| Document | Document Title |
|---|---|
| US08718462B2 |
Control unit
A control unit for generating a control signal comprises a base part, a control element rotatable about an axis of rotation relative to the base part, a position encoder for detecting an angular position or a change in angular position of the control element relative to the base part, a control device which is adapted generate the control signal in dependence on the detected angular position or change in angular position of the control element and an electronic display device, wherein the control device is adapted to control the electronic display device to show at least one symbol arrangement. The control unit is characterized in that the electronic display device has the shape of a cylinder or of a cylinder sector whose axis coincides with the axis of rotation of the control element or extends in parallel thereto. |
| US08718461B2 |
Photographic synchronization optimization system and method
A system and method for synchronizing a photographic lighting device to image acquisition by a camera using light emission profile information to position a light emission profile at a desired location in an image acquisition window. A light energy balance point of a light emission profile can be used to position the balance point at a desired location in an image acquisition window. |
| US08718458B2 |
Imaging unit
An imaging unit includes an incident-side reflecting surface provided in a casing and reflects object-emanating light, entering the casing in a thickness direction thereof, along a lengthwise direction of the casing; a movable lens group movable along the lengthwise direction of the casing; an exit-side reflecting surface reflecting the light in the thickness direction of the casing; an image sensor provided in the casing and receiving the light from the exit-side reflecting surface; and a plurality of light shield frames provided in the casing between the movable lens group and the exit-side reflecting surface, the light shield frames being arranged in the lengthwise direction of the casing and moving in the lengthwise direction of the casing when the movable lens group performs a power-varying operation. |
| US08718457B2 |
Camera case
Disclosed camera cases are configured to be positioned around a camera such that the camera is retained within the case while remaining operable. The case can have a generally cuboid shape with front, rear, top, bottom, left and right sides. At least two of these sides can comprise at least one mounting feature, such as a threaded hole. The rear side can comprise a door configured to allow a camera to be inserted into the case. The rear door can comprise an adjustable portion that can be coupled to the rear door in at least two different positions, such that the case is adjustable to be used with cameras of different sizes. A trigger button on a side of the case can be configured to activate a camera button positioned on a top side of a camera within the case. The case can be dirt and moisture resistant. |
| US08718450B2 |
Portable device, information processing method, and program
A portable device includes a setting means that sets a recording reservation; an acquisition means that acquires information that indicates the contents of a recording reservation set in a recording device by requesting the information processing device; an integrating means contained in the portable device that combines a recording reservation set in the portable device with the recording reservation set in the recording device; and a display control means that displays the contents of the recording reservation set in the portable device and the contents of the recording reservation set in the recording device on the basis of the recording reservations combined by the integrating means, and displays information that indicates which recording site the contents will be recorded in, the recording medium of the portable device or a recording medium of the recording device, when recorded in accordance with the respective recording reservations. |
| US08718449B2 |
Digital video recorder content filtering
A system may include a digital video recorder. The digital video recorder may provide a list of recorded television programs, receive selection of a television program in the list of television programs, and receive information identifying a segment to be filtered from the selected television program. The digital video recorder may further create a filtered television program by marking the segment as hidden or deleting the segment, where the segment is not visible when the filtered television program is played, and store the filtered television program. |
| US08718448B2 |
Video pictures pattern detection
Some embodiments of the invention provide a media-editing application that performs frame rate conversion detection on a video. For a video that has been converted from one frame rate and format to another frame rate and format, the application detects the conversion method that has been used in the conversion of the video. Some embodiments perform this frame rate conversion detection by detecting patterns of repeating fields and/or frames in a video sequence created by the different conversion processes.Some embodiments compute (i) a frame difference value for each consecutive frames, (ii) a correlation score for the first and second fields of each frame, and (iii) a correlation score for the second field of each frame and the first field of a succeeding frame. Frame difference values are compared with each other to detect repeated frames and correlation scores are compared with each other to detect repeated fields. |
| US08718446B1 |
System and method for watermarking video content
A system comprising at least one processor, and computer executable instructions readable by the at least one processor and operative to include at least one digital watermark in at least one piece of video content, wherein said digital watermark is invisible to the naked eye in an original recording of the at least one piece of video content but is visible to the naked eye in a recorded copy of the at least one piece of video content. |
| US08718445B1 |
Commercials on mobile devices
Among other things, videos and commercials are downloaded to a mobile device for storage on the mobile device and later playout on the mobile device. The downloading includes downloading of metadata associated with the commercials and based on which the mobile device can select commercials for insertion into videos being played back to the user of the mobile device. The commercials to be downloaded are selected based on one or a combination of any two or more of the location of the user, the type of mobile device, and personally-identifiable information about a user of the mobile device. |
| US08718444B2 |
Video search device, video search method, recording medium, program, and integrated circuit
A video search device extracts a plurality of objects each contained in a different one of frames of a video, assigns a weight value to each of the extracted objects based on a time-series feature of the frame containing the object, and searches for an object similar to each of the extracted objects based on the extracted objects each having the weight value assigned thereto. |
| US08718443B2 |
Implementing web browser in BD platform
Implementing a web browser in a BD platform, including: receiving a HyperText Markup Language (HTML) page of a web browser; converting the HTML page including user interface (UI) widgets into graphical elements including HAVi widgets; and displaying the HTML page in the BD platform. Keywords include HAVi, Widgets, and BD platform. |
| US08718442B2 |
Data reproduction apparatus and data reproduction control method
According to one embodiment, a data reproduction apparatus comprises a reproduction module configured to reproduce image data, a resolution selection module configured to select one of resolutions, an image quality mode selection module configured to select on or off state of an image quality mode, a selection disable module configured to disable the resolution selection module to select a prescribed resolution when the image quality mode selection module selects the on state of the image quality mode, and an image processor configured to improve a quality of the image data reproduced by the reproduction module in accordance with the resolution selected by the resolution selection module when the image quality mode selection module selects the on state of the image quality mode. |
| US08718440B2 |
Decentralized symmetric network of autonomous digital video recorders and its method of use
The present invention describes a decentralized symmetric configuration of digital video recorders (DVCRs) for monitoring, controlling, analyzing, recording, playback and streaming of audio/visual (A/V) media over a network. Each DVCR is an autonomous device able to operate in its local environment as well as access and operate another DVCR available on the network to facilitate the overall working of the disclosed system. Each DVCR also exhibits storage fail-safe feature whereby it recovers data automatically if storage media gets corrupted such as due to sudden power failure. A DVCR can be configured to scan the network for other DVCR units. A list of discovered DVCRs is displayed. Each DVCR can access, after authentication, any of the listed DVCR for configuration, monitoring, controlling, recording, playback and other available functionality over the network. The same controls used for operating a local DVCR, including use of buttons, can be employed to operate the remote DVCR, giving a virtual presence at the remote location. The functionality exhibited by each of the DVCR, can be identical. A plurality of the DVCR can thus form a decentralized, symmetric network in which there is no master or central controller. |
| US08718437B2 |
Compositions, optical component, system including an optical component, devices, and other products
A composition useful for altering the wavelength of visible or invisible light is disclosed. The composition comprising a solid host material and quantum confined semiconductor nanoparticles, wherein the nanoparticles are included in the composition in amount in the range from about 0.001 to about 15 weight percent based on the weight of the host material. The composition can further include scatterers. An optical component including a waveguide component and quantum confined semiconductor nanoparticles is also disclosed. A device including an optical component is disclosed. A system including an optical component including a waveguide component and quantum confined semiconductor nanoparticles and a light source optically coupled to the waveguide component is also disclosed. A decal, kit, ink composition, and method are also disclosed. A TFEL including quantum confined semiconductor nanoparticles on a surface thereof is also disclosed. |
| US08718436B2 |
Methods, apparatuses for providing secure fiber optic connections
Methods and apparatuses for providing secure fiber optic connections are disclosed. In one embodiment, a locking apparatus comprising a locking plate to secure fiber optic connections is disclosed. The locking plate is configured to be attached to a fiber optic adapter panel and adjustably positioned to a selected position such that when a fiber optic connector on the end of a fiber optic cable is connected to a fiber optic adapter on the fiber optic adapter panel, the fiber optic cable is allowed to pass through a cut-out area of the locking plate but a finger portion of the locking plate does not allow the fiber optic connector to pass through the cut-out area. A lock disposed on the locking plate is configured to keep the locking plate in the selected position. The locking apparatus may also be used to securely store unused or unconnected ports of an optical splitter in a separate enclosure, such as a parking lot compartment. |
| US08718434B2 |
Cable enclosure with sealed cable entry port
This disclosure describes a fiber optic enclosure in which a cable entry port is sealed using a wedge that compresses a gasket that surrounds a fiber optic cable. As described herein, a fiber optic enclosure may include one or more entry ports through which fiber optic cables pass. As one of the fiber optic cables passes through one of the entry ports, the fiber optic cable passes through a gasket located in a receptacle behind the cable entry port. A wedge compresses the gasket, thereby compressing the gasket. When the gasket is compressed, the gasket exerts radial pressure on the fiber optic cable. In this way, the gasket forms a seal around the fiber optic cable. |
| US08718433B2 |
Installation tool with integrated visual fault indicator for field-installable mechanical splice connector
A mechanical splice fiber optic connector installation tool operable for performing splice terminations and verifying an acceptable splice termination includes a power source, a connector holder, an integrated Visual Fault Locater having an optical transmission element and a display for displaying the status of the termination. An adapter configured to receive the connector and align the connector with the optical transmission element, such that the optical transmission element is spaced apart from the connector at a predetermined distance and is in optical communication with the connector for propagating light energy through the adapter and along the stub optical fiber to a termination area of the connector. |
| US08718431B2 |
Optimized ultra large area optical fibers
Certain embodiments of the invention may include optimized trench-assisted ultra large area (ULA) optical fibers. According to an example embodiment of the invention, a trench-assisted optical fiber, optimized for microbending and figure-of-merit (FOM) performance is provided. The optical fiber includes a core region having a longitudinal axis, a shelf region surrounding said core region, a cladding region surrounding said shelf region, said core and shelf and cladding regions configured to support and guide the propagation of signal light in a fundamental transverse mode in said core and shelf regions in the direction of said axis, the cladding region including an inner trench and an outer trench. The optical fiber further includes a core effective area (Aeff) of between 135 μm2 and about 170 μm2; a figure of merit (FOM) frontier distance less than about 0.8 dB; and a microbend frontier (MBF) distance of less than about 90%. |
| US08718429B2 |
Multicore optical fiber
The present invention relates to a multicore optical fiber having a structure for suppressing core-to-core crosstalk. The multicore optical fiber (100A) comprises a plurality of cores extending along a predetermined axis while being arranged like a hexagonal lattice on a cross section perpendicular to the axis and a cladding region (120) integrally surrounding the plurality of cores. All of core portions, each constituting at least a part of the associated one of the plurality of cores, have substantially the same structure. |
| US08718427B2 |
Fiber optic cables and methods for forming the same
A loose tube optical fiber cable includes at least one cable unit. Each cable unit includes a plurality of loose, non-buffered optical fibers, a strength yarn at least partially surrounding the non-buffered optical fibers, and a jacket surrounding the strength yarn and the non-buffered optical fibers. |
| US08718426B2 |
Optical fiber cables
Described are new cable designs for indoor installations wherein the cable comprises a dual-layer optical fiber buffer encasement of acrylate resin. The buffer encasement has an acrylate compliant inner layer that protects the fiber and minimizes stress transfer to the fiber; and a hard, tough acrylate outer layer that provides crush resistance. The dual-layer optical fiber buffer encasement is wrapped with reinforcing yarn and encased in an outer protective jacket. A dual jacket embodiment adapted for indoor/outdoor installations is also described. |
| US08718424B2 |
Easily assembled optical signal transmission device
An optical signal transmitting device includes a substrate, light emitting modules, an optical coupling element, an optical fiber module, and a pressing pole. The substrate has a first loading surface and a second loading surface. The optical coupling element is positioned on the first loading surface and includes a first cladding portion and coupling lenses. Each coupling lens has a first sloped surface and a second sloped surface. The light emitting modules are positioned on the second loading surface and spatially correspond to the respective first sloped surfaces. The optical fiber module is positioned on the first loading surface and includes a second cladding portion and fiber cores. Each fiber core has a bare end. The pressing pole presses each bare end to the corresponding second sloped surface. The refractive indexes of the substrate, the coupling lenses, the fiber cores and the air are n1, n2, n3, n0, wherein n3>n2>>n1>n0. |
| US08718423B2 |
Optical branching element and optical branching circuit
An optical branching element includes: an input waveguide; a tapered waveguide connected to the input waveguide; two branched waveguides that are connected to the tapered waveguide and arranged so as to form a Y-shape with the input waveguide and the tapered waveguide; and a plurality of strip-like waveguides that are provided so as to connect between the two branched waveguides and not to protrude outside the two branched waveguides, and formed so as to decrease in width as becoming distant from the tapered waveguide. |
| US08718419B2 |
Frame foot loading measurement system using fiber optic sensing technique
A fiber Bragg grating (FBG) based sensor is used as a strain sensing element to determine frame foot loading of a generator. Three FBGs may be used in tandem to form a basic Frame Foot Loading Module (FFL Module). Two modules are fixed on each vertical support gusset at the corner of the generator frame, with one module on the front of the gusset and a second module on the back of the gusset. Thus, each gusset may be instrumented with six FBG strain gauges or sensors. The gussets are chosen on each of the four corners of the generator. For two-pole generators the first three gussets at each corner may be used and, for four-pole generators the first four gussets may be used. |
| US08718410B2 |
Image capture and identification system and process
A digital image of the object is captured and the object is recognized from plurality of objects in a database. An information address corresponding to the object is then used to access information and initiate communication pertinent to the object. |
| US08718408B2 |
Adaptive filtering for image transform processes
Adaptive filtering techniques are set forth that improve video playback performance. A color similarity metric is computed for source pixels undergoing an image transform operation to determine color values of a target pixel location. The value of the color similarity metric defines what algorithm is used to determine the color values of the target pixel location from the source pixels. While the computation of the color similarity metric introduces additional instructions for each pixel, going against conventional wisdom, enormous performance savings by avoiding unnecessarily complex sets of interpolation instructions where a simpler instruction set suffices, outweighs any such cost from additional instructions. |
| US08718407B2 |
High-quality single-frame superresolution training and reconstruction engine
An image processing system includes an image reconstruction unit. The image reconstruction unit is configured to receive an image at a first resolution, apply the image to a look-up table and output a version of the image at a second resolution. The second resolution includes a higher resolution than the first resolution. In addition, the look-up table is generated inputting a plurality of training images; classifying, into a number of classes, a plurality of images patches corresponding to each of the plurality of training images; re-classifying the number of classes into a final class; and synthesizing filters corresponding to each of the class into a final filter value. |
| US08718405B2 |
Position and orientation measurement apparatus, position and orientation measurement method, and program
A position and orientation measurement apparatus for measuring the position and orientation of a target object includes a first search unit which searches a geometric model for a lost model region corresponding to a lost image region in a range image, a determination unit which determines whether or not a point on a geometric model corresponding to a pixel on the range image of the target object falls within the lost model region, a correction unit which corrects combinations of pixels on the range image and corresponding points which are determined to fall within the lost model region, and a calculation unit which calculates the position and orientation of the target object based on the corrected combinations of the pixels on the range image and points on the geometric model. |
| US08718404B2 |
Method for two-step temporal video registration
The invention relates to a method for temporal video registration of a target video with a master video comprising steps of automatic selection a plurality of key frames for target video and a plurality of key frames for master video; sparse registration of a plurality of key frames for target video with a plurality of key frames for master video; dense registration of frames of target video with frames of master video belonging to a temporal segment including registered key frames. |
| US08718402B2 |
Depth generation method and apparatus using the same
A depth generation method adapted for a 2D to 3D image conversion device is provided. The depth generation method includes the following steps. Motion vectors in an image frame are obtained by motion estimation. A global motion vector of the image frame is obtained. Motion differences between the motion vectors of each block and the global motion vector are calculated. A depth-from-motions of each block is obtained based on the motion differences. Furthermore, a depth generation apparatus using the same is also provided. |
| US08718400B2 |
Methods and systems for prioritizing dirty regions within an image
A method for identifying modified sections of a drawing region and selecting at least one modified drawing region section to transmit to a remote computer. A local computer can execute a prioritization module that can identify a first modified drawing region section and a second modified drawing region section. Each of the first and second modified drawing region section can have a corresponding priority. The prioritization module can determine whether the first priority of the first section is greater than the second priority of the second section and can select the greater priority. The local computer can then transmit the selected modified drawing region section that has the greatest priority to a remote computer that communicates with the local computer over a virtual channel. |
| US08718399B1 |
Image warp caching
An apparatus including a local shared memory and a processor. The local shared memory and the processor may be connected as a circuit. The local shared memory may comprise a plurality of cache blocks. Each of the cache blocks generally corresponds to one of a plurality of panes of a current horizontal strip of a warped image region to be generated from unwarped image data retrieved from an external source. The circuit may be further configured such that each pixel of the unwarped image data retrieved from the external source is fetched only once. Each of the panes has associated tag information. |
| US08718398B2 |
Image processing method and apparatus
A method to process an image acquired through an optical-fiber guide includes acquiring a first reference image through the optical-fiber guide, acquiring a second calibration image through the optical-fiber guide, spatially identifying each fiber of the optical-fiber guide of the second calibration image in a first detection map, acquiring a recalibration image through the optical-fiber guide, determining a geometrical transformation to make the recalibration image coincide with the first reference image, deriving a new detection map spatially identifying each fiber of the optical-fiber guide of the recalibration image, wherein the new detection map is derived using the geometrical transformation and the first detection map, and individually processing zones of an acquired image corresponding to each fiber of the optical-fiber guide using the new detection map. |
| US08718394B2 |
Method and device for enhancing a digital image
The present invention relates to a method and a device for enhancing a digital image comprising samples or pixels.The method comprises: defining a patch of samples surrounding any given sample; computing distance values representing similarity between patches of a first sample and other samples to obtain a distance map; computing, using the distance map, weights to obtain a weight map; applying a filter enhancing high spatial frequencies to the weight map to obtain an enhanced weight map; filtering the first sample by averaging the samples using the enhanced weight map, to obtain an enhanced first sample. The invention provides a very efficient enhancement of the digital image since coherent structures that would usually not influence the enhancement of the image, are detected and made more significant thanks to the filtering of the weight map. |
| US08718385B2 |
Siding identification systems and methods
A method for identifying siding includes receiving particular texture data associated with a physical texture of a particular siding sample, accessing a reference database including reference texture data associated with physical texture of multiple different reference siding samples, performing an automated texture data analysis by analyzing the particular texture data associated with the particular siding sample and the reference texture data associated with different reference siding samples, and automatically identifying at least one reference siding sample that matches the particular siding sample based at least on the automated texture data analysis. The particular texture data associated with the physical texture of the particular siding sample may comprise a digital image, such as a photographic or scanned image of the particular siding sample, or a photographic or scanned image of an ink image physically transferred from the particular siding sample onto a substrate. |
| US08718376B2 |
Apparatus and method for enhancing image in portable terminal
Disclosed is an apparatus and a method for enhancing an image in a portable terminal. The apparatus includes an image processor for performing an Image Signal Processing (ISP) for an image received in a preview mode, an ROI processor for extracting an ROI from the image received from the image processor, enhancing an image of the extracted ROI, and synthesizing the image of the enhanced ROI with the image received from the image processor, and a controller for controlling the ROI processor to extract an ROI from an image received from the image processor, enhancing an image of the extracted ROI when a photographing is selected, synthesizing an image of the enhanced ROI with the image received from the image processor, and outputting an synthesized image. |
| US08718374B2 |
Method and apparatus for accessing an electronic resource based upon a hand-drawn indicator
A method, apparatus and computer program product are provided for permitting access to an electronic resource that is associated with a hand-drawn indicator. In the context of a method, a method is provided that includes receiving an image of a hand-drawn indicator, such as a free-form hand-drawn indicator or a grid having a plurality of selectively fillable grid elements. The method may also identify an electronic resource associated with the hand-drawn indicator and permit access to the electronic resource associated with the hand-drawn indicator. |
| US08718370B2 |
Optical information-reading apparatus and optical information-reading method
A method and apparatus to enable a position of an image to be identified and to enable the image to be recognized reliably even when the image is unclean or external disturbance light is irradiates the image. On a assumption that a binarization threshold value is calculated for every block based on the maximum and minimum values of the brightness values in code symbol data, plural adjacent blocks, the threshold values of which are calculated, are grouped to generate groups. The area of each of the groups thus generated is compared with a predetermined area for a comparison standard and if the area of each of the groups thus compared is larger than that, these groups are selected. The position of the selected groups is identified. Brightness value of the code symbol data are binarized using the threshold value for every block in the selected groups. |
| US08718362B2 |
Appearance and context based object classification in images
Objects in an image are classified by applying an appearance classifier to the image to determine candidates of the objects and statistics associated with the candidates, wherein the appearance classifier uses a set of windows, and the candidates are in selected windows. Then, a context classifier is applied only to the selected windows of the image to determine an identity, and location of objects in the image. |
| US08718359B2 |
Image processing apparatus and method for controlling the apparatus
An image processing apparatus and a method thereof for correcting image data in accordance with a feature of the image data, calculates a brightness component of image data and a color difference component of image data, determines whether the image data is a nightscape image or an underexposed image using the calculated brightness component and color difference component, and corrects the image data which has been determined as a nightscape image or an underexposed image. |
| US08718354B2 |
Method for analyzing masks for photolithography
The invention relates to a method for analyzing masks for photolithography. In this method, an aerial image of the mask for a first focus setting is generated and stored in an aerial image data record. The aerial image data record is transferred to an algorithm that simulates a photolithographic wafer exposure on the basis of this data record. In this case, the simulation is carried out for a plurality of mutually different energy doses. Then, at a predetermined height from the wafer surface, contours which separate regions with photoresist from those regions without photoresist are in each case determined. The result, that is to say the contours, are stored for each of the energy doses in each case in a contour data record with the energy dose as a parameter. Finally, the contour data records are combined to form a three-dimensional multicontour data record with the reciprocal of the energy dose as a third dimension, and, on the basis of the transitions from zero to values different than zero in the contours, a three-dimensional profile of the reciprocal of the energy dose depending on the position on the mask is generated. This profile, the so-called effective aerial image, is output or stored or automatically evaluated. The same can also occur with sections through said profile. |
| US08718352B2 |
System and method for testing ropes
A computer-aided method, system and computer program product are provided for optical testing of a rope. Such method includes: providing an image data set for at least one portion of the rope; providing target values of a pictorial longitudinal extension of the representation of wires relative to a pictorial longitudinal extension of the rope in the image data set; determining a pictorial longitudinal extension of the wires in the image data set, including adapting an estimated longitudinal extension to the image data set; determining at least one quality value using a quality norm as a function of the determined pictorial longitudinal extension of the wires and the target values of the pictorial longitudinal extension of the wires; discriminating pictorial positions within the image data set of the rope, where at least one quality value exceeds or falls below a predetermined, assigned quality threshold value; and providing the discriminated pictorial positions. |
| US08718349B2 |
Live registration for vessel treatment
The present invention relates to accurate positioning for vessel intervention procedures, particularly to a method for accurate positioning for vessel intervention procedures, a medical imaging system for accurate positioning for vessel intervention procedures and a catheterization laboratory system for accurate positioning for vessel intervention procedures. First, at least one X-ray image of a vessel region of interest is acquired (24) with injected contrast agent. Further, vessel information data is identified (26) within the at least one acquired image. Then, first calcification features of the vessel in the vessel region of interest in the at least one acquired image are detected (28). Further, vessel representation is generated (30) using the vessel information data and the detected calcification features. Further, at least one current fluoroscopic image of the vessel region of interest is acquired (32). Then, second calcification features of the vessel in the vessel region of interest in the at least one current fluoroscopy image are detected (34), wherein the second calcification features are according to the first calcification features. Further, the vessel representation is registered (36) with the fluoroscopy image, wherein the calcification features are used for the registration. Then, a composite image is generated (38) by combining the vessel representation with the at least one fluoroscopy image. Further, a composite image is displayed (40). |
| US08718348B2 |
Grid suppression in imaging
A method for providing a diagnostic image as a combination of two or more images executed, at least in part, on a control logic processor. The method includes obtaining at least first and second image data of a subject and analyzing both the first and second image data to identify at least grid orientation and spacing. Grid suppression is applied to the first and second image data and the grid suppressed first and second image data is pre-processed. The method then combines the grid suppressed first and second image data and decomposes the combined data to obtain one or more diagnostic images for display. The one or more diagnostic images are displayed on a display that is associated with the control logic processor. |
| US08718345B2 |
Method and system for obtaining brain characteristic parameters, thrombolysis decision guideline system and method thereof
Method and system for obtaining brain characteristic parameters, thrombolysis decision guideline system and method thereof, provide middle of reference data for early diagnosis and treatment of acute ischemic brain death, and provide effective reference data for thrombolytic therapy. The present invention uses diffusion-weighted imaging, comparing to the clinical programs of diffusion-weighted imaging and perfusion weighted imaging, perfusion weighted imaging can omitted and the degree of functional characterization of perfusion abnormalities is reflected without the perfusion weighted imaging, to provide middle data of brain tissue can be saved and the risk of thrombolytic therapy. The present invention based on ADC low signal constraint and DWI high signal constraint DWI binarization processing to obtain the core area and transition area, that is more accurate. |
| US08718344B2 |
Image processing apparatus and medical image diagnosis apparatus
An image processing apparatus and a medical image diagnosis apparatus comprise a creation unit, a designation unit, a measurement unit, and a display control unit. The creation unit is configured to create a virtual endoscopic image observed using a preset viewpoint position and a preset line-of-sight direction based on 3-dimensional image data. The designation unit is configured to analyze the 3-dimensional image data to designate a plaque portion and/or a calcification portion. The measurement unit is configured to measure information on spatial distribution of the plaque portion and/or the calcification portion designated by the designation unit. The display control unit is configured to perform control to display the virtual endoscopic image created by the creation unit and the information on spatial distribution measured by the measurement unit. |
| US08718343B2 |
Iterative reconstruction of CT images without a regularization term
A method is disclosed for reconstructing image data of an examination object from measured data, wherein the measured data was captured previously during a relative rotary motion between a radiation source of a computed tomography system and the examination object. In at least one embodiment, the measured data is modified to achieve a particular grayscale characteristic of the image data to be reconstructed. The image data is calculated by way of an iterative algorithm using the modified measured data, wherein no arithmetic step for reducing noise is employed in the iterations. |
| US08718341B2 |
Synopsis of multiple segmentation results for breast lesion characterization
When characterizing a tumor or lesion as malignant or benign, a system (10) receives an image of the lesion volume (50), employs a processor (12) to perform a raw segmentation of the image, the results of which are stored to memory (14). Then processor then executes a hole-filling procedure to fill in dark areas in the image of the lesion representing necrotic tissue that absorbed little or no contrast agent, and optionally a leakage removal procedure to remove image voxels associated with non-lesion tissue, e.g., blood vessels, in which the contrast agent was present during imaging, to generate a complete lesion volume. A voxel analyzer (18) assesses a number of voxels included in the raw segmentation of the lesion image, and the final segmentation (e.g., after filling and optional leakage removal). A segmentation comparator (20) computes a ratio of dark area voxels related to necrotic tissue detected after the raw segmentation to total voxels detected in the final image segmentation. The ratio is then used to determine a likelihood of malignancy, with a higher ratio indicating a higher likelihood. |
| US08718339B2 |
Ultrasonic diagnostic arrangements selecting parameters for selecting relevant estimation data for classifying an elasticity image
There is provided an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus that can classify an elasticity image by using elasticity data of the elasticity image and image information and objectively estimate a progress state of a disorder. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus has an elasticity information calculator for calculating elasticity data of a biomedical tissue by using RF signal frame data from the inside of an object which is received by ultrasonic wave transmitting/receiving means, an elasticity image constructing unit for generating an elasticity image on the basis of a distortion amount and/or an elasticity modulus calculated by an elasticity information calculator, an elasticity image estimating unit 11 for generating estimation data for estimating the characteristic of a biomedical tissue on the basis of an elasticity image, and an image classifying unit 12 for classifying an elasticity image by using at least one of estimation data generated by the elasticity image estimating unit 11. A classification result of the classifying unit 12 is displayed on a display unit through a switching and displaying unit 14. |
| US08718337B1 |
Identifying an individual for a role
Systems and methods are provided for identifying an individual(s) whose face closely resembles a face that is ideal for a role, or who has a facial feature or combination of facial features that closely resembles a facial feature or combination of facial features that is ideal for the role, and who—in addition to having an ideal face, facial feature, or combination of facial features—possesses at least one trait or qualification that is preferable for the role. For example, the systems and methods can be used to identify at least one individual, such as an actor or model, whose face or facial features closely resembles a face or facial features that is ideal for a role, such as a role in a recorded or live performance, a photo shoot, or a fashion show, and who possesses the at least one trait or qualification, such as gender, height, weight, ability to speak a particular language, star power, or a guild affiliation, that is preferable for the role. |
| US08718333B2 |
System, method and a computer readable medium for providing an output image
A method for providing an output image, the method includes: determining an importance value for each input pixels out of multiple input pixels of an input image; applying on each of the multiple input pixels a conversion process that is responsive to the importance value of the input pixel to provide multiple output pixels that form the output image; wherein the input image differs from the output image. |
| US08718328B1 |
Digital processing method and system for determination of object occlusion in an image sequence
A method and system for occlusion region detection and measurement between a pair of images are disclosed. A processing device receives a first image and a second image. The processing device estimates a field of motion vectors between the first image and the second image. The processing device motion compensates the first image toward the second image to obtain a motion-compensated image. The processing device compares a plurality of pixel values of the motion-compensated image to a plurality of pixels of the first image to estimate an error field. The processing device inputs the error field to a weighted error cost function to obtain an initial occlusion map. The processing device regularizes the initial occlusion map to obtain a regularized occlusion map. |
| US08718321B2 |
Method of image processing
The present invention relates to a method of identifying a target object in an image using image processing. It further relates to apparatus and computer software implementing the method. The method includes storing template data representing a template orientation field indicative of an orientation of each of a plurality of features of a template object; receiving image data representing the image; processing the image data to generate an image orientation field indicating an orientation corresponding to the plurality of image features; processing the image orientation field using the template orientation field to generate a match metric indicative of an extent of matching between at least part of the template orientation field and at least part of the image orientation field; and using the match metric to determine whether or not the target object has been identified in the image. Image and/or template confidence data is used to generate the match metric. |
| US08718320B1 |
Codification of a time series of images
Vision pattern recognition is used to discover the presence, position, orientation, and movement of physical objects within electronic representations of data such as images based on the objects' appearance, according to certain embodiments. |
| US08718319B2 |
Method and system for optoelectronic detection and location of objects
Optoelectronic detection and location of moving objects is performed to capture one-dimensional images of a field of view through which objects may be moving, make measurements in those images, select from among those measurements those that are likely to correspond to objects in the field of view, make decisions responsive to various characteristics of the objects, and produce signals that indicate those decisions. |
| US08718317B2 |
Moving-magnet electromagnetic device with planar coil
An electromagnetic device includes a housing, a planar coil disposed inside the housing, and a magnetic diaphragm disposed inside the housing, wherein the plane of the planar coil is substantially in parallel with the plane of the magnetic diaphragm, wherein the planar coil is separated from the magnetic diaphragm, and wherein the magnetic diaphragm is moveable in the presence of an exterior pressure. |
| US08718316B2 |
Structure for supporting an audio receiver component of a computing device
A computing device comprises a platform and an audio receiver component. The audio receiver component is provided on a front side of the platform and is oriented to emit sound out of the front of the housing. A gap volume adjacent to the audio receiver is defined by the front side of the platform and the front façade of the housing. The gap volume supports audio output from the audio receiver component. A first air channel is defined by a combination of (i) a through-hole in the platform at the gap volume, and (ii) an opening in a back façade of the housing. |
| US08718314B2 |
Adjustable earphone and earphone set
An earphone comprises an inner shell, a stem and a pivot connection. The inner shell has a generally circular periphery shaped to at least partially fit in a user's concha. The stem is mounted to the inner shell at a position spaced from a rotational center of the inner shell and supports a wire leading to the inner shell. The inner shell and the stem are rotatable relative to each other by the pivot connection to configure the earphone to fit the user's ear with the shell member positioned at least partially in the user's concha and the stem positioned exteriorly along an intertragic notch of the ear. |
| US08718307B2 |
Hearing aid apparatus
A bone conduction hearing aid includes an in-the-ear (ITE) component including a transducer that is carried by the ITE component and positioned in the concha of the ear when in use. A vibrationally conductive structural member of the ITE component conducts vibration produced the transducer into the ear canal and such vibrations are transferred through a housing of the transducer. From there, the vibrations are transferred to a cochlea of the user by way of the mastoid bone, enabling enhanced hearing perception in patients with hearing loss. |
| US08718300B1 |
Motorcycle media system
A motorcycle media system for playing audio or video on a motorcycle includes a wiring harness mounted on a motorcycle, a plurality of speakers is mounted to the motorcycle and an enclosed housing mounted behind a rider of the motorcycle. The housing is removable from the motorcycle to expose a compartment in the motorcycle. A power source is mounted to the motorcycle and in electrical communication with the wiring harness. A media source is mounted to the motorcycle, within the compartment, and in electrical communication with the wiring harness. A display mounted within the compartment and is in electrical communication with the wiring harness. A control assembly is in electrical communication with the wiring harness for controlling the operation of the system. A bracket supports the control assembly on handlebars of the motorcycle. |
| US08718294B2 |
Audio connectors with wavelength-division-multiplexing capabilities
Electronic devices are provided that communicate over cables and other communications paths that include optical and electrical paths. A cable may include wires for forming an electrical path and one or more optical fibers for forming an optical path. Connectors at one or both ends of the cable may include electrical contacts and an optical coupling structure associated with the optical path. Optical paths may be included in connectors such as tip-ring-sleeve connectors and connectors of other types. Interface circuitry may be included in a connector to convert between optical and electrical signaling schemes. Wavelength-division-multiplexing may be used to support bidirectional communications. Breakout boxes and other equipment may be connected using the cables. Digital signals such as digital noise cancellation signals may be conveyed over the optical paths. Power and other electrical signals may be conveyed over the electrical paths. |
| US08718293B2 |
Signal separation system and method for automatically selecting threshold to separate sound sources
A signal separation system and a method for automatically selecting a threshold to separate sound sources. The signal separation system calculates a power sequence for a target signal using a target mask, and a power sequence for an interference signal using a complementary mask, based on signals received from a plurality of microphones; applies a nonlinearity to the target signal power sequence and the interference signal power sequence; calculates a correlation coefficient of the nonlinear target signal power sequence and the nonlinear interference signal power sequence; and sets a noise masking threshold that minimizes the correlation coefficient. |
| US08718291B2 |
ANC for BT headphones
An active noise cancellation controller for performing noise attenuation in a system over a predetermined frequency rang. The controller comprises several components: a first input for a reference signal indicative of a noise level; a second input for receiving an error signal indicative of a remnant noise level; an output for providing a noise cancellation signal; a fixed feedback controller for processing the error signal; a fixed feed-forward controller for processing the reference signal; and an adaptive feed-forward controller having a digital adaptive finite impulse response filter arranged for operation on the reference signal the error signal. |
