive assembly for a motor vehicle with a clutch device on the input side. The drive assembly includes a transmission having input and output shafts, loose and fixed gearwheels, shifting devices for coupling the loose gearwheels to the transmission shafts, a power take-off (PTO) gearwheel that can be driven by the input of the clutch device, and a PTO clutch for engaging the PTO gearwheel in the torque flow. The PTO clutch is arranged in the torque flow after and axially adjacent a starting and shifting clutch. The clutch device comprises the starting and shifting clutch, the PTO clutch and two actuators. The starting and shifting clutch is a friction clutch and the PTO clutch is a claw clutch. The two clutches have a clutch cover and a common actuator housing, and the coupling device of the PTO clutch is arranged radially outside the clutch cover. |
| US08701505B2 |
Peltier freeze-shoe sampler to recover aquifer sediment and groundwater
A groundwater sampling tool that includes an elongated hollow coring tube having a proximal end and a distal end for collecting groundwater and sediment; a Peltier element located in close proximity to a wall of the elongated hollow coring tube adapted to freeze groundwater and sediment collected by the elongated hollow coring tube. |
| US08701504B2 |
Automatic analyzer and sample-processing system
In a sample-processing system that includes one or more function modules and one or more buffer units each combined as a pair with one of the function modules, in case of device stoppage due to failure, since a number of sample racks are held in the buffers, resetting involves a huge amount of time for storage of the racks. In addition, if the system configuration includes a plurality of buffer units, the resetting time increases with the number of buffer units. Sample rack ID reading means is provided in each buffer unit and during resetting, IDs of the sample racks in the buffer unit are read in the buffer unit. The buffer unit then uses the read information to make an inquiry to a control unit as to transport destinations of each sample rack. After this, sample processing based on transport destination instructions from the control unit is restarted using the buffer unit as a restarting position. |
| US08701503B2 |
Magnetostrictive torque sensor and electrical power steering device
Disclosed are a magnetostrictive torque sensor and an electrical power steering device, wherein a first torque sensor has: one magnetostrictive film provided on a steering shaft; a first coil and a second coil that detect changes in the magnetic characteristics of the magnetostrictive film; and a first housing that contains, at least, the steering shaft, the magnetostrictive film, the first coil, and the second coil. The first housing has a resin part, a cylindrical part made of a metal that is soft magnetic, and a flange part made of a metal that is soft magnetic. The resin part, the cylindrical part, and the flange part are formed as a unit. |
| US08701495B2 |
Remote fire extinguisher station inspection
An apparatus for remote inspection of fire extinguishers at one or a system of fire extinguisher stations includes, e.g., at each fire extinguisher station: a detector for lack of presence of a fire extinguisher in its installed position at the fire extinguisher station; a detector for out-of-range pressure of contents of the fire extinguisher at the fire extinguisher station; a detector for an obstruction to viewing of or access to the fire extinguisher at the fire extinguisher station; and a device for transmission of inspection report information from the fire extinguisher station to a remote central station. |
| US08701494B1 |
Apparatus and method for damage location and identification in structures
An apparatus and method for testing composite structures in which ultrasonic waves are used to detect disbonds in the structures are described. The apparatus comprises a flexible structure carrying acousto-optical transducers such as fiber Bragg gratings. During use, the apparatus is mechanically and conformally coupled to the structure under test. |
| US08701491B2 |
Acoustic holography
A method of performing near-field acoustic holography comprises the following steps. Establishing (102) acoustic data representing a set of near-field acoustic holography measurements at a first set of positions. Extrapolating (204) acoustic data using a model-based extrapolation to obtain extrapolated acoustic data relating to a plurality of positions outside the aperture. Applying (108) a spatial frequency transform to the padded acoustic data to obtain data in a spatial frequency domain. Propagating (110) the Fourier transformed acoustic data. Applying (112) a regularization in a wavenumber domain. Performing (114) an inverse spatial frequency transform. |
| US08701490B2 |
Z-axis capacitive accelerometer
A Z-axis capacitive accelerometer includes a substrate, a capacitance sensing plate, a proof mass and at least one pair of spring beams. The capacitance sensing plate includes two symmetrical sense areas to create differential capacitive measurement. A decoupling structure separates the proof mass and the capacitance sensing plate and their rotational motions from each other. In the proposed Z axis capacitive accelerometer, the distance of the capacitance sensing plate relative to its rotation axis is considerably increased, thereby effectively enhancing the sensitivity when measuring the Z-axis acceleration. |
| US08701488B2 |
Electronic component analyzing apparatus and method
An electronic component analyzing apparatus is provided with a fixing part configured to hold a substrate to which an electronic component is soldered; a gripper configured to grip the electronic component; a transmission part coupled to the gripper, and configured to transmit an external force to the gripper as a force acting in a direction away from the substrate; and a support part configured to pivotally support the transmission part. |
| US08701485B2 |
Sensor device
A sensor device includes: a sensor component including a package, connection terminals including first connection terminals on a terminal forming surface of the package and a sensor element housed in the package; a resin part covering the sensor component; and mounting leads including a one-end part coupled to one first connection terminal in the resin part so that a main surface thereof faces a main surface of the one first connection terminal face; an intermediate part extending toward a mounting surface of the sensor device from the one-end part; and another-end part externally exposed from the resin part. The sensor component is tilted or orthogonal relative to the mounting surface. The connection terminals are provided along one of the sides forming an outline of the terminal forming surface, the one side being tilted or orthogonal with respect to the mounting surface. The intermediate part includes an angled part. |
| US08701481B2 |
Borehole sensing and clamping systems and methods of using the same
A sensing system configured for use in a borehole. The sensing system includes a body portion and a clamp arm engaged with the body portion. The clamp arm is configured to move between a retracted position and an extended position. The sensing system also includes an energy storage element engaged with the body portion. The energy storage element provides energy to move the clamp arm from the retracted position to the extended position. A method of using the sensing system is also provided. |
| US08701471B2 |
Method and system for background suppression in magneto-motive photoacoustic imaging of magnetic contrast agents
Method and system for background suppression in magneto-motive photoacoustic imaging of labeled target objects. |
| US08701466B2 |
Device for characterizing the evolution over time of a size distribution of electrically-charged airborne particles in an airflow
A device is presented that is capable of recording the evolution over time of the characteristics of a size distribution of electrically-charged airborne particles in an airflow. The device comprises an air inlet, a particle charging unit, a concentration variation section, a particle sensing section and a data evaluation unit. Specifically, the particle sensing section of the device generates at least two serially obtained measurement signals I1 and I2 from which the data evaluation unit can infer values for both the average particle diameter dp,av and the number concentration N of the size distribution of electrically-charged airborne particles. Reliable values can be obtained for N and dp,av under both stationary conditions and transient conditions with respect to the characteristics of the particle size distribution due to the condition that the change of the inferred average particle diameter dp,av with respect to a reference particle diameter dp,ref is bounded by a set maximum change. This imposed condition markedly reduces scatter in the inferred values for dp,av and N as a function of time, while still allowing transient characteristics with respect to both N and dp,av to become visible in the course of time, without having to rely on averaging procedures and/or device hardware adaptations. |
| US08701462B2 |
Shim stack testing apparatus and method
A shim stack testing apparatus and method of determining a stiffness of the shim stick may be employed to assemble a shim stack kit. The apparatus includes a testing jig that receives either a compression or rebound shim stack. The testing jig may be used with a variety of testing machines capable of determining force versus deflection. The test jig includes a simulated piston rod coupled to a simulated piston valve having apertures. The shim stack being tested may be coupled to the piston at a selected location and then deflected by a pre-determined amount by a loading fixture having elongated prongs. Once the pre-determined deflection is achieved, a corresponding force is identified and then an overall stiffness value for the shim stack is obtained. Tested shim stacks may be assembled into kits with each having an identified stiffness that may be compared to a baseline stiffness value. |
| US08701447B2 |
Method of manufacturing optical fiber base material and apparatus of the same
A method of manufacturing an optical fiber base material includes: forming a porous glass base material by depositing glass particles; providing a vessel which employs a composite tube, the composite tube including a portion formed by jacketing a first quartz glass containing aluminum equal to or less than 0.01 ppm with a second quartz glass containing aluminum equal to or more than 15 ppm; introducing dehydration reaction gas and inert gas into the vessel; heating the jacketed portion in the vessel which contains the dehydration reaction gas and the inert gas; and inserting the porous glass base material into the heated vessel to dehydrate and sinter the porous glass base material. |
| US08701446B2 |
