| Document | Document Title |
|---|---|
| US08731700B2 |
Device for determining build-to-order production process, program, system for determining build-to-order production process, and method for determining build-to-order production process
A build-to-order production process is determined in consideration of magnitude of demand. A lead time calculating section (122) calculates process-specific lead time proportional to the time at which the number of items required to produce the amount of demand for products which are periodically ordered is processed for each process of manufacturing a product and selects a process in the range in which the sum value after the calculated process-specific lead time is added to the travel time between the processes does not exceed the lead time permissible by the client as a build-to-order selection process. |
| US08731698B2 |
Substrate receiving method and controller
A substrate receiving method in a substrate processing system includes: a processing process of transferring a plurality of unprocessed substrates accommodated in a first substrate storage container to a substrate processing chamber in sequence and performing a plasma process on the unprocessed substrates in the substrate processing chamber; a retreating process of retreating the plasma-processed substrates temporarily to a second substrate storage container by transferring the plasma-processed substrates to the second substrate storage container in sequence; a determining process of determining whether or not the last unprocessed substrate is unloaded from the first substrate storage container; and a re-accommodating process of transferring and re-accommodating the plurality of the processed substrates accommodated in the second substrate storage container into the first substrate storage container in sequence when a substrate decided as the last unprocessed substrate is unloaded in the determining process. |
| US08731693B2 |
Voice input device, method of producing the same, and information processing system
A voice input device includes a first microphone (710-1) that includes a first diaphragm, a second microphone (710-2) that includes a second diaphragm, and a differential signal generation section (720) that generates a differential signal that indicates a difference between a first voltage signal and a second voltage signal, the first diaphragm and the second diaphragm being disposed so that a noise intensity ratio is smaller than an input voice intensity ratio (input voice component intensity ratio), and the differential signal generation section (720) including a gain section (760) that amplifies the first voltage signal by a predetermined gain, and a differential signal output section (740) that generates and outputs a differential signal that indicates a difference between the first voltage signal amplified by the gain section and the second voltage signal. |
| US08731689B2 |
Networked, wireless lighting control system with distributed intelligence
A programmable lighting control system integrates time-based, sensor-based, and manual control of lighting and other loads. The system includes one or more groups of controlled lighting areas, which may be, for example, floors of a building. Each group may have one or more lighting zones, which may be, for example, individual rooms or offices on a building floor. Each lighting zone includes occupancy and/or daylight sensors that may be wirelessly coupled to a gateway of the group. Each gateway is coupled to a network, such as, for example, a local area network (LAN). Control software, residing on a computer (e.g., a personal computer or a server) coupled to the network and accessible via the network, remotely communicates with and controls the lighting zones either individually, groupwise, or globally. Each lighting zone can also be locally controlled at the gateway and can function independently of the control software and the gateway. |
| US08731687B2 |
Method of constructing MRI compatible electrode circuit
An MRI compatible electrode circuit construct is provided. The construct includes at least two filter components constructed from an electrode wire. One filter component may be a resonant LC filter at or near an electrode/wire interface that resolves the issue of insufficient attenuation by effectively blocking the RF induced current on the wire from exiting the wire through the electrode. The second filter component may include one or more non-resonant filter(s) positioned along the length of the electrode wire that resolve(s) the issue of excessive heating of the resonant LC filter by significantly attenuating the current induced on the wire before it reaches the resonant LC filter. The non-resonant filter(s) may also attenuate the RF current reflected from the resonant LC filter thereby resolving the issue of the strong reflected power from the resonant filter and the associated dielectric heating. |
| US08731686B2 |
Burr hole plug having dual slidable clamping mechanisms
A burr hole plug comprises a plug base configured for being mounted around a burr hole. The plug base includes an aperture through which an elongated medical device exiting the burr hole may pass. The burr hole plug further comprises a retainer configured for being mounted within the aperture of the plug base. The retainer further includes first and second slidable clamping mechanisms configured for securing the medical devices therebetween within the aperture of the plug base. A method comprises introducing the medical device through the burr hole, mounting a plug base around the burr hole, such that the medical device extends through the plug base aperture, mounting the retainer within the aperture of the plug base, and sliding the first and second clamping mechanisms secure the medical device therebetween. |
| US08731683B2 |
Stimulation system and method for voice lift
A stimulation system and method for providing training therapy to a human subject having a weakened voice includes an activating switch configured to generate a first signal, and a processor configured to receive the first signal from the sensing electrode and to generate at least one stimulation parameter based on the first signal. The system further includes a stimulating electrode configured to receive the stimulation parameter from the processor and to activate a recurrent laryngeal nerve or vagus nerve of the subject in response to the stimulation parameter. |
| US08731682B2 |
External charging device for charging an implantable medical device and methods of regulating duty cycle of an external charging device
In one embodiment, an external charging device for recharging an implanted medical device, comprises: a battery for powering the external charging device; a coil for radiating RF power; drive circuitry for driving the coil according to a duty cycle; circuitry for generating a signal that is indicative of an amount of current flowing through the coil; and control circuitry for controlling the drive circuitry, wherein the control circuitry is operable to process the signal from the circuitry for generating to detect when a coil of the implantable medical device temporarily ceases absorbing RF power, the control circuitry modifying the duty cycle in response to detection of the coil of the implantable medical device temporarily ceasing absorbing RF power. |
| US08731680B2 |
Therapeutic unit and therapeutic system supporting a follow-up examination
Therapeutic system with implantable therapeutic unit (ITU) comprising control unit (CU), memory, telemetry unit connected (in)directly to CU for wireless bidirectional transmission of data to/from external device (ED) and detection unit for detecting physiological patient data or operational data. CU triggers outgoing data transmission (DT) from ITU to ED based on preselected internal events and establishes standby mode for reception on part of telemetry unit for receiving beginning (header) of incoming DT from ED to therapeutic unit exclusively within preselected response time window after DT from ITU to ED. System designed to add to incoming DT follow-up signaling data which signals an imminent follow-up examination, whereby CU also prompts sensor unit at preselected time point in response to receipt of follow-up signaling data to detect preselected physiological data required for follow-up examination or to detect operational data of therapeutic and store in memory and transmit with subsequent outgoing DT to ED. |
| US08731679B2 |
Implantable medical device configuration based on port usage
In an example, configuring an implantable medical device by determining port usage can include, receiving a port data object, determining a lead configuration, configuring access to a programmable parameter, and displaying a visual indication of the lead configuration. The port data object can be received from the implantable medical device and can include data associated with a port of the implantable medical device capable of connecting to a lead. The determining a lead configuration can be based on the port data object. The configuring access to a programmable parameter can be based on the lead configuration of the implantable medical device. |
| US08731678B2 |
Peripheral nerve stimulation to treat auditory dysfunction
A system and/or method for treating auditory dysfunction by somatosensory system stimulation. The system and/or method comprises a probe and a device to stimulate the probe. The probe has a stimulation portion implanted in communication with a predetermined peripheral nerve site. The stimulation portion of the probe may be implanted in contact with a peripheral nerve dorsal root ganglia, cranial nerve or dermatome area, for example C2 dermatome area or a trigeminal dermatome area. The stimulation portion may be a laminotomy, paddle, surgical, or multiple electrode lead. The device to stimulate the probe may be implanted subcutaneously or transcutaneously. |
| US08731677B2 |
Myocardium conditioning using myocardial and parasympathetic stimulation
Various system embodiments comprise a neural stimulator, a pulse generator, and a controller. The neural stimulator is adapted to generate a neural stimulation signal. The pulse generator is adapted to generate a pacing signal to provide myocardium pacing. The controller is adapted to control the neural stimulator and the pulse generator to provide a cardioprotective conditioning therapy. The conditioning therapy includes neural stimulation to elicit a parasympathetic response and myocardium pacing. Other aspects and embodiments are provided herein. |
| US08731676B2 |
High-frequency electrical nerve block
A method and apparatus that resulted in blocking an action potential in a nerve. |
| US08731671B2 |
Header contact for an implantable device
An implantable medical device includes a housing, a header mounted to the housing, the header including a header body having a bore with an electrical contact located within the bore, wherein the electrical contact includes a plurality of contact points, wherein at least two of the contact points are longitudinally offset from each other along the bore. |
| US08731670B2 |
Passive electrical connector
An electrical connector is disclosed that includes an annular housing having a central aperture for receiving a connector pin and an annular contact spring disposed concentrically within the annular housing and including a plurality of circumferentially spaced apart spring arms, each spring arm having a radially inwardly extending contact pad for resiliently contacting a connector pin inserted into the central aperture of the housing. |
| US08731666B2 |
Minimizing hemodynamic compromise during post-MI remodeling control pacing
A method and device for delivering pre-excitation pacing to prevent or reduce cardiac remodeling following a myocardial infarction is described. The pre-excitation pacing is modulated in accordance with an assessment of cardiac function in order to balance the beneficial effects of stress reduction with hemodynamic compromise. |
| US08731663B2 |
Vagal stimulation during atrial tachyarrhythmia to facilitate cardiac resynchronization therapy
The disclosure describes techniques for delivering vagal stimulation to decrease the ventricular rate response during an atrial tachyarrhythmia, such as atrial fibrillation. Decreasing the ventricular rate response during an atrial tachyarrhythmia may facilitate increased ventricular pacing for cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT), and may also reduce the likelihood of inappropriately detecting a ventricular tachyarrhythmia during the atrial tachyarrhythmia. Furthermore, the vagal stimulation may augment vagal tone, which may facilitate long term left ventricular reverse remodeling and decrease atrial and ventricular arrhythmic burden in heart failure patients. An example system that delivers CRT comprises a processor that detects an atrial tachyarrhythmia in one or more atria of the heart, and monitors at least one of a ventricular rate or degree of ventricular pacing subsequent to the detected atrial arrhythmia. The processor controls a stimulation generator to deliver vagal stimulation based on the least one of a ventricular rate or degree of ventricular pacing. |
| US08731662B2 |
Apparatus and method for the detection and treatment of atrial fibrillation
Embodiments of the invention provide methods for the detection and treatment of atrial fibrillation (AF) and related conditions. One embodiment provides a method comprising measuring electrical activity of the heart using electrodes arranged on the heart surface to define an area for detecting aberrant electrical activity (AEA) and then using the measured electrical activity (MEA) to detect foci of AEA causing AF. A pacing signal may then be sent to the foci to prevent AF onset. Atrial wall motion characteristics (WMC) may be sensed using an accelerometer placed on the heart and used with MEA to detect AF. The WMC may be used to monitor effectiveness of the pacing signal in preventing AF and/or returning the heart to normal sinus rhythm (NSR). Also, upon AF detection, a cardioversion signal may be sent to the atria using the electrodes to depolorize an atrial area causing AF and return the heart to NSR. |
| US08731661B2 |
Refractory period management based on detection of an evoked response
Various approaches are described for managing refractory periods based on the detection of an evoked response. The heart is paced and an evoked response is detected. At least one refractory period is adapted based on the detected evoked response. Adapting the refractory period may involve, for example, initiating a refractory period, terminating a refractory period, extending a refractory period or modifying one or more parameters of the refractory period. Adapting the refractory period may involve modifying a sensing threshold based on the detected evoked response. The sensing threshold of an atrial sensing channel may be adjusted, for example, to avoid sensing a ventricular evoked response on the atrial channel while allowing sensing of a P-wave on the atrial channel. |
| US08731660B2 |
Method and system for setting cardiac resynchronization therapy parameters
A method or system for computing and/or setting optimal cardiac resynchronization pacing parameters as derived from intrinsic conduction data is presented. The intrinsic conduction data includes intrinsic atrio-ventricular and interventricular delay intervals which may be collected via the sensing channels of an implantable cardiac device. Among the parameters which may be optimized in this manner are an atrio-ventricular delay interval and a biventricular offset interval. In one of its aspects, the invention provides for computing optimum pacing parameters for patients having some degree of AV block or with atrial conduction deficits. Another aspect of the invention relates to a pacing mode and configuration for providing cardiac resynchronization therapy to patients with a right ventricular conduction disorder. |
| US08731659B2 |
Multi-site lead/system using a multi-pole connection and methods therefor
One or more multi-electrode lead coupled to a cardiac sensor/stimulator. Each lead includes a lead body extending from one lead proximal end portion to one lead distal end portion. Each lead further includes at least three tissue sensing/stimulation electrodes disposed along the lead body and at least three terminal connections disposed along the lead proximal end. The tissue sensing/stimulation electrodes are each adapted to sense or stimulate a subject's heart. The cardiac sensor/stimulator includes a signal processing circuit adapted to sense the heart in a first instance and stimulate the heart in a second instance by way of one or more tissue electrode configurations. The configurations are selectable from any combination of the tissue sensing/stimulation electrodes of each implanted lead and an indifferent return electrode. In one example, the signal processing circuit automatically selects the tissue electrode configurations. In another example, a user (manually) selects the tissue electrode configurations. |
| US08731658B2 |
System and method for using diagnostic pulses in connection with defibrillation therapy
An external defibrillator system is disclosed that generates and applies a diagnostic signal to the patient in conjunction with defibrillation therapy. The diagnostic signal is designed to elicit a physiologic response from the patient's heart, namely, mechanical cardiac response and electrical cardiac response, electrical cardiac response only, or no cardiac response. Depending upon the type of cardiac response detected, the system selects an appropriate resuscitation protocol that considers the likely responsiveness of the patient to defibrillation therapy. In one practical embodiment, a stimulus signal is applied to patients that show mechanical and electrical capture in response to the diagnostic signal. The stimulus signal maintains the mechanical capture (and, therefore, perfusion) for a period of time prior to the delivery of a defibrillation pulse. |
| US08731657B1 |
Multi-mode microcurrent stimulus system with safety circuitry and related methods
A microcurrent stimulation device with a power supply, two or more electrodes electronically coupled to the power supply, a microcontroller configured to generate an electromagnetic waveform, an impedance measurement module configured to measure electrical impedance of one or more biological tissues between the two or more electrodes. A first safety circuit monitors electric current flow through one or more components of the microcurrent stimulation device and interrupts electric current flow if the electric current flow through the one or more components is above a predetermined level. A second safety circuit interrupts electric current flow through the one or more components if a firmware failure occurs. |
| US08731655B2 |
Compounds containing acyclic N-N bonds for phototherapy
The invention relates generally to optical agents for biomedical applications, including phototherapy. The invention includes optical agents, and related therapeutic methods, comprising compounds with an acyclic N—N bond having at least one aromatic and/or heterocyclic aromatic group providing phototherapeutic agents, including Type 1 phototherapeutic agents. In some embodiments, for example, the invention provides compounds for phototherapeutic methods having one or more photolabile acyclic N—N bonds capable of undergoing photoactivated cleavage to produce reactive species, such as radicals, ions, etc., that achieve a desired therapeutic effect, such as selective and/or localized tissue damage and/or cell death. |
| US08731653B2 |
Monitor of heart failure using bioimpedance
In a method of monitoring pulmonary edema in a human being, an electrical current is injected between a first electrode located in or around a heart and a housing of a medical device implanted in a chest region. A voltage potential is measured between a second electrode in a superior vena cava and a third electrode in the superior vena cava, where the voltage potential is created by the electrical current. Pulmonary edema is assessed based on an impedance value calculated from the electrical current and the voltage potential and a stored edema threshold impedance value. |
| US08731651B2 |
Regulating uterine muscular activity
A method and system for regulating uterine muscular activity including measuring uterine contraction with an electrical uterine monitor (EUM), and using sensed measurements of the uterine contraction to regulate uterine muscular activity by comparing the sensed measurements to a desired level, wherein the difference between sensed and desired level is used to calculate the level of either manual or automatic application of drugs or electrical signals. |