| US08718288B2 |
System for customizing hearing assistance devices
Disclosed herein, among other things, is a system for customizing a hearing assistance device for a wearer. According to various embodiments, data corresponding to the wearer's acoustic environment is logged using the hearing assistance device. In various embodiments, the hearing assistance device is fitted by an adaptive fitting process controlled by the wearer, the adaptive fitting process having access to the data logged by the hearing assistance device to customize settings of the hearing assistance device for the wearer. In an embodiment, data related to fitting the hearing assistance device is sent via a network connection to a location accessible by the wearer's audiologist and/or device manufacturer. The sent data is used to create an interactive database, and the database is used for fitting hearing assistance devices for one or more wearers, in various embodiments. |
| US08718287B2 |
Method and system for controlling a maximum signal level output to headphones coupled to a wireless device
A method for controlling a maximum signal level output to headphones of a wireless device is provided. The method includes: determining an impedance of the headphones; determining a carrier specific maximum signal level for headphones having the impedance; and, adjusting an audio amplifier of the wireless device coupled to the headphones to restrict the maximum signal level output to the headphones to the carrier specific maximum signal level. |
| US08718283B2 |
System and method for processing a shared secret
A method of constructing shares in a secret is disclosed. The method operates in a network comprising a number of computing devices, each arranged to securely store at least one share in the secret k for which n shares are required to reconstruct the secret and to which access to a number m of the shares can be reliably provided at any given time. The method comprises the steps of: determining n shares for an n-of-n secret sharing scheme, each share comprising a value y; storing at least some of the shares in the computing devices such that at least m of the n shares are reliably accessible; determining the shared secret k according to the shares y; determining a further (n-m) shares consistent with the shared secret k and the shares y; and storing the additional shares in a reliably accessible location. |
| US08718282B2 |
Apparatus and method for enabling a transfer of data
Secure data transfer apparatus comprising a first device to be mounted in a housing in a predetermined normal configuration for normal operation wherein secure data transfer takes place between the first device and a second device in the housing, the first device including a detector configured to detect when the first device is placed in a predetermined initialization configuration different from the normal configuration and to enable an initialization data transfer between the devices for permitting normal operation to occur thereafter in said normal configuration. |
| US08718278B2 |
Method and system for encryption of a datastream
A method for an encryption of a data stream is provided. The method includes: providing the data stream, providing at least two first random number generators having a first cryptographic strength, wherein each of the at least two first random number generators is switchable between states including a clocked state and a working state, and providing a second random number generator having a second cryptographic strength, wherein the second cryptographic strength is higher than the cryptographic strength. The method further includes switching the states of the at least two first random number generators using an output of the second random number generator and using an XOR-function for combining the data stream with an output of one of the at least two first random number generators, which is in the working state, such that a ciphered data stream is created. |
| US08718277B2 |
Information carrier comprising access information
An information carrier for holding user information, the information carrier comprising access information in the form of access information bits for accessing the user information, the access information bits being stored on the information carrier in a variation of a parameter, which variation is detectable by integration detection. The access information bits are scrambled according to a pre-determined scrambling method. By scrambling the access information bits according to a pre-determined scrambling method, detection of the access information is not possible as long as the scrambling method is not known. Using the integration detection technique, the only way to obtain the access information is by knowing how the signal obtained after reading-out the area comprising the access information bits must be processed. In this way illegal retrieval of the user information is further prevented. |
| US08718276B2 |
Cryptography on a elliptical curve
A cryptographic calculation includes obtaining a point P(X,Y) from a parameter t on an elliptical curve Y2=f(X); and from polynomials X1(t), X2(t), X3(t) and U(t) satisfying: f(X1(t))·f(X2(t))·f(X3(t))=U(t)2 in Fq, with q=3 mod 4. Firstly a value of the parameter t is obtained. Next, the point P is determined by: (i) calculating X1=X1(t), X2=X2(t), X3=X3(t) and U=U(t); (ii) if the term f(X1)·f(X2) is a square, then testing whether the term f(X3) is a square in Fq and if so calculating the square root of f(X3) in order to obtain the point P(X3); (iii) otherwise, testing whether the term f(X1) is a square and, if so, calculating the square root of f(X1) in order to obtain the point P(X1); (iv) otherwise, calculating the square root of f(X2) in order to obtain the point P(X2). This point P is useful in a cryptographic application. |
| US08718275B2 |
Low complex and robust delay estimation
A method and apparatus for finding an estimate of the delay of a signal travelling between two points. A quantity is evaluated from the signal at a final number of time instants, at both a reference point and a reception point. The values are quantized by comparison with a threshold adapted to a typical magnitude of the quantity. If the quantized values from the reception point are shifted back by the true delay with respect to the quantized values from the reference point, then certain co-occurrences of quantized values have very low probability. Hence, the best delay estimate is that shift which yields the least number of low-probability co-occurrences. |
| US08718271B2 |
Call routing methods and systems based on multiple variable standardized scoring
Systems and methods are disclosed for routing callers to agents in a contact center, along with an intelligent routing system. An exemplary method includes combining multiple output variables of a pattern matching algorithm (for matching callers and agents) into a single metric for use in the routing system. The pattern matching algorithm may include a neural network architecture, where the exemplary method combines output variables from multiple neural networks. The method may include determining a Z-score of the variable outputs and determining a linear combination of the determined Z-scores for a desired output. Callers may be routed to agents via the pattern matching algorithm to maximize the output value or score of the linear combination. The output variables may include revenue generation, cost, customer satisfaction performance, first call resolution, cancellation, or other variable outputs from the pattern matching algorithm of the system. |
| US08718264B2 |
Automated agent availability detection
A system for automatically detecting status of an agent in a call center is provided. The system may have a call center management system with a plurality of agent workstations coupled to the call center management system and a plurality of telephones associated with the agent workstations. The system may also have a switch that automatically connects calls to the telephones. An off-hook detector automatically detects a manually initiated off-hook status of at least one of the telephones and signals the switch that the agent at the telephones is unavailable. The switch may then avoid connecting a call to the unavailable agent. |
| US08718262B2 |
Method and system for automatically routing a telephonic communication base on analytic attributes associated with prior telephonic communication
A method for automatically routing a telephonic communication to at least one of a plurality of communication destination addresses is provided. The method is implemented by a computer readable medium having a plurality of code segments. The method comprises the step of receiving customer identifier and communicating with a customer history database configured to store historic data. The method also includes determining whether the received customer identifier corresponds to a stored customer identifier in the customer history database. Historic data corresponding to the stored customer number is identified based on the comparison of the received customer identifier and the stored customer identifier. The telephonic communication is associated with a predetermined communication destination based on the identified historic data. The associated communication data is transmitted to a switching signal. |
| US08718260B2 |
Method, computer program product, and apparatus for transferring a call and associated data and an associated system thereof
A method, computer program product, and an apparatus for transferring a telephone call and associated data from an IVR system to a live agent or other system are provided. An exemplary embodiment may include a voice portal of the IVR system requesting an access number for a live agent and sending data associated with the telephone call to a CTI system. The CTI system may request and receive a routing label from a router and then send the data associated with the telephone call and the request for an access number to a call center using the routing label provided by the router. The CTI system may receive the access number from the call center and send the access number back through the IVR system to an exchange carrier for transferring the caller to the call center. |
| US08718252B2 |
Tandem access controller within the public switched telephone network
A system that includes a tandem access controller (TAC) coupled to the PSTN, where the TAC allows a subscriber to set-up and change the configuration of the phone line or other communications device, including selective call forwarding, using the web. The TAC is coupled internally to the PSTN in a local service area and is outside the central office of the subscriber. A calling party makes a first call to the subscriber using the subscriber's public telephone number. The TAC receives the first call prior to the call reaching the subscriber's terminating central office, which in some cases avoids a toll. The TAC then carries out the subscriber's instructions for the first call, such as making one or more second calls using telephone numbers different from the subscriber's public telephone number. When the second call is answered, the answering phone is connected by the TAC to the caller. |
| US08718250B2 |
Billing data interface for conferencing customers
A billing data interface provides billing data to customers in an accurate and efficient manner. Billing data is processed to preserve client billing information and to meet a customer's individual data requirements. The billing data may be presented in such a way that the customer may input the billing data directly into its client billing system. The billing data may be processed according to client billing specifications corresponding to a client billing system used by the customer. The processed data may preserve leading zeros, separate client code and matter code into two fields, etc. The resulting data file may be delivered to the customer for entry into the customer's client billing system. |
| US08718249B2 |
Communication device and control device
A communication device includes a communication unit configured to send and receive data via an attachable and detachable line, a power controller configured to reduce a power supply to the communication unit when a certain condition is satisfied, and a determination unit configured to determine whether or not a setting for sending and receiving data via the line by the communication unit is made. The power controller maintains the power supply to the communication unit at a call-receivable level, if it is determined that the setting for using the line is made. |
| US08718237B2 |
Mobile phone with music reproduction function, music data reproduction method by mobile phone with music reproduction function, and the program thereof
A mobile phone 100 with music reproduction function comprising a reproduction unit 106 that reproduces music data and a ring tone which are recorded in a music data recording medium 105 and a ring tone, a communication unit 108 that detects an incoming call from outside and a control unit 103 that instructs the reproduction unit 106 to perform a fade-out process of reproducing music data and to perform a fade-in process of outputting a ring tone when the communication unit 108 detects an incoming call while the reproduction unit 106 is reproducing music data. |
| US08718236B1 |
Systems and methods for secure on-line repositories
A permanent, secure, on-line electronic repository (i.e., electronic safety deposit box or virtual safety deposit box) where a member/customer can store personal information (in electronic form) is provided within the confines and behind the security layers provided by a financial institution such as a bank. Features include catalog functionality for easy management and retrieval of data, access control facilities for the owner to designate other individuals authorized for access, event-driven access dedicated privacy with a subset space for shared elements with the bank (provider), and survivorship functionality with regard to disposition of contents, and intelligent retention rules. |
| US08718235B2 |
Mobile information terminal
To carry out processing to be executed upon occurrence of an emergency, a mobile phone includes a power control portion for supplying driving power, a RAM capable of storing data in the state where the driving power is not supplied from the power control portion, a crime prevention switch for detecting occurrence of an emergency, and a control portion which is driven by the driving power supplied from the power control portion. The control portion stores an emergency flag in an ON state indicating an emergency mode in the RAM in response to detection of the emergency by the crime prevention switch, and carries out emergency processing. When the control portion is activated as the supply of the driving power from the power control portion is started, it carries out the emergency processing if the emergency flag in the ON state is stored in the RAM. |
| US08718227B2 |
Graded resolution field of view CT scanner
A CT scanner comprising: a rotor rotatable about an axis of rotation: an X-ray source mounted to the rotor having a focal spot from which an X-ray beam emanates; an X-ray detector array comprising a plurality of X-ray detectors for detecting X-rays in the X-ray beam; wherein the detector array has at least one high resolution region in which detectors have a high packing density and at least one low resolution region in which detectors have a low packing density and are separated by X-ray insensitive regions substantially larger than insensitive regions resulting from septa between detectors that function to reduce detector cross talk. |
| US08718226B2 |
Assembly method for a tiled radiation detector
A tiled detector assembly (1000) and a method for making a tiled radiation detector (1000) is described. The innovative feature of this method is that the xyz misalignment of the detector tiles (304, 304′), the origin of various image artifacts, can be significantly reduced by accurate sizing and alignment of the detector tiles (304, 304′). Consequently, image quality, yield and reliability of as-produced tiled radiation detectors are considerably improved. |
| US08718223B2 |
Semiconductor device and display device
A circuit is constituted by a plurality of n-channel-type transistors, the circuit including: among the plurality of transistors, a transistor including a drain terminal for receiving a voltage of VDD, a source terminal, and a gate terminal for receiving an input signal; among the plurality of transistors, a transistor including a drain terminal for receiving the voltage of VDD, a source terminal connected to an output terminal, and a gate terminal connected to the source terminal of the transistor; and a capacitor provided between a node and a clock terminal for receiving a clock signal. In at least one embodiment, the clock signal inputted into the clock terminal has a frequency higher than that of an output signal outputted from the output terminal. Therefore, it is possible to provide: a semiconductor device constituted by transistors of the same conductivity type, which semiconductor device can output a stable signal by preventing a reduction in electric potential level; and a display device including the semiconductor device. |
| US08718222B2 |
Apparatus and method for reinforcing jet pump riser
An apparatus for reinforcing a jet pump riser includes: an elbow upper clamp for covering a riser elbow coupled to a thermal sleeve from an upper side thereof; an elbow lower clamping member for clamping the riser elbow from a lower side thereof; an elbow vertical portion clamping member for covering a vertical portion of the riser elbow; and an elbow horizontal portion clamping member for covering a horizontal portion of the riser elbow. These members are disposed in different orientations with respect to the elbow upper clamp so as to fix the thermal sleeve, the riser elbow and the riser pipe. |
| US08718216B2 |
Digital phase detector with zero phase offset
An embodiment of the invention comprises a digital phase detector with substantially zero phase offset. The digital phase detector receives a clock signal and a reference clock signal and provides a phase indicator signal to identify whether the clock signal leads or lags the reference clock signal. An embodiment of the invention comprises a method that adds substantially zero phase offset in processing an input clock signal and a delayed clock signal to generate a control signal. The control signal is processed in a variable delay line to generate the delayed clock signal. In an embodiment, a first processor comprises a delay locked loop having a digital phase detector, the digital phase detector comprising a first differential sense amplifier cross-coupled to a second differential sense amplifier, the digital phase detector receiving a clock signal and generating one or more delayed clock signals, a control signal, and a gated data signal. |
| US08718215B2 |
Method and apparatus for deskewing data transmissions
The present invention discloses a method and apparatus for addressing the issue of clock skew in a data signal while making efficient use of space on an integrated chip (IC) by utilizing a physical delay line controlled by a state machine in conjunction with pre-requisite chip architecture. The pre-requisite chip architecture samples the incoming data signal in response to a clocking signal input from the physical delay line; the physical delay line responds to commands from the state machine to increment the delay of the physical delay line to produce samples which describe the incoming data signal and delineate its data valid window. |
| US08718213B2 |
Clock synchronization method, apparatus, and system
A clock synchronization method, apparatus, and system are provided according to the embodiments of the present invention. The method includes: receiving time information TM1 from a central office side, in which the time information TM1 is obtained by the central office side by reading a local clock of the central office side when transmission data at a first designated location starts to be transferred, and the local clock of the central office side is synchronous with a Global Positioning System (GPS) clock or a Building Integrated Timing Supply (BITS) clock; determining whether transmission data at a second designated location starts to be received, if so, reading a local clock of the Customer Premises Equipment side to obtain time information TS1; and synchronizing a clock frequency of the Customer Premises Equipment side to the central office side according to the time information TM1 and the time information TS1. |
| US08718206B2 |
Frequency correction circuit, frequency correction method and wireless communication equipment using them
There is obtained a frequency correction circuit capable of correcting the frequency errors of received signals with high accuracy and preventing the degradation of demodulated signals, while further suppressing an increase in the circuit scale.A frequency correction circuit according to the present invention includes a demodulation means that gives respective preset frequency offsets corresponding to a plurality of frequency errors to received radio signals and demodulates said received radio signals by utilizing respective ones of a plurality of preset in-phase summation periods, and a selection means that selects one demodulated signal from among a plurality of demodulated signals demodulated by said demodulation means. |
| US08718205B1 |
Hard and soft bit demapping for QAM non-square constellations
Low complexity methods for hard and soft bit level demapping in a receiver of QAM signals with non-square, Gray coded constellations created as per U.S. Pat. No. 8,422,579 B1. In these methods the received signal is equalized to remove channel distortion, demodulated into in-phase and quadrature phase related symbols, and these symbols converted into hard-bits or preliminary soft-bits bits via the application of bit decision rules. Further, if converted into preliminary soft-bits, they may be multiplied by a factor to account for the impact of the received signal's signal-to-noise ratio on bit reliability, thereby creating final-soft-bits. |
| US08718200B2 |
Scaling decision device and method for deciding scaling value used in normalization of signal
According to one embodiment, a scaling decision device includes a first decision unit and a second decision unit. The first decision unit decides, based on a plurality of input signals, a K-th smallest signal of the plurality of input signals or a range to which the K-th smallest signal belongs of a plurality of ranges which classify the plurality of input signals by intensities. The second decision unit decides, based on a decision result of the first decision unit, a scaling value which prevents the K-th smallest signal from being submerged in quantization errors by normalization. |
| US08718196B2 |
Symbol error detection for Bluetooth basic data rate packets
A symbol error detector can be configured to detect symbol errors of GFSK modulated portions of a Bluetooth packet without relying solely on a CRC error detection mechanism. The symbol error detector can operate on frequency error signals that are a difference between a frequency associated with a current symbol and predetermined frequency outputs from a bank of filters matched to a frequency response of the Bluetooth receiver for predefined combinations of three consecutive symbols (i.e., an estimated previously decoded symbol, an estimated current symbol, and an estimated subsequent symbol). The frequency error signals can be compared against a threshold and against each other to determine a potential unreliability in decoding the current symbol and to determine whether to generate a symbol error notification. The frequency error signals being within a threshold of each other can indicate potential unreliability in decoding the current symbol. |
| US08718193B2 |
Active signal processing personal health signal receivers
The invention provides a receiver associated with a body, e.g., located inside or within close proximity to a body, configured to receive and decode a signal from an in vivo transmitter which located inside the body. Signal receivers of the invention provide for accurate signal decoding of a low-level signal, even in the presence of significant noise, using a small-scale chip, e.g., where the chip consumes very low power. Also provided are systems that include the receivers, as well as methods of using the same. |
| US08718191B2 |
Method and apparatus for transmitting/receiving data in wireless communication system
A method for transmitting, by a transmitting terminal, data to a receiving terminal in a wireless communication system includes: generating a first detection field including symbols modulated by using a BPSK data tone; generating a second detection field including symbols modulated such that an even numbered subcarrier and an odd numbered subcarrier have a phase difference of 90 degrees; generating a data packet including the first detection field, the second detection field, and the data; and transmitting the data packet. |
| US08718186B2 |
Methods for digital signal processing and transmission/reception systems utilizing said methods
Methods for digital signal processing and transmission/reception systems utilizing the methods based on the use of LDPC codes, for example a LDPC code with a 3/5 code rate, in combination with a QAM modulation, for example the 16QAM or 64QAM or 256QAM modulation. In transmission, a bit permutation (Demux) is carried out prior to the QAM constellation mapping function, and in reception, the bit permutation is carried out after the QAM constellation demapping function. |
| US08718182B2 |
High speed data service via satellite modem termination system and satellite modems
A satellite communication system includes a satellite earth station operably coupled to a data network, and a plurality of satellite modems, each satellite modem of the plurality of satellite modems communicating in an upstream and downstream data communication mode with the satellite earth station via at least one servicing satellite. The satellite earth station includes a host processor for receiving data packets from the data network and processing DOCSIS management packets, a DOCSIS MAC coupled to the host processor for encrypting the transmit packet data from the host memory, framing data in MAC headers and inserting MAC timestamps in the transmit packet data, a satellite modulator coupled to the DOCSIS MAC for modulating the encrypted transmit packet data to generate downstream output data for transmission to at least one of the plurality of satellite modems, a burst demodulator for demodulating upstream data received from at least one of the plurality of satellite modems, and a turbo decoder coupled to the burst demodulator and the DOCSIS MAC for turbo decoding the demodulated data from the burst demodulator and sending the decoded data to the DOCSIS MAC. The DOCSIS MAC sends DOCSIS management packets portion of the decoded data to the host processor and sends transmit packet data portion of the decoded data to the data network. |
| US08718181B2 |
Reverse link power control for an OFDMA system
Techniques for performing power control of multiple channels sent using multiple radio technologies are described. The transmit power of a reference channel, sent using a first radio technology (e.g., CDMA), is adjusted to achieve a target level of performance (e.g., a target erasure rate) for the reference channel. The transmit power of a data channel, sent using a second radio technology (e.g., OFDMA), is adjusted based on the transmit power of the reference channel. In one power control scheme, a reference power spectral density (PSD) level is determined based on the transmit power of the reference channel. A transmit PSD delta for the data channel is adjusted based on interference estimates. A transmit PSD of the data channel is determined based on the reference PSD level and the transmit PSD delta. The transmit power of the data channel is then set to achieve the transmit PSD for the data channel. |
| US08718180B2 |
Multi-antenna wireless communications method and apparatus with vector perturbation with a reduced lattice
Precoding information prior to MIMO transmission is described, comprising determining a suitable preceding perturbation. The perturbation is determined by assembling a list of candidate perturbations in reduced lattice space, transforming these back into information lattice space and determining which candidate precoder perturbation is most suitable given a performance criterion. |
| US08718177B2 |
Optimal linear equalizer for MIMO systems with HARQ and/or repetition coding
Systems and methods are provided for decoding signal vectors in multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems, where the receiver has received one or more signal vectors based on the same transmitted vector. The symbols of the received signal vectors are combined, forming a combined received signal vector that may be treated as a single received signal vector. The combined received signal vector may be equalized by, for example, a zero-forcing or minimum-mean-squared error equalizer or another suitable linear equalizer. Following equalization, the equalized signal vector may be decoded using a simple, linear decoder. |
| US08718176B1 |
Method for computing sub-stream invariant steering matrices for MIMO beamforming
In a method for generating steering matrices for beamforming, one or more subsets of one or more maximum transmit steering matrices are selected, where the maximum transmit steering matrices correspond to a maximum number of spatial streams able to be transmitted from a transmitter to a receiver. The subsets correspond to an actual number of spatial streams to be transmitted, and the subsets are applied to spatial streams to be transmitted. In an apparatus for generating steering matrices, a steering matrix calculator is configured to determine, from maximum transmit steering matrices, a plurality of steering coefficients corresponding to an actual number of spatial streams. |
| US08718175B2 |
Channel quality indicator
A method, a receiver and computer program product for reporting at least one channel quality indicator from a receiver to a transmitter in a MIMO system are disclosed herein. In one embodiment, the receiver receives one or more data streams transmitted by the transmitter wherein the data streams are processed by the transmitter using a transmission precoding matrix W prior to transmission to the receiver. The receiver estimates a preferred precoding matrix Wp which is preferred by the receiver and processes the received data streams using the transmission precoding matrix W, such that the effective channel G at the output of the signal processing module is dependent upon the transmission precoding matrix W used by the transmitter. The receiver determines a second effective channel Gp, uses it to determine the at least one channel quality indicator and transmits the determined at least one channel quality indicator to the transmitter. |
| US08718170B2 |
Lattice coded mimo transmission method and apparatus
A method and corresponding apparatus for signal space information encoding through a multi-input-multi-output communication system of given dimension, with no or little degradation in link performance (relative to non-multi-input-multi-output systems), said method and corresponding apparatus comprising, splitting said information into at least as many separate parts as said dimension of said multi-input-multi-output communication system, separately signal space encoding each of these said parts, and transmitting each of said separate encoding results on a selected dimension of said multi-input-multi-output communication system along sequential usages of the transmission channel. |
| US08718161B2 |
Method for transmitting pilot signal in multi-carrier wireless transmission system
The present invention provides a method for transmitting pilots in a multi-carrier wireless transmission system. A wireless time-frequency transmission block is composed of N consecutive OFDM symbols in time domain and M consecutive physical sub-carriers in frequency domain, N and M are integers those are greater than or equal to 1. The method includes: partitioning the wireless time-frequency transmission block into several areas, and determining the position of pilots, of which the total number is a preset number, according to the time-frequency domain balancing principle of pilots of various antennas in various areas; inserting pilots at the pilot positions of each antenna corresponding to the antenna for transmission. In accordance with the present invention, the simultaneous transmission of multiple antennas is supported in a wireless time-frequency transmission block of a multi-carrier wireless transmission system. |
| US08718149B2 |
Image coding method and image decoding method
An image coding method for improving coding efficiency by using more appropriate probability information is provided. The image coding method includes: a first coding step of coding a first set of blocks included in a first region sequentially based on first probability information; and a second coding step of coding a second set of blocks included in a second region sequentially based on second probability information. In the first coding step, the first probability information is updated depending on data of a target block to be coded, after coding the target block and before coding a next target block. In the second coding step, the second probability information is updated depending on the first probability information updated in the first coding step, before coding the first target block. |
| US08718144B2 |
8-point transform for media data coding
In general, techniques are described for implementing an 8-point discrete cosine transform (DCT). An apparatus comprising an 8-point discrete cosine transform (DCT) hardware unit may implement these techniques to transform media data from a spatial domain to a frequency domain. The 8-point DCT hardware unit includes an even portion comprising factors A, B that are related to a first scaled factor (μ) in accordance with a first relationship. The 8-point DCT hardware unit also includes an odd portion comprising third, fourth, fifth and sixth internal factors (G, D, E, Z) that are related to a second scaled factor (η) in accordance with a second relationship. The first relationship relates the first scaled factor to the first and second internal factors. The second relationship relates the second scaled factor to the third internal factor and a fourth internal factor, as well as, the fifth internal factor and a sixth internal factor. |
| US08718137B2 |
System and method for providing error resilence, random access and rate control in scalable video communications
Systems and methods for error resilient transmission, rate control, and random access in video communication systems that use scalable video coding are provided. Error resilience is obtained by using information from low resolution layers to conceal or compensate loss of high resolution layer information. The same mechanism is used for rate control by selectively eliminating high resolution layer information from transmitted signals, which elimination can be compensated at the receiver using information from low resolution layers. Further, random access or switching between low and high resolutions is also achieved by using information from low resolution layers to compensate for high resolution spatial layer packets that may have not been received prior to the switching time. |
| US08718135B2 |
Method and system for transcoding based robust streaming of compressed video
Described herein is a novel transcoding technique called lossless inter frame transcoding (LIFT) for improving the error resilience of video streaming. According to various embodiments, conventional coded blocks are selectively transcoded into new transcoded blocks. At the decoder, the transcoded blocks can be transcoded back to the conventional coded blocks when prediction is available and can also be robustly decoded independently when prediction is unavailable. According to another embodiment, an offline transcoding and online composing technique is provided for generating a composite frame using the transcoded and conventional coded blocks and adjusting the ratio of the transcoded blocks, thereby achieving error robustness scalability. |
| US08718134B2 |
Luma and chroma decoding using a common predictor
There are provided video encoders, video decoders, and corresponding methods. A video encoder for encoding video signal data for an image block includes an encoder for encoding all color components of the video signal data using a common predictor. A video decoder for decoding video signal data for an image block includes a decoder for decoding all color components of the video signal data using a common predictor. Additionally, an apparatus and method for encoding and decoding signal data for an image block includes an encoder and decoder for encoding/decoding color components of the video signal data without applying a residual color transform thereto. Furthermore, a video encoder and decoder for encoding/decoding video signal data for an image block includes an encoder and decoder for encoding/decoding the video signal data using unique predictors for each of color components of the video signal data. |
| US08718132B2 |
Video encoding apparatus, video decoding apparatus, and method
Provided are a scalable video encoding apparatus, a scalable video decoding apparatus, and method. The scalable video encoding apparatus includes a first encoding unit to generate a base layer bitstream, which is to be used for generating a reconstructed image having a second resolution, by encoding an original image having a first resolution into an encoded image having the second resolution, and a second encoding unit to generate an enhancement layer bitstream by reconstructing the reconstructed image having the second resolution, which is received from the first encoding unit, to be a reconstructed image having the first resolution in response to an interpolation mode signal, and then to encode the original image having the first resolution by using the reconstructed image having the first resolution, where the enhancement layer bitstream contains additional information for generating a reconstructed image having the first resolution or a third resolution. |
| US08718130B2 |
Method and system for upsampling a spatial layered coded video image
The invention relates to video image compression technologies, and discloses a method and system for upsampling a spatial scalable coded video image so that during upsampling computation complexity may be reduced while coding performance is substantially unchanged. In the invention, the principle that human eyes are far less sensitive to a chrominance components than to a luminance components is utilized, and a simpler filter is adopted for the chrominance components than that for the luminance components during upsampling in I_BLINTRA_Base inter-layer prediction or residual samples image inter-layer prediction, thereby reducing effectively calculation complexity while coding performance is substantially unchanged. |
| US08718128B2 |
Moving image processing method and apparatus
A moving image is divided on the basis of a plurality of items of additional data which indicate states upon sensing the moving image. The additional data is added to the moving image and is able to be read out for each item from the moving image. An item group formed of one or a plurality of items selected from the plurality of items is defined, and division information corresponding to the item group is generated on the basis of the additional data of the items which belong to the item group. In a case that a plurality of division information are generated in correspondence with a plurality of item groups, the plurality of division information generated for each item group are hierarchized, and division positions are added. The division information is held in correspondence with the moving image data. |
| US08718121B2 |
Test device and method of detecting an imbalance in a power level of a channel
The present invention provides a test device and a method enabling automatic detection of an imbalance in a power level of a channel. The test device includes a tuner, a power-level measurement system, and an evaluation unit. According to the method, a test channel is selected from a plurality of channels, by means of the tuner. A power level of the test channel and a total power level of the plurality of channels are measured, by means of the power-level measurement system. A ratio of the total power level of the plurality of channels to the power level of the test channel is then evaluated, by means of the evaluation unit, to detect an imbalance in a power level of the test channel. |
| US08718120B2 |
Transceiver
An encoding circuit encodes a NRZ code into a transmission line code. A decoding circuit decodes the transmission line code into a NRZ code. If an operation-mode specified by a setting signal is a normal-mode, a transmission switching circuit provides transmit-data received from an input terminal to the encoding circuit to output the encoded transmit-data as communication-data from a communication terminal. If the operation-mode is a sleep-mode, the transmission switching circuit outputs the transmit-data received from the input terminal as the communication-data from the communication terminal. If the operation-mode specified by the setting signal is a normal-mode, a reception switching circuit provides the communication-data received from the communication terminal to the decoding circuit to output the decoded communication-data as receive-data from an output terminal. If the operation-mode is a sleep-mode, the reception switching circuit outputs the communication-data received from the communication terminal as the receive-data from the output terminal. |
| US08718119B2 |
Spread-carrier self-detecting code receiver with summed delay processing and methods for signal acquisition and detection
Embodiments of a spread-carrier self-detecting code (SCSDC) receiver with summed-delay processing (SDP) and method are generally described herein. In some embodiments, the SCSDC-SDP receiver is arranged to generate a chip-matched filter output from a received spread-spectrum signal and perform SDP on the chip-matched filter output with a plurality of delay-processing chains. The SDP may include multiplying a conjugated and delayed chip-matched filter output with the chip-matched filter output and applying a code-matched filter that is matched to a delay-multiplied code. The outputs from the code-matched filters of each delay-processing chain may be coherently combined to provide an output having correlation peaks for use generating frequency error and timing information. |
| US08718118B2 |
Packet detector
There are several exemplary ways to more efficiently communicate an out-of-domain seed to a receiver—in a first technique, the seed can be indicated in the header portion or data portion of a packet. For example, the header portion of the packet could contain one or more bit fields that indicate the value of the LFSR seed used for the preamble portion of the packet. The receiver would learn the out-of-domain seed after receiving a first out-of-domain packet and decoding the header portion of that packet. After learning the out-of-domain seed, the receiver could send a packet indicating the value of the out-of-domain seed to the local master. The local master could then transmit the value of the out-of-domain seed in the header portion or data portion of a local MAP frame. |
| US08718114B2 |
Induction melting furnace having asymmetrical sloping bottom
An induction melting furnace having an asymmetrical sloping bottom. The melting furnace includes: an induction coil member provided on the melting furnace so as to melt waste contained in the furnace by vitrification; a bottom unit provided in a lower part of the melting furnace, the bottom unit asymmetrically sloping downward in a direction toward a glass discharge port that is formed through the bottom unit; and a cooling member integrated with the bottom unit. Due to the asymmetrical sloping bottom of the furnace, waste in the furnace can be completely melted and can be easily discharged to the outside and, accordingly, the time and cost required to treat the waste are reduced and this improves work efficiency when treating the waste. Further, due to the insulation material, the melting furnace can be protected from electric damage that may be caused by electric arc. |
| US08718112B2 |
Radial Bragg ring resonator structure with high quality factor
A high quality factor optical resonator structure includes a substrate, a center disc formed on the substrate, and a plurality of concentric grating rings surrounding the center disc. The concentric rings are spaced apart from the center disc and from one another by regions of lower index of refraction material with respect thereto, and wherein spacing between the grating rings and the center disc is non-periodic such that a magnitude of a displacement distance of a given grating ring with respect to a λ/4 Bragg reflector geometry is largest for a first of the grating rings immediately adjacent the center disk and decreases in a radially outward direction. |
| US08718108B2 |
Repetition frequency control device
According to the repetition frequency control device, a master laser outputs a master laser light pulse the repetition frequency of which is controlled to a predetermined value. A slave laser outputs a slave laser light pulse. A reference comparator compares a voltage of a reference electric signal the repetition frequency of which is the predetermined value and a predetermined voltage with each other, thereby outputting a result thereof. A measurement comparator compares a voltage based on a light intensity of the slave laser light pulse and the predetermined voltage with each other, thereby outputting a result thereof. A phase difference detector detects a phase difference between the output from the reference comparator and the output from the measurement comparator. A loop filter removes a high-frequency component of an output from the phase difference detector. |
| US08718101B2 |
Pilot selection method, wireless communication system and base station thereof
A pilot selection method adapted for selecting rank-2 pilot patterns for a macrocell advanced base station (ABS), a femtocell ABS and a non-macrocell and non-femtocell ABS is proposed along with a wireless communication system and a base station thereof. Different rank-2 pilot pattern is selected for a femtocell ABS from its overlay macrocell ABS and non-macrocell and non-femtocell ABS rank-2 pilot patterns. Another pilot selection method for selecting a rank-1 pilot pattern for a femtocell ABS co-located with at least a macrocell ABS is also proposed. Different rank-1 pilot pattern is selected for a femtocell ABS from its overlay macrocell ABSs using rank-1 and/or rank-2 pilot patterns, where some of the macrocell ABSs can use rank-2 pilot patterns and the rest of the macrocell ABSs just use rank-1 pilot patterns. Also, different rank-1 pilot pattern is selected for the femtocell ABS from its neighboring femtocell ABSs using rank-1 pilot patterns. |
| US08718100B2 |
Methods and apparatus for selecting digital interface technology for programming and data delivery
Methods and apparatus for selecting digital (network) interface technology for programming and data delivery over, e.g., a content-based network. In one embodiment, the network comprises an HFC cable or satellite network that includes a server process interfacing with a plurality of customer premises equipment (CPE), and/or associated client devices, each having different capabilities profiles. The server determines the one or more capabilities possessed by the CPE, and evaluates one or more program or content choices for possible delivery to that CPE based on its profile. The server generates a list of programs or content based on this evaluation, and transmits this list to the CPE, which displays the list for viewing by a user. The user is therefore offered a list of available content that is compatible with their specific configuration. A business and operational rules engine is also optionally employed to control the operation of the foregoing processes to accomplish particular business or operational goals. |
| US08718093B2 |
Method and apparatus for exchanging control of a transmission opportunity
Methods and apparatus are disclosed. A method implemented in a wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU) includes receiving a packet from a first other WTRU during a transmission opportunity (TxOP) associated with the first other WTRU and forwarding the packet to a second other WTRU during a remaining portion of the TxOP. |
| US08718090B2 |
Resource reservation method and node apparatus
A resource reservation method, a message sending method, a message receiving method, and a node apparatus in the field of network communication technology are provided. The resource reservation method includes the following steps. A resource reservation request message is received. A resource reservation value and additional accuracy information of the resource reservation value are recorded in the message. Bandwidth resources are reserved for a source node according to the additional accuracy information and the resource reservation value. Thus, resources can be reserved accurately and traffic loss caused by accuracy loss of reservation resources in the case of high traffic is avoided. |
| US08718088B2 |