Rotary separator for mineral fibers
A method and apparatus for collecting and forming loose fill fiber material from an ail stream includes introducing a combined fiber and air stream onto a surface of a rotatable drum. The rotatable drum allows the air to flow through the surface of the drum while collecting the fiber material on the surface of the drum. The collected fiber material is then removed from the drum surface by a blow off header that is internal to the drum. |
| US08701444B2 |
Plunger and parison mold assembly for a narrow-neck press-and-blow wine bottle
A parison mold assembly for a press-and-blow glassware forming machine includes a neck ring for molding a finish portion of a parison, a parison mold for molding a body portion of the parison, and a plunger for insertion through the neck ring into the parison mold for pressing a hot glass gob against inner surfaces of the neck ring and the parison mold. The plunger has an outer surface of revolution around a central axis, including a first portion disposed within the neck ring when the plunger is fully inserted through the neck ring into the parison mold, a second portion spaced from the first portion, and a transition third portion extending between the first and second portions. |
| US08701441B2 |
Method of making inorganic, metal oxide spheres using microstructured molds
A process for making inorganic, metal oxide spheres that includes exposing solidified, molded microparticles that include a glass precursor composition to a temperature sufficient to transform the molded microparticles into molten glass and cooling the molten glass to form inorganic, metal oxide spheres. |
| US08701440B1 |
Jewelry mount for securing interchangeable ornaments
A jewelry mounting system having a gem mount with a gem permanently secured to the mount. The gem mount is provided with clasps pivotably secured to the mount, and the clasps cooperate with pins on a jewelry setting to attach and detach different gems into the jewelry setting. |
| US08701439B2 |
Piece of jewelry comprising a bezel immobilized in translation and in rotation on a wire-like mounting
Jewel having a decorative element such as a precious stone, a bezel including a body provided with at least one hole defining a longitudinal direction, the body having claws mounted thereon, which embed the decorative element, a wire-like support on which the bezel is mounted, the wire-like support extending longitudinally through the body of the bezel through the hole. The wire-like support has a bore located in the body, and the jewel further has an elongated stop element, which extends transversely in the body while passing through the bore formed in the wire-like support. The stop element is engaged with stop surfaces formed within the body. |
| US08701437B2 |
Hot and cold water dispenser
Disclosed therein is a hot and cold water dispenser, which includes cooling means or heating means for cooling or heating water. The hot and cold water dispenser includes: a feed pipe having a flow path formed therein for allowing a flow of water; and a temperature control pipe disposed inside or outside of the feed pipe along a longitudinal direction of the feed pipe, the temperature control pipe having a space for receiving the cooling means or the heating means therein to cool or heat water flowing through the feed pipe by means of the cooling means or the heating means. |
| US08701433B2 |
Evaporator door system with movable door
A heat exchanger door system includes a heat exchanger and a first rotatable member, proximate to the heat exchanger, that rotates about an axis of rotation. The system includes a first door member rolled around the rotatable member and movable from a rolled position to an unrolled position in which the first door member covers more of the heat exchanger than when the door member is in the rolled position. |
| US08701430B2 |
Compact refrigeration unit for trailer
A refrigeration unit body (31) is mounted to a trailer (20). The refrigeration unit body (31) includes a refrigerant circuit (40), an engine (50) and an electric generator (51). The refrigeration unit body (31) has a condensation side passage (70) formed from the front surface of the refrigeration unit body (31) to the top thereof. In the condensation side passage (70), a condenser (42) and an electrical component box (54) are disposed in series with condenser fans (44) for the condenser (42) and a radiator (55) in order from upstream to downstream of air flow. In addition, the refrigeration unit body (31) has an evaporation side passage (71) formed therein. The condenser fans (44) in the condensation side passage (70) and evaporation fans in the evaporation side passage are disposed alternately in the width direction of the refrigeration unit body (31). |
| US08701422B2 |
Thermoelectric heat pump
In certain embodiments, a thermoelectric heat pump includes a heat transfer region having an array of thermoelectric modules, a waste channel in substantial thermal communication with a high temperature portion of the heat transfer region, and a main channel in substantial thermal communication with a low temperature portion of the heat transfer region. An enclosure wall provides a barrier between fluid in the waste channel and fluid in the main channel throughout the interior of the thermoelectric heat pump. In some embodiments, the waste fluid channel and the main fluid channel are positioned and shaped such that differences in temperature between fluids disposed near opposite sides of the enclosure wall are substantially decreased or minimized at corresponding positions along the channels. |
| US08701421B2 |
Dynamic combustion chamber
A system for converting potential energy into heat including a tower configured to contain a fluid and to permit the formation of a substantially nitrogen-free combustion chamber defined by the tower and the surface of the fluid in the tower and at a pressure less than ambient, a first tower outlet in fluid communication with a first fuel valve configured to regulate a flow of the fluid out of the tower, an oxygen source in fluid communication with an oxygen valve in fluid communication with an oxygen inlet in fluid communication with the tower, a source of combustible fuel including hydrogen in fluid communication with a fuel valve in fluid communication with a fuel inlet in fluid communication with the tower, and an ignition source positioned so that it resides within the combustion chamber and is configured to initiate a reaction between oxygen and fuel. |
| US08701418B2 |
Late lean injection for fuel flexibility
A gas turbine engine is provided and includes a combustor having a first interior in which a first fuel is combustible, the first fuel including natural gas and/or a blend of natural gas and alternate gas receivable by a fuel circuit from an external source, a turbine, a transition zone, including a second interior in which a second fuel, the second fuel including an unblended supply of the alternate gas receivable by the fuel circuit from the external source, and the products of the combustion of the first fuel are combustible, and a plurality of fuel injectors, which are structurally supported by the transition zone and coupled to the fuel circuit, and which are configured to supply the second fuel to the second interior in any one of a single axial stage, multiple axial stages, a single axial circumferential stage and multiple axial circumferential stages. |
| US08701417B2 |
Head part of an annular combustion chamber
A head part of an annular gas turbine combustion chamber including: an end wall with a passage opening for accommodating a burner, the end wall including a set back portion adjacent the passage opening; a heat shield covering a back side of the end wall which faces towards the combustion chamber, the heat shield including a protruding portion shaped to cooperate with the set back portion of the end wall; and a burner collar adapted to fit within the passage opening and receive a burner, the burner collar including a protruding portion radially protruding from an outer surface of the burner collar; wherein the head part of the annular gas turbine combustion chamber is configured such that in an installed configuration the protruding portion of the burner collar is held between the protruding portion of the heat shield and the set back portion of the end wall. |
| US08701416B2 |
Radially staged RQL combustor with tangential fuel-air premixers
A double annular radially staged combustor for a gas turbine engine having a reduced internal flow transitioning area between an outboard primary combustion zone and al inboard secondary combustion zone. The primary combustion zone is an annular shell form with a radially inboard annular exit. An outboard ring with thru holes and an inboard annular channel yields a quick quench zone. The secondary combustion zone, adjacent to and downstream of the quick quench zone is of an annular shell form, generally radially inboard of the primary combustion zone. In a preferred embodiment the secondary combustion zone exiting hot gases flows into a dilution zone prior to exiting the combustor. |
| US08701414B2 |
Injection device for combustion chambers of liquid-fueled rocket engines
An injection device including at least one injection plate adjacent a combustion space of a combustion chamber, and at least one first injection nozzle including a first entry bore having a first discharge into the combustion chamber, and a first orifice bore, having a cross-sectional dimension less than or equal to the first entry bore, coaxially arranged with the first entry bore and remote from the first discharge. At least one second injection nozzle includes a second entry bore having a second discharge into the combustion chamber, and a second orifice bore, having a cross-sectional dimension less than or equal to the second entry bore, coaxially arranged with the second entry bore and remote from the second discharge. The instant abstract is neither intended to define the invention disclosed in this specification nor intended to limit the scope of the invention in any way. |
| US08701412B2 |
System for recovering heat from a biomass gasifier
Systems for recovering heat from a biomass gasifier are provided. One gasification system includes a gasifier having an inlet section configured to receive a biomass feedstock and air, and a reactor section configured to gasify a mixture of the biomass feedstock and the air to generate a producer gas. The gasifier also has an outlet section configured to output the producer gas from the reactor section. The gasification system also includes a heat exchanger system coupled to the gasifier. The heat exchanger system is configured to recover heat from the gasifier by transferring heat to a fluid to create a heated fluid. |
| US08701408B2 |
Connecting device, driving device and charging device