| US08731649B2 |
Systems and methods for analyzing changes in cardiac output
A system is provided including a cardiac output monitor configured to be operatively connected to a detection module that obtains electrocardiogram (ECG) signals from the patient. The monitor includes an axis analysis module and a cardiac output module. The axis analysis module is configured to obtain ECG axis information including information corresponding to at least one ECG axis of a patient. The axis analysis module is also configured to determine ECG axis change information corresponding to a change in the ECG axis information of the patient. The cardiac output analysis module is configured to determine a change in cardiac output using the ECG axis change information. |
| US08731648B2 |
System and method for prioritizing medical conditions
The technology disclosed herein generally relates to a method for providing an index disorder in automated patient care. A set of device measures is stored in a database. Quantitative health care data indicators in the database are provided, where the indicators were regularly recorded by a medical device for a patient under automated patient care. Collected device measures are retrieved with a processor. An index disorder is identified through derived measure determination and statistical calculation with a processor. |
| US08731646B2 |
Prediction and monitoring of clinical episodes
Apparatus and methods are provided including sensing at least one parameter of a subject while the subject sleeps. The parameter is analyzed, and a condition of the subject is determined at least in part responsively to the analysis. The subject is alerted to the condition only after the subject awakes. Other applications are also described. |
| US08731641B2 |
Combination of electromagnetic and electropotential localization
A navigation system or combination of navigation systems can be used to provide two or more types of navigation or modalities of navigation to navigate a single instrument. The single instrument can be positioned within the patient and tracked. For example, both an Electromagnetic (EM) and Electropotential (EP) navigation system can be used to navigate an instrument within a patient. |
| US08731640B2 |
Fluid path system for dissolution and transport of a hyperpolarized material
A fluid path system includes a vial containing a pharmaceutical product therein. A dissolution fluid path is also included in the fluid path system, the dissolution fluid path having an output end in fluid communication with the vial and an input end attached to a pressure vessel containing a dissolution medium. A delivery fluid path is also included in the system having a first end hermetically attached to the vial to transport therefrom a mixture of dissolved pharmaceutical product and dissolution medium and a second end connected to a receiving vessel to receive the mixture. A dissolution fluid path valve is positioned between the pressure vessel and the dissolution fluid path to control flow of the dissolution medium, and a delivery fluid path valve is also included in the fluid path system to control flow of the mixture from the delivery fluid path to the receiving vessel. |
| US08731639B2 |
Adjustable connector, improved fluid flow and reduced clotting risk
Methods and systems for determining the concentration of one or more analytes from a sample such as blood or plasma are described. The systems described herein can be configured to withdraw a sample from a source of fluid, direct a first portion of the withdrawn sample to an analyte monitoring system and return a second portion of the sample. The analyte monitoring system can be connected to the fluid source via a connector that is configured to improve fluid flow and reduce blood clotting risk. These goals can be accomplished, for example, by employing coatings in or on a connector, positioning a resilient substance at or near the junction, by reducing dead space volume, by using resiliency to improve fit, by extending a portion of one connector to better mate with a portion of another connector, etc. |
| US08731636B2 |
Diagnostic method for detection of fluid changes using shielded transmission lines as transmitters or receivers
A diagnostic system for monitoring changes in a medium is disclosed. The system includes a transmitter configured to generate and transmit a time-varying magnetic field into a medium responsive to a first signal. The system also includes a receiver positioned on an opposite side of the medium from the transmitter and configured to generate a second signal responsive to a received magnetic field at the receiver. The system also includes a processing unit configured to determine a phase shift between the transmitted magnetic field and the received magnetic field for a plurality of frequencies of the transmitted time-varying magnetic field. |
| US08731635B2 |
Coils for magnetic resonance spectroscopy and imaging of human breast
System(s) and method(s) for magnetic resonance imaging and spectroscopy, and magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging (MRSI) are provided. A unified heteronuclear coil system includes a volume coil tuned to detect a first nuclei and a butterfly coil tuned to detect a second nuclei for simultaneous detection of both the first nuclei and the second nuclei signals from human breast tissue and perform MRIS. First nuclei and second nuclei each include 1H, 13C, 31P, 23Na, and 19F. The heteronuclear coil system affords detection of NMR-detectable chemicals specific to cancerous breast tissue to improve breast cancer diagnostic specificity. Adjustment of the heteronuclear coil system to detect various nuclei, combined with a specific pulse excitation sequence, facilitates chemical analysis that provides for chemical discrimination and characterization of compounds present in cancerous and other breast tissue as well as healthy breast physiology. |
| US08731633B2 |
Device for positioning electrodes on a user's scalp
A device (1) is described for positioning electrodes on a user's scalp. It comprises a housing (3), for example a headpiece of a headphones device, which can be put around a user's head. An elastic element (11) and a plurality of electrodes are positioned, so that once the housing (3) is put around the user's head, the elastic element (11) at least partly follows the curvature of the user's head. The stress in the elastic element (11) due to stretching thereof caused by putting the housing around the user's head causes the elastic element (11) to exert pressure on at least some of the plurality of electrodes towards the scalp. Hereby, effective contact of the plurality of electrodes to the scalp is facilitated. |
| US08731632B1 |
Electrocardiogram device
An electrocardiogram device, and a corresponding method of administering an electrocardiogram, includes a housing that is placed over a patient's chest, a plurality of electrodes mounted on the housing that align with precordial positions, a conductive gel pad detachably affixed on the housing between the electrodes and the patient's body, and an attachment mechanism for attaching the electrocardiogram device to the patient's chest. The electrocardiogram device of the present invention is suitable for portable or remote testing, and it ensures proper placement of the electrodes for accurate and consistent results. |
| US08731631B2 |
Systems and methods for making and using medical ablation systems having mapping catheters with improved anchoring ability
A mapping catheter includes an elongated body for inserting into patient vasculature. A distal end of the elongated body includes a distal portion that includes a plurality of electrodes, a proximal portion disposed proximal to the distal portion, and a reduced-dimension portion disposed between the proximal and distal portions. The distal end is formed, at least in part, from a memory shape material that bends into a preformed shape upon release from a confined space. The preformed shape includes a first loop formed, at least in part, by the distal portion. The first loop is transverse to a longitudinal axis of the proximal portion. The reduced-dimension portion is configured and arranged to bend such that the reduced-dimension section advances distally through the first loop when the first loop is held in a fixed position and a force is applied distally along the longitudinal axis of the proximal portion. |
| US08731628B1 |
RF cavity fabrication method including adherence of superconductor-coated tiles
As typically embodied, the present invention's RF cavity device comprises a rigid frame and plural flexible tiles. The frame includes walls of at least substantially uniform thicknesses that describe a hollow pillbox shape. The tiles are at least approximately equally thick, each tile being of at least substantially uniform thickness. Each tile includes a flexible metallic substrate and an HTS coating atop the substrate. The tiles are attached via their corresponding substrates to the inside wall surfaces of the frame so that their corresponding HTS coatings are interiorly exposed. The attached tiles flexibly conform to curved surface areas, are snugly set with narrow seams therebetween, and cover at least approximately the entirety of the frame's inside wall surfaces. A filler material is applied to the seams. The resultant tile configuration is characterized by at least approximate levelness of the exposed HTS coating surfaces and the filled seams. |
| US08731625B2 |
Mobile terminal and method of write protection for memory card in the mobile terminal
A mobile terminal and method to write protect a memory card in the mobile terminal. The mobile terminal comprises a body, a battery and a battery cover. The battery cover has a short-circuit connecting member. A memory card socket accommodates a pluggable memory card. A writing control unit has input and output ports, and when the battery cover is jointed with the body, the input and output ports contact the short-circuit connecting member to form a short-circuit connection therebetween; the writing control unit detects whether the battery cover is removed by outputting a test signal from the output port and detecting for the test signal at the input port; if the battery cover is removed, the test signal is not detected at the input port and data is prohibited from being written into the memory card. |
| US08731624B2 |
Electronic device for accessing wireless network and method for saving resources for the device
An electronic device for accessing wireless network includes a radio frequency (RF) module, a power supply management unit, a CPU and a data transmission interface. The RF module receives electromagnetic wave signal from networks and transmits electromagnetic wave signals to the networks. The data transmission interface transmits the electromagnetic wave signals from the RF module to the CPU, and transmits data and commands between the RF module and the CPU. When the electronic device does not communicate with a remote server on the networks during a predetermined time period, the CPU suspends the data transmission interface. A related method of saving resource is also provided. |
| US08731623B2 |
Method of paging
The present invention relates to a wireless access system, and more particularly, to a method of transmitting/receiving a paging message by minimizing power consumption of a mobile station. A method of performing paging for a mobile station in idle mode comprises receiving a deregistration command message including a paging cycle, a paging offset and a paging group identifier and if moving away into a different cell area, performing a location update with a target base station of the different cell area. Preferably, the location update is performed only if moving away into an initially different cell area but is not performed if moving into another different cell area. |
| US08731616B2 |
Active antenna array and method for relaying first and second protocol radio signals in a mobile communications network
The present disclosure teaches an active antenna array for a mobile communications network. The active antenna array comprises a plurality of antenna elements, at least one first splitter, at least one amplifier and at least one first coupler. The first splitter forwards at least one of at least one individual first protocol receive signal and at least one individual second protocol receive signal in a receive direction from an individual one of the plurality of antenna elements. The at least one amplifier amplifies at least one of the individual first protocol receive signal and the individual second protocol receive signal. The at least one first coupler is located in the receive direction downstream of the at least one amplifier and is adapted to forward the at least one individual second protocol receive signal to a second protocol receiver. |
| US08731615B2 |
Display device with mobile communication
The present invention relates to a display device with mobile communication, and more particularly to a display device configured with a processing unit which is led to the subscriber identity module (SIM) card module, enables the display device equipped with functions of mobile communication and networking for environmental safety. |
| US08731614B2 |
Device and method for providing application for external accessory in wireless terminal
A method and device for providing an application for an external accessory in a wireless terminal, by which related applications corresponding to a type of an external accessory connected to a wireless terminal can be displayed. Instead of sifting through applications or searching for the appropriate ones for the external accessory, the invention causes them to be displayed. To this end, the device includes a display unit for displaying related applications for an external accessory connected to the wireless terminal and a controller for sensing a type of the external accessory connected to the wireless terminal and extracting and displaying related applications for the external accessory. |
| US08731611B2 |
Wireless communication apparatus capable of wireless communication with public wireless network and wireless communication apparatus, and image communication apparatus capable of wireless communication with wireless communication apparatus
The invention provides an image communication apparatus in which an image input unit for entering image and a portable communication unit capable of wireless connection with a public wireless network are constructed in separate manner and are rendered capable of mutual wireless communication. |
| US08731609B2 |
Extendable voice commands
A mobile device, such as a cellular telephone includes a voice interface that includes one part that may not be specific to a particular carrier, and a second part that provides an interface to services that are specific to a carrier or to service or information providers that are not necessarily available with all carriers. A voice command interface provides easy access to the carrier services. The set of carrier services is optionally extendible by the carrier. |
| US08731607B2 |
Mobile communication device with subscriber identity module
In one embodiment, a method of directing calls on a mobile communication device comprises receiving a call at the mobile communication device; determining that the received call is directed to subscriber identity information associated with a short-range enabled communication device; selecting on which of the mobile communication device and the short-range enabled device to answer the call; and directing the call to the selected device. |
| US08731600B2 |
Coordinated power boost and power back-off
A system and method are provided for boosting power for a communications link between a base station and a user device, or user equipment, over a communications link channel in a cellular communications network. In one embodiment, the base station determines whether a communications link for a user device located within a sector of a cell served by the base station needs a power boost. If a power boost is needed, the base station provides a power boost for the communications link for the user device and, for each of one or more neighboring sectors that neighbor the sector in which the user device is located, coordinates the power boost in both frequency and time with a power backoff for a downlink to another user device located in a cell center area of the neighboring sector. |
| US08731599B2 |
Method and device for pairing user terminals in multiuser-multiple input multiple output
A method for pairing user terminals in the MU-MIMO system comprises: a base station sets pairing parameters; the base station receives report information of a user terminal, and sets parameter identifiers according to the set pairing parameters and the report information; and after determining that the user terminal which reported the report information is a user terminal to be paired, the base station determines a user terminal paired with the user terminal to be paired according to the set parameter identifiers. A device for pairing user terminals in the MU-MIMO system comprises a parameter setting unit, a parameter identifier setting unit and a pairing performing unit. Under the precondition of considering the path loss condition of the user terminals, the present invention combines with the path condition of the user terminals to pair the user terminals, which can relieve the influences of the interference on the pairing result to a certain extent, and improve the performance of the MU-MIMO system. |
| US08731597B1 |
Method and system of transmitting power control commands
A power control command (PCC) transmission scheme is disclosed. In one embodiment, the PCC transmission scheme may involve an access network engaging in a respective existing communication session with each of a plurality of existing access terminals and sending a respective existing series of power control commands (PCCs) directed to a respective existing access terminal according to a respective existing time schedule. The transmission scheme may further involve the access network deciding to initiate a new communication session with a new access terminal and, in response to the deciding, assigning a new time schedule for sending a new series of PCCs directed to the new access terminal that differs from at least one respective existing time schedule. The transmission scheme may further involve engaging in the new communication session with the new access terminal and sending the new series of PCCs according to the new time schedule. |
| US08731592B2 |
Method for transmitting/receiving service availability information of multimedia broadcasting/multicast service
Disclosed is a mobile communication system for providing a number of User Equipment (UEs) positioned in a plurality of cells with Multimedia Broadcast/Multicast Service (MBMS) using CDMA technology. A Radio Network Controller (RNC) transmits a MBMS availability message to each of the plurality of cells under management regarding at least one MBMS which is available in a corresponding cell in order to support the mobility of the UE which receives the MBMS. The UE decides whether it can receive a desired MBMS in the current cell, after receiving the MBMS availability message, and requests the desired MBMS or reselects another cell. The continuity of MBMS reception is improved while UEs using the MBMS are moving and the overhead of RRC connection setup for unnecessary MBMS request is reduced. |
| US08731585B2 |
Intelligent reverse geocoding
Methods and apparatus, including computer program products, for obtaining location information from a location source. A geographic reference point is determined based on accuracy of the location information. The geographic reference point is incorporated into a location result. |
| US08731583B2 |
Interactive ID system using mobile devices
An interactive ID system enables dynamic delivery of content to a mobile device of a person on a campus. The system includes an interactive ID server coupled to receive a tag ID of a near field communication (NFC) tag and a reader ID of an NFC reader in communication with the NFC tag, in which one of the NFC tag and the NFC reader is on the mobile device and either the tag ID or the reader ID is associated with the person. The interactive ID server determines and communicates the content provided to the mobile device. |
| US08731582B2 |
Method and system for generating targeted content
In one embodiment of a method for generating targeted content, an indication of a geographic position is received from a mobile electronic device. An instance of targeted content is generated based upon the geographic position of the mobile electronic device. |