Signal converter of consumer electronics connection protocols
Methods and devices of converting signals of consumer electronics connection protocols to high speed bi-directional signals are presented. A novel packing method packs all the data, clocks, and control signals into one or more packets of a predefined format. A novel unpacking method unpacks the packets to original data, clocks, and control signals. |
| US08718082B2 |
Network system of time band reservation, frame transfer method, and network device
In a network system of this invention including a plurality of network devices that transfer frames by repeating, in a constant cycle, a reserved transfer interval that is a time band, in which a frame is transferred with a reservation and a free transfer interval that is a time band, in which a frame is freely transferred, a relay network device that links a first network device that is a transmission source of a frame and a second network device that is a transmission destination of the frame and the first network device execute a reservation processing such that the same time band within the reserved transfer interval is reserved and transfer the frame from the first network device to the second network device on the basis of the reservation result. |
| US08718076B2 |
WiMAX R6 management protocol
Within an access services network (ASN) operable for providing wireless access services to an access terminal and including a base station communicatively coupled to an ASN gateway, a new management protocol is provided for managing the R6 communications. The protocol includes a common set of message types that may be used for data plane, control plane, and individual peer applications communicating over the control plane. In one embodiment, a keepalive procedure or process is used to manage the R6 interface between the ASN gateway and the base station by sending keepalive messages through an established data path tunnel and maintaining one or more keepalive timers. |
| US08718071B2 |
Method to pass virtual local area network information in virtual station interface discovery and configuration protocol
An apparatus comprising an edge virtual bridging (EVB) bridge, and an EVB station coupled to the EVB bridge, wherein the EVB station is configured to send to the EVB bridge a virtual station interface (VSI) discovery and configuration protocol (VDP) request comprising a filter information (info) field without specifying a virtual local area network (VLAN) identifier (ID), and wherein the EVB bridge is configured to send a VLAN ID (VID) to the EVB station in a second filter info field in a VDP response to the VDP request. |
| US08718066B2 |
Fast handoff using GPS technology for mobile telematics
The present invention relates to the reduction of handoff delays for mobile telematics applications. In particular, the present invention provides a method employing GPS technology to define IP addresses in a mobile environment in order to reduce delays and transient data loss caused by handoff from one network to another. |
| US08718058B2 |
Device search apparatus and method, and device search server, device search system, and storage medium
A device search apparatus able to easily search for and find a device on a different subnet in a network environment where a plurality of subnets are connected together by routers. A client PC as a device search apparatus transmits by multicast a Probe message in which a value representing a search server is set, and extracts from a message received from the search server a URL of a search server on another subnet other than a network to which the client PC is connected. The client PC transmits by unicast, based on the URL of the search server, to the search server on the other subnet a message in which a device type to be searched is set, and extracts from a message received from the search server a URL of a device on the other subnet. |
| US08718054B2 |
Bridge routing module
A bridge routing module can be incorporated into a closed network fabric, such as a vehicular network. The bridge routing module includes an interface circuit to be coupled to other elements of the closed network fabric, for example other bridge routing modules or switch modules. The bridge routing module includes memory to store information associating packet content types with packet routing parameters, among other things. A processing module included in the bridge routing module analyzes packets to identify the type of content carried by the packets, and determines packet routing parameters based on the packet's content type. Ingress and egress of the packet are controlled in accordance with the packet routing parameters determined by the processing module. |
| US08718053B2 |
Packet transport for network device clusters
In one implementation, a cluster of network devices forwards packets within the cluster according to a node vector and a cluster database. The cluster database defines a path from each network device in the cluster to every other network device in the cluster. When a packet is received, the receiving network device accesses a forwarding database for egress ports according to a destination address of the packet and accesses the cluster database to identify a first cluster link in the path from the receiving network device to the egress network device. The receiving network device adds a node vector to the packet. The node vector communicates to subsequent network devices how the packet is to be forwarded through the cluster on the path from the receiving network device to the egress network device. The node vector is specific to the network device cluster and operates independent from packet forwarding protocols. |
| US08718051B2 |
System and method for high speed packet transmission
The present invention provides systems and methods for providing data transmission speeds at or in excess of 10 gigabits per second between one or more source devices and one or more destination devices. According to one embodiment, the system of the present invention comprises a first and second media access control (MAC) interfaces to facilitate receipt and transmission of packets over an associated set of physical interfaces. The system also contemplates a first and second field programmable gate arrays (FPGA) coupled to the MAC interfaces and an associated first and second memory structures, the first and second FPGAs are configured to perform initial processing of packets received from the first and second MAC interfaces and to schedule the transmission of packets to the first and second MAC interface for transmission to one or more destination devices. The first and second FPGAs are further operative to dispatch and retrieve packets to and from the first and second memory structures. A third FPGA, coupled to the first and second memory structures and a backplane, is operative to retrieve and dispatch packets to and from the first and second memory structures, compute appropriate destinations for packets and organize packets for transmission. The third FPGA is further operative to receive and dispatch packets to and from the backplane. |
| US08718048B2 |
Methods, systems, and computer program products for providing intra-carrier IP-based connections using a common telephone number mapping architecture
Internet protocol (IP) based calls from a first terminal in an IP based communications system are routed to a second terminal in another communications system. In response to a call setup request at a common communications core that is common to both the IP based communications system and the other communications system, a query is transmitted to a private telephone number mapping database that contains routing information for terminals in both the IP based communications system and the other communications system requesting routing information for the second terminal. Routing information for the call setup request is received from the private telephone number mapping database for routing the call. |
| US08718047B2 |
Text to speech conversion of text messages from mobile communication devices
A method includes providing a user interface, at a mobile communication device, that includes a first area to receive text input and a second area to receive an identifier associated with an addressee device. The text input and the identifier are received via the user interface. A short message service (SMS) message including the text input is transmitted to a Text to Speech (TTS) server for conversion into an audio message and for transmission of the audio message to the addressee device associated with the identifier. An acknowledge message transmitted from the TTS server permits the addressee device to allow delivery of the audio message or to decline delivery of the audio message. The TTS server transmits the audio message in response to the addressee device allowing delivery of the audio message. A confirmation message is received from the TTS server that indicates that a reply voice message has been received from the addressee device in response to the audio message. |
| US08718038B2 |
Node system and supervisory node
A node system includes a first node, a second node, and a supervisory node which transmit frames while increasing or decreasing the cycle microtick count, and determines reduced cycle microtick counts by subtracting or adding a rate correction limit value from or to the cycle microtick count of the supervisory node when reception of the first frame transmitted by the first node stop and the cycle microtick count of the supervisory node when reception of the first and second frames stop. |
| US08718037B2 |
PTA method and apparatus utilizing the same
An apparatus (and related method) coordinates wireless communication operations for coexisted wireless communication modules. The apparatus includes a packet traffic arbitration (PTA) module coupled between a first wireless communication module and a second wireless communication module, granting the first request requesting for a first wireless communication operation with a first priority in a first time period from the first wireless communication module, receiving a second request requesting for a second wireless communication operation with a second priority from the second wireless communication module when the granted first wireless communication operation is not finished. In operation, the first wireless communication operation interferes with the second wireless communication operation, the PTA module granting the second request and informing the first wireless communication module to take back the granted first request when the second priority is higher than the first priority. |
| US08718035B2 |
Method and device for realizing grouping in multi-input multi-output transmission with multiple-sector coordination
A method and device for performing Multi-Input Multi-Output transmission to a mobile terminal in the base station devices of a wireless communication system is provided. Each base station device determines the sector coordination group used at a certain frequency band according to system settings. Each base station device only performs multiple-sector (-cell) collaborative MIMO transmission in the sector coordination group which includes the sectors governed by the base station device. A simple and effective method is provided for realizing the multiple-sector (-cell) MIMO technology, its advantages including but not limited to there being a reduced amount of information exchanged between sectors (cells), which facilitates implementation and management, and good performance in controlling interface between sectors (cells). |
| US08718034B2 |
Facilitating synchronization between a base station and a user equipment
Methods and apparatus are provided for facilitating synchronization between a base station (BS) and a user equipment (UE) in a mobile communication system. The UE receives a synchronization signal originated by the BS. The synchronization signal is encoded with a selected cyclically permutable (CP) codeword, the selected CP codeword being selected from a set of CP codewords. Encoding of the synchronization signal is facilitated by a repetitive cyclically permutable (RCP) codeword derivable from the selected CP codeword. The RCP codeword has a plurality of codeword elements each associated with a value, the value of at least one codeword element in the RCP codeword being repeated in another codeword element position in the RCP codeword. And the synchronization signal is decoded in accordance with repetitive structure of the RCP codeword. |
| US08718032B1 |
Delivering packet data to a mobile station following inadvertent loss of data-link-layer connection between a wireless-network entity and the mobile station
Methods are provided for delivering packet data to a mobile station following inadvertent loss of a data-link-layer connection between a wireless-network entity and the mobile station. A first data-link-layer connection is established between (i) a wireless-network entity in a wireless network and (ii) a mobile station. The wireless-network entity responsively stores connection data pertaining to the first data-link-layer connection. An error condition is detected. Detecting the error condition comprises detecting that the wireless-network entity is incorrectly no longer storing the connection data pertaining to the first data-link-layer connection. Responsive to detecting the error condition, a second data-link-layer connection is established between the wireless-network entity and the mobile station. |
| US08718022B2 |
Method of collecting information in mobile communication system
There are disclosed a method of and a system for collecting information related to operation of a radio communication system inexpensively and easily. A mobile radio terminal monitors a communication status of user communication, and detects as a trigger when the communication status has satisfied a predetermined condition. When a trigger is detected, the mobile radio terminal acquires a reception status of a radio signal and the position of the mobile radio terminal. The mobile radio terminal sends measured information including the reception status and the position to an information collecting server. The information collecting server receives the measured information from the mobile radio terminal and records therein the measured information which has been received. |
| US08718011B2 |
Downlink signaling of sounding resources in a wireless communications system
This invention is a method for time-sharing sounding resources. A first embodiment defines one common sounding period for all user equipment and all sounding resources. A second embodiment allows for different sounding periods so long as each individual sounding resource uses only one sounding period. A third embodiment offers the most flexibility in sharing of the sounding resources by permitting changes in time. The first option is a special case of the second option. The second option is a special case of the third option. |
| US08718009B2 |
Wireless communications system, wireless communications apparatus, wireless communications method and computer program for wireless communication
In performing SVD-MIMO transmission, a set-up procedure is simplified while assuring a satisfactory decoding capability with a reduced number of antennas. A transmitter estimates channel information based on reference signals sent from a receiver, determines a transmit antenna weighting coefficient matrix based on the channel information, calculates a weight to be assigned to each of components of a multiplexed signal, and sends, to the receiver, training signals for respective signal components, the training signals being weighted by the calculated weights. On the other hand, the receiver determines a receive antenna weighting coefficient matrix based on the received training signals. |
| US08718008B2 |
Mobile communications system, base station apparatus, and mobile station apparatus
A mobile communication system in which a mobile station apparatus transmits, to a base station apparatus, uplink data using a physical uplink shared channel assigned by an uplink data transmission permission signal, wherein the base station apparatus: transmits, to the mobile station apparatus, a radio resource control signal including information for specifying a physical format in transmitting reception quality information together with uplink data; and transmits, to the mobile station apparatus, the uplink data transmission permission signal including a transmission instruction of reception quality information, and wherein the mobile station apparatus transmits, to the base station apparatus, reception quality information together with uplink data using the physical uplink shared channel according to information for specifying the physical format in case that a transmission instruction of the reception quality information is included in the uplink data transmission permission signal. |
| US08718007B2 |
System and method for dynamic allocation of capacity on wireless networks
A wireless communication system is described for allocating limited network access according to priorities designated for requested transactions of wireless communications. The wireless network has a number of access links for transmitting transactions for wireless communications. A plurality of wireless communications devices requests transmission of transactions on the wireless network. A designated priority level is associated with each transaction. In response to the transaction requests, an access control manager in the wireless network schedules transmission of transactions when all of the plurality of access links are occupied, by authorizing a transmission of a transaction of higher priority than another transaction that is being transmitted, and discontinuing the transmission of the transaction of lower priority. |
| US08718006B2 |
Method of DCR operation in a broadband wireless communication system
The present invention relates to a broadband wireless access system, and more particularly, to a method for a mobile station to save power for prescribed duration without performing a paging procedure and apparatus therefor. According to one embodiment of the invention, a method of operating a DCR (deregistration with content retention) mode of a mobile station in a broadband wireless access system includes the steps of transmitting a registration request (AAI_REG-REQ) message to a base station and receiving a registration response (AAI_REG-RSP) message including an identifier for identifying the mobile station in association with connection information (AMS context) of the mobile station in a network including a base station from the base station. |
| US08718004B2 |
Fast switching of forward link in wireless system
A technique for distributing channel allocation information in a demand access communication system. Multiple access codes are used that have a defined code repeat period or code epoch. For each such epoch duration, a schedule of assignment of traffic channels to active terminals for each epoch is determined. For each terminal designated as active during the epoch, a list of active channels for such terminal unit is assigned. Prior to the start of each epoch, a channel set up message is sent on one of the forward link channels, such as a paging channel, indicating the lists of active channels for epochs of the associated traffic channel(s) that are to follow. |
| US08718003B2 |
System and method for an uplink control signal in wireless communication systems
A user equipment is capable of receiving communications from a cell including at least one base station. The user equipment includes a receiver configured to receive from the base station both a cell specific radio resource control (RRC) configuration comprising a cell specific resource offset parameter for a PUCCH HARQ-ACK, and a UE specific RRC configuration comprising a UE specific RS base sequence parameter and an UE specific resource offset parameter for the PUCCH HARQ-ACK. |
| US08718002B2 |
Method and apparatus for transceiving data in a wireless communication system which supports a plurality of component carriers
The present disclosure relates to an operating method of a terminal for transceiving data to/from a base station in a system that supports a plurality of component carriers. The method includes receiving, from the base station, downlink control information (DCI) masked using a terminal identifier (cell-radio network temporary identifier (C-RNTI)) or a semi-persistent scheduling terminal identifier (SPS C-RNTI) through a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH); determining a component carrier for transceiving data to/from the base station; and transceiving data to/from the base station through the determined component carrier. The determining includes determining the component carrier which has received the PDCCH as a component carrier for receiving downlink data, and determining an uplink component carrier linked with the component carrier which has received the PDCCH as a component carrier for transmitting uplink data. |
| US08717999B2 |
Method and apparatus for communicating scheduling information from a UE to a radio access network
A method by which a UE device and a Node B communicate information such as scheduling information to each other, including a step of sending the information as part of a communication signal instead of padding in the communication signal if the information can be fit by removing all or part of the padding. |
| US08717998B2 |
Apparatus and methods for transmission and reception of data in multi-antenna systems
Methods and apparatus adapted to address asymmetric conditions in a multi-antenna system. In one embodiment, the multi-antenna system comprises a wireless (e.g., 3G cellular) multiple-input, multiple-output (MIMO) system, and the methods and apparatus efficiently utilize transmitter and receiver resources based at least in part on a detected asymmetric condition. If an asymmetric condition is detected by the transmitter on any given data stream, the transmitter can decide to utilize only a subset of the available resources for that stream. Accordingly, the signal processing resources for that data stream are adapted to mirror the reduction in resources that are necessary for transmission. The transmitter signals the receiver that it will only be using a subset of the resources available, and the receiver adapts its operation according to the signaling data it receives. The multi-antenna system can therefore reduce power consumption as well as increasing spectral efficiency on the network. |
| US08717995B2 |
Communication apparatus, base station apparatus, mobile station apparatus, communication system and communication method
A communication apparatus 1 includes a number-of-units determination unit 2 which determines the number of resource units to be allocated respectively to plural physical control channels by proportionally dividing the total number of resource units included in wireless resource which is designated for mapping of physical control channels among the plural physical control channels in accordance with a predetermined rule; a channel encoding unit 3 which channel-encodes the control information to be transmitted on the plural physical control channels respectively into data which can be transmitted by the number of resource units determined by said number-of-units determination unit; a modulation unit 4 which modulates the channel-encoded control information; and a transmission unit 5 which transmits the signal modulated by the modulation unit. |
| US08717994B2 |
Method and apparatus for transmitting downlink reference signal in wireless communication system that supports multiple antennas
A method for transmitting a reference signal for a maximum of eight antenna ports includes mapping a portion of common reference signals (CRSs) for a maximum of four antenna ports into a downlink subframe that includes a 1st slot and a 2nd slot; mapping channel status information reference signals (CSI-RSs) for the maximum of eight antenna ports into the downlink subframe according to a preset pattern; and transmitting the downlink subframe into which the common reference signal and the channel status information reference signal are mapped, wherein the preset pattern defines the CSI-RSs for the maximum of eight antenna ports to be mapped onto two OFDM symbols of the data region in the downlink subframe, and wherein the portion of the CRSs for the maximum of four antenna ports is limited to the CRSs for a maximum of two antenna ports. |
| US08717993B2 |
Adaptive selection of transmission parameters for reference signals
A method and apparatus for defining transmission parameters of user equipment reference signals. The method includes estimating channel delay spreads of a plurality of user equipments scheduled for transmission at a particular transmission time period or sub-frame in an uplink for communication with a NodeB, and allocating transmission parameters to each scheduled user equipment of the plurality of user equipments in accordance to the delay spreads of the plurality of user equipments scheduled for transmission in the particular time period or sub-frame, wherein the parameters comprises a cyclic shift allocated to each m-th user equipment equal to the sum of a delay spread and a timing uncertainty of each of the previous m-1 user equipments. |
| US08717992B2 |
Wireless communication system, wireless transmission apparatus and wireless transmission method
Even when communication is performed independently in each CC (Component Carrier), the occurrence of an error in communication is prevented. Provided is a wireless communication system in which a wireless transmission apparatus and a wireless reception apparatus communicate with each other using a plurality of system frequency bands, wherein the wireless transmission apparatus performs transmission power control on transmission data in each of the system frequency bands, and furthermore, a maximum transmission power which can be transmitted in each of the system frequency bands can be controlled so as to be different from each other. Priorities are set on each of the system frequency bands, and transmission powers of the system frequency bands are determined in descending order of the priorities. |
| US08717990B2 |
Method and apparatus for transmitting and receiving data including a plurality of data streams in a broadcasting/communication system
A method of transmitting data comprising a plurality of data streams in a broadcasting system is provided. The method includes dividing a frame into a plurality of physical layer zones, allocating the plurality of data streams to the plurality of physical layer zones, allocating signaling information associated with the plurality of physical layers to at least one of the plurality of physical layer regions, and transmitting the frame to which the signaling information is allocated. |
| US08717988B2 |
Method and apparatus for transmitting and receiving control information in a wireless communication system
A method and apparatus for transmitting and receiving control information in a wireless communication system are provided. The apparatus includes a DownLink/UpLink (DL/UL) indicator for indicating whether a connection associated with control information to be transmitted is a DL connection or a UL connection and a flow Identification (ID) that identifies the connection are generated and control information including the DL/UL indicator and the flow ID is transmitted to another party to the connection. |
| US08717984B2 |
Channel status determination method and related wireless local area network system and direct link setup method
A method for determining a channel status between a first station and a second station in a wireless local area network system includes the first station receiving a beacon from an access point. The first station broadcasts a packet carrying the beacon. The packet provides a basis for the second station to determine the channel status between the first station and the second station. |
| US08717976B2 |
Method and apparatus for transmitting control information in wireless communications system that supports coordinated multi-point (CoMP) including multiple transmission points
The present system relates to a method for transmitting control information in a wireless communications system that supports coordinated multi-point (CoMP) including N (N>1) transmission points. The method comprises: generating control information for downlink transmission of the N transmission points; and transmitting the generated control information to a user device, wherein the control information contains a control information region for transmission of intrinsic control information on a reference transmission point among the N transmission points, and N−1 control information regions for transmission of intrinsic control information on the N−1 transmission points. |
| US08717974B2 |
Handheld computing unit coordination of femtocell AP functions
A handheld computing unit includes a processing module and a plurality of PHY units. The processing module determines whether a femtocell access point (AP) mode is active. When the femtocell AP mode is active, the processing module determines whether at least one other handheld computing unit is supporting femtocell AP operations. When another handheld computing unit is not supporting the femtocell AP operations, the processing module enables the femtocell AP operations. A PHY unit of the plurality of PHY units converts a downstream PHY signal into a downstream radio frequency (RF) signal and converts an upstream RF signal into an upstream PHY signal. |
| US08717973B2 |
Location information management method and location management system
In the presence information management method of the present invention, the e-mail address of the user and the terminal address of a terminal are extracted upon receipt of an e-mail transmission request, the e-mail address and terminal address correspondence table is retrieved by using the extracted e-mail address, and the extracted terminal address is registered in the e-mail address and terminal address correspondence table if the retrieved terminal address does not correspond to the extracted terminal address. Thus, the user can automatically update presence information with his/her e-mail transmission request. |
| US08717966B2 |
Symmetrical cooperative diversity in the relay-enabled wireless systems
A communications system includes a source, a destination, and multiple relays. In a first time period, the source emits a first transmission and a first relay retransmits a prior source transmission. Then, in a second, subsequent time period, the source node emits a second transmission and a second relay transmits the source transmission from the first time period. Optionally, the transmission from the second relay also includes the message from the first relay during the first time period. Similarly, in a third time period, the first relay transmits a message that includes the second relay's transmission and the second source transmission from the second time period. Alternatively, the source node transmit in a first frequency band, the first and second relays receive only in the first frequency band, and retransmit in a second frequency band, and the destination receives in both the first and second frequency bands. |
| US08717965B2 |
Enhancing wimax performance with subscriber stations acting as ad hoc repeaters
A wireless communications network includes a subscriber station acting as a relay station (or ad-hoc repeater) between another subscriber station (a child subscriber station) and a base station (BTS) when there is no LOS between the other subscriber station and the base station, but there is LOS between the other subscriber station and the relay station. The BTS divides each of the downlink (DL) and uplink (UL) sub-frames into P1 and P2 portions and schedules transmissions of child subscriber DL and UL data during P1 of the DL and UL frames (from the BTS), respectively. The relay station receives the child subscriber DL and UL data, stores the data, and transmits/forwards the child subscriber DL and UL data during P2 of the DL and UL frame (to the BTS), respectively. |
| US08717963B2 |
Synchronized wireless communication network method and apparatus
A wireless star topology communication network is implemented in which a centrally located access point supports a very large number of fixed location nodes distributed over a large metropolitan area. Communication is by direct sequence spread spectrum modulating m-ary quadrature amplitude modulation symbols. The access point and all nodes are synchronized using GPS or other means to prevent data collisions. Multiple access is primarily based on signal propagation time between the access point and a node which allows nodes at different ranges to use the same direct sequence code. |
| US08717960B2 |
MCBCS mapping and delivery to support MCBCS services
A method and system for multicast and broadcast system (MCBCS) mapping and delivery to support MCBCS services is provided. Media content flows are assigned a media content identifier grouped into one or more multicast and broadcast system (MBS) services, wherein each MBS service is assigned an MBS service ID. An MBS content ID (MCID) is assigned to each MBS service. Data packets are formed that include the MBS service information (e.g., the media content flows) and classification/synchronization rules. A data path ID (DPID) is assigned to one or more MBS services dependent upon the destination of the data packets. Frames for transmission are then created and transmitted via radio frequencies. Optionally, a logical channel ID (LCID) may be assigned to each media content flow, if more than one media content flow is included within an MBS service. |
| US08717957B2 |
Preamble and header bit allocation for power savings within multiple user, multiple access, and/or MIMO wireless communications
Preamble and header bit allocation for power savings within multiple user, multiple access, and/or MIMO wireless communications. Within a multi-user packet, information (e.g., partial address information) related to a recipient group of wireless communication devices (e.g., as few as one wireless communication device or any subset of a number of wireless communication devices, sometimes including all of the wireless communication devices) is emplaced within a PHY (e.g., physical layer) header of such a multi-user packet to be communicated within a multi-user (MU) environment. Such recipient indicating information can be encoded with relatively higher robustness (e.g., lower coding rates, lower ordered modulation, cyclic redundancy check (CRC), etc.) that remaining portions of the multi-user packet. Various portions of the remainder of the multi-user packet may respectively correspond to different wireless communication devices (e.g., a first field for a first wireless communication device, a second field for a second wireless communication device, etc.). |
| US08717955B2 |
System and apparatus for adapting operations of a communication device
A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, at a base station, communicating with a mobile phone where the base station comprises a premises wireless access point, at the base station, communicating with a mobile communication system by way of a broadband connection, and instructing a landline phone communicatively coupled to the base station to communicate with a remote end user device via the mobile communication system utilizing identification information of the mobile phone and responsive to communications between the base station and the mobile phone. Other embodiments are disclosed. |
| US08717952B2 |
Wireless terminal positioning system, method of positioning wireless terminal, environment measurement system, facility management system, method of measuring environment, and method of deciding destination of wireless mobile terminal
To obtain a method of positioning a wireless terminal capable of obtaining the position of each communication terminal by measuring distances with installed communication terminals each other without fixedly installing a base station.A positioning management terminal 100 includes a positioning object decision section 130 that selects a terminal to be positioned, which is a positioning object, and a positioning standard terminal, whose position is known, among the wireless terminals 200; a positioning management section 120 that requires distance information between the terminal to be positioned and the positioning standard terminal; and a position calculation section 140 that calculates the position of the terminal to be positioned. The positioning management section 120 requires distance information from the positioning standard terminal selected by the positioning object decision section 130 to the terminal to be positioned selected by the positioning object decision section 130. The position calculation section 140 calculates the position of the terminal to be positioned using the distance information and position information of the positioning standard terminal. |
| US08717950B2 |
Multi-mode endpoint in a communication network system and methods thereof
A method, apparatus, and communication network system that allows an endpoint to be simultaneously registered with more than one communications server is described. In one embodiment, the communication network system includes a network, a plurality of communications servers that are coupled to the network, and a plurality of endpoints coupled to the network. Each endpoint is capable of being simultaneously registered with more than one communications server. A communication method for an endpoint involves registering a first logical line of the endpoint with a first communications server, and registering a second logical line of the endpoint with a second communications server. Consequently, flexibility is obtained by allowing an endpoint to choose the registering communications server for each logical line of the endpoint. |
| US08717949B2 |
Active speaker identification
Procedures for identifying clients in an audio event are described. In an example, a media server may order clients providing audio based on the input level. An identifier may be associated with the client for identifying the client providing input within the event. The ordered clients may be included in a list which may be inserted into a packet header carrying the audio content. |
| US08717945B2 |
Application-specific chargeback of content cached at the wireless tower
A method for application-specific chargeback of content cached at a wireless tower of a RAN includes receiving a request for content from an end user device in a base station of a RAN and routing the request to an application in a packet switched data communications network from the base station by way of a CN. Content from the application can be received in the base station within a response to the request, the response can be cached in a local cache of the base station in connection with the application and the response can be forwarded to the end user device. Subsequently, in response to a new request for the content received in the base station, the content can be served in a response from the local cache. Further, an identity of the application can be transmitted to a remote charging service external to the base station but within the RAN for charging the application in consequence of having served the content from the local cache of the base station. |
| US08717942B2 |
Method and network device for packet content translation
The disclosure provides a method and a network device for packet content translation, wherein the network device comprises: a packet analyzing unit, a packet comparing unit, and a calculating unit, and the method comprises: providing a packet content translation criteria table; obtaining characteristic information of a packet; comparing the characteristic information of the packet with the packet content translation criteria table to determine whether a corresponding match entry is found in the packet content translation criteria table; and using the calculating unit to perform a packet content translation for the packet according to a packet processing mode indicated by the corresponding match entry. The method and the network device for packet content translation of the disclosure can reduce resource requirement for network equipments. |
| US08717940B2 |
Predictive mobile ad hoc networking including associated systems and methods
The mobile ad hoc network (MANET) includes a plurality of wireless mobile nodes and a plurality of wireless communication links connecting the nodes together. A method for operating a MANET includes predicting future-needed network services, network resources and network configurations in the MANET. A network response is predicted, based upon the predicted future-needed network services, network resources and network configurations. The MANET is adjusted based upon the predicted network response before the future-needed network services, network resources and network configurations are actually needed in the MANET. |
| US08717931B2 |
Network discovery mechanisms
In some of the preferred embodiments, a method for network discovery of a mobile device to use at least one of a plurality of access networks within an IP network includes: obtaining specified network information in the vicinity of a given location based on a set of criteria when a mobile is connected to the IP network from any location. |
| US08717930B2 |
Wireless communication system
An access point allows access from at least one user device, which may be a wireless device or a wired local area network device. The access point has radio frequency transceiver circuitry for communicating over a wireless link with a base station selected from a plurality of available base stations, and an antenna, having an adjustable preferred direction for transmission and reception of radio frequency signals. Control circuitry selects a preferred direction for the antenna such that the access point can establish a wireless link with one of said base stations, based on a data rate that is available over the wireless link. |
| US08717929B2 |
Methods and systems for dynamic spectrum arbitrage
Methods and system are provided for managing and monitoring allocation of RF spectrum resources based on time, space and frequency. A network may be enabled to allocate excess spectrum resources for use by other network providers on a real-time basis. Allocated resources may be transferred from one provider with excess resources to another in need of additional resources based on contractual terms or on a real-time purchase negotiations and settlements. A network may be enabled to monitor the use of allocated resources on real-time basis and off-load or allow additional users depending on the spectrum resources availability. Public safety networks may be enabled to make spectrum resources available to general public by allocating spectrum resources and monitoring the use of those resources. During an emergency, when traffic increases on a public safety network, the public safety networks may off-load bandwidth traffic to make available necessary resources for public safety users. |
| US08717925B2 |
Testing TCP connection rate
Methods and apparatus to test connection rate of a network device. T connections between a test system and the network device may be defined and C connections of the T connections may be initiated in each of a plurality of sequential time intervals, where T and C are positive integers and T>C. Connection identifiers associated with active connections and inactive connections may be stored in first-in first-out active and idle queues, respectively. Connection identifiers associated with the initiated connections may be moved from the head of the idle queue to the tail of the active queue. When a number NI of connection identifiers in the idle queue at the start of a time interval is less than C, C−NI connections associated with connection identifiers at the head of the active queue may be aborted and re-initiated. |
| US08717922B2 |
Multitaper spectrum sensing systems and methods
Spectrum sensing methods and systems for detecting spectrum holes for use in cognitive radio secondary transmissions are disclosed. In one method, an indication of an assignment of a set of subcarriers to a primary user is received. The method further includes determining multitaper spectral estimates for at least a subset of the set of subcarriers based on the assignment of the set of subcarriers to the primary user by processing samples for the at least a subset of the set of subcarriers. In addition, a test statistic that is based on the multitaper spectral estimates is compared to a threshold to determine whether the set of subcarriers is utilized for primary transmissions to the primary user. Moreover, data signals are received on at least one of the subcarriers in the set of subcarriers if the set of subcarriers is not utilized for primary transmissions to the primary user. |
| US08717917B1 |
System and method for managing transaction data in a mobile communication network using selective sampling
A system and method for managing transactional data in a mobile communication network utilizes selectively sampling of a portion of data of transactions to and from mobile communication devices of the mobile communication network. An extract, transform and load process is then performed one the sampled data of the transactions and the resulting data is stored in a warehouse database, which can be used for analytics reporting. |
| US08717916B2 |
Systems and methods for learning MSS of services
The virtual Server (vServer) of an intermediary device deployed between a plurality of clients and services supports parameters for setting maximum segment size (MSS) on a per vServer/service basis and for automatically learning the MSS among the back-end services. In case of vServer/service setting, all vServers will use the MSS value set through the parameter for the MSS value set in TCP SYN+ACK to clients. In the case of learning mode, the backend service MSS will be learnt through monitor probing. The vServer will monitor and learn the MSS that is being frequently used by the services. When the learning is active, the intermediary device may keep statistics of the MSS of backend services picked up during load balancing decisions and once an interval timer expires, the MSS value may be picked by a majority and set on the vServer. If there is no majority, then the highest MSS is picked up to be set on the vServer. |
| US08717915B2 |
Process-integrated tree view control for interactive voice response design
An Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system design approach is provided employing a dynamic form that evolves automatically as the user enters content, in order to provide visual guidance relative to possible subsequent steps in the IVR system. The dynamic form follows a tree-view structure for the responses. The IVR content may be entered directly into the tree-view structure in an ad hoc manner, which provides a streamlined experience to the user compared to segmented building blocks. |
| US08717910B2 |
Field modulation for transfer and measurement of flow statistics
A first network device determines flow statistics information associated with a flow. The first network device modulates the time-to-live (TTL) header field in a packet associated with the flow to include flow statistics information. The packet includes a header and a payload. The first network device transmits the packet to a second network device. The second network device demodulates the TTL header field to determine flow statistics information. |
| US08717906B2 |
Network relay device, network, and network maintenance and operation method
A network relay device constituting a network includes a frame determination unit for referencing a protocol identifier contained in a frame from an external network relay device constituting another standard network different from the network, to determine whether or not the frame contains a confirmation frame for network operation, administration or maintenance, and a processing unit for performing operation, administration, or maintenance on the frame, when the frame determination unit determines that the frame is the confirmation frame. |
| US08717905B2 |
Apparatus and method for adaptive channel quality feedback in a multicarrier wireless network
A subscriber station for use in a wireless network capable of communicating according to a multicarrier protocol. The subscriber station determines a total average signal level across N subbands within a channel, where each of the subbands comprises a plurality of subcarriers. The subscriber station also determines a first average signal level within a first subband. The subscriber station then transmits a channel quality indicator (CQI) feedback message to the wireless network. The CQI feedback message comprises a first data indicating the total average signal level across the N subbands and a second data indicating the first average signal level within the one subband. The first data may indicate the total average signal level as an absolute value and the second data may indicate the first average signal level relative to the total average signal level using one of two or more unequal quantization levels. |
| US08717900B2 |
Mechanisms to improve the transmission control protocol performance in wireless networks