A connecting device, comprising: a linearly driving drive member; an actuating member driven in a rotating manner by an internal combustion engine charging device with at least one pivot arm connected to the actuating member in a fixed manner, wherein the actuating member transmits rotational moments about a pivot axis, with a slide element connected to the driving member in a fixed manner, and wherein the driving member transmits linear forces oriented obliquely to the pivot axis, with at least one bearing arrangement, which moveably couples the slide element to the pivot arm such that the slide element is displaceably mounted along a displacement axis running parallel to the pivot axis and rotatably mounted about the displacement axis and about a rotary axis running perpendicularly to the displacement axis. |
| US08701406B2 |
Shape memory alloy powered hydraulic accumulator having wire guides
A system, in certain embodiments, includes an accumulator having a first plate with a first wire guide and a second plate with a second wire guide. The second plate is positioned at an offset from the first plate, and the second plate is moveable relative to the first plate to adjust a fluid pressure. The accumulator also includes a plurality of shape memory alloy wires extending between the first and second plates, wherein the plurality of shape memory alloy wires extend along the first and second wire guides. |
| US08701403B2 |
System for producing energy through the action of waves
A system and method for generating energy from the tuning masses relative to a ground plane and an external force. In some embodiments the external force is the action of the waves. The system has a first mass movable relative to the ground plane, wherein the external force induces an oscillation in the first mass relative to the ground plane. A second movable mass is carried by and movable relative to the first movable mass. The second movable mass creates kinetic energy as the result of varying the position of the second movable mass relative to the first mass. The system adjusts or tunes the frequency of various components in relation to the natural frequency of the waves. The second mass can move relative to the first mass by various methods including rolling on a track or pendulum. The energy created by the relative motion can be converted to various forms of energy including electrical energy. |
| US08701402B2 |
Reservoir-less power steering system
A reservoir-less power steering system having a hydraulic pump, a storage tube, a steering gear assembly, and a return line. The storage tube accommodates and provides hydraulic fluid to the hydraulic pump. Further, the hydraulic pump increases the hydraulic fluid pressure and transfers the pressurized hydraulic fluid to the steering gear assembly. A return line is connected to the steering gear assembly and coupled to the storage tube for returning the hydraulic fluid from the steering gear assembly to the hydraulic pump. Moreover, the storage tube extends upwards from the hydraulic pump to include a hydraulic fluid level measurement assembly. |
| US08701401B2 |
Engine control device
A first target engine speed is set in response to a command value commanded by a command unit and a second target engine speed lower than the first target engine speed is set based on the first target engine speed. A reduction range from the first target engine speed to the second target engine speed is set according to a type of a hydraulic actuator operated by an operation lever or a combination of plural hydraulic actuators operated by an operation lever. |
| US08701399B2 |
Hydraulic system for working machine
A pair of dozer control valves V3, V6 concurrently operable; a pilot pressure valve V14 switchable between an independent position 27 where, when only track devices 5 are operated, discharged fluid from one hydraulic-fluid discharge port P1 is independently supplied to one track control valve and one dozer control valve, and discharged fluid from the other hydraulic-fluid discharge port P2 is independently supplied to the other track control valve and the other dozer control valve, and a merging position 28 where, when the other control valves are operated, discharged fluid from the one hydraulic-fluid discharge port and from the other hydraulic-fluid discharge port are merged and supplied to the control valves V1 to 10; and pressure compensation valves V11 in the control valves and for distributing hydraulic fluid at flow rates based on extent of actuation of the other control valves operated, irrespective of the magnitude of the loads. |
| US08701398B2 |
Strain energy accumulator
An expandable accumulator and reservoir assembly includes a housing defining an interior chamber configured to contain a working fluid therein. An expandable accumulator is positioned at least partially within the housing. The expandable accumulator includes at least one flexible member configured to be at least partially immersed in the working fluid contained within the interior chamber. A rigid support member is positioned in the interior chamber and outside of the expandable accumulator. The rigid support member has at least one aperture to allow passage of the working fluid. An additional flexible member is positioned outside the rigid support member and has perimeter portions sealed to the outside of the rigid support member. The additional flexible member defines a flexible boundary between a primary reservoir inside the additional flexible member and a separate secondary reservoir outside the additional flexible member. |
| US08701397B2 |
Operating oil supplying device and construction machine
A hydraulic oil supply device includes: a work equipment pump that supplies a hydraulic oil to a hydraulic actuator that drives a work equipment; a fan pump that supplies the hydraulic oil to a hydraulic motor that drives a cooling fan; and a circuit switching valve provided on a hydraulic circuit being branched from a hydraulic circuit connecting the hydraulic actuator with the work equipment pump to be connected to the fan pump, the circuit switching valve selectively connecting a discharge portion of the fan pump to the hydraulic actuator and the hydraulic motor. |
| US08701392B2 |
Exhaust purification system of internal combustion engine
An internal combustion engine wherein an exhaust purification catalyst and a hydrocarbon feed valve are arranged downstream in an exhaust passage. A first NOX purification method, which removes NOX by making a concentration of hydrocarbons that flows into the exhaust purification catalyst vibrate within predetermined amplitude and period ranges and a second NOX purification method which utilizes an adsorption action of NOX to the exhaust purification catalyst are used. A high pressure exhaust gas recirculation system (HPL) causing recirculation of high pressure exhaust gas and a low pressure exhaust gas recirculation system (LPL) causing recirculation of low pressure exhaust gas are provided. When performing an LPL recirculation while performing an NOX purification action by the second NOX purification method, if an acceleration operation occurs, the NOX purification action is switched to the NOX purification action by the first NOX purification method and recirculation is temporarily switched to the HPL recirculation. |
| US08701391B2 |
Method for operating an exhaust-gas system with lambda control and motor vehicle having the system
A method for operating an exhaust-gas system of an internal combustion engine having at least one particle separator and a catalytic converter, includes at least the following steps: a) carrying out processes in the internal combustion engine with lambda control about a control value; b) identifying a regeneration process of the particle separator; c) determining an oxygen demand for the regeneration process of the particle separator; and d) adapting the lambda control by the defined oxygen demand for a time period of the regeneration process of the particle separator. A motor vehicle having a spark-ignition engine and being suitable for carrying out the method, is also provided. |
| US08701385B2 |
Method and apparatus for the operation of a turboprop aircraft engine provided with pusher propellers
A method and an apparatus is disclosed for the operation of a turboprop aircraft engine provided with pusher propellers. In order to reduce thermal loading of the pusher propellers impaired by the hot exhaust-gas flow of the engine and increase the service life of the pusher propellers, cold air from the environment outside of the aircraft engine is fed into, and mixed with, the hot exhaust-gas flow passing the pusher propellers and their connecting structure before the hot exhaust-gas flow reaches the pusher propellers. |
| US08701383B2 |
Late lean injection system configuration
A gas turbine engine is provided and includes a late lean injection (LLI) compatible combustor having a first interior in which a first fuel supplied thereto by a fuel circuit is combustible, a turbine, a transition zone, including a second interior in which a second fuel supplied thereto by the fuel circuit and the products of the combustion of the first fuel are combustible, the transition zone being disposed to fluidly couple the combustor and the turbine to one another, and a plurality of fuel injectors, which are structurally supported by the transition zone and coupled to the fuel circuit, and which are configured to supply the second fuel to the second interior in any one of a single axial stage, multiple axial stages, a single axial circumferential stage and multiple axial circumferential stages. |
| US08701382B2 |
Late lean injection with expanded fuel flexibility
A gas turbine engine is provided and includes a fuel circuit, including multiple fuel circuit branches, a combustor having a first interior in which a first fuel supplied thereto by any one of the multiple fuel circuit branches is combustible, a turbine, a transition zone, including a second interior in which a second fuel supplied thereto by any one of the multiple fuel circuit branches, the second fuel including gas receivable by the fuel circuit from an external source, and the products of the combustion of the first fuel are combustible, the transition zone being disposed to fluidly couple the combustor and the turbine to one another, and a plurality of fuel injectors which supply the second fuel to the second interior in any one of a single axial stage, multiple axial stages, a single axial circumferential stage and multiple axial circumferential stages. |
| US08701380B2 |
Turbine engine with nonstreamlined impellers
A turbine engine including two respectively upstream and downstream external impellers that are nonstreamlined, coaxial, and contrarotating is provided. The downstream impeller is retractable so as to reduce its diameter. The blades of the downstream impeller are mounted so as to pivot about a pivot, the axis of which forms a nonzero angle, notably perpendicular, with the axis of rotation of the impeller, the blades in the retracted position being tilted about the pivot. |