| US08731577B2 |
Method and apparatus for enabling vehicle applications using heterogeneous wireless data pipes
A method for determining which of a plurality of data connectivity pipes will be used to transmit data for one or more applications operating on a vehicle. The method identifies which of the applications are active at a particular point in time and identifies a number of available configurations based on the number of applications that are active and the number of the data pipes that are available to transmit the data for the application. The method identifies a plurality of performance metrics for each configuration and determines an optimal performance value for each performance metric from all of the configurations. The method then determines an overall utility function for each configuration that is based on its performance metrics and the optimal performance value and selects a data pipe for each application that is active based on a maximum overall utility function from each application's available overall utility functions. |
| US08731576B2 |
Wireless communication system, wireless communication method, base station, mobile station, base station control method, mobile station control method, and control program
To alleviate interference by a transmission signal on the uplink and downlink of a femto base station to a transmission signal on the uplink and downlink of a macro base station and/or a micro base station. A mobile station 9-2 and a femto base station 5-1 located within a macrocell 6 and a microcell 7 receive the HCS priority level of the macrocell 6 and the microcell 7 from a macro base station 3 or a micro base station 4. The mobile station 9-2 selects the microcell 7 having a higher HCS priority level, and performs communication by using a radio frequency RF3. Meanwhile, the femto base station 5-1 communicates with a mobile station by using a radio frequency RF1 used in the macrocell 6 having a lower HCS priority level. |
| US08731565B2 |
Apparatus and method of performing handover in wireless communication system
A method and apparatus of performing a handover from a macro cell to a closed subscriber group (CSG) cell in a wireless communication system is provided. A user equipment transmits to a macro cell proxy information which indicates at least one frequency for at least one member CSG cell and receives from the macro cell a handover command which commands a handover from the macro cell to a target CSG cell. The user equipment performs the handover from the macro cell to the target CSG cell and checks whether additional proxy information indicating an additional frequency for at least one additional member CSG cell during the handover is found. The user equipment transmits to the target CSG cell the additional proxy information after completing the handover. |
| US08731561B2 |
Area detection apparatus, area detection method and area detection recording medium
An area detection apparatus includes an acquirer configured to acquire received power values in a plurality of areas from neighboring base stations, an identifier configured to identify an area including a handover point for a mobile station on the basis of the received power values, a calculator configured to calculate communication qualities of the neighboring base stations in the area including the handover point, and a determiner configured to determine whether or not the area including the handover point is an area incapable of communication with the neighboring base stations with a predetermined communication quality on the basis of the communication qualities of the neighboring base stations. |
| US08731560B2 |
Access point synchronization with cooperative mobile devices
A mobile device provides first information to an access point over an out-of-band wireless link. The access point uses the first information to coarsely synchronize with a macrocell base station. The access point transmits a low power pilot signal that is formed using a pseudo-random noise (PN) sequence. The mobile device uses the out-of-band wireless link to provide second information to the access point that indicates a PN phase of the pilot signal with respect to a reference time point. The access point uses the second information to finely synchronize with the macrocell base station. The mobile device communicates with a mobile operator core network through the access point using an in-band wireless link to the access point. The mobile device compensates for propagation delay when obtaining time information. The mobile device provides additional information to the access point, which the access point uses to adjust for continued clock drift. |
| US08731555B2 |
Communication method, user equipment and radio base station in radio communication system
A user equipment transmits information for a radio base station using either of radio resources associated with individual multi-beams, which may be formed by the radio base station, and the radio base station performs reception processing of the radio resources for the individual multi-beams. |
| US08731548B2 |
Method and arrangement for event triggered adaptive cell detection activity level in discontinuous reception
In a cellular communication network, a user equipment can adapt the intensity (or measurement activity) with which it attempts to identify a new neighbor cell, based on a comparison of the quality of the already identified neighbor cells with the quality of a reference cell. This intensity is lower provided that the downlink received signal level (e.g. in terms of CPICH Ec/No or/and SCH Ec/No) from an appropriate selection of neighbor cells (cells belonging to active or candidate set) is not weaker than the reference (e.g. serving) cell by a certain threshold. On the other hand the UE shall identify a new cell with higher intensity provided the downlink received signal level (e.g. in terms of CPICH Ec/No or/and SCH Ec/No) from said selection of neighbor cells is weaker than the reference cell by a certain threshold. |
| US08731547B2 |
Network node and mobile terminal
A technique is disclosed, according to which a mobile node, having a plurality of interfaces and performing communication according to flow information when an operator is performing communication based on the flow information as defined by a policy, can select an interface suitable for the flow and can perform communication. According to this technique, a mobile node (MN 10) having a plurality of interfaces has a list to indicate domain limited flows to be transmitted only within a specific network (a trusted network), and a list to indicate the trusted networks. When a certain interface performs handover, and in case there is a domain limited flow that uses the interface, it is decided whether the network of handover destination is a trusted network or not, and in case the network of the handover destination is not a trusted network, it is decided whether it is possible or not to transmit and receive the domain limited flow via another interface that is connected to the trusted network. |
| US08731544B2 |
Call intercept methods, such as for customer self-support on a mobile device
A method for intercepting calls from a remote or mobile device for customer self-support detects when users or subscribers dial one or more predetermined numbers. If the number corresponds to one of the predetermined numbers (such as a customer support number), the phone may intercept the call and display a list of potential solutions to the subscriber's problems. Various other features and embodiments art disclosed. |
| US08731540B1 |
Communication device
The communication device comprising a multiple function implementer, wherein the multiple function implementer implements a voice communication function, a digital mirror function, a non-digital mirror function, and an email function. |
| US08731538B2 |
System, method, and apparatus for automatic scheduled silencing of wireless transmitters
A wireless telecommunication system that automatically enforces a quiet time mode of operation for a wireless handset comprises a cellular telecommunication network, and a wireless handset configured to transmit voice and data information to, and configured to receive voice and data information from the cellular telecommunication network. The wireless handset comprises a quiet time controller configured to disable the wireless handset from issuing the audible notification during scheduled quiet time periods. |
| US08731533B2 |
Methods and apparatuses for reconnecting calls with quality problems or reconnecting dropped calls
The invention provides methods and apparatuses covering subscriber initiated handoff to improve call quality, change networks, record a quality event, or for other purposes. The subscriber initiated handoff is primarily designed to be used in conjunction with a wireless network. |
| US08731532B2 |
Method for delivering electronic documents using mobile telephony identifiers in a secure manner in conjunction with internet protocols and address systems
Systems, methods, and media for delivering electronic documents using mobile telephony identifiers, such as IMEI, in a secure manner in conjunction with Internet protocols and address systems are provided herein. According to some embodiments, exemplary methods may include receiving a communication, determining a hybrid endpoint identifier associated with a communications device by evaluating the communication for either the hybrid endpoint identifier or routing information, the hybrid endpoint identifier comprising an identifier appended to a telephone number, and routing the communication to the communications device via a telephony network based upon the hybrid endpoint identifier. |
| US08731531B2 |
Communications system providing automatic text-to-speech conversion features and related methods
A communications system may include at least one mobile wireless communications device, and a wireless communications network for sending text messages thereto. More particularly, the at least one mobile wireless communications device may include a wireless transceiver and a controller for cooperating therewith for receiving text messages from the wireless communications network. It may further include a headset output connected to the controller. The controller may be for switching between a normal message mode and an audio message mode based upon a connection between the headset output and a headset. Moreover, when in the audio message mode, the controller may output at least one audio message including speech generated from at least one of the received text messages via the headset output. |
| US08731530B1 |
In-vehicle driver cell phone detector
System and method for monitoring emissions from a cell phone in a vehicle having a driver side and a passenger side. A first directional antennas is aimed toward the passenger side, a second directional antennas is aimed toward a location in which a head of a driver would be situated when a driver is situated on the driver side, and a third directional antenna is aimed toward a location below the location at which the second antennas is aimed on the driver side. A receiver is associated with each antenna and includes at least one amplifier and a rectifier module that converting radio frequency signals to direct current signals. A microprocessor processes the direct current signals received and determines based thereon which antenna provides a strongest signal, which can be correlated to a most likely location of a cell phone being used by an occupant in the vehicle. |
| US08731528B2 |
System and method of exchanging identification information for mobile stations
A system is provided for allowing mobile stations to exchange identification information using a predetermined communication path for the purpose of obtaining identification information to use in establishing a different communication path for communicating. |
| US08731526B2 |
System and methods for upcoming event notification and mobile purchasing
Various embodiments relate generally to providing upcoming event notification and mobile purchasing and, more specifically but not exclusively relate to a system and methods for providing notifications of upcoming events to users of an online secondary ticket marketplace and allowing the users to purchase tickets to upcoming events using a mobile device. In one embodiment, a network-based system may receive a registration request from a user to receive alert notifications for upcoming events. The registration request may comprise a telephone number for a mobile device of the user. The network-based system may send an alert notification for an upcoming event to the mobile device of the user over a mobile telephone network. The alert notification may comprise a text message including relevant static or dynamic event information as well as an embedded hyperlink for allowing the user to transact a mobile purchase. |
| US08731518B2 |
System and method for receiving and transferring a telephone directory from one cellular telephone to the same or another
A cellular telephone, system and method are provided which are capable of transferring a portion of or an entire telephone directory consisting of a plurality of telephone numbers to another cellular telephone via a remote central station. The remote central station receives the telephone directory and stores the same in memory for either temporary or permanent storage. The telephone directory can then be transferred from the remote central station to the same or another cellular telephone for storing the telephone directory within a memory of the cellular telephone. An individual, a company, or other entity, utilizing the remote central station, in order to store and transfer a telephone directory from a cellular telephone to the same cellular telephone or to at least another cellular telephone, pays a fee to at least one operator of the remote central station for providing and/or performing the receiving, storing and transferring services. |
| US08731513B2 |
System and method for delivering mobile wireless broadcast messages in designated languages
A mobile wireless system and method are described for distributing emergency alert messages to mobile wireless devices in multiple languages. The emergency alert system receives an alert message including a geographic area identification, and a text alert. The emergency alert system renders one or more translations of the text alert from the text alert. The one or more translated versions of the text alert are provided in particular foreign languages based upon designated foreign languages corresponding to the geographic area identification. The emergency alert system transmits the text alert and one or more translated text alerts commercial mobile wireless service provider networks for broadcasting the text alert and the translated text alert(s) via mobile wireless transmitters having a coverage area falling within a region corresponding to the geographic area identification. |
| US08731512B2 |
System and method for effecting context-cognizant medical reminders for a patient
A system for effecting context-cognizant medical reminders for a patient; the system including: (a) at least one sensor unit situated proximately with the patient; the at least one sensor unit sensing and indicating at least one aspect of a personal context of the patient; (b) at least one long-range communication unit configured for wireless communication with a remote patient care monitoring facility via a wireless communication network; and (c) at least one short-range communication unit communicatingly coupled with the at least one sensor unit and with the at least one long-range communication unit; the at least one short-range communication unit and the at least one long-range communication unit cooperating to convey information from the at least one sensor unit to the remote patient care monitoring facility regarding the personal context of the patient. |
| US08731508B2 |
Power management of radio transceiver elements
A radio receiver includes a power control module for selectively powering down and powering up radio receiver elements in between known communication periods according to one aspect of the present invention. According to a second aspect of the invention, the radio receiver operates in a low power mode of operation and periodically “sniffs” to determine whether an access point has messages or communication signals to transmit to it. |
| US08731506B2 |
Complementary low noise transductor with active single ended to differential signal conversion
Systems and methods for providing single-ended to differential signal conversion are described. A single-ended voltage signal may be received from an input of a low noise amplifier. The single-ended voltage signal may be coupled to a first input stage to match a source impedance of the single-ended voltage signal to a predetermined output impedance. The single-ended voltage signal with the predetermined output impedance may be output as a first voltage signal to a first converting stage. An input bias voltage may be provided to the first converting stage to bias the first voltage signal. The biased first voltage signal may be output as a first differential-ended current signal to an output of the low noise amplifier. |
| US08731503B2 |
RF performance improvement
A method is disclosed that includes measuring, under control of one or more processors of a mobile device, performance of a radio frequency reception parameter for radio frequency reception for the mobile device. The mobile device includes one or more antennas over which the radio frequency reception occurs and the one or more processors. The method includes causing movement of the mobile device to improve the performance of the radio frequency reception parameter. A mobile device includes one or more antennas over which radio frequency reception occurs, one or more processors, and one or more memories including computer program code. The mobile device performs at least the following: measuring, under control of the one or more processors, performance of a radio frequency reception parameter, and causing movement of the mobile device to improve the performance of the a radio frequency reception parameter. Program products are also disclosed. |
| US08731501B2 |
Systems and methods for tuning a broadcast radio receiver with digital display
Systems and methods that employ receiver circuitry to provide frequency display signals to a digital display without the presence or use of any external timing reference. One or more properties of a controllable local oscillator of a receiver circuit may be heavily or extensively characterized by measuring the local oscillator frequency under a variety of temperature and process conditions, and minimum to maximum frequencies. Measured local oscillator characterization information may be stored in memory, and may be accessed and used during normal operation to control the controllable local oscillator to produce a desired oscillator frequency for tuning the receiver circuitry to a desired radio frequency and for producing digital frequency display signals that are representative of the tuned radio frequency. |
| US08731500B2 |
Automatic gain control based on bandwidth and delay spread
A gain control circuit adjusts the signal level of a received signal responsive to the bandwidth a received signal and/or the delay spread of the channel in which the signal has propagated. The bandwidth and delay spread are evaluated to estimate the amount of signal variation that is expected due to fast fading. Adjustments to the signal level are then made to avoid clipping while at the same time ensuring that the dynamic range of a receiver component is efficiently utilized. |
| US08731495B2 |
System and method for digital memorized predistortion for wireless communication
An embodiment of the invention is a system for signal processing in preparation for wireless transmission, the wireless transmission being from a portable wireless communication device and including use of a power amplifier having nonlinear characteristics. The system includes memory for storing digitally-indexed information. The digitally-indexed information models nonlinear characteristics of the power amplifier, and the digitally-indexed information is stored prior to processing of a first signal that reflects information to be communicated. The system further includes first logic, configured to accept the first signal and to retrieve, based on the first signal, a portion of the digitally-indexed information stored in the memory, and second logic, configured to generate a second signal based on the portion of the digitally-accessed information and on the first signal. The second signal pre-compensates for the nonlinear characteristics of the power amplifier, and the second signal is for wireless transmission based on the second signal. |