A system located on either side of a wireless network for reducing the amount of collisions in the wireless network comprises a TCP server in communication with a TCP client using TCP protocols that use client acknowledgements, and an acknowledgement-summarizing device adapted to summarize at least one client acknowledgement from the TCP protocols in a summarizing acknowledgement, and to transmit the summarizing acknowledgement into the wireless network. The acknowledgement-summarizing device may be replaced or combined with an acknowledgement-aggregating device located on either side of the wireless network and adapted to aggregate one or more client acknowledgements from the TCP protocols into an encoded packet and to transmit the encoded packet into the wireless network. |
| US08717899B2 |
System and method for reporting out-of-resources (OOR) conditions in a data network
A system and method for advertising out-of-resources (OOR) conditions for entities, such as nodes, line cards and data links, in a manner that does not involve using a maximum cost to indicate the entity is “out-of-resources.” According to the technique, an OOR condition for an entity is advertised in one or more type-length-value (TLV) objects contained in an advertisement message. The advertisement message is flooded to nodes on a data network to inform them of the entity's OOR condition. Head-end nodes that process the advertisement message may use information contained in the TLV object to determine a path for a new label switched path (LSP) that does not include the entity associated with the OOR condition. |
| US08717896B2 |
Frame relay switched data service
A new type of data transport service which uses a frame relay layer 2 data link connection identifier (DLCI) to select among various service types, feature sets, and/or closed user groups (CUGs). A layer 3 address may be extracted from a layer 2 frame, and the layer 3 address information may be used to route a data packet over a packet-switched network according to the service classes, feature sets, and/or CUGs selected. At the destination, the layer 3 data packet may again be enclosed in a layer 2 frame with a DLCI indicating the service classes, features sets, and/or CUGs. Because the use of conventional permanent virtual circuits (PVCs) is not required in aspects of the invention, new methods of measuring and managing network traffic are presented. |
| US08717894B2 |
Synchronization, scheduling, network management and frequency assignment method of a layered wireless access system
The present invention discloses as synchronization method of a layered wireless access system, which is applied to the layered wireless access system including an access point management unit located in an access layer and its linked access points. The access point management unit has a timing server, each access point having a timing client. The timing server generates timing information and distributes it to the timing client of each linked access point, and the timing client recovers the timing information as a local timing reference signal. The method may implement clock synchronization between the access point management unit and the access points to ensure the normal operation of the system. The present invention also provides network management, scheduling, frequency assignment and flow control methods based on the layered wireless access system. |
| US08717893B2 |
Network stabilizer
A network device determines that an outgoing network-to-network interface has dropped one or more network control packets and incrementally adjusts, based on the determining, a drop threshold parameter for the network control packets to give preference to the network control packets over non-network control packets. After the adjusting, the network device monitors traffic over the interface, and preempts, based on the monitoring, a low-priority label switched path (LSP) using the interface when the interface reaches a congested threshold or when the interface has dropped one or more other network control packets. The network device restores the low-priority LSP to the interface when the interface has reached an uncongested threshold. |
| US08717892B2 |
Full channel-swap crossbar
A programmable channel-swap crossbar switch for swapping signal flow from one channel to another within an Ethernet physical layer device (PHY) is presented. The crossbar switch includes two or more programmed multiplexers, each multiplexer configured to receive two or more input signals and to select which one of the input signals to pass to a programmed corresponding channel, such that a first input signal associated with a first channel can be swapped to a second channel as operating conditions necessitate. The crossbar switch can be used for Ethernet communications with various communication speeds, such as 10BaseT, 100BaseT, and Gigabit communications. A crossbar switch can be used in both a transmit path and a receive path. Two crossbar switches may be used in a receive path in order to undo channel swapping for control signal processing. A method of channel-swapping in an Ethernet PHY communications system is also presented. |
| US08717885B2 |
Link aggregation methods and devices
A method of aggregating a plurality of packet based communication channels is provided by the system. The communication channels connect two common endpoints, and aggregation devices are present at each point to implement an aggregation policy. The system provides a dynamic aggregation system where an aggregation policy is employed on a per packet flow basis. Packet flow can be classified by application type, so that an appropriate aggregation policy can be used for packets belonging to the flow. The selected aggregation policy is used for each flow within the aggregation devices at each endpoint. |
| US08717880B2 |
Detecting abnormal bearer termination and dynamically restoring flows utilizing an alternative bearer
An abnormal termination of a dedicated bearer (e.g., a lost bearer) (134) or a change in bearer characteristics that renders the dedicated bearer unusable of a mobile device (114) can be detected. The lost bearer (128) is a bearer that is not a default bearer (132) within a communication network that includes one or more lost communication flows (135). At least one radio access network (RAN) capable of communicating with the mobile device (114) can be determined, where the at least one RAN is not one used for the dedicated bearer (134) that was abnormally terminated. At least one alternative bearer (150) can be detected or established at the at least one RAN. Each lost communication flow (138) can be automatically and dynamically routed to the at least one alternative bearer (150). The routing of the lost communication flows (138) can occur without interrupting communications. |
| US08717879B2 |
Method to be run in and device of a network as well as communication system comprising such device
A method and a device are provided to be run in a network (or in particular on a network component of such network). The network has several network elements that are connected via a ring. One network element is a ring master with a primary port and a secondary port. The novel process includes the steps of (i) a failure along one direction of the ring is detected by the ring master; and (ii) the ring master sends a first message via its port that indicates the direction of the failure. |
| US08717877B2 |
Method for completing smooth cut-over, device and equipment for performing cut-over operations
The present invention provides a method for completing smooth cut-over and a device and equipment for performing cut-over operations. The method comprises: when the device for performing cut-over operations maintains a first connection with the first cut-over device via a first interface, establishing a second connection with a second cut-over device via a second interface, and transferring the services carried on the connection resources between the device for performing cut-over operations and the first cut-over device, that is, the first connection resources, to the connection resources between the device for performing cut-over operations and the second cut-over device, that is, the second connection resources. The present invention does not interrupt services during the cut-over procedure, without affecting the normal service usage by the user, thus improving the security and reliability of cut-over. |
| US08717876B2 |
Providing packet-based multimedia services via a circuit bearer
A packet-based multimedia service is provided to a terminal in a network. A packet signaling connection is established between the terminal and the network. Signaling information for the multimedia service is transferred via the packet signaling connection using Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) or a similar protocol. A circuit bearer connection is also established with the terminal. Data for the multimedia service is transferred via the circuit bearer connection. This allows the data to be carried across networks which do not support the required QoS functionality for the packet-based service, or which cannot efficiently carry packet-based data. The circuit bearer connection can be established by a network entity or by the terminal. The circuit bearer can be interworked to a packet-switched bearer at some point in the network, such as at a gateway, so as to provide a remote party with the appearance that a fully packet-switched connection is being used. |
| US08717871B2 |
Packet retransmission control system, method and program
A lower layer retransmission control unit performs the following processing. When transmitting a transmission packet, giving a sequence number indicating a transmission order to the transmission packet. Receiving, from a receiving device that receives the transmission packet as a reception packet, an ACK packet indicating the sequence number of the reception packet. Referring to the sequence number of the received ACK packet to determine whether or not the ACK packet is received in an order of the sequence number. Transmitting first to third transmission packets and, if receiving a first ACK packet and receiving a third ACK packet following the first ACK packet without receiving a second ACK packet, performing fast retransmission control processing. Specifically, determining whether or not to receive the second ACK packet before a fast retransmission determination period passes after a reception time of the third ACK packet. If failing to receive the second ACK packet within the fast retransmission determination period, retransmitting the second transmission packet. |
| US08717867B2 |
OFDM communications system
A communications system comprising a base station, and a plurality of terminals served by that base station which may include an ad-hoc network of terminals. Information from the base station or transmitting terminal is transported to the receiving terminals in the form of symbols in an orthogonal frequency division multiplexed format. Each terminal has means for measuring a channel dispersion and rate of phase variation corresponding to multipath signal reception for that terminal and for reporting that dispersion and variation measure to the transmitting station. In response to the channel dispersion and phase change measurements, the base station or transmitting terminal is arranged to provide, for groups of terminals having a similar channel dispersion, respective symbol and prefix lengths on the basis of the dispersion measurement of that group of terminals. |
| US08717865B2 |
Method and apparatus for constructing very high throughput short training field sequences
Certain aspects of the present disclosure relate to a technique for constructing a short training field (STF) sequence of a Very High Throughput (VHT) preamble in an effort to reduce a peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR). The constructed STF sequence may feature a specific repetition period. |
| US08717863B2 |
Method and apparatus for vectored data transmission
An apparatus includes a transmitter configured to transmit data via a plurality of communication channels of a communication connection. The transmitter is further configured to transmit a same sequence for vector training on each of the communication channels. The sequences for at least two of the communication channels are shifted with respect to each other. |
| US08717862B2 |
Communication apparatus and method
In accordance with an embodiment, a method for determining coupling coefficients between at least two communication links includes providing a respective pilot signal for at least one of the at least two communication links, adding a respective test signal to the respective pilot signal of at least one first link of the at least two communication links to form respective combined signals, and transmitting the respective combined signal. |
| US08717861B2 |
Information storage medium, reproducing method, and recording method
A machine readable information storage medium, a reproducing method and apparatus which reproduces data from the storage medium, and a recording method and apparatus for recording data on the storage medium. The information storage medium includes a control area which stores within a data structure information usable by the recording or reproducing apparatus to record or reproduce the data on or from the storage medium. The information stored within the data structure includes a version corresponding to a specification, a revision number of recording speed, and an extended part version field. |
| US08717859B1 |
Reactionless control of a slider head
A control mechanism may control the height and/or position of a read/write head configured to interact with a rotating information storage surface. The control mechanism may be a reactionless control mechanism configured to apply a counterforce to offset movements of the read/write head and/or a slider. A topography detection mechanism may detect topography of a side read/write track while the read/write head is interacting with a current read/write track. A memory may store the detected topography. The control mechanism may adjust the height of the read/write head based on the stored topography. The topography detection mechanism may compute the detected topography from gap measurements using a dynamic filter including a model of read/write head dynamics. |
| US08717854B2 |
Environment dependent—temperature independent color changing label
A timing device comprises a sensing material and/or a component which is sensitive to the presence of an environmental attribute. The environmental attribute drives and speeds up or slows the timing device as the concentration of the attribute increases or decreases, respectively. Alternatively, the timing device is activated upon sensing the presence of the environmental attribute and indicates a total passage of time from exposure/activation of the timing device. Particularly, sensing materials of varying types are able to be used to indicate exposure to a variety of substances. For example, in some embodiments, the timing device comprises a sensing material which is sensitive to the presence of ultraviolet radiation. Alternatively, the sensing material is sensitive to other variables such as x-ray radiation and nuclear radiation. In further embodiments, the sensing material is sensitive to biological or physical contamination. |
| US08717853B2 |
Multi-sector display
Multi-sector mechanism (1) for displaying a physical quantity on a timepiece (100), on several partial displays (2), each representing the change in said physical quantity over a given partial range (3), the total range of variation in said quantity being covered by the set of said partial ranges (3), each partial display (2) including an indicator (4) that moves relative to a scale (5) representing the partial range (3) specific thereto.Each partial display (2) includes a continuous mechanism (11) for moving the moving indicator (4) thereof opposite a scale representing said total range, and includes eclipsing means arranged for only allowing said moving indicator (4) to be seen opposite said scale (5) representing the partial range (3) specific thereto, and for reducing or obscuring visibility of said moving indicator (4) opposite the scales representing any other partial ranges, and said continuous mechanisms (11) of said partial displays (2) are all synchronous with each other. |
| US08717852B2 |
Apparatus for providing condition-based vibrotactile feedback
Systems and methods for monitoring motion parameters of an object are described in the present disclosure. In an embodiment, a sensor, coupled to a housing, senses motion associated with the housing and provides a sensor output based on the sensed motion. A processing device receives the sensor output, accumulates counts associated with the sensor output, and provides an output once a threshold associated with the accumulated counts is reached. A vibrotactile device, that receives the output from the processing device, provides a haptic output in response to the output from the processing device. |
| US08717848B2 |
Ultrasound probe
An ultrasound probe is provided that may improves specific desensitization of the frequency observed in the frequency characteristics and/or directional characteristics. The ultrasound probe related to this embodiment comprises an ultrasound transducer 10 and a plurality of acoustic matching layers 20 arranged in layers in the direction of irradiation irradiated from the ultrasound transducer 10, wherein, the plurality of acoustic matching layers 20 form a film and each of the adjacent acoustic impedance of longitudinal waves is substantially the same and has a different Poisson's ratio. |
| US08717846B2 |
4D seismic signal analysis
Methods of seismic data collection are described that reduce the amount of data required, reduce noise in the data collected and collect more data in areas where data collection is required. This results in a dramatic reduction of datasets required and improves noise reduction in data collected. By reducing the amount of data collected and increasing the noise reduction, a more accurate seismic survey is conducted at a dramatically reduced cost. |
| US08717844B2 |
Seismic data acquisition using self-propelled underwater vehicles
The present disclosure generally relates to the use of a self-propelled underwater vehicle for seismic data acquisition. The self-propelled underwater vehicle is adapted to gather seismic data from the seafloor and transmit such data to a control vessel. The self-propelled underwater vehicle may be redeployed to several seafloor locations during a seismic survey. Methods for real-time modeling of a target zone and redeployment of the self-propelled underwater vehicle based on the modeling are also described. |
| US08717842B2 |
Multi-port memory based on DRAM core
A semiconductor memory device includes a plurality of N external ports, each of which receives commands, and an internal circuit which performs at least N access operations during a minimum interval of the commands that are input into one of the external ports. |
| US08717841B2 |
Method of controlling a refresh operation of PSRAM and related device
A plurality of refresh requests are generated at a predetermined period shorter than the longest time during which a PSRAM is able to retain a data without being refreshed. For two consecutive first and second refresh requests, the second refresh request is ignored if the interval between the first and the second refresh requests is not larger than a predetermined duration. The first refresh request is delayed if the first refresh request conflicts with an external command of the PSRAM. |
| US08717837B2 |
Memory module
A memory module having memory components, a termination structure, an address/control signal path, a clock signal path, multiple data signal paths and multiple strobe signal paths. The strobe signal paths and data signal paths are coupled to respective memory components, and the address/control signal path and clock signal path are coupled in common to all the memory components. The address/control signal path extends along the memory components to the termination structure such that control signals propagating toward the termination structure arrive at address/control inputs of respective memory components at progressively later times corresponding to relative positions of the memory components. |
| US08717825B2 |
Memory device and corresponding reading method
An electrically erasable and programmable non-volatile memory device includes memory cells arranged in rows and columns, and each column of memory cells is associated with a respective local bit line. The local bit lines are divided into packets of local bit lines, each packet of local bit lines associated with a respective main bit line. Each local bit line is selectively couplable to the respective main bit line by a corresponding selector. Each local bit line is selectively couplable to a reference terminal, for receiving a reference voltage, by a corresponding discharge selector. Each discharge selector is active when the memory device is in a standby state. The non-volatile memory device further includes biasing circuitry to bias each main bit line to a pre-charge voltage during operation, and reading circuitry to select and access a group of memory cells during reading operations. |
| US08717823B2 |
Multiple level program verify in a memory device
A series of programming pulses are applied to a memory cell to be programmed. A program verify pulse, at an initial program verify voltage, is applied to the memory cell after each programming pulse. The initial program verify voltage is a verify voltage that has been increased by a quick charge loss voltage. The quick charge loss voltage is subtracted from the initial program verify voltage after either a programming pulse has reached a certain reference voltage or a quantity of programming pulses has reached a pulse count threshold. |
| US08717821B2 |
Nonvolatile memory device and method of programming the same
The program method of a nonvolatile memory device includes detecting temperature, setting a step voltage, corresponding to an increment of a program voltage in a program operation of an incremental step pulse program (ISPP) method, wherein the step voltage changes based on the detected temperature, and performing the program operation and a program verification operation based on the set step voltage. |
| US08717820B2 |
Floating addressing of an EEPROM memory page
A method for electrically programming a non-volatile memory in which a programming cycle includes prior addressing of memory cells from an initial address corresponding to a first row and a column of a memory plane. The method may include addressing the memory cells in a second consecutive row when the end of the first row is reached to store data on bits with consecutive and increasing addresses in two consecutive rows. |
| US08717818B1 |
Storage device architecture
In one aspect, a storage device includes a plurality of storage strings, each comprising a serial interconnection of a plurality of active storage elements, each storage element having a part for maintaining a storage state and a part of modulating a current through the element according to the storage state. The device also includes mapping circuitry for selectively sensing a storage state of a storage element in a storage string by forming current though the storage element that is a non-linear function of the storage state. In some examples, the mapping circuitry comprises reference string of active elements, and the mapping circuitry selectively senses a storage state by forming a difference in currents in the sensed storage string and in the reference string that is a non-linear function of the storage state. In some examples, the active storage elements comprise floating gate transistors. |
| US08717810B2 |
Phase change memory device and computing system having the same
A phase change memory device includes a memory cell array, a register unit and a control unit. The memory cell array includes a plurality of phase change memory cells. The register unit includes a circular queue. The control unit receives a write address and a write data in a write mode, programs the write data in a phase change memory cell corresponding to the write address among the plurality of phase change memory cells, provides the write address and the write data to the register unit, and outputs a write complete signal before a phase of the phase change memory cell is stabilized or after the phase of the phase change memory cell is stabilized based on a logic level of a first result signal received from the register unit. The phase change memory device increases a programming speed. |
| US08717809B2 |
Phase change memory programming method and phase change memory
Disclosed is a method of programming a phase change memory (100) comprising a plurality of memory cells (10), each memory cell comprising a control terminal connected to a word line (30), and a current terminal connected to a bit line (20), comprising applying a first set pulse (Vb) having a shape including a decaying trailing edge (54) to one of the bit line (20) and the word line (30) of a memory cell (10) for changing its phase change material from an amorphous phase to a crystalline phase; applying a second set pulse (Vw) to the other of the bit line and the word line of the memory cell, said second set pulse at least partially overlapping said first set pulse such that the resulting current pulse (Ids) through the memory cell exhibits the decaying trailing edge (52), said decaying trailing edge ensuring the crystallization of the phase change material; applying a first reset pulse (Vb) having said shape to one of the bit line (20) and the word line (30) of a memory cell for changing its phase change material from the crystalline phase to the amorphous phase; and applying a second reset pulse (Vw) to the other of the bit line and the word line of the memory cell, said second set pulse at least partially overlapping said first set pulse such that the resulting current pulse (lds) through the memory cell exhibits the trailing edge of the second reset pulse. A corresponding phase change memory (100) is also disclosed. |
| US08717808B2 |
Magnetic devices and structures
Magnetic devices, magnetoresistive structures, and methods and techniques associated with the magnetic devices and magnetoresistive structures are presented. For example, a magnetic device is presented. The magnetic device includes a ferromagnet, an antiferromagnet coupled to the ferromagnet, and a nonmagnetic metal proximate to the ferromagnet. The antiferromagnet provides uniaxial anisotropy to the magnetic device. A resistance of the nonmagnetic metal is dependent upon a direction of a magnetic moment of the ferromagnet. |
| US08717807B2 |
Independently-controlled-gate SRAM
The present invention provides an IG 7T FinFET SRAM, which adopts independently-controlled-gate super-high-VT FinFETs to achieve a stacking-like property, whereby to eliminate the read disturb and half-select disturb. Further, the present invention uses keeper circuits and read control voltage to reduce leakage current of the bit lines during read. Furthermore, the present invention can effectively overcome the problem of the conventional 6T SRAM that is likely to have read errors at low operation voltage. |
| US08717806B2 |
Storage element, storage device, signal processing circuit, and method for driving storage element
A storage element capable of retaining data even after supply of power supply voltage is stopped is provided. In the storage element retaining data in synchronization with a clock signal, with the use of a capacitor and a transistor having a channel in an oxide semiconductor layer, the data can be retained even after supply of power supply voltage is stopped. Here, when the transistor is turned off while the level of the clock signal is kept constant before the supply of power supply voltage is stopped, the data can be retained accurately in the capacitor. By applying such a storage element to each of a CPU, a memory, and a peripheral control device, supply of power supply voltage can be stopped in the entire system, so that the power consumption of the entire system can be reduced. |
| US08717805B2 |
Nonvolatile RAM
A semiconductor random access memory device includes a memory cell including a resistor whose resistance varies by formation and disappearance of a filament due to an oxidation-reduction reaction of metal ions, a memory area configured to include a first memory area operable in a nonvolatile mode in which a stored content thereof is not lost by a power-off event, and a second memory area operable in a volatile mode in which the stored content thereof is lost by the power-off event, each of the first memory area and the second memory area including the plurality of the memory cells, a register circuit that stores information including a first address information indicating the first memory area, and a second address information indicating the second memory area, and a control circuit that controls the nonvolatile mode, and the volatile mode, with reference to the information stored in the register circuit. |
| US08717804B2 |
Three dimensional programmable resistance memory device with a read/write circuit stacked under a memory cell array
A programmable resistance memory device includes a semiconductor substrate, at least one cell array, in which memory cells are arranged formed above the semiconductor substrate. Each of the memory cells has a stack structure of a programmable resistance element and an access element, the programmable resistance element storing a high resistance state or a low resistance state determined due to the polarity of voltage application in a non-volatile manner. The access element has such a resistance value in an off-state in a certain voltage range that is ten time or more as high as that in a select state. A read/write circuit is formed on a semiconductor substrate as underlying the cell array for data reading and data writing in communication with the cell array. |
| US08717803B2 |
Metal-insulator-metal-insulator-metal (MIMIM) memory device
The present memory device includes first and second electrodes, first and second insulating layers between the electrodes, the first insulating layer being in contact with the first electrode, the second insulating layer being in contact with the second electrode, and a metal layer between the first and second insulating layers. Further included may be a first oxide layer between and in contact with the first insulating layer and the metal layer, and a second oxide layer between and in contact with the second insulating layer and the metal layer. |
| US08717800B2 |
Method and apparatus pertaining to a ferroelectric random access memory
An FRAM device can comprise a sense amplifier and at least a first bitcell. The first bitcell can have a bit line and a complimentary bit line that connects to the sense amplifier. A first precharge circuit responds to a first control signal during a test mode of operation to precharge the bit line with respect to a first voltage while a second precharge circuit responds to a second control signal (that is different from the first control signal) during the test mode of operation to precharge the complimentary bit line with respect to a test voltage that is different than the first voltage (such as, but not limited to, a test voltage of choice such as a voltage that is greater than ground but less than the first voltage). |
| US08717798B2 |
Layout for semiconductor memories
A semiconductor memory includes a first conductive layer including a first pair of bit lines coupled to a first bit cell and a second conductive layer including a second pair of bit lines coupled to the first bit cell. The first and second conductive layers are vertically separated from each other. |
| US08717797B2 |
Semiconductor memory device with hierarchical bitlines
A dynamic random access memory (DRAM) device has a hierarchical bitline structure with local bitlines and global bitlines formed on different metal layers. The local bitlines are separated into a plurality of local bitline sections, and bitline isolation switches are configured to connect or disconnect the local bitline sections to or from the global bitlines. As a result, the local bitlines with higher per-length capacitance can be made shorter, since the global bitline with lower per-length capacitance is used to route the signal from the cell capacitances of the memory cells to the remote sense amplifiers. |
| US08717794B2 |
Apparatus, system, and method for matching patterns with an ultra fast check engine
A check engine includes a plurality of comparators each including a first directional characteristic aligned to store at least one reference bit included in a set of reference bits, and a second directional characteristic aligned to present at least one target bit included in a set of target bits. Each of the plurality of comparators is configured to produce an output representing a level of matching between the at least one target bit and the at least one reference bit, based on a relative alignment between the first directional characteristic and the second directional characteristic. The check engine is configured such that the outputs of the plurality of comparators are combined to produce a combined output. The check engine is configured to determine that the set of target bits matches the set of reference bits based on the combined output of the plurality of comparators. |
| US08717793B2 |
Longest prefix match internet protocol content addressable memories and related methods
Embodiments of content addressable memories for internet protocol devices and operations are described herein. Other examples and related methods are also disclosed herein. |
| US08717785B2 |
Multi-stage sampling circuit for a power converter controller
An example controller for a power converter includes a track and hold circuit, a sample and hold circuit, and drive logic. The track and hold circuit receives a signal from a terminal of the controller that is representative of an output voltage of the power converter. The track and hold circuit includes a first capacitor that provides a first voltage that tracks the signal and then holds the first voltage. The sample and hold circuit samples the first voltage when the first voltage is held on the first capacitor. The sample and hold circuit includes a second capacitor coupled to hold a second voltage representative of the first voltage after a sample period, where the second capacitor has a capacitance value larger than that of the first capacitor. The drive logic controls the first switch to regulate an output of the power converter in response to the second voltage. |
| US08717782B2 |
Sweeping frequency LLC resonant power regulator
An LLC resonant power regulator system includes a transformer having a primary inductor and a secondary inductor and an input resonant tank including an input resonant capacitor, an input leakage inductor, and the primary inductor connected in series. The system also includes an input stage having a plurality of switches that are controlled in response to a respective plurality of switching signals sweeping frequency to supply an input resonant current to the input resonant tank. Each of the respective plurality of switching signals can have a fixed duty cycle and a sweeping frequency. The system further includes an output resonant tank that includes an output resonant capacitor, an output leakage inductor, and the secondary inductor connected in series. The output resonant tank can be configured to generate an oscillating output resonant current at an output. |
| US08717779B2 |
Holder for holding cable noise suppressor and image forming system incorporating the same
A holder for holding a cable noise suppressor for a cable to interconnect a first printed circuit board in a first housing to a second printed circuit board in a second housing includes a first guide to determine a position and a direction of the cable noise suppressor held at a first position in the holder, a second guide to determine a position and a direction of the cable noise suppressor held at a second position different from the first position in the holder, and a cable guide to guide the cable projecting from the cable noise suppressor. The cable noise suppressor is held at either the first position or the second position in accordance with the relative positions of the first housing and the second housing. |
| US08717778B2 |
Electronic device and ground connection structure
An electronic device including: a circuit board on which an electronic component is mounted; a plate material which is used as a ground, the plate material being extended in parallel with the circuit board; and a ground connection member which includes a fixed section and multiple elastic leg sections, the fixed section being tightened to the circuit board and connected to a ground on the circuit board, the elastic leg sections being extended from the fixed section toward different directions along the circuit board, each of the elastic leg sections being extended onto the plate material side to elastically press the plate material. |
| US08717774B2 |
Electronic passive device
A capacitive interposer, electronic package having the capacitive interposer and electronic device with the electronic package is described. The interposer has a first planar face and a second planar face. An array of upper connections is on the first planar face and opposing lower connections are on the second planar face with conduction paths between each upper connection of the upper connections and a lower connection of the lower connections. At least one power feed-through capacitor is provided. The capacitor is mounted on the first planar face with the first external termination in direct electrical contact with a first upper connection and the second external termination is in direct electrical contact with a second upper connection. At least one upper connection, first external termination and second external termination are arranged for direct electrical contact with element contact pads of a common element. |
| US08717768B2 |
Electronic device with cable
An electronic device includes a chassis, a bracket received in the chassis and a cable. A storage device is received in the bracket, and a wire is connected to the storage device. A motherboard is attached to the chassis, and at least two inserting slots are located on the motherboard. A first circuit board is electronically connected to the wire. The cable is electronically connected to the first circuit board and includes a connecting component and at least two connectors. The connecting component is electronically connected to the first circuit board, and the at least two connectors are electronically connected to the at least two inserting slots. |
| US08717767B2 |
Server cabinet
A server cabinet includes a housing and a number of cable management brackets longitudinally mounted to the housing. Each cable management bracket includes two opposite mounting portions mounted to the housing, and a base plate connected between the mounting portions. Each mounting portion defines a number of openings for cables extending through. |
| US08717759B2 |
Apparatus and method for transforming a consumer device enclosure
A transformable enclosure enabling increased functionality, such as storage capacity, is provided. The apparatus enables modular units to be attached to increase capacity without compromising the integrity of the overall structure. The apparatus includes a housing that contains a signal processing circuit, the housing including interfaces for coupling a plurality of removable modules to the circuit, a base coupled to the housing that supports the housing in at least two orientations. The apparatus operates in a first mechanical orientation without the plurality of removable modules coupled to the interfaces and operates in a second mechanical orientation with the plurality of removable modules coupled to the interfaces. A cooling device provides cooling for the circuit in the first mechanical orientation and the plurality of removable modules in the second mechanical orientation. |
| US08717756B2 |
Electronic device
An electronic device includes: a casing in which electronic components including a heat-emitting component which emits heat during operation are accommodated; a heat-dissipating component including a plurality of fins to which heat emitted in the heat-emitting component transfers; a fan operable to supply cooling air to the heat-dissipating component; and a cleaning component movable on an end surface of the fins along the side nearer the fan with the cleaning component abutting against the end surface of the fins. In these features, dust on the end surface of the fins can be automatically removed by moving the cleaning component in the case of the spatial orientation of the electronic device being changed. Therefore, an effect of removing heat emitted in the heat-emitting components, by using cooling air supplied from the fan, can be continuously obtained. |
| US08717754B2 |
Hard disk drive mounting device
A mounting device for hard disk drive includes a cage and a frame. The cage defines a receiving space. The receiving space includes a bottom plate. The frame includes a mounting plate and two limiting plates. The hard disk drive is secured between the two limiting plates. A gap is defined between the mounting plate and the bottom plate. A positioning protrusion is located on the bottom plate. A first mounting piece and a second mounting piece extend from the mounting plate. Two positioning pieces extend from the first mounting piece. The second mounting piece abuts the positioning protrusion, the first mounting piece and the second mounting piece are secured to the positioning protrusion, and the two positioning pieces abut the bottom plate, to prevent the second mounting piece from jolting towards the bottom plate. |
| US08717753B2 |
Self-latching storage device module
A latching device for latching a storage device module into a storage chassis is provided. The latching device includes a latch member having a latching end and a spring end opposite the latching end, the latch member slidingly disposed within a front bezel of the storage device module and being movable between a latching position and a releasing position. The latching device also includes a latch spring between a bearing surface of the front bezel and the spring end of the latch member. The latch spring is in increased compression when the latch member transitions from the latching position to the releasing position, and the latch spring is in decreased compression when the latch member transitions from the releasing position to the latching position. The latching end extends through a latch hole in a side member of the storage chassis for locking the storage device module in the chassis. |
| US08717751B2 |
Protective enclosure
One example embodiment includes a system for protecting an electronic display. The system includes an enclosure. The enclosure is configured to receive an electronic display. The system also includes a cover, where the cover is configured to cover the electronic display and attachment means, where the attachment means attaches the enclosure to the electronic display. |
| US08717745B2 |
Cooling method for cooling medium-voltage electrical switchgear using integrated heat pipes, and a system using said method
The method of the invention makes it possible to cool electrical switchgear operating at medium voltage and high current, such as a circuit breaker. The method consists in inserting serially two heat pipes (11) inside said switchgear, putting a first end (11A) of the first heat pipe (11) in the hot portion of the hot portions (10A, 10C) of the circuit breaker (10) and a second end (11B) of the first heat pipe (11) in a portion that is cooler (10A) of the hot portions (10A, 10C). The other heat pipe (11) is put between the cooler of the hot portions (10A) and a cooler part of the circuit breaker (10). A particular application is provided for medium-voltage, high-current circuit breakers. |
| US08717744B2 |
Fuse cover
A connection apparatus includes a housing portion comprising a back panel and side panels, the back panel and side panels partially defining a cavity having an access orifice, the side panels partially defining an entry area to the access orifice, a fuse holder assembly disposed in the cavity, and a cover disposed in the cavity between a portion of the fuse holder assembly and the entry area to the access orifice, the cover obscures a portion of the fuse holder assembly. |
| US08717742B2 |
Gas insulated switchgear with withdrawable circuit breaker unit
A GIS (Gas Insulated Switchgear) includes a main bus compartment including a main bus-bar unit, a transfer bus compartment including a transfer bus-bar unit, a sealed circuit breaker compartment including a circuit breaker unit and a load side compartment including a current transforming unit and a transfer bus conductor electrically coupling the transfer bus-bar unit and the current transformer unit. The circuit breaker unit is contained in the sealed circuit breaker compartment being separately independent from other compartments. The transfer bus conductor passes from the transfer bus-bar unit through the load side compartment to the current transformer unit without passing through the circuit breaker compartment. The sealed circuit breaker compartment and the load side compartment do not share insulating gas. |
| US08717741B2 |
Busbar connection system, switchgear unit, and method of transporting switchgear components
A busbar connection system for coupling a first busbar segment to a second busbar segment includes a mounting component defining a slot and configured to be coupled to the first busbar segment, a retaining component configured to be coupled to the second busbar segment, and a connecting member including a first end and an opposing second end. The first end is configured to be coupled to the mounting component and the second end is configured to be coupled to the retaining component. The busbar connection system also includes a pivot member configured to be operatively coupled to the first end and shaped to be received within the slot. The pivot member enables the connecting member to pivot about the mounting component. |
| US08717740B2 |
Electrolytic capacitor
An electrolytic capacitor in which a capacitor element can be fixed firmly into a metal case without having adverse effects on the electrical characteristics of the electrolytic capacitor. An anode foil provided with an anode internal terminal and a cathode foil provided with a cathode internal terminal are wound or laminated through a separator to produce a capacitor element. The capacitor element is then contained in a metal case together with a driving electrolyte, and then the side surface of the metal case is caulked to press and fix the capacitor element, thus producing an electrolytic capacitor. The electrolytic capacitor is characterized in that a tape material is wound by a plurality of turns around the outer circumference of the capacitor element between the capacitor element and the caulking of the metal case such that a total thickness of the tape material is so large as to relax deformation of the capacitor element when the side surface of the metal case is caulked. |
| US08717739B2 |
Ceramic electronic component
A ceramic electronic component includes a substantially rectangular ceramic element assembly, a first external electrode, and a second external electrode. The first external electrode includes at least one plating film including a first plating film disposed directly on the ceramic element assembly from outside. Likewise, the second external electrode includes at least one plating film including a second plating film disposed directly on the ceramic element assembly from outside. The first and second plating films each have a surface area per unit area equal to or larger than about 1.02 in plan view. |
| US08717737B2 |
Substrate conveyance method and substrate conveyance system
Disclosed are a substrate conveyance method and substrate conveyance system that are able to quickly transfer a substrate without losing positional accuracy. Using an electrostatic chuck mechanism in the holding of a wafer (W) by the holding surface (210) of a conveyance robot, the wafer (W) is transferred from a supporting surface (303) to the holding surface (210) in the state where an electrostatic attraction force is generated at the holding surface (210). As a result, since it is possible to hold the wafer by means of the electrostatic attraction force starting immediately after the wafer (W) has been transferred to the holding surface (210), it is possible to rapidly execute a wafer (W) conveying operation and thus it is possible to reduce the conveying time of the wafer between processing chambers. |
| US08717731B2 |
Hybrid control circuit breaker
Apparatus and systems and methods are described herein that provide a controlled circuit breaker that selectively interrupts a flow current associated with a first electrical phase and an uncontrolled circuit breaker that selectively interrupts current associated with a second electrical phase. The controlled circuit breaker and uncontrolled circuit breaker are coupled to one another and configured to be installed in adjacent slots in a circuit breaker panel. |
| US08717728B2 |
High voltage electronic switches for controlling direct current arcs in high voltage direct current systems and methods of operating the same
High voltage direct current systems are provided including one or more outlets and an electronic current limiter circuit associated with the one or more outlets. The electronic current limiter circuit is configured to limit current inrush when a connector is plugged into and/or unplugged from the one or more outlets when a direct current bus associated with the one or more outlets is energized so as not to damage the connector; and/or isolate direct current faults and/or excess current draw in a load connected to the one or more outlets so as to protect the system from shutdown. |
