| Document | Document Title |
|---|---|
| US08718657B2 |
Wireless communications system and method
A mobile communications system having improved spectral efficiency, and methods and apparatus to achieve this improved spectral efficiency. In the mobile communications system communication with a plurality of mobile terminals is provided by a base station. Within the system terminals are adapted to communicate with one or more adjacent similar terminals to establish groups of terminals, called micro-cells. Each terminal within a micro-cell receives signals from the base station and then performs a first processing step on these signals. These processed signals are shared with all the other terminals within the micro-cell. Each terminal then performs a second processing step on the information it has received from all the other terminals within the micro-cell which enables it to derive a signal intended for reception by that terminal. The technique is applicable to both the uplink and the down link and also to peer to peer communication. |
| US08718656B2 |
Method and system for evaluating a wireless service network
A method for evaluating a wireless service network includes receiving information indicative of a wireless coverage area associated with each of a plurality of base stations within a geographic area. The method also includes determining a threshold performance requirement within the geographic area. The method additionally includes simulating a deployment of at least one femto base station within the geographic area. The method further includes determining at least a first performance parameter based on the simulated deployment of the at least one femto base station within the geographic area. The method further includes generating a deployment recommendation based on at least the first performance parameter and the threshold performance requirement. The deployment recommendation may indicate whether to deploy the at least one femto base station within the geographic area. |
| US08718655B2 |
Cell barring in a cellular communication network
Cell barring in a cellular communication network is used in case of a failure in the core network of the cellular communication network or on the interface between the core network and the radio access network. By barring at least a part of the cells of the network, the UEs camping on these cells are triggered to reselect another cellular communication network in case of a service interruption. |
| US08718650B2 |
Method for communications between a communication device and wireless access points
A system and methods are disclosed for communications between a communication device and wireless access points. A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, a multimode communication device (MCD), a controller, a global position (GPS) receiver, and a multimode wireless transceiver. The controller can be programmed to authenticate the MCD with a first wireless access point, request and receive a first internet protocol (IP) address, establish communications with a network management system (NMS) according to the first IP address, transmit to the NMS a location of the MCD, receive a second IP address from the NMS in response to the NMS determining that the MCD is near a second wireless access point, and establish communications over the second wireless access point according to the second IP address. |
| US08718649B2 |
Expanded cell search and selection in a mobile wireless device
A method and apparatus for expanded cell search and selection in a mobile wireless device. The mobile device locates cells in a first of neighbor cells and in a second list of stored cells and evaluates located cells using suitability criteria. When locating a suitable first cell that uses a first radio access technology (RAT) in the first list, the first cell is selected. When locating a second suitable cell that uses a second RAT in the first list and not locating a suitable cell that uses the first RAT in the second list, the second cell is selected. When locating a third suitable cell that uses the second RAT in the first list and locating a fourth suitable cell that uses the first RAT in the second list, the fourth cell is selected when more suitable than the third cell. |
| US08718644B2 |
Automatically modifying wireless network connection policies based on user activity levels
Modifying network connection policies of a wireless device based on user activity levels. One or more activity indicators of the wireless device may be monitored. One or more criteria for wireless network blacklisting may be selected based on the one or more activity indicators. The criteria may include different types of connectivity problems. A wireless network may be detected. The wireless network may be monitored for connectivity problems. The wireless network may be blacklisted if connectivity problems meeting the selected criteria for wireless network blacklisting are determined to have occurred. |
| US08718643B2 |
Devices and methods for wireless system acquisition
Disclosed are devices, methods and computer program products for radio access network (RAN) signal acquisition. In one aspect, a mobile device scans a radio frequency spectrum for RAN signals and detects signals corresponding to a plurality of channels of a first network type having a first channel bandwidth. The mobile device then determines a power level of the detected signal on each of the plurality of channels and discards signals having substantially equal power within a first frequency range to define a remaining set of signals. The first frequency range corresponds to a second channel bandwidth of a second network type and the second channel bandwidth is greater than the first channel bandwidth. The mobile device then ranks the remaining signals based on the determined power level and selects one of the remaining signals for acquisition based on the ranking. |
| US08718639B2 |
Radio communication device and radio communication method
When communication quality exceeds the first threshold, the radio communication terminal 300 starts connection with the radio communication system 120 and establishes the radio link L2 to the radio communication system 120. Further, a handover from the radio link L1 to the radio link L2 is performed when the communication quality exceeds the second threshold after the establishment of the radio link L2, the second threshold corresponding to communication quality degraded than that indicated by the first threshold. |
| US08718638B2 |
Device capable of notifying operation state change thereof through network and communication method of the device
A method of notifying an operation state change is provided. A network is formed among devices that can be used by a user and that can perform network communication. When an operation state change of a first device in the network occurs, at least one device is sought which is currently used by the user in the network. Information regarding the operation state change of the first device is transmitted to the at least one device such that the information regarding the operation state change of the first device can be displayed on a display unit of the at least one device. |
| US08718632B2 |
Service delivery network
A service delivery network provides a variety of services to a caller placing a call to the network through a vehicle communication system. The network includes automatic call routing, and has access to one or more databases with various caller services. These databases include, but are not limited to, traffic, POI databases and routing engines. A system administration manager associated with the network is capable of identifying calls based on a vehicle identification number (VIN) associated with a call, and can store logs of each call, including the identifying VIN. |
| US08718629B2 |
Information communication processing device, information communication terminal, information communication system, function switching method and function switching program
Provided is the information communication processing device capable of executing terminal function switching control in linkage with an external communication content on one information communication processing device based on the external communication content without a problem in switching. The information communication processing device has at least one information processing device having a plurality of function environments for executing an application, and a switching control unit for switching a function environment, in which the switching control unit determines a function environment to be switched based on contents of communication with the outside of the information communication processing device and sets context of the function environment to be switched at context of a function environment being executed, thereby executing switching to the function environment to be switched. |
| US08718625B2 |
Mobile terminal and method for updating information of contacts
A mobile terminal and a method for updating information of contacts is provided, and the mobile terminal includes: an edition module, configured to provide a contact update interface containing a selection control and an edition control, wherein the selection control is used for generating a selection instruction according to an operation from a user, and the edition control is used for generating an edition instruction according to an operation from the user; a control module, configured to select information of multiple contacts according to the selection instruction from the selection control and edit the information of the multiple contacts according to the edition instruction from the edition control; and an update module, configured to update information of the multiple contacts stored in a database as the information of the multiple contacts being edited by the control module. Advantageously, the effect of improving user experience is reached. |
| US08718623B2 |
Measuring end user activity of software on a mobile or disconnected device
A hardware and/or software facility measures end user activity associated with a software application or service on a mobile phone or other mobile device. The facility tracks and stores usage data associated with a mobile user's use of the application or service. When the mobile user initiates transmission of the usage data, the facility retrieves from the mobile phone or other mobile device a usage code representing the usage data. The facility relies on user transcription, text input-buffer insertion, or other indirect means of data transport to deliver the usage code from the mobile phone or other mobile device to an application developer, service provider, or another entity. The recipient extracts the usage data contained in the usage code, and may perform various data mining and analysis techniques on the usage data in order to evaluate how the application or service is used. |
| US08718622B2 |
Pervasive contact center
Methods and systems that support the receipt of location data and/or touch data from a mobile communication device are provided. More particularly, a mobile customer service server is provided that can receive location data from or regarding a mobile communication device, and associate that location data with recognition data. The recognition data can in turn be delivered to other server side components, and used to select content to be returned to the mobile communication device. The mobile customer service server can also receive touch data input to the mobile communication device, and can provide recognition data related to the touch input to other server side component. Server side components provided with location or touch data by the mobile customer service server do not themselves need to natively support location recognition or touch recognition capabilities. |
| US08718620B2 |
Personal media devices with wireless communication
Systems and methods are provided for personal media devices having the ability to communicate wirelessly, and in particular, communicate wirelessly using a short-range communications protocol (e.g., Wi-Fi and Bluetooth). Such communication provides users of personal media devices with access to several Wi-Fi oriented applications. For example, in one embodiment a personal media device may wirelessly download subscription assets (e.g., podcast) as they become available. In another embodiment, content specific or local to a merchant may be provided to personal media devices that are in wireless communication with a wireless router affiliated with the merchant. For example, if the merchant is a restaurant, the merchant may provide a menu to the personal media device and the user may place an order on his or her media device by selecting items on the menu. |
| US08718619B2 |
Predicting presence of a mobile user equipment
A method, system, user equipment and computer program for predicting presence of a mobile user equipment, that includes: determining a set of time-distributed locations of a number of mutually associated mobile user equipments; calculating an aggregated location as a function of a location distribution of the set of locations; for each mobile user equipment, predicting a probability that the mobile user equipment will be present at the aggregated location at a future time; and initiating sending, to any of the mobile user equipments, a message indicating that another mobile user equipment of the mobile user equipments is predicted to be present at the aggregated location at a specific future time. |
| US08718616B2 |
Systems and methods for managing content provided through a mobile carrier
A wireless network carrier can track and monitor third-party network-enabled applications (pods) that are accessed by, and billed to, users of the wireless network carrier through a mobile content platform, and to control access to such third-party network-enabled applications (pods) based on selectable criteria for the performance and user-based feedback related to each content application (pod). The network-enabled applications can also be registered with the mobile content platform through an intermediary, such as an aggregator. The network-enabled application can then be associated with the intermediary so that the intermediary receives a share of the revenue generated by the network-enabled application. |
| US08718613B2 |
Remote viewing apparatus for smartphone
Enables a synergy between a consumer's Smartphone such as an IPHONE® and an inexpensive, energy-efficient electronic-reader type device, to provide the consumer the features of a more-expensive and higher-energy-use device by relegating capabilities requiring keyboard use e.g., physical or electronic, touch-screen, wireless-connection, telephony-connection e.g., 3G/4G, microphone, speaker, and more to the Smartphone while supporting where desired full-power standalone document-display features to the electronic reader. Apparatus includes an electronic-reader device with an electronic-ink screen and a small number of buttons to perform standalone features such as “display next page”; a low power transceiver, memory, processing hardware, and associated software and battery. The electronic-reader device is especially designed to prevent inappropriate distribution of copyright-protected material. |
| US08718612B2 |
Real-time analysis involving real estate listings
In general terms, embodiments of the present invention relate to apparatuses, methods, and computer program products for presenting information associated with a real estate listing in an augmented reality environment. For example, in some embodiments, a method is provided that includes (a) receiving positioning information from a mobile device; (b) identifying, based at least partially on the positioning information, a real estate property; (c) determining that the real estate property is subject to a real estate listing; and (d) presenting, via the mobile device, information that indicates that the real estate property is subject to a real estate listing. |
| US08718609B2 |
Method and mobile terminal for processing data in message
The present invention relates to the field of data processing, and in particular, to a method for processing data in a message. The method includes: receiving a message sent by a network side or another equipment, wherein the message carries data; identifying a data type of the data; and storing the data into a function module corresponding to the data type according to a corresponding relationship list, wherein the corresponding relationship list is a list of correspondence between the data types and the function module. Meanwhile, an embodiment of the present invention further provides a mobile terminal for processing data in a message. With embodiments of the present invention, the intelligent interaction capability between a mobile terminal and a user is enhanced, and the transaction processing efficiency of the mobile terminal is also improved. |
| US08718608B2 |
Apparatus and method for unlocking mobile phone
The disclosure provides an apparatus and a method for unlocking a mobile phone. Both the apparatus and the method support the specific operations of a sensing component module, a judgment module and an unlocking performing module; wherein the sensing component module is configured to recording the time at which a user touches a first sensing component and a second sensing component, and transmitting the time to the judgment module; the judgment module is configured to judging whether an unlocking condition is satisfied according to the time at which the user touches a first sensing component and a second sensing component, and if yes, notifying the unlocking performing module to perform unlocking, if not, continuing being locked. The apparatus and method in the disclosure can reduce the probability of unlocking misoperations, and are convenient and rapid. |
| US08718604B2 |
Method and apparatus for providing alternative telephony service, and method of computing inverse call charge using the same
Disclosed is a method and an apparatus for providing an alternative telephony service which automatically switches an originating call between a basic telephony network and an alternative telephony network, and a method of inducing a caller or a receiver to subscribe to a service having a cheaper call rate by notifying the caller or the receiver of an inverse call charge which can be reduced according to whether telephony communication is performed using a basic telephony or an alternative telephony. Accordingly, it is possible to automatically connect the telephony communication using the basic telephony or the alternative telephony according to a telephony communication condition of the receiver, and thus reduce inconvenience due to a direct control of the receiver and first select a telephony communication scheme having a cheap call rate. Further, it is possible to more actively save a telephony communication call charge by naturally recommending the subscription and the use of the alternative telephony service through the notification of the inverse call charge to a non-subscriber or a non-user of the alternative telephony service. |
| US08718602B2 |
Method and system for remote control of smart card
The disclosure discloses a method and a system for remote control of a smart card; the method comprises: receiving, by a smart card management platform, a request for performing a LOCKING/UNLOCKING operation for a smart card from a user (S101); and the smart card management platform performs a short message interaction with a terminal side through a mobile network platform based on the request, so as to make the terminal side perform the LOCKING/UNLOCKING operation for the smart card (S103). By means of the disclosure, the effects are achieved that the user can apply to a smart card supervision department for locking/unlocking the smart card and a terminal through a short message and disabling or enabling the smart card, when the smart card and the terminal in which the smart card is located are robbed, lost, stolen and has a serious illegal behavior, so as to protect the security of the user and the smart card relevant department to the greatest extent and provide a better flexibility for a payment system. |
| US08718601B1 |
Cellular fuel pump, systems, and methods of fueling
A fuel pump having a unique cellular telephone calling number operable in response to receiving a cellular message. The pump includes a cellular phone component and may include a SIM card slot and SIM card. A number of pumps may each be equipped with a cellular phone component each having a unique calling number and a cellular phone system provider configured to authorize sending of information representing a pre-authorized amount of fuel to be dispensed as a wireless cellular signal to one or any of the pumps. A method of selling fuel includes sending a cellular telephone signal to a unique telephone number associated with the fuel pump and assessing a charge to the cellular telephone of a user prior to authorizing the sending of the signal. |
| US08718597B2 |
Mobile phone search device and search method thereof
A mobile phone search device and search method thereof. Firstly, utilize a portable mobile phone detector to transmit a base station signal in its transmission region, and this region covers at least one or more mobile phones. Then, when the mobile phone detects the base station signal, it can log onto a network to establish communication channel with the portable mobile phone detector, and that can assign a communication number to each of the mobile phones, for the mobile phones to communicate in voice signal or short message with the portable mobile phone detector on its own initiative. Through applications of the mobile phone search device and search method thereof, the mobile phone having its communication with the base station disrupted can be detected and communication re-established swiftly, thus locating said trapped person and raising rescue efficiency significantly. |
| US08718595B2 |
Emergency data message router database
A system and method for providing information associated with public safety answering points may include storing a set of records including information associated with a plurality of PSAPs, each record may include (i) an identifier indicative of a PSAP available to service emergency communications, (ii) at least one cell code identifier indicative of cell sites in which the associated PSAP services, and (iii) at least one network address capable of receiving certain emergency data message types. In response to receiving a request, a PSAP local to a wireless communications device of a user who sent an emergency data message may be identified, and a network address associated with the identified local PSAP may be provided. |
| US08718592B2 |
Mobile device location determination using micronetworks
A facility for determining the location of a mobile device when a location determination of a desired accuracy is desired. If available, the facility determines the location of the mobile device using a device-based technique or using a location determination technique that is accessible over a macronetwork. Macronetworks are networks that are designed to cover relatively large areas. If a location determination technique of desired accuracy is not available on the device or over a macronetwork, the facility attempts to use a location determination technique that is accessible over a micronetwork to determine the location of the mobile device. Micronetworks are networks that are designed to cover smaller areas. By forcing a switch from a macronetwork-based location determination technique to a micronetwork-based location determination technique, the facility ensures that a location determination is made for the mobile device of a desired accuracy, time to fix (TTF), and/or yield. |
| US08718589B2 |
Compensating for unwanted distortion in a communications receiver
Method and apparatuses are disclosed to substantially compensate for various unwanted interferences and/or distortions within a communications receiver. Each of these apparatuses and methods estimate the various unwanted interferences and/or distortions within the communications receiver. Each of these apparatuses and methods remove the estimates of the various unwanted interferences and/or distortions within the communications receiver from one or more communications signals within the communications receiver to substantially compensate for the various unwanted interferences and/or distortions. |
| US08718588B2 |
Signal processing circuit having mixer units using oscillation signals with different phases and frequency-selective combining block for frequency-selectively combining outputs of mixer units and related method thereof
A signal processing circuit is used for generating a signal output by processing a signal input, and includes a first mixer unit, a second mixer unit, and a frequency-selective combining block. The first mixer unit is arranged for receiving a first signal and a first oscillation signal, and generating a first mixing output by mixing the first oscillation signal and the first signal. The second mixer unit is arranged for receiving a second signal and a second oscillation signal, and generating a second mixing output by mixing the second oscillation signal and the second signal. Each of the first signal and the second signal is part of the signal input. The first and second oscillation signals have a same frequency but different phases. The frequency-selective combining block is arranged for frequency-selectively combining the first mixing output and the second mixing output to generate the signal output. |
| US08718584B2 |
Dual conversion receiver with programmable intermediate frequency and channel selection
A dual conversion receiver architecture that converts a radio frequency signal to produce a programmable intermediate frequency whose channel bandwidth and frequency can be changed using variable low-pass filtering to accommodate multiple standards for television and other wireless standards. The dual conversion receiver uses a two stage frequency translation and continual DC offset removal. The dual conversion receiver can be completely implemented on an integrated circuit with no external adjustments. |
| US08718582B2 |
Multi-mode power amplifiers
Multi-mode power amplifiers that can support multiple radio technologies and/or multiple frequency bands are described. In one exemplary design, a first linear power amplifier supporting multiple radio technologies may be used to amplify a first RF input signal (e.g., for low band) and provide a first RF output signal. A second linear power amplifier also supporting the multiple radio technologies may be used to amplify a second RF input signal (e.g., for high band) and provide a second RF output signal. Each linear power amplifier may include multiple (e.g., three) chains coupled in parallel. Each chain may be selectable to amplify an RF input signal and provide an RF output signal for a respective range of output power levels. An RF input signal may be a phase modulated signal or a quadrature modulated signal and may be pre-distorted to account for non-linearity of the power amplifier. |
| US08718578B2 |
Circuit arrangement with improved decoupling
A circuit arrangement includes a component having a closed signal path, that closed signal path connected to a first port, a second port and at least a third port. The component has a directed signal flow of a signal applied to one of that ports. Such a coupling device can be connected to a transmitter and to a receiver path, respectively. |
| US08718576B2 |
Radio frequency modulator and method thereof
A radio frequency (RF) modulator includes: converting means for up-converting a first and second baseband signals into a first and second up-converted signals with a reference clock, wherein a phase difference between the first and second baseband signals substantially equals 180°/N; and combining means for combining the first and second up-converted signals to generate an output signal. |
| US08718574B2 |
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. |
| US08718568B2 |
Performing measurements in wireless communications using multiple carriers
Methods and systems to configure and/or reconfigure measurement configuration in wireless communications with one or more cells are disclosed. Measurement configuration reporting may be reconfigured based on events associated with the one or more serving cells and/or one or more serving component carriers, among others. Measurement configuration and measurement configuration reporting may also be reconfigured based on events associated with one or more serving component carriers. |
| US08718566B2 |
Assessing interference environment for wireless communication devices
Disclosed is a device and method to automate the process of measuring RF noise, correlating measured noise with known sources, and making adjustments to the noise-measuring and reporting process. A wireless communication device is coupled to equipment at a fixed location, and transmits data about the operation of the equipment back to an operator, via a provider's network. Examples include fixed wireless terminals. A management entity aboard the wireless communication device performs the measurements via a transceiver, and performs remedial actions when required, without requiring an onsite technician or remote assistance. The management entity may include a spectrum analyzer. |
| US08718563B2 |
System and method for signal limiting
A method for processing a signal with a corresponding noise profile includes analyzing spectral content of the noise profile, filtering at least one noise harmonic within the signal based on the analyzed spectral content, and limiting the filtered signal. The noise profile may include a phase noise profile. The signal may include a sinusoidal signal and/or a noise signal. At least one filter coefficient that is used to filter the at least one noise harmonic may be determined. The filtering may include low pass filtering. The limiting may include hard-limiting of the filtered signal. A phase difference between the limited signal and a reference signal may be detected. |
| US08718562B2 |
Processing audio signals
A method of processing an audio signal transmitted from a remote transmitter and received at a local receiver of an acoustic system, includes at the receiver receiving with the audio signal an indication of remote transmitter gain, determining an overall system gain of the acoustic system from the remote transmitter gain and a local receiver gain and selectively applying a system gain reduction step to the audio signal if it is determined that the overall system gain exceeds a threshold. |
| US08718555B2 |
Method and system for using selected bearer channels
Using bearer channels for wireless nodes includes initiating communication among the wireless nodes that include a node and one or more neighbor nodes. An adaptive channel operable to communicate messages between the node and the neighbor nodes is established. One or more bearer channels are selected. The one or more neighbor nodes are notified of the one or more selected bearer channels using the adaptive channel. The node and the neighbor nodes communicate over the bearer channels. |
| US08718550B2 |
Interposer package structure for wireless communication element, thermal enhancement, and EMI shielding
Embodiments of an interposer package structure are provided herein. Embodiments include a substrate having first and second opposing surfaces. An IC die electrically coupled to the first surface of the substrate. A plurality of contact members coupled to the first surface of the substrate. An interposer having a plurality of contact elements located on a first surface. Each conductive element coupled to a respective one of the plurality of contact members. The interposer is configured to facilitate wireless communication between the IC die and another device, heat spreading and electromagnetic interference shielding. |
| US08718547B2 |
Virtual machine readable communication tag
A system for imitating the functionality of a machine readable tag using a virtual tag. In at least one embodiment, a WCD (100) may communicate with a machine readable tag (120) and copy the data structure and contents of the machine readable (120) onto the WCD (100). The WCD may create a virtual tag using downloaded information and associate the virtual tag with an image corresponding to the virtual tag. The virtual tag may then be used to imitate the interaction logic between the machine readable tag (120) and the WCD (100). |
| US08718545B2 |
Transponder and method for operating a transponder
A transponder and method for operating a transponder, which has a capacitor (Cbuf) for storing power transmitted via an air interface and an arithmetic logic unit (10) that can be supplied with the stored power, in which a capacitor voltage (VC) of the capacitor (Cbuf) is compared with a first threshold (V1), in which the capacitor voltage (VC) is compared with a second threshold (V2), whereby the first threshold (V1) and the second threshold (V2) are different, in which in a first operating mode (M1), when the capacitor voltage (VC) is above the first threshold (V1), the arithmetic logic unit (10) performs a number of routines with a different priority, in which in a second operating mode (M2), when the capacitor voltage (VC) is between the first threshold (V1) and the second threshold (V2), a number of low-priority routines are stopped and a number of high-priority routines are continued. |
| US08718544B2 |
Signal transmission device, electronic device, and signal transmission method
A signal generation unit 107 and a first set value processing unit 7100 are included in a preceding stage of a transmission path connection unit 108 at a transmission side, and a signal generation unit 207 and a second set value processing unit 7200 are included in a subsequent stage of a transmission path connection unit 208 at a receiving side. The signal generation unit 107 or the signal generation unit 207 performs prescribed signal processing based on a set value. The first set value processing unit 7100 inputs a set value, that has been prescribed for the signal generation unit 107, to the signal generation unit 107, and the second set value processing unit 7200 inputs a set value, that has been prescribed for the signal generation unit 207, to the signal generation unit 207. Since the set value is not dynamically changed according to an environment change, or the like, simplification of a parameter operation circuit or reduction of power consumption is realized, and the parameter operation circuit does not unnecessarily operate even when it is used under the state without environment change. |
| US08718543B2 |
Mobile communication system with moving base station
A mobile communication system employs moving base stations moving in the direction of flow of traffic moving along a roadway. The moving base station communicates with fixed radio ports connected to a gateway office. A plurality of moving base stations are spaced apart on a closed loop and move with the flow of traffic along one roadway on one leg of the loop and with a flow of traffic on another roadway in another leg of the loop. The moving base stations communicate with a plurality of fixed radio ports connected by a signal transmission link to a gateway office which, in turn, is connected to the wire line network. The moving base stations are each provided with a pair of directional antennas with one antenna directed toward the flow of traffic and another antenna directed to the fixed radio ports. |
| US08718540B2 |
Methods and arrangements for frequency selective repetition
Methods and apparatuses for enabling frequency selective repetition of signals in a telecommunication system in which aggregation of component carriers is applied. Information signals are received in a first set of frequency bands, which is defined to cover anchor carriers, which can be used by both legacy and non-legacy terminals. Further, information is received in a second set of frequency bands, which is defined to cover non-anchor carriers, which only can be used by non-legacy terminals. Instructions concerning which frequency band(s) that should be repeated by the repeater node, are also received. Thereafter, the frequency bands indicated in the instructions are filtered out, after which these frequency bands or parts are repeated by the repeater node. This results in enabling frequency selective repetition in a system which may comprise legacy mobile, which limits the interference in the system, which enables higher bitrates and saves energy. |
| US08718538B2 |
Real-time remote purchase-list capture system
A portable device is used to capture, in real time, data sufficient to identify a product or service promoted, or a music track played, on a broadcast medium such as radio. The device determines a current frequency setting of a nearby radio by short-range broadcast of a brief audio-frequency signature so as to form a feedback path from the radio sufficient to determine the frequency or station currently playing. The captured data is communicated to a services server to enable quick and convenient purchase of the desired product or service. |
| US08718536B2 |
Apparatus, system, and method for detecting the presence and controlling the operation of mobile devices within a vehicle
An apparatus, system, and method for determining the presence of a mobile device located in a predetermined detection zone within a vehicle are disclosed. A detection module receives a communication signal, determines that the communication signal was transmitted by a mobile device located within a predetermined detection zone within a vehicle, and a control module transmits a control signal to the mobile device located within the predetermined detection zone. The system further includes a monitoring logic to monitor a functional system of the vehicle activating the transmission of the control signal by the control module when the monitored functional system is activated and the detection module determines that the communication signal was transmitted by the mobile device located within the predetermined detection zone. |
| US08718530B2 |
Lubricant supply device, process cartridge, and image forming apparatus
A lubricant supply device including a solid lubricant, a lubricant supply roller, a detector, and a varying device is provided. The lubricant supply roller is adapted to supply the lubricant to a toner image bearing member and is rotatable in a predetermined direction while slidably contacting both the solid lubricant and the toner image bearing member. The detector is adapted to detect an absolute humidity around the lubricant supply device. The varying device is adapted to vary an amount of the lubricant to be supplied to the toner image bearing member based on the absolute humidity detected by the detector. |
| US08718529B2 |
Image forming apparatus providing glossiness treatment
An image forming apparatus includes a plurality of image forming stations for forming a toner image having superposed toner image components on a recording material, a fixing portion for fixing the toner image on the recording material, and a glossiness treatment unit, operable when a glossiness treatment mode is selected, for glossiness treatment of the toner image fixed on the recording material by heating the toner image. The glossiness treatment unit includes a film movable in a feeding direction of the recording material, a heating member contacting the film, and a pressing member cooperating with the heating member to form a nip, with the film therebetween, for nipping and feeding the recording material. In the glossiness treatment mode, one of the image forming stations forms, as a topmost layer, a toner image having a tone gradation provided by a dot growth type screening, and an image forming station, other than the one for forming the topmost toner image, forms the toner image having the tone gradation provided by a line growth type screening. |
| US08718521B2 |
Image-forming apparatus and image forming method for regulating portion of tension roller
An image-forming apparatus includes a transfer roller having a recessed portion in a circumferential surface; a driving portion for rotatably driving the transfer roller; an image carrier belt for carrying an image; a tension roller around which the image carrier belt is wound for making contact with the transfer roller interposed by the image carrier belt; a biasing portion for biasing the tension roller towards the transfer roller; and a position-regulating portion that, when the transfer roller rotates and the transfer roller and the image carrier belt make contact, causes a position to be maintained at which the image carrier belt wound around the tension roller intersects a virtual circumferential surface that is an extension of the circumferential surface of the transfer roller into the recessed portion. |
| US08718515B2 |
Image forming apparatus and cartridge
An image forming apparatus is provided that may include a photosensitive drum configured to rotate around an axis and a first rotational member disposed proximate a periphery of the photosensitive drum and configured to rotate about an axis parallel to the rotational axis of the photosensitive drum. The image forming apparatus may also include a driving-force transmitting member and a driven member, which includes a transmitted portion and a first engaging projection. The driven member may rotate about the rotational axis of the photosensitive drum together with the photosensitive drum and the transmitted portion of the driven member may receive a driving force transmitted from the driving-force transmitting member. The image forming apparatus may also include a rotational-member driving gear which has a loose fit portion configured to engage with the first engaging projection and a transmission gear portion configured to transmit the driving force to the first rotational member. |
| US08718514B2 |
Tandem type image forming apparatus
To facilitate replacing photosensitive drums and/or developing devices in an image forming apparatus, a photosensitive member unit including a plurality of photosensitive members is loaded in a main casing. A developing device unit including a plurality of developing devices is also loaded in the main casing. Both an intermediate transfer belt and the photosensitive member unit are configured to be movable toward and away from the developing device unit. Further, when the photosensitive member unit is separated from the developing device unit, the intermediate transfer belt and the plurality of photosensitive members are also separated from each other. |
| US08718513B2 |
Image forming apparatus comprising a plurality of process units
An image forming apparatus includes process units arranged in a predetermined direction to form a process-unit row, each having a photosensitive body and a developer container; a casing accommodating the process units and having a cover opening and closing an opening formed at one side in the predetermined direction, and an exposure member exposing the photosensitive body, and having a laser source, a deflector, and an optical element, and the exposure member is arranged facing the developer container of each process unit in a direction orthogonal to the predetermined direction. The process units are detachable from the casing, through the opening of the casing, and the developer container of one process unit arranged at one end of the process-unit row has a protruding portion protruding toward the exposure member to overlap with the exposure member in the orthogonal direction. |
| US08718506B2 |
Fixing device and image forming apparatus incorporating same
A fixing device includes a first alternating electric current power supply that outputs a first alternating electric current having a first frequency that causes a magnetic flux generated by an exciting coil to reach a first heat generation layer of a fixing rotary body; a second alternating electric current power supply that outputs a second alternating electric current having a second frequency that is lower than the first frequency and causes the magnetic flux to reach the first heat generation layer of the fixing rotary body and a second heat generation layer of a heat generator; and a switch circuit connected to the exciting coil, the first alternating electric current power supply, and the second alternating electric current power supply to selectively connect the first alternating electric current power supply or the second alternating electric current power supply to the exciting coil. |
| US08718505B2 |
High-voltage output apparatus and image forming apparatus
The high-voltage output apparatus includes a voltage application part that applies a DC voltage to the charge member; a current detection part that detects a value of a current flowing in the image bearing member when the DC voltage is applied to the charge member; and a control part that calculates a plurality of discharge start voltages for the image bearing member, based on a plurality of current values detected by the current detection part as a result of the voltage application part applying a plurality of different DC voltages to the charge member, and controls the DC voltage applied to the charge member, using the plurality of calculated discharge start voltages. Consequently, a high-quality image can be formed by maintaining a potential on a photosensitive drum to be constant irrespective of the states of the circumstances and/or the drum layer thickness. |
| US08718501B2 |
Image forming apparatus capable of minimizing reverse toner transfer
In an image forming apparatus, a determiner determines a target amount of transfer current based on first and second algorithms each representing a relation between an image area rate of a latent image bearer in the vicinity of an exit of a transfer nip and a target amount of transfer current to be provided to a nip creating member. The first algorithm is utilized in a second transfer step when the image area rate falls within a typical range from the lower limit (a %) to the upper limit (b %). The first algorithm decreases the target amount as the image area rate increases within that range. |
| US08718500B2 |
Image forming apparatus
To provide an image forming apparatus capable of increasing the life of a rotating cam while preventing the occurrence of a shock jitter and transfer failure. The image forming apparatus is configured to execute a forced movement process for rotating the rotating cam to forcibly move a secondary transfer roller against a biasing force of a bias coil spring at a pre-entry timing prior to the entry of the front edge of a recording sheet into a secondary transfer position, and a pressure intensifying process for rotating the rotating cam to increase transfer pressure at a timing immediately after the entry of the front edge of the recording sheet into the secondary transfer position. As the forced movement process, the image forming apparatus executes, alternately, a first forced movement process for normally driving and rotating the rotating cam, and a second forced movement process for inversely driving and rotating the rotating cam, at a predetermined timing. |
| US08718491B2 |
Soft decoding of data in a coherent optical receiver
In a coherent optical receiver receiving a polarization multiplexed optical signal through an optical communications network, a method of compensating noise due to polarization dependent loss (PDL). A Least Mean Squares (LMS) compensation block processes sample streams of the received optical signal to generate symbol estimates of symbols modulated onto each transmitted polarization of the optical signal. A decorrelation block de-correlates noise in the respective symbol estimates of each transmitted polarization and generating a set of decorrelated coordinate signals. A maximum likelihood estimator soft decodes the de-correlated coordinate signals generated by the decorrelation block. |
| US08718489B2 |
Distortion compensation circuit including one or more phase invertible distortion paths
A distortion compensation circuit compensates for distortion generated by one or more non-linear elements such as a laser device and may include a primary signal path for carrying an input signal and one or more secondary signal paths for generating distortion. The distortion compensation circuit may also include one or more controllable phase inverters on at least one of the paths. For example, the secondary signal path may include a distortion generator to produce distortion products from the input signal and a signal controlled phase inverter that inverts the phase of the distortion products. The distortion generator and phase inverter may be combined as an invertible distortion generator. The phase inversion may be controlled in response to a phase inversion control signal generated based on one or more parameters such as temperature. |
| US08718488B2 |
Driver and optical transmission apparatus
A driver for shaping a drive signal includes a pre-emphasis circuit, an offset adjustment circuit, and an amplifier. The pre-emphasis circuit symmetrically emphasizes a rising edge portion and a falling edge portion of the drive signal. The offset adjustment circuit applies a direct-current offset to the drive signal. The amplifier amplifies the drive signal with the direct-current offset adjusted by the adjustment circuit. The amplifier has an input-output characteristic with a nonlinear portion. The offset adjustment circuit adjusts the direct-current offset so that the drive signal is amplified in the nonlinear portion. |
| US08718487B2 |
Optical transmitter