| US08731491B2 |
Interference reduction systems and methods
The antenna on hand held devices, such as the iPhone or iPad, can be subject to interference from other circuitry on the device. Such interference may come from high frequency switching of nearby display circuitry, such as de-multiplexors or other circuits. To address this issue, the switching rates may be slowed in certain circuits by adding resistance and/or capacitance, thus raising the RC time constant and slowing the switching times to reduce the high frequency components. Alternatively or in addition to, an EMI shield can be placed over some or all of the display driving circuitry to shield the antenna from high frequency interference. |
| US08731488B2 |
Wireless communication apparatus and method
According to one embodiment, a wireless communication apparatus includes a perturbation vector addition unit, a weight multiplication unit and a normalization coefficient multiplication unit. The perturbation vector addition unit is configured to add a perturbation vector only to a first data signal of a first transmission signal containing a first pilot signal and the first data signal, and obtain a second transmission signal containing a second pilot signal and a second data signal. The weight multiplication unit is configured to multiply each of the second pilot signal and the second data signal by a weight for removing interference on a reception side, and obtain a third transmission signal containing a third pilot signal and a third data signal. The normalization coefficient multiplication unit is configured to multiply each of the third pilot signal and the third data signal by a common normalization coefficient for normalizing a total transmission power. |
| US08731485B2 |
RF switches
RF switching devices are provided that alternatively couple an antenna to either a transmitter amplifier or a receiver amplifier. An exemplary RF switching device comprises two valves, one for a receiver transmission line between the antenna and the receiver amplifier, the other for a transmitter transmission line between the antenna and the power amplifier. Each valve is switchably coupled between ground and its transmission line. When coupled to ground, current flowing through the valve increases the impedance of the transmission line thereby attenuating signals on the transmission line. When decoupled from ground, the impedance of the transmission line is essentially unaffected. The pair of valves is controlled such that when one valve is on the other valve is off, and vice versa, so that the antenna is either receiving signals from the power amplifier or the receiver amplifier is receiving signals from the antenna. |
| US08731483B2 |
Array antenna system
A method for an antenna system including a transmitting phase array antenna including a transmitting antenna subarray including a number of antenna elements transmitting on a first frequency and a receiving phase array antenna including a receiving antenna subarray including a number of antenna elements. The transmitting antenna subarray antenna is positioned at a distance relative the receiving antenna subarray antenna and the coupling between two antenna subarrays are decided and used for controlling the transmitting subarray antenna to transmit in such a way that there will be nulling of the energy in the receiving antenna subarray antenna with respect to the transmitting antenna subarray. |
| US08731472B2 |
Portable mobile apparatus providing supplementary service for user and method thereof
The prevent invention relates to a portable mobile apparatus for a user for providing a supplementary service and a method for providing a supplementary service by using the same, and more particularly, to an apparatus and a method for providing supplementary enhanced services by using an application run in a portable mobile terminal when the portable mobile terminal such as a cellular phone or a smart phone is used for a service through short-range RF communication. The present invention can provide a variety of supplementary services to the user by using an operation function included in the application in the mobile terminal when performing the services through the short-range RF communication. Specifically, it is possible to automate the supplementary function or provide convenience to the user and interact with the user. |
| US08731469B2 |
Data receiving apparatus, data transmitting apparatus, method for controlling the same and program
The present invention enables a data obtaining apparatus to select data to be transferred without maintaining a communication connection through close-proximity wireless communication. Accordingly, when a digital camera is communicatively connected to an external device through close-proximity wireless communication, a central processor of the digital camera obtains, from the external device, index information indicating a list of data stored in the external device. Next, the central processor terminates the communication connection to the external device and receives a designation of data to be transferred via an operation unit based on the index information. After having designated data to be transferred, an image processing unit of the digital camera obtains designated data from the external device when the camera is communicatively reconnected to the external device through close-proximity wireless communication. |
| US08731468B2 |
Devices for point-to-point wireless high-output data transmission between a parked vehicle and a fixed infrastructure
A wireless high-rate communication device for a vehicle, adapted for data exchange between at least one computer system of the vehicle and at least one computer system of a structure separate from the vehicle. The device includes at least one antenna connected to at least one emitter/receiver in turn connected to the at least one computer system of the vehicle, the device adapted for exchanging data according to a point-to-point ultra-wideband communication mode, with a device of the structure including at least one antenna connected to at least one emitter/receiver in turn connected to at least one computer system of the structure when the at least one antenna of the vehicle is in a vicinity of the at least one antenna of the structure. |
| US08731465B2 |
Enhanced near field communication terminal, smart card and communication method thereof
The present invention discloses a smart card communication method, a smart card, and an enhanced near field communication NFC terminal. The method is used for communication between the smart card and an NFC contactless front-end chip; when installing a contactless payment application, the smart card records a communication standard adopted by a contactless payment system corresponding to the contactless payment application, wherein the communication standard is identified by identification information provided by the contactless payment application; it further comprises: for each card application gate, the smart card judges whether a contactless payment application corresponding to the card application gate exists based on the identification information; if yes, creating a pipe between the card application gate and a corresponding card RF gate in the NFC contactless front-end chip. |
| US08731463B2 |
Method for configuring an adaptive processing of primary signals by the transmission of secondary spread-frequency signaling signals
A technique for configuring, in real time, an equipment item receiving and processing primary signals which are transmitted to it by satellite link, the technique including transmitting secondary signals with frequencies spread over a band at least partially overlapping a frequency band occupied by the primary signals, the secondary signals including signalling parameters which are used, in real time, by the equipment item to configure processing applied to the primary signals. The technique is applicable to dynamic switching of beams in a multi-beam satellite and to dynamic switching of frames, for example in a time-division multiple access system. |
| US08731451B2 |
Fixing device and image forming apparatus with fixing belt refreshing roller
A fixing device includes a heater that transports a recording medium while rotating in a first direction and fixes an image formed on the recording medium to the recording medium by heating the image, a reducing member that rotates in a second direction different from the first direction, the reducing member and the heater contacting each other and rotating at different speeds, and the reducing member scratching an outer peripheral surface of the heater, and a moving device that moves the heater with respect to the reducing member in a direction of a rotational axis of the reducing member. |
| US08731448B2 |
Image forming apparatus including a secondary transfer nip formed with a movable roller
An image forming apparatus including an endless intermediate transfer member stretched over a plurality of rollers; a first biasing member; a secondary transfer roller to be pressed against a surface of the intermediate transfer member by the first biasing member; an opposed roller disposed opposite the secondary transfer roller to thus form a secondary transfer nip at which the toner image carried on the intermediate transfer member is transferred onto a recording medium; and a second biasing member to bias the opposed roller. The secondary transfer roller and the opposed roller are movable along a line connecting respective axes of the rollers and a pressure F2 applied by the first biasing member to the secondary transfer roller at the secondary transfer nip is greater than a pressure F1 applied to the opposed roller by the second biasing member at the secondary transfer nip. |
| US08731447B2 |
Skew aligning interacting belts apparatus
Aligning image transfer assembly belts using two driven image-bearing belts simultaneously engaged with a driven transport belt. Each image-bearing belt conveys image-forming marking material formed thereon, wherein the transport belt is selectively engageable by the two image-bearing belts. The selective engagement of each image-bearing belt being independent from the other, wherein the two image-bearing belts are remote from one another. The method and apparatus also output signals representing at least one detected lateral positions of an edge of a measured belt using at least one edge sensor. The detected lateral position measured can be achieved by one or two edge sensors, wherein the two edge sensors would be disposed remote from one another along an extent across which the edge of the measured belt moves. Then a skew indication of the simultaneously engaged two image-bearing belts is determined based on a the output edge sensor(s) signals. |
| US08731445B2 |
Developing unit
The developing unit includes a developing section, a developer container, and a partition wall. The developing section includes a developer-bearing member, a supplying member, and a conveying member. The developer container is positioned adjacent to the developing section and configured to contain the developer. The partition wall is positioned adjacent to the conveying member and configured to separate the developing section and the developer container. The partition wall has a supply port, and a return port. A downstream end of the conveying member in a developer conveying direction is extended axially outward with respect to the supplying member. The return port faces the downstream end of the conveying member. |
| US08731444B2 |
Develop roller, develop unit, process cartridge, and image forming apparatus
A develop roller includes a magnet roller, and a develop sleeve containing the magnet roller and comprising a plurality of depressions in an elliptic shape regularly arranged with an interval in a longitudinal direction on a surface onto which developer is attracted by a magnetic force of the magnet roller, wherein the depressions are arranged such that a longitudinal direction of the depressions is intersected with the longitudinal direction of the develop sleeve, and a downstream side of the depressions are formed to be deeper than an upstream side in a rotary direction of the develop sleeve. |
| US08731432B1 |
Toner tank seal
This invention provides a seal for the tank/developer section of a two-piece toner cartridge that is applied externally to the section at the opening of the developer roller, where it is intended to confront the drum in the fully assembled cartridge. The seal assembly includes a resilient seal member, illustratively constructed from a stiffening bar that caps a resilient/pliable foam or another elastomer. The foam impinges on the doctor blade where it meets the developer roller, to bias the doctor blade against the developer roller and seal this region against the exit of toner. The foam and stiffening bar have an elongated length that matches the developer opening so that this region is fully sealed along its length. The stiffener is flexibly attached to a sheet material. The sheet is secured to the cartridge surface at a respective edge on each side by releasable adhesive. |
| US08731430B2 |
Charging device
In a configuration in which a carriage jumps at an end of a screw without using a sensor for detecting a position, when a load for moving the carriage in a longitudinal direction is increased, the carriage jumps at an unintended position of a charging wire. An urging member is regulated not to be displaceable greater than a difference between a concave portion and a convex portion of the screw when the regulation member is at a regulation position, and is displaceable greater than the difference between the concave portion and the convex portion of the screw when the regulation member is at a retreat position. |
| US08731429B2 |
Image forming apparatus
The present invention prevents condensation on a pressure roller and excessive temperature rise of a non-paper-passage portion of a fixing unit by switching a blower unit that cools the fixing unit between a blowing mode in which the blower unit sends air to the non-paper-passage portion and an exhausting mode in which a fan of the blower unit is rotated reversely and the air in the fixing unit is exhausted out of the apparatus. |
| US08731428B2 |
Image-forming apparatus with grounded metallic supporting portion
An image-forming apparatus such as a printer. The image forming apparatus includes: an image-forming unit, a bearing, and a metallic supporting portion. The image-forming unit includes an image holder having a rotating shaft, and forms an image on the image holder. The bearing is made of a conductive sintered compact and contacts and supports the rotating shaft so that the rotating shaft is able to rotate. The metallic supporting portion is electrically grounded, and has a cut that contacts and supports the bearing. |
| US08731423B2 |
Image forming apparatus and control device and control method of fixing device
An image forming apparatus includes: an image forming section including a fixing device configured to fix an image on a sheet; an acquiring section configured to acquire setting information of printing target data; a determining section configured to determine a first time on the basis of the setting information acquired by the acquiring section; and an output section configured to output a control signal to the fixing device to set a heat accumulation time of the fixing device to the first time determined by the determining section. |
| US08731420B2 |
Image forming apparatus and methods of setting transfer current and forming image
An image forming apparatus includes an image carrier, a transferer to apply a constant-current controlled bias to a transfer medium to form a transfer electric field, a constant-current source configured to apply an electrical current to the transferer, an electrical characteristic detector, an environment detector, a first corrector, a second corrector, and a third corrector. The electrical characteristic detector detects an electrical characteristic value corresponding to a resistance in a current path from the constant-current source to the transferer. The environment detector detects an environmental condition inside the image forming apparatus. The first corrector corrects the electrical current based on the electrical characteristic detection and a predetermined threshold. The second corrector corrects the electrical current based on the environment detection. The third corrector sets the threshold based on the environment detection. |
| US08731419B2 |
Image forming apparatus and image density control method
An image forming apparatus including an image carrier; an intermediate transfer member having a first portion and a second portion that has a higher glossiness than that of the first portion; a primary transfer member; a light source to emit light to the intermediate transfer member side; a detector to detect intensity of reflected light emitted from the light source and then reflected from the intermediate transfer member and a density adjustment pattern formed on the intermediate transfer member; a processor including a light-emission intensity adjuster to adjust light-emission intensity from the light source based on detected intensity of light reflected from the second portion of the intermediate transfer member; and an image forming condition controller to control image forming conditions for forming a toner image based on the detected intensity of the light reflected from the density adjustment pattern formed on the intermediate transfer member. |
| US08731415B2 |
Capacitive sensor for sensing state of waste toner box in an imaging apparatus
A capacitive sensor for sensing amount of waste toner in a waste toner box of an imaging apparatus includes a capacitor that has a pair of separated plates disposed within the interior of the waste toner box. The capacitance of the capacitor changes with the amount of toner in between the plates of the capacitor. A sensor circuitry is connected to the plates of the waste toner box that measure the capacitance of the capacitor as a voltage value. This voltage value is provided to a controller that determines a relative change in the capacitance value by determining a change in capacitance of the capacitor with respect to a number of pages printed by the imaging apparatus. The controller then determines the state of the waste toner box based on this relative change in capacitance. |
| US08731414B2 |
Optical receiver for receiving light and optoelectronic measuring arrangement
The present invention relates to an optical receiver (1) for receiving alternating-light data signals and for storing electrical energy obtained from extraneous light, having a photodiode (2) for receiving light, which comprises extraneous light and an alternating-light data signal component with a higher frequency in comparison to the extraneous light, and for converting the light into a photocurrent (IP) which comprises a data signal current (IN) and an extraneous light current (IF) said receiver additionally comprises a coupling unit (3) for coupling in and separating the data signal current generated by the optical alternating-light data signal component from the extraneous light current generated by the extraneous light, an amplifying unit (4) for amplifying the data signal current and an energy storage unit (5) which is charged by the extraneous light current (IF) and which includes a circuit for increasing voltage, wherein the energy charged in the energy storage unit (5) is used for at least partially supplying the energy for the optical receiver (1) and/or for at least partially supplying the energy for a measurement arrangement (16) comprising the optical receiver (1). |
| US08731410B2 |
Method and system for split voltage domain receiver circuits
Methods and systems for split voltage domain receiver circuits are disclosed and may include amplifying complementary received signals in a plurality of partial voltage domains. The signals may be combined into a single differential signal in a single voltage domain. Each of the partial voltage domains may be offset by a DC voltage from the other partial voltage domains. The sum of the partial domains may be equal to a supply voltage of the integrated circuit. The complementary signals may be received from a photodiode. The amplified received signals may be amplified via stacked common source amplifiers, common emitter amplifiers, or stacked inverters. The amplified received signals may be DC coupled prior to combining. The complementary received signals may be amplified and combined via cascode amplifiers. The voltage domains may be stacked, and may be controlled via feedback loops. The photodetector may be integrated in the integrated circuit. |