| US08717723B2 |
Driver circuit and method of generating an output signal
A driver circuit of an integrated circuit is described. The driver circuit comprises a signal node coupled to receive an output signal of the integrated circuit; an inductor circuit having a resistor coupled in series with an inductor between a first terminal and a second terminal, wherein the first terminal is coupled to the signal node; an electrostatic discharge protection circuit coupled to the second terminal of the inductor circuit; and an output node coupled to the second terminal of the inductor circuit. A method of generating an output signal is also disclosed. |
| US08717721B2 |
High impedance fault isolation system
A high impedance fault isolation system for a radially connected three phase electric power line that utilizes three phase current measurements to determine the presence of a fault without the need for any voltage measurements or a battery powered controller. This eliminates the need for costly phase voltage measuring devices conventionally required to detect high impedance faults, which makes it economical to install fault isolation system at a greater number of locations throughout the power system. The system detects faults using current measurements by computing the negative and zero sequence current components and comparing the amplitudes of the negative and zero sequence components. A fault is detected when the ratio of the amplitudes of the negative and zero sequence components falls within a predefined fault detection range, such as the range from 0.5 to 1.5. |
| US08717720B2 |
Systems and methods for providing arc fault and/or ground fault protection for distributed generation sources
A system is provided including: (1) an arc fault circuit interrupter having a line side terminal and a load side terminal, wherein the line side terminal is coupled to a voltage source, and (2) a current source coupled to the load side terminal to backfeed the arc fault circuit interrupter. Numerous other aspects also are provided. |
| US08717714B2 |
Magnetic head positioning and driving device including heaters and diodes
In a positioning and driving system including a rotating magnetic disk, a magnetic head slider that floats above the surface of the magnetic disk and writes data to and reads data from a track provided on the magnetic disk, an actuator that positions the magnetic head slider in a radial direction of the magnetic disk, and an amplifier that supplies electrical power to the actuator in accordance with the input signal and performs a driving operation, provided is the configuration of an electrothermal actuator driving system that obtains continuous displacement over the entire required operating range with respect to changes in an input voltage by using only one amplifier and that is incorporated into a feedback control system and is suitable for high-speed and high-precision positioning. |
| US08717710B2 |
Corrosion-resistant bit patterned media (BPM) and discrete track media (DTM) and methods of production thereof
In one embodiment, a magnetic recording medium includes a magnetic recording layer including a magnetic material characterized by having convex and concave portions, the convex portions acting as magnetic regions, a nonmagnetic material positioned within each concave portion of the magnetic material which act as nonmagnetic regions that separate the magnetic regions, an organic material layer which exhibits a corrosion-inhibiting characteristic with respect to cobalt or cobalt alloy positioned on a nonmagnetic region side of each concave portion, and an oxide layer and/or hydroxide layer positioned adjacent the organic material layer on a magnetic region side of each concave portion of the magnetic material. In another embodiment, the magnetic recording medium may be a patterned recording layer having a protective film, and the oxide layer and/or hydroxide layer may be positioned at least in defect portions of the protective film. |
| US08717709B1 |
System for calibrating an electronic lapping guide for a beveled pole in a magnetic recording transducer
A wafer comprises a transducer having an air-bearing surface (ABS) and including a magnetic structure characterized by a desired thickness, and having a bevel and a flare point a first distance from the ABS. The wafer further comprises a first electronic lapping guide (ELG), a second ELG, and a third ELG. The first ELG has a first edge a first distance from the ABS and a second edge a second distance from the ABS. The second ELG has a third edge a third distance from the ABS and a fourth edge the second distance from the ABS. The third ELG has a fifth edge a fourth distance from the ABS and a sixth edge the second distance from the ABS. At least one of the first distance and the second distance, at least one of the third distance and the second distance, and at least one of the fourth distance and the second distance correspond to an intersection between the bevel and the desired thickness. |
| US08717708B2 |
Magnetic head and magnetic disk apparatus
Embodiments of the present invention provide a magnetic head for perpendicular magnetic recording, and a magnetic disk apparatus capable of preventing data erasure caused by alignment marks. In an embodiment, the magnetic head includes a head element including at least a main pole having a pole face on a flying surface and an auxiliary pole; alignment marks made of a magnetic material and used to detect the amount of lapping work when lapping the pole face of the main pole; and members made of a magnetic material, continuously extending in either direction with respect to the position of the main pole from within the alignment marks outward at least beyond the alignment marks. |
| US08717706B1 |
Disk drive with a spherical balance plug
Described herein is a balance plug for a disk drive. The balance plug includes a body defining a substantially spherical outer surface and a plurality of ribs along the spherical outer surface and defining at least three meridians along the outer surface of the sphere. The at least three meridians can reside in at least two transverse planes. |
| US08717702B2 |
Measurement of spacing fluctuation
A method for determining the surface distortions of a disk in a spin-stand or single or multiple disk hard disk drive (HDD) utilizing a DFH type write head. A stepwise power curve is supplied to the DFH head, the head is flown over a chosen track on the disk, and the high frequency signal from a HDI sensor is analyzed in order to determine the step of an initial touchdown power and the step of a complete touchdown power as a function of individual sectors in a sector subdivision along a chosen track. The HDI sensor signal is averaged within each step of the power curve between these two steps and a Ratio variable, Ratio=(Max. amplitude)/(RMS amplitude) is calculated for each step and is averaged over each rotation of the disk during the step. |
| US08717693B2 |
Movable lens assembly and associated methods
The described lens assembly for use with a camera having a camera body includes a tilt assembly portion configured to allow pivotal movement of the lens body relative to the camera body. The lens assembly further includes a focus assembly configured to axially adjust a position of a removable optic assembly mounted to the focus assembly relative to the lens body to control focus of the lens assembly when the optic assembly is installed in the lens body. The lens body and focus assembly may be structured to remain coupled to the camera body after the optic assembly is removed from the focus assembly. |
| US08717691B2 |
Lens barrel
A lens barrel includes a lens group including a fixed lens including one or more lenses and an adjustment lens including one or more lenses, and a lens frame to hold the lens group, including an adjustment lens frame to hold the adjustment lens and an aligning mechanism to hold the adjustment lens frame movably in a direction orthogonal to an optical axis of the lens group relative to the lens frame. |
| US08717684B2 |
Optical system and optical equipment including the same
Provided is an optical system with an excellent anti-reflection effect and ghost suppression effect including an aspherical lens having at least one of an incident surface and an exiting surface of an optical glass formed of an aspherical surface, in which: the aspherical surface includes an anti-reflection structure formed thereon, the anti-reflection structure having an anti-reflection function and including multiple inorganic structural parts finer than a used wavelength; and the aspherical surface has a point that satisfies the following expression: |(1/Rm−1/Rs)/Rm|>5.0×10−5, where Rm denotes a radius of curvature in a meridional direction at an arbitrary point, and Rs denotes a radius of curvature in a sagittal direction at the arbitrary point. |
| US08717680B2 |
Apparatus and associated methods
A coating including a liquid-phobic and/or liquid-philic material, the coating configured to control the shape of a corresponding liquid to form a liquid lens of specific focal length on the coating. |
| US08717678B2 |
Guided matter-wave Sagnac interferometer
The present invention provides an interferometer apparatus comprising a matter-wave guide enclosing an area, wherein a flux of particles may be guided in the matter-wave guide in at least two opposite paths, the matter-wave guide is rotatable relative to an inertial frame of reference; a first beam splitter to split the first beam to at least second and third beams, each of the second and third beams is to be guided in another path of the two opposite paths; and a second beam splitter allowing particles of the second and third beams to exit the matter-wave guide in a first probability and to stay in the matter-wave guide in a second probability. |
| US08717677B2 |
Optical device and optical filter
An optical device is provided. The optical device comprises a substrate having a coating region and a non-coating region. A first film is on the coating region, wherein the first film has a band edge structure extending to a portion of the non-coating region with an angle between a surface of the band edge structure and a surface of the first film to diminish the attenuation of an incident light beam. |
| US08717675B2 |
Polarizing film, polarizing plate, method of preparing the polarizing film and organic light-emitting apparatus including the polarizing plate
A polarizing film having a polyvinyl alcohol-based resin film on which an iodine-first component composite particle is absorbed and oriented. A first component is included in the iodine-first component composite particle prevents iodine having high sublimation characteristics from being sublimated and prevents a molecular structure of the iodine of the iodine-first component composite particle from being destroyed. |
| US08717672B2 |
Variable-focus optical system
Aberrations are sufficiently corrected, and an excellent image is acquired. Provided is a variable-focus optical system including a positive-power front-group optical system, a rear-group optical system having the same power, and an optical-system driving unit configured to relatively change the distance therebetween in the optical axis direction, wherein the front-group optical system consists of a positive-power first-group optical system formed of a joined lens, that is, a lens L1 and a lens L2, a positive-power second-group optical system consisting of a lens L3, and a third-group optical system formed of a lens L4 and a lens L5, and the rear-group optical system consists of a positive-power fourth-group optical system formed of a lens L7 and a lens L6, a fifth-group optical system consisting of a positive-power lens L8, and a positive-power sixth-group optical system formed of a joined lens, that is, a lens L10 and a lens L9. |
| US08717670B2 |
Fiber-MOPA apparatus for delivering pulses on demand
A fiber-MOPA includes a seed-pulse source followed by fiber amplifier stages. The seed pulse source delivers signal pulses for performing a laser operation and delivers radiation between the seed pulses to maintain the collective average of the seed pulse power and intermediate radiation power constant. Keeping this average power constant keeps the instantaneous available gain of the fiber amplifier stages constant. This provides that the seed pulse delivery can be changed from one regime to a next without a period of instability between the regimes. |
| US08717669B2 |
Apparatus and method of generating nearly non-diffracting beams from multimode optical fibers
A first optical fiber (12) having a first end and a second end is connected to a multimode second optical fiber (14) at the second end. The first optical fiber (12) outputs a substantially single mode optical beam at its second end. The multimode second optical fiber (14) converts light in the optical beam of single mode from the first optical fiber to light of multiple modes, and provides an output beam that has less diffractive spreading than that of a Gaussian beam. |
| US08717668B1 |
Transport fiber amplifier for beam quality improvement
A combined large mode area, fiber cable amplifier and laser beam transport fiber cable is disclosed that transports laser beams output from a compact, high power, solid state laser to remote locations while improving the beam quality and amplifying the beam to compensate for losses in the fiber cable. The fiber cable is clad and is cladding pumped to compensate for the losses in the fiber cable. |
| US08717666B2 |
Compact solid state entangled photon source
A compact source of polarization-entangled photons includes a laser source, producing a laser beam, a pair of nonlinear crystals, in optical contact with each other, with one of the pair of nonlinear crystals having an input face, with the laser beam incident on the input face, and another of the pair of nonlinear crystals rotated 90°, along an axis perpendicular to the input face, with respect to each other and a fiber coupling point, configured to receive a pair of single-mode fibers. Pairs of polarization-entangled photons are produced through spontaneous parametric down conversion of the laser beam and provided to the fiber coupling point. |
| US08717665B2 |
Optical wavelength conversion device, and coherent light source using same
The invention relates to an optical wavelength conversion device adapted to receive at least one first pump beam (λ1) as an input and emitting a different wavelength output beam (λS), which includes: an optical cavity (CE); an optically non-linear medium (CNL) placed inside the optical cavity; and a control system (BA1) for controlling said optical cavity having the wavelength of the first pump beam; said control system being adapted to receive, as an input, a first signal (S1) representing the power stored in the cavity having said first wavelength and a second signal (S2) representing the power of the output beam. The invention also relates to a coherent light source comprising such a device and one or two pump laser sources (L1, L2). |
| US08717664B2 |
Color display device
The present invention provides a solution for a highlight or multicolor display device, in which each display cell can display high quality color states. More specifically, an electrophoretic fluid is provided which comprises three types of pigment particles, having different levels of size, threshold voltage or charge intensity. |
| US08717662B2 |
Display device and electronic apparatus
A display device includes a display layer provided with a cell in which first particles, second particles, and third particle with colors different to each other are contained, a front side electrode provided on the front side of the display layer, and a first and second back side electrodes provided corresponding to the cell on the back side of the display layer. The first particles are charged. The second particles have a color in a complementary color relation to that of the first particles, are charged with the opposite polarity to that of the first particles, and have a smaller amount of charge than that of the first particles. In the display device, a part where the first particles and the second particles are disproportionately located is set with the third particles dispersed in the cell, to change a color in the cell viewed from the front side electrode side. |
| US08717660B2 |
Annulus scattering diffuser for reflective display
This disclosure provides systems, methods and apparatus for enhancing the brightness and/or contrast ratio of display devices. In one aspect, the display devices can include an annular diffuser that is configured to scatter light into a ring shaped region. The annular diffuser can include a plurality of axicon lenses or holographic features. The reflective display can include an annular diffuser to shift the direction along which most of the modulated light is scattered away from the direction along which light is specularly reflected by the display devices to reduce specular glare and enhance brightness and/or contrast ratio. |
| US08717654B2 |
Optical probe with feedback correction
The present invention relates to an optical probe (1) suitable for miniature applications. An example application is a fiber-based confocal miniaturized microscope. The optical probe comprises a coil-based actuation system (9, 10) comprising drive coils (9) capable of displacing the distal end (3) of an optical guide (2) housed (4) by the optical probe. The probe makes use of a feedback loop which alternate between driving the displacement of the optical guide by driving a current through the drive coils and switching off the current through the drive coils, and while the drive current being switched off, measure the speed of the distal end of the optical guide. The measured speed is compared to the set-point speed, and if a difference is detected, the drive current is adjusted to eliminate, or at least bring down, this difference. |
| US08717651B2 |
Optical devices and method of counting optical pulses
An optical device comprises an optical device stage, which comprises an optical input, an optical AND gate, an optical flip-flop and an optical output. The optical input is arranged to receive an optical input pulse at an input wavelength. The optical AND gate comprises a first input arranged to receive a part of said optical input pulse, a second input arranged to receive at least a part of a flip-flop optical output signal, and an output. The optical AND gate is arranged to generate an AND gate optical output pulse dependent on said flip-flop optical output signal. The optical flip-flop comprises a first input arranged to receive a further part of said optical input pulse, a second input arranged to receive a said AND gate optical output pulse, and an output. The optical flip-flop is arranged to generate said flip-flop output signal at a flip-flop output wavelength. At least a part of the flip-flop output signal is provided to said output. |
| US08717649B2 |
Image processing apparatus and method of controlling the same
Disclosed is an image processing apparatus and a method of controlling the same. A color contact image sensor (CIS) module employing a single channel line sensor can be used to produce substantially the same performance as a color CIS module employing a three-channel line sensor and having color filters to, for example, reduce manufacturing costs. Moreover, a blurring phenomenon that can occur in a scanned image can be reduced and the quality of the scanned image can be improved. |
| US08717648B2 |
Image processing apparatus, image processing method, and computer program product
An image processing apparatus includes: a setting unit that sets a color index representing a category to which an achromatic color and at least one chromatic color that are included in image data belong; an adjustment unit that adjusts a color tone of the achromatic color belonging to the category that is indicated by the set color index in accordance with a hue of the chromatic color belonging to the category; and a generation unit that generates image data including the chromatic color belonging to the category and the achromatic color of which the color tone is adjusted by the adjustment unit. |
| US08717647B2 |
Imaging methods, imaging device calibration methods, imaging devices, and hard imaging device sensor assemblies
Imaging methods, imaging device calibration methods, imaging devices, and hard imaging device sensor assemblies are described. According to one aspect, an imaging method includes forming a hard color image upon media using image data, the hard color image corresponding to the color image, and after the forming, sensing an optical characteristic of the hard color images at a plurality of different spatial locations of individual ones of the hard color images, and providing information regarding the optical characteristic at the different spatial locations of the hard color image after the sensing. |
| US08717646B2 |
Image reading device capable of performing rotation process on read image appropriately
An image reading device conveys a first sheet and second sheet in a conveying direction. The first sheet has short sides extending in the conveying direction and long sides extending in a main scanning direction. The second sheet has long sides extending in the conveying direction and short sides extending in the main scanning direction. The image reading device reads an image on a sheet at a reading position and detects the sheet at a detecting position. A distance between the reading position and the detecting position is smaller than a difference between the short side of first sheet and the long side of second sheet. The image reading device rotates the read image if a sheet is not detected when the predetermined length worth of image is read. The read image is not rotated if a sheet is detected when the predetermined length worth of image is read. |
| US08717641B2 |
System and method for edge identification to position components of a scanner
A scanner includes a scan surface, a scan, a controller, and a positioning system. The scan surface is stationary and has a first width while the scan module has a second width substantially less than the first width. The controller is configured to automatically cause two scans of a media on the scan surface, without repositioning the media, and to automatically produce a composite image of the entire media from the two scans. The positioning system is in communication with the controller and includes an identification mechanism configured to identify an edge of a scanning area associated with the scan surface and to stop a position of the scan module at the identified edge. |
| US08717638B2 |
Optical scanner having multi shaft link sections, image forming apparatus
An optical scanner includes: a light reflecting section having light reflectivity; a movable section which includes the light reflecting section and can be displaced; two link sections connected to positions of ends of the movable section, the positions facing each other; a supporting section supporting the link sections; and a displacement providing section turning the two link sections, wherein each link section includes a turnable drive section, and a shaft section connecting the movable section and the drive section and bending in a thickness direction of the movable section by turning of the drive section. |
| US08717637B2 |
Method for scanning documents
A method for scanning documents in a document scanner (10) includes transporting (45) documents from an input tray (20) to an document detection sensor (135A-135E); detecting documents with the document detection sensor; capturing image data for a document with an image capture device; determining characteristics of the document based on the image data with an image processor; comparing characteristics of the document to document detection sensor data; and excluding document detection sensor data which conflicts with the image data. |
| US08717634B2 |
Image processing device and an image processing method of correction of front end fading or sweepup adapted to the state of thinning
Provided is an image processing device including: an outline detection unit which analyzes image data to detect an outer edge pixel forming the outline of image, and to determine an edge direction of the outer edge pixel; a thinning unit which processes thinning by reducing a pixel value of the outer edge pixel; and an outline adjusting unit. The outline adjusting unit determines a correction value of front end fading to be adopted to the outer edge pixel, depending on sheet-feeding direction when the image data is printed and the edge direction of the outer edge pixel; reduces the correction value of front end fading, depending on the ratio of reduction by the thinning of the pixel value of the outer edge pixel; and corrects the front end fading by adding the reduced correction value to the pixel value of the outer edge pixel. |
| US08717632B2 |
Image processing method, image processing device and scanner
An image processing method generally includes: obtaining a vanishing point on a curved surface in a two-dimension image; extracting all the straight line segments between a top contour line and a bottom contour line of the curved surface by the vanishing point; removing a perspective distortion to get parallel straight line segments; obtaining the lengths of the straight line segments, obtaining the true width of each of the straight line segments in a three-dimension space and the depth increment of the straight line segments according to the lengths; obtaining the expanded width of each straight line segment according to the true width and the depth increment; obtaining the total expanded width of the curved surface to transform it into a flat surface; transforming image contents on the curved surface onto the flat surface. |
| US08717630B2 |
Image processing apparatus and image processing method a thinning ratio applied when an image object has a first size is smaller than a thinning ratio applied when an image object has a second size smaller than the first size
If a non-edge part of an image is thinned at a constant thinning ratio regardless of an image size (a character size or a line image width), a reduction in image density in the non-edge part becomes more conspicuous with increasing image size, which can lead to a reduction in image quality. In view of the above, the thinning ratio at which to thin data in the non-edge part of the image is determined depending on the image size. The thinning ratio is set to be smaller for images with sizes greater than or equal to a predetermined value than for images with sizes smaller than the predetermined value such that a high-quality image with sufficiently high density in its non-edge part is obtained regardless of the image size. |
| US08717628B1 |
Flexible image processing apparatus and method
Some of the embodiments of the present disclosure provide an apparatus for processing a starting image, comprising: a first unit configured to provide starting pixel data from a selected portion of the starting image, wherein the selected portion is less than an entirety of the starting image; and a second unit configured to receive the starting pixel data from the first unit and to selectively provide to a look up table (LUT) an address of replacement pixel data for at least a pixel of the selected portion of the starting image. Other embodiments are also described and claimed. |
| US08717617B1 |
Positioning and printing of a handheld device
Embodiments of the present invention provide a handheld device comprising an input/output (I/O) module configured to at least one of print and scan images on a surface adjacent to the handheld device, a position module operatively coupled with the I/O module to determine at least one of a position and a velocity of the handheld device, and a filter coupled to the I/O module to regulate a rate of deposition of a printing substance by the I/O module. |
| US08717614B2 |
Image forming apparatus and image forming method
An image forming apparatus of the present disclosure includes a print queue, a job writing unit, a print execution unit, a connected-state detection unit, and a maximum-number-of-storable-pages changing unit. The print queue stores print jobs on a page basis. The job writing unit writes the print jobs into the print queue. The print execution unit executes print on a recording medium based on a page from the print queue, and suspends execution of the print in a case in which a print job other than a print job of currently executed printing is cancelled. The connected-state detection unit detects a connected state of extension devices affecting a length of a conveyance path of the recording medium. The maximum-number-of-storable-pages changing unit changes a maximum number of storable pages, that can be stored in the print queue, and changes the maximum number of storable pages, based on the connected state detected. |
| US08717613B2 |
Apparatus and method of scanning and/or printing an image
A scanning apparatus and a method thereof include a scanning unit scanning a document and outputting a scanned result, at least one external storage unit detachably attached to the apparatus, at least one internal storage unit, and a controller detecting an attachment state of the external storage unit and storing the scanned result in one of the external storage unit and the internal storage unit according to the attachment state of the external storage unit. The scanning unit of the scanning apparatus is combined with a user scanning unit and a user printing unit into a combination apparatus, and the scanned result is printed in a printing apparatus spaced-apart from the scanning apparatus by a distance, thereby removing cables between the scanning or printing apparatus and a personal computer. Regardless of an attachment state of the external storage unit, the document is scanned in the real time, and the scanning apparatus is commonly used with a plurality of personal computers which are not connected to the scanning apparatus. |
| US08717610B2 |
Network scanner for global document creation, transmission and management
A network scanner, communication protocols, and client and server programs and are provided which provide an improved way to transmit legally binding documents, obviating the need for outmoded, legacy fax transmissions. Using the network scanner, a document may be scanned and transferred directly into any shared folder inbox residing on any computer attached to the Internet. Enhanced server systems and network communications and messaging protocols are provided that are more practical to use than email for sending documents such as executed legal documents or other documents requiring robust integrity and authenticatability. Similarly, the inventive network scanner, server systems and communication protocols provide improved ways to perform large file transfers and to manage bandwidth to minimize problems associated with uploading/downloading large files as attachments to/from email servers and for enabling user control over VoIP quality during file transmission sessions. |
| US08717607B2 |
Image forming apparatus, image processing system, and image processing method
An image forming apparatus connected to a plural servers and includes a storage part including a log data storage area and configured to store log data into the log data storage area being divided into a first area capable of retaining a first predetermined number of log data items and a second area capable of retaining a second predetermined number of log data items, a data management part configured to manage the storing of the log data into the log data storage area, and a notice transmission part configured to instruct the plural servers to obtain the log data stored in the log data storage area by simultaneously transmitting a notice to the plural servers. The data management part instructs the notice transmission part to transmit the notice when the number of times of storing the log data becomes equivalent to the first predetermined number. |
| US08717603B2 |
System and method for automatic execution of print instructions stored on external memory
An image forming apparatus includes an external storage device insertion detecting section that detects that an external storage device is inserted. The image forming apparatus further includes an identification information generating section that generates identification information to identify the corresponding image information from the image information generated page by page by an image information generating section; an identification information comparing section that acquires previous identification information, which is previously generated by the identification information generating section, and that compares the acquired previous identification information with the identification information generated by the identification information generating section; and a printing executing section that executes a printing process for the image information corresponding to the generated identification information if a result of the comparison by the identification information comparing section indicates that the generated identification information does not match the previous identification information. |
| US08717602B2 |
Cloud computing system, document processing method, and storage medium in which a number of processing units is adjusted based on processing status
A reception processing unit provided in a document processing system receives a document data processing request from a user device. A division processing unit divides document data corresponding to the processing request and generates divided document data. A document processing unit performs document processing for the divided document data, and a coupling processing unit combines the document-processed divided document data. A resource management unit increases or decreases the number of the division processing units, the document processing units, and the coupling processing units in response to the processing status of each thereof. |
| US08717598B2 |
Print apparatus and method of controlling the apparatus and program thereof
The present invention provides a print apparatus and a method of controlling the print apparatus for receiving and processing a job including a setting for post-processing for printed sheets printed in the print process. The print apparatus determines whether or not there is an unexecutable post-processing in a plurality of types of post-processes set for the received job, and if there is the unexecutable post-processing, information for executing a print process corresponding to the unexecutable post-process and the unexecutable post-process is stored in a holding unit. An executable post-process of the plurality of types of post-processes set for the received job is identified, and a print process corresponding to the executable post-process and the executable post-process are executed prior to a print process corresponding to the unexecutable post-process and the unexecutable post-process. |
| US08717586B2 |
Image processing apparatus that performs processing according to instruction defining the processing, control method for the apparatus, and storage medium
An image processing apparatus which makes it possible to select a plurality of instructions at a time, and connect a plurality of documents together so that they can be processed as one document. The image processing apparatus has a reading unit, which reads an image on an original to generate image data, and performs processing according to an instruction defining reading processing to be performed, as well as processing on the generated image data. The selected plurality of instructions are analyzed, and based on the analysis result, the selected plurality of instructions are connected together to create a new instruction. |
| US08717585B2 |
Printing control method and printing control terminal device for image forming apparatus during printing XML paper specification file
A printing control method includes searching for an XML paper specification (XPS) attribute file from an XPS file if a command to print the XPS file is received, determining whether the searched XPS attribute file is located within a preset portion of the XPS file, adjusting a structure of the XPS file if the XPS attribute file is not located within the preset portion of the XPS file, and transmitting the XPS file of the adjusted structure to an image forming apparatus. Accordingly, the speed of the image forming apparatus recognizing the XPS file can be enhanced. |
| US08717579B2 |
Distance measuring device using a method of spanning separately targeted endpoints
A portable distance measuring device that works by spanning separately targeted endpoints is described. The device contains a laser distance measuring component and sensing components that track changes in position and orientation of the device, such as accelerometers and gyroscopes. Distance is measured by pointing the laser at an endpoint and measuring the distance to it. Once this measurement is confirmed, the device can be moved to a different vantage location to measure a second endpoint with the laser. The orientation and position of the device for the second distance measurement relative to the first measurement are calculated by the position and orientation sensors. Together these values are sufficient to calculate the distance spanning the endpoints. This calculation is performed by a computer contained in the device and the distance displayed to the user. |
| US08717577B1 |
Compensating aperture for utilizing shearography from a moving platform
The invention allows a shearography system to successfully sense ground/surface vibrations while moving at aircraft speeds and altitudes. This is done by effectively making stationary the apparent location of a coherent laser beam illuminating an area on the ground/surface, and also effectively making stationary the apparent location of the aperture of an optical receiver which acquires pairs of sequential images captured and used for shearography. A different laser is used for capturing each of the two images, and the distance between the two lasers is adjusted based on a number of operational parameters. The adjustment of the distance causes the apparent locations of the transmitter and a receiver sub-aperture to remain the same and permits the moving shearography to work. |
| US08717575B2 |
Systems and methods for environmentally insensitive high-performance fiber-optic gyroscopes
Systems and methods for environmentally insensitive high-performance fiber-optic gyroscopes are provided. In one embodiment, a loop closure electronics apparatus for a fiber optic gyroscope having an optical phase modulator characterized by a transfer function that includes an error component of at least second order is provided. The apparatus comprises: a first digital circuit that generates a digital bias modulation signal; a second digital circuit that generates a digital feedback signal; at least one digital-to-analog converter that produces an electrical signal that drives the phase modulator from the digital bias modulation signal and the digital feedback signal; and a compensator that includes an analog filter of at least second order and a digital filter of at least second order, wherein the analog filter and the digital filter pre-filter the electrical signal to compensate for the error component. |
| US08717572B2 |
Spectrophotometer
A spectrophotometer includes a plurality of sensor elements arranged together, each sensor element including a filter; a light sensor optically coupled with an output of the filter; and a barrier that surrounds the filter and light sensor and a space between the filter and light sensor. For each sensor element, the barrier blocks light that has not passed through the filter from reaching the light sensor including such that light from one sensor element is not detected by another of the sensor elements. |
| US08717571B2 |
Optical measurement apparatus and optical measurement system
An optical measurement apparatus includes a connector where a base end portion of a measurement probe introduced into a subject is connected, a light source unit that emits illumination light irradiated from a leading end of the measurement probe, an optical measurement unit that measures reflection light and/or scattering light of the illumination light incident through the measurement probe, a first optical path that transmits the illumination light emitted by the light source unit to the optical measurement unit, a second optical path that transmits, to the measurement probe, the illumination light emitted by the light source unit and transmits, to the optical measurement unit, reflection light and/or scattering light of the illumination light incident through the measurement probe, and an optical path switching unit that switches an optical path for transmitting the illumination light into the first optical path or the second optical path. |
| US08717570B2 |
Method for determining the active doping concentration of a doped semiconductor region
A method and system for optically determining a substantially fully activated doping profile are disclosed. The substantially fully activated doping profile is characterized by a set of physical parameters. In one aspect, the method includes obtaining a sample comprising a fully activated doping profile and a reference, and obtaining photomodulated reflectance (PMOR) offset curve measurement data and DC reflectance measurement data for the sample including the fully activated doping profile and for the reference. The method also includes determining values for the set of physical parameters of the doping profile based on both the photomodulated reflectance offset curve measurements and the DC reflectance measurements. |
| US08717568B2 |
Analyzing particle quantity and/or distribution within an assay analysis system
Methods, storage mediums and systems (MS&S) are provided which successively image an imaging region of an assay analysis system (AAS) as particles are loaded into the imaging region, generate a frequency spectrum of each image via a discrete Fourier transform, integrate a same coordinate portion of each frequency spectrum and terminate the loading of particles upon computing an integral which meets preset criterion. In addition, MS&S are provided which send a signal indicative of whether enough particles are in an imaging region for further processes by an AAS based on the magnitude of integral calculated from an image's frequency spectrum. MM&S are also provided such that the steps of generating a frequency spectrum of each image and integrating a portion of each frequency spectrum are replaced by generating a convolved spatial image with a filter kernel and integrating a same coordinate portion of each convolved spatial image. |
| US08717567B2 |
Method and apparatus for calibrating a color measurement device
One embodiment of a method for calibrating a test color measurement device in conjunction with an emissive display includes measuring spectral sensitivities of at least four channels of a more-than-three-channel sensor in the test color measurement device, linearly regressing the spectral sensitivities to a least-square best fit to Commission International de l'Éclairage (CIE) color matching functions, wherein the linearly regressing is performed using a weighting function that is based on a square root of a spectral power distribution characteristic of the emissive display or of a type of the emissive display, and computing a set of initial fitting coefficient values from the linearly regressing. |
| US08717562B2 |
Dynamic and depolarized dynamic light scattering colloid analyzer
Apparatus are described for measuring the characteristics of colloidal particles suspended in transparent media by Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS) and Depolarized Dynamic Light Scattering (DDLS) into regions where conventional measurements are difficult or impractical. Matching the diameter of an illuminating beam and an intersecting diameter of a field stop image extends measurements into regions that include concentrated turbid suspensions that frequently appear so visually opaque that multiple scattering typically gives a falsely low estimate of particle size. At the opposite extreme, where insufficient signal is available to determine either or both of the translational and/or rotational relaxation times of the particles, typically where they are too small, too few, or of insufficient refractive index difference from the medium to scatter enough light, measurements can be improved by: a) using a sufficiently large aperture such that many coherence areas fall upon the detector; and b) optical homodyne amplification of the scattered signal. |
| US08717559B2 |
Optical fiber probe and raman detecting system having same
An optical fiber probe includes an optical fiber, a carbon nanotube film structure, and a number of metallic particles. The optical fiber includes a detecting end. The carbon nanotube film structure is located on a surface of the detecting end. The carbon nanotube film structure includes a number of carbon nanotubes joined by van der Waals attractive force therebetween. The metallic particles are located on outer surfaces of the carbon nanotubes. |
| US08717553B1 |
Positioning a first surface in a pre-determined position relative to a second surface
A method and an apparatus for positioning a first device in relation to a second device. An optical signal from a first device is sent to a second device. A reflection of the optical signal from the second device is received. A position of one of the devices relative to the other device is adjusted based upon the reflection. |
| US08717551B2 |
Adaptive search for atypical regions in incident light field and spectral classification of light in the atypical regions
A system and method for searching an incident light field for atypical regions (e.g., hot spots or cool spots or spectrally distinctive regions) within the incident light field using a light modulator and a spectral sensing device. Once the atypical regions are identified, the light modulator may be used to mask the incident light field so that the spectral sensing device can make spatially-concentrated measurements of the wavelength spectrum of the atypical regions (or alternatively, the exterior of the atypical regions). Furthermore, in a compressive imaging mode, a sequence of spatial patterns may be supplied to the light modulator, and a corresponding sequence of wavelength spectra may be collected from the spectral sensing device. The wavelength spectra comprise a compressed representation of the incident light field over space and wavelength. The wavelength spectra may be used to reconstruct a multispectral (or hyperspectral) data cube. |
| US08717550B2 |
Method and device for detecting biological material
The invention relates to a method for detecting biological material in an airstream, in which method the airstream is fed with the aid of sampling devices, a light beam is emitted towards the airstream, a fluorescence signal depicting the fluorescence of the particle is created, a scattering signal depicting the scattering of the light of the particle is created, the fluorescence signal and the scattering signal are converted into discrete values, and an alarm value is defined. The discrete values are recorded cumulatively as hit points in an at least 2-dimensional measurement space equipped with selected dimensions, at least one index area is preselected from the measurement space, a cumulative index is calculated at an index frequency from the hit points accumulated on the each preselected index area, and an alarm value, showing the presence of a selected biological material, is defined from the indices by using a preselected criterion. |
| US08717545B2 |
System and method for generating three dimensional images using lidar and video measurements
A system uses range and Doppler velocity measurements from a lidar system and images from a video system to estimate a six degree-of-freedom trajectory of a target. The system estimates this trajectory in two stages: a first stage in which the range and Doppler measurements from the lidar system along with various feature measurements obtained from the images from the video system are used to estimate first stage motion aspects of the target (i.e., the trajectory of the target); and a second stage in which the images from the video system and the first stage motion aspects of the target are used to estimate second stage motion aspects of the target. Once the second stage motion aspects of the target are estimated, a three-dimensional image of the target may be generated. |
| US08717543B2 |
Substrate holder, stage apparatus, and exposure apparatus with first support part provided in a suction space and second support part
An object of the invention is to hold a substrate with satisfactory flatness, even at a circumferential edge part that surrounds a suction space. The invention is equipped with a circumferential edge part that surrounds a suction space, and a first support part that is provided in the suction space and that supports a substrate. Furthermore, the invention is equipped with a second support part that extends from the circumferential edge part to the first support part and that supports the substrate. |
| US08717541B2 |
Field facet mirror for an illumination optics of a projection exposure apparatus for EUV microlithography