An optical transmitter for converting an input data series into an optical multi-level signal and for outputting the same, includes an LUT in which data for executing optical multi-level modulation is stored and from which first modulation data and second modulation data are output based on the input data series. A DAC converts the first modulation data by D/A conversion to generate a first multi-level signal. A DAC converts the second modulation data by D/A conversion to generate a second multi-level signal. A dual-electrode MZ modulator includes a first phase modulator for modulating light from a light source in accordance with the first multi-level signal and a second phase modulator for modulating light from the light source in accordance with the second multi-level signal, and combines an optical signal from the first phase modulator and an optical signal from the second phase modulator to output the optical multi-level signal. |
| US08718484B2 |
Laser optical transmission system with dual modulation
An optical transmitter for generating a modulated optical signal for transmission over dispersive fiber optic links in which a first information-containing radio frequency signal input is applied to a modulation circuit for directly modulating a semiconductor laser with the signal input. The output of the laser is applied to a phase modulator to which a second information-containing radio frequency signal is applied. |
| US08718481B2 |
Method and device for phase recovery and communication system comprising such device
A method and a device are provided for phase recovery of at least two channels comprising the steps of (i) a phase is estimated for each channel; (ii) the phase estimated of each channel is superimposed by a coupling factor with at least one other phase estimated. Further, a communication system is suggested comprising such a device. |
| US08718471B2 |
Optical transport network transient management systems and methods
An Optical Transport Network (OTN) transient management method, OTN node, and OTN network includes operating an OTN connection in a first mode in a network, the OTN connection traverses at least two nodes in the network, requesting a change in the OTN connection to a second mode which will cause a network transient, the change includes a timing change on the OTN connection affecting the at least two nodes, and performing transient management at the at least two nodes to mitigate the network transient, the transient management prevents spurious alarms due to the change between the first mode and the second mode. |
| US08718465B1 |
Optical communications system having redundant electronic modules for optical transceivers using switch matrix
N optical transceivers are each connected to a respective electronic module in one-to-one relation such that a respective one electronic module controls a respective one optical transceiver. An electronic switch matrix provides cross-connect capability between the P redundant electronic modules and N electronic modules to the N optical transceivers. A system controller determines when an active N electronic module has failed, and configures the electronic switch matrix to switch a P redundant electronic module into the optical transceiver to which the failed electronic module was connected. A system switch module redirects traffic and routing information, under the direction of the system controller, from the failed module to the newly activated redundant module so that the redundant module assumes the functionality of the failed module. |
| US08718459B2 |
Method and digital camera having improved autofocus
The present disclosure provides a multi-lens device and method having improved autofocus. The method comprises: determining from a first focus value and second focus value whether a focus distance of a first lens or a focus distance of a second lens corresponds to a peak focus position; and adjusting the focus distance of the first lens and second lens when neither the focus distance of the first lens nor the focus distance of the second lens corresponds to the peak focus position. |
| US08718456B2 |
Surface heating device for a substrate treatment device and substrate treatment device
A surface heating device for a substrate treatment device with increased power density and improved homogeneity of heat radiation includes a jacket tube heater with straight tube sections and bent tube sections in which straight tube sections are arranged parallel to each other in a main plane and straight tube sections are connected to each other by bent tube sections, so that at least part of the bent tube sections are aligned sloped relative to the main plane. |
| US08718454B2 |
Module for manufacturing electric volatile substance evaporators
The present invention generally relates to manufacturing electric volatile substance evaporators for evaporating aromatic substances and/or insecticides for example and the invention more specifically allows the modular construction of these types of devices such that based on a basic evaporator, a manufacturer of electric evaporators can incorporate additional elements to the device in order to produce different types of evaporators without altering the basic evaporator design, where the module comprises a casing having a first surface configured to be assembled with a volatile substance evaporator and internally carries an electric device intended to cooperate in the operation of the evaporator. |
| US08718453B2 |
Method for reading content on a multimedia device, and associated device
The invention relates to a method for reading content (1) on a multimedia device comprising a content reader, the reader also enabling the video display of the content and the navigation within the content, the content containing images I to be displayed during navigation, the method comprising, when the reader receives a navigation command given by a user, the steps in which the reader: positions (S5) the reading within the content on the basis of the received command; reads only the images I and displays (S6) an image I in accordance with the reading position; stops the reading of the content after said image In is displayed and continuously displays said image (S7); calculates the mean time tin for positioning (S5) the reading in the content and for displaying (S6) the image I; waiting for a period twait that is proportional to the mean time tin before verifying if a navigation command is still given by the user. The invention also relates to a device for implementing the method. |
| US08718441B2 |
Program title display with anti-aging
A method is provided to perform anti-aging techniques in an informational display. An informational display is located on the front bezel of a consumer recording device that displays information related to the content being recorded or played or the operation of the device. To increase the life of the display, displayed text is shifted within the display so that pixel use in the display is more evenly distributed with the pixels in the display. To determine the direction and shape of the shift, real-time calculations of pixel use are made or a simulator is used to compute the probable use of each pixel in the display over a certain period of time. Another anti-aging technique is to dim the display of information after a specified amount of time of display at normal brightness. |
| US08718435B2 |
Terminal enclosure with extractable fiber organizer tray
A terminal enclosure (1) for optical fibers for communication comprising a housing, including a base (2) and a cover, and an extractable fiber organizer tray (11), that is disposable in the housing having a first and a second side. The extractable fiber organizer tray comprises a splicing portion (12), a fiber connector mounting portion (28) and portions for storing an entering jacketed cable (14) as well as the fibers (13) of the stripped portion of the cable (6). |
| US08718430B2 |
Double clad optical fiber with sealed stripped portion
A double clad optical fiber having a portion extending along its length along which an outer waveguide cladding and a protective jacket are absent and having faces of the second waveguide cladding at two lengthwisely opposite ends, wherein a water impervious sealant is applied to impede lengthwise diffusion of water through the faces of the second waveguide cladding. |
| US08718422B2 |
Angled coupling for optical fibers
An angled coupling for optical fibers can comprise a body (10) having an incoming aperture (18a) and an outgoing aperture (18b), from which an incoming hollow waveguide (12a) and an outgoing hollow waveguide (12b) extend into the body at an angle (22). A reflective surface (24) is situated at the vertex of the angle and is oriented substantially perpendicular to a bisector of the angle. The coupling also comprises an incoming coupling structure (32a) and an outgoing coupling structure (32b), each configured to attach an optical fiber to the corresponding aperture. |
| US08718421B2 |
Super-ring resonator based devices
This invention provides an optical device comprising a large group of non-uniform resonators operating cumulatively as a ‘super-ring’ to provide a controllable group delay with large bandwidth. The super-ring tuning is performed by a single control. The device may include two super-rings, each includes a large number of resonators with a resonant frequencies centered around ω1 and ω2 respectively. The invention provides multiple ways to improve the delay duration, bandwidth and the tuning speed, and overcomes the issue of non-uniformity of resonance frequency for devices incorporating multiple optical resonators. |
| US08718420B2 |
SPR sensor cell and SPR sensor
An SPR sensor cell is an SPR sensor cell including an optical waveguide to be brought into contact with a sample. The optical waveguide includes an under clad layer, a core layer provided in the under clad layer such that at least a part thereof is exposed from the under clad layer, and a metal particle layer covering the core layer exposed from the under clad layer to be brought into contact with the sample. |
| US08718418B2 |
High voltage AC/DC or DC/AC converter station with fiber-optic current sensor
DC current in a high voltage AC/DC or DC/AC converter station can be measured via the Faraday effect in one or more loops of an optical sensing fiber located at the base of a bushing extending through a wall of the hall. This arrangement can exploit the base of the bushing being at ground potential, which can simplify mounting work and maintenance. |
| US08718416B2 |
Micro-optical sensor for electric field detection
A novel micro-optical electric field sensor exploits morphology-dependent shifts of the optical modes of dielectric cavities to measure temporally- and spatially-resolved of electric field with extremely high sensitivity. The measurement principle is based on the electrostriction effect on the optical modes of dielectric micro-resonators (or micro-cavities) and exploits recent developments in optical fiber and switching technologies. The optical modes are commonly referred to as “whispering gallery modes” (WGM) or “morphology dependent resonances” (MDR). By monitoring the WGM shifts, the electric field causing the electrostriction effect can be determined. Different sensitivities and measurement ranges (maximum measured electric field) can be obtained by using different cavity geometries (for example solid or hollow spheres), polymeric materials (PMMA, PDMS, etc) as well as poling the dielectric material. |
| US08718415B2 |
Resonant leaky-mode photonic elements and methods for spectral and polarization control
Optical devices with versatile spectral attributes are provided that are implemented with one or more modulated and homogeneous layers to realize leaky-mode resonance operation and corresponding versatile spectral-band design. The first and/or higher multiple evanescent diffraction orders are applied to excite one or more leaky modes. The one- or two-dimensional periodic structure, fashioned by proper distribution of materials within each period, can have a resulting symmetric or asymmetric profile to permit a broadened variety of resonant leaky-mode devices to be realized. Thus, the attributes of the optical device permit, among other things, adjacent, distinct resonance frequencies or wavelengths to be produced, convenient shaping of the reflection and transmission spectra for such optical device to be accomplished, and the wavelength resonance locations to be precisely controlled so as to affect the extent to which the leaky modes interact with each other. Further, the profile asymmetry allows for the precise spectral spacing of interactive leaky modes so as to provide greater flexibility in optical device design. |
| US08718414B2 |
Acousto-optical tunable filter element
An acousto-optical filter element (114) is provided which has an acousto-optical crystal (118) having an acoustic signal transmitter (120) for generating acoustic signals in the acousto-optical crystal (118). The acousto-optical crystal (118) is designed to selectively spatially deflect light of a target wavelength from an input light beam (116) entering into the acousto-optical crystal (118), as a function of a high frequency applied to the acoustic signal transmitter (120), and to thereby produce a target light beam (126) having the target wavelength. In addition, the acousto-optical filter element (114) includes a spatial filter element (132) which is located in the target light beam (126) and is designed to selectively suppress the intensity of the target light beam (126) in a plane perpendicular to the propagation direction of the target light beam (126). |
| US08718412B2 |
Dual polarization quadrature phase shift keying optical modulator
A DP QPSK optical modulator includes an input port; an optical branching unit; an optical modulation unit having first through fourth Mach-Zehnder interferometers; a first phase-change unit connected to the third Mach-Zehnder interferometer; a second phase-change unit connected to the fourth Mach-Zehnder interferometer; an optical multiplexer; and a multimode interference coupler including a multimode interference waveguide, first through third input ports, and an output port having a taper-shaped waveguide. The first Mach-Zehnder interferometer is connected to the first input port. One end of the optical multiplexer is connected to the second Mach-Zehnder interferometer and the third Mach-Zehnder interferometer via the first phase change unit. The other end of the optical multiplexer is connected to the second input port. The fourth Mach-Zehnder interferometer is connected to the third input port via the second phase-change unit. |
| US08718411B2 |
Tunable optical supercontinuum enhancement
A method and apparatus for providing optical supercontinuum. The method comprises creating a spectrally narrow phase feature within a supercontinuum spectrum produced from a laser pulse that has been subjected to supercontinuum generation, thereby producing a modified supercontinuum spectrum, and propagating the modified supercontinuum spectrum through an optical waveguide that is suitable for supercontinuum generation, thereby further modifying the modified supercontinuum spectrum. The method may include modifying the modified supercontinuum spectrum by increasing its energy in a vicinity of the phase feature. |
| US08718403B2 |
Positional measurement of a feature within an image
The position of a feature within an image is determined by determining an initial estimate of the feature position to within a fraction of a pixel, translating the feature by an amount equal to that fraction of a pixel, determining a further estimate of the translated feature position to within a fraction of a pixel and summing the pixel fraction of the previous estimate with the further estimate of the position to arrive at a refined estimate of the feature position. |
| US08718401B2 |
Image processing device, method and program
An image processing device includes a subject detecting unit detecting a subject on a material image, a working unit performing a working process on the material image such that a region of the subject puts in the block, an image generating unit clipping a subject-including region of the material image so as to have the same form and size as the block and generating a subject-including clipped image and a replacing unit setting one clipped image which is the most similar to the block in terms of color-related characteristics as the replacement image for each block of the production target image and replacing the block by the replacement image to generate a photo-mosaic image. |
| US08718395B2 |
Image processing apparatus, display apparatus provided with same, and image processing method
Provided is an image processing apparatus that obtains an effect of improving perceived definition even when an input image signal does not include much of a high range component. The image processing apparatus (10) includes a high-pass filter (1) that extracts a mid-high range component from the input image signal; a nonlinear processing unit (2) that performs nonlinear processing on an output signal from the high-pass filter (1); an addition unit (3); a threshold value determination unit (4) that determines an upper threshold value and lower threshold value for clipping processing based on the maximum value and minimum value of the pixel values in the input image signal in the range thereof that was subjected to processing by the high-pass filter (1); a clipping unit (5) that performs clipping processing using the upper threshold value and lower threshold value; a high-pass filter (6) for an output signal from the clipping unit (5); a non-linear processing unit (7) that performs non-linear processing on an output signal from the high-pass filter (6); and an addition unit (8) that adds an output signal from the non-linear processing unit (7) and the output signal from the clipping unit (5). |
| US08718390B1 |
Compression and decoding of single sensor color image data
A method is described to greatly improve the efficiency of and reduce the complexity of image compression when using single-sensor color imagers for video acquisition. The method in addition allows for this new image compression type to be compatible with existing video processing tools, improving the workflow for film and television production. |
| US08718386B2 |
Adaptive event timeline in consumer image collections
A method for organizing an event timeline for a digital image collection, includes using a processor for detecting events in the digital image collection and each event's associated timespan; determining the detected events that are significant in the digital image collection; and organizing the event timeline so that the event timeline shows the significant events and a clustered representation of the other events, made available to the user at different time granularities. The organized event timeline is also used for selecting images for generating output. |
| US08718380B2 |
Representing object shapes using radial basis function support vector machine classification
A shape of an object is represented by a set of points inside and outside the shape. A decision function is learned from the set of points an object. Feature points in the set of points are selected using the decision function, or a gradient of the decision function, and then a local descriptor is determined for each feature point. |
| US08718379B2 |
Method and apparatus for image capturing tampering detection
A method and apparatus for detecting tampering with an image capturing device. The method includes determining a change has occurred in average intensity if an image, determining a percentage area of a foreground mask, detecting related at least one edge and determining at least one edge weight, utilizing the average intensity, the percentage area of the foreground mask, and the at least one edge weight to determining offset of edge blocks of an image, and utilizing the determining offset of edge blocks to detect tampering with an image capturing device. |
| US08718375B2 |
Sketch recognition system
Handwriting interpretation tools, such as optical character recognition (OCR), have improved over the years such that OCR is a common tool in business for interpreting typed text and sometimes handwritten text. OCR does not apply well to non-text-only diagrams, such as chemical structure diagrams. A method according to an embodiment of the present invention of interpreting a human-drawn sketch includes determining a local metric indicating whether a candidate symbol belongs to a certain classification based on a set of features. The set of features includes, as a feature, scores generated from feature images of the candidate symbol. Also included is determining a joint metric of multiple candidate symbols based on their respective classifications and interpreting the sketch as a function of the local and joint metrics. Sketches can be chemical composition, biological composition, electrical schematic, mechanical, or any other science- or engineering-based diagrams for which human-drawn symbols have well-known counterparts. |
| US08718373B2 |
Determining the location at which a photograph was captured
A method for geolocating photographs is implemented in a computing device. The method includes receiving a photograph captured by a user as data stored on a computer-readable medium, receiving location history data for the user, determining a time at which the photograph was captured based on an object depicted in the photograph, determining a geographic location at which the photograph was captured using the determined time and the location history data. |
| US08718372B2 |
Identifying and evaluating possible horizontal and vertical lines intersecting potential pallet features
A method is provided for tracing a line from a possible corner of a pallet. The method may comprise: providing a Ro image; identifying, using a computer, a possible pallet corner in the Ro image; positioning, using the computer, a J×K window over at least respective portions of a plurality of rows in the Ro image including at least a portion of a row containing the possible corner; calculating, using the computer, an average of pixel values for each row in the J×K window; determining, using the computer, one of the rows in the J×K window having an average pixel value nearest a current pixel location being considered for inclusion in a line being traced and defining the one row as a nearest row; and deciding, using the computer, whether the nearest row is over a pallet. |
| US08718371B2 |
Methods, apparatuses, and systems for image-based measurement and inspection of pre-engineered structural components
Methods, apparatuses, and systems for image-based measurement and inspection of pre-engineered structural components, such as building trusses and wall panels. A system can include: a light source; a camera; a first memory storage; a second memory storage; and a processing unit configured to (i) detect a characteristic of the structural component, (ii) compare the characteristic to a corresponding characteristic of at least one reference data, and (iii) indicate a result of the comparison. A method can include: causing a light source to illuminate a portion of the structural component, receiving a reflection of the light source from the illuminated portion of the structural component, and storing data corresponding to the intensity of the reflection; comparing the stored data to at least one reference data; and indicating a result of the comparison. |
| US08718369B1 |
Techniques for shape-based search of content
Techniques for facilitating a shape-based search of content items are disclosed. In some situations, the techniques include receiving a request for search of content that includes an image of an item and a glyph input by the user on the image that indicates a shape of the first item, extracting features associated with the item from an area of the image on which the glyph is input; identifying a shape category of the first item based at least in part on the indicated shape of the glyph; and conducting a search for items having features that match the extracted features of the first item, the search being conducted among a plurality of items associated with the identified shape category. The retrieved search results may be returned to a user. |
| US08718368B2 |
Text flow in and around irregular containers
Providing text flow in or around an irregular container, such as a non-rectangular graphic, is disclosed. In the case of flow around a container, the intersection, if any, between a proposed text rectangle and the irregular container is determined. A valid rectangle, if any, that is not within the bounds in the x-direction of an area of intersection between the proposed text rectangle and the graphic is identified as a valid text area within the proposed text rectangle. In the case of flow around a container, one or more difference areas, if any, in which a proposed text rectangle is present but the container is not present are found. A valid rectangle, if any, that is not within the bounds in the x-direction of any of said one or more difference areas is identified as a valid text area within the proposed text rectangle. |
| US08718367B1 |
Displaying automatically recognized text in proximity to a source image to assist comparibility
One embodiment of the present invention provides a system that facilitates displaying automatically recognized text, wherein the automatically recognized text includes optical character recognition (OCR) text or intelligent character recognition (ICR) text. During operation, the system receives a source image containing text from a user. Next, the system performs a character-recognition operation on the source image to produce recognized text. The system then locates a data field within the source image. Next, the system identifies a subset of the recognized text that corresponds with the data field. After that, the system displays the source image to the user. At the same time, the system displays the subset of the recognized text in close proximity to the data field in the source image to facilitate comparing the recognized text with the text contained in the source image. |
| US08718365B1 |
Text recognition for textually sparse images
A text recognition server is configured to recognize text in a sparse text image. Specifically, given an image, the server specifies a plurality of “patches” (blocks of pixels within the image). The system applies a text detection algorithm to the patches to determine a number of the patches that contain text. This application of the text detection algorithm is used both to estimate the orientation of the image and to determine whether the image is textually sparse or textually dense. If the image is determined to be textually sparse, textual patches are identified and grouped into text regions, each of which is then separately processed by an OCR algorithm, and the recognized text for each region is combined into a result for the image as a whole. |
| US08718358B2 |
Filler metal installation position checking method and filler metal installation position checking system
The present invention is a filler metal installation position checking method and a filler metal installation position checking system for confirming difference between installation position and designed position of a filler metal embedded in a wall surface. A standard surface target 16 having known actual dimension and position to a wall surface 12 is provided to the wall surface 12 where a filler metal 14 is installed. The wall surface 12 is photographed together with the standard surface target 16 to create image data 18. Using actual position and dimension of the standard surface target 16 and position and dimension of the standard surface target 16 on an image displayed by the image data 18, the image data 18 is converted into corrected image data 20 displaying an image corrected in a manner that the image is photographed from front of the wall surface. Design CAD data 22 showing actual designed position of the filler metal is read out and the images shown by the corrected image data 20 and the design CAD data 22 are outputted as images on one same display. |
| US08718356B2 |
Method and apparatus for 2D to 3D conversion using scene classification and face detection
A method and apparatus for converting a two dimensional image or video to three dimensional image or video. The method includes segmenting objects in at least one of a two dimensional image and video, performing, in the digital processor, a depth map generation based on low-level features, performing face detection and scene classification on at least one of a two dimensional image and video, and utilizing face detection and scene classification in enhancing the depth map and for converting the at least one of a two dimensional image and video to three dimensional image and video. |
| US08718351B2 |
Systems and methods for volumetric tissue scanning microscopy
In accordance with preferred embodiments of the present invention, a method for imaging tissue, for example, includes the steps of mounting the tissue on a computer controlled stage of a microscope, determining volumetric imaging parameters, directing at least two photons into a region of interest, scanning the region of interest across a portion of the tissue, imaging a plurality of layers of the tissue in a plurality of volumes of the tissue in the region of interest, sectioning the portion of the tissue and imaging a second plurality of layers of the tissue in a second plurality of volumes of the tissue in the region of interest, detecting a fluorescence image of the tissue due to said excitation light; and processing three-dimensional data that is collected to create a three-dimensional image of the region of interest. |
| US08718346B2 |
Imaging system and method for use in surgical and interventional medical procedures
A system and method for displaying images of internal anatomy includes an image processing device configured to provide high resolution images of the surgical field from low resolution scans during the procedure. The image processing device digitally manipulates a previously-obtained high resolution baseline image to produce many representative images based on permutations of movement of the baseline image. During the procedure a representative image is selected having an acceptable degree of correlation to the new low resolution image. The selected representative image and the new image are merged to provide a higher resolution image of the surgical field. The image processing device is also configured to provide interactive movement of the displayed image based on movement of the imaging device, and to permit placement of annotations on the displayed image to facilitate communication between the radiology technician and the surgeon. |
| US08718342B2 |
Method and data-processing system for determining the proportion of calcium in coronary arteries
A method and a data-processing system are disclosed for determining the proportion of calcium in coronary arteries using image data from CT angiography. In at least one embodiment of the method, anatomical landmarks are detected in the image data in the region of the heart and coronary arteries are segmented taking into account the detected landmarks. Regions with an increased HU value compared to a contrast agent surroundings are segmented in the segmented coronary arteries. A proportion of calcium respectively is calculated from the segmented regions for one or more of the segmented coronary arteries. At least the last two steps are carried out fully automatically by a data-processing system. Weighting factors for the individual regions are used when calculating the proportion of calcium, which weighting factors depend on both the threshold for segmenting the respective region and the volume of said region. The method and the data-processing system of at least one embodiment allow the dose exposure of the patient to be reduced and reduce the time expenditure of the user for determining the proportion of calcium. |
| US08718340B2 |
System and method for accurate and rapid identification of diseased regions on biological images with applications to disease diagnosis and prognosis
The present invention relates to a method and system for detecting biologically relevant structures in a hierarchical fashion, beginning at a low-resolution and proceeding to higher levels of resolution. The present invention also provides probabilistic pairwise Markov models (PPMMs) to classify these relevant structures. The invention is directed to a novel classification approach which weighs the importance of these structures. The present invention also provides a fast, efficient computer-aided detection/diagnosis (CAD) system capable of rapidly processing medical images (i.e. high throughput). The computer-aided detection/diagnosis (CAD) system of the present invention allows for rapid analysis of medical images the improving the ability to effectively detect, diagnose, and treat certain diseases. |
| US08718338B2 |
System and method to compensate for respiratory motion in acquired radiography images
A system and method to compensate for respiratory motion in imaging of instruments introduced into the subject anatomy is provided. The system can include an imaging system in communication with a controller. The controller can include a memory with program instructions for execution by the processor to perform the steps of: detecting an illustration of at least a portion of the plurality of instruments introduced into the subject anatomy in a first image and a second image, comparing and calculating a displacement of the plurality of instruments between the first and second images, calculating one of an average or median displacement of the plurality of instruments between the first and second images, and applying one of the average and the median displacement to adjust at least a portion of the first or second images or a pre-acquired three-dimensional model of the internal region of interest. |
| US08718335B2 |
Biometric authentication using the eye
This invention concerns apparatus and a method for authenticating a subject using their eye as an identifying biometric, in particular the shape of their cornea. The apparatus comprises an image projection device to generate and project an image of a pattern, made up of plural discrete points, onto at least a part of the cornea of an eye of the person. An image capture device to capture an image of the pattern of plural discrete points, after reflection in at least a part of the cornea of an eye of the person. And, a computer processor to extract a data set defining the locations of the discrete points in the captured image. The method comprises capturing an image of an illuminated pattern, made up of plural discrete points, after reflection in at least a part of the cornea of an eye of the subject. Comparing the locations of the discrete points in the pattern of the captured image against the locations of the discrete points in the pattern of a reference image. And, authenticating the identity of the subject depending on the similarity of comparison. In a further aspect the invention is software for performing the method. |
| US08718334B2 |
System for biometric hand analysis
A system includes an image sensing device that is configured to receive a digital image of a human hand, and a range sensing device that is configured to receive range data relating a distance from the range sensing device to a plurality of points on the human hand. The system uses the range data to generate a range map of the human hand, normalizes a pose of the image of the human hand using the range data and the image, extracts one or more features of the hand from the normalized pose, and stores the extracted features into a computer storage medium. |
| US08718331B2 |
Image detecting apparatus and method thereof
A method for detecting left-eye/right-eye images is capable of effectively and accurately detecting a sequence or positions of left-eye/right-eye image frames of a stereo image signal. The method includes performing block matching on a target block corresponding to two consecutive image frames of an image signal to determine a motion vector; and performing left-eye/right-eye image determination on a current image frame from the two consecutive image frames according to the motion vector. |
| US08718329B2 |
Top-down view classification in clear path detection
A method of detecting a clear path in a road of travel for a vehicle utilizing a top-down view classification technique. An input image of a scene exterior of the vehicle is captured. The captured input image represents a perspective view of the road of travel. The captured input image is analyzed. A segmented top-down image that includes potential clear path regions and potential non-clear path regions are generated. The segmented top-down image represents a viewing angle perpendicular to a ground plane. The segmented regions of the segmented top-down view are input to a classifier for identifying the clear path regions of travel. The identified clear path regions are utilized for navigating the road of travel. |
| US08718326B2 |
System and method for extracting three-dimensional coordinates
A system and method for extracting 3D coordinates, the method includes obtaining, by a stereoscopic image photographing unit, two images of a target object, and obtaining 3D coordinates of the object on the basis of coordinates of each pixel of the two images, measuring, by a Time of Flight (TOF) sensor unit, a value of a distance to the object, and obtaining 3D coordinates of the object on the basis of the measured distance value, mapping pixel coordinates of each image to the 3D coordinates obtained through the TOF sensor unit, and calibrating the mapped result, determining whether each set of pixel coordinates and the distance value to the object measured through the TOF sensor unit are present, calculating a disparity value on the basis of the distance value or the pixel coordinates, and calculating 3D coordinates of the object on the basis of the calculated disparity value. |
| US08718325B2 |
Computer-readable storage medium, image processing apparatus, image processing system, and image processing method
A position of a predetermined object or a predetermined design is sequentially detected from images. Then, an amount of movement of the predetermined object or the predetermined design is calculated on the basis of: a position, in a first image, of the predetermined object or the predetermined design detected from the first image; and a position, in a second image, of the predetermined object or the predetermined design detected from the second image acquired before the first image. Then, when the amount of movement is less than a first threshold, the position, in the first image, of the predetermined object or the predetermined design detected from the first image is corrected to the position, in the second image, of the predetermined object or the predetermined design detected from the second image. |
| US08718324B2 |
Method, apparatus and computer program product for providing object tracking using template switching and feature adaptation
A method, apparatus and computer program product are provided that may enable devices to provide improved object tracking, such as in connection with computer vision, multimedia content analysis and retrieval, augmented reality, human computer interaction and region-based image processing. In this regard, a method includes adjusting parameters of a portion of an input frame having a target object to match a template size and then performing feature-based image registration between the portion of the input frame and an active template and at least one selected inactive template. The method may also enable switching the selected inactive template to be an active template for a subsequent frame based at least on a matching score between the portion of the input frame and the selected inactive template and determine a position of a target object in the input frame based on one of the active template or the selected inactive template. |
| US08718322B2 |
Image recognition based upon a broadcast signature
Methods and apparatus for processing image data are disclosed. In one embodiment, a method includes capturing, via an image sensor, an image that includes a plurality of objects including a target object, and receiving, from the target object, via a medium other than the image sensor, distinguishing information that is broadcast by the target object. The distinguishing information distinguishes the target object from other objects, and is used to select, within the captured image, the target object from among the other objects. |
| US08718315B2 |
Method and apparatus for connector plug changeable pinning order
In accordance with an example embodiment of the present invention, an apparatus is disclosed. The apparatus includes a connector plug housing member and a connector plug contact member. The connector plug housing member includes a first contact pin and a second contact pin. The connector plug contact member includes a first contact section and a second contact section. The connector plug contact member is configured to be positioned in the connector plug housing member in a first position. The connector plug contact member is configured to be positioned in the connector plug housing member in a second position. The first position corresponds to a first pinning order. The second position corresponds to a second pinning order. |
| US08718312B2 |
Earmuff and headset with the same
An earmuff which is adapted to covering a driver includes a first case having a first through hole and a second case having a second through hole. The second case accommodated within the first case to form an inner chamber where the driver is disposed therein. Since air flows between the first case and the second case via the first through hole and the second through hole, a satisfactory ventilation effect can be achieved and thus feeling of being at ease can be furnished. |
| US08718306B2 |
Hearing device with a detachably coupled earpiece
In a hearing device or hearing aid, provision can be made for a sound tube or an in-the-ear loudspeaker to be held in an auditory canal of a user by an earpiece. To couple a sound tube to an earpiece, a connection element can be provided on the sound tube, which connection element can be connected to a connection element for the earpiece. This connection must be detachable so that a user can remove the earpiece from the sound tube. Nevertheless, it must be possible to transmit such a large force over the connection that the earpiece can once again be pulled out of the auditory canal. The object is to simplify a detachable connection for coupling an earpiece to a sound tube or an in-the-ear loudspeaker. Accordingly, the connection element for the earpiece is provided as an independent component, which is attached in or on the earpiece. |
| US08718305B2 |
Method and device for background mitigation
Methods for audio processing suitable for use with an earpiece are provided. A method includes delivering audio to an ear canal, measuring a residual background noise level within the ear canal, and adjusting the audio based on characteristics of the residual background noise level to maintain a natural audio level. A mixing of an ambient sound signal and an ear canal signal can be used to calculate the residual background noise level. The method can include compensating the residual measurement based on microphone sensitivities. |
| US08718304B2 |
Hearing instrument configured for wireless communication in bursts and a method of supplying power to such
A hearing instrument configured to receive power from an energy source, the energy having an output voltage, the hearing instrument includes an analog-to-digital converter for conversion of an input audio signal to a digital input signal, a digital signal processor for processing the digital input signal into a processed signal, an audio amplifier for amplifying the processed signal, a communication unit for wireless data communication between the hearing instrument and another device, and a stabilizing circuit having an energy storing element and a rectifying element, wherein the energy storing element is configured to supply power to one or more of the analog-to-digital converter, the digital signal processor, and the audio amplifier, and the rectifying element is configured to prevent the energy storing element from supplying power to the communication unit. |
| US08718303B2 |
Hearing aid system for establishing a conversation group
A hearing aid system adapted for establishing a conversation group with other hearing aid systems used by different users, comprises a hearing aid (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) with an associated relay device (11, 12, 13, 14, 15). The relay device is (11, 12, 13, 14, 15) adapted for wireless communication (21, 22, 23, 24, 25) with said hearing aid and for wireless communication (31, 32, 33, 34, 35) with a second hearing aid system. The relay device (11, 12, 13, 14, 15) is also adapted for receiving and displaying information about said second hearing aid systems being available for participation in said conversation group, and it comprises means for selection of said other hearing aid systems for inclusion into the conversation group. The invention further provides a method for establishing a conversation group among hearing aid users. |
| US08718298B2 |
NVH dependent parallel compression processing for automotive audio systems
A method is provided for controlling a dynamic range of audio reproduction in an interior of a vehicle. An input audio signal is received by an audio processor. The input audio signal is split into a first and a second processing path. The input audio signal of the second processing path is compressed. A noise-related parameter of the vehicle is characterized. A gain control is applied to the compressed audio signal of the second processing path in response to the noise-related parameter. The compressed and uncompressed audio signals are synchronously recombined. The combined audio signal is reproduced to the interior of the vehicle. |
| US08718297B1 |
Parametric transducer and related methods
An ultrasonic audio speaker includes an emitter and a driver. The emitter can include a first layer having a conductive surface; a second layer having a conductive surface; and an insulating layer disposed between the first and second conductive surfaces, wherein the first and second layers are disposed in touching relation to the insulating layer. The driver circuit can include two inputs configured to be coupled to receive an audio modulated ultrasonic signal from an amplifier and two outputs, wherein a first output is coupled to the conductive surface of the first layer and the second output is coupled to the conductive surface of the second layer. |
| US08718295B2 |
Headset assembly with recording function for communication
A headset assembly with a recording function for communication includes a left earphone, a right earphone, a call module, and a recording module. The left and the right earphones respectively have a speaker and a microphone. The call module is electrically connected to the left or the right earphone. The recording module is electrically connected to the left and the right earphones. In a first operation mode, the call module communicates with an external communication device through the microphone and the speaker of the left or the right earphone. In a second operation mode, the recording module receives an ambient sound signal through the microphones simultaneously, and records and stores the ambient sound signal. As the microphones are placed in a left auricle and a right auricle, recorded sound may have an effect of a head-related transfer function (HRTF), thus achieving an effect of a stereo sound field during playback. |
| US08718285B2 |
Decoding device, coding and decoding device, and decoding method
An object decoding unit receives a plurality of pieces of coded acoustic information coded on an object basis and decodes the received coded acoustic information on an object basis to generate object signals. A rendering unit positions, for each acoustic signal resulting from synthesizing the object signals, a virtual sound source of each of the object signals resulting from the object-based decoding, in a listening space, and priority information indicating a priority of the acoustic signal is multiplexed with the coded acoustic information. The rendering unit determines, with reference to the priority indicated in the priority information or the number of object signals included in the acoustic signal, a size of an area of the listening space which is allocated to the acoustic signal, and positions, within the area, the virtual sound source of each of the object signals included in the acoustic signal. |
| US08718279B2 |
Apparatus and method for a secure broadcast system
Apparatus and method for provisioning an access key used for a controlled access broadcast service is disclosed. In one aspect, a method for secure processing in a device that securely stores a secret key comprises receiving a plurality of challenges from a network, generating a plurality of ciphering keys based on the secret key and the plurality of challenges, and generating an access key based on the plurality of ciphering keys. |
| US08718274B2 |
Interface circuit and main device
There is provided an interface circuit according to which a telephone or an intercom may be connected to a port of a main device including a telephone exchange function. The interface circuit includes a power supply circuit that supplies necessary power supply voltage according to the telephone or the intercom connected to the port, and a state detection circuit that detects, in a case where the telephone is connected to the port, whether the telephone is in an on-hook state or in an off-hook state, based on the value of an input impedance of the telephone, and that detects, in a case where the intercom is connected to the port, whether the intercom is in a standby state or in an activation button pressed state, based on a value of the input impedance of the intercom. |
| US08718273B2 |
Apparatus for processing echo signal and method thereof
An echo signal processing apparatus is disclosed. The echo signal processing apparatus is utilized for generating a cancellation signal by using group phenomenon of a frequency response of an echo signal to remove the echo signal. The echo signal processing apparatus has lower cost and is able to remove the echo efficiently. |