| US08731407B2 |
Optically coupled insulating device
According to one embodiment, an optically coupled insulating device includes an optical transmitter and an optical receiver. The optical transmitter includes an analog-to-digital converter, an encoder, a transmitting controller, and an electrooptical transducer. The encoder is configured to generate a transmitting signal by superimposing an output of the analog-to-digital converter onto a signal based on a clock signal. The transmitting signal is encoded to have an average duty ratio of more than zero and less than one. The transmitting controller is configured to output one of the transmitting signal and the output of the analog-to-digital converter depending on an input level of the analog signal. The electrooptical transducer is configured to convert an output of the transmitting controller into an optical signal. The optical receiver includes an optoelectrical transducer, a decoder, and a receiving controller. |
| US08731404B2 |
Optical transmission system
An optical transmission system is provided. The optical transmission system includes a user side optical repeater device (ORD), a central office side ORD, and wavelength multiplexing and wavelength de-multiplexing functions (MUX/DEMUX). The user side optical repeater device (ORD) is to be connected with a user side optical network unit (ONU), transmits data in two ways, and is used for wavelength division multiplexing (WDM). The central office side ORD is to be connected with a central office side optical line terminal (OLT), transmits data in two ways, and is used for WDM. The wavelength multiplexing and a wavelength de-multiplexing functions (MUX/DEMUX), are used for relaying between the user side ORD and the central office side ORD. |
| US08731402B2 |
Orthogonally-combining wavelength selective switch multiplexer and systems and methods using same
In general, a wavelength division multiplexed (WDM) communication system may use wavelength selective switching to simultaneously pre-filter and combine groups of channel wavelengths with orthogonal polarizations to provide a pre-filtered, pair-wise orthogonal aggregate WDM optical signal. An orthogonally-combining wavelength selective switch (WSS) multiplexer may route channel wavelengths individually from different sets of channels to a common output. The orthogonally-combining WSS multiplexer may also provide substantially orthogonal polarizations for the wavelengths in the different sets of channels. The different sets of channels may include odd channels and even channels. |
| US08731401B2 |
Dense wavelength division multiplexing multi-mode switching systems and methods for concurrent and dynamic reconfiguration with different switching modes
A Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM) multi-mode switching system and method and method provides concurrent switching in various switching modes. For example, WDM links may communicate data in various switching modes including, but not limited to, an electronic packet switching (EPS) mode, optical circuit switching (OCS) mode, and optical burst switching (OBS) mode. Edge routers and core routers in the WDM multi-mode switching systems and methods provide switching and processing necessary to handle data provided in the various switching modes. Further, the WDM multi-mode switching systems and methods can also provide dynamic reconfiguration between the various switching modes. |
| US08731395B2 |
Finder unit, image capturing apparatus, and computer readable medium
Provided is a finder unit including: a transmission-type display section that displays information as overlaid on a subject image; and a display controller that, when an illuminating section illuminates the display section, changes a first display state to a second display state, where in the first display state, a first region which is at least a part of an outer region of an effective image capturing range is displayed so that a transmission ratio of the subject image in the first region is lowered, and in the second display state, a second region which is a part of the outer region and is smaller in area than the first region is displayed so that a transmission ratio of the subject image in the second region is lowered. |
| US08731393B2 |
Optical apparatus including light amount adjusting apparatus
An optical apparatus includes a stop having an aperture, two filter members each including a first area that includes a transmissive part and a gradation part having a transmittance that is lower than the transmittance of the transmissive part and that is changed in a moving direction of the filter member, an actuator that drives the two filter members, and a controller that controls the actuator. The two filter members are disposed so that both changing directions of densities of the gradation part and moving directions are opposite and the first area has a size capable of covering a whole of a first aperture. The controller controls the actuator so as to always move in an area between a first position and a second position. The transmissive part has a size that is incapable of covering the whole of the first aperture. |
| US08731392B2 |
Illumination unit
A luminous unit (1) for an optical recording device (13) comprising a light source (2) for generating radiation and a partly reflective element, which is disposed downstream of the light source (2) in a main emission direction (H) and subdivides a space into a first half-space facing the light source (2) and a second half-space remote from the light source (2), wherein the partly reflective element at least partly transmits the radiation coming from the light source (2) from the first half-space and at least partly reflects the external radiation coming from an opposite direction from the second half-space. |
| US08731388B1 |
Method for automatically focusing applied to camera module
The present invention provides a method for automatically focusing applied to a camera module. The method comprises the following steps: (a). determining a value of a modulation transfer function of an image at a center area and four corner areas of a lens by a processing unit; (b). determining whether the number of times of decreased or unchanged of the value of the modulation transfer function at the center area is over a predetermined value; and (c). if over the predetermined vale, then determining the average of the value of the modulation transfer function at the four corner areas by the processing unit, to determine the maximum of the value of the modulation transfer function at the center area. |
| US08731387B2 |
Systems apparatus, and methods for stabilizing mobile devices
Systems, apparatus, methods, etc. for stabilizing mobile devices. Various embodiments provide stabilizers which comprise a counter weight lever, a counter weight, and a handle. A yaw axis defined by a pivot point which can extend through a side of the mobile device. Moreover, the lever couples to the mobile device near its proximal end and to the counter weight at its distal end. Furthermore, the handle pivots about the mobile device at a point on the yaw axis of the mobile device. Additionally, the handle and the mobile device are biased toward each other along the yaw axis. In some embodiments the stabilizer includes a bi-conical joint or a tapered edge joint which defines the pivot point. Some stabilizers include a hinge pin to which the counter weight lever and mobile device are coupled. Furthermore, the handle can be biased toward the pivot point along the pitch and/or roll axes. |
| US08731386B2 |
Electric heating device for heating fluids
The invention relates to an electric heating device for heating fluids, comprising at least one heating rod, which has at least one heating element, a housing, which encloses the heating rod and has an inlet opening and an outlet opening, wherein the inlet opening and the outlet opening are interconnected by a winding flow channel. According to the invention, the flow channel forms a helix that has a longitudinal axis, wherein the heating rod is disposed next to the longitudinal axis of the helix and extends through a helically winding wall of the flow channel at a plurality of points. |
| US08731385B2 |
Radiant oven with stored energy devices and radiant lamps
An oven is configured with a cooking cavity for receiving a cooking load, a circuit for current supplied by one or more stored energy devices such as rechargeable batteries, and a heater comprising one or more radiant lamps to be driven by the current, the one or more radiant lamps being sized and positioned for heating the cooking load. The lamps are driven by current discharged from the batteries to radiantly heat a cooking load. An application of this stove configuration is in a toaster which is capable of toasting slices of bread in a matter of seconds. |
| US08731384B2 |
Steam head for cleaner
The present invention relates to a steam head of a cleaner. The present invention includes a steam head including: a body defining an exterior, and a steam generating device provided on the body to generate steam through heating water supplied through a heater, the heater including a radiator of a ceramic material, and a plurality of insulation layers for insulating the radiator, wherein the plurality of insulation layers is formed of one of or a combination of one or more of magnesium oxide (MgO), a slurry-phase insulator, and an insulation film. Thus, through the present invention, a heater's heat radiating performance is improved to facilitate generation of steam. |
| US08731381B2 |
Virtual DVD on demand and electronic DVD rental/buy/burn
An apparatus includes a storage medium for storing downloaded encoded media content, and a decoder for decoding the stored encoded media content for a choice of one of a viewing rental of the decoded media content and recording the decoded media content to a recordable media. |
| US08731380B1 |
Method and system to record onto a media player
A method and system for recording a media content onto a media player are disclosed. A recording interface of the media player is unlocked by a media recorder using a key. Next, the media player receives the media content from the media recorder through the recording interface. The media content is stored onto a storage of the media player, where the storage resides within the media player prior to receiving the media content from the media recorder. The media player includes a mechanism for playing the media content. Then, the recording interface of the media player is locked by the media recorder. In this manner, a way is provided to distribute media content while also protecting against the improper copying of media content. |
| US08731379B1 |
Systems and methods for recording programs with a network recording device upon failure of a user's equipment
Systems and methods for performing recordings with a network recording device when a user's equipment fails are provided. The network recording device may determine that a user's equipment has failed in any suitable manner. In response to determining that the user's equipment has failed, the network recording device may perform recordings that were originally scheduled or selected to be performed with the user's equipment. The network recording device may identify which recordings to perform by communicating with the user's equipment. In some embodiments, the user's equipment may anticipate a failure, or fail while maintaining a communications link with the network recording device. In such embodiments, the user's equipment may direct the network recording device to perform certain recordings. The network recording device may provide recordings to the user's equipment as on-demand offerings, or may transfer the recordings to the user's equipment. |
| US08731375B2 |
Recording apparatus
In a recording mode for simultaneously recording moving image files onto a plurality of recording mediums, a recording apparatus adds same identification information to the respective moving image files to be simultaneously recorded onto the plurality of recording mediums and record the obtained files in such a manner that when a recording space capacity of one of the plurality of recording mediums is smaller than a predetermined value or when there is an instruction to stop the recording to a designated recording medium among the plurality of recording mediums, the respective moving image files which are being recorded onto the plurality of recording are closed. |
| US08731371B2 |
Information processing system and information processing device
A playback processing unit executes a playback process of content data. A control unit defines a display area for a communication tool to be executed, based on display instruction information that is defined in association with playback time information of the content data. The display processing unit uses a content image processed and played back and a text chat window of which a display area is defined, and generates an image for a display. |
| US08731369B2 |
Multimedia distribution system for multimedia files having subtitle information
A multimedia file and methods of generating, distributing and using the multimedia file are described. Multimedia files in accordance with embodiments of the present invention can contain multiple video tracks, multiple audio tracks, multiple subtitle tracks, data that can be used to generate a menu interface to access the contents of the file and ‘meta data’ concerning the contents of the file. Multimedia files in accordance with several embodiments of the present invention also include references to video tracks, audio tracks, subtitle tracks and ‘meta data’ external to the file. One embodiment of a multimedia file in accordance with the present invention includes a series of encoded video frames and encoded menu information. |
| US08731364B2 |
Breakout assemblies and associated mounting members for fiber optic applications
Advantageous breakout assemblies and associated mounting members for use in fiber optic applications are provided. More particularly, the present disclosure provides for improved fiber optic breakout assemblies and associated mounting members (e.g., mounting panels) that include mating features. The present disclosure provides for improved systems/designs for breakout assemblies and mounting members for use in fiber optic applications, and wherein the breakout assemblies and mounting members are cost-effective, efficient and/or user-friendly. Improved, convenient, low-cost and effective systems, assemblies and methods are provided for easily breaking/branching out one or more fiber optic cables/fibers from a bundle or harness containing a plurality of fiber optic cables/fibers by utilizing advantageous breakout assemblies and mounting members that include mating features, and related assemblies. |
| US08731363B2 |
Optical fiber management device
An apparatus and method for managing one or more flexible lines such as optical fibers, wherein each fiber has two fixed ends. Optical fibers are arranged in a curved figure-eight pattern lying in three-dimensions and having two adjacent loops on the exterior curved winding surface of a tubular shell. The configuration is guided by winding tracks lying axially on the exterior side of shell. The curvatures of the shell and winding tracks are such that the bend of the managed fibers is everywhere equal to or greater than the fiber minimum bend radius. |
| US08731361B2 |
High density patching system for cable and optical fiber
A communication patching system includes a platform configured to support a plurality of cables and a first panel pivotably mounted to the platform, the first panel having at least one holder for securing communications adapters to the first panel. A first set of communications adapters is connected to the platform, and a second set of communications adapters mounted in the at least one holder. The first panel is pivotable between a first position in which the second set of communications adapters is spaced from the first set of communications adapters by a first distance and a second position in which the second set of communications adapters is spaced from the first set of communications adapters by a second distance greater than the first distance. |
| US08731357B2 |
Optical fiber
An optical fiber includes a core section and a cladding section. A k value expressed by k=4Aeff/(πMFD2) is 1.08 or larger, Aeff being an effective area and MFD being a mode field diameter, at a wavelength of 1550 nm, a chromatic dispersion is in a range from +19.0 ps/nm/km to +21.9 ps/nm/km, and MFD is in a range from 10.3 μm to 13.0 μm. The inequality, r1 |
| US08731355B2 |
Optical logic device
An all optical logic circuit includes a micro-ring resonator (110) optically coupled to a waveguide (115) The waveguide (115) provides multiple optical input signals (INPUT A, INPUT B) and an optical probe signal (PROBE) at a different frequency (lambda s) than the optical input signals (INPUT A, INPUT B) to the micro-ring resonator (110) such that the probe signal (PROBE) exhibits logical amplitude transitions as a function of the multiple input signals (INPUT A, INPUT B) The logical amplitude transitions of the optical probe signal (PROBE) correlate to an ANDing or NANDing of the optical input signals (INPUT A, INPUT B) In one embodiment, the all optical logic circuit is an integrated silicon device. |
| US08731354B2 |
Array cable assemblies
An array cable includes radius guides at a tap point of the cable to take up slack for loose fibers at the tap point. The tap point is enclosed in a flexible enclosure that allows the assembly to be pulled through constricted space such as air handling spaces. |
| US08731352B2 |
Optical fiber assemblies
Fiber optic assemblies include subunit cables wrapped in binders. The assemblies have small cross sections and low bend radii while maintaining acceptable attenuation losses. SZ stranding of the subunit cables allows ease of access to the individual cables during installation. |
| US08731351B2 |
Side fire laser assembly
Embodiments include an apparatus including an optical fiber having a proximal end and a distal end. The distal end of the optical fiber has a surface configured to emit energy transverse to a longitudinal axis of the optical fiber. The apparatus also includes a tube including a channel, and the distal end of the optical fiber is disposed in the channel of the tube. The apparatus further includes an element disposed at a distal end of the tube such that a pocket is formed in the channel of the tube between the element and the distal end of the optical fiber. |
| US08731349B2 |
Integrated photonics device
The present invention relates to an integrated photonic device (100) operatively coupleable with an optical element (300) in a first coupling direction. The integrated photonic device (100) comprises an integrated photonic waveguide (120) and a grating coupler (130) that is adapted for diffracting light from the waveguide (120) into a second coupling direction different from the first coupling direction. The integrated photonics device also comprises a refractive element (110) disposed adjacent the grating coupler (130) and adapted to refract the light emerging from the grating coupler (130) in the second coupling direction into the first coupling direction. |
| US08731348B2 |
Capacitive rotary joint for optical signals
A non-contacting rotary joint for transmitting an input signal guided within an input optical waveguide has an electrical transmission line and a probe. The transmission line has an even number N≧4 of equal length transmission line segments. The optical waveguide is connected to an optical distribution network which has an optical power splitter for splitting the input signal into N or N/2 individual signals of equal optical power. These signals are forwarded to opto-electrical converters to generate electrical signals for driving the electrical transmission line. The lengths of the optical transmission lines are adjusted so that the propagation time of the optical signal from the end of the input optical waveguide to the end of each individual optical transmission line is approximately the same. |
| US08731343B2 |
Optical printed circuit board, a method of making an optical printed circuit board and an optical waveguide
An optical printed circuit board, including at least one optical waveguide for carrying optical signals on the optical printed circuit board; and a trench formed adjacent the at least one optical waveguide, wherein the trench contains a light absorptive material to absorb light that strays from the at least one waveguide. |
| US08731336B2 |
Multi-perpendicular line-based deskew with affine and perspective distortion correction