| US08701378B2 |
Device for displacing mown crop
A mobile rake device for displacing mown crop has a frame with a rake tool assembly that has a path-shaped working range and includes two rake tools with rake tines. In an operative position, the rake tools are arranged behind each other in a staggered manner in the direction of travel to provide two path parallel sections to achieve the path-shaped working range. The rake tools displace the mown crop located in the path section to one side in a flow of crop in order to form ultimately one final windrow. The rake tool assembly has an auxiliary displacing tool, that is arranged to throw the crop, which has been collected by the first rake tool in a flow of crop or in the form of a windrow, a pre-windrow, across the front of the next rake tool towards the final windrow to be formed. |
| US08701375B2 |
Container treatment plant and method of treating containers
A container treatment plant, with a discontinuously working container treatment machine and having a feed conveyor and/or a discharge conveyor each for individual containers, and in the feed conveyor and/or the discharge conveyor, at least two continuously driven, circulating conveyor means supplying each other with individual containers, and where the conveyor means being closer to the discontinuously working container treatment machine in the conveying direction exhibits a closer conveying pitch than the conveying pitch of the conveyor means which is further away. In this manner, a container acceptance and/or transfer interruption caused by the respective cycle standstill of the discontinuously working container treatment machine is compensated by the conveying pitch difference to be able to continuously supply individual containers for the discontinuously working machine or continuously discharge them from the discontinuously working container treatment machine. |
| US08701374B2 |
Refrigerator door
A refrigerator door includes an outer wall and an inner wall which surround an intermediate space as well as vertical bars that protrude from the inner wall and are provided with catching steps for door shelves. The bars are formed at least in part by a vertical profiled part while the catching steps are embodied on the vertical profiled part. |
| US08701369B2 |
Tower, a wind turbine and a method for arranging a platform inside a tower
This invention relates to a tower for a wind turbine, comprising one or more tubular tower sections, having an outer jacket wall and an inward directed flange in its lower and upper ends, and at least one platform arranged inside the tower for facilitating access for maintenance and repairs to the inner of the tower and to the nacelle. The tower also comprises a support structure including at least three elongated tensile load carrying members, which each is attached in its upper end to the upper flange of the tower section and in its lower end to the lower flange of the tower section and which supports one or more platforms that are suspended by the tensile load carrying members while at least one ladder is attached to the platforms. The at least one ladder is stabilized in the horizontal direction by transversal tensile load carrying members extending from the ladder to the tensile load carrying members that are vertically arranged between the upper and lower flanges. The invention also relates to a method for arranging a platform inside a tower. |
| US08701365B2 |
Impact resistant plastic corner bead
A corner bead for finishing a wallboard corner joint is provided, including a plastic body including a first flange and a second flange, each flange having a rib edge and an opposite free edge. The respective rib edges are joined to form a corner rib defining an angle. A web of face paper covers at least a portion of the body. |
| US08701364B2 |
Log with thermal break
A log for a log home has a plurality of pockets formed within the body of the log. The pockets are filled with foam to enhance the thermal rating of the log. A slot is provided between adjacent pockets to provide a thermal break. |
| US08701360B2 |
Method and apparatus for assembling photovoltaic modules
A method of assembling a solar array includes forming at least one substrate member that includes an upper surface and a lower surface. The lower surface is contoured with a shape that at least partially conforms to at least a portion of a contoured roof. The upper surface includes at least one elevated portion and a plurality of substantially planar regions. The at least one elevated portion is offset a predetermined height above at least one other portion of the substrate member. Each of the plurality of substantially planar regions is a distance above the at least one elevated portion and is oriented to receive at least one photovoltaic laminate. The method also includes coupling the at least one substrate member to at least a portion of the contoured roof. |
| US08701356B2 |
Structure having convertible roof and walls
A movable enclosure is configured to selectively enclose an area. The enclosure includes at least one side wall and an end wall attached thereto. The side wall comprises a number of individual panels that are independently movable along a track secured to the ground. The panels are selectively collapsible such that they may travel along the track and overlap one another when in a collapsed or stowed position. The enclosure may be configured in any number of intermediate positions wherein the panels are partially collapsed. Roof panels may be attached to the side walls for movement therewith, or alternatively, the roof panels may operate independent of the side walls to extend and retract between an open and collapsed configuration. |
| US08701355B2 |
Collapsible roof curb
A collapsible roof curb includes a base portion having opposed end walls and opposed side walls extending between the end walls, and an upper portion having opposed upper end walls and opposed upper side walls. The roof curb also includes a hinge connecting each of the end walls of the base portion to the end walls of the upper portion and the side walls of the base portion to the side walls of the upper portion, the hinges being adapted to allow the end walls and side walls of the upper portion to pivot from a collapsed position to an extended position. |
| US08701354B2 |
Roofing grommet forming a seal between a roof-mounted structure and a roof
A roof mount assembly mounts a structure to a roof having a rafter and a substrate supported by the rafter. The roof mount assembly includes a piece of flashing positioned on the substrate. The flashing includes a first surface, a second surface opposite the first surface and an aperture extending through the flashing. A fastener extends through the flashing aperture. A bracket is connected to the flashing via the fastener, and the bracket is sized to support at least one roof-mounted structure on the roof. A seal is positioned between the flashing aperture and the fastener. The seal is sized to form a water-tight seal with the aperture to inhibit flow of fluid through the aperture. The seal includes a first portion and a second portion, in which the first portion is positioned to abut the flashing first surface and the second portion is positioned to extend through the aperture. |
| US08701352B2 |
Two-shot secondary seal with clip
A seal for an automobile body opening comprising a plastic carrier, an elastomeric bulb operably connected to the plastic carrier, and a plastic clip operably connected to, and extending away from, the plastic carrier for engagement to a flange for retaining the seal to the flange. |
| US08701350B2 |
Removable window draft blocker
A window draft blocker uses resilient elements held in spaced parallel relationship within a rectangular envelope and also has at least one impervious sleeve surrounding one of the resilient bodies protecting it from the elements. |
| US08701347B2 |
Carrier for connecting a window pane to a window lift of a motor vehicle
A carrier for connection of a window pane to a window lift of a motor vehicle comprises guiding claws spaced apart from each other in a longitudinal direction of a guide rail of the window lift for guiding the carrier on the guide rail. The carrier includes a window pane holder for connecting the window pane with the carrier and an adjusting device for adjusting the position and/or orientation of the window pane with respect to the guide rail. To ensure an exact bearing of the window pane on an associated sealing contour on a motor vehicle body with simple constructive means, little mounting effort and few components, at least one guiding claw is adjustable in a direction vertical to the longitudinal extension of the guide rail or in longitudinal extension of the guide rail and vertical to the longitudinal extension of the guide rail. |
| US08701344B2 |
Plant cultivating substrate and method of its manufacture
To provide a plant cultivating substrate which satisfies e.g. the water absorptivity required for plant cultivation, shape retentivity and flexibility and a method of manufacture thereof. In the plant cultivating substrate and the method of its manufacture, at least water-retentive filling material, water, urethane prepolymer and polyol are reacted with each other. |
| US08701341B2 |
Control method and apparatus of wind machine for plant frost protection
This invention relates to control method and apparatus of wind machine for plant frost protection, and belongs to the domain of agro-meteorological disaster monitoring and control. Existing wind machines for plant frost protection only rely on critical damage temperature or wind speed as a condition to start. If there is no thermal inversion, operation of the wind machine will aggravate freezing injury to plants. If the strength of thermal inversion is weak, the effect will be minimal. The feature of this invention is that when temperature at the plant canopy is lower than the critical damage temperature of a certain plant and temperature difference between the top and bottom of the thermal inversion layers exceeds set threshold, wind machine will start automatically. Otherwise it will remain off. The control apparatus mainly consists of sensor 5 at the top of thermal inversion layer, sensor 7 at bottom of thermal inversion layer, and controller 4. This invention of the control of frost protection wind machine ensures rational and effective operation and avoids aggravated freezing risk due to misuse of energy and incorrect operation. |
| US08701337B2 |
Method for pest control
A method of controlling rats and the like by magnetically attaching a pest control device to a dumpster. |
| US08701335B2 |
Illuminating insect-catching device
This disclosure relates to the field of illuminating insect-catching devices, in particular to insect-catching devices comprising an adhesive surface. In particular the illuminating portion is electrically powered. |