| US08718268B2 |
Customer service teaming
The present disclosure describes various ways of providing agents with a configurable mechanism by which they may bid on training opportunities with contacts in a given contact center. Specifically, an architecture providing a team of agents and agents-in-training to service a contact or set of contacts and methods of employing that team architecture are described. The bids of one or more agents may be collected and evaluated to determine at least one winning agent that will team together with at least one subject matter expert, qualified agent, or team in handling a contact for the purposes of training. |
| US08718267B2 |
Analytics feedback and routing
A contact center is described along with various methods and mechanisms for administering the same. The contact center proposed herein provides the ability to, among other things, dynamically and in real-time utilize contact center analytics feedback mechanisms to adjust parameters that are used in making work assignment decisions. The adjusted parameters may correspond to Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for agents of the contact center rather than skill values for the agents. |
| US08718266B1 |
Recording invocation of communication sessions
Systems and methods for recording a communication session between a customer and an agent of a customer center communication system are provided. In this regard, a representative method comprises: configuring a communication component of the customer center communication system to enable recording of a media stream associated with the communication session; transmitting the media stream over a network based on the configuration of the communication component; receiving the media stream over the network; and recording the received media stream. |
| US08718265B2 |
Method and apparatus for routing a call to a subject matter expert via a packet network
A method and apparatus for routing a call to a subject matter expert via a packet network is described. In one embodiment, a request to route said at least one call to the SME is received. A predefined location associated with the SME is also obtained. The call is then routed to a foreign Internet Protocol gateway associated with the predefined foreign location to communicate with the SME. |
| US08718263B2 |
Communication center methods and apparatus
A communications center supports sales and/or customer support services corresponding to a plurality of business affiliations. Operator terminals within the communications center are configurable. A management module manages the allocation of the operator terminals between the plurality of different business affiliations being supported by the communications center. The management module loads a set of configuration information into an operator terminal to match a determined business affiliation with a customer's communications device capabilities. At different times, e.g. corresponding to an initial communications session and a follow-on communications session, the same customer may be connected to different physical operator terminals and be communicating with different actual operators; however, from the perspective of the customer, the customer is made to think that the communication is with the same operator terminal and same operator. |
| US08718259B2 |
System and method for hold and re-ring
A system and method for transferring calls. A voice communication is received. The voice communication is placed on hold in response to receiving user input. Multiple phones are rung simultaneously in response to receiving the user input. The voice communication is connected to one of the multiple phones in response to a user answering the voice communication on one of the multiple phones. |
| US08718258B2 |
System and method for jurisdictional routing
A system and method for routing calls based on the different fee structure between voice and data is disclosed. The origination type for an incoming call is determined. When the incoming call is a VoIP call then the call is routed based, in part, on selecting the minimum fee required to terminate the call. |
| US08718257B2 |
Systems and methods for providing answering services
The present invention includes a method and system for the management and routing of telecommunications information on data and telephone lines. In one exemplary embodiment in accordance with the present invention, a flexible system whereby business information is correlated to a user's telephone number is provided. In another exemplary embodiment, the present invention provides an on-line answering service in which the identification information of the called party can be maintained during call forwarding and/or diversion. In another exemplary embodiment, the identification information of the user called can be detected by the answering system. In addition, in another exemplary embodiment, the present invention provides answering services access to information about the called party as well as the calling party in order to facilitate the answering services' responses on behalf of their users. |
| US08718255B2 |
Method and system for device switching through a server
A telecommunication system and method for seamlessly switching mobile devices during a conversation without placing the conversation on hold or otherwise parking the conversation. |
| US08718254B2 |
Techniques for conference scheduling
A technique for scheduling conferences includes receiving a conference request, which includes an invitee list, a prioritized list of preferred media types, and one or more times for a conference associated with the conference request. The conference is requested with respective invitees associated with the invitee list (via respective subscriber terminals) and it is determined whether the respective invitees can be scheduled for the conference. The conference is scheduled between a conference requester (associated with the conference request) and available ones of the respective invitees, when mandatory attendees, included within the respective invitees, are available. |
| US08718253B2 |
Automatic voice conference actions driven by potential conferee presence
A presence trigger system and a service system support automatic actions on a voice conference based on the presence state of potential conferees of the voice conference. The systems may, for example, initiate contacting and joining the potential conferee to the voice conference when the potential conferee presence state indicates that the potential conferee is available. As another example, the systems may automatically notify participating conferees that the potential conferee has become available. Automatic notification allows participating conferees to concentrate on and contribute to the voice conference without the distraction of frequently checking the presence status of expected, but absent, conferees. |
| US08718251B2 |
Party information for data-capable communication device
Detailed information about a party can be provided during interparty communication. Data-capable mobile devices query at least a public database to retrieve information about a set of parties engaged in communication. The results of the database query are employed to provide detailed caller identification and detail functionality to telephones or communication devices not utilizing traditional landlines or commercial caller identification service. Storage can be included to include address book function, query caching, and user preferences. An interface can be provided to facilitate display of rich caller identification information. The interface can further update displayed information without user input, or provide user selection control to request more information on a selected portion of displayed information. These features can be applied to determine the information about a party that is either receiving a communication or initiating a communication. |
| US08718245B2 |
Methods and systems for online counseling sessions and clinics
Methods and systems for online counseling sessions conducted over the Internet are disclosed. In some configurations, a method for remotely conducting counseling sessions between a client and an expert using an IP-based network includes providing a website accessible to the network wherein the expert and a client both have access to the website. In such configurations, upon accessing and logging into the website, the client is permitted to search a database for online experts and select an appropriate expert for a counseling session. In some configurations, the client initially completes various intake and/or registration forms in a virtual waiting room, wherein such forms are customized per the relevant expert. The method continues as an expert remotely conducts a counseling session with the client via remote means, including video conferencing. Following the counseling session, the client is automatically returned to the virtual waiting room and provided with subsequent counseling based options. |
| US08718243B1 |
Call processing and subscriber registration systems and methods
The present invention relates to telecommunications, and in particular, to systems and processes for processing telephone calls and providing telephony services. In one embodiment, a call processing system, compromises a first telephony interface configured to receive a call from a caller, a storage device configured to store a greeting, and a call answering system. The call answering system is configured to play the greeting in response to receiving the call, record a voice message from the caller, determine when the caller has completed recording the voice message, after determining that the caller has completed recording the voice message, play a prompt regarding the caller becoming a subscriber to call services provided by the call processing system, receive from the caller information used to establish a call services account, and establish a call services account for the caller. |
| US08718242B2 |
Method and apparatus for automatically building conversational systems
A system and method provides a natural language interface to world-wide web content. Either in advance or dynamically, webpage content is parsed using a parsing algorithm. A person using a telephone interface can provide speech information, which is converted to text and used to automatically fill in input fields on a webpage form. The form is then submitted to a database search and a response is generated. Information contained on the responsive webpage is extracted and converted to speech via a text-to-speech engine and communicated to the person. |
| US08718240B2 |
Third party call control
One embodiment of a method for controlling disposition of a call comprises detecting an incoming call to a network station; checking for an active instant messaging session for the network station; and if the active instant messaging session exists, sending an instant message to the network station with call disposition choices with regard to the incoming call. Other methods and systems are also provided. |
| US08718234B2 |
Multi-leaf collimator with leaf drive
A multi-leaf collimator includes leaf drives and two sets of displaceable leaves arranged side by side and facing each other to impress a high-energy beam with the shape of an irregularly formed treatment object. Each of the leaves assumes a position oriented along the shape of the treatment object by means of a leaf drive and each are equipped with a gear rod-like drive engagement in the direction of the displacement. A leaf-side pivotable gear segment is located, together with a motor-side gear segment, on a segment disk that engages with the gear rod-like drive engagement. A pinion drivable by a motor engages with the motor-side gear segment. The segment discs are arranged side by side for each set of leaves as a package on one axis. The motor-side gear segments of two segment disks located next to each other are staggered so that they will not abut each other. |
| US08718231B2 |
X-ray tomography method and apparatus used in conjunction with a charged particle cancer therapy system
The invention comprises an X-ray tomography method and apparatus used in conjunction with multi-axis charged particle or proton beam radiation therapy of cancerous tumors. In various embodiments, 3-D images are generated from a series of 2-D X-rays images; the X-ray source and detector are stationary while the patient rotates; the 2-D X-ray images are generated using an X-ray source proximate a charged particle beam in a charged particle cancer therapy system; and the X-ray tomography system uses an electron source having a geometry that enhances an electron source lifetime, where the electron source is used in generation of X-rays. The X-ray tomography system is optionally used in conjunction with systems used to both move and constrain movement of the patient, such as semi-vertical, sitting, or laying positioning systems. The X-ray images are optionally used in control of a charged particle cancer therapy system. |
| US08718230B2 |
Method and system for determining the constituent content of a multiphase fluid
A method for determining the constituent content of a multiphase fluid includes the following steps: x-rays at single-energy or dual-energy levels are produced by an x-ray machine, after said x-rays pass through the multiphase fluid, the data at each energy level are detected by a detector sub-system which is composed of one or two detectors, and the mass percents of the components in the multiphase fluid are calculated by a controlling and data processing sub-system based on the detected data. Said multiphase fluid is a two-phase or three-phase mixture in crude oil or natural gas. The method can be used for automatic online measurement of the production in oil and gas fields. |
| US08718229B1 |
Imaging sheet and related method
A flexible, durable, sanitary, adhesive-backed sheet is applied to the skin-contacting surfaces of a mammography bucky prior to commencing a mammography procedure, and is removed from the bucky once the procedure is complete, without leaving a residue behind. The sheet is made of a non-woven polymeric material that gives the sheet a fabric-like or cloth feel, and is substantially incompressible in response to forces applied during a mammography procedure. The sheet insulates the patient from the temperature differential between the patient's skin and the bucky surfaces. Additionally, the surface of the sheet is embossed with a texture, markings or raised features to enhance the fabric-like feel. |
| US08718225B2 |
Shift register
Discussed herein is a shift register which is capable of stabilizing an output thereof. The shift register includes a plurality of stages for sequentially outputting scan pulses in such a manner that high durations of the scan pulses partially overlap with each other. Each of the stages includes a node controller for controlling a charging duration of a set node, and an output unit for outputting a corresponding one of the scan pulses through an output terminal for the charging duration of the set node. |
| US08718220B2 |
Manifold system for the ventilated storage of high level waste and a method of using the same to store high level waste in a below-grade environment
A system and method for storing multiple canisters containing high level waste below grade that afford adequate ventilation of the spent fuel storage cavity. In one aspect, the invention is a ventilated system for storing high level waste emitting heat, the system comprising: an air-intake shell forming an air-intake cavity; a plurality of storage shells, each storage shell forming a storage cavity; a lid positioned atop each of the storage shells; an outlet vent forming a passageway between an ambient environment and a top portion of each of the storage cavities; and a network of pipes forming hermetically sealed passageways between a bottom portion of the air-intake cavity and at least two different openings at a bottom portion of each of the storage cavities such that blockage of a first one of the openings does not prohibit air from flowing from the air-intake cavity into the storage cavity via a second one of the openings. |
| US08718219B2 |
Non-intrusive method to identify presence of nuclear materials using energetic prompt neutrons from photon-induced fission
Methods and systems for non-intrusively detecting the existence of fissile materials in a container via the measurement of energetic prompt neutrons are disclosed. The methods and systems use the unique nature of the prompt neutron energy spectrum from photo-fission arising from the emission of neutrons from almost fully accelerated fragments to unambiguously identify fissile material. The angular distribution of the prompt neutrons from photo-fission and the energy distribution correlated to neutron angle relative to the photon beam are used to distinguish odd-even from even-even nuclei undergoing photo-fission. The independence of the neutron yield curve (yield as a function of electron beam energy or photon energy) on neutron energy also is also used to distinguish photo-fission from other processes such as (γ, n). Different beam geometries are used to detect localized samples of fissile material and also fissile materials dispersed as small fragments or thin sheets over broad regions. These signals from photo-fission are unique and allow the detection of any material in the actinide region of the nuclear periodic table. |
| US08718218B1 |
System and method for the analysis of one or more compounds and/or species produced by a solution-based nuclear reactor
The present invention relates generally to both a system and method for determining the composition of an off-gas from a solution nuclear reactor (e.g., an Aqueous Homogeneous Reactor (AHR)) and the composition of the fissioning solution from those measurements. In one embodiment, the present invention utilizes at least one quadrupole mass spectrometer (QMS) in a system and/or method designed to determine at least one or more of: (i) the rate of production of at least one gas and/or gas species from a nuclear reactor; (ii) the effect on pH by one or more nitrogen species; (iii) the rate of production of one or more fission gases; and/or (iv) the effect on pH of at least one gas and/or gas species other than one or more nitrogen species from a nuclear reactor. |
| US08718217B2 |
Clock and data recovery (CDR) using phase interpolation
In one embodiment, a circuit includes a voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) configured to generate k first clock signals that each have a first phase based on a charge-pump control voltage signal; one or more phase interpolators (PIs) configured to receive the k first clock signals and one or more first feedback controls signals and generate m second clock signals that each have a second phase based on the k first clock signals and the one or more first feedback control signals; a first phase detector (PD) configured to receive the m second clock signals and generate the one or more first feedback control signals based on the m second clock signals; a second PD configured to generate one or more second feedback control signals based on the m second clock signals; and a charge pump configured to output the charge-pump control voltage signal based on the second feedback control signals. |
| US08718214B2 |
Signal wiring system and jitter suppression circuit
Reducing jitter in signal wiring without requiring a larger circuit scale is difficult in the technology of the related art. A signal wiring system to resolve the above problem therefore includes an output unit to output a differential signal, a receiver unit to receive differential signals from the output unit, a jitter suppression circuit to suppress the amount of the jitter in the differential signal received by the receiver unit according to a suppression coefficient, and a signal wiring unit for conveying a differential signal from the output unit and including a wiring length set according to a suppression coefficient in the jitter suppression circuit. |
| US08718212B2 |
Rate matching method and apparatus
Embodiments of the present invention provide a rate matching method and apparatus. The method includes: receiving bit data of a first, a second, and a third input subblock, inserting dummy data into bit data in each subblock to respectively form even-numbered rows and odd-numbered rows of a matrix to be buffered for each subblock; inputting bit data of the even-numbered rows in the even-numbered row buffer and bit data of the odd-numbered rows in the odd-numbered row buffer of each subblock to a second buffer, and forming a matrix by using the bit data of the even-numbered rows and the bit data of the odd-numbered rows; controlling the second buffer to send data at the specified address; selecting data sent by the second buffer; and deleting the dummy data from the selected data to obtain valid output data. |
| US08718211B2 |
OFDM transmission and reception for non-OFDM signals
Methods and apparatuses for Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiplexing (OFDM) communication of non-OFDM radio signals are disclosed. The non-OFDM radio signals are force-modulated into OFDM signals. In one example, a non-OFDM signal is received and is processed into an OFDM signal to produce a created OFDM signal. An actual OFDM signal is also received and is processed together with the created OFDM signal. |
| US08718209B2 |
Receiving device, linearizer, and distortion compensation method
A receiving device which receives a signal transmitted from a transmitting device by using a power amplifier, the receiving device includes a calculating unit which performs distortion compensation on a symbol included in a reception signal, a delay unit which holds a signal for a result from the distortion compensation, and the calculating unit performing the distortion compensation on a second symbol at a timing later than a first symbol based on a coefficient corresponding to an amplification characteristic of the power amplifier and on the signal for the result from the distortion compensation with respect to the first symbol held by the delay unit. |
| US08718207B2 |
Method used for providing an adaptive receiving in wireless communication
The present invention relates to an adaptive, high cost-performance efficient, and power-saving receiving method used for wireless communication systems, such as but not limited to Bluetooth (BT) system, in particular to a method which can detect the presence or absence of the adjacent channel interference (ACT) before the scheduled starting time for receiving a Bluetooth packet, and accordingly set the receiver configurations including the filter's pass-band bandwidth (BW), filter's order, the sampling rate or the number of analog-to-digital-converter (ADC) output bits, and the automatic-gain-control (AGC) algorithm to determine the low noise amplifier (LNA) and variable gain amplifier (VGA) settings. |
| US08718199B2 |
Frequency-domain multi-stage group detection for alleviating inter-symbol interference
A receiver comprises plural receive antennas and electronic circuitry. The plural receive antennas are configured to receive, on plural subcarriers transmitted over a radio interface, a frequency domain signal that comprises contribution from a block of time domain symbols. The electronic circuitry is configured or operable to perform symbol detection of time domain symbols comprising the block by performing a multi-stage joint detection procedure comprising plural stages, and thus serves as a detector (40). For a first stage the block is divided into a first number of sub-blocks each having a sub-block first size. For a second stage the block is divided into a second number of sub-blocks each having a sub-block second size, the sub-block second size being greater than the sub-block first size. For each stage a detector (40) formulates frequency domain combining weights and uses the frequency domain combining weights for combining multiple receive versions of each subcarrier to provide candidate symbol combination values for symbols in each sub-block of the respective stage. For the second stage the detector (40) is further configured to use the candidate symbol combination values of the first stage to formulate joint hypotheses to serve as candidates for the joint detection operation of the second stage. |
| US08718197B2 |
Code enhanced equalization based upon a reliability factor
A receiver includes an equalizer and a decoder which decodes data from a signal. The signal is based upon an output of the equalizer. The receiver also includes an encoder, which re-encodes the decoded data, and an error generator, which generates an error vector based upon the signal and the encoded data and which weights the error vector according to a reliability that the decoder accurately decoded the data from the signal. A controller controls the equalizer in response to the weighted error vector. |
| US08718195B2 |
Transmitter and method for transmitting data block in wireless communication system
Provided are a transmitter and a method for transmitting a data block in a wireless communication system. The method comprises the following steps: encoding an information bit and generating a block coded with an NCBPSS bit; generating two sub-blocks by parsing the coded block; and transmitting the two sub-blocks to the transmitter. By preventing the bits that are contiguous to the encoding block from having continuous identical reliabilities on a signal constellation, the deterioration of the decoding performance of the transmitter can be prevented. |
| US08718194B2 |
Method and system for efficient channel estimation
Aspects of the present disclosure describe an efficient channel estimation algorithm for high-speed processing of dedicated reference signals. The channel estimation algorithm may utilize one or more compressed interpolation matrices. The compressed interpolation matrices may be selected based on the Doppler value and signal to noise ratio (SNR) of the channel. |
| US08718192B2 |
Apparatus and method for generating effective signal to noise ratio per stream in a multiple input multiple output wireless communication system
An apparatus and method for generating an effective Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) per stream in a Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) wireless communication system is disclosed. The apparatus includes a selector, a calculator, a generator, and a decider. The selector selects effective streams among whole streams. The calculator calculates a relative SNR rate between the effective streams. The generator generates an equation having as a solution an SNR of a first effective stream. The decider decides an SNR per effective stream using the solution of the equation and the relative SNR rate. |
| US08718188B2 |
Apparatus and methods for envelope tracking
Apparatus and methods for envelope tracking are disclosed. In one embodiment, a power amplifier system including a power amplifier and an envelope tracker is provided. The power amplifier is configured to amplify a radio frequency (RF) signal, and the envelope tracker is configured to control a supply voltage of the power amplifier using an envelope of the RF signal. The envelope tracker includes a buck converter for generating a buck voltage from a battery voltage and a digital-to-analog conversion (DAC) module for adjusting the buck voltage based on the envelope of the RF signal to generate the supply voltage for the power amplifier. |
| US08718187B2 |
Methods and apparatuses for in-phase and quadrature-phase imbalance compensation
At least one example embodiments discloses a method of compensating for in-phase and quadrature (IQ) imbalance in a base station. The method includes generating, at the base station, compensation filter weights based on a plurality of IQ imbalanced training signals, the generating including, determining the compensation filter weights based on the plurality of imbalanced training signals in a frequency domain. The method further includes filtering based on the compensation filter weights. |
| US08718184B1 |
Finite state encoders and decoders for vector signaling codes
In a chip-to-chip communication system and apparatus, a set of physical signals to be conveyed over a communication bus is provided, and mapped to a codeword of a vector signaling code using the physical signals and a state information, wherein a codeword is representable as a vector of plurality of real-valued components, and wherein a vector signaling code is a set of codewords in which the components sum to zero and for which there is at least one component and at least three codewords having different values in that component; and wherein the state information is a plurality of information present in continuous or discrete form which may have been obtained from previous codewords transmitted over the communication bus. |
| US08718179B2 |
Multicarrier communication with variable overhead rate
In the present invention, the overhead data transmission rate in a multicarrier communication system (1) may be changed and/or selected. More specifically, this rate may be selected during an initial negotiation process and/or during a steady state mode of operation. |
| US08718172B2 |
Two stage precoding for multi-user MIMO systems
Techniques are provided for generating a precoding matrix for a multi-user multiple-input multiple-output wireless communication system. A first wireless communication device is provided that has a plurality of antennas from which multiple spatial streams are to be simultaneously transmitted to a plurality of second wireless communication devices. A channel matrix is computed between the antennas of the first device and the antennas of each of the second wireless communication devices to produce a plurality of client-specific channel matrices. A singular value decomposition is computed of each client-specific channel matrices. A number of strongest singular values and their corresponding singular vectors are stored from the singular decomposition of each of the client-specific channel matrices. From each client-specific channel matrix, a principal component-like single-client channel matrix is computed. The principal component-like single-client channel matrices are combined to form a principal component-like multi-user channel matrix, from which the precoding matrix is computed. |
| US08718171B2 |
Method and device for determining estimated values for transmitted symbols in a MIMO-OFDM system
A method for determining estimated values for data symbols transmitted from at least four transmission antennas of a MIMO transmission system, which are encoded according to the Matrix B transmission mode and weighted with coefficients (vi). The method including determining hypotheses ({tilde over ({right arrow over (s)}1-4, {tilde over ({right arrow over (s)}5-8) for the transmitted data symbols ({right arrow over (s)}1-4, {right arrow over (s)}5-8) from data symbols ({right arrow over (r)}1-4, {right arrow over (r)}5-8) received from at least two reception antennas, weighted with hypotheses ({tilde over (h)}nm) for the transmission factors (hnm) associated with a partial transmission channel, between a transmission antenna m and a reception antenna n, and with hypotheses ({tilde over (v)}i) for the coefficients (vi), determining a metric for each hypothesis ({tilde over ({right arrow over (s)}1-4, {tilde over ({right arrow over (s)}5-8) associated with at least one transmitted data symbol ({right arrow over (s)}1-4, {right arrow over (s)}5-8) and determining the estimated value ({tilde over ({right arrow over (s)}1-4, {tilde over ({right arrow over (s)}5-8) for the respective, transmitted data symbol ({right arrow over (s)}1-4, {right arrow over (s)}5-8) from the lowest metric associated with each hypothesis ({circumflex over ({right arrow over (s)}1-4, {circumflex over ({right arrow over (s)}5-8). |
| US08718168B2 |
Method of transmitting uplink DM-RS multiplexed with data in uplink MIMO transmission
Provided is a multi-layer transmission method of multiplexing and transmitting data and a demodulation reference signal (DM-RS) sequence in an uplink digital Fourier transform-spread-orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (DFT-S-OFDM) transmission employing multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO). The method includes allocating one DM-RS sequence as a DM-RS sequence of a first transmission layer for uplink transmission; allocating a DM-RS sequence whose cyclic shift (CS) value having the same sequence as the DM-RS sequence of the first transmission layer is configured to differ from that of the DM-RS sequence as a DM-RS sequence of a second transmission layer; and multiplexing layer-specific data and the layer-specific DM-RS sequences according to each of the first and second transmission layers. Accordingly, an RS can be transmitted in more OFDM symbols of a slot or subframe without an increase in overhead. Consequently, it is possible to satisfy requirements of LTE-advanced that a high frequency spectrum and a high mobile velocity should be supported, and transmit and receive a DM-RS multiplexed with data while maintaining orthogonality. |
| US08718165B2 |
Method and apparatus for controlling multi-antenna transmission in a wireless communication network
Multi-antenna transmission control presented herein involves generating a set of virtual channel realizations at the transmitter that shares the same second-order statistics as the actual channel realizations observed for a targeted receiver. By making the control-related quantities of interest at the transmitter depend on the long-term statistics of the channel, the actual channel realizations are not needed for transmission control, e.g., for accurate Multiple-Input-Multiple-Output (MIMO) preceding. As such, the use of virtual channel realizations enables transmission control that approaches the “closed-loop” channel capacity that would be provided by full feedback of the (instantaneous) actual channel realizations, without requiring the overhead signaling burden that attends full feedback. |
| US08718164B2 |
Pilot design for improved channel and interference estimation
Techniques for transmitting pilot and for processing received pilot to obtain channel and interference estimates are described. A terminal may generate pilot symbols for a first cluster in a time frequency block based on a first sequence and may generate pilot symbols for a second cluster in the time frequency block based on a second sequence. The first and second sequences may include common elements arranged in different orders and may be considered as different versions of a single sequence. The terminal may transmit the pilot symbols in their respective clusters. A base station may obtain received pilot symbols from multiple clusters in the time frequency block. The base station may form each of multiple basis vectors with multiple versions of the sequence assigned to the terminal and may process the received pilot symbols with the multiple basis vectors to obtain a channel estimate for the terminal. |
| US08718162B2 |
Reception device, reception method, and reception program
A channel estimator estimates a channel estimation value. A symbol replica generator generates a symbol replica that is a modulation symbol of the information demodulated. A signal extractor extracts, in a plurality of time durations, each of subcarrier elements of the reception signal from which an interference is cancelled, based on the channel estimation and the symbol replica. A demodulator demodulates signals on the subcarrier elements of the reception signal, based on signals in the plurality of time durations which are extracted by the signal extractor. |
| US08718160B2 |
Multi-carrrier optical communication method and system based on DAPSK
The present invention provides an optical communication method, comprising: performing modulation on the obtained bit stream data to generate modulated signals; performing differential encoding on the modulated signals to generate differentially encoded signals; converting the differentially encoded signals into electrical signals; and mapping the electrical signals onto optical carriers to generate optical signals for transmission. With the present invention, it is possible to enhance the system's capability of resisting inter-carrier interference without decreasing spectrum efficiency, hence improving the tolerance of existing optical communication systems towards laser linewidth, fast-changing PMD, optical fiber nonlinearity, inter-channel interference and other damages, greatly enhancing system performances. |
| US08718157B2 |
Dual indicator scheme for channel state information feedback
Codebook based communication of precoding data between two stations involves determining a ‘best fit’ precoding at a receiving station, on the basis of channel state measurements taken therein. The best fit precoding is compared with pre-agreed entries in a codebook, and an indicator is sent back to the terminal emitting the analysed signal. The determination is separated into two elements, one being sufficient for use with SU-MIMO, and another being provided, with a second codebook indicator, if MU-MIMO is to be employed. This second codebook indicator points to a codebook of eigenvector representations for the multi-user space in which the channel is persisting. |
| US08718155B2 |
Pilot design method, recording medium, and transmission apparatus
In an orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) communication system, a transmission apparatus connects multiple tiles, which have a 4×3 structure, along a time or frequency axis in an uplink 4-layer partial usage of subchannels (PUSC) mode, and designs pilots corresponding to one layer at one of multiple symbol positions adjacent to a first corner of the tiles and one of multiple symbol positions adjacent to a second corner of the tiles that face the first corner in a diagonal direction. In this case, null symbols are designed at the rest of the symbol positions adjacent to the first corner or the second corner where the pilots are not designed. Accordingly, a receiving apparatus can obtain n channel values from n tiles. Further, n estimated channel values are applied to a linear interpolation method, so that it is possible to estimate the entire channel value of n tiles. |
| US08718154B2 |
Monitoring and correcting timing errors in wireless communication
Providing for improved tracking and correction of timing in wireless communications is disclosed herein. By way of example, a first algorithm can be employed to track timing of a wireless signal, based on one dimension of the signal. Additionally, a second algorithm based on a different dimension of the signal can be employed to verify the timing and reduce errors in timing analysis. Various signal dimensions can be employed for the analysis, including cyclic prefix, frequency, channel impulse response, or the like, or a combination thereof. Additionally, different channels of the wireless signal can also be analyzed by the first algorithm and the second algorithm. Furthermore, the second algorithm can be selected to reduce deficiencies identified in the first algorithm, to improve overall timing analysis, reduce undetected timing errors or false errors, and improve timing correction. |
| US08718151B2 |
Transmission method, reception method, and communication method
A transmission method according to the present invention has been conceived assuming an environment where two information source nodes independently communicate with one destination node, and thus is applicable to such a simple topology. The transmission method provides an inter-node cooperation relationship which provides a sufficient advantageous effect even in an environment in which there is a difference in the power levels of the received signals that reach the address node via two routes. The transmission method is performed by a node U1 (40) and a node U2 that is located closer to the node D (60) than the node U1 (40) to transmit signals to a node D (60) which iteratively detects a log likelihood ratio between mutually corresponding pairs of bits included in the signals at constellation points. According to the transmission method, the node U1 (40) modulates the first bit sequence to generate a first signal and transmits the generated first signal, and the node U2 (50) receives the first signal, performing logical operation on the second bit sequence and the first bit sequence included in the received first signal to generate a third bit sequence, modulates the generated third bit sequence to generate a second signal, and transmits the generated second signal. |
| US08718148B2 |
Information processing apparatus, information processing method, and program
Disclosed herein is an information processing apparatus including: a computation block configured, so as to make an error of a VBV occupation amount of a VBV occupation amount target picture next to base data that is variable-length encoded data to be replaced by replacing data greater than an actual value, to compute the VBV occupation amount of the VBV occupation amount target picture from a VBV delay of the VBV occupation amount target picture; and an encoding block configured to variable-length encode the replacing data on the basis of the VBV occupation amount of the VBV occupation amount target picture computed by the computation block. |
| US08718146B2 |
Method, medium, and system encoding/decoding video data using bitrate adaptive binary arithmetic coding
A method, medium, and system encoding/decoding video data using a binary arithmetic coding adaptive to a compression bit rate of the video data. The system may include a bitrate adaptation unit determining a maximum length of a prefix using a compression bitrate of the video data, a binarization unit dividing the video data into a prefix and a suffix according to the determined maximum length of the prefix and binarizing the video data, and an arithmetic encoding unit performing an arithmetic encoding on the binarized video data. The video data may be encoded/decoded using binary arithmetic encoding/decoding by determining the maximum length of the prefix, an order of an exponential Golomb code, and the number of contexts based on the compression bitrate. Accordingly, it is possible to obtain high encoding efficiency regardless of a range of the desired compression bitrate. |
| US08718143B2 |
Optical flow based motion vector estimation systems and methods
Certain aspects of a method and system for optical flow based motion vector estimation for picture rate up-conversion (PRUC) may include generating one or more motion vectors based on extracted picture rate up-conversion (PRUC) data by minimizing a cost function. The cost function may be constrained by any combination of a block matching constraint, a smoothness constraint and a bias constraint. The PRUC data may be extracted from a compressed video data stream while the compressed video data stream is being decompressed by a video decompression engine. The PRUC data may comprise local block motion vectors, block coding modes, quantization levels, quantized residual data and decoded pictures. A plurality of interpolated pictures may be generated based on extracting the PRUC data. |
| US08718142B2 |
System and method for frame rate conversion that utilizes motion estimation and motion compensated temporal interpolation employing embedded video compression
A technique for frame rate conversion that utilizes motion estimation and motion compensated temporal interpolation includes obtaining a first image and a second image, where the first and second images correspond to different instances in time, compressing the second image using multiple motion vectors that result from motion estimation between the first image and the second image to generate a compressed image, and generating an interpolated image using the compressed image. |
| US08718140B1 |
Encoding video data
A method of encoding video data comprises calculating a set of parameter values for a basis set of partition blocks of a macroblock of the video data. The basis set comprising one or more partition blocks into which the macroblock could validly be partitioned under an encoding scheme, wherein the basis set of partition blocks is smaller in number than the number of ways into which a macroblock is partitionable for encoding. The method further comprises constructing a desired partitioned macroblock using one or more partition blocks selected from the basis set based at least in part on the set of parameter values. |
| US08718133B2 |
Method and system for image scaling detection
A method and system for image scaling detection is provided. Image scaling detection involves receiving a decoded scaled input image having a plurality of pixels, wherein the input image has a scaling ratio relative to an original image; detecting blocking boundary artifact pixels in the image; determining a sum of pixel values for each blocking boundary artifact; detecting the pixel distance value between each pair or neighboring block boundaries; and determining the scaling ratio based on a distance value and said sum of pixel values. |
| US08718131B2 |
Method and apparatus for generating and processing packet in MPEG-2 transport stream
A method and apparatus for generating and processing a packet are provided. In the method of processing a packet, a packet including main data, an identifier representing the type of the main data, and packet information corresponding to information on other packets that will have the same identifier as the identifier is received, the identifier and the packet information are extracted from the received packet, and the main data is selectively extracted from the packet based on the extracted identifier. |
| US08718129B2 |
Power saving decoder architecture
A method and system are provided for decoding coded video data by turning off or not loading at least one functional unit or functional subunit of the decoder while decoding a portion of the coded video data. A schedule may be created prior to substantive decoding and then the schedule may be used to decode coded video data. The coded video data may be reordered based on the functional units or subunits the portions of the coded video data need for decoding. The portions of the coded video data are reordered into their original order in an output buffer after being decoded. The decoder may determine which functional units or subunits are needed for decoding based on administration information included with the coded video data. The decoder may decode portions of the coded video data in parallel. |
| US08718126B2 |
Adaptive equalizer and adaptive equalizing method
An adaptive equalizer includes an equalization circuit and an operation number change unit. The equalization circuit includes a plurality of cascade-coupled delay taps. The equalization circuit equalizes an input signal by adding calculation results of the plurality of delay taps. The operation number change unit changes a number of operations of the plurality of delay taps according to an equalization error of the equalization circuit. |
| US08718124B2 |
Noise detection method, noise detection apparatus, simulation method, simulation apparatus, and communication system
For voltage values (observed noise sequence) in an electronic power line (communication medium) which are obtained at a predetermined interval, initial values of noise characteristics based on a statistic of the observed noise sequence itself are decided by a moment method (S301 to S307), the noise characteristics (state transition probabilities and state noise power) for maximization of the likelihood of the observed noise sequence are obtained from the initial values by MAP (Maximum A Posteriori) estimation using a Baum-Welch algorithm (S309 to S312), a state sequence is estimated from the obtained noise characteristics, and an impulsive noise at each time point is detected. |
| US08718117B2 |
Chirp communications
A transmitter configured to communicate a data chirp signal to a receiver, the chirp signal comprising at least one symbol, each symbol comprising one or more identical chirps, each symbol having a different gradient to another symbol in the chirp signal, each chirp encoding a symbol value, the transmitter comprising: an address encoding module configured to encode an address associated with the communication via the sequence of gradients of the symbols in the chirp signal; a data encoding module configured to encode data in the chirp signal via the symbol value of each chirp; and a transmitting module configured to transmit the data chirp signal to the receiver. |
| US08718115B2 |
Building, transmitting, and receiving frame structures in power line communications
Systems and methods for building, transmitting, and receiving frame structures in power line communications (PLC) are described. Various techniques described herein provide a preamble design using one or more symbols based on a chirp signal that yields a low peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR). According to some techniques, the preamble may be constructed with one or more different types and/or number of symbols configured to identify a PLC domain operating in close physical proximity to another PLC domain. According to other techniques, one or more preamble symbols may be interspersed within a header portion of a PLC frame to facilitate estimation of a frame boundary and/or sampling frequency offset, for example, in the presence of impulsive noise. According to yet other techniques, a PLC detector may be capable of receiving and decoding two or more types of PLC frames (e.g., using different PLC standards). |
| US08718113B2 |
Apparatus and method for dehydrating biological materials