The present invention provides a method of correcting alignment of an image. The method includes identifying an image of a document, and detecting a plurality of lines within the image. The method also includes classifying at least a subset of the plurality of lines as either horizontal or vertical lines, and determining whether a variance exists within a subset of the plurality of lines. Furthermore, the method includes applying a corrective transformation to adjust the image, where the variance within the subset of the plurality of lines is at least partially reduced as compared to the variance prior to the application of the corrective transformation. |
| US08731334B2 |
Multilevel thresholding for mutual information based registration and image registration using a GPU
An exemplary embodiment of the present invention includes a method of registering images. The method includes: for each image, determining an optimum intensity threshold set from a plurality of intensity threshold sets that maximizes a variance between classes of each set, segmenting each image using the corresponding determined optimum intensity threshold set, generating mutual information from a joint histogram of at least two of the segmented images, and registering the at least two images using the mutual information. The joint histogram may be generated using a geometry shader of a graphical processing unit. |
| US08731333B2 |
Inspection of hidden structure
An inspection apparatus determines information indicative of structure that may be hidden behind an obscuring boundary, such as a wall. A processor collects measurements of properties characterizing the hidden structure and measurements of location of the apparatus. The collected data are mapped to produce an image of intensity in the characteristic measurements. Each intensity value in the image reflects a measure of density, of material type, or of some other specific information by which hidden structure can be discerned. The intensity changes indicating the hidden structure are displayed to a user via color-coded pixels or the like. |
| US08731329B2 |
Systems and methods for rolling shutter artifact repair
Systems and methods for rolling shutter artifact repair are disclosed. For example, one disclosed method includes the steps of receiving two frames (F0, F2) of a video, identifying a first plurality of features in frame F0 and a second plurality of features in frame F2, determining movements of corresponding features in the first and second pluralities of features, generating a mesh based on the first and second pluralities of features and the movements, and generating a warped frame (F0′) based on the mesh |
| US08731327B2 |
Image processing system and image processing method
An image processing system performs a position-matching operation on first and second images, which are obtained by photographing the same object a plurality of times. A plurality of shift points are detected in the second image. The shift points correspond to fixed points, which are dispersed throughout the whole of the first image. The second image is divided into a plurality of partial images, the vertices of which are positioned at the same coordinates as the fixed points in the first image. Each of the partial images are shifted to the shift points to transform the partial images so that corresponding transformed partial images are produced. The transformed partial images are combined to form a combined image. |
| US08731317B2 |
Image classification employing image vectors compressed using vector quantization
Local descriptors are extracted from an image. An image vector is generated having vector elements indicative of parameters of mixture model components of a mixture model representing the extracted local descriptors. The image vector is compressed using a vector quantization algorithm to generate a compressed image vector. Optionally, the compressing comprises splitting the image vector into a plurality of sub-vectors each including at least two vector elements, compressing each sub-vector independently using the vector quantization algorithm, and concatenating the compressed sub-vectors to generate the compressed image vector. Optionally, each sub-vector includes only vector elements indicative of parameters of a single mixture model component, and any sparse sub-vector whose vector elements are indicative of parameters of a mixture model component that does not represent any of the extracted local descriptors is not compressed. |
| US08731315B2 |
Image compression and decompression for image matting
Encoding image data and mask information to be used for matte images and for image and video matting. Image data and mask information for pixels of the image data in a first representation domain are accessed. The mask information defines background pixels and foreground pixels. The image data in the first representation domain is transformed to a second representation domain. Mask information in the second representation domain is determined by using the mask information in the first representation domain. The image data in the second representation domain is masked by setting image data to zero for background pixels as defined by the determined mask information in the second representation domain. The masked image data in the second representation domain is encoded. Decoding the encoded image data by accessing the encoded image data, decoding the masked image data in the second representation domain, and transforming the masked image data in the second representation domain to the first representation domain to obtain the decoded image data. |
| US08731314B1 |
Methods for encoding an image
An image encoding apparatus. In one embodiment, the apparatus comprises an encoding engine coupled to a source of a block of pixel data, the encoding engine enabled to encode the block of pixel data to a quality level, the encoding engine coupled to a network interface; and a state sequencer, the state sequencer enabled to obtain an indication of scan block persistence, build state information and encoding parameters to control the quality level. |
| US08731313B2 |
Method and apparatus for accurate compression and decompression of three-dimensional point cloud data
This invention relates to a method and apparatus for accurate compression and decompression of data. More specifically, this invention relates to a method and apparatus for compressing three dimensional spatial points (so called “point cloud”) and decompressing such data to produce an accurate point cloud. In one embodiment of the present invention, a level set based method is used to reconstruct a surface to approximate the surface of the point cloud. This reconstructed surface is defined implicitly as the zero level set of a function, which can be computed on a regular three-dimensional rectangular grid. Furthermore, the three-dimensional grid may be rearranged into a two-dimensional grid where the data are compressed and stored in a form of gradient. In order to recover the point cloud, the three-dimensional grid is rebuilt from the two-dimensional data and an interpolating algorithm on the implicit function is utilized to compute the points on the surface. |
| US08731306B2 |
Increasing interest point coverage in an image
A system for generating virtual interest points in an image, according to detected interest points in that image is detected by an interest point detector. The system includes: an interest point density map producer and an interest point generator, the interest point density map producer receiving the image including the detected interest points, the interest point density map producer extracts a density map of the detected interest points within the image. The interest point generator is coupled with the interest point density map producer, the interest point generator receiving the image including the detected interest points and the interest point density map. The interest point generator determines image areas for generating virtual interest points, the interest point generator generating at least one virtual interest point at the determined areas according to at least the position of one of the detected interest points, the virtual interest point not being detected by the interest point detector. |
| US08731292B2 |
Method and apparatus for comparing videos
In a method of comparing a query video and a target video, frames of the query video and frames of the target video are partitioned into blocks. The mean intensity value is calculated for each block. Minima and maxima values are extracted from temporal changes of the mean intensity values for each block. Inclines and declines are obtained from the minima and maxima values. The inclines and declines are used in determining if alignment exists between the query video and the target video. |
| US08731288B2 |
Image processing techniques for color correction
Each pixel of an input image is subjected to first color conversion by means of colorimetric color reproduction and converted to a first color device value of a target color space. Further, a difference DI between a white luminance of an originating color space and a luminance of pixels of the originating color space is calculated. When generating an output image, pixels with a difference DI of 0 keeps the color device value of the originating color space. For the pixels with a difference DI greater than 0, a second color device value is calculated as a color device value of the output image, the second color device value being a sum of the abovementioned color device value and a value which is obtained by multiplying the difference between the first color device value and the abovementioned color device value by a coefficient that is greater than 0 and less than or equal to 1. Due to this, when generating an output image of a target color space from an input image of an originating color space, the color image can be reproduced more brightly while achieving coincident color appearance. |
| US08731286B2 |
Video detection system and methods
A video detection system and method compares a queried video segment to one or more stored video samples. Each of the queried video segments and stored video samples can be represented by respective digital image sets. A first and second comparison comprises comparing a set of low and high resolution temporal and spatial statistical moments in a COLOR9 space, and eliminating file digital image sets that do not match the queried digital image set. A third comparison generates a set of matching files by comparing a set of wavelet transform coefficients in a COLOR9 space. RGB bit-wise registration and comparison of one or more subframes of specific frames in the queried digital image set to a corresponding set of matching file subframes determines queried subframe changes. In the event of a change in a queried subframe, the changed subframe is added to the set of matching file subframes. |
| US08731285B1 |
Systems and methods for identifying a video aspect-ratio frame attribute
Presently disclosed are systems and method for identifying a video aspect-ratio frame attribute of a current frame. One example embodiment takes the form of a method including: (i) receiving the current frame; (ii) defining a region of the current frame, the defined region having a plurality of lumas within a luma range; (iii) calculating a non-black luma percentage of the region based on the lumas; (iv) calculating an average luma of the region based on the lumas; and (v) identifying the current frame as having a standard video aspect-ratio attribute responsive to (a) the average luma being less than a max-black luma threshold and (b) the non-black luma percentage being less than a non-black luma percentage threshold. |
| US08731284B2 |
Method and system for detecting image spam
Methods and systems are provided that may be used to determine a whether an image contains spam. In one particular embodiment, an image is transformed and spam is detected based on such a transformed image. |
| US08731280B2 |
Virtual cephalometric imaging
Virtual cephalometric imaging includes creating a first 3D virtual model and a second 3D virtual model of a patient's dentition. The first 3D virtual model is based on a first impression taken of the patient's dentition at a first time. The second 3D virtual model is based on a second impression taken of the patient's dentition at a second time. The first and the second 3D virtual models are correlated. A 2D image is generated including a first outline representing a position of at least one tooth of the patient's dentition according to the first 3D virtual model and a second outline representing a position of the at least one tooth according to the second 3D virtual model. Generating the 2D image includes positioning the first outline relative to the second outline according to the correlation of the first and the second 3D virtual models. |
| US08731278B2 |
System and method for sectioning a microscopy image for parallel processing
A computer-implemented system and method of processing a microscopy image are provided. A microscopy image is received, and a configuration for an image section that includes a portion of the microscopy image is determined. Multiple image sections are respectively assigned to multiple processing units, and the processing units respectively process the image sections in parallel. One or more objects are determined to be respectively present in the image sections, and the objects present in the image sections are measured to obtain object data associated with the objects. |
| US08731277B2 |
Methods for matching gain and color for stereoscopic imaging systems
Stereoscopic imaging devices may include stereoscopic imagers, stereoscopic displays, and processing circuitry. The processing circuitry may be used to collect auto white balance (AWB) statistics for each image captured by the stereoscopic imager. A stereoscopic imager may include two image modules that may be color calibrated relative to each other or relative to a standard calibrator. AWB statistics may be used by the processing circuitry to determine global, local and spatial offset gain adjustments to provide intensity matched stereoscopic images for display. AWB statistics may be combined by the processing circuitry with color correction offsets determined during color calibration to determine color-transformation matrices for displaying color matched stereoscopic images using the stereoscopic display. Gain and color-transformation corrections may be continuously applied during operation of a stereoscopic imaging device to provide intensity-matched, color-matched stereoscopic images in any lighting condition. |
| US08731275B2 |
Method and apparatus for reviewing defects
Disclosed is a method for reviewing defects in a large number of samples within a short period of time through the use of a defect review apparatus. To collect defect images steadily and at high throughput, a defect detection method is selected before imaging and set up for each of review target defects in the samples in accordance with the external characteristics of the samples that are calculated from the design information about the samples. The defect images are collected after an imaging sequence is set up for the defect images and reference images in such a manner as to reduce the time required for stage movement in accordance with the defect coordinates of the samples and the selected defect detection method. |
| US08731273B2 |
Method and device for measuring the relative local position error of one of the sections of an object that is exposed section by section
A method for measuring the relative local position error of one of the sections of an object that is exposed section by section, in particular of a lithography mask or of a wafer, is provided, each exposed section having a plurality of measurement marks, wherein a) a region of the object which is larger than the one section is imaged in magnified fashion and is detected as an image, b) position errors of the measurement marks contained in the detected image are determined on the basis of the detected image, c) corrected position errors are derived by position error components which are caused by the magnified imaging and detection being extracted from the determined position errors of the measurement marks, d) the relative local position error of the one section is derived on the basis of the corrected position errors of the measurement marks. |
| US08731267B2 |
X-ray computed tomography apparatus and image processing apparatus
According to one embodiment, An X-ray CT apparatus includes acquisition unit, intermediate image generating unit, weighting factor calculating unit, and resultant image generating unit. The intermediate image generating unit generates a first image based on a first projection data set and a second image based on a second projection data set. The first projection data set falls within a first view angle range of projection data acquired by the acquisition unit. The second projection data set falls within a second view angle range of the projection data. The second view angle range is narrower than the first view angle range. The weighting factor calculating unit calculates a weighting factor corresponding to a pixel value difference between the first image and the second image. The resultant image generating unit generates a resultant image associated with weighted addition of the first image and the second image based on the weighting factor. |
| US08731266B2 |
Method and system for correcting artifacts in image reconstruction
Methods and systems are provided for correcting artifacts in iterative reconstruction processes. In certain embodiments, weighting schemes may be applied such that less than all of the available scan or projection data is utilized in the iterative reconstruction. In this manner, inconsistencies in the data undergoing reconstruction may be reduced. |
| US08731264B2 |
System and method for fusing real-time ultrasound images with pre-acquired medical images
A method, apparatus and system for fusing real-time ultrasound images with pre-acquired medical images are described. |
| US08731260B2 |
Data management in a linear-array-based microscope slide scanner
Systems and methods for processing, storing, and viewing extremely large imagery data rapidly produced by a linear-array-based microscope slide scanner are provided. The system receives, processes, and stores imagery data produced by the linear scanner as a series of overlapping image stripes and combines the data into a seamless and contiguous baseline image. The baseline image is logically mapped into a plurality of regions that are individually addressed to facilitate viewing and manipulation of the baseline image. The system enables dynamic imagery data compression while scanning and capturing new image stripes that eliminates the overhead associated with storing uncompressed image stripes. The system also creates intermediate level images, thereby organizing the baseline image into a variable level pyramid structure referred to as a virtual slide. The system facilitates the use of virtual slides in applications such as telemedicine, telepathology, microscopy education, and analysis of high value specimens like tissue arrays. |
| US08731251B2 |
Method of matching, biometric matching apparatus, and computer program
A method of matching fingerprints is disclosed. The method comprises, for a first minutia point, being assigned as a planet minutia point a) determining pairs including the planet minutia point and a satellite minutia point, respectively, such that a cluster is formed; b) comparing the clusters of the respective sets and excluding non-matching satellites; c) counting links in the cluster formed by remaining pairs; and d) for remaining satellite minutia points, performing steps a) to c) with respective satellite minutia point assigned as planet minutia point to form a supercluster by iterating steps a) to d) and superadding the clusters; calculating a score of the supercluster based on the aggregate counted links; and comparing the score with a threshold. A biometric matching apparatus, a portable data carrier, a data processing unit comprising a matching apparatus and a computer program for implementing the invention are also disclosed. |
| US08731247B2 |
Densifying and colorizing point cloud representation of physical surface using image data