| US08701334B2 |
Foot snare triggering device
The foot snare triggering device of the present invention is designed to be used with a foot snare, and comprises a trigger plate assembly, having a tension adjustment means which allows the trigger plate assembly to pivotally yield to vertical pressure. A trigger mechanism has a trigger end set within said plate assembly and a mechanism end attached to an extension mechanism, and a snare attachment port located within the trigger mechanism for releasably securing a foot snare by moving longitudinally when the trigger mechanism is engaged by pressure to said plate assembly allowing a foot snare to be released from the snare attachment port after triggering said device. A pan is pivotally connected by a hinge to the plate underside distal to the pan tension adjustment means. The pan has a trigger mount located adjacent to the trigger assembly connection through which the trigger mount engagingly receives the trigger mechanism. |
| US08701332B1 |
Collapsible decoy
A lightweight decoy comprises a fabric sheet having a front portion with a digital image and a rear portion and is provided rigidity by a flat flexible perimeter band fastened generally to the perimeter of the fabric sheet. The perimeter band is capable of twisting and folding onto itself such that the decoy is collapsible into a reduced size for transport. By means of a plurality of straps, the decoy may be attached to a support such as a bow or tripod. A central opening through the fabric sheet is capable of receiving a firearm barrel, an arrow or a camera lens. |
| US08701331B2 |
Assembly for mounting on a Picatinny-type rail
An assembly for mounting on a standard mounting platform, such as a Picatinny-type rail, the assembly provides engaged contact between the rail and the surfaces of a base and a clamp. The clamp is rotatably attached to a base, allowing a user to quickly shift the assembly between a rail-engaging position and a disengaged position. The base also preferably contains a locking mechanism that allows a user to lock the assembly in a rail-engaging position. The assembly is particularly useful for the mounting of accessories, such as scopes and sights, onto Picatinny-type rails that are affixed to firearms. |
| US08701330B2 |
Ballistic effect compensating reticle and aim compensation method
A ballistic effect compensating reticle (e.g., 200 or 300) and aim compensation method for rifle sights or projectile weapon aiming systems includes a multiple point elevation and windage aim point field (e.g., 150 or 350) including a primary aiming mark (e.g., 158 or 358) indicating a primary aiming point adapted to be sighted-in at a first selected range and a plurality of secondary aiming points arrayed beneath the primary aiming mark. The method for compensating for a projectile's ballistic behavior while developing a field expedient firing solution permits the shooter to express the field expedient firing solution in units of distance, (e.g., yards or meters, when describing or estimating range and nominal air density ballistic characteristics), and velocity (e.g., mph or kph, for windage hold points). |
| US08701326B2 |
Pistol barrel system and method
An interchangeable barrel system and related method for a pistol includes a barrel insert having an anti-rotation protrusion and a receiver having a complementary configured socket configured for receiving the protrusion. An embodiment of a barrel insert includes a chamber for holding a cartridge and a locking mechanism configured for releasably securing the barrel insert to the receiver. In some embodiments, the locking mechanism comprises a threaded engagement between the barrel insert and receiver. The system allows barrel inserts of different calibers, configurations, and materials to be swapped with the receiver, and vice-versa. |
| US08701321B2 |
Automatically actuated, Z-shaped publicity display totem
The invention is related to an automatically activated z-shaped model totem pole type display apparatus, used for visual communication, advertising and propaganda, for provision of information on products and services at points of sale and events, comprised by only four pieces, including two internal devices that form a Z-shape upon automatic activation and two external panels with the optional addition of a base and top plate for outdoor use, which apparatus may be easily assembled and disassembled by the end user, where in order to facilitate the transport and storage thereof upon disassembly, the apparatus may be flattened and folded one or more times to thereby assume what practically amounts to the shape of a folded plate and enabling the accommodation thereof in a carrying case. |
| US08701320B2 |
Display device for transportation vehicles
Disclosed herein is a display device for use on transportation vehicles. The device can be easily altered or removed by the user. The display device contains a mounting bracket which can be permanently or releasably attached to the vehicle and a display which may be permanently or releasably attached to the mounting bracket. The angle of the display may be altered to provide easier viewing from the road. |
| US08701317B2 |
Auricular livestock identification tag
The auricular livestock identification tag comprising a male portion having a head at an end of a narrower stem, the head protruding laterally from the stem by an abutment ledge, and a female portion having an annular body with an axial aperture, and an insertion side opposite an exposure side, and a plurality of resilient abutment members extending inwardly from the annular body into the axial aperture, the abutment members being flexible to allow penetration of the head through the axial aperture from the insertion side to the exposure side, and resilient so as to return toward its original position, and under the abutment ledge, after said penetration, to thereafter prevent retraction of the head through the axial aperture. |
| US08701315B2 |
Reduced profile gift card holder
A reduced profile gift card holder includes a pocket for storing a gift card and a tear away panel for holding a gift card prior to purchase, yet is dimensioned so that one or more of such holders may be presented for sale in prior art display boxes designed to hold only gift cards. The holder may include enhancement elements such as graphics and text upon the holder surfaces and pop-up elements that move and stand off from the surfaces of the holder when the holder is opened. |
| US08701309B2 |
Dryer
A dryer and a control method thereof, in which load of an object to be dried is detected using a sensor which has less risk of contamination and an anticipated drying time based on the detected load is accurately determined and displayed. The dryer includes a rotatable drum to accommodate the object, a front support installed at an entrance of the drum to support the drum, a rear support installed at an opposite side of the entrance of the drum to support the drum, an exhaust hole formed in the front support, through which interior air of the drum is discharged, and a humidity sensor installed to the front support at a position adjacent to the exhaust hole, the humidity sensor being located upstream of the exhaust hole in a rotating direction of the drum to detect humidity of the air to be introduced into the exhaust hole. |
| US08701306B2 |
Heat deflector for use with a hood-type hair dryer
An air flow deflector for use with a hood-type hair dryer is a thick, resiliently compressible, unitary halo with an inner perimeter of length suited to surround and abut, preferably with tension, against the subject's head when the halo's inner perimeter is contoured approximately immediately below the subject's hair line. The halo deflects the flow of warm air away from exposed skin portions of the head, neck and shoulders. An arcuate upturned extension on its front portion deflects air flow back to the interior of the hood of the dryer. The unitary halo may be continuous or split for adjustability and hinged for increased manipulability. |
| US08701303B1 |
Personal scoring tool
A scoring tool comprising a base with a first edge and a second edge defining a recess; and one or more marker recesses. There is a pad capable of removably fitting into the defined recess and having one or more scoring guide lines. One or more markers having a locking mechanism capable of coupling with the marker recesses is included as is a pen assembly, capable of being removably coupled to the base and having one or more scoring tips. The scoring tool can include one or more marker guides on the first edge of the base, wherein the marker guide is a notch. The markers can include a protrusion capable of resting in the marker guide thereby securing the marker in place. The marker recess can be a hole in the base. The locking mechanism can be a retractable protrusion capable of coupling with the marker recesses. |
| US08701301B2 |
Surface texture measuring instrument
In a surface texture measuring instrument, a measurement arm includes: a first measurement arm that is supported by a bracket around a support shaft movably in a circular movement in a casing; and a second measurement arm having styluses that are attachably and detachably provided to an end of the first measurement arm via an attachment-detachment mechanism, the attachment-detachment mechanism being arranged in the casing. A displacement detector includes: a scale provided to the measurement arm; and a detection head provided to the bracket to face the scale. A detecting surface of the scale is on an axis of the measurement arm and on a plane of the circular movement of the measurement arm. |
| US08701300B2 |
Measurement apparatus, measurement method, program, and recording medium
In a band in which a plurality of members are connected to one another through joints serving as connection axes parallel to one another, an inter-panel angle indicating an angle between the members adjacent to each other through the joint is adjusted. Each joint is provided with an angular sensor for detecting the inter-panel angle. Based on the detected inter-panel angle, the peripheral shape indicating a shape of at least a part of a periphery of the object to be measured, on which the band is mounted, is measured. The present technology, for example, is useful for an abdominal girth measurement apparatus. |
| US08701295B2 |
Variable pressure cutting devices
An embodiment includes a cutting device having a blade; a device architecture configured to hold the blade that includes: a pressure body operable to remain rigid in response to a substrate pressing against a portion of the pressure body at a first pressure, and a portion of the pressure body operable to deform in response to the substrate pressing against a portion of the pressure body at a second pressure, and thereby provide variable resistance against the substrate; and, a cutter slot at a first device architecture end defined by the blade and the pressure body, the cutter slot configured to receive the substrate and operable to open rearwardly toward a second end as the pressure body deforms. |