An apparatus for dehydrating a liquid sample of biological material has a microwave waveguide that is open to the atmosphere. It has a microwave generator, means for introducing a container of the material into the waveguide, means for evacuating the container, means for rotating the container and means for removing the container from the waveguide. It can include means for moving the container through the waveguide and for sealing it. In a dehydration method, a container of the liquid sample is put into the open waveguide, evacuated, rotated at high speed and microwaved. The container of dehydrated material is then removed from the waveguide. The apparatus and method are particularly suitable for dehydrating vaccines. |
| US08718111B1 |
Diode laser
A diode laser includes a p-contact layer, a n-contact layer, and a wafer body disposed between the p-contact layer and the n-contact layer, the wafer body having a front end and a back end. The diode laser further includes a first grating comprising a plurality of grooves defined in the wafer body and extending between the front end and the back end at a first tilt angle, and a second grating comprising a plurality of grooves defined in the wafer body and extending between the front end and the back end at a second tilt angle, the second tilt angle opposite to the first tilt angle. A coupling region is defined in the wafer body by interleaving portions of the first grating and the second grating. The interleaving portions provide coherent coupling of laser beams flowing through the first grating and the second grating. |
| US08718109B2 |
Laser array light source unit
A laser array light source unit 1 includes: a plurality of semiconductor lasers 2 each including a main body portion 2a and a leg portion 2b with two leading electrodes; a laser holder 3 holding the main body portions 2a, and having through-holes for the leg portions 2b; a pressing member 5 for fixing the semiconductor lasers 2 to the laser holder 3; an insulator 4 including a plurality of electrode insertion portions 4f having through-holes for the leading electrodes; and a wiring base 6 for electrically connecting at least two of the semiconductor lasers 2 in series. The insulator 4 includes a connecting portion 4b for connecting the plurality of electrode insertion portions 4f in the same direction in which the plurality of semiconductor lasers 2 are arranged. The wiring base 6 includes first through-holes into which the leading electrodes of the semiconductor lasers 2 are inserted. |
| US08718107B2 |
Bias circuit of electro-absorption modulated laser and calibration method thereof
A bias circuit of an electro-absorption modulated laser and a calibration method thereof are provided. The bias circuit includes a drive circuit and a direct current bias voltage circuit. The drive circuit is used for providing a forward bias voltage to a laser diode in the electro-absorption modulated laser to generate laser. The direct current bias voltage circuit is connected to a cathode of an electro-absorption modulator in the electro-absorption modulated laser, and provides a positive direct current bias voltage to the cathode to enable the reverse bias voltage of the electro-absorption modulator to fall within the range of modulation. When the reverse bias voltage falls within the range of modulation, the electro-absorption modulator utilizes the laser generated by the laser diode as optical carrier wave, modulates the optical carrier wave with the modulation voltage, and outputs a modulated optical signal. |
| US08718106B2 |
Nonlinear imaging using passive pulse splitters
An apparatus includes a pulsed laser source that produces a pulsed laser beam at an input repetition rate and an input pulse power; a passive pulse splitter that receives the pulsed laser beam and outputs a signal including a plurality of sub-pulses for each input pulse of the pulsed laser beam, where the sub-pulses have a repetition rate that is greater than the input repetition rate and at least two of the sub-pulses have power less than the input pulse power; a sample accommodating structure configured to accommodate a sample placed in the path of a sample beam that is formed from the beam that exits the pulse splitter; and a detector that receives a signal of interest emitted from a sample accommodated by the sample accommodating structure based on the incident sample beam. |
| US08718098B2 |
Method for compressing and decompressing time stamp and equipment thereof
A method and apparatus for compressing and decompressing a time stamp is provided, applied in a scenario of compressing a basic compression packet carrying an extended compression packet of type 3 in Robust Header Compression (ROHC). The compression method comprises: storing high bits of a time stamp to be transmitted in a time stamp field of the basic compression packet; storing bits of successive zeros beginning from the highest bit of the remaining bits of the time stamp to be transmitted after removing said high bits in the extended compression packet in a form of number information; and storing the remaining bits of the time stamp to be transmitted after removing said high bits and said bits of successive zeros in the time stamp field of the extended compression packet as low bits. Therefore the compression space can be effectively used and compression efficiency can be improved. |
| US08718097B2 |
Rate selection for channel selection in flexible WDM networks
An inventive method implemented in a communications system includes obtaining a first data rate in a flexible wavelength division multiplexing FWDM network and applying a recursive rate selection for determining a given data rate from the obtained first data rate such that a required spectrum over the FWDM network for the given data rate is minimized, the first data rate being lower than the given data rate. |
| US08718096B2 |
Packet coalescing
In general, in one aspect, the disclosures describes a method that includes receiving multiple ingress Internet Protocol packets, each of the multiple ingress Internet Protocol packets having an Internet Protocol header and a Transmission Control Protocol segment having a Transmission Control Protocol header and a Transmission Control Protocol payload, where the multiple packets belonging to a same Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol flow. The method also includes preparing an Internet Protocol packet having a single Internet Protocol header and a single Transmission Control Protocol segment having a single Transmission Control Protocol header and a single payload formed by a combination of the Transmission Control Protocol segment payloads of the multiple Internet Protocol packets. The method further includes generating a signal that causes receive processing of the Internet Protocol packet. |
| US08718095B2 |
Method for transmitting frame sequence number, node B and service radio network controller
The present invention discloses a method for transmitting a frame sequence number and a node B and a serving radio network controller, which method comprises: a node B receiving a protocol data unit from a carrier and de-multiplexing the protocol data unit into media access control data streams; the node B inserting a carrier symbol into a carrier indicator field of an enhanced-dedicated transport channel data frame and generating a frame sequence number for every the enhanced-dedicated transport channel data frame transmitted on the carrier; and the node B transmitting the media access control data streams to a serving radio network controller SRNC by using the enhanced-dedicated transport channel data frame. By virtue of the present invention it achieves that the SRNC is capable of obtaining the information regarding network layer data transmission in dual-carrier situation so as to detect the loss of data frames. |
| US08718094B2 |
Network optimized distribution
A content server is configured to buffer and transmit numerous live media streams to individual devices. The content server analyzes characteristics associated with the live media streams to determine timing and sequence number information. Other characteristics such as network congestion metrics, device buffer usage metrics, etc., can also be evaluated. Combined peak transmission times are determined to allow packets designated for transmission at a bandwidth usage peak to be transmitted earlier in time. Earlier packets are shifted even earlier as sequence numbers allow. This evens out bandwidth usage rates and allows improved live media stream transmission. |
| US08718087B1 |
Processing architecture for passive optical network
In a network termination device integrated circuit in a point-to-multipoint network, a receiver receives a downstream transmission from a line termination unit within the point-to-multipoint network, a transmitter transmits an upstream transmission to the line termination unit within the point-to-multipoint network, and an internal processor operatively coupled to the receiver processes sub-fields within the overhead field of the downstream transmission. The internal processor is also operatively coupled to the transmitter to assemble the overhead field of the upstream transmission. The downstream transmission is an downstream transmission convergence frame format having an overhead field and a payload field, and the upstream transmission is an upstream transmission convergence frame format having an overhead field and a payload field. |
| US08718085B2 |
Coaxial cable interface to outdoor broadband unit
An outdoor broadband unit implements full IP-based routing between a wide area network (WAN)-side interface (such as a Long-Term Evolution (LTE) air interface) and a local area network (LAN)-side interface (such as a home network using MoCA protocol). The outdoor broadband unit maintains a routing table for all connections through an internal routing system based on matching between WAN-side Internet Protocol (IP) addresses and/or ports and LAN-side IP addresses and/or ports. The outdoor broadband unit may support both connection-oriented transport layer routing (such as Transmission Control Protocol (TCP)) and connectionless transport layer routing (such as User Datagram Protocol (UDP)). |
| US08718078B2 |
Multi-homed communication apparatus, and control method and storage medium therefor
A communication apparatus able to maintain and improve the security at the time of retransmission of stored data to a network even in a network environment where multi-home connection can be made. When receiving a job through a network, the communication apparatus identifies the network through which the job is received, adds network information representing the identified network to the job, and stores the network information into a management table when the job is stored into an image forming apparatus. When acquisition of any of data stored in the image forming apparatus is requested by a terminal apparatus, whether a transmission condition is satisfied is determined based the network information for the requested data and transmission destination network information in the management table, and the requested data is transmitted, if the transmission condition is satisfied. |
| US08718077B1 |
Apparatus and method for dynamically limiting output queue size in a quality of service network
A network switch including a plurality of ports; a memory, and a queue controller. The queue controller is configured to: maintain a list of pointers to a first plurality of buffers in the memory; of the first plurality of buffers, selectively allocate a first buffer to a first port of the plurality of ports; in response to i) the first port receiving a first frame of data, ii) the first buffer being allocated to the first port, and iii) the first frame being stored in the memory, remove the pointer to the first buffer from the list of pointers; transfer, to an output queue associated with a second port of the plurality of ports, the pointer to the first buffer; and in response to the first frame of data being sent from the second port, add the pointer to the first buffer back to the list of pointers. |
| US08718075B2 |
Method and apparatus for adapting policy control
Method and network nodes for adapting policy control function, wherein a load of a first network entity on which a policy execution function like a policy and charging enforcement function (PCEF) or a bearer binding and event reporting function (BBERF) is located is monitored (S4) and policy decisions are adapted based on said load. Particularly, the load may be reported to (N) or determined by a second network entity on which a policy supervision function like a policy and charging rules function (PCRF) is located, and said second network entity adapts policy decisions based on said load. When making policy decisions, the load status of a network entity like a gateway may thus be taken into account in addition to other factors. |
| US08718073B2 |
Method and apparatus for signaling virtual channel support in communication networks
A method and apparatus for signaling virtual channel support in communication networks. A node receives a data packet from another node to examine whether the other node commonly supports one or more virtual channels of a given type on a point-to-point communication link between the nodes, and the node signaling common support for one or more virtual channels of a given type, based on the content in the received data packet that indicates whether the other node transmitting the data packet has adequate queue resources to support one or more virtual channels of a given type, and based on whether the node has adequate queue resources to support the one or more virtual channels of a given type. |
| US08718069B2 |
Transmission apparatus and signal transmission method for mapping packets in frames of synchronous network
A transmission apparatus that receives plural packets and transmits a frame of a synchronous network, includes a multiplexing part that divides, in segment units, the plural packets, each segment having a predetermined length, and multiplexes the segments to generate a data stream signal; a transmitting part that transmits the data stream signal to a mapping part; and the mapping part that maps the data stream signal in the frame of the synchronous network. |
| US08718068B2 |
Wireless communication apparatus and wireless communication method using bluetooth
A wireless communication apparatus which is capable of communicating with a first wireless terminal holding a first data packet by Bluetooth includes a search unit, a first transceiver transmitting, a first controller, and a scheduling unit. The search unit reserves a search, and executing the search. The first transceiver transmits the first and second control packets, and receives the first data packet and a second data packet. The first controller reserves a transmission of the second control packet to the first wireless terminal, the first controller giving instructions to transmit the second control packet to the first transceiver. The scheduling unit accepts the reservation from the first controller and the search unit, the scheduling unit preferentially allowing a transmission of the second control packet compared with the search, and allowing the search when no reservation of the transmission of the second control packet is made. |
| US08718067B2 |
Pre-emption mechanism for packet transport
Protocols or methods are presented for encapsulating data from packets of different priorities and pre-emption techniques therefor using (N+M) byte frames for transmission in a communications system. The methods involve selectively suspending encapsulation of low-priority data packets to encapsulate a higher priority pre-empting data packet, and resuming encapsulation all or a portion of remaining data from a suspended low-priority data packet in a frame in which a pre-empting higher priority data packet is completed. |
| US08718065B2 |
Transmission using multiple physical interface
A method to transmit data using a device having a plurality of physical input/output (I/O) interfaces is provided. The method comprises receiving data and determining a topology according to which data is to be transmitted. Data is transmitted in sequential order via a single physical interface for a first topology and in random order via a plurality of physical interfaces for a second topology.A System On Chip (SOC) unit enabled to transmit data via one or more physical interfaces is provided. The SOC comprises a processor and a network interface including multiple physical input/output (I/O) interfaces coupled to the processor. In response to receiving data for transmission, the processor is enabled to select a single I/O interface for sequential data transmission according to a first topology or select multiple physical I/O interfaces for random order data transmission according to a second topology. |
| US08718063B2 |
Methods and apparatus related to route selection within a network
In some embodiments, an apparatus includes a first network device configured to receive, from a second network device, a first forwarding-state packet associated with a peripheral processing device and having a first generation identifier. The first network device is configured to receive, from a third network device, a second forwarding-state packet associated with the peripheral processing device and having a second generation identifier. The first network device is configured to implement forwarding-state information included in the first forwarding-state packet based on a comparison of the first generation identifier and the second generation identifier. |
| US08718060B2 |
Technique for multiple path forwarding of label-switched data traffic
A technique for multiple path forwarding of label-switched data traffic in a communication network across multiple paths such that traffic associated with a particular label-switched path (LSP) is forwarded on the same path in the network. An incoming label associated with a packet is used to select an Equal Cost Multiple Path (ECMP) technique that is used to identify an interface among a plurality of interfaces on which the packet may be forwarded. An incoming label associated with the packet is used to identify an outgoing label for the packet as well as the plurality of interfaces on which the packet may be forwarded. A label in the packet's label stack is hashed to produce a hash value. The hash value is then used to identify an interface from the plurality of interfaces on which the packet is forwarded. The outgoing label is placed in the packet and the packet is forwarded on the identified interface. |
| US08718055B2 |
Fast-tracking approach for building routing topologies in fast-moving networks
In one embodiment, a local node in a communication network determines a set of its neighbor nodes, and determines a respective occurrence frequency at which each particular neighbor node is to be probed based on a rate of change in distance between the local node and the particular neighbor node. The local node may then probe each particular neighbor node according to the respective occurrence frequency to determine the rate of change in distance between the local node and each particular neighbor node, and one or more routing metrics for reaching each particular neighbor node. As such, the local node may select, based on the probing, a suitable preferred next-hop node of the set of neighbor nodes for a corresponding routing topology. |
| US08718049B2 |
System and method for transmitting voice messages through the internet
A system for transmitting messages from a caller location to a receiver location using a plurality of computers 11 each coupled to another such as the Internet. The system also has a plurality of access devices 13a-13l, which are coupled to the network through a telecommunication line. These access devices include computers, workstations, and the like. Each access device includes a voice conversion board for converting a voice message from a telephone device 17, 19 into digital data for transmission through the network. |
| US08718043B2 |
Mobile communication method and system for signalling information relating to network's capabilities
A mobile communications method and system for signalling information between a mobile terminal and a network element of a mobile communications network. The mobile terminal transmits information relating to the desirability and/or possibility to support Voice Call Continuity (VCC), to the network element during a communication, and the network element receives the information from the mobile terminal to use the information as a basis for deciding whether or not to anchor a call of the mobile terminal. |
| US08718039B2 |
Signaling protocol for multi-domain optical networks
A three-way handshake method for optical messaging in a multi-domain optical network that includes a first pass from a source domain to a destination domain through intermediate domains on candidate working paths, collecting information identifying available routing resources for each working path, calculating a working path metric and storing each of the metrics at the respective border node, determining a path key of the topology of each domain working path and using the path key to identify the path outside its domain and determining the best working paths and border nodes to use. A second pass using the path keys for identifying the working path in each domain and reserving the identified routing resources and selecting which routing resources to use. A third pass identifying the selected routing resources and establishing an optical signaling message path between the source node and the destination node. |
| US08718036B2 |
Configurable pilots in a wireless communication system
Techniques for transmitting configurable pilots in a wireless communication system are described. The placement of pilots is determined based on an assignment of resources for transmission. Different placements of pilots are used for different assignments of resources. The assignment may be for one or more frames and/or one or more H-ARQ interlaces. The placement of pilot(s) in each frame or H-ARQ interlace may be determined based on the placement of pilot(s) in prior frame(s) or H-ARQ interlace(s). Pilots are sent at time and frequency locations determined by the placement of the pilots. Each pilot may be sent on one or more subcarriers in one or more symbol periods. The pilots may be TDM pilots and/or some other type of pilot. The pilots may be sent using IFDMA, LFDMA, EFDMA, OFDMA, or some other multiplexing scheme. |
| US08718030B2 |
Methods and apparatus for performing channel tree operations
Methods and apparatus for performing channel tree operations in a communication system are disclosed that order a channel tree to effect improved computation speed for channel tree operations for scheduling channel resources in the communication system. The disclosed methods include mapping each of one or more node identifiers of real nodes of a channel tree to corresponding virtual node identifiers based on a prescribed ordering scheme. After mapping, the methods include performing one or more operations on one or more of the real nodes of the channel tree using the virtual node identifiers. Corresponding apparatus configured to execute the disclosed methods are also disclosed. |
| US08718020B2 |
Method and apparatus for assigning radio resources and controlling transmission parameters on a random access channel
A method and apparatus for assigning radio resources and controlling parameters for transmission over a random access channel in wireless communications by enhancing a random access channel is disclosed. |
| US08718017B2 |
Confirmation of base station identification to improve handover
A method of wireless communication is presented. The method includes receiving an operating frequency and base station identification code (BSIC) for a neighboring base station, determining an expected received signal based from the operating frequency and BSIC, comparing a received signal with the expected received signal, and reporting a result of the comparing. |
| US08718016B2 |
Mobile communication system, base station, and handover execution method
A mobile communication system includes a plurality of base stations, an upper node, and a mobile station. In this mobile communication system, while a first base station that is currently connected via radio to the mobile station is receiving a first downlink signal from a second base station that was previously connected via radio to the mobile station and that received the first downlink signal from the upper node for transmission to the mobile station, when the mobile station is connected via radio to a third base station as a result of a handover, the first base station sends a redirection request signal requesting the second base station to redirect the first downlink signal to the third base station. Then, in response to the redirection request signal, the second base station redirects the first downlink signal to the third base station. |
| US08718013B2 |
Handover between legacy and non-legacy WiMAX networks
Embodiments of a system and method for handover and zone switching between legacy and non-legacy base stations are provided. In certain embodiments, a fast ranging IE allocation is used to transfer a dedicated allocation to a mobile station for ranging with a target base station. |
| US08717996B2 |
Uplink scrambling during random access
The technology described in this case facilitates random access by a user terminal with a radio base station. A user terminal determines one of a first type of uplink scrambling sequences and generates a random access message using the determined one of the first type of uplink scrambling sequences. The random access message is transmitted to the base station. The user terminal receives from the base station a second, different type of uplink scrambling sequence and uses it for subsequent communication with the radio base station. For example, the first uplink scrambling sequences may be specifically associated with the radio base station's cell area or a random access radio channel associated with the radio base station, but they are not specifically assigned to any user terminal, and the second uplink scrambling sequence may be selected from a second set of uplink scrambling sequences specifically assignable to individual user terminals. |
| US08717989B2 |
CCE+ number allocation method and base station device
Disclosed is a CCE+ number allocation method which reduces the ACK/NACK (Acknowledgment/Negative Acknowledgment) collision probability in a mixed system containing an LTE (Long Term Evolution) system and an LTE+ (Long Term Evolution Advanced) system. A CCE (Control Channel Element)+ number is defined by selecting a number from CCE numbers of the CCE to contain PDCCH (Physical Downlink Control Channel) allocated in a resource element region constituting CCE+ where PDCCH+ is arranged. This can prevent overlapped selection of the CCE number and the CCE+ number even when the PDCCH and the PDCCH+ are simultaneously transmitted. Thus, it is possible to reduce the collision probability of ACK/NACK correlated to the CCE number and the CCE+ number. |
| US08717987B2 |
Femtocell beacon interference mitigation with out-of-band links
Systems, methods, devices, and computer program products are described for mitigating macrocell interference during femtocell discovery in a wireless communications system. In one example, a mobile device may be camped on a macrocell. A femtocell transmits out-of-band (OOB) discovery signals to, or receives OOB band discovery signals from, the mobile device to facilitate presence detection. The femtocell may also be configured to use various techniques to transmit in-band beacon bursts (e.g., low or high power beacon bursts) to the mobile device in the macrocell frequency range to trigger the mobile device to perform an inter-frequency scan for cell reselection. The femtocell may transmit communications signals to the mobile device in a femtocell frequency range (different from the macrocell frequency range) after the mobile device has discovered and selected the femtocell. |
| US08717985B2 |
Method for generating the group identifier of the random access response message, and a random access method
The invention discloses a method for generating a group identifier of the random access response message. The group identifier is determined according to the serial number of the subframe in which the random access time slot of random access preamble message transmitted by the terminal lies and the serial number of the random access channel in which the random access time slot lies. A random access method and a random access response method in a cellular radio communication system are also provided. Using the method of the present invention, the terminal needs not acquire the absolute system time of the cellular system in which the random access time slot lies, and can access the cellular radio communication system rapidly and accurately. |
| US08717982B2 |
System and method for efficient enhanced multicast broadcast system (E-MBS) map decoding
A wireless communication network is provided. The network comprising a plurality of base stations capable of wireless communication with a plurality of subscriber stations within a coverage area of the network. At least one of the plurality of base stations comprises a transmitter configured to transmit a downlink frame. The downlink frame comprising a first Enhanced Multicast Broadcast Service (E-MBS) MAP. The first E-MBS MAP comprises a field with an indicator to indicate a next E-MBS MAP to be decoded by a subscriber station. The subscriber station, upon decoding the first E-MBS MAP, refrains from decoding subsequent E-MBS MAPS that precede the next E-MBS MAP to be decoded by the subscriber station in accordance with the indicator. |
| US08717978B2 |
Method and system for implementing self-discovery of network element
A method and a system for implementing self-discovery of network element. The method includes that: layout data (containing identifier information and basic information) of a newly-established network element is imported into a network manager of the newly-established network element; after being powered on, the newly-established network element sends its identifier information to one or more adjacent network elements to request to find its own basic information; and the adjacent network element requests the network manager of the newly-established network element to find the basic information according to the identifier information, and returns the basic information found by the network manager of the newly-established network element and the identifier information of the newly-established network element to the newly-established network element. The disclosure avoids problems of complicated manual configuration and vulnerable, highly risky, and elaborated way of configuration with DHCP in implementation of self-discovery of network element in the related art. |
| US08717971B2 |
Systems, methods and apparatus for transmitting data over a voice channel of a wireless telephone network using multiple frequency shift-keying modulation
The various embodiments described herein generally provide apparatus, systems and methods which facilitate the transmission of data between a client device and a remote device over a voice channel of a telephone network. More particularly, data from a client device is modulated into an audio signal using multiple frequency shift keying (MFSK) techniques and transmitted to the remote device over a voice channel of a wireless telephone network during a phone call. The frequency of the audio signal is selected based on the value of the data to be transmitted. The remote device receives the audio signal and determines the frequency of the audio signal to extract the transmitted data. |
| US08717970B2 |
Method and system for transferring time division multiplexing service data
The present invention discloses a method and system for transferring TDM services in GPON, the method includes the steps of: in the case of performing the GPON ranging process, buffering the uplink TDM service data received by an optical signal transceiver in an Input Buffer, reading out and transferring the uplink TDM service data buffered in an Output Buffer. The present invention eliminates the possible interruption of TDM services during the GPON ranging process by buffering the uplink services at the OLT and ONU/ONT side and relevant processes, and therefore realizes the TDM service transmission without any loss during the GPON system ranging process. |
| US08717967B2 |
Determining channel configurations
Embodiments of the present disclosure describe methods, computer-readable media and system configurations for wireless communications. A method may include receiving a transmission of a series of symbols, including an index, and determining a plurality of configurations of a physical downlink channel based on the index. In various embodiments, the plurality of configurations of the physical downlink channel may include one or more antenna ports that are reserved for a reference signal. A relay node (RN) may include a processor and a memory storing a plurality of potential combinations of a plurality of configurations of a physical downlink channel. The processor may be configured to receive a transmission of a series of symbols, including an index, and match the index to one of the plurality of potential combinations. A donor evolved NodeB (DeNB) may be configured to encode such an index into a transmission. Other embodiments may be described and/or claimed. |
| US08717964B2 |
Wireless wide-area communication network multihop relay station management
A system and method for managing a multihop relay station in a wireless wide-area communication network includes determining whether any mobile stations are being served by the relay station. If not, inactivating the relay station by; inactivating transmitted signals from the relay station, leaving a receiver active, and monitoring signals on the active receiver. Whereafter, estimating a channel quality of at least one mobile station from the monitored signals by the inactive relay station, and activating the relay station in response to the monitored signals indicating that a channel quality of the mobile station will improve when being served by the relay station. |
| US08717961B2 |
Method and apparatus for transmitting broadcast, method and apparatus for receiving broadcast
Provided are a method and apparatus for transporting a broadcast and a method and apparatus for receiving a broadcast. In the method of transporting a broadcast service for mobile communications, the method includes generating an encapsulation packet including configuration information adaptive to application data that is to be transmitted and the application data; generating transport packets having data regarding the encapsulation packet by dividing the encapsulation packet into predetermined-sized packets, where the transport packets include information regarding the structures of the transport packets; and generating service configuration information including information set about a channel having the transport packets, and including the service configuration information in a service information channel at a predetermined location from among at least one transport channel on a transport stream. Accordingly, it is possible to efficiently use a data region and increase the speed of data transmission. |
| US08717959B2 |
Advertized power-save modes for different traffic conditions
In at least some embodiments, a wireless communication device includes a transceiver having control logic to detect traffic conditions for a communication group and to enter different power-save modes for different traffic conditions. The control logic is configured to advertize a first power-save mode to the communication group in response to a first detected traffic condition, to advertize a second power-save mode to the communication group in response to a second detected traffic condition, and to advertize a third power-save mode to the communication group in response to a third detected traffic condition. |
| US08717956B2 |
Adaptive power-saving/power-saving support method in wireless communication system and apparatus using the same
A method for adaptively performing power saving in a station of a wireless communication system includes: receiving first power-save capability information from an AP, the first power-save capability information containing information on power-save schemes supported by a MAC layer of the AP; transmitting second power-save capability information to the AP in response to the first power-save capability information, the second power-save capability information containing information on power-save schemes supported by a MAC layer of the station; transmitting power-save policy information, into which properties of traffics used in the station are reflected, to the AP; and performing a power-save function while interworking with the MAC layer of the station, according to the power-save policy information based on a predetermined power-save scheme. |
| US08717951B2 |
Method for allocating radio resources in FDD frame
A method of allocating a radio resource in a frequency division duplex (FDD) frame in which a downlink frame and an uplink frame are divided in a frequency domain in a wireless communication system includes allocating a downlink resource region for a first system in the downlink frame, and allocating an uplink resource region for the first system to the uplink frame such that the uplink resource region does not temporally overlap with the downlink resource region for the first system, wherein a resource region except for the downlink resource region for the first system is allocated to a downlink resource region for a second system in the downlink frame, and a resource region except for the uplink resource region for the first system is allocated to an uplink resource region for the second system in the uplink frame. When a half-duplex FDD (H-FDD)-type user equipment is supported in a frequency division duplex (FDD) frame supporting heterogeneous systems, radio resources can be effectively utilized by minimizing waste of unnecessary radio resources. |
| US08717948B2 |
Technique for providing an asymmetric multipoint call between a plurality of network nodes
A technique for providing an asymmetric multipoint call between a plurality of network nodes (10, 12, 14, 16, 18) in a communication network supporting distributed call and connection management (DCM) features is provided, wherein a first call is established between a master node (10) and a first slave node (12) and a second call is established between the master node (10) and a second slave node (14). A method implementation of the technique comprises the steps of exchanging call management information for the asymmetric multipoint call between the master node (10) and the first slave node (12) based on the first call, exchanging call management information for the asymmetric multipoint call between the master node (10) and the second slave node (14) based on the second call, and excluding the first (12) and the second (14) slave node from directly exchanging call management information relating to the asymmetric management call between each other. |
| US08717947B2 |
Methods and devices for spatial coding
Embodiments of the invention relates to a method in a controller node for distributing code text of a joint spatial coding in a communications network. The communications network comprises at least two communication nodes each comprising at least one transmit antenna. The method comprises to joint spatial code (12, S11) a symbol resulting in at least a first code text and a second code text. Then, the method comprises to group (T4, S12) the transmit antennas in the communications network into at least a first transmit antenna group and a second transmit antenna group based on the location of coverage area of the transmit antennas. Finally, the method comprises to distribute (T6) the first code text to the first transmit antenna group and the second code text to the second transmit antenna group. The invention is particularly useful for transmission in Multimedia Broadcast Single Frequency Network (MBSFN) comprising of communication nodes equipped with unequal number of transmit antennas. Embodiments also relates to a controller node, a second communication node, a user equipment and methods therein. |
| US08717944B2 |
TRILL optimal forwarding and traffic engineered multipathing in cloud switching
In one embodiment, a plurality of leaf switches that include host facing ports are configured as a cloud switch. An indication of connectivity between the leaf switches of the cloud switch and routing bridges (RBridges) external to the cloud switch may be added to link state packets (LSPs) sent over the at least one logical shared media link. A lookup table may be generated that specifies next hop leaf switches. The generated lookup table may be used to forward frames to one or more particular nexthop leaf switches. Further, traffic engineering parameters may be collected. Equal cost multipath (ECMP) nexthop leaf switches and distribution trees to reach one or more destinations may be examined. Traffic may be distributed across ones of them based on the traffic engineering parameters. |
| US08717938B2 |
System and method for signaling configuration of sounding reference signals
The present invention discloses a method for a signaling configuration of a sounding reference signal. The method includes: a base station notifying a user equipment to aperiodically send the sounding reference signal, and sending configuration information of aperiodically sending the sounding reference signal (SRS) down to the user equipment. The present invention also discloses a base station for a signaling configuration of a sounding reference signal and a user equipment for a signaling configuration of a sounding reference signal. The present invention can realize that the user equipment aperiodically sends the SRS, which improves the utilization ratio of SRS resources and increases the flexibility of resource scheduling. |
| US08717936B1 |
Optimal automated exploration of hierarchical multiprotocol label switching label switch paths
Optimal automated exploration of hierarchical Multiprotocol Label Switching Label Switch Paths (MPLS LSPs) is disclosed. A path verification message (PVM) is transmitted from an initial router. Each label in the PVM's label stack corresponds to a hierarchy layer and is associated with a time-to-live (TTL) field. The TTL field for the label of a current layer is set so the PVM travels one hop from the initial router. In response, a reply message indicating that the PVM reached its destination is received. |
| US08717928B2 |
Splitterless multicarrier modem
A modem for use in Digital Subscriber Line communications transmits and receives data over the local subscriber loop in common with voice information over the loop, while avoiding the need for voice/data splitters. The modem responds to disruptions associated with “disturbance events” such as on-hook to off-hook transitions and the like by rapidly switching between pre-stored channel parameter control sets defining communications over the loop under varying conditions. In addition to changing parameter control sets responsive to a disturbance event, the modem may also change transmission power levels and other system parameters such as frequency domain equalizer characteristics. Further, provisions are made for reduced bandwidth communications under selected conditions. |
| US08717924B2 |
Method and arrangement for load management in heterogeneous networks with interference suppression capable receivers
In a method of providing load measurements in an interference suppression capable radio base station node associated with a plurality of users in a heterogeneous wireless communication system, applying interference suppression to received signals in the radio base station node, to provide interference suppressed received signals. Subsequently, estimating neighbor cell interference based on the interference suppressed received signals, and estimating a reference received total wideband power, based on the interference suppressed received signals. Then performing the steps of determining a first load measure based on the interference suppressed received signals and the estimated reference received total wideband power, and determining a second load measure based on the interference suppressed received signals, the estimated reference received total wideband power and on the estimated neighbor cell interference. |
| US08717919B2 |
Systems and methods for space-time determinations with reduced network traffic
Space-time solutions are determined by exchanging pings among nodes in a network. Each ping includes a current space-time state of the transmitting node, which includes the transmitting node's currently estimated location and corrected time (as a count stamp). A particular node in the network receives pings from the other nodes in the network and uses the data in the received pings to estimate its own current position and to correct its own free-running clock relative to a common system time. As a service to the network, the particular node then transmits its corrected time (as a count stamp) and estimated position to the other nodes. In some embodiments, the space-time solutions discussed herein are used as backup to other navigation systems, such as the Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) system. |
| US08717918B2 |
Communication device and dynamic management method using the same
A network device transmits and receives data packets between the network device and a network. The data packets includes information about a procedure needed in order to process the data packets. According to the information, the network device executes the procedure to process the data packets. If the time of the procedure has not been executed to process the data packets is more than a predetermined time and no other data packets are needed to be processed, the network device turns off the procedure automatically. |
| US08717914B2 |
Method for controlling interference
A method for controlling interference between a plurality of neighboring base stations for a terminal by a serving base station of the terminal in a communication system is provided. The method includes receiving interference amount information on a first region of a downlink frame from the terminal, determining an interference amount estimate for the first region based on the received interference amount information, comparing the determined interference amount estimate with an interference amount tolerance for the first region; and transmitting an interference indicator requesting reduction in transmission power for the first region to the plurality of neighboring base stations when the interference amount estimate exceeds the interference amount tolerance. |
| US08717912B2 |
Communication quality judgment method, mobile station, base station, and Communications System
In order to carry out high-speed packet communications using a large-volume transmission channel like an E-DCH, uplink communication quality must be good. However, in a state in which a link imbalance occurs, a mobile station cannot estimate the uplink communication quality from downlink communication quality. Therefore, the mobile station calculates a path loss from the setting power of a common pilot channel which is notified from a base station, and the received power of the common pilot channel received thereby, and also estimates the received power in the base station on the basis of this path loss. The mobile station further judges the uplink communication quality by estimating the SIR in the base station by using the interference power notified from the base station and the estimated received power. |
| US08717911B2 |
System and method for collecting network performance information
A network communications device including an input/output (I/O) unit configured to communicate data packets to and from a communications network and at least one module. The module(s) may be configured to count total data packets being communicated via the I/O unit during a time period, count data packets including real-time content being communicated via the I/O unit during the time period, determine bandwidth of total data packets being communicated via the I/O unit, determine bandwidth of data packets including real-time content being communicated via the I/O unit, and communicate indicia representative of the bandwidth of data packets including real-time content and total data packets via said I/O unit to another network communications device. The module(s) may be software, hardware, or a combination thereof. |
| US08717908B2 |
Component carrier selection method and apparatus for random access attempts in a communications network
Methods and apparatus for selecting component carriers for random access attempts. A user equipment arranged to communicate with the base station over multiple component carriers, selects a component carrier from the multiple component carriers, based on a likelihood, and transmits a random access attempt to the base station over the selected component carrier. After maintaining statistics of component carriers selected for random access attempts per component carrier of the multiple component carriers, the user equipment adjusts the likelihood of selecting a specific component carrier for a subsequent transmission of a random access attempt based on the maintained statistics. |
| US08717904B2 |
Method for transmitting and receiving control information through PDCCH
A method for efficiently transmitting and receiving control information through a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) is provided. When a User Equipment (UE) receives control information through a PDCCH, the received control information is set to be decoded in units of search spaces. Here, the UE monitors a UE-specific search space, among the search spaces. The UE-specific search space is given based on a modulus operation using the variable of Yk for the subframe k and a variable C for the subframe k, wherein Yk is defined by: Yk=(A*Yk−1+B) mod D, the variable C is determined based on the number of CCEs (NCCE) divided by the aggregation level (L), and A, B and D are predetermined constant values predetermined regardless of the aggregation levels (L). |