Image data obtained from an image sampling of a physical surface is integrated with position data obtained from a three-dimensional surface sampling of the same physical surface by combining data from the images with the measured surface points from the surface sampling to create additional “implied” surface points between the measured surface points. Thus, the originally obtained point cloud of measured surface points is densified by adding the implied surface points. Moreover, the image data can be used to apply colors to both the implied data points and the measured data points, resulting in a colored three-dimensional representation of the physical surface that is of higher resolution than a representation obtained from only the measured surface points. |
| US08731244B2 |
Systems and methods for improving image recognition
An embodiment generally relates to systems and methods for processing license plate image data. A processing module can receive an image comprising a license plate and, from the image, localize a region of the license plate itself. The license plate region can be extracted and license plate distortion parameters can be inferred. The image can be geometrically corrected using the inferred license plate distortion parameters, and the license plate image can be iteratively sharpened to optimize the quality of the license plate image. Further, processing parameters can be modified and applied to the image data in a feedback-based loop for further optimization. |
| US08731243B2 |
Position and orientation measurement method and position and orientation measurement apparatus
Indices allocated or set on an object are detected from sensed images of frames, which are time-serially sensed by an image sensing device. In association with each index detected from the sensed image of the frame of interest, a detection condition from frames before the frame of interest is acquired. According to the acquired detection condition of the index, the reliability of this index is calculated. The position and orientation of the object or the image sensing device are calculated using at least information associated with the image coordinates of the detected indices and the reliabilities of the indices. |
| US08731237B1 |
Automatic asset detection for disaster relief using satellite imagery
Systems and methods for automatic detection of disaster relief assets from a satellite image can include a satellite and a processor, which can contain non-transitory written directions that perform a method, which includes the step of defining spectra of interest (SOI). A reference spectral profile that is based on the SOI is built. The reference spectral profile can extend into the near infrared range to eliminate false positive indications. A satellite image of the spatial region of interest (ROI) is taken. For each pixel in the ROI, test spectra of the spatial region can be extracted and compared to the reference spectral profile using a spectral angle mapper (SAM) tool. When the comparison meets predetermined parameters, that pixel of the ROI can be deemed to be indicative of a disaster relief asset, and the geo-reference data for that pixel can be transmitted to a remote user. |
| US08731236B2 |
System and method for content protection in a content delivery network
An embodiment of an apparatus to authenticate a sequence of video frames includes a process to choose intra-frames of the sequence and sample DC components thereof to produce a set of test fingerprints. To reduce a dimensionality of the test fingerprints, the DC components of the chosen intra-frames are multiplied by a projection matrix formed of eigenvectors associated with the larger eigenvalues of a covariance matrix for a library of frames. The projected test fingerprints are compared against a reference set of fingerprints for authentication. Time-stamp spacings of the chosen intra-frames are determined, and these spacings are employed to select candidate frames for authentication in the reference set of fingerprints. |
| US08731230B2 |
Loudspeaker structure with inner frame
A loudspeaker includes an outer frame with an annular magnet partially exposed from a bottom thereof; a voice coil located inside the annular magnet; a diaphragm glued to between an expanded front opening of the outer frame and the voice coil; a flexible suspension ring having an outer edge fixed to a stepped section of the outer frame and a central opening edge clearance-fitted to a middle/front portion of the annular magnet; and an inner frame having a front portion fitted around the voice coil, a rear portion located on the central opening edge of the flexible suspension ring, and legs extended between the front and rear portions to locate in front of slots formed on the annular magnet. Therefore, the loudspeaker has reduced depth and volume, increased vibration amplitude and stability, and high quality sound output. |
| US08731228B2 |
Earpiece system
An earbud adapter or in-ear monitor includes an Ear Interface that fits the human ear and further permits the wearer of these devices to adjust parameters of the fit. In additional aspects, the Ear Interface portion of these devices permits the user to adjust the transmission of ambient sound. The Ear Interface portion also allows the user to change ornamentation. |
| US08731226B2 |
Composite microphone with flexible substrate and conductors
A composite microphone comprises a flexible and stretchable substrate (22, 122, 250, 350, 450) with a grid of flexible and stretchable first and second conductors (31a, . . . , 31e, 131a, 131g; 33a, . . . , 33h, 133a, 133g). The first conductors (31a, . . . , 31e, 131a, 131g) are arranged transverse to the second conductors (33a, . . . , 33h, 133a, 133g). A plurality of acoustic sensors (40, 140) is each in connection with a respective pair of conductors in the grid. |
| US08731224B2 |
Acoustic structure including helmholtz resonator
In a bass reflex type speaker, a Helmholtz resonator is formed by a bass reflex port and a space within a speaker enclosure excluding the bass reflex port and a speaker unit. The bass reflex port of the bass reflex type speaker is movable toward and away from a side surface while maintaining its projecting direction within the speaker enclosure. In response to such movement of the bass reflex port, relative positional relationship between a neck and cavity of the bass reflex type speaker varies. |
| US08731219B2 |
Sound reflector and electronic device with speaker, including sound reflector
A reflector for use with an electronic device having a loudspeaker for enhancing the sound emitted from the loudspeaker, said reflector comprising components for attaching said reflector to an edge of the electronic device, at the location of the loudspeaker, a flat portion located to be adjacent a surface of the electronic device, and a concave portion adjacent to the flat portion and presenting a concave surface to the loudspeaker. |
| US08731218B2 |
Deformable controller for electronic device
A deformable controller for an electronic device, such as a portable electronic device, is disclosed. A user can interact with the controller to cause it to “deform” and thereby provide user input to control the electronic device. The controller can be malleable and symmetrical, and user interaction with the controller can be provided with substantially arbitrary orientation. In one embodiment, the controller is an in-line controller with a cable that couples to the electronic device. In one particular implementation, the portable electronic device can be a portable media player and the controller can remotely control media playback functions for the portable media player. |
| US08731216B1 |
Audio normalization for digital video broadcasts
Systems and methods of this disclosure can operate to provide audio level normalization in multimedia streams. In some implementations, audio level normalization can include partially decoding audio frames included in a multimedia stream, calculating an average energy level of the partially decoded frames, comparing the average energy level of the partially decoded frames to a nominal energy level, modifying a dialnorm setting associated with the multimedia stream, and reencoding the partially decoded audio frames for inclusion as a modified audio stream corresponding to the video stream. |
| US08731213B2 |
Voice analyzer for recognizing an arrangement of acquisition units
A voice analyzer includes an apparatus body, a strap that is connected to the apparatus body to make the apparatus body hung from a neck of a wearer, a first voice acquisition unit that acquires a voice of a speaker and is disposed in either a left or right strap when viewed from the wearer, a second voice acquisition unit that acquires the voice of the speaker and is disposed in the opposite strap in which the first voice acquisition unit is disposed, and an arrangement recognition unit that recognizes arrangements of the first and second voice acquisition units, when viewed from the wearer, by comparing a voice signal of the voice acquired by the first voice acquisition unit with sound pressure of a heart sound of the wearer acquired by the second voice acquisition unit. |
| US08731210B2 |
Audio processing methods and apparatuses utilizing the same
An audio processing apparatus is provided. A microphone array includes microphone units. Amplifier modules each receives and amplifies an input signal from one microphone unit to generate amplified signals. A compensation module receives adjusted gains corresponding to the amplifier modules, obtains a gain difference between the adjusted gains, and adjusts one amplified signal according to the gain difference to obtain a compensated signal. |
| US08731209B2 |
Device and method for generating a multi-channel signal including speech signal processing
In order to generate a multi-channel signal having a number of output channels greater than a number of input channels, a mixer is used for upmixing the input signal to form at least a direct channel signal and at least an ambience channel signal. A speech detector is provided for detecting a section of the input signal, the direct channel signal or the ambience channel signal in which speech portions occur. Based on this detection, a signal modifier modifies the input signal or the ambience channel signal in order to attenuate speech portions in the ambience channel signal, whereas such speech portions in the direct channel signal are attenuated to a lesser extent or not at all. A loudspeaker signal outputter then maps the direct channel signals and the ambience channel signals to loudspeaker signals which are associated to a defined reproduction scheme, such as, for example, a 5.1 scheme. |
| US08731208B2 |
Portable electronic device having universal earphone jack
A portable electronic device includes an earphone jack for receiving an earphone plug, a switch unit and a signal processing unit. The switch unit is connected to the earphone jack and is switchable between a first state and a second state. The signal processing unit is connected to the earphone jack and the switch unit. The signal processing unit is used to identify a type of the earphone plug received in the earphone plug and control the switch unit to switch to either the first state or the second state according to the type of the earphone plug. |
| US08731206B1 |
Measuring sound quality using relative comparison
Techniques for evaluating at least one relative audio quality parameter of a device, such as a mobile phone, are disclosed. The techniques can include testing in a standard, non-acoustically-isolated environment. The techniques can be used to evaluate whether the device is in compliance with a set of standards. |
| US08731205B2 |
Bone conduction device fitting
Methods and systems for fitting a bone conduction device are provided herein. These methods and systems comprise determining a gain to be used by the bone conduction device in providing signals at a particular frequency. In determining the gain, a fitting system may provide a test sound that is modulated between a first signal provided to a speaker and a second audible signal provided to a bone conduction device. The first and second audible signal may comprise properties such that when the two signals are added together they produce a constant amplitude output. In an embodiment, each of the first and second audible signals may comprise substantially identical frequency characteristics and signal amplitudes, such as, for example, equal amplitude sinusoids centered on the particular frequency for the measurement. When each of these two audible signals are provided to a recipient of the bone conduction device, the recipient may perceive a variance in the intensity of the sounds when the intensity of the two sounds generated by the two audible signals do not give rise to the same psychophysical loudness. If the recipient perceives this variance, the gain of the bone conduction device may be adjusted to increase or decrease the loudness of the sound provided via the bone conduction device to reduce or eliminate the variance. |
| US08731204B2 |
Device and method for generating a multi-channel signal or a parameter data set
For flexibly signaling a synchronous mode or an asynchronous mode in the multi-channel parameter reconstruction, a parameter configuration cue is inserted in the data stream, which is used by a configurator on the side of a multi-channel decoder to configure a multi-channel reconstructor. If the parameter configuration cue has a first meaning, the configurator will look for further configuration information in its input data, while, when the parameter configuration cue has another meaning, the configurator performs a configuration setting of the multi-channel reconstructor based on information on a coding algorithm with which transmission channel data have been coded, so that it is ensured efficiently on the one hand and flexibly on the other hand that there will always be obtained a correct association between parameter data and decoded transmission channel data. |
| US08731201B2 |
Techniques for securing content in an untrusted environment
Techniques for securing content in an untrusted environment are provided. Content is encrypted and stored with a content delivery service in an encrypted format. Encrypted versions of a content encryption/decryption key and a first key are also housed and distributed by the content delivery service. The first key is used to decrypt the encrypted version of the content encryption/decryption key. The content delivery service is unaware of the content encryption/decryption key and the first key; and the content held by the content delivery service is encrypted with the content encryption/decryption key. Principals securely share, create, manage, and retrieve the encrypted versions of the content encryption/decryption key and the first key from the content delivery service using secure communications. The encrypted content is obtainable via insecure communications from the content delivery service. |
| US08731200B2 |
Key distribution
Methods and systems are provided for trusted key distribution. A key distribution or an identity service acts as an intermediary between participants to a secure network. The service provisions and manages the distribution of keys. The keys are used for encrypting communications occurring within the secure network. |
| US08731198B2 |
Protecting optical transports from consecutive identical digits in optical computer networks
In general, techniques are described for protecting optical networks from consecutive identical digit (CID) errors. An optical network device comprising a control unit and an interface may implement the techniques described in this disclosure. The control unit determines whether a data packet will result in a CID error prior to encapsulating at least a portion of the data packet to form a passive optical network (PON) frame and then, in response to the determination that the data packet will result in the CID error, modifies the data packet to form a modified data packet so that the modified data packet will not result in the CID error. The control unit encapsulates the modified data packet to form a PON frame. The control unit applies a scrambling polynomial to the PON frame to form a scrambled PON frame. The interface transmits the scrambled PON frame. |
| US08731192B2 |
Reproducing device, recording device, recording medium, data processing method, data processing program, data recording method, data recording program, and integrated circuit
A data generating is device capable of preventing unauthorized extraction of plaintext content between decryption processing and digital watermark embedment processing. A content reproducing device obtains restoration information and, in accordance with the restoration information, selectively performs predetermined restoration processing and processing of embedding device unique information, on content data at a position shown by the restoration information. |
| US08731191B2 |
Data encryption method and system and data decryption method
An embodiment of the invention provides a data encryption method for an electrical device. The method comprises: generating an identification code corresponding to the electrical device; generating a temporary key according to the identification code; encrypting first data to generate a first secret key according to the temporary key and a first encryption mechanism; and encrypting the first secret key by a second encryption mechanism to generate an encrypted key. |
| US08731185B2 |
Single ended estimation of far-end crosstalk in a digital subscriber line
An apparatus for estimating far-end crosstalk RDS-FEXT, i (fd) or an end (C1-2) of a communication line (C1) furthest from a transceiver (10-1) to which the communication line (C1) is connected. The apparatus is configured to: measure upstream noise RUS-Noise(fu) at an upstream frequency (fu), the upstream noise RUS-Noise(fu) induced in the communication line (C1) due to the crosstalk; select a downstream frequency (fd) for which the far-end crosstalk RDS-FEXT, i (fd) is to determined; and estimate the far-end crosstalk RDS-FEXT, i (fd)′ as a function of the upstream Noise RUS-Noise(fu), the upstream frequency (fu) and the downstream frequency (fd). An apparatus reversing upstream and downstream features, a system, a computer readable medium and related methods are also described. |
| US08731176B2 |
Operator evaluation support device and operator evaluation support method
An operator evaluation support device includes a speech recording unit configured to record speech times of a customer and an operator during a telephone call; a superposition identifying unit configured to refer to the speech recording unit and identify a superposition speech, which is a speech of the operator that has started during a speech of the customer; a problematic superposition identifying unit configured to identify a problematic superposition speech among the superposition speeches, by comparing a sound quality of a speech of the customer that has started after the superposition speech with a standard sound quality; a call information creating unit configured to refer to the speech recording unit and create telephone call information indicating the identified problematic superposition speech during the telephone call; and a sending unit configured to send the created telephone call information to an administrator terminal used by an administrator evaluating the operator. |
| US08731174B1 |
Early scheduled break allowance for contact center agents
Various embodiments of the invention force a contact center agent to adhere to taking a scheduled break from handling communications for a contact center. In particular, a time corresponding to a start time for a scheduled break is detected and, upon detection, a current state is determined for the agent that indicates whether the agent is available to handle communications. In response to the state indicating the agent is available, the agent's state is automatically set without the agent's intervention to indicate the agent is unavailable to handle communications so that no communications are routed to the agent. At this point, the agent is to take his scheduled break. Accordingly, after a period of time, the agent's state is then automatically set to indicate the agent is available so that the agent's break is over and at least one communication is routed to the agent. |
| US08731171B2 |
Controlled recorded 3-way calling
Agencies issue recording devices to personnel for administrating and monitoring controlled calls during the course of their duties. To provide flexible capabilities to agencies, a virtual number is provisioned and configured to enable an operator to administrate controlled calls without dedicated recording devices. Using the virtual number, the operator may setup a controlled call between a victim and a baddie. The victim is contacted via the virtual number by the operator and optionally informed about the controlled call process. In turn, the baddie is contacted using number information of the victim's phone and connected with the victim. Call audio between the victim and baddie is transmitted to the operator. When necessary, the operator may terminate the call remotely from the telephonic device the operator used to setup the call. |