| US08701292B2 |
Multi-purpose cooking tool
A multi-purpose cooking tool including an elongated shaft, a handle, a first hook-like member, a second hook-like member and a grill engaging recess. The elongated shaft has a first end and a second end. The handle is provided at the first end of the elongated shaft. The first hook-like member, the second hook-like member and the grill rail engaging recess are provided at the second end of the elongated shaft. The first hook-like member has a counter-clockwise curvature with respect to a longitudinal axis of the elongated shaft and the second hook-like member has a clockwise curvature with respect to the longitudinal axis of the elongated shaft. |
| US08701289B2 |
Process for producing a turbulence apparatus
A process for producing a turbulence device (1) which is to be mounted in at least one flow duct of a heat exchanger of a motor vehicle includes the steps of, in a first process step, at least one shaping operation is used to produce at least one substantially meandering turbulence device (30) with substantially smooth walls (2) from a substantially continuously planar sheared strip (9), wherein a longitudinal direction (RLR) of the walls runs substantially parallel to a forward feed direction (VSR) of the sheared strip (9), and in a second process step, wall sections are deformed at least by an angle (α) in relation to the forward feed direction (VSR), in such a way that undercuts (3) are produced in relation to the forward feed direction (VSR, RLR), wherein the substantially continuously planar sheared strip (9) is cut into turbulence devices (1) of predetermined lengths before carrying out the second process step. |
| US08701288B2 |
Apparatus and method for forming an antipollution device housing
An apparatus and a method for manufacturing a housing of an antipollution device including one or more bricks supported by one or more mats therein. One or more main portions are formed, the main portion of the housing defining a formed chamber in which the brick(s) compress the mat(s) between the brick(s) and the main portion to a predetermined density. One or more end portions are formed, for connection of the antipollution device in an exhaust system. When one or more transition portions are formed to connect the main portion(s) and the end portion(s), the main portion(s) is engaged by the apparatus to resist deformation of the formed chamber. |
| US08701286B2 |
Rotationally balancing a rotating part
A method is provided of rotationally balancing a rotating part. A rotor hub or ring and a plurality of rotor blades for assembly onto the hub or ring are provided, each blade having an unfilled internal cavity. The respective masses and moment weights of the blades with filled internal cavities are then predicted. Next, the rotor blades are assembled onto the hub or ring to form the rotating part. The relative positions of the assembled blades are determined on the basis of their predicted masses and moment weights with filled internal cavities. The internal cavities of the assembled rotor blades are then filled. |
| US08701277B2 |
Method of manufacturing electrical cable
Disclosed is a method of manufacturing a finished cable by a process directed to reduce the amount of force required to install the cable. The process involves the extrusion of the cable's outer sheath and the incorporation of a pulling lubricant in connection with, and prior to the completion of, the extrusion to reduce the sheath's surface coefficient of friction as well as reduce the required force to pull the cable for installation. The conductor core is coated with an extruded plastic material with which an appropriate (in amount and type) pulling lubricant is initially combined with the plastic material prior to the formation of the sheath and in which the sheathed conductor core is thereafter cooled, the lubricant either migrating to and/or permeating the sheath to be available at the surface of the sheath at the time of the cable's installation. The preselected lubricant is disclosed as either combined with the plastic material during initial pelletization, or mixed with the plastic pellets prior to introduction of the mixture into the extruding head, or introduced into the extruding head at a separate location downstream from where the plastic material is introduced into the extruding head. |
| US08701276B2 |
Placement head for a die placing assembly
The invention provides for a placement head for a die placing assembly of an assembler for assembling dice on a carrier. The assembler has an enclosure with a support assembly for operatively supporting a wafer with dies thereon, a die picking assembly for picking dice from said wafer, a die placement assembly for placing the dies onto the carrier, a die conveyance mechanism operatively conveying the dies from the die picking and placement assemblies, and a control system controlling the assembler. The placement head includes a first translation stage mounted on the die placement assembly, said first stage operatively displaceable along a first axis relative to the die placement assembly. The placement head also includes a second translation stage mounted on the first stage, the second stage displaceable perpendicular to the first stage. The placement head further includes a third translation stage mounted on the second stage, the third stage displaceable orthogonally to the first and second stages, as well as a die placer head mounted to the third stage, the placer head shaped and dimensioned to operatively receive a die from the dice conveyance mechanism and to place the dice onto the carrier. |
| US08701265B1 |
Connector assembly for attaching a threaded fastener to a slotted surface
A connector assembly for installation to a surface having a slot pattern. The connector assembly includes a base shell and a clasp shell. The clasp shell movable relative to the base shell between an open position and a closed position, and one of the base shell and the clasp shell includes a threaded insert spaced from an end of the connector. |
| US08701263B2 |
Grommet opening/closing apparatus and method for passing wiring harness through grommet by using the same
A grommet opening/closing apparatus includes one opening/closing device and the other opening/closing device. Both opening/closing devices are arranged oppositely against each other, each having a plurality of hooks and a driving unit to open and close the plurality of hooks. A base portion of the plurality of hooks of the one opening/closing device expands and returns one end of a grommet, and a base portion of the plurality of hooks of the other opening/closing device expands and returns the other end of the grommet. One end of the grommet is held by half-opening the hooks of the one opening/closing device, the closed hooks are inserted in the other end of the grommet. Thereafter, the hooks of both opening/closing devices are completely opened, and the wiring harness is passed through the grommet. |
| US08701252B2 |
Hook and loop tie with a non-slip area
Certain embodiments of the present invention provide a hook and loop tie for securing a bundle of cables. The hook and loop tie comprises a loop component, a non-slip component, and a hook component. The loop component has a first end and a second end opposite the first end. The non-slip component is affixed to the loop component and extends from the first end of the loop component toward the second end of the loop component. The hook component is affixed to the loop component, extends from the second end of the loop component toward the first end of the loop component, and overlaps at least a portion of the non-slip component. |
| US08701251B2 |
Hinge for a door of a motor vehicle
A hinge for a door, flap or similar pivotal wings of a motor vehicle is provided. The hinge includes a column-side hinge part and a door-side hinge part, which can be pivoted about a hinge pillar relative to each other, and with an integrated door retaining device, which includes a retaining element arranged on the side of the one hinge part, which cooperates with a retaining contour on the side of the other hinge part. The retaining element is formed as clamp element cooperating with a clamping surface of the hinge pillar, the clamping force of which can be adjusted by means of a transmission element as a function of the retaining contour. |
| US08701250B2 |
Hinge assembly for vehicle interior trim component
A hinge assembly is provided that includes a follower and a cam disposed adjacent to the follower. The cam is capable of translating relative to the follower along a vertical direction and rotating relative to the follower about a rotational axis. The hinge assembly also includes an axle disposed through the cam to facilitate rotation of the cam about the rotational axis. The axle is configured to bias the cam toward the follower along the vertical direction. |
| US08701247B1 |
Hinge pin with lubrication channel
A hinge pin includes a shaft defining a clearance surface and joined at one end to a head. A channel between the head and the clearance surface is configured to provide a lubricant path between the head and the clearance surface. In one embodiment, the head has an annular outer portion and a concave central portion, and the channel is provided by a radial slot extending from the central portion through the annular outer portion, and a contiguous axial slot extending downward from the radial slot to the clearance surface. The central portion of the head is configured to receive a small volume of lubricant, while the channel provides a path that allows the lubricant to flow from the head to the clearance surface of the shaft. |
| US08701246B2 |
Removable grommet device and method of using thereof
A grommet device and method of using a grommet device is provided. A top structure has a top surface. An aperture having a central axis is positioned interior of the top structure. A sidewall is formed around the aperture and connected to the top structure. The sidewall is positioned substantially perpendicular from the top surface of the top structure. At least two upper protruding structures are connected to the top structure at different locations along the top structure, wherein each of the upper protruding structures extends into the aperture. At least two lower protruding structures extend from the sidewall at different locations along the sidewall, wherein each of the lower protruding structures have a flexing portion extending into the aperture, wherein each of the upper protruding structures are substantially radially aligned with the flexing portion of each of the lower protruding structures, respectively. |
| US08701243B2 |
Waste receptacle