| US08717902B2 |
Method and apparatus for reducing traffic in a communications network
A method is provided of reducing traffic in or relating to a service provider network. The service provider network comprises a core packet network, a plurality of first access points (6) off the core network to an external packet network (7), and a plurality of second access points (4) off the core network to local subscribers. A cache (T1, T2) is provided at each of the access points (6, 4) for caching content passing through. In response to a request received from the external network (7) at any of the first access points (6) for content from a local subscriber, it is attempted to serve the request from content previously cached at that first access point (6) or another of the first access points (6). If unable to serve the request from any of the first access point caches (T1), it is attempted to serve the request from content previously cached at the second access point (4) serving the local subscriber. If unable to serve the request from that second access point cache (T2) then the request is forwarded to the local subscriber. |
| US08717901B2 |
Method, apparatus and system for determining an optimum route for transmission of a captured data packet through a stacked topology of network captured traffic distribution devices
Methods, systems, computer-readable media, and devices for determining an optimum route for the transmission of a received traffic flow of captured data packets from a network captured traffic distribution device, through a stacked topology of network captured traffic distribution devices, to a target destination are provided. A plurality of routes through a stacked topology may be determined and analyzed according to one or more criterion. An optimum route may then be selected based upon the analysis. On some occasions, the determination of an optimum route may incorporate information regarding operating conditions for the stacked topology. |
| US08717898B2 |
Method and apparatus for calculating packet arrival time interval
A method and an apparatus for calculating packet arrival time interval are provided by the present invention. In the above-mentioned method, when the current packet arrives, system current time T2 is read from a timer, and the arrival time T1, recorded in an external RAM, of previous packet of the flow to which the current packet belongs is read (301), wherein the timer implements a cycle timing with a period of preset time period Tmax, the preset time period Tmax is larger than or equal to the time for filling the maximum depth of the token bucket of the flow at the minimum token injection rate; a current flag bit, recorded in an internal RAM, of the flow to which the current packet belongs is read (303), wherein the current flag bit is used for indicating the number of cycles of the timer between the system current time T2 and the arrival time T1 of previous packet; and the arrival time interval of the present packet is calculated according to the system current time T2, the arrival time T1 of previous packet and the current flag bit (305). Application of the present invention can reduce the consumption of the internal RAM and improve the operability for realizing by the hardware chips. |
| US08717895B2 |
Network virtualization apparatus and method with a table mapping engine
Some embodiments provide a virtualizer for managing a plurality of managed switching elements that forward data through a network. The virtualizer comprises a first set of tables for storing input logical forwarding plane data and a second set of tables for storing output physical control plane data. It also includes a table mapping engine for mapping the input logical forwarding plane data in the first set of tables to output physical control plane data in the second set of tables by performing a set of database join operations on the input logical forwarding plane data in the first set of tables. In some embodiments, the physical control plane data is subsequently translated into physical forwarding behaviors that direct the forwarding of data by the managed switching elements. |
| US08717891B2 |
Shaping apparatus and method
A shaping apparatus includes a plurality of buffers that are set with a writable upper limit size and a buffer where a read processing is carried out is switched every predetermined time. A flow information table includes specific information for specifying a buffer in which input data should be written for each of flows of the input data, maximum amount information indicating a maximum data amount writable in each of the plurality of buffers for each of the flows, and remaining amount information indicating a remaining data amount writable in the buffer specified by the specific information for each of the flows. A shaper writes the input data in the buffer specified by the specific information among the plurality of buffers for each of the flows. |
| US08717889B2 |
Flow-control in a switch fabric
In some embodiments, an apparatus includes a module within a first stage of a switch fabric, a module within a second stage of the switch fabric, and a module within a third stage of the switch fabric. The module within the first stage is configured to send data to the module within the second stage. The module within the second stage is configured to send data to the module within the third stage. The module within the second stage is configured to send a first suspension indicator to the module within the third stage. The module within the third stage is configured to send a second suspension indicator to the module within the first stage in response to the first suspension indicator. The module within the first stage is configured to stop sending data to the module within the second stage in response to the second suspension indicator. |
| US08717888B2 |
Optimizations for N-way gateway load balancing in fabric path switching networks
Techniques are disclosed for providing n-way gateway load-balancing in a fabric path switching Systems (FSS), such as a layer 2 multipath (L2MP) network in a large data center. An access switch in a L2MP network may learn an emulated switch IDs through FHRP “hello” messages sent by an “active” gateway router for each FHRP group. Further, the access switch may learn which links an emulated switch is reachable over by evaluating link state messages (e.g., IS-IS messages) sent by the gateway routers used to construct the emulated switch. Doing so allows the access switch to learn both the ID of an emulated switch and a set of links over which the emulated switch may be reached, thereby allowing the access switch to load balance traffic to the emulated switch. |
| US08717884B2 |
Address-sharing system
Access routers (100-1 and 100-2) perform packet transfer using an IP address and a port number between a global network allowing mutual access using the IP address and a network other than the global network. Port resource assigning device (400) manages the port number in units of IP addresses, and, when performing the packet transfer, assigns the port number managed by means of the IP address preliminarily provided for access routers (100-1 and 100-2). Access routers (100-1 and 100-2) perform packet transfer using the IP address preliminarily provided for access router (100-1 and 100-2) and the port number assigned by port resource assigning device (400). |
| US08717883B2 |
Media gateway health
Data is received from a media gateway relating to a congestion level in the media gateway. In a computer having a processor and a memory, at least a first datum and a second datum included in the data are evaluated. Based on the evaluation, it is determined whether the congestion level exceeds a predetermined level. The congestion level is reported, including whether the congestion level exceeds the predetermined level. |
| US08717869B2 |
Methods and apparatus to detect and restore flapping circuits in IP aggregation network environments
Methods and apparatus to detect and restore flapping circuits in IP aggregation network environments are disclosed herein. An example method for use in maintaining a communication network includes retrieving information related to an operating state of a device associated with a network disturbance; determining whether the information related to the operating state of the device is indicative of a flapping condition; when the operating state information indicates that the flapping condition is present in the network, determining a cause of the flapping condition; when the cause of the flapping condition is a physical cause, selecting a first recovery procedure; and when the cause of the flapping condition is a logical cause, selecting a second recovery procedure different from the first recovery procedure. |
| US08717868B2 |
Selective processing of damaged packets
When a damaged packet has been forwarded to or towards a destination terminal, a forwarding device or a destination terminal will determine if the packet is damaged, and if it is damaged, determine whether the content of the packet is time-sensitive. If the content is time-sensitive, the damage to the packet is assessed, and if possible, an attempt to repair the damage is made. Repair may include correcting the damaged data or packet, deciding to use the damaged data because the damage is minimal, or replacing all or a part of the damaged data with a normalized set of data. If repair is not possible and replacement of the damaged portion is not available or desirable, the packet is discarded. |
| US08717864B2 |
Crosstalk mitigation in transmission system
Representative implementations of devices and techniques communication circuitry configured to communicate via a plurality of transmission channels, the communication circuitry includes crosstalk reduction circuitry to reduce crosstalk for a part of the plurality of transmission channels, the part of the plurality of transmission channels is selected from the plurality of transmission channels depending on an error threshold value. |
| US08717857B2 |
Method for copy protection
A method for copy protection in which an audiovisual or audio data is divided into a plurality of portions. The plurality of portions is at least partly scrambled and prepared so as to be stored on a record carrier in the scrambled order. This is done so that a physical position on the record carrier, e.g., a sector of the record carrier, where a respective portions of the divided data is stored depends on the scrambled order. |
| US08717856B2 |
Electronic device and method for providing and disarming alarm clock
An electronic device includes a touch-screen display, a processor, a memory, and one or more modules stored in the memory. The one or more modules are adapted to be executed by the processor to enter into a user-interface alarm state from a user-interface non-alarm state in responds to an alarm trigger condition. The one or more modules are adapted to display one or more contact areas on the touch-screen display in the user-interface alarm state. The one or more modules are adapted to change locations of the one or more contact areas on the touch-screen display. The one or more modules are adapted to detect one or more contact actions on each of the one or more contact areas on the touch-screen display. The one or more modules are adapted to change the electronic device to the user-interface non-alarm state. |
| US08717851B1 |
Alert announcer with remote unit
Disclosed are embodiments of an alert announcer system with and without a remote unit which alerts a person at medicine dosing times. The system comprises a primary unit; one or more medication modules, wherein each medication module has a plurality of medicine compartments; one alert device is attached to each medicine container monitored by the system; and optionally a remote unit. Medicine containers each have an alert device attached which executes a dosing schedule appropriate to the medicine in the container and produces an alert at medicine dosing times according to each individual dosing schedule. Medicine containers with attached alert devices are placed in or on the medication modules in predetermined physical locations. Medication modules detect alerts pertaining to each medicine container and transmit those alerts to the primary unit where an amplified sensible alert is generated to alert the user that it is time to take a dose of medicine. The primary unit may relay alerts to remote units or send notification via phone, text, mail or any other electronic means of communication. |
| US08717850B2 |
Piezotube borehole seismic source
A piezoelectric borehole source capable of permanent or semipermanent insertion into a well for uninterrupted well operations is described. The source itself comprises a series of piezoelectric rings mounted to an insulative mandrel internally sized to fit over a section of well tubing, the rings encased in a protective housing and electrically connected to a power source. Providing an AC voltage to the rings will cause expansion and contraction sufficient to create a sonic pulse. The piezoelectric borehole source fits into a standard well, and allows for uninterrupted pass-through of production tubing, and other tubing and electrical cables. Testing using the source may be done at any time, even concurrent with well operations, during standard production. |
| US08717845B2 |
Quality-based steering methods and systems for 4D geophysical surveys
A survey method includes towing one or more sources and one or more streamers behind a vessel to acquire geophysical survey data. Steering signals are determined for at least one of: the one or more sources, the one or more streamers, and the vessel. The steering signals minimize an error function having parameters that include a measure of a cross-line position error and a measure of data quality. The cross-line position error may be measured as an offset of the sources or the receivers from their desired paths, or in some embodiments as an offset between midpoints for base survey traces and subsequent survey traces. Some embodiments may employ a maximum spatial cross-correlation coefficient between a newly acquired trace and one or more base survey traces as a data quality measure, while others may employ a time shift, a phase rotation, or a normalized root mean square error. Data quality may indicate sensor noise levels. |
| US08717843B2 |
Method and apparatus for ultrasound image acquisition
Apparatus for ultrasound image acquisition is integrated into the casing of an ultrasound probe that includes an array of electro-acoustic transducers, which transmit and receive ultrasound pulses. The array communicate with a processing unit, to which reception signals are fed, and are connected to a unit generating signals for exciting the transmission of ultrasound waves. In one aspect of the invention, at least the processing unit is fitted into the probe casing and is configured to convert the reception signals into an image, and to generate video signals for generating an image on a display unit. The transmission between the probe and a remote unit displaying and possibly storing the images as video signals may be operated wirelessly. |
| US08717838B1 |
Method and apparatus for memory redundancy
Aspects of the disclosure provide a memory module including at least one memory block. The memory block includes a memory array and a shift wrapper. The memory array includes regular cell lines and at least a redundant cell line. The regular cell lines and the redundant cell line extend in a bit-line direction, and are ordered in a word-line direction. The shift wrapper interfaces between block inputs/outputs and the regular and redundant cell lines. The shift wrapper is configured to shift a mapping between the block inputs/outputs and the regular and redundant cell lines to bypass a defective cell line that has at least one defective cell, and engage the redundant cell line, while maintaining the order in the word-line direction. |
| US08717832B2 |
Nonvolatile memory devices, memory systems and methods of performing read operations
Within a non-volatile memory device, a read operation directed to a nonvolatile memory cell having a positive threshold voltage applies a positive read voltage to a selected word line and a first control signal to a page buffer connected to a selected bit line, but if the memory cell has a negative threshold voltage the read operation applies a negative read voltage to the selected word line and a second control signal to the page buffer different from the first control signal. |
| US08717831B2 |
Memory circuit
A memory circuit may include a shift register ring including single-bit shift registers. The circuit may include a clock connected to the shift registers to shift bits within the shift register ring, and a counter connected to the clock and indicating positions of the bits in the shift register ring. |
| US08717829B2 |
System and method for soft error detection in memory devices
A system for detecting soft errors in a memory device includes a latch, a master flip-flop and a slave flip-flop. The latch receives input data (control and/or address signals) at the beginning of a memory operation in response to a rising edge of a first clock signal. The output of the latch is provided to the master flip-flop. The master flip-flop continuously receives and stores the latch output during the memory operation based on a second clock signal. The slave flip-flop receives and stores the output of the master flip-flop at the end of the memory operation based on the second clock signal. A comparator compares the input data with the output of the slave flip-flop to detect soft errors that occur during the memory operation. |
| US08717828B2 |
Multi channel semiconductor memory device and semiconductor device including the same
Disclosed is a semiconductor memory device that includes a plurality of channel memories mounted within a package and is capable of minimizing or reducing the number of through-silicon vias. With the semiconductor memory device, a row command or a row address on two or more channels is applied through a shared bus. The semiconductor memory device is capable of reducing an overhead of a die size by reducing the number of through-silicon vias. A method of driving a multi-channel semiconductor memory device including a plurality of memories, using a shared bus, is also provided. |
| US08717827B1 |
Method for the permanently reliable programming of multilevel cells in flash memories
Data bits are programmed in cells of a flash memory which is divided into a multiplicity of separately erasable physical blocks, which are in turn split into individual physical pages to which the data bits can be written. The data bits are held in multilevel cells that store one lower bit and one upper bit per cell. The four states of which are distinguished by three voltage threshold values. The lower states are associated with the lower bit and the upper states are associated with the upper bit. The pages are distinguished by lower pages allocated to the lower bits, and upper pages allocated to the upper bits. Lower and upper pages which contain the same cells are combined by a pairing table to form paired pages. Reliable storage of data bits is achieved by programming paired pages with the same data bits and listing them as reliable paired pages in management data for the flash memory. |
| US08717822B2 |
Non-volatile memory device and read method thereof
In one embodiment, the method includes receiving a request to read data stored in a first memory cell associated with a first word line, and performing a first read operation on at least one memory cell associated with a second word line in response to the request. The second word line follows the first word line in a word line programming order, and the first read operation is performed over a first time period. The method further includes performing a second read operation on the first memory cell based on output from the first read operation. The second read operation is performed for a second time period, and the first time period is shorter than the second time period if output from performing the first read operation indicates the first memory cell is not coupled. |
| US08717817B2 |
Method for multi-page programming a non-volatile memory device by simultaneously activating a plurality of selection lines based on programmed data
A method of programming a non-volatile memory device including a plurality of strings arranged in rows and columns comprises activating all or a part of selection lines in one column at the same time depending upon data to be programmed, driving a bit line corresponding to the one column with a bit line program voltage, and repeating the activating and the driving until bit lines corresponding to the columns are all driven. |
| US08717814B2 |
3-D nonvolatile memory device and method of manufacturing the same, and memory system including the 3-D nonvolatile memory device
A three-dimensional (3-D) nonvolatile memory device includes vertical channel layers protruded from a substrate, interlayer insulating layers and memory cells, which are alternately stacked along the vertical channel layers, and select transistors including planar channel layers, each contacted with at least one of the vertical channel layers and being parallel to the substrate, and gate insulating layers formed over the planar channel layers. |
| US08717812B2 |
Thermally assisted magnetic random access memory element with improved endurance
The present disclosure concerns a magnetic memory element suitable for a thermally-assisted switching write operation, comprising a current line in electrical communication with one end of a magnetic tunnel junction, the magnetic tunnel junction comprising: a first ferromagnetic layer having a fixed magnetization; a second ferromagnetic layer having a magnetization that can be freely aligned at a predetermined high temperature threshold; and a tunnel barrier provided between the first and second ferromagnetic layer; the current line being adapted to pass a heating current through the magnetic tunnel junction during the write operation; wherein said magnetic tunnel junction further comprises at least one heating element being adapted to generate heat when the heating current is passed through the magnetic tunnel junction; and a thermal barrier in series with said at least one heating element, said thermal barrier being adapted to confine the heat generated by said at least one heating element within the magnetic tunnel junction. |
| US08717811B2 |
Latching circuit
A non-volatile latch circuit includes a pair of cross-coupled inverters, a pair of resistance-based memory elements, and write circuitry configured to write data to the pair of resistance-based memory elements. The pair of resistance-based memory elements is isolated from the pair of cross-coupled inverters during a latching operation. A sensing circuit includes a first current path that includes a resistance-based memory element and an output of the sensing circuit. The sensing circuit includes a second current path to reduce current flow through the resistance-based memory element at a first operating point of the sensing circuit. |
| US08717802B2 |
Reconfigurable multi-level sensing scheme for semiconductor memories
A method for sensing at least one parameter indicative of a logical state of a multi-level memory cell includes the steps of: measuring the parameter of the multi-level memory cell; comparing the measured parameter of the multi-level memory cell with a prescribed reference signal, the reference signal having a value which varies as a function of time; and storing a time value corresponding to a point in time at which the reference signal is substantially equal to the measured parameter of the multi-level memory cell, the stored time value being indicative of a sensed logical state of the multi-level memory cell. |
| US08717801B2 |
Semiconductor memory device
A memory-cell array that includes a first line, a second line intersecting the first line, and a memory cell including a variable resistive element provided in the intersection of the first and the second lines; a data-write unit configured to apply a voltage pulse to the memory cell through the first and the second lines, the voltage pulse to set and/or reset data; and a detector unit configured to compare a cell current that flows through the memory cell by the voltage pulse at the time of setting and/or resetting the data with a reference current generated from the initial value of the cell current, and to control the data-write unit in accordance with a result of comparison. |
| US08717792B2 |
Selective activation of programming schemes in analog memory cell arrays
A method for data storage includes defining a first programming scheme that programs a group of analog memory cells while reducing interference caused by at least one memory cell that neighbors the group, and a second programming scheme that programs the group of the analog memory cells and does not reduce all of the interference reduced by the first programming scheme. One of the first and second programming schemes is selected based on a criterion defined with respect to the analog memory cells. Data is stored in the group of the analog memory cells using the selected programming scheme. |
| US08717791B2 |
Bridgeless boost PFC circuits and systems
Bridgeless boost PFC circuits and systems providing an improved method of current sensing using two current sensing resistors is envisaged. Analog switches are provided to select one of the two current sensing resistors based on the polarity of the AC line. An amplifier is provided to eliminate use of resistors with large values, thus resulting in lower power loss and efficient systems. |
| US08717787B2 |
Method for operating a converter circuit and apparatus for implementing the method
A method and apparatus are provided for operating a converter circuit, which includes at least two phase modules each having first and second subconverter systems, which include power semiconductor switches. The switches of the first and second subconverter systems are driven by first and second drive signals, respectively. To enable dimensioning a capacitive energy store of the converter circuit to be independent of a desired current at an output connection of the converter circuit, for each phase module, the first and second drive signals are respectively formed from a voltage signal across inductances and a switching function for the switches of the first and second subconverter systems, respectively. The switching functions are formed by a voltage signal corresponding to the voltage at the output connection and a selectable reference signal. The voltage signals are selected to be in phase with the voltage at the output connections of the phase modules. |
| US08717783B2 |
Method and apparatus for regulating gain within a resonant converter
A method for controlling a direct current gain of a resonant converter to increase power efficiency within a circuit. A phase shift module is configured to the resonant converter for generating a first control signal to control a primary driver of the resonant converter and a secondary control signal to control a secondary driver of the resonant converter. The first control signal and the secondary control signal have a phase shift for controlling a DC gain of the resonant converter. |
| US08717781B2 |
Direct current/direct current converter, and power supply apparatus and electronic device using the same
A direct current (DC)/DC converter capable of lowering power consumption and capable of being started in a short time is provided. A voltage generated at a second output capacitor is input to a power supply terminal. An input voltage is input to a high voltage terminal. A charging transistor is a N-channel Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field Effect Transistor disposed between the high voltage terminal and the power supply terminal and applied with a bias so that the charging transistor is normally on. In a first state, in which the voltage of the power supply terminal is lower than a specified first threshold voltage, a current limiting circuit limits a charging current flowing from the high voltage terminal to the power supply terminal, and in a second state in which the voltage is higher than a second threshold voltage, the current limiting circuit lowers the charging current substantially to zero. |
| US08717780B2 |
Method and apparatus for converting direct current to alternating current
A method and apparatus for power conversion. In one embodiment, the apparatus comprises at least two power stages, each power stage of the at least two power stages capable of converting DC input power to DC output power; and a controller for dynamically selecting, based on a first DC power, one or more power stages of the at least two power stages for converting the first DC power to a second DC power. |
| US08717777B2 |
Electrolytic capacitor with a thin film fuse
The present technology relates to fused capacitor structures provided with a leadframe design configured to accepting a plurality of selectively placed fuses. The leadframe and fuse configuration enables construction of fused capacitors exhibiting low Equivalent Series Resistance (ESR) and allows construction of a variety of fuse configuration using a single leadframe design. |
| US08717773B2 |
Multi-plate board embedded capacitor and methods for fabricating the same
A printed wiring board (PWB) including one or more embedded capacitors. The PWB defines a planar area and includes a plurality of first conductive plates that are substantially parallel to the planar area and extend from a first normal axis towards a second normal axis. The first normal axis and the second normal axis extend substantially perpendicularly through the planar area. The PWB also includes one or more second conductive plates that are substantially parallel to the planar area and extend from the second normal axis towards the first normal axis. The second conductive plates are positioned between the first conductive plates. A non-conductive material is positioned between the first and second conductive plates. At least one first conductive via extends substantially collinear with the first normal axis in contact with the first conductive plates. A plurality of second conductive vias extends substantially collinear with the second normal axis in contact with the second conductive plate. |
| US08717771B2 |
Electronic device
An electronic device including a case, a covering plate, at least one first fixing unit, at least one second fixing unit, a circuit board disposed in the case, and a plurality of screwing members is provided. The case covered by the covering plate has a first datum surface and a second datum surface, where a distance between the covering plate and the first datum surface is greater than a distance between the covering plate and the second datum surface. The first and the second fixing units are disposed on the first and the second datum surfaces respectively. The first fixing unit includes a first screwing boss and at least one first rib adjacent thereto. The second fixing unit includes a second screwing boss and at least one second rib adjacent thereto. The screwing members pass through the covering plate and are screwed to the corresponding first and second screwing bosses. |
| US08717770B2 |
Latching mechanisms for pluggable electronic devices
Latching mechanisms for pluggable electronic devices. In one example embodiment, a latching mechanism includes a driver and a follower. The driver is configured to rotate about an axis between a latched positioned and an unlatched position. The follower is operably connected to the driver and configured to slide axially along an electronic device toward the driver as the driver is rotated from the unlatched position to the latched position and slide axially along the electronic device away from the driver as the driver is rotated from the latched position to the unlatched position. |
| US08717766B2 |
Resin-sealed electronic controller and method of fabricating the same
A resin-sealed electronic controller obtained by bonding and fixing a circuit board to a thermally-conductive base plate, and integrating circuit components with a molding resin so as to reduce the size. A base plate includes a first exposed portion, a second exposed portion, and an adjacent flat portion adjacent to a central window hole. First circuit components which are low-heat-generating components with large height are located in the central window hole. Second circuit components which are high-heat-generating components with small height are provided on an area corresponding to the adjacent flat portion. A height dimension of the first circuit components at least partially overlaps a thickness dimension of the base plate, to reduce a total thickness dimension. The high-heat-generating components and the low-heat-generating components being provided separately from each other permits increased mounting density of low-heat-generating components, reducing an area of the circuit board. |
| US08717763B2 |
Cooling system for electronic device and electronic device having same
A cooling system includes a first group of fans, a second group of fans, and an air conducting cover. The air conducting cover includes a first partition, a second partition, a third partition. The first partition is connected between the second partition and the third partition to define a first space, a second space and a third space. Wherein the first group of fans directs air flow to enter the first space and the second space, the second group of fans directs air flow to enter the third space. |
| US08717762B2 |
Electronic apparatus and cooling fan
According to one embodiment, an electronic apparatus is provided with a housing, a circuit board in the housing, fan blades configured to rotate and blow air in a centrifugal direction, and a casing which contains the fan blades. The casing includes an exhaust port and a cut portion which opens in a centrifugal direction different from a direction in which the exhaust port opens, from a perspective of a rotation center of the fan blades, and into which a part of the circuit board is inserted. |
| US08717761B2 |
High-voltage apparatus and vehicle
A high-voltage apparatus includes a battery device, a high-voltage control device, a housing, and a cooling structure. The cooling structure includes a first cooling channel to cool the battery device, a second cooling channel to cool the high-voltage control device, a connection channel connecting the first cooling channel to the second cooling channel, and a ventilator. The connection channel has a first opening portion connected to the first cooling channel, a second opening portion connected to the second cooling channel, and an inner flow path to communicate the first opening portion to the second opening portion. A sectional area of the first opening portion and a sectional area of the second opening portion are each set to be smaller than a sectional area of the inner flow path. |
| US08717760B2 |
Electric power conversion apparatus
An electric power conversion apparatus includes first and second electric power conversion devices and a housing. The first and second electric power conversion devices are arranged to overlap each other in an overlap direction. The housing receives both the first and second electric power conversion devices therein. The housing has a partition wall that extends between the first and second electric power conversion devices to partition the housing into first and second parts in which the first and second electric power conversion devices are respectively received. The partition wall has a coolant passage formed therein, thereby allowing a coolant to flow through the coolant passage. |
| US08717749B2 |
Modular server architecture with ethernet routed across an ethernet switch module
A modular server system includes a midplane having a system management bus and a plurality of blade interfaces on the midplane. The blade interfaces are in electrical communication with each other. A server blade is removeably connectable to one of the plurality of blade interfaces on the midplane. The server blade has a server blade system management bus in electrical communication with the system management bus of the midplane, and a network interface to connect to a network. A media blade is removeably connectable to one of the plurality of blade interfaces on the midplane, and the media blade has at least one storage medium device. |
| US08717747B2 |
Electronic device having stowable display unit
An electronic device having a stowable display unit includes a housing, a slide element, a display unit, and a control module. The housing has a receiving space, and an opening at a front side of the housing. The slide element is disposed in the receiving space, and is connected slidably to the housing. The display unit is disposed in the receiving space, and is connected pivotally to a front end of the slide element. The control module includes an actuating mechanism connected to a rear end of the slide element, and a control unit provided on the housing and controlling operation of the actuating mechanism. The actuating mechanism is controllable by the control unit to activate movement of the slide element to move the display unit to a used position externally of the opening. |
| US08717746B2 |
Cooling apparatus for switchgear with enhanced busbar joint cooling
A cooling apparatus is provided for a switchgear having at least one primary contact to connect to a terminal of a circuit breaker, with a busbar joint connected to the primary contact. The cooling apparatus includes an evaporator associated with the primary contact. A condenser is located at a higher elevation than the evaporator. Heat pipe structure fluidly connects the evaporator with the condenser. Heat transfer structure is coupled with the busbar joint for removing heat from the busbar joint. Working fluid is in the evaporator so as to be heated to a vapor state, with the heat pipe structure transferring the vapor to the condenser and passively returning condensed working fluid back to the evaporator for cooling the at least one primary contact. |
| US08717738B2 |
Multilayer ceramic electronic component
In a multilayer ceramic electronic component, dummy electrodes are located in margin regions. In a region between an extension line of a side of a facing portion of an internal electrode facing a side surface of an element body and a side of an extending portion of the internal electrode facing the side surface, the dummy electrode is arranged not to extend to the extension line of the side facing the side surface. The dummy electrode includes a plurality of electrode pieces linearly extending in the direction parallel or substantially parallel to the side surface. |
| US08717736B2 |
Lightning protection fastener and mounting method thereof
A sealant 34 filled into a cap 30A is caused to overflow through both an opening in a first end portion 30a of the cap 30A and a through-hole 40 of the cap 30A when the cap 30A is pressed against a fastener member 25. With regard to the cap 30A, a ratio between inside diameter D1 of the opening on the side of the first end portion 30a and hole diameter D2 of the through-hole 40 in the second end portion 30b is set as follows: 0.10≦D2/D1≦0.27. |
| US08717735B2 |
Seal with energy-absorbing filler and method of manufacture
A seal for attenuating energy from an electrical discharge across an interface may include a cover defining an inner volume containing a filled sealant including a semi-rigid sealant mixed with a filler having a multiplicity of discrete particles of different composition than the semi-rigid sealant such that the filled sealant is adjacent the interface when the cover is placed over said interface. A method for sealing an interface may include forming a cover defining an inner volume shaped to enclose the interface, forming a filled sealant including a semi-rigid sealant mixed with a filler having a multiplicity of discrete particles of different composition than said semi-rigid sealant, placing the filled sealant within said inner volume and placing the cover containing the filled sealant over the interface such that the filled sealant is adjacent the interface. |
| US08717733B2 |
Control of corona discharge static neutralizer
Self-balancing, corona discharge for the stable production of electrically balanced and ultra-clean ionized gas streams is disclosed. This result is achieved by promoting the electronic conversion of free electrons into negative ions without adding oxygen or another electronegative gas to the gas stream. The invention may be used with electronegative and/or electropositive or noble gas streams and may include the use of a closed loop corona discharge control system. |
| US08717727B2 |
Power supply control apparatus including overcurrent detection circuit
A comparator includes a first potential supply terminal, a second potential supply terminal supplying a different potential from that of the first potential supply terminal, a first transistor of a first conductivity type coupled between the first potential supply terminal and a first node, and including a control terminal coupled to a first terminal, a second transistor of the first conductivity type coupled between the first potential supply terminal and a second node, and including a control terminal coupled to a second terminal, a third transistor of a second conductivity type coupled between the first node and a third terminal, and including a control terminal coupled to the second node, and a fourth transistor of the second conductivity type coupled between the second node and the second potential supply terminal, and including a control terminal coupled to the second node. |
| US08717726B2 |
Static surge protection device
A surge protection device that includes varistors to absorb surge currents and protect a load from an overvoltage condition. The surge protection device includes a combination of switching elements and diodes. The surge protection device includes a basic cell design that can be easily adapted for higher voltage applications and/or higher discharge current applications and/or higher energy applications by parallel and/or series combinations of the basic cell design. Operation of the device minimizes fatigue to the varistors, thereby extending their useful life. The surge protection device achieves a better ratio of MOV clamping voltage rating versus MOV maximum continuous AC voltage rating, as compared with a conventional MOV installed alone. |
| US08717725B2 |
Dual-comparator restricted earth fault protection
An intelligent electronic device may provide restricted earth fault protection to components of an electrical power delivery system using both an amplitude comparator and a phase angle comparator configured to independently detect faults. The IED may include selection logic configured to select the output of one of the phase angle comparator and the amplitude comparator, to the exclusion of the other, based on system conditions. Accordingly, when system conditions are such that a phase angle comparator is better suited to detect a fault, selection logic may select the output of the phase angle comparator. Similarly, when system conditions are such that an amplitude comparator may better detect a fault, selection logic may select the output of the amplitude comparator. A protection system may further include an in-zone fault detector configured to detect in-zone faults. |
| US08717724B2 |
Diode for electrostatic protection
Provided is an electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection diode that is formed on an input/output pad of an integrated circuit (IC), the ESD protection diode including: an N-type semiconductor that constitutes a first diode and is connected to a pad for a power supply voltage; a P-type semiconductor that constitutes the first diode and is connected to a signal line; an N-type semiconductor that constitutes a second diode and is connected to the signal line; a P-type semiconductor that constitutes the second diode and is connected to a pad for grounding; and a third diode that is formed by contacting the N-type semiconductor of the first diode and the P-type semiconductor of the second diode. |
| US08717722B2 |
Protection circuit and electronic device using the same
A protection circuit includes a control unit, a switch unit, a storage unit, and a delay unit, and the protection circuit is used for protecting a processing unit. The control unit is used for receiving a control signal from the processing unit when the processing unit has completed initialization, and generating a pulse voltage. The switch unit is respectively turned on and cut off when the pulse voltage is at a first and second voltage level. The storage unit receives a second supply voltage from the power source and stores energy when the switch unit is turned on, and releases energy to generate a third supply voltage when the switch unit is cut off. The delay unit delays the pulse voltage for a predetermined time period, wherein the third supply voltage is provided to the primary module. |
| US08717717B2 |
High efficiency power regulator and method
An embodiment high efficiency power regulator comprises a three-terminal converter and a protection device. The three-terminal converter comprises a first terminal coupled to a positive terminal of an input voltage bus, a second terminal coupled to a positive terminal of an output voltage bus and a third terminal coupled to the protection device. The protection device comprises an inrush current limiting element connected in series with a reverse polarity protection device. |
| US08717716B2 |
Device and method to break the current of a power transmission or distribution line and current limiting arrangement
A device (13) to break an electrical current flowing through a power transmission or distribution line (14) comprises a parallel connection of a main breaker (8) and a non-linear resistor (11), where the main breaker (8) comprises at least one power semiconductor switch of a first current direction. The device (13) further comprises a series connection of a high speed switch (10) comprising at least one mechanical switch and of an auxiliary breaker (9), the auxiliary breaker having a smaller on-resistance than the main breaker (8) and comprising at least one power semiconductor switch of the first current direction. The series connection is connected in parallel to the parallel connection. In a method to use the device (13) first the auxiliary breaker (9) is opened, thereby commutating the current to the main breaker (8), afterwards the high speed switch (10) is opened and afterwards the main breaker (8) is opened thereby commutating the current to the non-linear resistor (11). The device (13) can further be used in a current limiting arrangement. |
| US08717712B1 |
Disk drive suspension assembly having a partially flangeless load point dimple
Various embodiments concern a suspension assembly of a disk drive. The suspension assembly includes a load beam comprising a major planar area formed from a substrate. The load beam further comprises a window in the substrate, a dimple formed from the substrate, and a flange. The flange is a region of the major planar area that extends partially around the dimple but does not extend along an edge of the dimple. The edge of the dimple is adjacent to the window. The dimple is in contact with the flexure. A HAMR block or other element can extend through the window. The lack of a full flange can minimize the necessary clearance between the dimple and the HAMR block or other element and thereby allow the window to be enlarged to accommodate the HAMR block or other element. |
| US08717705B1 |
Magnetic recording head and magnetic recording apparatus including the same
According to one embodiment, a magnetic recording head includes a facing surface configured to face a recording medium, a main magnetic pole configured to apply a recording magnetic field to a recording layer of the recording medium, and a high-frequency oscillator disposed near to a trailing side of the main magnetic pole and configured to apply a high-frequency magnetic field to the recording layer. An angle defined between a recording magnetic field applied from the main magnetic pole to the recording medium and the facing surface is 0 to 85° in a region between a trailing side end of the main magnetic pole and a trailing side end of the high-frequency oscillator. |
| US08717700B2 |
Channel circuit and seek method
A channel circuit includes a reader, a decoder, a prediction module, and a seek module. The reader reads data written in a medium. The decoder performs iterative decoding of the read data. The prediction module predicts whether an early read is possible or not without waiting for arrival of the read data. The seek module continuously initiates a seek when the prediction module predicts that the read is possible. |
| US08717699B1 |
Voltage quadrupler comprising a second charging capacitor charged using a first charging capacitor
A voltage booster is disclosed comprising an input for receiving an input voltage Vin, a first charging capacitor C1, a second charging capacitor C2, and an output capacitor Cout. The output capacitor Cout is charged to four times Vin by connecting C1 in parallel with Vin to charge C1 to Vin, after charging C1 to Vin, connecting C2 in parallel with Vin plus C1 to charge C2 to twice Vin, after charging C2 to twice Vin, connecting C1 in parallel with Vin to recharge C1 to Vin, and after recharging C1, connecting Cout in parallel with Vin plus C1 plus C2 to charge Cout to four times Vin. |
| US08717697B1 |
Controller, disk drive, and read-back signal processing method