A field facet mirror for an illumination optics of a projection exposure apparatus for EUV microlithography transmits a structure of an object arranged in an object field into an image field. The field facet mirror has a plurality of field facets with reflection surfaces. The arrangement of the field facets next to one another spans a base plane. Projections of the reflection surfaces of at least two of the field facets onto the base plane differ with respect to at least one of the following parameters: size, shape, orientation. A field facet mirror results which can ensure a uniform object field illumination with a simultaneously high EUV throughput. |
| US08717536B2 |
Lithographic apparatus, device manufacturing method and associated data processing apparatus and computer program product
A lithographic apparatus operates by moving a substrate and a patterning device relative to each other in a sequence of movements such that a pattern is applied at a successive portions on the substrate. Each portion of the substrate is patterned by a scanning operation in which the patterning device is scanned through the radiation beam while synchronously scanning the substrate through the patterned radiation beam so as to apply the pattern to the desired portion on the substrate. An intrafield correction is applied during each scanning operation so as to compensate for distortion effects which vary during the scanning operation. The intrafield correction includes corrective variations of one or more properties of the projection system, and optionally out-of-plane movements of the patterning device and/or substrate table. |
| US08717532B2 |
Active mount, lithographic apparatus comprising such active mount and method for tuning such active mount
A lithographic apparatus includes an illumination system configured to condition a radiation beam, a support constructed to support a patterning device, the patterning device being capable of imparting the radiation beam with a pattern in its cross-section to form a patterned radiation beam, a substrate table constructed to hold a substrate, and a projection system configured to project the patterned radiation beam onto a target portion of the substrate. The projection system is mounted on a reference structure of the lithographic apparatus by a mount of the lithographic apparatus. The mount includes a first piezoelectric element to exert a force on the projection system, a second piezoelectric element to measure the force, and an interconnection member interposed between the first and second piezoelectric elements, the interconnection member comprising a cut. |
| US08717531B2 |
Mirror for guiding a radiation bundle
A mirror serves for guiding a radiation bundle. The mirror has a basic body and a coating of a reflective surface of the basic body, the coating increasing the reflectivity of the mirror. A heat dissipating device serves for dissipating heat deposited in the coating. The heat dissipating device has at least one Peltier element. The coating is applied directly on the Peltier element. A temperature setting apparatus has at least one temperature sensor for a temperature of the reflective surface. A regulating device of the Temperature setting apparatus can be connected to the at least one Peltier element and is signal-connected to the at least one temperature sensor. The result is a mirror in which a heat dissipating capacity of the heat dissipating device is improved. |
| US08717530B2 |
Array substrate for transreflective liquid crystal display, manufacturing method thereof and liquid crystal display
An embodiment of the invention provides an array substrate for a liquid crystal display comprising a substrate and a gate scanning line, a thin film transistor, a data line, and a passivation layer on the substrate, the passivation layer covering the gate scanning line, the thin film transistor, the data line, and a through hole being formed in the passivation layer. A pixel electrode is formed on the passivation layer and comprises a transmissive part and a reflective part, the transmissive part comprises an amorphous-type indium tin oxide film and a poly-type indium tin oxide film below the amorphous-type indium tin oxide film, and the reflective part comprises the poly-type indium tin oxide film and a metal film covering the poly-type indium tin oxide film. |
| US08717529B2 |
Display apparatus and method of fabricating the same
A display apparatus that includes a first substrate, a second substrate, and a thin film transistor. The first substrate includes a fiber reinforced plastic substrate and a color filter layer formed on the fiber reinforced plastic substrate. The second substrate faces the first substrate. The thin film transistor is formed on the first substrate. |
| US08717527B2 |
Method for sealing liquid crystal display panel
The present invention discloses a method for applying sealant to seal a liquid crystal display panel, and it includes a step of deploying a sealant pattern on a first substrate. Wherein the sealant is deployed along a predetermined path of a first substrate from a starting stroke, and wherein when the final stroke of deployment of the sealant closes to the starting point, diverting the sealant inward to inner side of the first glass substrate such that a final stroke of the sealant is juxtaposed with the starting stroke of the sealant. By the disclosure of the present invention, the boarder generated by the sealant can be effectively narrowed and this is a meet to the industry trend of the liquid crystal display. |
| US08717526B2 |
Liquid crystal display device and manufacturing method thereof
A liquid crystal display device includes a first substrate and a second substrate which are disposed to face each other with liquid crystal interposed therebetween and a sealing material which is disposed between the first substrate and the second substrate to seal the liquid crystal, wherein a side surface of the liquid crystal display device has a cut surface, and a first resin layer which is formed along the sealing material and has a height less than a gap between the first substrate and the second substrate in a display region and the sealing material are exposed at the cut surface. |
| US08717518B2 |
Polarization plate and liquid crystal display
The present invention relates to a polarizer having an antistatic layer and a liquid crystal display. The present invention may provide a polarizer which may prevent malfunction of devices by static electricity generated in preparation or use procedures even without using the ITO layer conventionally formed between the upper glass substrate of a liquid crystal panel and a polarizer in a liquid crystal display for an antistatic purpose, and has excellent physical properties such as endurance reliability under high temperature or high humidity condition and optical characteristics, and a liquid crystal display thereof. |
| US08717516B2 |
Display device
According to one embodiment, a display device includes a display unit and a drive circuit. The display unit includes a first display region to display a first image and a second display region to display a second image. The display unit includes a first support substrate, a second support substrate, and a liquid crystal layer. The second support substrate is disposed to oppose the first support substrate. The liquid crystal layer is interposed between the first support substrate and the second support substrate and is held by the first support substrate and the second support substrate. The drive circuit drives the display unit. |
| US08717515B2 |
LED substrate, backlight unit, and liquid crystal display device
Provided is an LED substrate capable of being downsized in width. In addition, provided are LED substrates that can be disposed laterally in an efficient fashion. Each LED substrate (20) has a configuration that two single terminal connectors of a light-source-side substrate connector (single terminal connector) 40 including a light-source-side terminal 41 and a ground-side substrate connector (single terminal connector) 50 including a ground-side terminal 51 are included and disposed at right and left ends of each LED substrate so as to sandwich therebetween a plurality of LEDs (21) connected in series. |
| US08717506B2 |
Electronic video display mount
An electronic video display mount includes a substantially vertical mounting pole rigidly attached to a pole foot; and a mounting collar releasably fixed to a mounting location that is selectively defined between a minimum distance and a maximum distance from the pole foot on the pole. The mount also includes a substantially horizontally mounted linear slide assembly fixedly attached to the mounting collar at an attachment interface, and a Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) mount pivotally attached to the linear slide assembly. |
| US08717502B2 |
Methods and apparatuses for upscaling video
In one embodiment, the methods and apparatuses detect content that represents original image information; detect a direction of the content wherein the direction corresponds to a portion of the original image information; compare a variation between adjacent pixels that are represented by the original image information; and generate new image information based on the direction of the content and the variation between the adjacent pixels. |
| US08717501B2 |
Video display apparatus, video display method, and program
A video display apparatus includes a video display unit configured to display a video image, a viewer detection unit configured to detect a position of a viewer, a moving speed measurement unit configured to measure a moving speed of the viewer, a display area determination unit configured to determine, based on the position and moving speed of the viewer, a video display area where the video image is displayed on the video display unit, and a video control unit configured to display the video image in the video display area determined by the display area determination unit. |
| US08717498B2 |
Systems and methods for moving objects in video by generating and using keyframes
Systems and methods for moving objects in a video using keyframes. An object may be added to a video and then defined to move in the video, for example, based on the movement of another video object for which movement is known or determinable. As an example, a video editing interface may receive a new object added at a position on a first frame of a video and a command to associate movement of the added object with the movement of a video object, such as a person that is shown walking in the video. In response, keyframe positions for the added object may be determined for subsequent frames preserving the added object's position relative to the person. The use of those keyframes is optimized. For example, the keyframes may be analyzed to eliminate intermediate keyframes with values that can be interpolated from other keyframes. |
| US08717492B2 |
Focusing mechanisms for compressive imaging device
A compressive imaging (CI) device including a light modulator and a light sensor (e.g., a single-element sensor or a sensor array). The CI device may support the focusing of light on the light modulator and/or on the light sensor in a number of ways: (1) determining a focus indicator value by analyzing a 1D or 2D image in the incident light field; (2) measuring light spillover between modulator regions and light sensing elements—either at the level of voltage measurements or the level of reconstructed images; (3) measure noise in reconstructed sub-images; (4) measuring an amount high-frequency content in the incident light field; (5) incorporating a range finder to measure distance to the object being imaged; (6) incorporating an image sensor downstream from the modulator; and (7) splitting a portion of the incident light onto an image sensor, prior to the modulator. |
| US08717491B2 |
Auto focusing method, recording medium for recording the method, and auto focusing apparatus
An auto focusing method for improving an auto focusing speed by implementing auto focusing by determining a motion direction of the focus lens at a current position of the focus lens, a recording medium for recording the auto focusing method, and an auto focusing apparatus. The auto focusing method is implemented by determining a current position of a focus lens; determining whether a first image input at the current position of the focus lens has image blurring; if the current position of the focus lens is a position for long range focusing and the first image has image blurring, determining that a motion direction of the focus lens is toward longer range focusing; and if the current position of the focus lens is a position for long range focusing and the first image has image blurring, determining that the motion direction of the focus lens is toward closer range focusing. |
| US08717488B2 |
Objective optics with interference filter
Optical apparatus includes an image sensor and an optical assembly, which is configured to focus optical radiation via an aperture stop onto the image sensor. The optical assembly includes a plurality of optical surfaces, consisting of a first, curved surface through which the optical radiation enters the assembly, a final surface through which the rays exit the assembly toward the image sensor, and at least two intermediate surfaces between the first and final surfaces. An interference filter, which has a center wavelength and a passband no greater than 4% of the center wavelength, and includes a coating formed on one of the optical surfaces. All rays of the optical radiation passing through the aperture stop are incident on the coating over a range of incidence angles with a half-width that is no greater than three fourths of the numerical aperture of the optical assembly. |
| US08717483B2 |
Imaging device, imaging system, and imaging method
An imaging apparatus of the present invention includes: a lens optical system including a lens and a stop; an imaging device including at least a plurality of first pixels and a plurality of second pixels on which light having passed through the lens optical system is incident; and an arrayed optical device arranged between the lens optical system and the imaging device, wherein: the lens optical system includes, in a plane vertical to an optical axis, a first optical area that transmits therethrough light of a first wavelength band and a second optical area that transmits therethrough light of a second wavelength band different from the first wavelength band; and the arrayed optical device makes light having passed through the first optical area incident on the plurality of first pixels and light having passed through the second optical area incident on the plurality of second pixels. |
| US08717478B2 |
Imaging device, imaging method, and imaging program
An imaging device is provided for generating image data on the basis of light received by an imaging element. The imaging device includes a display unit which displays an image, a focus unit which detects a focus deviation, and a display controller which causes the display unit to display a composite image in which a first image of a region of at least a portion of a second image of the image data, and the second image are superposed and combined. The region is in a position in accordance with the focus deviation. |
| US08717477B2 |
Imaging apparatus switching between display of image and enlarged image of focus area
An imaging apparatus includes a display unit configured to display an image based on the image information output from the imaging unit, and a controller configured to control a display operation of the display unit. When the operation section receives the instruction to perform the focus operation while the display unit is displaying an image, the controller controls the display unit to switch the display on the display unit from an image currently displayed to an enlarged image of a focus area in the image currently displayed. When a predetermined condition is satisfied after completion of the focus operation, the controller further controls the display unit to switch the display on the display unit from the enlarged image to an image with the same angle of view as that of the image displayed before the enlarged image. |
| US08717474B2 |
Imaging apparatus and method for driving the same
An imaging apparatus includes: a plurality of column amplifiers, each outputting, based on the same one pixel, first and second pixel signals derived by amplifying the signal by different amplifying factors p and q; a plurality of column A/D converters for performing analog to digital conversion of the first and second pixel signals obtained; a plurality of replacing units, each selecting the first pixel signal converted by the corresponding column A/D converter when the first pixel signal converted by the corresponding column A/D converter is smaller than a threshold value, and selecting the second pixel signal converted by the corresponding column A/D converter when the first pixel signal converted by the corresponding column A/D converter is equal to or larger than the threshold value; and a horizontal scanning circuit for successively selecting the first or second pixel signals selected by the replacing units. |
| US08717471B2 |
Solid-state imaging device applied to CMOS image sensor
According to one embodiment, a solid-state imaging device includes a pixel array, two signal lines and a row scanning circuit. The row scanning circuit simultaneously renders conductive, by the first read-out row scanning circuit and the second read-out row scanning circuit, the two transfer transistors, which are connected to two photoelectric conversion elements do not share a floating diffusion portion neighboring in the column direction, thereby reading out signals in parallel from the photoelectric conversion elements of the pixels of two rows of an odd-numbered row and an even-numbered row. |
| US08717470B2 |
Solid-state imaging apparatus and digital camera
The solid-state imaging apparatus illustrates a solid-state imaging element having a light receiving portion; a package which contains the solid-state imaging element; a light-transmissive member which is provided above the solid-state imaging element; and a partitioning member which is fixed to the package to isolate the light receiving portion of the solid-state imaging element from the surrounding portion of the light receiving portion of the solid-state imaging element. |
| US08717466B2 |
Dual-port measurements of light reflected from micromirror array
An imaging system and method that captures compressive sensing (CS) measurements of a received light stream, and also obtains samples of background light level (BGLL). The BGLL samples may be used to compensate the CS measurements for variations in the BGLL. The system includes: a light modulator to spatially modulate the received light stream with spatial patterns, and a lens to concentrate the modulated light stream onto a light detector. The samples of BGLL may be obtained in various ways: (a) injecting calibration patterns among the spatial patterns; (b) measuring complementary light reflected by digital micromirrors onto a secondary output path; (c) separating and measuring a portion of light from the optical input path; (d) low-pass filtering the CS measurements; and (e) employing a light power meter with its own separate input path. Also, the CS measurements may be high-pass filtered to attenuate background light variation. |
| US08717461B2 |
Identifying collection images with special events
A method for associating event times or time periods with digital images in a collection for determining if a digital image is of interest, includes storing a collection of digital images each having an associated capture time; comparing the associated capture time in the collection with a special event time to determine if a digital image in the collection is of interest, wherein the comparing step includes calculation of a special event time associated with a special event based on the calendar time associated with the special event and using such information to perform the comparison step; and associating digital images of interest with the special event. |
| US08717458B2 |
Updating gain values using an image processing method for digital apparatus
Disclosed is an image processing method. The image processing method includes forming a reference division line to perform white balance, forming a grid including a pixel distribution degree based on the reference division line, extracting a red gain value, a blue gain value, and the pixel distribution degree with respect to a specific point on the reference division line, determining if the extracted pixel distribution degree is a maximum point, and setting new gain values by using the extracted red gain value and the extracted blue gain value depending on if the pixel distribution degree is the maximum point. |
| US08717455B2 |
Image processing apparatus and image processing method
The area of a subject image in an image is changed. The correction strength is determined based on the area-change amount between the area before the area change and that after the area change for the subject image whose area has been changed. A correction process is performed for the image in accordance with the correction strength. |
| US08717450B2 |
Moving imager camera for track and range capture
A precision motion platform carrying an imaging device under a large-field-coverage lens enables capture of high resolution imagery over the full field in an instantaneous telephoto mode and wide-angle coverage through temporal integration. The device permits automated tracking and scanning without movement of a camera body or lens. Coupled use of two or more devices enables automated range computation without the need for subsequent epipolar rectification. The imager motion enables sample integration for resolution enhancement. The control methods for imager positioning enable decreasing the blur caused by both the motion of the moving imager or the motion of an object's image that the imager is intended to capture. |
| US08717448B2 |
Synchronized multiple imager system and method
One embodiment relates to a synchronized multiple imager system includes a plurality of imagers. One or more respective sensors are coupled to the imagers. The sensors output a vertical raster stream representative of pixel data from pixel columns, thereby generating a plurality of vertical raster streams. A clock circuit synchronizes the sensors to sense selected columns in the imagers and to output the vertical raster streams from the selected columns. A processor circuit stitches seam vertical raster streams from adjacent pairs of imagers. The synchronized multiple imager system may further include a plurality of input buffers coupled to respective sensors. The clock circuit may include input flip-flops configured to acquire the vertical raster stream from respective imagers in accordance with an imager bus clock. The clock circuit may further include asynchronous FIFOs to de-skew the vertical raster streams. Other embodiments, aspects and features are also disclosed. |
| US08717447B2 |
Remote telepresence gaze direction
A method and apparatus for controlling a live avatar include features for directing the live avatar gaze to be consistent with a remote operator's view of the live avatar's surroundings. Indication of gaze direction may be continuously provided to the live avatar using movable optics, for example a heads-up display, or a movable optical prism or lens. Gaze direction or operator commands may be communicated using a haptic device. Video and control streams from multiple live avatars may be aggregated through a host server and allocated via an online interface to multiple prospective remote operators. |
| US08717445B2 |
Image pickup apparatus and focusing mechanism control method
An image pickup apparatus includes an imaging element for acquiring an image of a target object; a detector for detecting movement of the image pickup apparatus; and a controller for controlling focus of the imaging element on the target object while the movement of the image pickup apparatus detected by the detector is not more than a threshold degree. |
| US08717444B2 |
Information processor and control method therefor
A remote control device searches for an image data storing device and a printing device that can be used by a user, and notifies an image taking device of device information obtained as a result of this search. The image taking device searches for a device having a predetermined function in response to an instruction from the remote control device, and if a device included in the device information notified by the remote control device is found, transfers an image to the found device. Alternatively, the image taking device connects to a device notified by the remote control device, and sends the image to the notified device to perform printing or storing thereon. |
| US08717443B2 |
Method and system for testing temporal latency in device having optical sensing component and touch-sensitive display component
A method and system for determining a camera-to-display latency of an electronic device (100) having a camera (134) and touch-sensitive display (108) are disclosed. In one example embodiment, the method (500) includes receiving (511) first light (136) at the camera, and essentially simultaneously receiving second light (138) at a first photosensitive structural portion (102, 602). The method (500) further includes detecting (512) a first simulated touch input at the display (108) in response to a first actuation of the first photosensitive structural portion (102, 602), receiving third light (140) at a second photosensitive structural portion (104, 604), the third light being generated based at least indirectly upon the received first light (136), detecting (514) a second simulated touch input at the display (108) as a result of the receiving of the third light (140), and determining the camera-to-display latency based at least indirectly upon the touch inputs (516). |
| US08717440B2 |
Method for evaluating mechanical tests of a coating
In a method for evaluating mechanical tests of a coating on a substrate, in a first step a mechanical stress is applied onto the coating, in a second step the substrate having the coating is isothermally clamped, in a third step an infrared photograph is generated of the region in which the mechanical stress is applied onto the coating in the first step, and in a fourth step the infrared photograph is evaluated. A device is arranged for carrying out the method. |
| US08717439B2 |
Surveillance system and method
A surveillance method monitors a monitored area using a monitoring station. The monitoring station in electronic communication with an actuator, an image capture device, and a plurality of motion sensors. The presence of motion in the monitored area is detected in real-time using the motion sensors. When the motion is detected, a target region in the monitored area where the motion is detected is determined, and a control signal is sent to the actuator according to the target region to control the image capture device to aim at the target region using the actuator. Real-time images of the target region are captured, and stored in a storage system of the monitoring station. |
| US08717436B2 |
Video processing system providing correlation between objects in different georeferenced video feeds and related methods
A video processing system which may include a first video input configured to receive a first georeferenced video feed from a first video source, and a second video input configured to receive a second georeferenced video feed from a second video source, where the second georeferenced video feed overlaps the first georeferenced video feed. The system may further include a video processor coupled to the first and second video inputs. The video processor may include an annotation module configured to generate an annotation for an object in the first georeferenced video feed, and a geospatial correlation module configured to geospatially correlate the annotation to the object in the second georeferenced video feed overlapping the first georeferenced video feed. |
| US08717434B2 |
Method and system for collecting and analyzing operational information from a network of components associated with a liquid energy commodity
A method for collecting and analyzing operational information from a network of components associated with a liquid energy commodity comprises the steps of: (a) measuring an amount of the liquid energy commodity in storage at one or more storage facilities in the network, and storing that measurement data; (b) determining a flow rate of the liquid energy commodity in one or more selected pipelines in the network, and storing that flow rate data; (c) ascertaining an operational status of one or more processing facilities in the network, and storing that operational status information; (d) analyzing the measurement data, the flow rate data, and the operational status information to determine a balance of the liquid energy commodity in the network or a selected portion thereof at a given time; and (e) communicating information about the balance of the liquid energy commodity to a third-party market participant. |
| US08717429B2 |
Method of automatically unlocking an opening member of a motor vehicle for a hands-free system, and device for implementing the method
The invention relates to a method for automatically unlocking an opening member of a motor vehicle using a hands-free access system (4), comprising a central processing unit (5) intended to be installed inside the vehicle, a portable identification member (17), said central processing unit (5) being capable of communicating remotely by radiofrequency with the identification member (17) in order to authenticate it and, in response to the authentication of the identification member (17), of controlling the locking or unlocking of the opening member of the vehicle. The method comprises the following steps: the step of detecting the presence of an identification member (17) in a predefined perimeter around the vehicle; the step of authenticating that the identification member (17) is associated with the vehicle; and, in the case of positive authentication, the step of placing the access system in a “ready to unlock” state for all the opening members. The method further includes a step of remote optical recognition of a predetermined movement of a member of the body and, in the case of positive recognition of the movement, the opening member in front of which the movement has been performed, is unlocked. The invention also relates to a device for implementing the method. |
| US08717427B2 |
Endoscope
An endoscope includes a bending operation knob inputting a bending operation of a bending section in first perpendicular directions, a touch surface which is exposed in an outer surface of a grip casing and on which a bending operation of the bending section in second perpendicular directions is input, and a positional information calculator calculating a positional information of a touched region with time, the touched region being a region that is touched in the touch surface. The endoscope includes a positional change detector detecting a positional change of the touched region when the bending operation of the bending section in the second perpendicular directions is input, and a drive controller controlling a drive state of a drive member in accordance with the positional change of the touched region. |
| US08717426B2 |
Liquid and solids analysis of drilling fluids using fractionation and imaging
A method of determining drilling fluid contents including fractionating a fluid sample, wherein the fluid sample includes a drilling fluid, and collecting image data from the fractioned fluid sample. Furthermore, processing the image data with a process station to produce a rendered image, and outputting the rendered image. Additionally, a system for determining drilling fluids content including an image gathering vessel having a holding section and an image gathering device operatively coupled to the image gathering vessel for collecting image data from a fluid sample, wherein the fluid sample includes a drilling fluid. Furthermore, a processing station for receiving the image data from the image gathering device and for producing a rendered image of the fluid sample based on the image data. |
| US08717423B2 |
Modifying perspective of stereoscopic images based on changes in user viewpoint
Modifying perspective of stereoscopic images provided by one or more displays based on changes in user viewpoint. The one or more displays may include a first display that is provided substantially horizontal for displaying 3D horizontal perspective images and/or a second display that is provided substantially vertical for displaying text or conventional images such as 2D images, or 3D vertical perspective images. The horizontal display surface may be typically positioned directly in front of the user, and at a height of about a desktop surface so that the user can have about a 45° looking angle. The vertical display surface may be positioned in front of the user and preferably behind and above the horizontal display surface. |
| US08717418B1 |
Real time 3D imaging for remote surveillance
By defining an angular separation in a train of sequential images, and using an interlaced sequence of pairs of images matched by that defining angle, it is possible to create live 3D video from a single camera mounted on a remote vehicle as though in the in the immediate vicinity of the object being viewed. Such a camera can be mounted on a moving vehicle such as a plane or a satellite In addition, computational power is provided to adaptively (and predictively) smooth out motion irregularities between these image pairs, so that smooth 3D video may be obtained. Continual feature-based correlation between successive frames allows corrections for various transformations so that there is a one-on-one correspondence in size, projection, orientation, etc. between matched frames, which enables capture and display of smooth 3D video. |
| US08717417B2 |
Three-dimensional mapping and imaging
Imaging apparatus includes an illumination subassembly, which is configured to project onto an object a pattern of monochromatic optical radiation in a given wavelength band. An imaging subassembly includes an image sensor, which is configured both to capture a first, monochromatic image of the pattern on the object by receiving the monochromatic optical radiation reflected from the object and to capture a second, color image of the object by receiving polychromatic optical radiation, and to output first and second image signals responsively to the first and second images, respectively. A processor is configured to process the first and second signals so as to generate and output a depth map of the object in registration with the color image. |
| US08717413B2 |
Imaging system having a folded optical axis
An imaging system having a folded optical axis that is accomplished through the effect of a first lens group, a prism, and a second lens group wherein a second surface of the prism is a mirror wherein the folded imaging system exhibits a horizontal field of view (HFOV) greater than 160 degrees and a vertical field of view (VFOV) greater than 80 degrees. Further aspects include a conjugate ratio of the lenses to be substantially 5.47 and a ratio of the entire lens focal length to the focal length of the first lens to be substantially −0.309. |
| US08717411B2 |
Virtual image generating apparatus, virtual image generating method, and recording medium storing virtual image generating program
A virtual image generation apparatus includes an image recording unit configured to record a plurality of images, each containing photography position data. An image selection unit selects, from the images recorded, an image from which to generate a virtual image. A map-image acquiring unit acquires an image corresponding to a map image containing the photography position data contained in the image selected A virtual scene image generation unit generates, from the image corresponding to the map image, a virtual image showing the image selected or showing a scene related to the photography position data contained in the image selected. An output unit outputs the virtual image data, thereby to display the scene represented by the virtual image generated. |
| US08717409B2 |
Conducting a direct private videoconference within a videoconference
Conducting a private videoconference within a videoconference. A videoconference may be established between a plurality of endpoints. Input may be received requesting the private videoconference for a plural subset of the plurality of endpoints. The private videoconference may be established between the plural subset of the plurality of endpoints. The initial videoconference may continue during the private videoconference. Private videoconference data may be transmitted only to the plural subset of endpoints of the private videoconference. The private videoconference may be sent directly between the plural subset of endpoints or may be sent via a multipoint control unit, e.g., of the initial videoconference. The private videoconference data may not be sent to the remaining endpoints of the initial videoconference. |
| US08717408B2 |
Conducting a private videoconference within a videoconference via an MCU
Conducting a private videoconference within a videoconference. A videoconference may be established between a plurality of endpoints. Input may be received requesting the private videoconference for a plural subset of the plurality of endpoints. The private videoconference may be established between the plural subset of the plurality of endpoints. The initial videoconference may continue during the private videoconference. Private videoconference data may be transmitted only to the plural subset of endpoints of the private videoconference. The private videoconference may be sent directly between the plural subset of endpoints or may be sent via a multipoint control unit, e.g., of the initial videoconference. The private videoconference data may not be sent to the remaining endpoints of the initial videoconference. |
| US08717407B2 |
Telepresence between a multi-unit location and a plurality of single unit locations
Performing a videoconference. The videoconference may be established at a first videoconferencing location between at least three videoconferencing locations. The locations may include the first location, a second location, and a third location. The first location may maintain a plurality of videoconferencing units and the second and third locations may each maintain a single videoconferencing unit. A first videoconferencing unit of the first location acts as a multipoint control unit (MCU) of the videoconference. The MCU may receive respective videoconferencing information from each videoconferencing unit of the videoconference. The MCU may provide active videoconferencing information of an active participant to ones of the videoconferencing units at the second and third locations corresponding to non-active participants. The MCU may provide second and third videoconference information from the videoconferencing units of the second and third locations for presentation at the first location. This provision may be performed independently of the active participant. |
| US08717404B2 |
Recording a videoconference based on recording configurations
A videoconference may be initiated between a plurality of endpoints. At least one of the endpoints may be coupled to a recording server, which may be configured to record the videoconference. A configuration may be selected (e.g., automatically or manually) for performing the recording. The endpoint (e.g., acting as an MCU) may transmit information to endpoints and may transmit recording information to the recording server. The recording information may be different from the videoconference information. For example, it may be in a “streaming friendly” format, at a different bit rate, encoded differently, have different inputs, etc. The manner in which the videoconference is stored and/or recorded may be based on the selected configuration. Clients may be configured to receive and display the videoconference from the recording server and may be configured to change the provided layout to different layouts, e.g., based on user input. |
| US08717401B1 |
Secure, location-based virtual collaboration
Aspects of the present disclosure may provide a secure, location-based multimedia experience to users. In one example, a method includes receiving, by one or more computing devices, location information corresponding to a physical location of a user. The method may include receiving, by the one or more computing devices, personal identification information associated with the user. The method may also include authenticating, by the one or more computing devices, the physical location of the user based at least in part on the location information and the personal identification information of the user. The method may further include upon successful authentication of the physical location and the personal identification information of the user, coupling, by the one or more computing devices, a first computing device associated with the user to a video communication session. |
| US08717400B2 |
Automatically moving a conferencing based on proximity of a participant
Customizing a conferencing system based on proximity of a participant. A first participant may be detected as being proximate to a first conferencing system. For example, the first participant may provide user input to check in to the first conferencing system. Alternatively, the conferencing system may automatically detect the first participant (e.g., by automatically detecting a personal device of the first participant). In response to detecting the proximate participant, the first conferencing system may be automatically customized for the participant. |
| US08717396B2 |
Sheet discharging device and erasing device
According to an embodiment, a sheet discharging device includes: a first conveying path configured to guide a sheet to be conveyed; a second conveying path branched from the first conveying path at a branch point of the first conveying path; a sorting section configured to sort a sheet being conveyed on the first conveying path into either a downstream side of the branch point on the first conveying path or the second conveying path; a first discharge tray configured to receive a sheet discharged from the first conveying path at a first sheet loading surface; and a second discharge tray placed below the first discharge tray and configured to receive a sheet discharged from the second conveying path at a second sheet loading surface whose distance to the first sheet loading surface increases toward a downstream side thereof in a sheet discharging direction. |
| US08717394B2 |
Boundary dispersion for mitigating PWM temporal contouring artifacts in digital displays
A method and system providing boundary dispersion to pixel values displayed on a binary spatial light modulator to reduce temporal contouring artifacts. Pixel code values are offset from a nominal value when displayed on the SLM to disperse a large bit transition for a pulse width modulation (PWM) system. The offset value varies as a function of the pixel digital code, the pixel spatial location on the screen, and pixel temporal location in time. The set of offsets applied to pixels is varied over a repeating sequence of 2 displayed frames. |
| US08717390B2 |
Art-directable retargeting for streaming video
An integrated system and method for content-aware video retargeting. An interactive framework combines key frame-based constraint editing with numerous automatic algorithms for video analysis. This combination gives content producers a high level of control of the retargeting process. One component of the framework is a non-uniform, pixel-accurate warp to the target resolution that considers automatic as well as interactively-defined features. Automatic features comprise video saliency, edge preservation at the pixel resolution, and scene cut detection to enforce bilateral temporal coherence. Additional high level constraints can be added by the producer to achieve a consistent scene composition across arbitrary output formats. Advantageously, embodiments of the invention provide a better visual result for retargeted video when compared to using conventional techniques. |
| US08717384B1 |
Image file format article of manufacture
An image file format article of manufacture for a PFI. |
| US08717380B2 |
Image processing apparatus and control method thereof
An image processing apparatus and its control method receives a drawing command including a moving image drawing command and a graphics drawing command and performs drawing processing. A drawing command is received, and the moving image drawing command is separated from the graphics drawing command. A graphics drawing unit obtains the result of graphics drawing in accordance with the graphics drawing command. A moving image drawing unit generates moving image data processed in accordance with the moving image drawing command. A composition unit composes the result of graphics drawing by the graphics drawing unit with the moving image data generated by the moving image drawing unit. |
| US08717374B2 |
Methods and apparatus to display process control information
Example methods and apparatus to display process control information are disclosed. A disclosed example method includes receiving a request to view process control information associated with a field device, accessing, via a database, a device description file associated with the field device, wherein the device description file is formatted to conform to an Electronic Device Description Language (EDDL), and generating a display for the process control information using the device description file, wherein the device description file includes a script extension that conditionally displays a graphic if a portion of the process control information matches a condition within the script extension. |
| US08717371B1 |
Transitioning between operational modes in a hybrid graphics system
A method for transitioning from a first operational mode, where operations are executed on a first processor while a second processor is powered off, to a second operational mode, where operations are executed on the second processor while the first processor is powered off. A driver causes detects a first system event that indicates a transition from the first to the second operational mode is likely. The driver powers on the second processor in response to the first system event and detects a second system event. The driver determines whether each of the client applications can be transferred from the first processor to the second processor without resulting in any data loss, and depending on whether each of the client applications can be transferred, either transfers the client applications from the first to the second processor or continues to cause the operations to be executed in the first operational mode. |
| US08717370B2 |
Method and system for automatically analyzing GPU test results
A method and system for automatically analyzing graphics processing unit (“GPU”) test results are disclosed. Specifically, one embodiment of the present invention sets forth a method, which includes the steps of identifying the GPU test results associated with a first register type, creating a template document associated with the same first register type, wherein the template document is pre-configured to store and operate on the GPU test results of the first register type, filling the GPU test results in the template document, aggregating the GPU test results associated with the first register type to establish a common output, and determining a suitable register value from a passing range of register values based on the common output without human intervention. |
| US08717366B2 |
Method and apparatus for rendering a stroked curve
A method of rendering a stroked curve for display in a graphics processing system in which an input stroked curve 2 to be displayed, such as a character in a computer font or a portion thereof, is defined in user space 4 and projected into a surface space 6 for display. For each of one or more sampling points in the surface space 6, a corresponding sampling position in a projected space 12 is determined, and predetermined information is used to estimate the extent in a defined direction of a projected form of the stroked curve in the projected space 12 at a position along the length of the projected form of the stroked curve corresponding to the position along the length of the projected form of the stroked curve of the sampling position in the projected space 12. The estimated extent is then used to determine whether the sampling position in question falls within the stroked curve or not, thereby allowing suitable rendering data to be assigned to the sampling point. |
| US08717363B2 |
Vision-based computer control
Disclosed herein is a method of controlling a computing device having a display. The method comprises identifying a point on the display at which a user's gaze is directed; determining whether an eye of the user has accommodated toward a near-field refractive state; and increasing, based on the determining, the resolution of a region on the display of the computer system, the region being centered on the identified gaze point. |
| US08717361B2 |
Method for generating orthophoto image
The method includes divisionally-capturing a target region from a platform such as an airplane (1) by rendering viewing angles as being different from each other as well as rendering a focal length (f, f′) as being different with reference to a predetermined ground resolution, thereafter generating an elevation model (5) of the entire target region (1) in accordance with matching of elevation models (3, 3) generated based on respective divisionally-captured images (2) between image capturing overlap regions (4), and generating an orthophoto image of the entire target region by applying an orthogonal projection transformation processing to the respective divisionally-captured images (2) by use of altitude information of the elevation model (5). |