An apparatus and methods for collecting swept waste material are described herein. The apparatus includes a dustpan having a base and a wall, a handle, and a plurality of protrusions. The base is configured to be placed in contact with a surface to be cleaned and includes a front lip over which debris can be swept. The wall extends upwardly from at least a portion of the base other than the front lip and is configured to contain debris in the dustpan. The handle is coupled to a top edge of the wall opposite the front lip and extends away from the wall and downwardly from the top edge so that an end of the handle is disposed approximately even with the base. The plurality of protrusions extend inwardly from the wall and are configured to remove debris from bristles of a broom when the broom is swept across the plurality of protrusions. |
| US08701237B2 |
Caulk finger wiping apparatus and methods of making and using the same
An apparatus for removing caulk from a user's finger(s) and tool(s) (i.e., a caulk finger wiping apparatus) is disclosed. The apparatus is used in combination with a disposable tube-style caulk cartridge and in conjunction with any one of multiple styles of caulking guns. The apparatus includes an upper edge that may have finger receiving notches for removing caulk from a user's finger(s) and tool(s), and an apparatus component for collecting the removed caulk. Methods of making and using the apparatus for removing caulk from a user's finger(s) and tool(s) are also disclosed. |
| US08701233B2 |
Mechanism for adjusting the circumference of scraper cups or discs
A sealing element for a pipeline pig includes rigid first and second cup supports having outer peripheral edges. A resilient sealing element protrudes beyond the outer peripheral edge of each of the first cup support and the second cup support. Means are provided for clamping the sealing element between the first cup support and the second cup support. |
| US08701232B1 |
Method of forming an article of footwear incorporating a trimmed knitted upper
A method of forming an article of footwear includes knitting a knitted workpiece formed of unitary knit construction. The knitted workpiece is configured to at least partially form an upper of the article of footwear. The knitted workpiece has a body and a trim region. The trim region defines at least a portion of an outer edge of the knitted workpiece. A first dimension of the knitted workpiece is at least partly defined by the outer edge. The method also includes heating the knitted workpiece. Also, the method includes trimming the knitted workpiece within the trim region after heating the knitted workpiece to remove a piece from the knitted workpiece and to reduce the first dimension to a second dimension. Also, the method includes forming the upper from the trimmed knitted workpiece. |
| US08701229B2 |
Hospital bed
A method of actuating a manually operable brake on a caster wheel of a patient support apparatus to stop motion of the apparatus includes electrically coupling the control system of the patient support to an actuator at the patient support, generating actuating signals with the control system based on input at the patient support apparatus, transmitting the actuating signals to the actuator to thereby actuate the actuator to output a driving force, and mechanically coupling the driving force of the actuator with the manually operable brake to thereby actuate the manually operable brake and thereby brake the caster wheels. |
| US08701228B2 |
Method of promotion and advertising for hotel or other place of accommodation using customized pillow scarves on a bed
The invention relates to a method of promoting a hotel or other place of accommodation through the use of a customized pillow scarf on the guests' beds. The customization is preferably embroidery, and can include the name and/or logo of the hotel, and, optionally, even the guest's names or initials. The pillow scarves are also intended for, optionally, being given away as souvenirs or sold in the hotel gift shop, with the goal of increasing repeat business and new business as the former guest uses the pillow scarf in his/her house and is asked about it by visitors. |
| US08701224B2 |
Press touch pop-up stopper
A press touch pop-up stopper is used in a basin and contains a pipe set fixed in an opening of a bottom end of the basin and including a hole disposed therein and having an outlet fixed on a top end of the hole; a stopper assembly received in the pipe set and including a plug, after the plug is pressed, it bounces automatically to turn on the outlet so as to flow water, after the plug is pressed again, it closing the outlet to stop flowing the water; a vertical connecting structure defined between the pipe set and the stopper assembly so that when the stopper assembly is pulled upward, it disengages from the pipe set, and when the stopper assembly is pressed downward to be received in the pipe set, it is connected with the pipe set. |
| US08701223B2 |
Sink with improved rim features
A sink mountable to an underside of a counter, an assembly including this sink, a method installing this sink, and a method of manufacturing this sink are disclosed. The sink includes at least one basin with a rim extending generally outwardly from an upper boundary of the basin. The rim includes at least one channel recessed relative to an upper surface of the rim. Among other things, this channel may strengthen and inhibit warping of the rim as well as be configured to neatly receive a sealant during installation. |
| US08701218B2 |
Protective garment with hang-down pockets
A protective garment including a body portion shaped to be worn on the torso and arms of a wearer. The body portion has a front surface, a rear surface, and lower edge. The protective garment further includes at least one pocket portion coupled to the front surface, wherein at least part of the pocket portion is located below the lower edge. |
| US08701216B1 |
Grip-it golf method
A grip-it golf method for releasably supporting a golf glove and for maintaining the golf glove in a readily accessible location consists of providing a golf glove, a supporting member, a primary connector, and a supplemental connector, then coupling the primary connector to a recipient member and finally coupling the supplemental connector to the recipient member. |
| US08701212B2 |
Elongated guide, and visor removably mountable thereto
An elongated guide that is removably attachable to a hardhat and a visor that is removably mountable to the elongated guide. |
| 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. |
| US08706282B2 |
Weldability prediction and recommendation systems and methods
In one or more embodiments, a weldability of a stack-up for use in vehicle part production may be determined. The determination may include receiving general stack-up information, welding standards data for forming a stack-up, and one or more inputs defining one or more stack-up design variables. Additionally, standardized stack-up information may be generated based on the general stack-up information, the one or more design variables, and the welding standards data. Furthermore, historical welding data may be received for predicting a weldability of the stack-up. Predictive logic may be applied to the standardized stack-up information based on the historical welding data to obtain one or more weldability predictions for the stack-up. The one or more weldability predictions may be transmitted for use in vehicle part production. |
| US08706281B2 |
Method and device for producing a master die tool
A device and a method for the production of a master die tool for a component. The method includes the following steps: a) receiving or creating a CAD model of the component; b) deriving a surface model for the master die tool based on the CAD model of the component; c) creating the master die tool with NC machines using the surface model; d) producing an entity of the component using the master die tool; e) detecting the contours of the entity of the component by way of a computed tomography-based coordinate measuring device which supplies a 3D point cloud of surface points of the entity of the component; f) comparing the 3D points of the 3D point cloud to the CAD model, and determining whether any deviations exist beyond predetermined tolerance thresholds, and if this is the case g) modifying the surface model based on the deviations detected; h) reworking the master die tool or recreating the master die tool with the NC machines based on the modified surface model; i) repeating steps d) to h) until no more deviations exist beyond the predetermined tolerance thresholds. |
| US08706280B2 |
Device and method for formulating a numerical model of a manufactured product
A device and associated method for formulating, via an information technology device having a user interface, a numerical model of manufactured products, the numerical model including components, variables and constraints executes different steps successively. Each step stores, via the information technology device, the predetermined numerical data in order to construct the numerical model in memory. The numerical model may then be used to create a configuration of the manufactured product by making, via a user interface, choices among the structural, technical, manufacturing, and commercial characteristics of the numerical model of the manufactured product. |
| US08706276B2 |
Systems, methods, and media for identifying matching audio
System, methods, and media that: receive a first piece of audio content; identify a first plurality of atoms that describe at least a portion of the first piece of audio content using a Matching Pursuit algorithm; form a first group of atoms from at least a portion of the first plurality of atoms, the first group of atoms having first group parameters; form at least one first hash value for the first group of atoms based on the first group parameters; compare the at least one first hash value with at least one second hash value, wherein the at least one second hash value is based on second group parameters of a second group of atoms associated with a second piece of audio content; and identify a match between the first piece of audio content and the second piece of audio content based on the comparing. |
| US08706275B2 |
Systems and methods for application sound management
Embodiments of the invention provide systems, methods, apparatuses and program products configured to intelligently manage sound options for applications of a computer system based on display device characteristics. Various embodiments of the invention are particularly well suited for optimizing the sound options of two or more applications running on two or more display screens of the computer system simultaneously. |
| US08706274B2 |
Information processing apparatus, information processing method, and program