According to one embodiment, there is provided a controller including an interference cancelling module, a boosting module, and a decoding module. The interference cancelling module generates a first correction signal by cancelling an interference component from an adjacent track in a signal read from a target track of a disk medium. The boosting module generates a second correction signal by boosting a low frequency component of a signal corresponding to the first correction signal. The decoding module decodes a signal based on the second correction signal. |
| US08717696B1 |
Disk drive adjusting noise spectrum to reduce resonance excitation of shock detector
A disk drive is disclosed comprising a head actuated over a disk, and control circuitry including a shock detector. A shock threshold of the shock detector is initialized, and a first number of shock events is detected in response to the shock detector operating at the initial shock threshold. When the first number of shock events exceeds an upper event threshold, a control signal is adjusted in order to adjust a frequency spectrum of noise affecting the shock detector. After adjusting the control signal, a second number of shock events is detected in response to the shock detector operating at the initial shock threshold. When the second number of shock events exceeds the upper event threshold, the shock threshold is increased. |
| US08717695B1 |
Characterizing head parameters of a disk drive by evaluating track profile of an overwritten track
A disk drive is disclosed comprising a disk comprising a plurality of tracks, and a head actuated over the disk. The head is positioned over a track while writing a first frequency pattern substantially centered on the track at a first frequency. After writing the first frequency pattern, a second frequency pattern is written substantially centered on the track at a second frequency, wherein the second frequency pattern is written over the first frequency pattern. After writing the second frequency pattern over the first frequency pattern, the head is scanned across the track while reading the disk to generate a read signal. A first frequency component is extracted from the read signal representing the first frequency. |
| US08717692B2 |
Optical switching system
An optical switching system and method of selecting between one of several available in optic modules in an optical system is disclosed. In one example, the optical switching system comprises a focus cell assembly disposed in a plane, a rotatable field of view optic system having an axis, configured to rotate around the axis, the axis disposed in parallel to the plane of the focus cell, and a cam device mounted to the field of view optic system and configured to push the focus cell assembly away from the field of view optic system with each rotation of the field of view optic system. |
| US08717685B2 |
Optical image lens system
This invention provides an optical image lens system comprising: a positive first lens element having a convex object-side surface; a second lens element; a positive third lens element; a fourth lens element; a positive plastic fifth lens element having a convex object-side surface and a concave image-side surface, at least one of the object-side and image-side surfaces is aspheric; and a negative plastic sixth lens element having a concave image-side surface, at least one of the object-side and image-side surfaces is aspheric, wherein the shape of the image-side surface changes from concave at the paraxial region thereof to convex while away from the paraxial region thereof. |
| US08717683B2 |
Image pickup apparatus having optical path reflecting zoom lens
An image pickup apparatus includes: a zoom lens; an image pickup element having an image pickup surface which receives an image which has been formed by the zoom lens, and converts to an electric signal; a shading correction parameter storage section which stores a shading correction parameter which differs at a front-surface side and a rear-surface side with respect to a center of an image, which is for correcting asymmetric shading at the front-surface side and the rear-surface side of the zoom lens; and a shading correction section which carries out correction operation of an image which has been picked up by the image pickup element, based on the shading correction parameter of the shading correction parameter storage section. When an object having a uniform brightness is captured, at any state from the wide angle end to the telephoto end, the zoom lens satisfies conditional expression (A). |
| US08717679B2 |
Lens for LED lamps
The present invention relates to a lens for use with a lamp having at least one LED light source. The lens preferably includes a plurality of projections each having a substantially flat top surface and a plurality of sloping side surfaces, preferably suitable for dispersing the emitted light. Such a variance in light emission may enhance the light being viewed from different angles and positions therefrom. |
| US08717667B2 |
Method and system for non-mechanical rapid tuning of an optical parametric oscillator
An OPO is disclosed capable of rapid frequency tuning by non-mechanical means. The OPO includes a resonant cavity including one or more non-linear crystals in an optical path thereof. A pump laser pulse is transmitted into the resonant cavity simultaneously with a seed beam having a desired wavelength. The output beam from the resonant cavity has the same center wavelength as the seed beam. The wavelength of the seed beam may be modulated at a frequency larger than the pulse rate of the pump laser or larger than the inverse of the pulse duration. The OPO disclosed may be used to perform DIAL analysis wherein intra-pulse modulation of an output beam is used to obtain measurements of absorption at multiple frequencies for each pulse of a pump beam. |
| US08717661B2 |
Electrophoresis device and electronic apparatus
An electrophoresis device includes a translucent first substrate having a first electrode on one surface thereof; a second substrate having a second electrode on one surface thereof, and disposed to face the first substrate such that a protruding portion which does not overlap the first substrate in a substrate thickness direction is ensured at one side of the second substrate; a wiring pattern electrically connected to the second electrode via a connector passing through the second substrate, and provided on the other surface of the second substrate such that it extends to the protruding portion of the second substrate; an electrophoretic layer interposed between the first electrode and the second electrode; a translucent first moistureproof film having a portion contacting the other surface of the first substrate and a surplus portion disposed around the portion; and a second moistureproof film having a portion contacting the other surface of the second substrate and a surplus portion disposed around the portion and provided such that at least a portion of the protruding portion of the second substrate is exposed. Electrical connection between the wiring pattern and an external device is established at a place where the protruding portion of the second substrate is exposed. |
| US08717659B2 |
Tunable metamaterials and related devices
A tunable metamaterial comprising a membrane on which is arranged a two-dimensional array of elements to form a metamaterial, wherein the array is subdivided into blocks of multiple elements, each block being separated from adjacent blocks by a gap to allow each block to be moveable relative to its adjacent blocks. The lattice of the metamaterial and hence its properties are tuned by inducing adjacent blocks to move away from each other or towards each other either in-plane or out-of-plane in a controllable manner in response to an electrical, thermal or optical control signal. |
| US08717657B2 |
Optoelectronic oscillator using a high finesse etalon
An optoelectronic oscillator (OEO) is used to provide a continuous, high Q, modulated signal for a variety of purposes, including a carrier wave for communications, and radar emissions. The OEO of this invention replaces an RF filter in the conventional OEO with an interferometer, preferably a high finesse Fabry-Perot etalon as the mode selector, providing lower phase noise and higher RF frequency stability. |
| US08717656B2 |
Optical scanning device
The optical scanning device scans an object with plural laser beams, and includes a light source, which emits plural parallel laser beams in a predetermined direction and which has a stem portion having a first notch; and a support having an opening, with which the light source is engaged so as to be rotatable on an axis parallel to the plural light beams, and a second notch located on a part of the opening so as to overlap with the first notch when the light source is engaged with the opening. By inserting a slotted screwdriver, etc., into the space formed by the two notches and rotating the screwdriver, the angle of the light source can be adjusted and thereby the pitches of the laser beams can be adjusted. |
| US08717655B2 |
Image forming apparatus
An image forming apparatus includes a light output unit that outputs light and a light scanning unit that includes at least one light reflection part reflecting the light output from the light output unit, and scans a display surface in a first direction at a first speed and scans the surface in a second direction orthogonal to the first direction at a second speed lower than the first speed with the light reflected by the light reflection part, wherein a drawable region in which an image can be formed on the display surface by scanning with the light has at least two parts of a part in which a length of the drawable region in the first direction increases, a part in which the length decreases, and a part in which the length is maintained constant from a first side toward a second side in the second direction. |
| US08717645B2 |
Sheet feeding device
A sheet feeding device includes a separation roller, a first conveyance roller arranged on a downstream side of the separation roller and conveys the sheet separated by the separation roller, a second conveyance roller further conveys the sheet conveyed by the first conveyance roller, wherein the separation roller and the first conveyance roller are driven exclusively of each other by a first motor, and a control unit controls such that, when a trailing edge of a sheet passes through the separation roller while the sheet is being conveyed by the first conveyance roller and the second conveyance roller, the first motor makes a conveyance speed of the first conveyance roller higher than the conveyance speed thereof before the trailing edge of the sheet passes through the separation roller, and that, when the trailing edge of the sheet passes through the first conveyance roller, the first motor drives the separation roller. |
| US08717644B2 |
Image scanning device capable of obtaining at high speed a scanned image of high quality and appropriate magnification, image scanning method, image formation apparatus, and recording medium
An image scanning device includes a first scanner scanning a top side of a transported document at a first scanning position to obtain a first scanned image, a second scanner scanning the back side of the transported document at a second scanning position to obtain a second scanned image, a document feeder transporting a document at the second scanning position at a speed differing from the transportation speed at the first scanning position, and a controller controlling the image scanning device. The controller sets, as a scanning form of a document, either one-side scanning of scanning one side of a document through one transportation, or dual-side scanning of scanning both sides of a document through one transportation. The controller also obtains a set magnification. The controller determines the transportation speed by the document feeder such that, when one-side scanning is set, the scanning magnification in a first direction corresponding to the document transportation direction at the first scanned image attains the set magnification, and when dual-side scanning is set, the scanning magnification in the first direction at the second scanned image attains the set magnification. |
| US08717642B2 |
Flatbed scanner and method for controlling same
A flatbed scanner includes a transparent window and an optical ruler close to the transparent window along a scanning direction. The optical ruler has at least one oblique line arranged thereon. The flatbed scanner includes a scanner head having a scanning width larger than the width of the transparent window for capturing an image of the optical ruler while the scanner head is being progressively moved by a step motor. The flatbed scanner further includes a processing unit for calculating a jag width of a captured oblique line in the captured image and a controlling unit for controlling the step motor to adjust the speed of movement of the scanner head according to the jag width of the captured oblique line. |
| US08717640B2 |
Optical scanner and image forming apparatus including same
An optical scanner includes a light source for projecting a light beam, a deflector for deflecting the light beam, a reflective member for reflecting the light beam toward a target, a contact member, and a pressing member. The reflective member includes a reflective plane and a rear plane opposite the reflective plane. The contact member contacts one of the rear plane of the reflective member and a first lateral plane perpendicular to the reflective plane to position the reflective member in place. The pressing member presses the reflective member against the contact member and includes a first pressing portion to press the reflective plane of the reflective member and a second pressing portion to press a ridge of the reflective member at which the reflective plane and a second lateral plane opposite the first lateral plane and perpendicular to the reflective plane of the reflective member meet. |
| US08717636B2 |
Image reading device and control method thereof
An image reading device having an improved shading compensation capability and a method thereof are disclosed. The image reading device includes an automatic document feed unit to deliver documents along a document delivery path. A light source unit including a light source to illuminate a first criterion image at a first position within the image reading device, and to illuminate the documents delivered by the automatic document feed unit at a second position. The image reading device further includes a second criterion image arranged to opposingly face the light source unit when the light source unit is located at the second position. The second criterion image extends along a sufficient length to cover the scanning range of the light illumination by the light source unit along a main scanning direction. An image acquisition unit is provided to acquire criterion shading data, auxiliary shading data and image data by receiving light reflected from the first criterion image, the second criterion image and the documents, respectively. A control unit is able to update the criterion shading data using the auxiliary shading data, and to use the updated criterion shading data to compensate the image data. |
| US08717635B2 |
Image processing apparatus, method, program and storage medium for determining an image area read by a reading device corresponding to an original image area
An image processing apparatus which detects a plurality of image areas included in an original plate image to extract a minimum rectangular area including the plurality of image areas, specifies maximum eight line segments acquired by extending four sides of the rectangular area toward corresponding four sides of the original plate image, respectively, extracts pixels existing in a neighborhood area including each of the specified line segments, and determines that the rectangular area and the minimum rectangular area including the extracted pixels are the areas of the original image. With the configuration, the image processing apparatus can accurately decide only an original area even if edge information of an original extracted from a read image is unclear. |
| US08717631B2 |
Image processing apparatus and method for controlling the image processing apparatus
An image processing apparatus includes a pattern generation unit configured to cause an image forming section to generate a plurality of image patterns that have periodicity unique to the image forming section and are different from each other, a selection unit configured to select one test pattern from the generated plurality of image patterns, and an image correction unit configured to correct an image based on the test pattern selected by the selection unit. |
| US08717627B2 |
Method for assigning pre-press curves
A method for adjusting color tones of an input digital image file to create an adjusted digital image file. A plurality of predetermined curves are provided, each curve specifying an adjusted color tone percentage output as a function of input color tone percentage and representing a combination of midpoint magnitude and contrast different than for any other curve. The method comprises selecting a curve by determining which one of the plurality of curves most closely matches at least two data points. The selected curve is then applied to the input digital image file to produce the adjusted digital image file. |
| US08717626B2 |
Processing of a digital mixed colour document
The present invention is directed to an apparatus and method for the processing of a mixed color document. The mixed color document is preferably a digital structured document containing metadata, such as e.g. a PDF document. The mixed color document is split into at least a first part to be processed in a first processing channel and into at least a second part to be processed in a second, color-dedicated, processing channel. In executing the splitting judgement, color functionality rather than bare color content is taken into account. |
| US08717623B2 |
Controller chip and image forming apparatus to perform color mis-registration correction and methods thereof
A method to perform color mis-registration correction in an image forming apparatus includes detecting a plurality of color image data from print data, detecting edge information of each color image pixel for each of the color image data, and comparing the detected edge information and determining whether to perform color mis-registration correction. If it is determined to perform the color mis-registration correction, the method includes comparing a value of a pixel which constitutes each color image and setting a correction value, and if a correction value for entire pixels of the each color image is set, performing color mis-registration correction for the plurality of color image data according to the set correction value. Accordingly, color mis-registration correction may be performed effectively and stably. |
| US08717622B2 |
Image processing apparatus, image processing method and program
A thickening process is applied to a thin line fill figure that is not a line drawing command, and thereby output with an improved reproducibility is performed. An image processing apparatus includes: a drawing command determination section that determines whether a drawing command is a fill figure that forms a thin line; and a line width correction section that performs line width correction process of a drawing command determined to be a fill figure that forms a thin line. |
| US08717621B2 |
Image formation control apparatus, image forming system, image formation control method, and storage medium storing image formation control program
An image formation control apparatus capable of reducing vain power consumption of an image forming apparatus that cannot continue printing. The image formation control apparatus executes a print job by controlling a first image forming apparatus and a second image forming apparatus connected to a downstream side of the first image forming apparatus. A determination unit determines whether the first image forming apparatus is able to execute the print job based on status information about the first image forming apparatus. A control unit shifts the first image forming apparatus to a power saving mode and controls the second image forming apparatus to execute the print job when the determination unit determines that the first image forming apparatus cannot execute the print job. |
| US08717620B2 |
Print server and print control method
According to one embodiment, a print server includes an acquisition portion, an analysis portion, a selection portion, and a control portion. The acquisition portion acquires target color gamut information from print data and acquires printer color gamut information from each of a plurality of printers. The analysis portion analyzes the target color gamut information and the printer color gamut information of each printer. The selection portion selects one or more printers from among the plurality of printers on the basis of the analysis result. The control portion instructs the selected printer to print the print data. |
| US08717619B2 |
Presentation-based quality determination
A solution for evaluating a printing configuration for an electronic document in which one or more presentation attributes of a physical reproduction (e.g., a printed copy) of the electronic document are considered. A perceived quality of the physical reproduction of the electronic document can be determined using a set of properties of the electronic document and the one or more presentation attributes. The perceived quality can be utilized in various ways as part of a printing process. |
| US08717616B2 |
Operation setting device and image forming apparatus provided with the same
An operation unit is provided with a touch panel display which includes a touch panel, a display panel, and a control portion which causes the display panel to display an operation screen so as to allow the touch panel to provide an operation instruction. The control portion is provided with an area display control portion which displays a function setting area and a task trigger area at positions opposing each other by taking a preview area as a reference on the operation screen, and a display position switching control portion which switches a positional relation in which the function setting area 2000 and the task trigger area 5000 are displayed. |
| US08717615B2 |
Method and apparatus for requesting printing of panoramic image in mobile device
Provided is a method and apparatus to request that an image be printed, where the image is stored in a mobile device, such as a cellular phone, which is able to capture the image. The method includes creating a markup document indicating a panoramic image in which a plurality of images are united, and requesting that the panoramic image be printed, by transmitting the created markup document. Accordingly, a panoramic image may be easily created even in a mobile device having an insufficient memory resource and low specification hardware. |
| US08717611B2 |
Image processing apparatus that updates a message on a server after an image is edited, the server providing a microblogging function
In the case where input image data is saved to a scan data DB, a first message is registered to a server, and when an instruction to edit the image data is made, image data saved in the scan data DB relating to the instruction is extracted, and when an editing target is selected from the extracted image data, the editing target image data is updated with the input image data, and a second message indicating that the image data was updated is associated with the first message relating to the image data. |
| US08717604B2 |
Image processing system, image processing method, and program for image processing method
In an image forming apparatus which is communicably connected to a management server for managing a scan ticket in which an instruction content for performing reading of a paper document is defined and can issue an instruction concerning printing to accumulated print jobs, when it is judged that the instruction concerning the printing is issued to the designated print job, a generation request of the scan ticket including reading setting for performing the reading of the paper document on which the print job has been printed is transmitted to the management server, a list of the scan tickets obtained from the management server is displayed, the reading of the paper document is performed using the scan ticket selected from list information of the displayed scan tickets, and an image obtained by the reading is transmitted to a transmission destination specified by the scan ticket. |
| US08717600B2 |
Network system, network system control method, and storage medium
A network system includes a first processing unit configured to accept a request transmitted from a client computer and register a job that processes the accepted request into a storage unit. The first processing unit includes one or a plurality of processing units. The network system further includes a second processing unit configured to acquire the job from the storage unit asynchronously with the job being registered into the storage unit and process the acquired job. The second processing unit includes one or a plurality of processing units. The first processing unit transmits authentication information usable to acquire a processing result of the job corresponding to the request to the client computer without waiting for the second processing unit to complete processing of the job registered in the storage unit. |
| US08717597B2 |
Information processing apparatus, print control method, and storage medium for selectively performing inconsistency validation process on changed print setting
The inconsistencies of the function included in the print setting resolving process is conducted, and information to indicate that the aforementioned print setting is not been changed is added. Then, based on the added information, it is determined whether the information regarding the print setting is changed or not. Here, in case the data related to print setting is added and also the print setting has not been changed, then the process is not conducted. Moreover, in case the data related to print setting is not added or the print setting has been changed, the process is conducted. |
| US08717595B2 |
Print controller having a filter driver installed in an operating system layer and a data outputting application installed in an application layer
A printer includes: a print unit performing a printing operation; and a control unit having an operating system and a device driver installed in an operating system layer, a first application installed in an application layer other than the operating system layer so as to transmit and receive information to and from the print unit through the device driver, a transmission information acquiring module installed in the operating system layer so as to acquire transmission information which is information based on the information transmitted and received between the first application and the print unit through the device driver, and a second application installed in the application layer so as to receive the transmission information and to output processing information which is information based on the input transmission information. |
| US08717594B2 |
System for monitoring and modifying operation of an electrical energy consuming device corresponding to electrical energy consumption
A system adjusts at least one operational parameter for at least one electrical energy consuming device. The system monitors electrical energy consumption measurements for operational activity periods, identifies an electrical energy consumption measurement difference between an electrical energy consumption measurement for an operational activity period and an electrical energy consumption measurement for a corresponding operational activity period, and modifies an operational parameter for the electrical energy consuming device in response to the difference being greater than a predetermined threshold. The modified operational parameter is sent to the electrical energy consuming device to enable modified operation of the electrical energy consuming device. |
| US08717593B2 |
Maintaining security of scanned documents
A method for maintaining security of scanned documents which monitors read operations and output operations of documents containing proprietary or confidential information. For example, every time it is determined that a scanned document includes proprietary or confidential information, unique identification data corresponding to the read operation is generated and stored in a secured storage unit. The unique identification data can later be used to trace the scanned document and retrieve the information regarding the particular read operation (e.g., user, time, machine used, etc.). |
| US08717590B2 |
Image forming apparatus, method for controlling the same, and computer-readable recording medium
In an image forming apparatus, when a first state (which allows a process of accepting a job involving image processing) continues over a shift timer period without reception of an execution request for the job, a state control part performs an operation of shifting from the first state to a second state (which is lower in power consumption than the first state). Moreover, in a case where job acceptance started in the second state on the basis of a first execution request is failed and job acceptance started in the second state on the basis of a second execution request is also failed, the shift timer period is extended on the basis of a differential value of a difference between a first execution request reception time and a second execution request reception time, and a third execution request for the job in the first state is awaited. |
| US08717589B2 |
Image processing system, job execution method, and non-transitory computer-readable recording medium encoded with job execution program
Each of a plurality of process execution portions includes an accumulation portion to accumulate a job in which the first process among processes not yet executed is an in-charge process, and a batch processing portion to execute the in-charge process on combination data including one or more data on condition that a total process volume becomes equal to or greater than a lower limit value predetermined for the in-charge process. The batch processing portion includes a determination portion to determine whether there exists a job having a previous process now being executed, a first delay portion to delay start of the in-charge process until a prescribed time has elapsed since the total process volume becomes equal to or greater than the lower limit value, and a second delay portion to delay start of the in-charge process until a job determined that the previous process is now being executed is accumulated. |
| US08717583B2 |
Printing apparatus for inserting at least one tab sheet, method of controlling the printing apparatus, and recording medium
A printing apparatus which is capable of appropriately discharging extra tab sheets, without placing the burden of removing the extra tab sheets on a user even in the case of attaching tab sheets into sheets to be subjected to reverse-order printing. An MFP controller determines a number of tab sheets to be attached to one copy of the printout of a print job. After causing discharge of extra tab sheets corresponding in number to a difference between the determined number and a number of tab sheets forming one set are discharged, the MFP causes the printout of the print job to be discharged starting with an N-th sheet. |
| US08717576B2 |
Short coherence interferometer
A short coherence interferometer apparatus for measuring multiple axially spaced regions of a specimen, in particular the eye, which has at least one measuring beam path, through which multiple individual measuring beams are incident on the specimen, and one reference beam path, through which a reference beam runs, with which the individual measuring beams are superimposed and brought into interference. The individual measuring beams are axially offset to one another upon incidence on the specimen by an amount which is adapted to the axial spacing. The interferometer apparatus superimposes each individual measuring beam with the reference beam in an interfering manner and conducts it to a detector associated with the particular individual measuring beam. The individual measuring beams are combined into a mixture in which they have varying phasing in the superposition with the reference beam. |
| US08717565B2 |
Optically active functional fluid markers
The present invention relates to a method of identifying in a fluid by measuring the amount of optical rotation the fluid causes in a beam of polarized light. The invention further provides for the use of an optional optically active marker in the fluids in order the impact the amount of rotation the fluid will cause. The invention provides a convenient and reliable means for identifying the fluid before, during and/or after the fluid's use. |
| US08717564B2 |
Optical sedimentation recorder
A robotic optical sedimentation recorder is described for the recordation of carbon flux in the oceans wherein both POC and PIC particles are captured at the open end of a submersible sampling platform, the captured particles allowed to drift down onto a collection plate where they can be imaged over time. The particles are imaged using three separate light sources, activated in sequence, one source being a back light, a second source being a side light to provide dark field illumination, and a third source comprising a cross polarized light source to illuminate birefringent particles. The recorder in one embodiment is attached to a buoyancy unit which is capable upon command for bringing the sedimentation recorder to a programmed depth below the ocean surface during recordation mode, and on command returning the unit to the ocean surface for transmission of recorded data and receipt of new instructions. The combined unit is provided with its own power source and is designed to operate autonomously in the ocean for extended periods of time. |
| US08717561B2 |
Miniature spectrometer with stray light filtering structure
A miniature spectrometer comprises an input unit, a stray light filtering structure, and a miniature diffraction grating. The input unit receives a first optical signal and a second optical signal. The stray light filtering structure has first and second filter sections to filter out the second optical signal. The first and second filter sections have first and second dentate structures disposed on opposite sides. The first and second dentate structures define an optical channel for the transmission of the first optical signal. The second optical signal enters into the first or the second dentate structure and is filtered out by the first or the second dentate structure. The miniature diffraction grating receives the first optical signal from the stray light filtering structure and separates the first optical signal into a plurality of spectral components. |
| US08717560B2 |
Ring grating spectrometer
The present invention provides apparatuses including a point light source, a diffraction grating oriented in a light path generated from the point light source wherein the diffraction grating diffracts and concentrates light from the point light source into one or more rings of light, a detector positioned to detect one or more of the rings of light or light transmitted from a sample exposed to said rings of light, and a computer operably connected to the detector to analyze the intensity of one or more of the rings of light or said light transmitted from said sample. Variations including samples and additional components and methods of making the apparatuses of the present invention are also disclosed. |
| US08717555B2 |
Device and method for inspecting polycrystalline silicon layer
A device for inspecting a polycrystalline silicon layer that is crystallized by receiving irradiated laser beams on a front side of the polycrystalline silicon layer includes: a light source configured to emit inspection beams to a rear side of the polycrystalline silicon layer; a light inspector configured to inspect the inspection beams reflected at the rear side of the polycrystalline silicon layer; and a controller that controls the light source and the light inspector. |
| US08717554B2 |
Photoelectric meter for stamps perforations
Photoelectric Meter for Stamps Perforations made up of two rows of photoreceptor cells conveniently connected to printed circuits endowed with a CICounter, a CIConverter and a Display, integrated within a single unit. This device allows measuring the horizontal as well as the vertical perforation of any stamp as well as the number of perforations and/or their variation in the superficial element to be measured, discriminating the type of perforation, of foot, of line, etc. |
| US08717552B1 |
Apparatus, system, and methods of precision aiming and installation of pre-aimed devices and method of composite lighting on target area
Methods and apparatuses are provided that can be utilized for accurate pre-aiming and installation of devices. The devices are pre-set to an aiming orientation relative to a universal reference plane. The reference plane is then correlated to a feature of a pole, tower, or other structure that will be used to elevate or suspend the devices. A position sensing subsystem is utilized to inform a worker when each device is correctly angularly oriented to the reference plane. The worker simply moves the mounting structure for the device to the correct three-dimensional angular orientation, uses the position sensor to confirm the correct orientation to within a highly accurate margin of error, and either locks the device in that orientation or marks the orientation. The pole, tower, or other elevating structure is preliminarily erected at its pre-designed location and pre-designed rotational orientation with the pre-aimed devices. |
| US08717549B2 |
Methods and apparatus to detect contaminants on a fluid sensor
Methods and apparatus for detecting a coating on a downhole fluid sensor are disclosed. A coating may refer to a solid or liquid film on a sensor interface with the sampled fluid, caused by contaminants. Detecting a coating may be accomplished by determining a sampled fluid type and measuring at least one fluid parameter using one or more downhole fluid sensors. The coating detection further includes determining whether the measured parameters are within ranges corresponding to the determined fluid type. Additionally or alternatively, measured parameter values that remain substantially stable during sampled fluid pumping may also indicate a coated sensor. |
| US08717548B2 |
Observation device with range finder
The invention describes a long-range optical device (1) with two observation parts (3, 4) and a first observation beam path (11; 12) and a measurement beam path (25), in which the two observation parts (3,4) are arranged essentially parallel next to each other and spaced a predefinable distance (10) apart via at least one connection element (7). In a plan view of the device 1 with respect to a plane, in which the longitudinal axes (8, 9) of the observation parts (3, 4) are arranged, the sub-regions of the observation parts (3, 4) facing each other lie directly opposite each other over a length aligned parallel to the longitudinal axis (8, 9) of the observation parts (3, 4) of 20% to 90%, preferably 30% to 80% of a length (24) of the observation parts (3, 4). In addition, the observation beam path (11, 12) and the measurement beam path (25) are arranged outside the sub-regions (22, 23) of the observation parts (3, 4). |
| US08717542B2 |
Fluid gauge with multiple reference gaps
A fluid gauge (222) for measuring the position of a work piece (200) includes a gauge body (236), a fluid source assembly (238), and a gauge control system (240). The gauge body (236) includes a measurement conduit (246), a first reference conduit (248A), a second reference conduit (248B), a first reference surface (250A) that is spaced apart a first reference gap (242A) from an outlet (254) of the first reference conduit (248A), and a second reference surface (250B) that is spaced apart a second reference gap (242B) from an outlet (254) of the second reference conduit (248B). The gauge body (236) is positioned so that an outlet (254) of the measurement conduit (246) is spaced apart a measurement gap (244) from the work piece (200). Further, the fluid source assembly (238) directs a fluid (260) into the conduits (246), (248A), (248B). Moreover, the gauge control system (240) determines (i) a first pressure difference between a measurement pressure (264) and a first reference pressure (262A); and (ii) a second pressure difference between the measurement pressure (264) and a second reference pressure (262B). |
| US08717540B2 |
Calculating a laser metric within a lithographic apparatus and method thereof
Embodiments of the invention related to lithographic apparatus and methods. A lithographic method comprises calculating a laser metric based on a spectrum of laser radiation emitted from a laser to a lithographic apparatus together with a representation of an aerial image of a pattern to be projected onto the substrate by the lithographic apparatus, and using the laser metric to modify operation of the laser or adjust the lithographic apparatus, and projecting the pattern onto the substrate. |
| US08717535B2 |
SLM calibration
Apparatus and methods are used to calibrate an array of individually controllable elements within a lithographic apparatus. A calibration unit can switch between a first state in which the modulated beam of radiation passes into a projection system for projecting the modulated beam of radiation onto a substrate and a second state in which a portion of the modulated beam of radiation is inspected by the calibration unit. The calibration unit generates calibration data, or alternatively, updates calibration data, based on the inspection of the modulated beam of radiation. An array controller uses the calibration data to provide control signals to elements of an array of individually controllable elements, which are subsequently configured in response to the control signals. |
| US08717534B2 |
Lens comprising a plurality of optical element disposed in a housing
The invention relates to a lens comprising several optical elements that are disposed in a lens housing. At least one sensor array encompassing at least one capacitive sensor unit and/or at least one inductive sensor unit is provided for determining the relative position between a first optical element and a second optical element or between a load-bearing structural element of the lens and a second optical element. |
| US08717524B2 |
Liquid crystal display device and method of manufacturing the same
A liquid crystal display device includes an alignment layer having an alignment direction inclined at an angle α where 0°<α<90° with respect to an extending direction of a gate line, a pixel electrode, and a common electrode placed opposite to the pixel electrode with an insulating layer interposed therebetween. One of the pixel electrode and the common electrode has a slit for generating a fringe electric field to liquid crystals with the other of the pixel electrode and the common electrode. The slit includes a first slit lying in the alignment direction or a direction perpendicular to the alignment direction, and a plurality of second slits and a plurality of third slits respectively inclined at an angle ±θ with respect to the first slit. |
| US08717523B2 |
Array substrate for liquid crystal display device and liquid crystal display device including the same
An array substrate for a liquid crystal display device including a substrate having a display region and a non-display region at one side of the display region; gate lines along a first direction and in the display region; data lines along a second direction and in the display region, the data lines crossing the gate lines to define pixel regions; auxiliary gate lines along the second direction and in the display region, the auxiliary gate lines respectively connected to the gate lines; data pad electrodes in the non-display region and electrically connected to the data lines, respectively; and gate pad electrodes in the non-display region and electrically connected to the auxiliary gate lines, respectively. |
| US08717522B2 |
Method for fabricating liquid crystal display panel using the same
An apparatus for forming an alignment film and a method for fabricating a liquid crystal display panel using the same are disclosed. A steam inspecting unit for inspecting a defective alignment film is disposed for two lines of rubbing equipment, so that a facility investment expense can be reduced and a space of a clean room can be effectively utilized. The apparatus for forming an alignment film comprises a rubbing equipment comprising at least one rubbing unit; and an alignment film inspecting unit installed between the two lines of rubbing equipment and inspecting an alignment film formed on a substrate. |
| US08717519B2 |
Optical film for reducing color shift and liquid crystal display having the same
An optical film for reducing color shift and an LCD having the same. The optical film is disposed in front of a display panel of the LCD. The optical film includes a background layer and a plurality of engraved or embossed lens sections formed in the background layer such that they are spaced apart from each other. When light having different colors depending on a viewing angle and a grayscale level is emitted, a portion of the light incident onto the lens sections is diffused, and is thus mixed with another portion of the light passing between adjacent lens sections. The cross-section of the lens sections includes first, second and third sides. The first and second sides face each other and are connected by the third side. The average curvature of the third side is smaller than that of the first side and than that of the second side. |
| US08717517B2 |
Liquid crystal display and method of manufacturing the same
A liquid crystal display including two substrates arranged opposite to each other; a liquid crystal sealed between the substrates; and a polymer layer for regulating a pretilt angle of liquid crystal molecules and/or tilt directions at a time of driving. One of the substrates has a color filter layer formed on a side of the one substrate, and a plurality of stripe-like electrode patterns are provided on the color filter layer. The patterns are periodically arranged so that when polymerizable components mixed in the liquid crystal layer are polymerized to form the polymer layer while a voltage is applied to the liquid crystal layer between the electrode patterns and a second electrode on the other substrate, liquid crystal molecules in the liquid crystal layer are aligned in the extending directions of stripe-like electrode patterns. |
| US08717514B2 |
Illumination device, and display device
An illumination device (3) is provided with a light-emitting diode (light source) (9), and a light guide plate (10) that guides light from the light-emitting diode (9) toward a prescribed propagation direction and that outputs the light toward a liquid crystal panel (object to be irradiated) (2). The illumination device is also provided with an optical sheet (optical member) (15) that is disposed so as not to make contact with the optical sheet (13) and that separates the optical sheet (13) from the liquid crystal panel (2) so as to create a prescribed space therebetween. |
| US08717512B2 |
Display apparatus
Disclosed herein is a display apparatus including a display part operable to display an image; and a bezel part disposed at an edge of the display part, wherein at least a portion of a front surface of the display part and a front surface of the bezel part are coplanar. |
| US08717509B2 |
Stereoscopic optical device and method of making the same
A stereoscopic optical device includes a substrate, an alignment film and a liquid crystal layer. The alignment film includes at least one first region and at least one second region. The liquid crystal layer, disposed on the alignment film, includes first liquid crystal molecules and second liquid crystal molecules. The first liquid crystal molecules correspond to the first region of the alignment film and have a first pre-tilt angle, the second liquid crystal molecules correspond to the second region of the alignment film and have a second pre-tilt angle. The fast axis of the first liquid crystal molecules and the fast axis of the second crystal molecules substantially face the same direction, and the slow axis of the first liquid crystal molecules and the slow axis of the second liquid crystal molecules substantially face in the same direction. |
| US08717508B2 |
Liquid crystal display device with interred touch screen
A Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) device includes a liquid crystal panel in which a plurality of common electrodes are formed; an interred touch sensor for applying a common voltage to the common electrodes, and detecting a touch point of the liquid crystal panel with a capacitance that is induced in the common electrodes; a plurality of common electrode lines for connecting the common electrodes to the touch sensor; and an equivalent potential unit formed in the common electrode lines, and discharging residual electric charges of the common electrodes. |
| US08717505B1 |
Laser based display method and system
The present invention is directed to display technologies. More specifically, various embodiments of the present invention provide projection display systems where one or more laser diodes are used as a light source for illustrating images. In one set of embodiments, the present invention provides projector systems that utilize blue and/or green laser fabricated using gallium nitride containing material. In another set of embodiments, the present invention provides projection systems having digital lighting processing engines illuminated by blue and/or green laser devices. In one embodiment, the present invention provides a 3D display system. There are other embodiments as well. |