| US08717359B2 |
Script control for camera positioning in a scene generated by a computer rendering engine
A system for controlling a rendering engine by using specialized commands. The commands are used to generate a production, such as a television show, at an end-user's computer that executes the rendering engine. In one embodiment, the commands are sent over a network, such as the Internet, to achieve broadcasts of video programs at very high compression and efficiency. Commands for setting and moving camera viewpoints, animating characters, and defining or controlling scenes and sounds are described. At a fine level of control math models and coordinate systems can be used make specifications. At a coarse level of control the command language approaches the text format traditionally used in television or movie scripts. Simple names for objects within a scene are used to identify items, directions and paths. Commands are further simplified by having the rendering engine use defaults when specifications are left out. For example, when a camera direction is not specified, the system assumes that the viewpoint is to be the current action area. The system provides a hierarchy of detail levels. Movement commands can be defaulted or specified. Synchronized speech can be specified as digital audio or as text which is used to synthesize the speech. |
| US08717358B2 |
Image processing apparatus and method
Provided is an image processing apparatus and process. The image processing apparatus may perform three-dimensional (3D) rendering by adaptively providing virtual point lights (VPLs). It is possible to adaptively adjust an amount of 3D rendering calculations according to a desired quality, and to provide a real-time rendering result for each calculation process. |
| US08717357B2 |
Systems and methods for 3-D scene acceleration structure creation and updating
Systems and methods for producing an acceleration structure provide for subdividing a 3-D scene into a plurality of volumetric portions, which have different sizes, each being addressable using a multipart address indicating a location and a relative size of each volumetric portion. A stream of primitives is processed by characterizing each according to one or more criteria, selecting a relative size of volumetric portions for use in bounding the primitive, and finding a set of volumetric portions of that relative size which bound the primitive. A primitive ID is stored in each location of a cache associated with each volumetric portion of the set of volumetric portions. A cache location is selected for eviction, responsive to each cache eviction decision made during the processing. An element of an acceleration structure according to the contents of the evicted cache location is generated, responsive to the evicted cache location. |
| US08717353B2 |
Image processing apparatus and method
An image processing apparatus calculates a near image distance, corresponding to a distance from a virtual viewpoint to a first viewpoint among viewpoints of a plurality of images, and a far image distance, corresponding to a distance from the virtual viewpoint to a second viewpoint among the viewpoints of the plurality of images, which is relatively distant from the virtual viewpoint compared with the first viewpoint, sets a search range, determines parallax vectors corresponding to search reference block coordinates by executing block matching processing within the search range and by using a first block image, included in a near image and corresponding to the search reference block coordinates and the near image distance, and a second block image, included in a far image and corresponding to the search reference block coordinates and the far image distance, and generates an image viewed from the virtual viewpoint by using the parallax vectors. |
| US08717352B2 |
Tracing-type stereo display apparatus and tracing-type stereo display method
An exemplary tracing-type stereo display apparatus includes a tracing member, an index member, a sub-pixel array, and a stereo display member. The tracing member is configured for obtaining a space position of a viewer. The index member is configured for obtaining an index factor according to the space position and generating an index table according to the index factor. The sub-pixel array member configured for arraying sub-pixels according to the index table. The stereo display member configured for displaying the sub-pixels arrayed according to the index table. A tracing-type stereo display method is also provided in the present disclosure. |
| US08717351B1 |
PFI reader
A PFI reader. |
| US08717350B2 |
Information processing apparatus
An information processing apparatus displays a shape of an object on a display device by using numerical values on a coordinate axis. The apparatus includes a calculating unit that calculates a minimum rectangular parallelepiped including the component by using numerical values indicative of a shape of the component; an outer-shape calculating unit that replaces every component constituting the object and calculates numerical values indicative of an outer shape of an object formed by collecting every replaced component into one; a determining unit that determines whether the component makes contact with the outer shape by using the numerical values indicative of the outer shape and the numerical values indicative of the shape of the component; and a displaying unit that displays on the display device an object composed of only components as making contact. |
| US08717347B2 |
Electrophoretic display apparatus and method of data transfer thereof
The electrophoretic display apparatus includes a first electrode layer, a second electrode layer, an electrophoresis layer, and a driving module. The driving module has an adsorption mode and a display mode. When an adsorption mode is activated, a first voltage difference is formed between the first electrode layer and the second electrode layer, resulting in electrostatic adsorption to reduce or eliminate the air gap between the second electrode layer and electrophoresis layer. When a display mode is activated, a second voltage difference is formed between the first electrode layer and the second electrode layer. The electrophoresis layer can sense the variation of electric field between the two electrode layers and start the operation of data transmission and display. |
| US08717338B2 |
Display drive circuit
A display driving circuit includes a buffer section, an N-dot switch circuit, a charge sharing switch circuit, and a sharing voltage level control switch circuit. The buffer section buffers a plurality of pixel driving signals outputted from a plurality of DACs. The N-dot switch circuit selects paths of the plurality of pixel driving signals outputted from the buffer section in response to a first path selecting signal or a second path selecting signal that is determined depending upon a dot inversion method, and switches the paths to a plurality of output terminals. The charge sharing switch circuit shares charges among the plurality of output terminals in response to a charge sharing control signal. The sharing voltage level control switch circuit controls charge sharing between the plurality of output terminals and a voltage level upon charge sharing, in response to a sharing voltage level control signal. |
| US08717334B2 |
Display device and driving method for display device
A display device includes: an optical sensor circuit provided in a display region, the optical sensor circuit including a light-receiving element and detecting intensity of light incident to the light-receiving element; and a pressure detection circuit which detects pressure applied to a display surface of a display panel on a basis of a change of the display surface in a panel thickness direction which change is caused by the pressure, with respect to a region in which the pressure is to be detected, both of the detection of the pressure by the pressure detection circuit and the detection of the intensity of the light by the optical sensor circuit being carried out within a period allocated to acquisition of detection data concerning the pressure in the display region. |
| US08717333B2 |
Electrostatic capacity type touch panel, display device and process for producing electrostatic capacity type touch panel
An electrostatic capacity type touch panel having on one surface of a transparent substrate, a plurality of columns of column electrodes extending in a first direction and a plurality of columns of column electrodes extending in a second direction intersecting the first direction,such column electrodes extending in the first direction and such column electrodes extending in the second direction being eclectically disconnected from each other by an electrically insulating layer provided at least in a part of each intersection region of the column electrodes, and at least one of the two intersecting column electrodes being electrically connected by a bridge wire provided in the intersection region. |
| US08717328B1 |
System and method for managing display power consumption
Systems and methods for managing display power consumption are disclosed. In some embodiments first information is displayed in an available display area including a first portion of a display screen in a configuration having a set of portions. The set of portions includes the first portion of the display screen, which is configured in a powered-on state to perform display functions and receive user input, and a second portion of the display screen, which is configured in a powered-off state. Responsive to a user indication in the in the first portion, the second portion is added to the available display area by transitioning the second portion to the powered-on state to perform display functions and receive user input. Second information is displayed in the second portion. |
| US08717327B2 |
Controlling responsiveness to user inputs on a touch-sensitive display
A communications terminal comprises a and a touch-sensitive display for displaying content generated by a software application associated with the processor and for receiving touch-based interactions for use with said software application. A display controller is operable to selectively accept and reject touch-based interactions in one or more predetermined sub-region(s) of the touch-sensitive display. Interactions in said sub-region(s) are rejected in response to said software application being woken from an idle state by an event triggered independent of user interaction and subsequently accepted in response to a predetermined event, for example by user action in an active zone outside of the sub-region(s). |
| US08717325B1 |
Detecting presence of an object in the vicinity of a touch interface of a device
A system includes a controller situated on a circuit board and a touch sensor coupled to the controller. The touch sensor includes a plurality of electrodes configured to capacitively coupled to a surface. The system also includes a drive element that is coupled to the controller. The controller is configured to send a drive signal to the drive element and, after sending the drive signal to the drive element, receive a set of sense signals from the touch sensor. The controller is further configured to determine whether an object that is not contact with the surface is in a vicinity of the surface the set of sense signals. |
| US08717323B2 |
Determining when a touch is processed as a mouse event
A multi-touch driver handling user inputs or touches on a multi-touch input device. The method includes receiving touch data associated with a touch detected by the multi touch input device. The multi-touch driver determines a target user interface (UI) component for the touch by processing the touch data and then determines whether the target handles touch events. If so, the driver sends the touch data to the target for handling as a touch event, thereby saving a touch-to-mouse conversion for later touches. The touch may be a first touch received in a particular input region of a GUI displayed on a touch surface. The driver receives touch data for a second touch input later than the first touch but while the first touch is still active. The driver determines a target UI component for the second touch and passes the second touch data to the second target as a mouse event. |
| US08717321B2 |
Display device integrated with touch panel
Disclosed is a display device integrated with a touch screen in which resistance is reduced by forming a narrow bezel or increasing a routing margin through structure change of the outer portion of a sensing area in a structure in which a touch sensor is applied to a display panel, the display device includes a display panel including a display active area, a touch screen layer located on the surface of the display panel, including a sensing area, and connection electrodes and routing lines provided at the outer portion of the sensing area, wherein the connection electrodes and routing lines are formed of a metal having reflectivity of 10% or less, and a cover glass located above the touch screen layer, having an lower surface coated with a black printing material covering the outer portion of the sensing area. |
| US08717320B2 |
Method for compensating time difference between images and electronic apparatus using the same
A method for compensating time difference between images and electronic apparatus using the same method are provided. Input images are received by a plurality of image capturing units respectively. Each input image is checked to see whether a reference area and a reference area background are the same. When the reference area of the input image received from one of the image capturing units is not the same as the reference area background, a compensation image number is accumulated, and other input images are received continually until the reference area of each input image received from the image capturing unit is not the same as the reference area background. Afterwards, time difference between the input images received from a plurality of image capturing units is compensated according to the compensation image numbers. |
| US08717317B2 |
Display control device and method for controlling display on touch panel, and storage medium
A display control device that facilitates an operation on a touch panel, for the timeline display of a moving image. A synthesis section controls display on a touch panel. A touch state-detecting section detects any touched position on the touch panel, and determines whether two touched positions are detected on a single display object displayed on the touch panel. Determining that two touched positions are detected on the single display object, the touch state-detecting section determines whether the detected touched positions are moved while keeping their touched states. When the touched positions are determined to be moved while keeping their touched states, an overall controller extracts frame images of which the number depends on a distance between the two touched positions after the movement thereof, and controls the synthesis section to display the extracted frame images between the two moved touched positions. |
| US08717315B2 |
Touch-control system and touch-sensing method thereof
An exemplary touch-control system and an exemplary touch-sensing method thereof are provided. The touch-control system comprises a touch-control panel, at least an image sensing apparatus and a processing circuit. The touch-control panel has a touch surface and adopts a touch-sensing structure. The touch-sensing structure comprises at least a plurality of conducting wires paralleled to each other. The image sensing apparatus is used for sensing an image of the touch surface. When two pointers touch the touch surface, the processing circuit acquires the information related to the positions of the pointers in the touch surface by the conducting wires and the processing circuit, so as to acquire the actual touch positions of the pointers according to the sensing results of the two sensing manners. |
| US08717314B2 |
Holding structure for a touch panel
A holding structure for a touch pane has a display panel for forming a display screen, a touch panel for allowing an input operation, a piezoelectric device for applying vibration to the touch panel in accordance with the operation of the touch panel, a casing for accommodating the display panel and the touch panel and a protective sheet having a size larger than the touch panel. The casing has an opening through which the touch panel is exposed. The protective sheet is applied to an entire front surface of the touch panel. The protective sheet has a non-bonded portion at a peripheral edge. The non-bonded portion is not bonded partly to at least one of a peripheral edge of the touch panel and a peripheral edge of the opening of the casing. |
| US08717308B2 |
Display device with series connected optical sensors for determining touch position
A display device with a touch screen includes: first sensing units, each first sensing unit comprising first optical sensors connected in series, each first sensing unit comprising a first terminal for receiving a first voltage, each first sensing unit extending in a first direction; second sensing units, each second sensing unit comprising second optical sensors connected in series, each second sensing unit comprising a first terminal for receiving a second voltage, each second sensing unit extending in a second direction transverse to the first direction; a reset unit for applying a reset voltage to a second terminal of each of the first and second sensing units; and a read-out unit for sensing a touch position based on voltage changes at the second terminals of the first and second sensing units. |
| US08717306B2 |
Touch panel comprising touch position sensor elements
In a touch panel and a display apparatus having the touch panel, the touch panel includes a plurality of sensor lines, a plurality of sensor switches, a line selecting unit and a sensor resistor section. The sensor switches are electrically connected to the sensor lines, respectively, and apply sensing signals to the sensor lines, respectively, when a touch event occurs. The line selecting unit is electrically connected to end portions of the sensor lines and sequentially outputs the sensing signals transferred through the sensor lines. The sensor resistor section includes a first end electrically connected to the sensor lines, respectively, and a second end opposite to the first end. The second end receives a driving direct current (DC) voltage. Therefore, the touch panel may have an improved ability to detect touch events. |
| US08717303B2 |
Sensor array touchscreen recognizing finger flick gesture and other touch gestures
Touchscreen user interfaces for controlling software applications, computers, devices, machinery, and process environments with at least finger flick touch gestures. Such user interfaces can be manipulated by users and provide a wide range of uses with computer applications, assistance to the disabled, and control of electronic devices, machines, and processes. Enhancements can include velocity and pressure sensing capabilities. The touchscreen can be realized with a transparent touch sensor array positioned over a visual display. Dynamically assigned labels can be provided by the visual display. Gestures other than finger flicks can be recognized. Multitouch capabilities can be included that are responsive to additional contact, for example by other parts of a user hand. Displayed visual content, including visual content selection, motion, and sizing, can be controlled by finger flicks and other touch gestures. Finger movement trajectories can be tracked, and pluralities of control parameters can be associated with each gesture. |
| US08717301B2 |
Information processing apparatus and method, and program
There is provided a content selection view in which the user can select a content intuitively and easily. When the user places a touch pen in touch with a touch panel in a position corresponding to a position P1 in a map and drags the touch pen along a locus to a position P2 with the touch pen being kept in touch with the touch panel, PD will judge that a grid is still an option. Thereafter, when the user takes the touch pen off the touch panel surface, the PD will select the grid corresponding to the position P2 where the touch pen has finally been in touch with the touch panel. The PD will output not only content data assigned to the selected grid but a sound corresponding, to predetermined content data even while the grid is still an option. The present invention is applicable to a portable recorder/player. |
| US08717297B2 |
Mouse with multi-configurable buttons
A mouse with multi-configurable buttons is provided. The mouse with multi-configurable buttons comprises a housing, a cylinder module and a signal processing device. The housing has an opening, and the cylinder module is received in the housing and partially exposed through the opening. The cylinder module at least comprises a first click portion and the second click portion, and the signal processing device at least comprises a first switch and a second switch. When the first click portion is exposed through the opening, the first click portion is used for activating the first switch. In contrast, when the second portion is exposed through the opening, the second click portion is used for activating the first and the second switch. Therefore, the mouse with multi-configurable buttons provides at least two configuration status via rotating the rotating cylinder to satisfy different user demands. |
| US08717295B2 |
Device that manages power provided to an object sensor
A hand-held device with a sensor for providing a signal indicative of a position of the hand-held device relative to an object surface enables power to the sensor at a first time interval when the hand-held device is indicated to be in a position that is stationary and adjacent relative to the object surface, enables power to the sensor at a second time interval shorter than the first time interval when the hand-held device is indicated to be in a position that is moving and adjacent relative to the object surface, and enables power to the sensor at a third time interval when the hand-held device is determined to be in a position that is removed relative to the object surface. |
| US08717293B2 |
Automatic orientation-based user interface for an ambiguous handheld device
An electronic device is provided that includes a user-interface feature, a detection mechanism and one or more internal components. The user-interface feature is configurable to have a selected orientation about one or more axes. The detection mechanism can detect orientation information about the electronic device. The one or more components may select the orientation of the user-interface feature based on the detected orientation information. |
| US08717291B2 |
Motion sensitive gesture device
A wireless wrist mouse, used with an apparatus including a display having a cursor, has a body mountable to a user's hand/wrist by wrist mounting structure. A motion sensor and motion circuitry are carried by the body and are operably connected to one another. The motion circuitry includes a library of command motions. The motion circuitry is constructed to generate first and second command signals corresponding to the first and second command motions when the body has been moved in predetermined manners for receipt by and operation of the apparatus. The first command signals correspond to cursor movement directions for controlling movement of the cursor over the display. The second command signals correspond to control functions for the apparatus. In some examples, the motion sensor comprises a MEMS sensor. In some examples, the motion sensor comprises a translational, rotational, and vibrational movement motion sensor. |
| US08717289B2 |
System and method for integrating an electronic pointing device into digital image data
A system and method that integrates an electronic pointer into digital image data, such as a video feed or software application, that is displayed on a screen. A receiver is provided that receives position data from a pointing device; a calibration unit then calculates the position of the pointing device relative to the screen based on the position data; and a processor then generates the electronic pointer based on the calculated position of the pointing device. Thereafter, the electronic pointer is integrated in the digital image data such that the video screen displays the electronic pointer at a location of the video screen that reflects the relative position of the pointing device to the video screen. |
| US08717288B2 |
Motion-based tracking
Techniques are disclosed for determining a user's motion in relation to displayed images. According to one general aspect, a first captured image is accessed. The first captured image includes (1) a first displayed image produced at a first point in time, and (2) a user. A second captured image is accessed. The second captured image includes (1) a second displayed image produced at a second point in time, and (2) the user. First information indicating motion associated with one or more objects in the first and second displayed images is accessed. Second information indicating both motion of the user and the motion associated with the one or more objects in the first and second displayed images is determined. |
| US08717280B2 |
Consecutive driving of displays
A lookup table provides voltage waveforms for transitions between a plurality of discrete pixel states forming a set that can be ordered in consecutive states according to a reflectivity of the pixel. An image controller repeatedly executes, in a consecutive drive phase, the steps of retrieving an initial state and update state, matching, when the initial and update states are different, in the ordered set of pixel states of the lookup table, a consecutive state and a corresponding consecutive waveform, the consecutive state forming a path, according to the consecutive drive phase, from the initial state to the update state in the set of pixel states, storing the consecutive state in the memory as new initial state; and controlling a voltage driver to drive the pixel from the initial state to the consecutive state using said consecutive waveform. |
| US08717271B2 |
Liquid crystal display having an inverse polarity between a common voltage and a data signal
A liquid crystal display (LCD) and a driving method thereof. The LCD includes: a liquid crystal panel which includes a plurality of pixels formed in intersection areas between a plurality of gate lines and a plurality of data lines, wherein a pair of adjacent pixels share the same data line and are located between a pair of gate lines; a common voltage generator which shifts and outputs a common voltage signal having a polarity, which is reversed one time for a period time and repeated consecutively two time for a ½ period time, for a predetermined time; and a source driver which synchronizes a data signal of a line inversion system with an output timing of the common voltage signal and outputs the data signal to an opposite polarity to a polarity of the common voltage signal to drive the plurality of pixels in a dot inversion system. |
| US08717269B2 |
Display device
The invention provides an active matrix EL display device which can perform a clear multi-gray scale color display. In particular, the invention provides a large active matrix EL display device at low cost by a manufacturing method which can selectively form a pattern. Power supply lines in a pixel portion are arranged in matrix by the manufacturing method which can selectively form a pattern. Further, capacitance between wirings is reduced by providing a longer distance between adjacent wirings by the manufacturing method which can selectively form a pattern. |
| US08717267B2 |
Liquid crystal display
A liquid crystal display includes an array of pixels. Each pixel is divided into a first sub-pixel and a second sub-pixel, and different data voltages are separately applied to (or evolved at) the two sub-pixels, thereby enhancing the lateral side visibility. Each sub-pixel includes a sub-pixel electrode (connected to the drain electrode of a sub-pixel's switching element) overlapped with the sub-pixel's storage electrode. A first predetermined voltage is applied to the first sub-pixel and second predetermined voltage is applied the second sub-pixel, and thus the first sub-pixel electrode may receive a voltage lower than the voltage of the second sub-pixel electrode. The first sub-pixel electrode may be larger in area than the second sub-pixel electrode. The overlapping area between the first drain electrode and the storage electrode of a first sub-pixel may be larger than the overlapping area between the drain electrode and the storage electrode of a second sub-pixel. Thus the kickback voltage of the first sub-pixel may be substantially the same as the kickback voltage of the second sub-pixel. |
| US08717263B2 |
LCD unit, LCD apparatus, and method of setting drive voltage of LCD unit
The present invention is to provide an LCD unit, an LCD apparatus, and a method of setting a drive voltage of the LCD unit with a simple operation. The LCD unit includes a label pasted on a place of the LCD unit, wherein the label includes an information code, which is information-coded from a data of a drive voltage for achieving the best contrast in optical characteristics of the LCD unit. The best drive voltage to drive the LCD unit with the best contrast is thereby easily set. |
| US08717261B2 |
Semiconductor device, display device, and electronic device
A display device includes a load, a transistor for controlling a current value supplied to the load, a capacitor, a first wiring, a second wiring, and first to fourth switches. Variations in the current value caused by variations in the threshold voltage of the transistor can be suppressed through the steps of: (1) holding the threshold voltage of the transistor in the storage capacitor, (2) inputting a potential in accordance with a video signal, and (3) holding a voltage that is the sum of the threshold voltage and the potential in accordance with the video signal, in the storage capacitor. Accordingly, a desired current can be supplied to the load such as a light emitting element. |
| US08717260B2 |
EL display panel, EL display device provided with EL display panel, organic EL display device, and method for manufacturing EL display panel
An EL display panel 10 including an EL substrate 11 and a CF 12 facing each other and resin 1221 filling space between the EL substrate 11 and the CF 12. A common bank 112 having a greater width than banks between first, second, and third areas in each portion of the CF 12 lies between two portions corresponding to a first pixel and an adjacent second pixel. A portion of a CF layer 113 formed with respect to an outermost area among areas of the first pixel that covers a top surface of a bank closest to the second pixel extends towards the second pixel and overlaps a portion of a CF layer formed with respect to an area adjacent to the first pixel among areas of the second pixel that covers a top surface of a bank closest to the first pixel. |
| US08717256B2 |
Organic light emitting display device with an input voltage controlled in accordance with an offset control signal
An organic light emitting display device capable of maintaining a voltage of a driving power of a display panel in a substantially constant manner. The organic light emitting display device includes a display panel for receiving an image data and an input voltage to display an image; a driving IC for supplying the image data to the display panel, receiving the input voltage, and outputting an offset control signal in accordance with the received input voltage; and a power supply for controlling the input voltage in accordance with the offset control signal, and supplying the controlled input voltage to the display panel. |
| US08717255B2 |
Image device with pixel dots with multi-primary colors
An image device includes a plurality of pixel groups. Each pixel group includes a plurality of dots arranged in a predetermined identical matrix form, and each pixel group has at least one first color dot, at least one second color dot, at least one third color dot and at least one fourth color dot. Any repeated sequence of consecutive color dots in a row direction and in a column direction comprise at least one first color dot, at least one second color dot, at least one third color dot, at least one fourth color dot. The advantage of the invention is to provide all multi-primary colors in a single row or column so that by using subpixel rendering method, black and white lines can be formed in rows or columns, thus reducing the number of columns in a multi-primary colors display. |
| US08717251B2 |
Antenna configuration provides coverage
The invention provides an antenna arrangement for a wireless communication system arranged to have at least one transmit mode and at least one receive mode, the arrangement comprising at least three directional antennas in an antenna configuration. Each directional antenna is arranged to have an azimuthal radiation pattern shaped as a beam, each beam covering an angular sector, such that a combined radiation pattern of all beams in a first transmit mode is arranged to provide a full 360° omnidirectional coverage. By combining localization and polarization of the directional antennas an omnidirectional radiation pattern substantially without null-depths in the azimuthal plane can be created when the radiation pattern of the directional antennas are combined. |
| US08717250B2 |
Enhanced band multiple polarization antenna assembly
Antenna assemblies are provided for receiving and transmitting radio frequency signals over an enhanced frequency band. An assembly includes an electrically conductive ground reference and a radiative element formed from an electrically conductive material and comprising an apex. The radiative element is electrically connected to an antenna feed at the apex and configured such that the radiative element lacks two-fold rotational symmetry around a first axis coinciding with the antenna feed. The radiative element extends such that a distance between the radiative element and the electrically conductive ground reference increases as a radial distance from the first axis along the radiative element increases. |
| US08717249B2 |
Variable directivity antenna apparatus including parasitic elements having cut portion of rectangular shape
A feed element is configured to include a first antenna element having a first width, a dual-band forming inductor, and a second antenna element having a second width wider than the first width, where the first antenna element, the dual-band forming inductor, and a second antenna element are connected in series. The inductor is formed in a meander shape which has a trapezoidal envelope external shape to have a width formed to widen from the first width of a portion connected to the first antenna element toward a portion connected to the second antenna element. Cut portions each having a rectangular shape are further formed at corner portions of another ends of the parasitic elements, respectively. |
| US08717247B2 |
Front-end circuit for improved antenna performance
A front-end circuit includes a signal path and a first antenna port. A first antenna switch is electrically connected to the first antenna port. A second antenna port is electrically connectable or connected to the signal path. An antenna termination circuit is electrically connected to the first antenna switch. The antenna termination includes an impedance element. The first antenna switch electrically connects the first antenna port to the antenna termination circuit when the signal path is electrically connected to the second antenna port. |
| US08717242B2 |
Method for controlling far field radiation from an antenna
An antenna includes a first loop defining a first enclosed area and having a first phase center point, a second loop coupled to the first loop and disposed substantially parallel to the first loop, the second loop defining a second enclosed area, and a third loop coupled to the first loop and the second loop and substantially parallel to the first loop, the third loop defining a third enclosed area with a plurality of adjuster elements coupled to at least one of the first loop, the second loop, or the third loop to provide an adjustable loop and configured to expand or contract the enclosed area of the adjustable loop. |
| US08717240B2 |
Multi-angle ultra wideband antenna with surface mount technology
A multi-angle ultra wide band antenna for electronic devices is disclosed. The said antenna cover all mobile bands worldwide: 700/850/900/1700/1800/1900 and 2100 MHz and with sufficient bandwidth to include the 2400 and 2500 MHz mainly used in wireless networks, having a radiated element supported by a first substrate and expanding into a spatial geometry for transmission and reception of radio signal. An antenna base has a plurality of first solder pads on a second substrate for physical attachment to a printed circuit board and a second solder pad electrically connected to a terminal of said antenna to radio circuitry feed point, with compatible surface mount technology. The first and second substrates are joined by a bending line as a single substrate, where the said first substrate is allowed to be bent relative to the plane of the said second substrate. |
| US08717238B2 |
Radio frequency identification tagging
A RFID tag or label comprises a RFID tag module (comprising an electronic identification circuit and a coupling means) and an antenna structure coupled to the coupling means. The RFID tag module is separate from, separable or arranged to be severable from, the antenna structure. The tag module can be placed in or on an object and the antenna structure in or on packaging material for use with the object. A patch antenna type RFID tag antenna structure has a ground plane spaced from the patch antenna so as to increase the range of the tag. The ground plane is not substantially larger than, and electrically insulated from, the patch antenna. The ground plane is flexible, so the RFID tag structure can be worn by a human, and can be incorporated into a piece of clothing. A RFID antenna structure for use with a tag reader is made flat and robust so that it can be mounted on the ground to be walked upon or driven over. A bi-directional YAGI type RFID tag antenna structure has director elements on two opposite sides so that the YAGI antenna radiates in two opposite directions. An object includes a gain increasing metallic structure for increasing the gain of a RFID tag when placed near the object so as to form a RFID tag antenna structure. |
| US08717234B2 |
System for monitoring a satellite constellation of a positioning system
The present disclosure relates to a monitoring system which comprises at least one monitoring satellite placed in orbit at a lower altitude than that of the satellites of the satellite constellation so as to be capable of receiving the positioning signals emitted towards the Earth by said satellites, and which comprises a processing unit intended for verifying the integrity of said received positioning signals, using position information that is separate from said signals for this purpose. |
| US08717230B1 |
Digital clutter spatial nulling
A method and system for suppressing unwanted signals when detecting objects of interest in a detection system comprising an antenna system and two or more receive beams. A background map is created by range, azimuth and Doppler. Locations within the residual clutter in the moving Doppler bins are selected for nulling. Adaptive nulling is performed independently on each Doppler bin of the selected location to enable Doppler-specific spatial nulling for the same range and azimuth bin. |
| US08717222B2 |
Method and apparatus for monitoring the surfaces of slag and molten metal in a mould
A method for monitoring the surfaces of slag and molten metal in a mold of a continuous casting apparatus, using radar equipment is disclosed. The radar equipment emits a beam of electromagnetic waves having a bandwidth of at least 20 GHz. This also relates to an apparatus for using the method. |
| US08717221B2 |
Successive approximation register analog-to-digital converter
A successive approximation register analog-to-digital converter is provided which includes first and second capacitor arrays configured to generate first and second level voltages, respectively; a comparator configured to compare the first and second level voltages to output a comparison signal; SAR logic configured to generate a digital signal in response to the comparison signal; and a variable common mode selector configured to compare a first analog input voltage and a common mode voltage and to supply one of the first analog input voltage and the common mode voltage to top plates of the first and second capacitor arrays according to a comparison result. |
| US08717210B2 |
Multi-channel sampling of pulse streams at the rate of innovation
A method includes accepting an analog input signal including a sequence of pulses of a given pulse shape. The analog input signal is distributed to multiple processing channels (40) operating in parallel. The analog input signal is sampled by performing, in each of the multiple processing channels, the operations of: mixing the analog input signal with a different, respective modulating waveform to produce a mixed signal; filtering the mixed signal; and digitizing the filtered mixed signal to produce a respective digital channel output. |
| US08717206B2 |
Shift register, electronic device, control method and software program product
Disclosed is a shift register (200, 400) comprising an input (205), an output (230) and a plurality of register cells (210) serially connected between the input and the output, each register cell being connected to a neighboring cell via a node, wherein at least some of said nodes comprise a multiplexer (220) having an output coupled to the downstream register cell and a plurality of inputs, each of said plurality of inputs being coupled to a different upstream register cell such that different length sections of the shift register can be selectively bypassed, the shift register further comprising a set of parallel IO channels (230, 410) facilitating conversion between interleaved and de-interleaved data, each of said channels being coupled to a different one of said nodes, the number of parallel IO channels being smaller than the total number of register cells in the shift register. |
| US08717204B2 |
Methods for encoding and decoding data
The transmission of broadcast data, such as financial data and news feeds, is accelerated over a communication channel using data compression and decompression to provide secure transmission and transparent multiplication of communication bandwidth, as well as reduce the latency. Broadcast data may include packets having fields. Encoders associated with particular fields may be selected to compress those particular fields. |
| US08717202B1 |
Force sensitive input devices and methods
Illustrative embodiments of force sensitive input devices and methods are disclosed. In at least one embodiment, a force sensitive input device may comprise a button movable along a first axis between a first end position and a second end position, the button including a reflective surface, a resilient component biasing the button toward the first end position, and a reflectance sensor configured to emit light that impinges upon the reflective surface and to measure an amount of the light that is reflected from the reflective surface, wherein the light travels generally parallel to the first axis. |
| US08717196B2 |
Display apparatus for vehicle
A display apparatus for a vehicle includes: a shooting element for shooting a predetermined area around the vehicle to obtain a shot image around the vehicle; an image conversion element for converting coordinates of the shot image to generate a mirror conversion image, wherein the mirror conversion image provides a first image of a first area around the vehicle reflected on an in-vehicle mirror, the first image being viewed from a passenger of the vehicle, and wherein the passenger sits down on a predetermined seat of the vehicle; and a display element for displaying the mirror conversion image. |
| US08717195B2 |
Traffic signal control system, design method and special equipment
A traffic signal control method comprises confirming the shortest green light interval; confirming the conflict area of the different traffic flow and the key conflict point position according to the engineering design for road canalization; confirming the longest clear distance si(m) of the traffic tail unit of green light i and the shortest entry distance sj(m) of the traffic head unit of green light j in conflict with green light i; calculating the longest clear time Max{ti} of the traffic tail unit of green light i and the shortest entry time Min{tj} of the traffic head unit of green light j; calculating the shortest green light interval Iij=A+Max{ti}−Min{tj}; confirming the control scheme for the crossing according to the shortest green light interval and sending the control instruction to the traffic signal display device for displaying in real time according to the control scheme. A traffic signal control system and special equipment are also provided. |
| US08717193B2 |
Method and system for providing traffic alerts
A method is provided for warning mobile users of traffic conditions. One or more sensor messages are monitored from a plurality of mobile devices transported by a plurality of vehicles. A traffic condition is determined based on the one or more sensor messages. Location of the traffic condition is also determined based on position information of one or more of the plurality of mobile devices. The mobile devices that are within a predetermined proximity to the location of the traffic condition are selected. An alert message is generated in response to the traffic condition. The selected mobile devices are notified with the alert message. |
| US08717192B2 |
Method and system for using intersecting electronic horizons
A method and system for using data associated with a first vehicle and a given road segment defined for a road network and using data associated with a second vehicle and the given road segment to determine a multi-vehicle probability value that indicates a probability that the first vehicle and the second vehicle will arrive at a common position of the given road segment simultaneously. The multi-vehicle probability value can be compared to a threshold probability value to determine whether the first vehicle and/or the second vehicle should take a responsive measure to avoid those vehicles arriving at the common position of the given road segment simultaneously. The data associated the first vehicle and the data associated with the second vehicle can each include a respective electronic horizon for that vehicle, and time parameters and probability values associated with those vehicles being on the given road segment. |
| US08717191B2 |
Error indication circuit
An indication circuit is used on a motherboard. First and second pins on the motherboard output different signals corresponding to different power-on self-test errors. The indication circuit includes first to third electronic switches, first and second light-emitting diodes, and first to fifth resistors. When different errors occurred during power-on self-test, different signals are output from the first and second pins on the motherboard, such that to make the first and second light-emitting diodes activated or deactivated. As a result, the indication circuit can indicate different errors when the motherboard is performing power-on self-test. |
| US08717189B2 |
Electronic device and automatic warning method thereof
An electronic device includes a detection unit, a comparison unit, and a warning unit. The detection unit generates a detection signal. The comparison unit determines whether the detection signal exceeds a predetermined detection signal. If it is determined that the detection signal exceeds the predetermined detection signal, the comparison unit generates a first comparison signal indicating the proximity of an object to the electronic device. The warning unit sends a warning message in response to the first comparison signal. |
| US08717188B2 |
Diagnostic system and method for home appliance
A diagnostic system and method for a home appliance is provided. When the home appliance outputs product information as a sound signal, a service center remotely performs fault diagnosis of the home appliance by receiving the sound signal, detecting the product information from the sound signal, checking the state of the home appliance using diagnostic data included in the product information to determine whether the home appliance is out of order, determining, when a door error has occurred, a cause of the door error, and deriving a solution to the door error. Upon deriving a diagnosis result through the fault diagnosis of the home appliance, the service center immediately notifies the user of the diagnosis result and may dispatch a service technician or may provide the user with a solution to allow the user to easily fix the fault. |
| US08717187B2 |
Solar powered devices using location-based energy control and method for operation of solar powered devices