An information processing apparatus is provided which includes a metadata extraction unit for analyzing an audio signal in which a plurality of instrument sounds are present in a mixed manner and for extracting, as a feature quantity of the audio signal, metadata changing along with passing of a playing time, and a player parameter determination unit for determining, based on the metadata extracted by the metadata extraction unit, a player parameter for controlling a movement of a player object corresponding to each instrument sound. |
| US08706264B1 |
Time synchronized registration feedback
A method for use in a part tracking system including a camera and a motion controller, the method comprising the steps of time synchronizing the motion controller and the camera at a trigger time when it is anticipated that a part is within the field of view of the camera, causing the camera to obtain an image, using the obtained image to determine an actual location of the part at the trigger time, comparing the actual location and the anticipated location of the part to identify a position difference and at the motion controller, using the position difference at the trigger time to adjust at least one operating characteristic of the automated system. |
| US08706263B2 |
Synchronization of execution of sequential function charts using transition groups
Systems and methods are provided that are capable of synchronizing an industrial process. The industrial process may include a plurality of process levels. A visualization group may be displayed, showing the various levels of a process. A transition group may be graphically defined that allows for the linking of the transitions between the various process levels. In certain embodiments, sequential function charts (SFC) may include expanded capabilities that allow for the visual definition, editing, and review of the transition groups. Such SFC embodiments may be capable of process flow synchronization across any levels of the modeled process. |
| US08706259B2 |
Insertion tool for paddle-style electrode
A system for lead implantation includes a lead having a paddle-style electrode extending from a proximal end to a distal end, the paddle-style electrode, having a back surface; an active surface; a plurality of electrode contacts disposed on the active surface; and a longitudinal lumen extending into the paddle-style electrode and defining an opening at the proximal end of the paddle-style electrode. The lead also has at least one lead body extending from the paddle-style electrode. The at least one lead body includes conductors that are electrically coupled to the electrode contracts. The system also includes an insertion tool having a distal portion for insertion into the longitudinal lumen of the paddle-style electrode. At least the distal portion of the insertion tool or the longitudinal lumen (or both) includes a low friction material forming a surface with a coefficient of friction of 0.1 or less. |
| US08706258B2 |
Method and apparatus for treating cancer
A method and apparatus for treating masses, such as prostate or breast cancer, or any other soft tissue cancerous or benign mass, employs a unique, three-dimensional software-controlled electronic amplifier array using arbitrary waveforms that dynamically and proportionally steer electrical currents by using two or more current vector paths, sequentially or simultaneously, through a mass containing electrically-conductive ionic solutions so as to obtain 100% thermal heating or hyperthermia through the mass, and destroying it with a minimally-invasive treatment which requires no radiation or chemotherapy which could be harmful to the patient. |
| US08706255B2 |
Holster for charging pectorally implanted medical devices
A system for recharging an implantable medical device. The system comprises a holster that may be donned in multiple respective configurations for charging implanted medical devices implanted at various locations within the patient's body. The system may further comprise a charging unit having an antenna on the patient's right side, a second configuration for charging a pectorally implanted medical device on the patient's left side, or a third configuration for use as a waist belt for charging a pectorally implanted medical device on either side of the patient. |
| US08706251B2 |
Secure long-range telemetry for implantable medical device
A method and system for enabling secure communications between an implantable medical device (IMD) and an external device (ED) over a telemetry channel. A telemetry interlock may be implemented which limits any communications between the ED and the IMD over the telemetry channel, where the telemetry interlock is released when the ED transmits an enable command to the IMD via a short-range communications channel requiring physical proximity to the IMD. As either an alternative or addition to the telemetry interlock, a data communications session between the IMD and ED over the telemetry channel may be allowed to occur only after the IMD and ED have been cryptographically authenticated to one other. |
| US08706250B2 |
Neurostimulation system for implementing model-based estimate of neurostimulation effects
A neurostimulation system for use in providing therapy to a patient comprises a user input device configured for receiving input from a user, and processing circuitry configured for selecting an electrode configuration in response to receiving the input from the user, providing an electrical model of a neuronal element of the patient, providing a discrete approximation of a differential equation of a neural response parameter (e.g., a transmembrane voltage potential) of the electrical model as a function of discrete space (e.g., nodes along the electrical model) and as a function of a finite time difference, computing the neural response parameter in the differential equation approximation at a specified time for each of a plurality of points on a membrane of the neuronal element, and performing a human-discernible function based on the computed neural response parameters. |
| US08706249B2 |
Implantable pulse generator for neurostimulation that comprises voltage conversion circuitry and method of operation thereof
In one embodiment, an implantable pulse generator (IPG) for generating electrical pulses for stimulation of tissue of a patient, comprises: a controller for controlling operations of the IPG; pulse generating circuitry for generating electrical pulses; and conversion circuitry for converting a received logic signal generated by a first voltage domain for provision to a second voltage domain, the conversion circuitry comprising a first stage and a second stage, wherein (i) the first stage receives first signals at first and second logic levels; (ii) the second stage receives second signals at third and fourth logic levels, (iii) the second stage comprising two sets of cross-coupled transistors for generating a rail-to-rail output at the third and fourth logic levels according to whether the received logic signal is at the first or second logic level. |
| US08706248B2 |
Directional sound processing in a cochlear implant
A cochlear implant implementing a directional sound processing system is provided. Specifically, the cochlear implants implementing the present invention comprise a plurality of audio sensors arranged in at least one external component of the cochlear implant to spatially receive ambient sound. At least one audio sensor is located in one of the external components of the cochlear implant, while one other audio sensor is located elsewhere, such as in a component other than the first component. The cochlear implant includes an directional sound processor comprising an array processor and a sound processor to convert the received sounds into a cochlea stimulation instruction signal. |
| US08706247B2 |
Remote audio processor module for auditory prosthesis systems
An exemplary auditory prosthesis system includes an auditory prosthesis configured to be implanted within a head of a patient and to apply electrical stimulation representative of an audio signal to one or more stimulation sites within the patient in accordance with one or more stimulation parameters, a behind-the-ear sound processing unit configured to be secured to an ear of the patient and to transmit the one or more stimulation parameters to the auditory prosthesis, and a remote audio processor module separate from the behind-the-ear sound processing unit and communicatively coupled to the behind-the-ear sound processing unit via a communication link, the remote audio processor module configured to perform at least a portion of a signal processing heuristic on the audio signal in order to facilitate generation of the one or more stimulation parameters. |
| US08706246B2 |
Fully implantable cochlear implant systems including optional external components and methods for using the same
An exemplary cochlear implant system includes an external module configured to be positioned external to and worn by a patient, the external module having an external microphone configured to detect an input audio signal presented to the patient, and an external speaker configured to acoustically transmit an audio signal representative of the input audio signal. The exemplary cochlear implant system further includes an implantable module configured to be implanted within the patient, the implantable module having an internal microphone configured to detect the acoustically transmitted audio signal, an internal sound processor configured to generate one or more stimulation parameters based on the acoustically transmitted audio signal, and an internal cochlear stimulator configured to apply electrical stimulation representative of the input audio signal to one or more stimulation sites within the patient in accordance with the one or more stimulation parameters. Corresponding methods and systems are also disclosed. |
| US08706244B2 |
Fitting of brightness as a function of current amplitude in a visual prosthesis
To accurately represent a visual scene a visual prosthesis must convey luminance information across a range of brightness levels. To do this, the brightness of phosphenes produced by an individual electrode should scale appropriately with luminance, and the same luminance should produce equivalently bright phosphenes across the entire electrode array. Given that the function relating current to brightness varies across electrodes, it is necessary to develop a fitting procedure that will permit brightness to be equated across an entire array. The current invention describes a method of performing a brightness fitting that normalizes brightness across electrodes. The method determines a set of parameters that are stored in the subjects Video Configuration File—the look-up table that converts the video camera input to stimulation profiles for each electrode. One electrode would be specified as the standard. Brightness rating would be carried out on that electrode so “rating” as a function of current amplitude was known for that electrode. |