| US08717500B1 |
Relational display of images
A method and apparatus for displaying a plurality of secondary images based on image data of a primary image include displaying a primary image and a plurality of secondary images based on the image data of the primary image. Each of the plurality of secondary images is displayed having a size based on a relevance of each respective one of the plurality of secondary images to the primary image. The primary image can be selected from a plurality of images or a frame of a video. Subsets of secondary images can be displayed in clusters including images having content similar to particular content of the primary image. |
| US08717499B2 |
Audio video offset detector
Systems and methods of measuring a temporal offset between audio content and video content that employ audio fingerprints from an audio signal in the audio content, and video fingerprints from video frames in the video content. The systems obtain reference audio and video fingerprints prior to transmission of video over a media channel, and obtain target audio and video fingerprints subsequent to transmission of the video over the media channel. Each fingerprint has an associated time stamp. Using the reference and target audio fingerprints and their associated time stamps, the systems determine an audio time stamp offset. Using the reference and target video fingerprints and their associated time stamps, the systems determine a video time stamp offset. Using the audio and video time stamp offsets, the systems determine a temporal offset between the video content and the audio content introduced by the media channel. |
| US08717497B2 |
Camera for mounting
An apparatus includes housing, a camera lens, a video recorder, a mounting rail, and a mount. The video recorder is located within the housing for recording images captured by the camera lens. The mounting rail is located on the housing and is received by the mount. |
| US08717496B2 |
Rail mount
A system for mounting includes an electronic device, a male mount member, and a female mount member. The male mount member is attached to the electronic device, and has a protrusion. The female mount member has a receiving track for mating with the protrusion, thereby coupling the electronic device to the female mount member. |
| US08717494B2 |
Optical reading device with improved gasket
An optical reading device is described having an image sensor having a sensor array of pixels which are exposed to an image; a printed circuit board (PCB) for carrying the image sensor; a lens assembly for focusing light on the sensor array; a lens retainer for retaining the lens; a support assembly integral with the lens retainer, the support assembly having a containment section for containing the image sensor; and a thermally and electrically conductive elastomeric gasket disposed between the containment section and the image sensor and for contacting the image sensor. |
| US08717489B2 |
Variable imaging arrangements and methods therefor
Various approaches to imaging involve selecting directional and spatial resolution. According to an example embodiment, images are computed using an imaging arrangement to facilitate selective directional and spatial aspects of the detection and processing of light data. Light passed through a main lens is directed to photosensors via a plurality of microlenses. The separation between the microlenses and photosensors is set to facilitate directional and/or spatial resolution in recorded light data, and facilitating refocusing power and/or image resolution in images computed from the recorded light data. In one implementation, the separation is varied between zero and one focal length of the microlenses to respectively facilitate spatial and directional resolution (with increasing directional resolution, hence refocusing power, as the separation approaches one focal length). |
| US08717485B2 |
Picture capturing apparatus and method using an image sensor, an optical element, and interpolation
An improved ratio between hardware/manufacturing expenditure, on the one hand, and picture quality, on the other hand, when using a multi-channel optical element is achieved in that the samples of the pixels are arranged in accordance with an imaging direction from which the optical element images objects on the respective pixel, or with a lateral imaging position in a focal-depth area that is imaged to the respective pixel by the optical element, and when the distribution, thus arranged, of samples of the pixels is interpolated at intersection points of a regular grid extending over the entire distribution of the samples. In this manner, processing is standardized across the entire picture, so that transition problems between the subareas are avoided. |
| US08717484B2 |
TIR prism to separate incident light and modulated light in compressive imaging device
A compressive imaging system including a light modulator, a light sensing device and a TIR prism. The TIR prism is configured to receive an incident light beam, to provide the incident light beam to the light modulator, to receive a modulated light beam MLB from the light modulator, and to direct the modulated light beam onto a sensing path. The light sensing device receives the modulated light beam (or at least a portion of the modulated light beam) and generates an electrical signal that represents intensity of the modulated light beam (or the “at least a portion” of the modulated light beam). The TIR prism may reduce a distance required to separate the incident light beam from the modulated light beam. |
| US08717480B2 |
Method and apparatus of displaying portrait on display
A method of displaying a portrait on a display is provided. The method includes determining whether a photographed image is a character-photographed image according to photographing information of the photographed image; executing face detection from the photographed image if it is determined that the photographed image is a character-photographed image; setting a character area in the photographed image according to a result of the face detection; and magnifying and displaying the character area on the display. |
| US08717479B2 |
Imaging apparatus, shooting assistance system, imaging apparatus control method, and method for evaluating individuals in an image
An imaging apparatus for shooting images includes an acquisition unit configured to acquire information about an evaluation of an identified individual in at least one shot image based on a composition of the image, and a presentation unit configured to present the information corresponding to the identified individual, wherein the information is used to support shooting of the images. |
| US08717476B2 |
Image sensor pixel with gain control
A method for reading out an image signal includes providing at least two photosensitive regions and providing at least two transfer gates respectively associated with each photosensitive region. The method also includes providing a common charge-to-voltage conversion region electrically connected to the transfer gates and providing a reset mechanism that resets the common charge-to-voltage conversion region. After transferring charge from at least one of the photo-sensitive regions, all the transfer gates are disabled at a first time. The method further includes enabling at least one transfer gate at a subsequent second time and transferring charge from at least one of the photosensitive regions at a subsequent third time while the at least one transfer gate from the second time remains enabled. |
| US08717475B2 |
Image pickup apparatus
There is provided an image pickup apparatus comprising a plurality of pixels each including a photoelectric conversion unit which converts incident light into an electrical signal and accumulates the electrical signal, an amplifier transistor which amplifies and outputs the signal from the photoelectric conversion unit, a transfer transistor which transfers the electrical signal accumulated in the photoelectric conversion unit to the amplifier transistor, and a processing transistor which performs predetermined processing, and a control circuit which sets the signal level supplied to the control electrode of the transfer transistor in order to turn off the transfer transistor to be lower than the signal level supplied to the control electrode of the processing transistor in order to turn off the processing transistor. |
| US08717473B2 |
Imaging apparatus and processing method thereof
A solid-state imaging apparatus of a dynamic range enlarged by reading out a carrier accumulated in a carrier accumulation unit at a plurality of times during a single carrier accumulation time period. |
| US08717472B2 |
Solid-state image pickup apparatus and image pickup system
A solid-state image pickup apparatus includes a reading unit having a plurality of pixels connected thereto, holding signals from the pixels, and a control unit capable of controlling operations of the pixels and reading unit. The control unit controls the pixels and reading unit in a first operation mode without addition, in a second operation mode in which signals from aa of the pixels are added, aa being an integer greater than one, and in a third operation mode in which signals from bb of the pixels are added, bb being an integer greater than aa. The reading unit includes a holding unit having a capacitance value of C, and the holding unit includes a first capacitor having a capacitance value of C/bb and a second capacitor having a capacitance value of C/p, p being a common multiple of aa and bb. |
| US08717469B2 |
Fast gating photosurface
An embodiment of the invention provides a camera comprising a photosurface that is electronically turned on and off to respectively initiate and terminate an exposure period of the camera at a frequency sufficiently high so that the camera can be used to determine distances to a scene that it images without use of an external fast shutter. In an embodiment, the photosurface comprises pixels formed on a substrate and the photosurface is turned on and turned off by controlling voltage to the substrate. In an embodiment, the substrate pixels comprise light sensitive pixels, also referred to as “photopixels”, in which light incident on the photosurface generates photocharge, and storage pixels that are insensitive to light that generates photocharge in the photopixels. In an embodiment, the photosurface is controlled so that the storage pixels accumulate and store photocharge substantially upon its generation during an exposure period of the photosurface. |
| US08717464B2 |
Increased low light sensitivity for image sensors by combining quantum dot sensitivity to visible and infrared light
A camera unit generates a processed digital image by augmenting color image data with infrared image data according to the level of ambient light exposure. The camera has an ambient light sensor that detects the level of ambient light in the camera unit and an image sensor that provides image data. One or more quantum dot layers may be included in the image sensor. A camera controller adapts the camera unit for operation in different modes that are selectable based on the levels of detected ambient light. The image data is processed into a digital image, according to the selected mode of operation for the camera unit, using color image data only when the level of ambient light is high, but augmenting the color image data with infrared image data when the level of ambient light is low to increase the color luminance of the final processed digital image. |
| US08717460B2 |
Methods and systems for automatic white balance
A method for calibrating automatic white balance (AWB) is provided that includes using a plurality of references for AWB that include color temperature references, wherein an AWB failure is detected in an image, generating a scene prototype reference based on the image, and adding the generated scene prototype reference to the references for AWB. A method for calibrating AWB is provided that includes selecting an image as a scene prototype, wherein the selected image was captured by a second imaging sensor different from a first imaging sensor, transforming the selected image into a scene prototype image for the first imaging sensor, generating a scene prototype reference using the scene prototype image for the first imaging sensor, and adding the generated scene prototype reference to references for AWB that include color temperature references. |
| US08717459B2 |
Method and apparatus for improving automatic white balance with scene information
A method and apparatus for automatic white balancing of an image. The method includes retrieving scene analysis of the image, determining at least one of the type of the scene and a scene content map utilizing the scene analysis of the image, performing scene adaptive white balance, if overall scene category type is used, perform white balance by applying global R, G, B gains optimized for the global scene type, and if scene segmentation map is used, perform locally adaptive white balance by applying an R, G, B gain map optimized for each scene content. |
| US08717457B2 |
Adaptive spectral imaging for video capture
A spectral capture parameter is adjusted for capturing successive frames of motion image data. Spectral content in a first region of a current frame is compared to spectral content in a counterpart region in a previous frame. It is determined whether the spectral content has changed by more than a threshold value, based on the comparison. Responsive to a determination that the spectral content has changed by more than the threshold value, the spectral capture parameter for the first region is adjusted, and the adjusted spectral capture parameter is applied to an imaging system for capture of a successive frame. |
| US08717456B2 |
Optical imaging systems and methods utilizing nonlinear and/or spatially varying image processing
Systems and methods include optics having one or more phase modifying elements that modify wavefront phase to introduce image attributes into an optical image. A detector converts the optical image to electronic data while maintaining the image attributes. A signal processor subdivides the electronic data into one or more data sets, classifies the data sets, and independently processes the data sets to form processed electronic data. The processing may optionally be nonlinear. Other imaging systems and methods include optics having one or more phase modifying elements that modify wavefront phase to form an optical image. A detector generates electronic data having one or more image attributes that are dependent on characteristics of the phase modifying elements and/or the detector. A signal processor subdivides the electronic data into one or more data sets, classifies the data sets and independently processes the data sets to form processed electronic data. |
| US08717454B2 |
Image pickup apparatus and image pickup method for adjusting white balance to account for flash and external light sources
An image pickup apparatus includes an image pickup unit that acquires a first image without a flash and a second image with the flash; a down-sampling unit that generates a third image by down-sampling the second image; a brightness difference calculator that calculates a brightness difference between the first image and the third image; a flash reflection intensity calculator that calculates a first flash reflection intensity from the brightness difference; and a white balance gain calculator that calculates a white balance gain based on the first flash reflection intensity. An image pickup method includes acquiring a first image without a flash and a second image with the flash, generating a third image by down-sampling the second image, calculating a brightness difference between the first image and the third image, calculating a first flash reflection intensity from the brightness difference, and calculating a white balance gain. |
| US08717449B2 |
Image synthesizing apparatus, image recording method, and recording medium
An image capturing unit 1 acquires a plurality of images being temporally continuous. Based on external operations from a key input unit 4, a control unit 9 selects an image serving as reference of synthesis, from the plurality of images acquired by the image capturing unit 1. An image processing unit 10 compares the reference image selected by the key input unit 4 with other images acquired by the image capturing unit 1, and detects an image with a difference value being higher than a predetermined threshold value as a result of such comparison. The image processing unit 10 sets a synthetic rate, based on the image thus detected. A synthesis unit 11 generates a single image by executing synthesis of the plurality of acquired images including the image serving as reference, by using the synthetic rate that is set by the image processing unit 10. |
| US08717446B2 |
Image quality evaluation device, terminal device, image quality evaluation system, image quality evaluation method and computer-readable recording medium for storing programs
The present invention evaluates the quality of an image shot by a terminal device in a state closer to that seen with the eye. A computer evaluates the quality of an image obtained by shooting a photographic subject including a periodic pattern that fluctuates periodically in one direction. A Fourier transform unit accomplishes a two-dimensional Fourier transform on the image to obtain two-dimensional spatial frequency spectrum components. An analysis unit analyzes the resolution of the image on the basis of spectrum components of spatial frequencies included in the periodic pattern, among the two-dimensional spatial frequency spectrum components obtained by the Fourier transform unit, and analyzes the deterioration of the image on the basis of spectrum components other than these. |
| US08717442B2 |
Calibration index for use in calibration of onboard camera, method of onboard camera calibration using the calibration index and program for calibration apparatus for onboard camera using the calibration index
For use in calibration of an onboard camera, there are provided a calibration index free of erroneous detection and a method of calibrating an onboard camera using such calibration index. The calibration index for use in onboard camera calibration includes a curved graphic formed of a curved line surrounding a predetermined region and a linear graphic comprising at least two straight lines forming an intersection point within the region surrounded by the curved graphic, the curved graphic and the linear graphic being formed in a same plane. A plurality of segments separated by the curved line forming the curved graphic and the straight lines forming the linear graphic are colored in a checkered pattern. |
| US08717441B2 |
Method of automatically tracking and photographing celestial objects and camera employing this method
A method of automatically tracking and photographing a celestial object so that the celestial object image, which is formed on an imaging surface of an image sensor via a photographing optical system, becomes stationary relative to a predetermined imaging area of the imaging surface of the image sensor during a tracking and photographing operation. The method includes performing a preliminary photographing operation at a predetermined preliminary-photographing exposure time with the photographic apparatus directed toward the celestial object and with a celestial-body auto tracking action suspended to obtain a preliminary image before automatically tracking and photographing the celestial object, calculating a moving direction and a moving speed of the celestial object image from the preliminary image that is obtained by the preliminary photographing operation, and automatically tracking and photographing the celestial object based on the moving direction and the moving speed of the celestial object image. |
| US08717437B2 |
End-to end visual recognition system and methods
We describe an end-to-end visual recognition system, where “end-to-end” refers to the ability of the system of performing all aspects of the system, from the construction of “maps” of scenes, or “models” of objects from training data, to the determination of the class, identity, location and other inferred parameters from test data. Our visual recognition system is capable of operating on a mobile hand-held device, such as a mobile phone, tablet or other portable device equipped with sensing and computing power. Our system employs a video based feature descriptor, and we characterize its invariance and discriminative properties. Feature selection and tracking are performed in real-time, and used to train a template-based classifier during a capture phase prompted by the user. During normal operation, the system scores objects in the field of view based on their ranking. |
| US08717435B2 |
Video monitoring device providing parametric signal curve display features and related methods
A video monitoring device may include an input for a video input signal, a display, and a video processor coupled to the input and the display. The video processor may be for obtaining from the video input signal at least one parametric signal defining a curve, calculating derivative values for the curve, and displaying pixel intensity values on the display based upon the derivative values so that more rapidly changing portions of the curve appear dimmer and more slowly changing portions of the curve appear brighter. |
| US08717433B2 |
Image synchronization for a multiple imager system and method thereof
An imager system and method thereof are provided, the imager system is configured for use with a vehicle and has a plurality of imagers including a first imager having a first field of view, and a second imager having a second field of view The imager system further includes a video processor module configured to approximately synchronize at least the first and second imagers, and a serial data communication connection communicatively connecting the plurality of imagers and the video processor module, wherein at least the first and second imagers are approximately synchronized by communicating a synchronization signal via a connection other than the serial data communication connection, and the images captured by the first and second imagers are approximately synchronized without buffering the captured images. |
| US08717432B2 |
Geographical data collecting device
The present invention provides a geographical data collecting device, which comprises a distance measuring unit 5 for projecting a distance measuring light and for measuring a distance to an object to be measured, an image pickup unit 3 for taking an image in a measuring direction, a display unit 6 for displaying an image picked up, a touch panel installed to match a position of screen of the display unit, a tilt sensor 11 for detecting a tilting, an azimuth sensor 12 for detecting a horizontal angle in the measuring direction, and a control arithmetic unit 8, wherein the image pickup unit takes an image of a measurement range, acquires a reference image, is directed to a selected measuring point in the reference image, and acquires a measured image with the measuring point as a center, and wherein said control arithmetic unit calculates the measuring point in the reference image through an image matching of the reference image and the measured image and displays a measuring point on at least one of the reference image or the measured image. |
| US08717431B2 |
Detection apparatus and obstacle detection system for vehicles using the same
A detection apparatus includes a housing, a circuit board, an image detection module, an ultrasonic detection module, and a connecting terminal. The image detection module includes a barrel, one or more lenses received in the barrel, and an image sensor configured to receive light through the lens and generate image signals. The image sensor is electrically connected to the circuit board. The ultrasonic detection module includes a piezoelectric member fixed to the housing to emit ultrasonic waves and receive reflected ultrasonic waves, and an ultrasonic control module operable to apply a voltage on the piezoelectric member, receive alternating voltages generated by the piezoelectric member, and generate voltage signals when receiving the voltages from the piezoelectric member. The ultrasonic control module is electrically connected to the piezoelectric member and the circuit board. The connecting terminal is electrically connected to the circuit board to output the image signals and the voltage signals. |
| US08717430B2 |
System and method for radio-frequency imaging, registration, and localization
A system for performing a medical procedure on a patient is provided. The system can include an imaging head defining a field of view relative to the patient. The imaging head can include at least one transmitter that emits at least one signal in the field of view, and at least one receiver that receives at least one reflected signal from the field of view. The at least one reflected signal received can be based on at least one electrical property of at least one material in the field of view. The system can further include a workstation, which can determine, based on the at least one reflected signal received by the at least one receiver, a location of at least one boundary of the material within the field of view. The system can include a display that displays an image of the location of the at least one boundary. |
| US08717428B2 |
Light diffusion apparatus
A light diffusing composition that optimizes image clarity from a SSID comprising a translucent matrix further comprising a plurality of hollow micro-particles. The plurality of hollow micro-particles are dispersed throughout the translucent matrix and a fluid is disposed within the hollow micro-particle. A refractive index of the fluid within the hollow micro-particle is different than a refractive index of the translucent matrix. |
| US08717425B2 |
System for stereoscopically viewing motion pictures
Moving pictures, as may be exemplified by television programming, are viewed stereoscopically. The system preferably comprises a visual display screen upon which may be displayed a left-to-right reversed visual display. A reflecting surface is positioned opposite the visual display screen for reflecting imagery from the visual display screen toward the viewer. The reflected imagery provides a reflected left-to-right correct visual display. The visual display screen is spaced from the reflecting surface such that the viewer's perception of the visual display screen causes the viewer to focus on a point behind the reflecting surface thereby requiring the viewer to perceive laterally offset reflections of the visual display screen at the reflecting surface. In one embodiment, a cabinet assembly enables the viewer or user to selectively position the visual display screen relative to the primary reflecting surface for enhancing the perception of depth in imagery effected by the perceived laterally offset reflections. |
| US08717424B2 |
Display apparatus and recording medium for controlling playback of three-dimensional video based on detected presence of stereoscopic-viewing glasses
A display apparatus configured to display three-dimensional video viewable by a viewer wearing stereoscopic-viewing glasses. The display apparatus includes: an input module; a display device; an image input module; a detection module; and a recording module. The input module receives video data. The display device displays the three-dimensional video based on the received video data. The image input module receives a captured image from an image-capturing device that captures an image of an area around the display apparatus and on a side facing the display device. The detection module detects an image of the stereoscopic-viewing glasses from the received captured image. The recording module records the received video data when the image of the stereoscopic-viewing glasses is not detected by the detection module. |
| US08717421B2 |
System and method for automatic calibration of stereo images
A method and system to enable a computer to estimate calibration parameters autonomously so that accurate stereopsis can be performed. The present invention automatically calibrates two or more cameras with unknown parameters with respect to a robot or robotic appendage (e.g., articulated robot arm) with a light source that can be turned on and off at one end. A pair of cameras (e.g., digital cameras) are positioned and aimed so as to give stereoptic coverage of the robot's workspace. The procedure determines the positions and orientations of the pair of cameras with respect to a robot (i.e., exterior orientations) and the focal lengths, optical centers, and distortion coefficients of each camera (i.e., intrinsic parameters) automatically from a set of known positions of the robot arm, and a set of images from the right and left cameras of the robot arm in each position as the light is turned on and off. |
| US08717416B2 |
3D camera using flash with structured light
An imaging device capable of capturing depth information or surface profiles of objects is disclosed herein. The imaging device uses an enclosed flashing unit to project a sequence of structured light patterns onto an object and captures the light patterns reflected from the surfaces of the object by using an image sensor that is enclosed in the imaging device. The imaging device is capable of capturing an image of an object such that the captured image is comprised of one or more color components of a two-dimensional image of the object and a depth component that specifies the depth information of the object. |
| US08717412B2 |
Panoramic image production
A method of assembling a panoramic image from a plurality of frames in a camera, the method comprising: (a) acquiring a video stream using a camera; (b) selecting an initial frame from the video stream for capture as a still image; (c) further selecting additional frames; and (d) stitching the additional frames to the initial frame in the camera to create a panoramic image. |
| US08717410B2 |
Video communication method, apparatus, and system
The present invention relates to the communications field and discloses a video communication method, apparatus, and system, which are invented to solve the problem that the prior art does not achieve consistent eye-to-eye video communication in a horizontal direction. The technical solutions of the present invention includes: obtaining video images of a participant from more than two different horizontal shooting angles, where a range of viewing angles of the participant is between the more than two different horizontal shooting angles; and sending the video images of the participant to a video communication remote end. The embodiments of the present invention may be applied in the video communication field. |
| US08717403B1 |
Communications using at least two different media types
To avoid unnecessary release and re-establishment of a connection the connection is maintained but two or more media streams relating to a communication over the connection are blocked from the apparatus and/or to the apparatus in response to receiving information indicating that the two or more media streams relating to the communication are to be blocked. |
| US08717402B2 |
Satellite microphone array for video conferencing
Speakers are identified based on sound origination detection through use of infrared detection of satellite microphones, estimation of distance between satellite microphones and base unit utilizing captured audio, and/or estimation of satellite microphone orientation utilizing captured audio. Multiple sound source localization results are combined to enhance sound source localization and/or active speaker detection accuracy. |
| US08717398B2 |
Image forming apparatus having exposing unit positioning member
An image forming apparatus is provided. The image forming apparatus includes: plural photosensitive members; plural exposing units opposed to the photosensitive members, respectively, each of the exposing units including a plurality of light emitting elements arranged in a first direction; and a body frame which is provided at both sides of the exposing units in the first direction. Each of the exposing units includes: a gap maintaining member which abuts a respective one of the photosensitive members to define a distance between the exposing unit and the photosensitive member; a first-direction positioning portion which abuts the body frame in the first direction to position the exposing unit in the first direction; and a second-direction positioning portion which abuts the body frame in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction and an exposing direction of the light emitting elements, to position the exposing unit in the second direction. |
| US08717397B2 |
Thermal transfer sheet
There is provided a thermal transfer sheet that, by virtue of flexibility and heat resistance imparted by a primer layer constituting the thermal transfer sheet, is less likely to be broken even upon exposure to a high level of thermal energy and is highly suitable for high-speed printing. The thermal transfer sheet has a thermally transferable colorant layer provided on one surface of a base material sheet, and a heat-resistant slipping layer provided on the other surface of the base material sheet through a primer layer. The primer layer contains at least a polyvinyl alcohol resin and a crosslinking agent. |
| US08717391B2 |
User interface pipe scalers with active regions
A display pipe may include fetch circuitry and a scaler unit, and registers programmable with information that defines active regions of an image frame. Pixels within the active regions are active pixels to be displayed, pixels outside of the active regions are inactive pixels not to be displayed. The fetch circuitry may retrieve frames from memory, retrieving the active pixels and not retrieving the inactive pixels as defined by the programmed contents of the registers. A scaler unit may produce scaled pixels from the fetched pixels, basing each scaled pixel on a respective corresponding set of pixels. When a given pixel of the respective corresponding set of pixels is an inactive pixel, the scaler unit may assign an estimated value to the given pixel based on one or more active pixels in the respective corresponding set of pixels. The scaler unit may provide the scaled pixels to a blend unit for blending with other pixels. |
| US08717389B2 |
Projector array for multiple images
A centralization point in a projection area is designated. The projection area is on a projection surface onto which images are projected by a projector array, which includes a plurality of projectors. A first image is projected in a first maximum area rectangle at a first aspect ratio of the first image, and the first image is projected into the projection area centered at the centralization point. A second image is projected in a second maximum area rectangle at a second aspect ratio of the second image, and the second image is projected into the projection area centered at the centralization point. |
| US08717388B2 |
Communication control device, communication control method, and program
There is provided a communication control device including: a data storage unit storing feature data representing features of appearances of one or more communication devices; an environment map building unit for building an environment map representing positions of communication devices present in a real space based on an input image obtained by imaging the real space and the feature data stored in the data storage unit; a detecting unit for detecting a user input toward a first communication device designating any data provided in the first communication device and a direction; a selecting unit for selecting a second communication device serving as a transmission destination of the designated data from the environment map based on the direction designated by the user input; and a communication control unit for transmitting the data provided in the first communication device from the first communication device to the second communication device. |
| US08717383B2 |
Automatic management of diagram elements
Managing diagram elements in a drawing becomes more challenging as the number of diagram elements increases. Placing a new diagram element in a drawing often requires manual movement of one or more other diagram elements within the drawing. Functionality can be implemented within a drawing application to automatically manage diagram elements in a drawing by applying layouts to sets of diagram elements. A drawing tool can associate a set of diagram elements and assigns them a exclusive area or region in the drawing space. Since a layout occupies an exclusive area, the drawing tool can manage the drawing space by automatically moving elements within a first layout when overlap with a second layout is detected. Managing drawing spaces with layouts reduces time spent adjusting diagram elements as a result of applying operations to other elements. |
| US08717382B2 |
Method of detecting collisions in graphics processing unit
The present invention relates to a method of detecting collisions on a Graphics Processing Unit (GPU). Each collision detection object Oi is projected onto a reference direction, thus obtaining an interval Ii represented by a set {mi, Mi}. Radix sorting based on obtained mi for all Oi, thus obtaining a sorted list L. The sorted list is swept, and then colliding pairs Pi are detected. All colliding pairs are configured into a single set, thus obtaining a final colliding pair P. On a GPU, SaP can be performed on a plurality of collision detection objects in parallel using the blocks of a plurality of threads. |
| US08717379B2 |
Color conversion table creating device
A color conversion table creating device for creating a color conversion table for converting first color data defined in a first color space to second color data defined in a second color space different from the first color space, includes a first data acquiring unit, a reference value determining unit, a lightness judging unit, a third data determining unit, and a creating unit. The first data acquiring unit is configured to acquire a plurality of sets of first data defined in the first color space. The first data sets are determined by measuring test patches each corresponding to a set of second data defined in the second color space. The first data sets include a set of black color data corresponding to data representing black in the second color space. Each first data set has a lightness value. The reference value determining unit is configured to determine a reference value based on a lightness value of the black color data set. The lightness judging unit is configured to judge, for each first data set, whether or not a lightness value of the subject first data set is smaller than the reference value. The third data determining unit is configured to determine the first data set as a set of third data when the lightness judging unit judges that the lightness value of the first data set is smaller than the reference value. The creating unit creates a color conversion table based on the first data sets excluding the third data set. |
| US08717376B2 |
Method for sharing graphics card among multiple operation systems and computer system
The present invention provides a method for sharing a graphics card among multiple Operation Systems (OSs) and a computer system. The method comprises: detecting a first GOS to be displayed, the first GOS being one of at least two GOSs; calling a correspondence table to determine a first display control register bank corresponding to the first GOS, the first display control register bank including display mode parameters therein; controlling the first display control register bank to connect to a display output port; and displaying the first GOS based on the display mode parameters. According to the inventive method and computer system, it is possible to achieve sharing of the graphics card among the multiple OSs and quick display of the GOS to be displayed, without simulating registers of the graphics card. |
| US08717373B2 |
Image processing apparatus
An image processing apparatus and method are provided. The image processing apparatus includes: at least one image input unit, to which a plurality of input images are input according to respective frame rates; and a controller that arranges an operation time and an operation order of each of tasks for processing a corresponding image of the plurality of input images according to the respective frame rates, and performs each of the tasks according to the operation time and the operation order. |
| US08717369B2 |
Opto-mechanical capture system for indirectly measuring the movement of flexible bodies and/or objects
Opto-mechanical motion capture system for indirectly measuring the movement of bodies and objects, mainly focused on joints of flexible materials, or which have deformations, which makes difficult the instrumentation with rigid sensors such as potentiometers. This invention consists of an image acquisition device or camera and a visualization bed in which there is a series of transmission cables which convey to the visualization bed the movements generated in the flexible parts to be sensed. The camera is set in such a way that it is possible to capture the image of the transmission cables, enabling the determination of its displacement and thus of the sensed objects. The main object of this invention is to enable the measurement of the movements of the flexible parts of the human body in a simple, cheap and comfortable way for the user of the device. |
| US08717368B1 |
Decomposing animations into primitives for browser-dependent rendering
A method for computer-implemented rendering of an animation presentation includes receiving, at a server, a request to view the animation presentation on a computing device, obtaining information identifying a browser application running on the computing device, determining requirements of a presentation technology supported by the browse, decomposing the animation presentation into animation primitives compatible with the presentation technology, and transmitting the animation primitives to the computing device. A computer-implemented method to render an animation presentation include replacing an animation type within an animation page structure of the animation presentation with an animation primitive, flattening the animation, updating the animation page drawing objects to point to the rendered document module object, grouping the animation primitives into sequences to create a timeline for the animation page, and adjusting delays of the animations so as to begin at a correct point in time. A system for implementing the rendering of animations is described. |
| US08717365B2 |
Polyline vertex reduction
Data is received that describes a polyline having a first endpoint, a second endpoint, and a plurality of intermediate vertices, each of the intermediate vertices lying between the first endpoint and the second endpoint. An estimation line segment is drawn between the first endpoint and the second endpoint. An intermediate vertex is identifies as a pivot vertex from the plurality of intermediate vertices that is a greatest distance from the estimation line segment. A flatness ratio is calculated by dividing a distance of the pivot vertex from the estimation line segment by a length of the estimation line segment In a computer, the flatness ratio is compared to a predetermined threshold value. If the flatness ratio does not exceed the predetermined threshold value, the intermediate vertices are discarded, thereby modifying the polyline. |
| US08717364B2 |
Data visualization methods
A method of creating a graphical representation of data points in the form of a heatmap wherein the heatmap represents a plurality of multi-directional flow values between the data points, the method including the steps of positioning data points on a heatmap for graphical representation, calculating bi-directional flow values between at least a first and second data point, determining the intensity and direction of a predominant flow from the bi-directional flow values, and graphically representing the predominant flow and bi-directional flows between the data points in the heatmap. |
| US08717362B2 |
Sub-patch optimization techniques for use in a hair/fur pipeline
A surface definition module of a hair/fur pipeline may be used to define a surface and an optimization module may be used to: create a bounding box for a set of hairs; determine whether the bounding box is visible; and if the bounding box is visible, hair associated with the visible bounding box is rendered upon the surface. |
| US08717360B2 |
Presenting a view within a three dimensional scene
Presenting a view based on a virtual viewpoint in a three dimensional (3D) scene. The 3D scene may be presented by at least one display, which includes displaying at least one stereoscopic image of the 3D scene by the display(s). The 3D scene may be presented according to a first viewpoint. A virtual viewpoint may be determined within the 3D scene that is different than the first viewpoint. The view of the 3D scene may be presented on the display(s) according to the virtual viewpoint and/or the first view point. The presentation of the view of the 3D scene is performed concurrently with presenting the 3D scene. |
| US08717344B2 |
Display device and driving method therefor
A display device, includes: a plurality of thin film transistors which comprise a gate electrode, a source electrode and a drain electrode; a plurality of pixel electrodes which are respectively connected to the drain electrode of the thin film transistors; a plurality of gate lines which are respectively disposed to the opposite edge parts of the pixel electrodes in a lengthwise direction of the pixel electrodes, and connected to the gate electrode of the thin film transistors; and a plurality of data lines which are respectively disposed to a single edge part of the pixel electrodes in a widthwise direction of the pixel electrodes, and connected to the source electrode of the thin film transistors, a pair of pixel electrodes adjoining each other to interpose the single data line therebetween, and a pair of thin film transistors which are respectively connected to the pair of pixel electrodes being connected with the same single data line. |
| US08717343B2 |
Repair amplification circuit and method for repairing data line
A repair amplification circuit includes a controlling unit, a first operational amplifier, a second operational amplifier, a first switching unit, and a second switching unit. Under a detection mode, the controlling unit generates a detecting signal according to a testing signal transmitted by a unnecessary repair segment in a test picture. Under an operation mode, the controlling unit generates a switching signal according to a repair controlling signal related to the detecting signal. The first switching unit and the second switching unit are controlled by the switching signal, so as to transmit the driving signal to one of the first operational amplifier and the second operational amplifier, and to transmit a positive polarity repairing signal generated by the first operational amplifier or a negative polarity repairing signal generated by the second operational amplifier to a necessary repair segment. |
| US08717340B2 |
Thin film transistor, method for manufacturing same, and display apparatus
Disclosed is a thin film transistor that is provided with a gate insulating film that is inexpensive, and that is less likely to have a low-density microcrystalline silicon layer formed thereon due to plasma induced damage, while suppressing fluctuation of a threshold voltage. In a TFT (100) having the bottom gate structure, since a silicon nitride film (31) having a natural oxide film (32) formed on the surface thereof is used as the gate insulating film (30), the gate insulating film (30) is not only capable of preventing the alkali metal ions contained in a glass substrate (10) from entering the gate insulating film (30), but also capable of suppressing a formation of the low-density microcrystalline silicon layer on the surface of a microcrystalline silicon film (41) on the side in contact with the gate insulating film (30). Since the mobility of the microcrystalline silicon film (41) is increased, the operation speed of the TFT (100) can be improved. Thus, with the simpler configuration, the TFT (100) having the same electrical characteristics as those of the conventional TFTs can be provided. |
| US08717337B2 |
Photo sensing touch sensing liquid crystal display device
A touch panel embedded liquid crystal display device is disclosed. A touch panel embedded liquid crystal display device includes a first substrate having a plurality pixels defined in a matrix, a second substrate comprising first, second and third color filters to form a first, second and third color sub-pixels. A second substrate is opposed to the first substrate. A first photo-sensor is provided on the first substrate in a region corresponding to the first color sub-pixel and a second photo-sensor is provided on the first substrate in a region corresponding to the second or third color sub-pixel. A liquid crystal layer is provided between the first substrate and the second substrate, with a first planarization plate and a second planarization plate formed on rear surfaces of the first substrate and the second substrate, respectively, a wave guide formed on the second planarization plate, and a light emitting diode adjacent to the wave guide to emit and transmit a first color light to be sensed by one of the photo sensors. |
| US08717335B2 |
Active photosensing pixel
An active photosensing pixel is disclosed, in which a two-terminal photosensing transistor has a first terminal coupled to a first node, a second terminal coupled to a selection line and a control terminal connected to the first terminal. A driving transistor has a first terminal coupled to a first reference voltage, a second terminal coupled to an output line and a control terminal connected to the first node. |