A solar powered device and a method of operating such a device to allow it to receive and store information about its physical location, from which it can determine the minimum expected solar energy levels that will be available to it. Based on the minimum expected levels, the device then limits its configurable settings to preferably enable only those configurations having maximum energy demands that can be met or exceeded by the minimum expected energy levels. |
| US08717185B2 |
Warning and preparatory system for a portable device
The disclosure is directed at a system and method for preparing a device for power loss when the presence of a component cover is not sensed. The system includes a component cover with a detection portion; a sensor adapted to detect the presence of the detection portion in the component cover; and a processor able to receive information from the sensor and to prepare the mobile device for power loss. |
| US08717181B2 |
Bed exit alert silence with automatic re-enable
A hospital bed has a bed exit alarm system including an audible alarm that sounds when an alert condition is detected, such as when a patient exits the bed or moves toward exiting the bed. The bed exit alarm system includes at least one user input that is used to enable the bed exit alarm system and a bed exit alarm silence input that stops the audible alarm from sounding or that prevents the alarm from sounding. The bed exit alarm system is configured such that after the bed exit alarm silence input is used, the bed exit alarm system is re-enabled automatically without any action by a caregiver in response to one or more sensors sensing that the patient is, once again, supported on the bed. |
| US08717180B2 |
Sensor-activated transponder
The present invention relates to a transponder comprising an antenna structure (31) configured to receive an incoming signal with RF power of a first frequency f1 and to retransmit the incoming signal as a transparent output signal with RF power of a second frequency f2 when hit by the incoming signal. The transponder further comprises: an amplifier (39) configured to provide an amplified transparent output signal based on the incoming signal; a frequency converter (35) configured to frequency convert the incoming signal into the transparent output signal; and a first frequency filter (33) connected to the antenna structure. The first frequency filter is tuned to the first frequency f1 to avoid amplifying incoming signals with RF power of frequencies other than the first frequency f1. The transponder further comprises a sensor (S) configured to respond to physical stimulus for generating a control signal as output response, and an activator for selectively activating or deactivating the possibility to retransmit based on the control signal of the sensor. |
| US08717174B2 |
Monitoring apparatus for a tag having an engaged and a non-engaged mode
An apparatus and method for bi-directional communication with an external transceiver; the apparatus comprising a transmitter for transmitting an engagement request message from a tag to said external transceiver when said tag is in a non-engaged mode and for transmitting a directed message from said tag to an engaged external transceiver when said tag is in an engaged mode; a processor for bi-directional communication and for changing said engaged mode of said tag to the non-engaged mode, following a lost connection with said engaged external transceiver; and a receiver for receiving a response for said engagement request message from said external transceiver and for receiving an acknowledgement message to said directed message from said engaged external transceiver. |
| US08717172B2 |
Alert for real-time risk of theft or loss
Devices, methods, systems and a computer readable medium for the provision of alerts to electronic devices in response to real-time, location based analysis of the risk of theft or loss of such devices are provided. A continually updated database of locations of thefts, losses and/or stolen or lost electronic devices is accessed in order to provide the alerts to the electronic devices. |
| US08717170B1 |
Management of electric vehicle charging station queues
There is disclosed method of management of electric vehicle charging station (EVCS) queues and an EVCS queue management system. The method includes limiting access to the EVCS to an individual at the top of an EVCS queue during a changeover time. The changeover time may be predetermined or may be generated based upon data pertaining to the management of the queue and/or to the vehicle of the user at the top of the queue. If the user at the top of the queue fails to activate the EVCS during the changeover time, the next in line in the queue will be given a changeover time in which to reach the EVCS. If the queue is otherwise empty, the user at the top of the queue will be notified that the EVCS is no longer reserved, and that anyone may use the EVCS. |
| US08717168B2 |
Method and apparatus for providing an ASIC controlled alarm unit
The present invention is an ASIC-controlled alarm unit. The ASIC circuit performs all the necessary control functions to provide audible and visual signaling when used with external horn and strobe circuits. |
| US08717166B2 |
System and method for conveying location information via a plurality of information-sharing environments
An improved system and method for defining an event based upon an object location and a user-defined zone and managing the conveyance of object location event information among computing devices where object location events are defined in terms of a condition based upon a relationship between user-defined zone information and object location information. One or more location information sources are associated with an object to provide the object location information. One or more user-defined zones are defined on a map and one or more object location events are defined. The occurrence of an object location event produces object location event information that is conveyed to users based on user identification codes. Accessibility to object location information, zone information, and object location event information is based upon an object location information access code, a zone information access code, and an object location event information access code, respectively. |
| US08717163B2 |
System and method for monitoring a closed container
A system for providing communications for container security is provided. The system includes a sensing system for monitoring the contents of the container; a signal receiving element for receiving sensor data from the sensing system; a control element for analyzing received sensor data; a first transceiver element for receiving signals containing sensor data from within the container and for transmitting those signals outside of the container. |
| US08717154B2 |
Computing device and method of automobile control
A computing device and an automobile controlling method stores identification information in an electronic tag of authorized communication devices and a memory of the computing device. The identification information of an electronic tag of a communication device is obtained and a door of an automobile is unlocked if the obtained identification information matches identification information stored in the memory. |
| US08717152B2 |
Sound to haptic effect conversion system using waveform
A haptic conversion system is provided that intercepts frames of audio data, such as a digital audio signal, converts the frames into a haptic signal, and plays the created haptic signal through an actuator to produce haptic effects. The haptic signal is based on a maximum value of each audio data frame, which defines a magnitude of the haptic signal. The haptic signal is applied to the actuator configured to receive the haptic signal, where the actuator utilizes the haptic signal to generate the one or more haptic effects. |
| US08717151B2 |
Devices and methods for presenting information to a user on a tactile output surface of a mobile device
Methods and devices provide a tactile output surface that can communicate information to users via their sense of touch. The tactile output surface may include a plurality of tactile elements which may be activated to represent various information in a manner that can be understood by touching the device. A mobile device may present tactile output surfaces on one or multiple surfaces, and the user may touch the device after of tactile feedback functionality to obtain information from the one or more tactile output surfaces. In an embodiment, a mobile device may be configured to obtain information from an information source and present the information on a tactile output surface so that the user can perceive the information without having to look at the device. A variety of technologies may be used to create actuatable tactile elements. |
| US08717150B2 |
Alarming device
The alarming device of the present invention includes a battery power supply; a sensor section that outputs an anomaly detection signal in the case of detecting an anomaly; a alert section that outputs an anomaly alarm based on the anomaly detection signal; a reception circuit section that receives an event signal from another alarming device; a transmission circuit section that transmits an event signal to the other alarming device; an anomaly monitoring section that, when the sensor section has detected an anomaly, causes the alert section to output the anomaly alarm based on the anomaly detection signal and causes the transmission circuit section to transmit an event signal according to the anomaly of the alarming device to the other alarming device, and on the other hand, when the reception circuit section has received an event signal according to an anomaly of the other alarming device from the other alarming device, causes the alert section to output the anomaly alarm; and a communication control section that detects a predetermined event and performs communication control by adjusting the transmitting and receiving of an event signal by the transmission circuit section and the reception circuit section. |
| US08717148B2 |
Method for controlling external device and transmitting apparatus and receiving apparatus thereof
A method for controlling an external device and a signal transmitting and receiving apparatus thereof. The method for controlling an external device in a receiving apparatus that receives media signals from a transmitting apparatus connected through a wireless network, includes according to an embodiment: receiving information on the external devices connected to the transmitting apparatus from the transmitting apparatus; and displaying the external devices connected to the transmitting apparatus by using the received information. |
| US08717144B2 |
RFID system with distributed readers
A system in one embodiment includes a plurality of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) readers, each reader being capable of using a single antenna for both transmit and receive functions, wherein, during operation, one of the readers transmits and at least another of the readers receives a response to the transmission from an RFID device. A system in another embodiment includes a plurality of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) readers, each reader having at least one antenna mounted on a housing thereof, wherein, during operation, the reader transmitting emits a signal sufficient to communicate with a battery assisted passive RFID device at a range of at least 20 meters. Additional systems and methods are also presented. |
| US08717138B2 |
Inductor combining primary and secondary coils with phase shifting
An inductor including a primary coil coaxially arranged and operated in parallel with isolated secondary coils each including at least one loop winding with two open-circuited ports. At least one phase shifting device is arranged between open-circuited ports of at least one secondary coil. A method to operate an inductor by combining primary and secondary coils with phase shifting devices to get a wide tuning range is also provided. The method includes the step of phase shifting open-circuited ports of at least one secondary coil. |
| US08717137B2 |
On-chip inductor using redistribution layer and dual-layer passivation
A system and method utilize a redistribution layer in a flip-chip or wirebond package, which is also used to route signals to bumps, as a layer for the construction of an on-chip inductor or a layer of a multiple-layer on-chip inductor. In one example, the redistribution layer is surrounded by dual-layer passivation to protect it, and the inductor formed thereby, from the environment and isolate it, and the inductor formed thereby, from the metal layer beneath it. |
| US08717136B2 |
Inductor with laminated yoke
A thin film inductor having yokes, one or more of which is laminated, and one or more conductors passing between the yokes. The laminated yoke or yokes help reduce eddy currents and/or hysteresis losses. |
| US08717133B2 |
Reactor
A reactor including an assembly of a coil, a magnetic core on which the coil is disposed, and a case that houses the assembly. The case includes an installation face, a side wall that is removably attached to the installation face and surrounds the periphery of the assembly, and a heat dissipation layer formed on the inner face of the installation face and interposed between the installation face and the installation-side face of the coil. The installation face consists of aluminum, the side wall consists of an insulating resin, and the heat dissipation layer consists of an adhesive with high thermal conductivity and excellent insulation. The installation face is separate from the side wall, making it easy to form the heat dissipation layer, and having excellent heat dissipation. The side wall consists of an insulating resin, thus reducing the gap between it and the coil. |
| US08717130B2 |
Lacquer composition and use thereof
The present invention relates to a lacquer composition, particularly an adhesive and corrosion-protective lacquer for rare earth magnets, on the basis of an epoxy resin mixture, a setting accelerator, a silane-based epoxy functional adhesion promoter and a solvent or a solvent mixture, wherein the lacquer composition includes 5 to 20 wt. %, with respect to the amount of solid resin in the base of the epoxy resin mixture, of a highly viscous epoxy resin based on bisphenol-A with an elastomer content of more than 30 wt. %. |
| US08717129B1 |
Levitating football helmet
A levitating display article provides a base which supports a display spaced from first and second plates of the base in a levitating manner. The display has a first target at least a second and preferably a third target spaced apart from a levitating axis preferably opposite the article from the first target. The targets are preferably magnets and more preferably high strength magnets but could be conductive materials in other embodiments. In the preferred embodiment, helmets such as football helmets, racecar helmets, batting helmets having a void at the bottom and at least two lower targets spaced relative to the wood are provided connected to the helmet structure. |
| US08717127B2 |
Circuit breaker
A molded case houses switching parts and includes a case main body and a cover placed on an upper portion of the case main body. The case main body includes a bottom portion case that forms a bottom portion of a circuit breaker and an intermediate case, placed on an upper portion of the bottom portion case, having a dividing wall that blocks off a space between the intermediate case and the bottom portion case. A power source side terminal block and second movable contact are fitted inside the bottom portion case, and a first movable contact, the load side terminal block, the contact portion, and the arc extinguishing chamber are fitted inside the intermediate case. |
| US08717123B2 |
Folded coaxial radio frequency mirror
A coaxial mirror is provided for reflecting an electromagnetic signal. The mirror includes an outer pipe, an inner pipe, and first and second rods. The outer pipe extends between input and output ports, with closed initial and final terminals disposed at their respective ports. The inner pipe extends between a closed fore end and an open aft end. The inner pipe is coaxially disposed between the initial and final terminals within the outer pipe. The first rod, coaxially disposed within the outer pipe, extends from the input port to the fore end. The second rod, coaxially disposed within the inner pipe, extends from downstream of the fore end to the output port. Preferably, the first and second pipes are cylindrical tubes. Preferably, fluoropolymer fills the annular region between the inner and outer pipes, and fluoropolymer foam fills the inner pipe. Preferably, the first pipe has an electrically conductive inner surface, the second pipe has electrically conductive inner and outer surfaces, and the first and second rods have conductive surfaces. A first embodiment includes a conductor, coaxially disposed within the inner pipe, that extends from the fore end to the second rod. In a second embodiment, the second rod is hollow, and is preferably filled with the foam. |
| US08717120B2 |
Multi-layered component
A multi-layered component is disclosed, including at least one inductive region, wherein the inductive region includes a ferrite ceramic. The inductive region has electrode structures that form at least one inductance. The multi-layered component has at least one capacitive region, wherein at least one capacitive region includes a varistor ceramic. The capacitive region forms at least one capacitance. At least one inductive region and at least one capacitive region form at least one LC filter. |
| US08717118B2 |
Transformer signal coupling for flip-chip integration
Methods for transformer signal coupling and impedance matching for flip-chip circuit assemblies are presented. In one embodiment, a method for providing an inductive coupling between dies may include fabricating a first inductor on a first die using a passive process, fabricating a second inductor on a second die using a semiconductor process, and assembling each die so the first and second inductor are configured as a transformer. In another embodiment, a method for matching impedance in an RF circuit fabricated using flip-chip techniques may include passing an RF input signal through a first inductor formed using a passive process, inducing a time varying magnetic flux in proximity to a second inductor formed using an active process, and passing an RF signal induced by the time varying magnetic flux through the second inductor. |
| US08717114B2 |
Low-noise fine-frequency tuning
Circuits, methods, apparatus, and code that provide low-noise and high-resolution electronic circuit tuning. An exemplary embodiment of the present invention adjusts a capacitance value by pulse-width modulating a control voltage for a switch in series with a capacitor. The pulse-width-modulated control signal can be adjusted using entry values found in a lookup table, by using analog or digital control signals, or by using other appropriate methods. The capacitance value tunes a frequency response or characteristic of an electronic circuit. The response can be made to be insensitive to conditions such as temperature, power supply voltage, or processing. |
| US08717112B2 |
Inductance-capacitance (LC) oscillator
An inductance-capacitance (LC) oscillator including a first varactor cell, a first transistor, a second transistor and a first pair of differential transformers is provided. The first varactor cell provides a first variable capacitance to adjust/tune the frequency of a first differential oscillation signal generated by the LC oscillator, and outputting the first differential oscillation signal. The first transistor is coupled between a core dc supply voltage and a first terminal of the first varactor cell. The second transistor is coupled between a ground potential and a second terminal of the first varactor cell. The first pair of differential transformers is connected in cascade with the first transistor and the second transistor between the core dc supply voltage and the ground potential, and is used for increasing the output-swing of the first differential oscillation signal, and making a current flowing through the first transistor to be reused by the second transistor. |
| US08717109B2 |
Temperature invariant circuit and method thereof
A temperature invariant digitally controlled oscillator is disclosed. The digitally controlled oscillator is configured to generate an output clock with stable frequency. The temperature invariant digitally controlled oscillator comprises a digitally controlled oscillator, a temperature sensor, a temperature decision logic circuit, and a temperature conditioner. The digitally controlled signal is provided to adjust the oscillation frequency of the digitally controlled oscillator by changing its capacitances. The stabilization of the silicon temperature is achieved with the temperature sensor, the temperature decision logic circuit, and the temperature conditioner. |
| US08717106B2 |
Amplifier circuit and method for improving the dynamic range thereof
The invention provides an amplifier circuit. In one embodiment, the amplifier circuit includes a first class-AB amplifier and a second class-AB amplifier. The first class-AB amplifier amplifies an input signal to generate the first output signal. The second class-AB amplifier amplifies the first output signal to generate a final output signal on an output node. When the power of the input signal is greater than a threshold level, the second class-AB amplifier is in a turned-off state during a turned-on duration period of the first class-AB amplifier, and the first class-AB amplifier is in a turned-off state during a turned-on duration period of the second-class AB amplifier. |
| US08717105B2 |
Amplifier circuit, integrating circuit, and light-detection device
A photodetecting device 1 includes a photodiode PD and an integrating circuit 11. The integrating circuit 11 includes an amplifier circuit 20, a capacitive element C2, and a second switch SW2. The amplifier circuit 20 has a driving section including a PMOS transistor T1 and an NMOS transistor T2, the respective drain terminals thereof being connected to each other. A first switch SW1 comprising a PMOS transistor T10 is opened or closed according to the level of a first reset signal Reset1 input to the gate terminal. When the first reset signal Reset1 is at a low level, the first switch SW1 is closed to apply a power supply potential VDD to the gate terminal of the PMOS transistor T1, thereby turning off the PMOS transistor T1. Thus, an amplifier circuit, an integrating circuit and a photodetecting device capable of achieving both low power consumption and high speed can be realized. |
| US08717103B2 |
Techniques to improve the stress issue in cascode power amplifier design
An amplifier includes a first transistor, and a first inductor disposed between the first transistor and a voltage source. A first output node is between the first transistor and the first inductor. The amplifier further includes a second inductor disposed between the first transistor and ground. The amplifier further includes a second transistor, and a third inductor disposed between the second transistor and a ground. A second output node is between the second transistor and the third inductor. The amplifier further includes a fourth inductor disposed between the second transistor and the voltage source. The amplifier further includes a first capacitor disposed between the first output node and the second output node, and a second capacitor disposed between a first mid-node, which is between the first transistor and the first inductor, and a second mid-node, which is between the second transistor and fourth inductor. |
| US08717101B2 |
Apparatus and methods for biasing power amplifiers
Apparatus and methods for biasing a power amplifier are disclosed. In one embodiment, a method of biasing a power amplifier includes shaping an enable signal using a time-dependent signal generator to generate a control current, amplifying the control current using a current amplifier to generate a correction current, and generating a bias current for a power amplifier using a primary biasing circuit. The primary biasing circuit is configured to use the correction current to correct for a variation in gain of the power amplifier when the power amplifier is enabled. |
| US08717100B2 |
Apparatus and methods for capacitive load reduction
Apparatus and methods for capacitive load reduction are disclosed. In one embodiment, a power amplifier system includes a power amplifier configured to amplify a radio frequency (RF) signal of a first frequency and an envelope tracker configured to control a supply voltage of the power amplifier using an envelope of the RF signal. The power amplifier system further includes an inductor electrically connected between the power amplifier and the envelope tracker and a capacitor electrically connected between the power amplifier and the envelope tracker. The capacitor and the inductor are configured to have a resonance near the first frequency. |
| US08717099B2 |
Wideband doherty amplifier circuit with peaking impedance absorption
A wideband Doherty amplifier circuit includes a main amplifier configured to operate in a linear mode, a peaking amplifier configured to operate in a non-linear mode and a Doherty combiner directly connected to an output of each amplifier so that no output match devices are in the path between the amplifier outputs and the Doherty combiner. The Doherty combiner is configured to present the same load impedance to each amplifier when both amplifiers are conducting and present a modulated load impedance to the main amplifier when the peaking amplifier is non-conducting so that a variation in the VSWR seen by the main amplifier is less than 5% over a plurality of frequency bands and/or so that the peaking amplifier has an off-state impedance spreading of 20 degrees or less over the plurality of frequency bands. |
| US08717097B2 |
Amplifier with improved noise reduction
An amplifier with improved noise reduction is disclosed. In one implementation, an amplifier is provided that includes a main output stage configured to output an amplified signal at a main output terminal, a secondary output stage configured to output a copy of the amplified signal at a secondary output terminal, and a signal coupler configured to provide a variable resistance coupling between the secondary output terminal and the main output terminal to reduce noise at the main output terminal. |
| US08717092B1 |
Current mirror circuit
An improved current mirror circuit. The current mirror circuit includes a current mirror base network, a current source transistor, and an error transistor. The current mirror base network includes a first terminal, a second terminal, and a third terminal. The first terminal is connected to the current source transistor through a first impedance element. The second terminal is connected to the error transistor. The third terminal is connected to a first bias voltage source, and the first terminal is connected to a second bias voltage source. |
| US08717091B2 |
Control circuit for power converter and method thereof
A control circuit for a power converter is disclosed, having a shared pin, a driving circuit, a current source, a sampling circuit, and a signal processing circuit. The shared pin is used for coupling with an output end of the power converter through a resistor. The driving circuit is used for conducting a switch of the power converter. The current source provides a current to the resistor through the shared pin. The sampling circuit samples the signal on the shared pin for generating a first sampling value and a second sampling value. When the difference between the first sampling value and the second sampling value is less than a predetermined value, the signal processing circuit configures the driving circuit to adjust at least one of the conduction time and the conduction frequency of the switch according to an output signal of the power converter received from the shared pin. |
| US08717090B2 |
Precision CMOS voltage reference
A system provides for a voltage reference having a small temperature coefficient spread. The voltage reference includes a PTAT voltage trimming circuit that accurately trims the CTAT voltage component of the bandgap type voltage reference. The voltage trimming circuit includes two bipolar transistors that are biased by biasing currents to create a specific base-emitter voltage difference at an output. The bias currents can be digitally trimmed by a current digital-to-analog (“DAC”) converter. This may result in the ability to trim the voltage reference at a single temperature, without the need to trim at two or more temperatures. |
| US08717087B2 |
Anti-fuse circuit
An anti-fuse circuit includes: a rupture unit including an anti-fuse programmed in response to an input rupture signal during a program mode, and configured to generate an output rupture signal corresponding to a state of the anti-fuse to output the generated output rupture signal to a transmission node, a voltage clamp unit configured to generate a clamp voltage proportional to an external voltage level to generate the clamp voltage having a constant voltage level when the external voltage level rises to a predetermined level or more, and a fuse signal generation unit configured to reset the transmission node to the clamp voltage at the initial stage of the program mode to generate a fuse signal in response to the voltage level of the transmission node during an output mode. |
| US08717077B2 |
Duty cycle adjustment for a local oscillator signal
A local oscillator (LO) module comprises a local oscillator and a feedback circuit. The local oscillator, biased at a supply voltage, generates a local oscillator signal having a duty cycle. The feedback circuit makes an absolute adjustment of the duty cycle of the local oscillator signal in response to a difference between a first voltage signal, representing a voltage level of the local oscillator signal, and a second voltage signal, representing a voltage level of a portion of the supply voltage corresponding to a desired duty cycle for the local oscillator signal. |
| US08717074B2 |
Reference clock compensation for fractional-N phase lock loops (PLLs)
In one embodiment, a method includes determining a phase difference between a reference clock and a feedback clock in even and odd cycles for a phase lock loop (PLL). The even and odd cycles are alternating clock periods. A delta value based on the phase difference is determined. The method then adjusts a division value used by a divider to generate the feedback clock during the even cycle based on the delta value where the delta value is of a first polarity. Also, the method adjusts the division value used by the divider to generate the feedback clock during the odd cycle based on the delta value where the delta value is of a second polarity. |
| US08717072B2 |
Semiconductor device and method for driving the same
A semiconductor device includes a comparison unit configured to compare the phases of a plurality of clocks having different frequencies and output a phase comparison signal, a phase inversion control unit configured to generate a phase inversion control signal, and a start control unit configured to generate a start control signal in response to a clock enable signal, wherein the comparison unit is configured to start an operation in response to the start control signal and invert, in response to the phase inversion control signal, a phase of an internal clock generated from one of the plurality of clocks when the plurality of clocks have different phases. |
| US08717070B1 |
Multifunctional configurable analog circuit block, methods, and integrated circuit devices having the same
An integrated circuit device can include a plurality of analog circuit blocks, each comprising an input section configured to receive an analog input signal, and an output section configured to drive a plurality of output signals corresponding to the input signal, each output signal having a different maximum drive strength; and a signal network comprising a plurality of switches, and providing a configurable connection between at least outputs of the analog circuit blocks and a plurality of N connections to the integrated circuit device, including less than N direct signal paths between each analog circuit block and the N connections. |
| US08717067B2 |
Method and apparatus for continuous-averaging counter-based digital frequency lock detector
Methods and apparatus are provided for counter-based digital frequency lock detection. A counter-based digital frequency lock detector in accordance with the present invention comprises a reference counter clocked by a reference clock and a target counter clocked by a target clock. The target counter is n bits and n is less than a number of bits of the reference counter. A frequency offset violation of the target clock is detected by comparing a value of the target counter to an n bit counter. |
| US08717064B2 |
Semiconductor integrated circuit
A semiconductor integrated circuit capable of reducing unnecessary current consumption includes a plurality of bus drive circuits for receiving data input, a common bus coupled to the bus drive circuits, and a bus holder coupled to the common bus. One of the bus drive circuits is selected as the selected bus drive circuit. When a logical value corresponding to the data input to be output is the same as a logical value that has been held by the bus holder and output to the common bus, the selected bus drive circuit stops outputting the logical value corresponding to the data input to the common bus. With this configuration, it is possible to eliminate the unnecessary output of the selected bus drive circuit, and to reduce unnecessary current consumption compared to the conventional semiconductor integrated circuit. |
| US08717061B2 |
All-in-one motor assessment precision sizing system and capacitance calculator unit
An apparatus designed to accurately measure the capacitance required in order to optimize the power factor of single phase and three phase induction motors. Capacitor circuits are interruptably connected to the busses by means of push-button switches. Leads electrically connected to the busses are attached to a calculator unit which is, in turn, electrically connected to the load leads. The calculator unit displays in digital figures the actual operating conditions of an induction motor and the capacitance required for power factor optimization. The correct capacitance required to increase power factor in the 99% to 100% range is determined by either: (1) pushing a switch or a combination of switches, or (2) pushing the automatic mapping switch. |
| US08717054B2 |
Methods of creating probe structures from a plurality of planar layers
Embodiments disclosed herein are directed to compliant probe structures for making temporary or permanent contact with electronic circuits and the like. Some embodiments are directed to various designs of cantilever-like probe structures while other embodiments are directed to methods for fabricating probe structures. In some embodiments, methods of forming probe structures include formation of a plurality of planar multi-material electrodeposited layers wherein each probe structure includes a contact tip and a compliant body, wherein the compliant body is formed from at least one material that is different from the contact tip material and wherein the compliant body provides for elastic compression of the probe in a plane of primary motion during use and wherein during formation of the layers a stacking direction of the plurality of layers is perpendicular to the plane of primary motion. |
| US08717053B2 |
DC-AC probe card topology
A DC-AC probe card for testing a DUT includes: a plurality of probe needles, each probe needle having a distal end for contacting said DUT; and a plurality of connection pathways operable to connect test instrumentation to the probe needles, wherein each connection pathway provides both a desired characteristic impedance for AC measurements and a guarded pathway for DC measurements between respective test instrument connections and probe needles. |
| US08717050B2 |
Method for panel reliability testing and device thereof
A device for panel reliability testing and method thereof are proposed. The device includes a connection module, for connecting the panel and an aging module; a reliability chamber control module for sending a voltage regulation command to a bias module and/or a switch control command to the aging module; the bias module, for regulating voltage and transmitting information about voltage regulation to the aging module; and the aging module, for performing an aging operation on the panel depending on the switch control command sent from the reliability chamber control module and the information about voltage regulation transmitted from the bias module. Compared with the prior art, LCD panels undergo the aging testing before being packaged, thereby shortening a time period of manufacturing LCD panels and enhancing production efficiency. |
| US08717047B2 |
Method for measuring a current, in particular by means of a grounding apparatus
The invention is a method and electric circuitry for measuring a grounding current of a photovoltaic power system incorporating a photovoltaic inverter, a measurement current being led through two shunts disposed at different points. The measurement current is a current that may flow alternatively at two different points at different electric potentials, the current flowing at a potential that differs by at least 50 V from the potential of the point of evaluation. The shunts are inserted in such a manner in a current mirror circuit that the voltage drop caused by the measurement in the shunts generates an asymmetry in the current mirror the magnitude of which is proportional to the measurement current. The measurement current is the grounding current of the photovoltaic power system with optional positive or negative pole grounding. |
| US08717046B2 |
Nanotube resonator devices
A fully-functional radio receiver fabricated from a single nanotube is being disclosed. Simultaneously, a single nanotube can perform the functions of all major components of a radio: antenna, tunable band-pass filter, amplifier, and demodulator. A DC voltage source, as supplied by a battery, can power the radio. Using carrier waves in the commercially relevant 40-400 MHz range and both frequency and amplitude modulation techniques, successful music and voice reception has been demonstrated. Also disclosed are a radio transmitter and a mass sensor using a nanotube resonator device. |
| US08717045B2 |
Microorganism number measurement device
A microorganism number-measuring apparatus includes: measurement container including measurement liquid; rotary driver; bacteria-collection signal generator; measurement signal generator; output amplifier for amplifying outputs of signal generators and; I/V amplifier; impedance measuring unit for measuring impedance of liquid; microorganism number-computing unit for computing the number of microorganisms present in liquid; solution conductivity-computing unit for computing conductivity of liquid; and warm-up section for warming up at least one of I/V amplifier and output amplifier. Warm-up section computes a warm-up signal based on the conductivity computed by conductivity-computing unit. Warm-up section computes the warm-up signal having a current the same in magnitude as that flowing through measurement electrode by using the measured solution conductivity, and applies the signal to at least one of I/V amplifier and output amplifier. |
| US08717041B2 |
Angle measurement device and method
The present invention relates to a sensor device for determining an absolute angle of a prosthetic joint, and which is resistant to environmental elements and has a reduced power draw. The sensor device includes an inductive sensor and a rotatable member including a metal material. The metal material can include a non-ferrous metal material. The inductive sensor detects an amount of the metal material in a proximate location to the inductive sensor. Rotation of the rotatable member increases or decreases an amount of metal material in the proximate location of the inductive sensor. The amount of metal material in the proximate location corresponds to an angle of the rotatable member and the prosthetic joint based on a monotonic function. Thus, the inductive sensor detects the amount of metal material in the proximate location to determine the angle of the rotatable member and subsequently the angle of the prosthetic device. |
| US08717038B2 |
Wiring testing device
A wiring testing device configured to test the wiring correctness of an inverter is disclosed. The inverter is configured to be connected to a low-voltage three-phase system with a neutral conductor serving as a reference point for grid-side conductor voltages. The wiring testing device includes a test circuit configured to measure the grid-side conductor voltages and determine an average value from the sum of the instantaneous values of the grid-side conductor voltages, and a display unit configured to display an error message if the average value exceeds a threshold voltage for a defined time period. The wiring testing device further includes a capacitor connected between a phase of the three-phase system and the neutral conductor configured to generate a voltage imbalance if the neutral conductor connection is missing, wherein the test circuit is configured to measure the conductor voltages and determine the voltage imbalance. |
| US08717036B2 |
Method and apparatus for detecting a phase-to-earth fault
A method and an apparatus for detecting a phase-to-earth fault on a three-phase electric line of an electric network, the apparatus determining a neutral admittance based on a ratio of a difference between zero sequence currents on the three-phase electric line and a difference between zero sequence voltages in the electric network before an earth fault and during the earth fault. The apparatus also compares the determined neutral admittance, to a predetermined operation characteristic to detect a phase-to-earth fault on the three-phase electric line. The predetermined operation characteristic, when presented on an admittance plane, defines a closed area such that the center of the closed area is offset from the origin of the admittance plane towards a negative susceptance direction and/or towards a negative conductance direction. |
| US08717034B2 |
Fuel gauging system and method thereof
A lighting system (10) is provided that includes at least one lighting device (14A,14B,14C), a plurality of external power sources (20,22,24,26,27) and an internal power source (16) applying a first electrical current to illuminate at least one lighting source (18A,18B,18C), wherein the internal power source (16) supplies the first electrical current. Further, a fuel gauging system and method (1230) detects an electrochemical composition of a power source (16,20,22,24,26,27), which can be at least one of the internal power source (16) and the external power source (20,22,24,26,27), and then determines a state of charge of the power source (16,20,22,24,26,27) based upon the determined electrochemical composition of the power source (16,20,22,24,26,27). |
| US08717033B2 |
Integrated MOSFET current sensing for fuel-gauging
Integrated MOSFET current sensing for fuel-gauging. A 1st MOSFET through which the current is to be sensed is coupled to a 2nd MOSFET of the same type, the 2nd MOSFET being biased to have the same resistance as the 1st MOSFET. The 2nd MOSFET has a much smaller area than the 1st MOSFET, and is coupled to a current source representing a maximum current through the 1st MOSFET. The voltage across the 1st MOSFET relative to the voltage across the 2nd MOSFET provides a measure of the current through the 1st MOSFET. Various embodiments are disclosed, including embodiments in battery packs to eliminate the need for additional and expensive external components. |
| US08717032B2 |
Electronic circuit breaker and a method of providing protection switching
A protection switching system in a power supply distribution system, comprises at least one protection switch (25) comprising a controllable semiconductor arranged to conduct current through the power supply line in a normal mode, a control unit (27) arranged to place the at least one protection switch in a test mode in which the current is reduced compared to the normal mode, registration means (28, 29) for registering a test mode value of at least one electrical characteristic in the power supply line that will be affected when the test mode is applied, a monitoring unit (30; 47) arranged to evaluate the at least one electrical characteristic and determine, based on the evaluation, whether or not an action should be taken. If a malfunction is detected an alarm is issued to indicate to service personnel that the protection switch should be replaced. |
| US08717031B2 |
Controlling electromagnetic radiation in a data center
Controlling electromagnetic (‘EM’) radiation in a data center having a number EM sections, including: receiving, by an EM controller, a specification of preferred EM radiation characteristics for the data center; and setting, by the EM controller, a state of each EM section in accordance with the specification, where the state of each EM section may be one of: an absorption state in which the EM section absorbs EM radiation or a reflection state in which the EM section reflects EM radiation. |
| US08717027B2 |
Organ viability
Apparatuses, methods, and other embodiments associated with determining organ viability are described. According to one embodiment, an apparatus includes logic configured to apply nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) energy to a kidney positioned in a hypothermic pulsative perfusion (HPP) apparatus. The NMR energy is produced according to an MRS 31P specific pulse sequence. The HPP apparatus has an integrated RF coil. The HPP may also have an integrated magnet. The RF coil is positioned and oriented to facilitate optimizing 31P MRS of the kidney. The apparatus also includes logic configured to receive spectrum data from the kidney. The spectrum data is produced in response to applying the NMR energy to the kidney. The apparatus also includes logic configured to provide objective, quantitative kidney viability data (e.g., PME/Pi, ATP/ADP) from the spectrum data. More generally, MRI/MRS compatible HPP apparatuses are configured to interact with dedicated NMR spectroscopy apparatuses. |
| US08717026B2 |
Magnetic field detection device
A magnetic field sensor device suitable for use in an implantable medical device (such as a pacemaker, cardioverter/defibrillator, or cardiac resynchronization therapy device) is able to detect magnetic fields, such as the fields generated by a Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) device, over a wide measurement range and to discriminate between different field strengths. Multiple sensors provided within the magnetic field sensor device are optimally biased to provide a power saving solution which is accurate enough for medical devices applications. The output of the magnetic field sensor device can be used to switch the implantable medical device to different operational modes, e.g., between programmable and “MRI safe” modes. |
| US08717017B2 |
Magnetic field detection apparatus and measurement apparatus
There has been a problem that a bridge circuit using magneto-resistive elements or transducer elements could output a signal including an offset voltage, which could result in lower measurement accuracy. In order to solve such a problem, half-bridges each having magneto-resistive elements or transducer elements are excited with different excitation voltages so that the offset voltage is eliminated and the measurement accuracy is improved. |
| US08717016B2 |
Current sensors and methods
Embodiments relate to current sensors and methods. In an embodiment, a current sensor comprises a conductor portion having a first portion and a second portion; at least three slots formed in the conductor portion between the first and second portions, each of the at least three slots having a length and at least one tip portion; at least two bridge portions each having a width separating two of the at least three slots and a length coupling the first and second portions; a first contact region disposed relative to the first portion and a second contact region disposed relative to the second portion; and at least one pair of magnetic sensor elements, a first pair of magnetic sensor elements arranged relative to and spaced apart from a first of the at least two bridge portions. |
| US08717014B2 |
Apparatus and method for in-field magnetic measurements
A magnetic field verifier apparatus includes a magnetic field detection element configured to produce a voltage signal in response to an applied magnetic field wherein the voltage signal corresponds to the strength of the applied magnetic field. Substantially identical circuit boards or units are connected to a central unit or mother board to place magnetic field detection elements of each board or unit in an mutually approximately orthogonal relationship. A microcontroller is in communication with the voltage signal. The magnetic field verifier apparatus is configurable to sense particular field strengths at various frequencies and store the readings to provide the user with a reliable verification that a particular magnetic field strength has been produced in a particular environment. |