| US08717331B2 |
Reducing water influence on a touch-sensing device
A method and apparatus for reducing water influence on a touch-sensing device is described. |
| US08717330B2 |
Flexible projective capacitive touch sensor structure
A flexible projective capacitive touch sensor structure includes following elements. A roll of first flexible transparent substrate has sensing unit regions thereon, and each of the sensing unit regions includes at least two first transparent patterned electrodes and at least three second transparent patterned electrodes. Bridging wires respectively stride over the corresponding first transparent patterned electrodes and respectively and electrically bridge the second transparent patterned electrodes located at two sides of each of the first transparent patterned electrodes to form at least one conducting wire. Dielectric pads are disposed between the bridging wires and the first transparent patterned electrodes. First connection wires are connected to the first transparent patterned electrodes and have first electrical connection terminals. Each of the second connection wires is connected to one second transparent patterned electrode of one end of the at least one conducting wire and has one second electrical connection terminal. |
| US08717329B2 |
Touch panel and method for operating the same, and electronic apparatus and method for operating the same
A touch panel includes n first line electrodes (n is an integer of 2 or greater) to which pulses are applied, m second line electrodes (m is an integer of 2 or greater) for use in detection, the second line electrodes being arranged to cross the first line electrodes, and a pulse generating circuit configured to apply pulses, in a selected order, to n1 first line electrodes (n1 is an integer of at least 1 and not greater than n) selected from among the n first line electrodes. A touched position on the touch panel is detected by detecting a change in capacitance between one of the first line electrodes and one of the second line electrodes. |
| US08717326B2 |
System and methods for raised touch screens
A touch sensitive display assembly includes a touch screen and a button array. The touch screen is configured to display one or more input keys. The button array includes one or more buttons corresponding to the one or more input keys. The button array is formed by a substrate attached to a button membrane thereby creating a set of button cavities corresponding to the input keys. The button cavities are configured to be inflated and deflated by a pump coupled to a fluid reservoir. The cavities can be inflated/deflated together, in subsets, and/or individually. In some embodiments, the button array is sandwiched between a touch sensing layer and a display of the touch screen. In other embodiments, the button array can be located either above or below the touch screen. |
| US08717322B2 |
Touch panel with shield electrode
A touch panel includes a substrate, a shield conductor formed on a surface of the substrate, an insulation film formed on the shield conductor, a plurality of first electrodes formed on the insulation film, which extend in a first direction, a plurality of second electrodes formed on the insulation film, which extend in the second direction. Each of the plurality of first electrodes includes a first portion formed on the surface of the substrate and a second portion formed in a separated manner from the second electrode on the insulation film, the first portion being connected to the second portion via a contact hole formed in the insulation film. The shield conductor has a plurality of opening portions which include first opening portions in which the first portions are formed and second opening portions in which the first portions are not formed. |
| US08717318B2 |
Continued virtual links between gestures and user interface elements
A device includes a processor to receive input data from an image detector, where the input data includes data obtained from tracking air movements of a user's body part interacting with a virtual object of the electronic display, the processor to map the input data to a control input to move the virtual object beyond the display. The device could, for example, include a mobile device such as a smartphone or a laptop. The virtual object could for example move to another display or to a bezel of the device. A touch screen sensor may allow the virtual object to be pinched from the display, before being lifted beyond the display. The processor may map the input data to control input to create a virtual binding of the virtual object in order to create a visual rendering of a connection between the virtual object and the user's body part. |
| US08717316B2 |
Interactive media display
An interactive media display system comprising at least one digital display panel, at least one touch screen display panel and at least one processor for operating and controlling the display panels. The system preferably includes a media dispensing system which enables the interactive media display to create and/or dispense media related products. |
| US08717313B2 |
Touch panel
A touch panel, operated by a magnetic stylus, including: a display panel, having a display plane and an interface plane, the interface plane underlying the display plane; and a sensing assembly, underlying the display panel, having a first conductive layer, a second conductive layer, and a plurality of insulating spacers, the first conductive layer underlying the interface plane, and the insulating spacers being placed between the first conductive layer and the second conductive layer to divide the first conductive layer and the second conductive layer into a plurality of first conductive segments and a plurality of second conductive segments respectively, wherein one of the second conductive segments will be bent upward by a magnetic force to electrically connect with one of the first conductive segments when the magnetic stylus is applied thereto. |
| US08717312B2 |
Touch sensing device
The present invention relates to a touch sensing device. In one embodiment, the touch sensing device includes a plurality of first touch electrodes and a plurality of second touch electrodes, alternately arranged along a first direction and a second direction substantially perpendicular to the first direction to form a sensing matrix, such that each first touch electrode and a corresponding second touch electrode are entangled each other along with at least one of the first and second directions. |
| US08717311B2 |
Portable electronic device including touch-sensitive display and method of determining when to turn off the touch sensitive display
A method of controlling a portable electronic device includes detecting a touch on a touch-sensitive display, adjusting a first threshold based on detected conditions during the touch, comparing a value related to the touch on the touch-sensitive display to the first threshold, and when the value related to touch meets the first threshold, turning off the display. |
| US08717307B2 |
Input system including position-detecting device
A position-detecting device detects a position pointed to by a position-pointing instrument and includes an operation panel detecting the position pointed to by the position-pointing instrument; and a manipulation-detecting unit located at at least one of the interior and the exterior of the operation panel, and detecting a manipulation by a second instrument other than the position-pointing instrument, or detecting a manipulation by both the position-pointing instrument and the second instrument. |
| US08717305B2 |
Touch event model for web pages
One or more touch input signals can be obtained from a touch sensitive device. A touch event model can be used to determine touch and/or gesture events based on the touch input signals. The touch and gesture events can be associated with touch input signals generated from different regions of a web page displayed on the touch sensitive device. Access can be provided to at least one touch or gesture event through a programming interface. |
| US08717302B1 |
Apparatus and method for recognizing a gesture on a sensing device
An apparatus and method for recognizing a gesture based on detected presences of first and second conductive objects on a sensing device. The apparatus may include a sensing device having a plurality of sensor elements to detect presences of first and second conductive objects, and a processing device, coupled to the sensing device, to recognize a gesture based on the presences of the first and second conductive objects. The recognized gesture may be scroll gestures or click-and-drag gestures. |
| US08717300B2 |
Display device
The present invention achieves a display device capable of quick compensation of charging of parasitic capacitance with a simple configuration and low power consumption. The display device in accordance with the present invention includes (i) pixels, (ii) signal wires (Sj), and (iii) an operational amplifier (OP1) having a non-inverting input terminal connected with a corresponding signal wire (Sj). The operational amplifier (OP1) is configured such that: the non-inverting input terminal is connected with an output terminal (OUT) via a first impedance element (R1); an inverting input terminal is connected with the output terminal (OUT) via a second impedance element (R2); and the inverting input terminal is connected with a reference voltage terminal via a third impedance element (Cn). A value Zn of total impedance of pixels electrically connected with the corresponding signal wire, which impedance is obtained while the corresponding signal wire and the pixels electrically connected with the corresponding signal wire are being supplied with an image signal, is represented by |Zn|<|Z1|·|Z3|/|Z2|, where Z1, Z2, and Z3 are values of impedance of the respective first through third impedance elements (R1, R2, and Cn). |
| US08717299B2 |
Technology for entering data using patterns of relative directions
A method and apparatus for entering words into a computer system. Letters contained in a desired word are entered by giving approximate location and directional information relative to any specified keyboard layout. The inputs need not correspond to specific keys on the keyboard, a sequence of ambiguous key entries corresponding to individual words can be used to retrieve a word from the dictionary. The system tracks directional information of movement relative to a/the specific keyboard layout, reducing it to predetermined primary directions and translates this seemingly ambiguous information into accurate words from the dictionary. The system may also capture the user's intention (with regard to text entry) by observing the movements on the keyboard. |
| US08717296B2 |
Mouse with detachable cover
A mouse includes a main body, an engaging device, and a detachable cover. The main body has a top surface and an insertion slot. The insertion slot is recessed from the top surface of the main body. The cover is used for detachably covering the top surface of the main body. The cover has an extension arm. After the top surface of the main body is covered by the cover, the extension arm is inserted into the insertion slot and engaged with the engaging device, so that the cover is securely fixed on the main body to cover the main body. |
| US08717286B2 |
Information processing apparatus, processing method thereof, and computer-readable storage medium
An information processing apparatus executes a variety of processing operations in accordance with a user's operation detected by an operation detection device. The apparatus generates a data set from a data group in accordance with a predetermined condition. The apparatus determines the content of processing corresponding to the motion detected by the operation detection device. The apparatus adjusts the data set by increasing or decreasing data included in the data set generated, based on the determined processing. |
| US08717283B1 |
Utilizing motion of a device to manipulate a display screen feature
Systems, methods, and computer-readable media, for utilizing device motions to manipulate a display screen feature. One or more motion data that indicate a motion of a device are referenced. Upon referencing motion data, manipulations to apply to a display screen feature are identified. Thereafter, the display screen feature is manipulated in accordance with the one or more manipulations identified. |
| US08717282B2 |
White particles for display, particle dispersion for display, display medium and display device
White particles for display including at least one of a chain or cyclic polysilane compound having a polysilane structure represented by the following Formula (I) or a halogen-substituted compound thereof: wherein in Formula (I), A represents a phenyl group, B represents an alkyl group or a phenyl group, and n represents an integer of from 5 to 1000. |
| US08717279B2 |
Touch panel structure
A touch panel structure includes a backlight module, a liquid crystal display (LCD) layer, a capacitive sensing layer, a bonding layer, and an electromagnetic sensing layer. The backlight module has at least one extended wall portion to enclose a receiving space therein. The LCD layer and the capacitive sensing layer are bonded together via the bonding layer, and are positioned in the receiving space. The electromagnetic sensing layer is attached to one side of the backlight module opposite to the LCD layer. With these arrangements, the touch panel structure provides more than one touch manner and is therefore more convenient for use. |
| US08717278B2 |
Method and apparatus for adjusting drive values for dual modulation displays
Method and apparatus are provided for determining and adjusting drive values for a display comprising a light source modulation layer such as a backlight array of LED and a display modulation layer such as an LCD panel. Image regions for which any of the display modulation layer drive values are above a predetermined threshold maximum value or below a predetermined threshold minimum value are flagged. The light source modulation layer control values determined for a subsequent frame of image data may be adjusted based on the flagged image regions. The adjustments to the light source modulation layer control values may reduce artifacts in the displayed image and increase the efficiency of the display. |
| US08717277B2 |
Method and apparatus of approximating backlight spread in a local dimming system
An apparatus of approximating backlight spread is used in a display to estimate a backlight spread image corresponding to an image after backlight spreading of a plurality of backlight sources arranged in a matrix form. An equalizer receives backlight pulse width modulation signals of the backlight sources for performing an equalization operation and generating corresponding equalization signals. A backlight seed image constructor receives the equalization signals to establish a backlight seed image. A first calculation unit calculates positions corresponding to the backlight seed image based on a backlight spread image. A second calculation unit calculates coordinates of the backlight seed image corresponding to the positions. A distance calculator calculates distance differences between the positions and coordinates of the backlight seed image. A bilinear transformation unit performs a bilinear transformation on pixels of the backlight seed image and the distance differences so as to generate the backlight spread image. |
| US08717274B2 |
Driving circuit and method for driving a display
In one aspect of the invention, a method for driving a display includes the steps of processing input image signals into pixel signals associated with the pixel matrix and grayscales of the display, generating a polarity control signal POL, and determining transmitting paths of the pixel signals according to the polarity control signal POL, and writing the pixel signals into the pixel matrix of the display along the determined transmitting paths. |
| US08717272B2 |
Scan driver and organic light emitting display device
An organic light emitting display device includes a scan driver for supplying a first scan signal to a first scan line during a first period and a second period, a second scan signal to a second scan line during the second period, and a light emitting control signal to a light emitting control line during a period at least spanning the first and second periods. A data driver sequentially supplies data signals to an output line during the first period. A demultiplexer is electrically coupled to the output line, receives the data signals and supplies the data signals to data lines which are connected to pixels. Each pixel receives one of the data signals during the first period, compensates a threshold voltage of a driving transistor during the second period, and generates light with a brightness corresponding to the one of the data signals after the second period. |
| US08717270B2 |
Liquid crystal display device, display control device, and liquid crystal display method
The liquid crystal display device inverts the polarity of the data signal once in the first one of n iterations (n is an integer of 2 or more) of the horizontal blanking period. Then, in each of the remaining n−1 iterations of the horizontal blanking period, the polarity of the data signal is inverted twice. A plurality of data lines are short-circuited together when inverting the polarity of the data signal, and a scan line is selected in a write period during which the data signal is applied to a picture element forming portion. Moreover, a scan line is selected in synchronism with a timing for short-circuiting the data lines before the once-selected scan line is selected again in a write period. |
| US08717268B2 |
Display device
A display device prevents luminance unevenness that occurs in the case of inversion driving being performed, and performs high quality image display, while selectively scanning two lines of picture elements constituting a single pixel using a single gate wiring, as in the case of multi-primary color image display. The display device includes a display element including a pixel constituted by a plurality of picture elements disposed in two lines in a longitudinal direction and two or more columns in a lateral direction, a gate wiring common to the plurality of picture elements, and a source wiring that is arranged perpendicular or substantially perpendicular to the gate wiring and to perform image display using inversion driving in which an image display signal is provided to the picture elements connected to the gate wiring which is sequentially selected, at a different polarity than a polarity of an immediately previous frame, and an array of the picture elements in the pixel is determined so as to compensate for a change in luminance following the change in the effective value relative to the image display signal of the picture elements belonging to one line. |
| US08717265B2 |
Staggered line inversion and power reduction system and method for LCD panels
Systems and methods are disclosed for various inversion techniques for an LCD array, such as a staggered 2-line inversion, a staggered 1-line inversion, or a staggered N-line inversion. The staggered inversion may invert 2-lines, 1-line or N-lines of an array over the duration of a frame displayed on the array. Additional systems and methods may include a high impedance power reduction technique that may be applied alone or in combination with the various inversion techniques. Specifically, electrode drivers for “idle” lines of a staggered 1-line, 2-line, or N-line inversion may be switched to a high impedance state such that the corresponding drivers for the idle lines use reduced power during the inversion of the “active” lines. |
| US08717264B2 |
Displaying method for electrophoretic display and electrophoretic display using the same
A displaying method includes the following steps. First, display image frames and display a first color to clean images of a preceding image frame between the displaying of two image frames. Afterward, whenever a counting number of the image frames which have been displayed reaches a predetermined number, change to display one of the first color and a second color to clean images of the preceding image frame and then to display the other one of the first color and the second color to clean images of the preceding image frame between the displaying of two image frames for a while. |
| US08717258B2 |
Light emitting display, display panel, and driving method thereof
A light emitting display including data lines for transmitting data voltages, scan lines for selecting select signals, and pixel circuits. The pixel circuit is coupled to a data line and a scan line. The pixel circuit includes a transistor including first, second, and third electrodes, wherein the third electrode outputs a current corresponding to a voltage between the first and second electrodes. A light emitting element coupled to the third electrode emits light corresponding to the current outputted by the third electrode. A first switch transmits a data voltage in response to a select signal from the scan line. A voltage compensator receives the data voltage transmitted by the first switch and a second power supply voltage and applies a compensated data voltage based on the data voltage, a first power supply voltage and the second power supply voltage to the first electrode of the transistor. |
| US08717257B2 |
Scan driver and organic light emitting display using the same
A scan driver includes a first signal processing unit for receiving a main input signal and a sub input signal to output a first output signal and a second output signal; a second signal processing unit for receiving the first output signal, the second output signal, and a clock signal to output a scan signal; and a third signal processing unit for receiving the first output signal and the second output signal to output an emission control signal. |
| US08717254B1 |
Portable motion sensor and video glasses system for displaying a real time video display to a user while exercising
A portable system is disclosed for displaying a real time video to a user wearing video glasses and while engaging in exercise. The system comprises a motion sensor for attachment to the of the user, with sensor generating a plurality of consecutive signals based upon the motion of the user's body. The video glasses of the system also comprise a video frame sequence stored in a memory; a programmed video processor for modifying the video frame sequence as a function of the difference in magnitude between the consecutive signals generated by the motion sensor; and a video display for displaying the modified video frame sequence with the display of the modified video frame sequence changing as a function of the body motion of the user. |
| US08717253B2 |
Antenna
A miniature variable-beam microwave antenna (1) comprises antenna conductors (100a, 100b), an EBG conductor (120), a variable reactance element (130), and an adjusting part (150). The EBG conductor (120) is connected to a grounded part (160) through the variable reactance element (130). The adjusting part (150) changes the apparent reactance of the EBG conductor (120) by changing the capacity of the variable reactance element (130). As the apparent reactance of the EBG conductor (120) changes, the directivity of the miniature variable-beam microwave antenna (1) also changes. |
| US08717252B2 |
Dual frequency antenna
A dual frequency antenna is provided, which includes a helical radiator electrically connected to a main body via a feed point of the main body, a first radiator for generating resonance is formed on the lower portion of said radiator, a second radiator for generating resonance is formed on the upper portion of said radiator, wherein the resonance frequency of the second radiator is higher than that of the first radiator, and the helical pitch of the second radiator is larger than that of the first radiator. The dual frequency antenna easily enables tuning in a whole UHF frequency band, and work performance of an upper semi-sphere of the dual frequency antenna is improved in a GPS frequency band. |
| US08717248B2 |
Electronic device for processing radio frequency signals and matching circuit for providing variable impedance
An electronic device for processing radio frequency signals includes an antenna, an RF circuit, and a matching circuit. The matching circuit provides variable impedance between the antenna and the RF circuit. The antenna is capable of operating in a first frequency band or a second frequency band according to the variable impedance The matching circuit includes a first element; a second element; a first tuning cell connected to the first element and the second element, and comprising a first tuning element, a second tuning element and a first control element, the first control element determining whether to make a first node connected between the first and second tuning elements couple to a voltage level according to a first control signal; and a selecting circuit coupled to the first control element and configured to generate the first control signal so as to adjust the variable impedance. |
| US08717246B2 |
Stacked antenna
A stacked antenna includes a first dielectric substrate, a second dielectric substrate, at least one vertical conductive structure, at least one transmission line structure, a driven element, at least one reflector and a director. The second dielectric substrate is stacked on the first dielectric substrate. The conductive structure penetrates the first dielectric substrate or the second dielectric substrate. The transmission line structure is disposed between the first and second dielectric substrates. The driven element is disposed between the first and second dielectric substrates and is electrically connected to the conductive structure through the transmission line structure. The reflector is spaced from the driven element by the first dielectric substrate and is disposed under the first dielectric substrate. The director is spaced from the driven element by the second dielectric substrate. |
| US08717239B2 |
Multi-band antenna
A multi-band antenna is disclosed and comprises a substrate and an electro-conductive layer. The electro-conductive layer comprises: a feed-in terminal; a ground terminal; a connecting portion extended forward from the feed-in terminal; a first high frequency portion extended leftward from the connecting portion for controlling a third frequency band; a low frequency portion bent and extended leftward from the connecting portion for controlling a first frequency band and a second frequency band; and a second high frequency portion extended rightward from the connecting portion for controlling a fourth frequency band. Furthermore, the second high frequency portion is connected with the ground terminal and wider than the first high frequency portion; and harmonic oscillations are generated between the second and first high frequency portions to control a fifth frequency band. Hence, the multi-band antenna of the present invention can meet the requirement of various communication standards. |
| US08717228B2 |
Method and device for detecting target object, and radar apparatus
This disclosure provides a method of detecting a target object by receiving reflection echoes of detection signals transmitted sequentially from a revolving antenna, and by detecting a target object based on detection data resulted from sampling reception signals at a predetermined time interval. The method comprises temporarily storing the detection data within a predetermined geographical range, and identifying the type of the reflection echo based on a change between values of the detection data at physically-close locations within the predetermined geographical range. |
| US08717227B2 |
Communication processing apparatus and distance measuring method for communication processing apparatus
A communication processing apparatus alternately transmits a carrier wave carrying a command and receives a response from a tag while transmitting an unmodulated carrier wave. A transmission control unit changes the phase of the unmodulated carrier wave transmitted from a transmission/reception circuit in response to start of reception of the reflected wave from the tag. The transmission/reception circuit includes a circuit for separating and detecting an I signal and a Q signal included in the reflected wave from the tag. A phase detection unit uses the I signal and the Q signal to detect change of the phase of the reflected wave. A distance calculation unit measures a time from a change of the phase of the unmodulated carrier wave to a detection of a corresponding change in the phase of the reflected wave, and uses the time to calculate the distance from the antenna to the tag. |
| US08717226B2 |
Method for processing signals of an airborne radar with correction of the error in the radar beam pointing angle and corresponding device
A method for processing signals of an airborne radar includes a correction of the erroneous angle of pointing of the radar beam, comprising an evaluation of the error in the pointing angle for a constant height of the aerial transporter. For a given angle of scan, the method carries out at least two series of measurements of the power of the echoes returned following the emission of radar signals, each series being associated with a given distance-bin, the measurements being dependent on the angle of pointing of the radar antenna, formulates a vertical profile of the power of the echoes returned for each series of measurements, and then on the basis of each vertical profile, measures the pointing angle corresponding to a power of the echoes returned by the ground alone, and calculates the error in the pointing angle on the basis of the measured pointing angles. |
| US08717224B2 |
Integrated radar apparatus and intergrated antenna apparatus
An embodiment of the present invention discloses a radar apparatus and an antenna apparatus, and more particularly, an integrated radar apparatus and an integrated antenna apparatus which make it possible to attain angle resolution with high definition, to decrease size and the number of devices, to integrate long and mid-range radar function and short range radar function. |
| US08717223B2 |
Classification of subsurface objects using singular values derived from signal frames
The classification system represents a detected object with a feature vector derived from the return signals acquired by an array of N transceivers operating in multistatic mode. The classification system generates the feature vector by transforming the real-valued return signals into complex-valued spectra, using, for example, a Fast Fourier Transform. The classification system then generates a feature vector of singular values for each user-designated spectral sub-band by applying a singular value decomposition (SVD) to the N×N square complex-valued matrix formed from sub-band samples associated with all possible transmitter-receiver pairs. The resulting feature vector of singular values may be transformed into a feature vector of singular value likelihoods and then subjected to a multi-category linear or neural network classifier for object classification. |
| US08717215B2 |
Method and apparatus for improving the performance of a DAC switch array
One of the critical design parameters occurs when a digital signal is converted into an analog signal. As the supply voltage drops to less than 2 times of threshold voltage to reduce leakage and save power, generating a relative large swing with a resistor-ladder DAC becomes more difficult. For a 5 bit DAC, 32 sub-arrays are used to select the appropriate voltage from the series coupled resistor network. Each sub-array uses p-channel transistors where the sub-array extracting the lowest voltage 700 mV only has a 100 mV of gate to source voltage. To compensate for the reduced gate to source voltage, the sub-arrays are partitioned into four groups. In each group, the p-channel width is increased from 2 um to 5 um, as the tap voltage drops from 1.2 V to 0.7 V. This allows the p-channel transistor with a small gate to source voltage to have a larger width thereby improving performance. |
| US08717208B2 |
Image processing
An image processor includes a readout arranged to read out an M-bit image data word from an image sensor pixel array and an adder arranged to add a noise contribution to the image data word to obtain a dithered M-bit word. A dither processor is arranged to derive correction data having a word size of M+1 bits from a combination of a plurality of M-bit reference words. The noise contribution are derived from said correction data, wherein different correction data are derived for different groups of pixels, each different group of pixels is associated with a specific pixel value DC shift. |
| US08717203B2 |
Data compression systems and methods
Systems and methods for providing fast and efficient data compression using a combination of content independent data compression and content dependent data compression. In one aspect, a method for compressing data comprises the steps of: analyzing a data block of an input data stream to identify a data type of the data block, the input data stream comprising a plurality of disparate data types; performing content dependent data compression on the data block, if the data type of the data block is identified; performing content independent data compression on the data block, if the data type of the data block is not identified. |
| US08717200B2 |
Text entry device with radial keypad layout
A text entry device is provided. The device includes a concentric and a first grouping of letters including the letters A, B, C and D and that has at least one key that is touched by a user when actuated. A second grouping of letters including the letters E, F, G and H is included and has at least one key that is touched by the user when actuated. At least a portion of the key of the first grouping is located at a different angular position with respect to the concentric than at least a portion of the key of the second grouping. |
| US08717199B2 |
Configurable buttons for electronic devices
Configurable buttons for electronic devices such as portable electronic devices are provided. A configurable button may have a button member that moves relative to a device housing when it is desired to activate a switch. The button may have an associated touch sensor. The touch sensor may detect when a user's finger touches a particular portion of the button member. Contact with only this portion of the button member is generally inadvertent, so an actuator may be used to prevent or otherwise restrict motion of the button relative to a device housing. This prevents inadvertent activation of the button when a user is manipulating portions of an electronic device such as clip or lid, but does not intend to depress the button. |
| US08717198B2 |
Communication connecting apparatus and method for detecting mobile units in a vehicle
A vehicle communication connecting apparatus capable of displaying representative images of one or more communication-supported mobile terminals, detected as being present within a vehicle, to allow the mobile terminals to be easily distinguishable, and an operation method thereof. A vehicle communication connecting apparatus, which is connected to one or more communication-supported mobile terminals present within a vehicle so as to be capable of simultaneously or selectively displaying execution results of applications, which are being executed in the respective connected mobile terminals, and an operation method thereof. |
| US08717197B2 |
Method for assessing driver attentiveness
A method is provided for assessing the attentiveness of the driver of motor vehicle traveling in a lane including, but not limited to detecting the position of the motor vehicle on the lane transverse to the direction of travel, determining the extent of fluctuations of the position, and assessing the attentiveness as insufficient if within an observation period at least one first significant period is detected in which the extent of fluctuations of the position falls below a first low limiting value and a second significant period is detected in which the extent of the fluctuations exceeds a second high limiting value. |
| US08717190B2 |
Method and apparatus for displaying system status with a wide range of viewing angle
Network device includes a plate, an OTST plate, and a light source. First plate is situated at a first side of the network device wherein the first side can be the front side of device. OTST plate is situated at a second side of the network device and positioned substantially perpendicular to the plate, wherein the OTST plate having a first surface and a second surface further includes status indicators showing performance status associated with the network device. The light source, in one embodiment, can be an LED device capable of projecting a light beam with a predefined angle onto the first surface of OTST plate illuminating one or more status indicators. At least one status indicator is viewable from the second surface or bottom surface of OTST second plate when at least a portion of OTST plate is illuminated. |
| US08717186B2 |
Detection of swelling in batteries
For detecting swelling in batteries supplying power to electrical equipment, at least one contact sensor such as quantum tunneling composite (“QTC”) based pressure-capacitive sensor coated on one surface with a layer of conductive material such as indium tin oxide (“ITO”) or a capacitive sensor coated with the same conductive material is used for attachment to each battery. A capacitance measuring module including a microcontroller is connected to the contact sensor and measures the capacitance of the ITO—coated conductor. If the capacitance under measurement represents an increase in capacitance exceeding a predetermined threshold, indicative of battery swelling, a call for battery replacement and interruption of battery power to the electrical equipment are initiated. |
| US08717179B2 |
Weight sensing alarm for child or baby strollers
The present invention relates to a device, system, kit or apparatus for use with a child or stroller for detecting the removal of the child or baby form the stroller. The present invention may have a fixed plate secured to the frame of the stroller and a flexible plate in close association with a seat of the stroller. The fixed plate and the flexible plate are attachment to the stroller such that they are substantially parallel to each other. A sensor mounted on the fixed plate is engaged directly or indirectly by bending of the flexible plate due to the weight of the child or baby in the seat of the stroller. When the weight of the baby or child is removed from the seat, the flexible plate disengages the sensor due to the flexible plate being biased to maintain its original shape and an alarm is activated. |
| US08717173B2 |
Digital disc alarm
An alarm for digital storage discs includes an alarm module positioned within the central indention found in conventional CD and DVD jewel cases. A lid sensor in communication with the alarm module includes a pair of spaced trigger arms that form an ovate opening. A nodule on the uppermost arm engages the jewel case lid to maintain engagement of electrical contacts on the arms. An arming switch includes a magnetically-operated pin that is extended into the opening formed between the triggers to prevent the contacts from separating. Once the jewel case is sealed, an arming station initially retracts the pin while the case lid firmly engages the nodule to maintain the contacts in engagement. If an unauthorized user opens the jewel case without first extending the pin at the arming station, the triggers will automatically separate thereby activating the alarm. |
| US08717158B2 |
Braking intensity display
A display for a machine having a hydraulic brake is provided. The display includes a first display and a second display. The first display indicates a rate of heat accumulation within the hydraulic brake. The second display indicates a current temperature of the hydraulic brake. |
| US08717153B2 |
Haptic scroll wheel switch for vehicle
The present invention relates to a haptic scroll wheel switch for a vehicle which includes a haptic wheel holder, a haptic wheel, a motor, and an encoder slit. The haptic wheel is rotatably installed in the haptic wheel holder and has a bevel gear unit formed on its one side. The motor is installed in the haptic wheel holder and has a driving shaft and an encoder slit installed on its both ends. More specifically, the driving shaft and the encoder slit are rotated and driven while operating in conjunction with the motor. Furthermore, a pinion gear is fixed to the driving shaft of the motor and geared with the bevel gear of the haptic wheel so that the pinion gear is operated in conjunction with the bevel gear, and a printed circuit board is used in conjunction with a sensor for detecting a rotation of the encoder slit. |
| US08717149B2 |
Remote-control device with directional audio system
A method of directing an audio signal to an intended user by a remote-control device coupled to an audio/video device is described. The remote-control device sends an instruction to the audio/video device to transmit an audio signal. The remote-control device receives the audio signal and processes the audio signal to generate a directional audio. The directional audio is then routed to an intended user such that the directional audio signal is audible to the intended user, but not to other recipients in the vicinity. |
| US08717147B2 |
Passive RFID system and method
Disclosed are a passive RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) system and method capable of recognizing a great deal of tags at a high speed. A reader of a passive RFID system, including: a processor dividing slots and subchannels to configure a round, recognizing subchannels that are not involved in a collision and interference by the slots, and changing the subchannels that are not involved in a collision and interference, into a sleep state; a transmission unit encoding a command generated through the processor, performing an amplitude jitter modulation on the encoded command, and transmitting the modulated command; and a reception unit acquiring and demodulating tag signals received through a plurality of subchannels by the slots, and providing the demodulated tag signals to the processor. |
| US08717141B2 |
Device and method for identifying a user of a medical device
A medical device, with an operating element for triggering the medical device, includes a safety system for preventing an erroneous triggering of the device. The present invention encompasses a method for controlling the medical device including determining if an operating command is given by a person prior to the device's carrying out the command. |
| US08717140B2 |
Thermally responsive switch
A thermally responsive switch includes an airtight container including a metal housing and a header plate, conductive terminal pins airtightly fixed to the header plate, a fixed contact fixed to the conductive terminal pin, a thermally responsive plate one end of which is conductively connected to and fixed to the inner surface of the airtight container and the bending direction of which is reversed at a predetermined temperature, and a movable contact fixed to the other end of the thermally responsive plate. In the thermally responsive switch, the movable contact and the fixed contact are composed of a silver tin oxide based contact and gas containing 50% or more and 95% or less of helium is encapsulated in the airtight container in such a manner that gas pressure is equal to or more than 0.35 and equal to or less than 0.7 at ordinary temperature. |
| US08717126B2 |
Stopper structure for rotary operation member, electronic device, and channel stopper
A stopper structure includes a wall defining an opening. A rotary electronic component has a rotational shaft extending through the opening. A channel stopper has a tubular body and an engagement projection. The tubular body is detachably mounted onto the rotational shaft and is inhibited from rotating relative thereto. The engagement projection extends from an end of the tubular body in an axial direction and a radial direction with respect to the rotational shaft. A rotary operation member is detachably mounted onto the rotational shaft and the tubular body and is inhibited from rotating relative thereto. The rotary operation member has an axial hole in which at least portions of the rotational shaft and the tubular body fit. A limiting portion provided on the wall is engageable with the engagement projection for limiting a range of rotation of the rotational shaft. |
| US08717124B2 |
Thermal management
A transmission line structure, a transmission line thermal manager and/or process thereof. A transmission line thermal manager may include a thermal member. A thermal member may be configured to form a thermal path, for example away from one or more inner conductors of a transmission line. A part of a thermal member may be formed of an electrically insulative and thermally conductive material. One or more inner conductors may be spaced apart from one or more outer conductors in a transmission line. A transmission line and/or a transmission line thermal manager may be configured to maximize a signal through a system, for example by modifying the geometry of one or more transmission line conductors and/or of a thermal manager. |
| US08717119B2 |
Directional coupler
A directional coupler includes: a main strip line connected between a first input terminal and a first output terminal and transmitting high-frequency signals; a sub strip line connected between a second input terminal and a second output terminal, located parallel to the main strip line, and electromagnetically coupled to the main strip line; and a first capacitor connected in parallel with the main strip line or the sub strip line, wherein an LC resonant circuit is constituted by inductances of the main strip line and sub strip line and capacitance of the first capacitor, and the LC resonant circuit resonates with respect to a high-frequency signal propagating from the first input terminal to the second output terminal. |
| US08717116B2 |
Method and apparatus for modifying a characteristic of a complex-valued signal
A method for modifying a characteristic of a representation of a complex-valued signal which comprises at least a representation of a first and a second complex-valued symbol comprising deriving a relative phase angle between the representation of the first and the second complex-valued symbols. The method further comprises combining a representation of a complex-valued enhancement pulse and the representation of the complex-valued signal to obtain a representation of a first and a second corrected complex-valued symbol, wherein the enhancement pulse is chosen such that the relative phase angle between the first and second corrected symbols is smaller than a predetermined threshold. |
| US08717113B2 |
Oscillator and semiconductor integrated circuit device
An oscillator and a semiconductor integrated circuit device with an internal oscillator capable of compensating the temperature characteristics even when there is a large parasitic capacitance too large to ignore directly between the output terminals of the oscillator. In an oscillator containing an inductance element L, and a capacitive element C, and an amplifier each coupled in parallel across a first and second terminal, the amplifier amplifies the resonance generated by the inductance element and capacitive element and issues an output from the first terminal and the second terminal, and in which a first resistance element with a larger resistance value than the parasitic resistance of the inductance element between the first terminal and the second terminal, is coupled in serial with the capacitive element between the first terminal and the second terminal. |
| US08717110B2 |
Frequency-jittering apparatuses, frequency-jittering methods and power management devices
A frequency-jittering apparatuses includes an oscillator and a frequency control circuit. The oscillator generates a signal. When the magnitude of the signal exceeds a magnitude of a reference signal, the oscillator operates substantially in a first state; and when the magnitude of the signal is lower than the magnitude of the reference signal, the oscillator operates substantially in a second state different from the first one. The frequency control circuit varies the reference signal to change the frequency of the signal output from the oscillator. |
| US08717108B2 |
Resonator device
A coaxial resonator device includes a substrate including a chip-and-wire circuit. A resonator is coupled to the substrate using a conductive epoxy. A system includes a resonator device. The resonator device includes a housing having one or more connectors, a resonator coupled to the housing a conductive epoxy, and a chip-and-wire circuit connecting the resonator to the one or more connectors. |
| US08717107B2 |
Phase locked loop, semiconductor device, and wireless tag
An object is to provide a PLL having a wide operating range. Another object is to provide a semiconductor device or a wireless tag which has a wide operating range in a communication distance or temperature by incorporating such a PLL. The semiconductor device or the wireless tag includes a first divider circuit; a second divider circuit; a phase comparator circuit to which an output of the first divider circuit and an output of the second divider circuit are provided; a loop filter to which an output of the phase comparator circuit is supplied and in which a time constant is switched in accordance with an inputted signal; and a voltage controlled oscillator circuit to which an output of the loop filter is supplied and which supplies an output to the second divider circuit. |