| US08731168B1 |
Systems, methods, and computer-readable media for expedited access to conference calls
Methods, systems, and computer-readable media for admitting conferees into a conference call. Methods to achieve the foregoing can comprise: transmitting an admission request from a user of a communications device to a server for admission to a conference call, the admission request including a unique identifier; storing data unique to the communications device in a data store; relaying the unique identifier from the server to the data store; comparing the unique identifier with the data unique to the communications device; and, when the unique identifier and the previously stored data match, connecting the user directly to the conference call which includes bypassing entry of at least one conference pass code by the user. |
| US08731167B2 |
System and method of providing a walk-up telecommunications terminal having a telephone application and information application
A system and method are disclosed for providing access to a telephone Application and an Information Application using a walk-up telecommunications terminal having an intuitive, context-sensitive interface configured to facilitate simple and intuitive usage by a user. An Idle Application is displayed on a display screen of the walk-up telecommunications terminal. A Startup Screen is then displayed on the display screen of the walk-up telecommunications terminal in response to a triggering event. The Phone Application is activated in response to a Phone Application event. An Information Application is activated in response to an Information Application event. The Phone Application is configured to take priority over the Information Application in the user interaction with the walk-up telecommunications terminal. |
| US08731163B1 |
Identifying callers
Identifying a caller includes establishing, by a service provider, a connection over a computer network with a user device and accessing information enabling determination of a location of the user. A request to place a call to a call recipient is received from the user and a pool of temporary telephone numbers is accessed. Based on the location of the user, a temporary telephone number from the pool of temporary telephone numbers is selected. The temporary telephone number is associated with the call, the call is initiated to the call recipient, and information sufficient to identify the temporary telephone number is provided in call information sent to the call recipient. |
| US08731160B2 |
System, method, and computer-readable storage medium for telecom billing outsourcing
A system, method, and computer-readable storage medium for outsourcing telecom billing are disclosed for issuing one or more first billing statements and one or more second billing statements from a first telecom network; and transmitting at least the one or more first billing statements to a second telecom network. The one or more first billing statements may reflect one or more charges from the first telecom network to the second telecom network, and the one or more second billing statements may reflect one or more charges from the second telecom network to one or more customers thereof. The one or more charges of the first and second billing statements may reflect the same service(s). |
| US08731156B1 |
Activation of an electronic mechanism using a communications network
Methods, systems, and products are disclosed for operating an electronically activated mechanism. In an exemplary embodiment, the method comprises receiving, via a first communications network, a first electronic communication directed to remotely activating the mechanism. The first electronic communication may include at least one of a telephone call, a telephone call containing data, and a data message. The method further comprises determining whether a party from whom the first electronic communication is received is authorized to remotely activate the mechanism. When it is determined that the party from whom the first electronic communication is received is authorized to remotely activate the electronically activated mechanism, a second electronic communication is provided via a second communications network. The second electronic communication is directed to activating the electronically activated mechanism. The first and second communications networks may each include a wireless network. |
| US08731153B2 |
Telephone number resource manager user interface and feature control
A method may include storing a database including a plurality of subscriber identifiers, wherein each subscriber identifier is associated with a telephone number and a subscriber name and address. Each subscriber identifier may be unique to the corresponding subscriber name and address. The method may include storing a database including a plurality of customer identifiers. Each customer identifier may be associated with one of the subscriber identifier and a customer name and address. The method may further include receiving an update to the subscriber name or address associated with one of the telephone numbers and associating a new subscriber identifier with the updated subscriber name or address. The method may further include associating the new subscriber identifier with one of the customer identifiers. |
| US08731152B2 |
Reducing use of periodic key frames in video conferencing
The generation and delivery of key frames to clients of a video conference are performed in response to a need for a synchronization point. Instead of automatically sending a key frame periodically to each of the clients in the video conference, a key frame is sent to one or more clients upon the occurrence of an event in the video conference. For example, a key frame may be sent to a client when the client joins the video conference. A key frame may also be sent to a client that has packet loss, upon the request of a client, a speaker change within the video conference, when a new stream is added by the client, and the like. The clients in the video conference that are not affected by the event continue to receive predicted frames. |
| US08731149B1 |
Method and system for announcement
A method for delivering audio announcements, includes: receiving an announcement package, the announcement package including a package identity, a package update time, and one or more announcement items; and presenting the announcement package to an audio player. Each announcement item includes an item identity, and a summary part, where the summary part includes audio information. The audio information includes an audio data type and audio data. Updates for the announcement package can be received, where the announcement package is modified according to the update. A content of the announcement package can be replaced, deleted, or added. The announcement item can be presented to the audio player once, repeatedly, or periodically. In this manner, audio announcements are delivered in an effective and timely manner. |
| US08731145B2 |
Method of vehicle notification of call center service interruptions
A method of regulating data transmissions used with telematics-equipped vehicles. The steps include establishing a period of anticipated call center service outage, notifying a plurality of telematics units of the period of anticipated call center service outage, storing that outage information at the plurality of telematics units, and then when a call from the vehicle to the call center is desired during the service outage, the process implements a call handling procedure that delays most calls until the call center is available, but that provides alternative call solutions for urgent or occupant-placed calls. Once the call center is available, postponed calls can be staggered to avoid a large initial spike in calls received at the call center. |
| US08731136B2 |
Gate shift register
Disclosed is a gate shift register, which can perform a bi-directional shift operation with a reduced number of switching devices. The gate shift register includes a plurality of stages to receive a plurality of gate shift clocks and sequentially output a scan pulse. A kth stage includes a scan direction controller including first and second forward TFTs and first and second reverse TFTs to convert a scan direction in response to carry signals of previous stages input through first and second input terminals and carry signals of next stages input through third and fourth input terminals, a node controller including first to eighteenth TFTs to control charging and discharge operations of Q1, Q2, QB1 and QB2 nodes, and an output unit including first and second pull-up TFTs and first to fourth pull-down TFTs to output two scan pulses based on voltage levels of the Q1, Q2, QB1 and QB2 nodes. |
| US08731134B2 |
Method and apparatus for a BWR jet pump inlet mixer support
A method and apparatus for a Boiling Water Reactor (BWR) jet pump inlet mixer support that provides rigid support for inlet mixers. The inlet mixer support attaches to a conventional BWR jet pump assembly to pull the inlet mixer away from the centerline of a riser pipe or maintain the existing inlet mixer position. The inlet mixer support may provide redundant support that may otherwise be provided by set screws of a conventional restrainer assembly. The inlet mixer support may, alternatively, be used in lieu of conventional set screws. The inlet mixer support may also counter-act additional side loading that may be applied to inlet mixers to stabilize inlet mixer movement and vibration when the BWR jet pump assembly is in operation. Optionally, the inlet mixer support may also prevent removal of existing restrainer bracket set screws. |
| US08731132B2 |
Nuclear power plant, method of forming corrosion-resistant coating therefor, and method of operating nuclear power plant
In a nuclear power plant, a corrosion-resistant oxide film on a surface of the metal component of a reactor structure is exposed to a high-temperature water, the corrosion-resistant oxide film containing an oxide having a property of a P-type semiconductor, and a catalytic substance having a property of an N-type semiconductor is deposited on the oxide film. The oxide film maintains the property of the P-type semiconductor. |
| US08731130B2 |
Passive emergency feedwater system
A power module assembly includes a reactor vessel containing a reactor core surrounded by a primary coolant. A containment vessel is adapted to be submerged in a containment cooling pool and to prohibit a release of the primary coolant outside of the containment vessel. A secondary cooling system is configured to remove heat generated by the reactor core. The heat is removed by circulating liquid from the containment cooling pool through the primary coolant. |
| US08731129B2 |
Cask buffer body
A first shock absorber group is obtained by combining a plurality of shock absorber blocks, absorbs a shock in a direction parallel to an end surface of a cask, consisting of a first material. A second shock absorber group absorbs the shock in a direction perpendicular to or oblique with respect to the end surface, consisting of a second material having a weaker compressive strength than the first material. A third shock absorber group absorbs the shock in a direction perpendicular to the end surface, consisting of a third material having a weaker compressive strength than the second material. A space is provided at least in the first shock absorber group. |
| US08731122B1 |
Spurious component reduction
A filter includes, in at least one aspect, one or more differential inputs to receive one or more differential input signals, a first filter stage to provide one or more primary poles corresponding to a first frequency associated with the one or more differential input signals, a second filter stage coupled with the first filter stage to provide one or more secondary poles corresponding to a second frequency associated with the one or more differential input signals, the second frequency and the first frequency having a predefined relationship, and one or more differential outputs coupled with the second filter stage to provide one or more differential output signals. |
| US08731118B2 |
Data clock recovery loop jam set using subcarrier frequency estimate
A method for jam setting an initial frequency of a data clock recovery loop according to one embodiment includes generating a frequency error signal in a frequency error detector from sideband signals within a backscattered radio frequency signal, wherein the frequency error accumulates in a frequency error filter coupled to an output of the frequency error detector; at about an end of an acquisition period, freezing the accumulated frequency error in the frequency error filter; and using the frozen accumulated frequency error to jam set an initial frequency of a data clock recovery loop. Such methodology may also be implemented as a system using logic for performing the various operations. Additional systems and methods are also presented. |
| US08731117B2 |
Method and system for OFDM frame boundary detection in a vehicular multipath channel
Embodiments of a method for OFDM frame boundary detection in a vehicular multipath channel include use of a maximal channel energy instead of a strongest path for detecting a frame boundary. A sample of OFDM data inputs is processed using long preamble local copy correlation and integration to obtain a channel energy which sums all paths of the multipath. A plurality of such channel energies obtained within a given time period are searched for a maximal channel energy, which, when found, is used to detect the frame boundary. |
| US08731116B2 |
System and method of providing communications in a wireless power transfer system
A communication system that uses keyed modulation to encode fixed frequency communications on a variable frequency power transmission signal in which a single communication bit is represented by a plurality of modulations. To provide a fixed communication rate, the number of modulations associated with each bit is dynamic varying as a function of the ratio of the communication frequency to the carrier signal frequency. In one embodiment, the present invention provides dynamic phase-shift-keyed modulation in which communications are generated by toggling a load at a rate that is a fraction of the power transfer frequency. In another embodiment, the present invention provides communication by toggling a load in the communication transmitter at a rate that is phase locked and at a harmonic of the power transfer frequency. In yet another embodiment, the present invention provides frequency-shift-keyed modulation, including, for example, modulation at one of two different frequencies. |
| US08731113B2 |
Characterizing channel response using data tone decision feedback
In addition, to pilot tones which may be existent within an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) signal, one or more data tones within that same signal may be employed to assist with channel estimation (alternatively, detection). Once a data tone qualifies as a pseudo-pilot tone, it may be used with the pilot tones for channel estimation. A qualifier considers slicer error associated with hard decisions for a data tone to determine if it is a candidate for assistance within channel estimation. A frame within an OFDM signal may, in one situation, include no pilot tones at all, and a previously calculated channel estimate may be used to process that frame. In addition, fewer pilot tones than needed to perform accurate channel estimation (based on the channel delay spread) may be employed by using one or more pseudo-pilot tones (e.g., qualified data tones). |
| US08731112B2 |
Tone signal circuit and wireless receiver
In a tone signal circuit and a wireless receiver of the present invention, a digital signal in a frequency band including at least a tone signal component is input into a Goertzel filter. Further, an envelope of an output from the Goertzel filter is detected, and a derivative value of the envelope is derived. Then, if the derivative value is maintained to be equal to or greater than a first threshold value, it is determined that a first prerequisite for existence of the tone signal component is satisfied. The above tone signal circuit and the wireless receiver can perform highly-accurate tone detection in a small calculation amount. |
| US08731110B1 |
Continuity of function of a GPS receiver during power cycling
A GPS receiver includes an RF section and a digital section, the digital section including a correlator circuit for performing correlation with respect to a plurality of satellite channels. The GPS receiver is operated by cycling power to the RF section on and off according to a determined duty cycle having an ON portion and an OFF portion. During the ON portion, navigation related data received from the plurality of satellite channels is sampled by higher level software. Continuity of function may be achieved by resetting a state of at least a portion of the correlator circuit in correspondence to a transition from the OFF portion to the ON portion. |
| US08731108B2 |
Communication system for recognizing type of noise source
Provided is a communication system that includes setting a detection threshold according to a distribution of at least one logic value of a transmission signal corresponding to an on-off keying (OOK) scheme or a frequency shift keying (FSK) scheme, and determining a type of noise source influencing a reception signal using the detection threshold and the distribution of at least one logic value. |
| US08731105B2 |
Multi-rate filter and filtering method for digital pre-distorters
A method and apparatus for modeling distortion of a non-linear device are disclosed. A pre-distorter model has a plurality of branches. Each branch receives a different output basis function signal. At least one branch includes a down-sampler, a memory structure and an up-sampler. The down-sampler down-samples the received output basis function signal received by the branch by a factor of 1/Mk, where Mk is different for each of the at least one branches. The memory structure includes at least one delay element to delay the output of the down-sampler according to a predetermined delay. The memory structure has an output based on an output of the at least one delay element. The up-sampler up-samples the output of the memory structure by the up-sampling factor, Mk. |
| US08731104B2 |
Apparatus and method for compensating for clipping power losses
An apparatus and method for compensating for transmit power losses that are caused by the addition of a clipping or crest factor reduction module in the TX path of a communications system. The method includes applying a gain to a signal input into the crest factor reduction module, so that a power of a signal output from the crest factor reduction module is equal to a power of a signal output from a baseband signal generation module in the TX chain. The apparatus and method have the benefit that the peaks of the signal to be transmitted will be consistent over a wide range of TX power values. |
| US08731100B2 |
DTV receiving system and method of processing DTV signal
A method of processing broadcast data in a broadcast transmitting system includes randomizing mobile service data bytes; generating a Reed-Solomon (RS) frame; dividing the RS frame into RS frame portions; converting data bytes of the RS frame portions into data bits; encoding each converted data bit and outputting data symbols corresponding to the encoded data bits; interleaving the data symbols; converting the interleaved data symbols into data bytes; forming data groups including mobile service data corresponding to the converted data bytes, each of the data groups including known data sequences, signaling information, non-systematic RS parity data place holders and MPEG header data place holders; removing the non-systematic RS parity data place holders in the data groups and replacing the MPEG header data place holders in the data groups with MPEG header data to output mobile service data packets; and randomizing the MPEG header data in the mobile service data packets. |
| US08731098B2 |
Multiple gigahertz clock-data alignment scheme
A transmitting system includes a clock system and a data system. The clock system is configured to receive a clock having a first value and produce a control signal having a second, different value and an output clock having the first value. The data system is configured to receive data and the control signal and to align the data with the output clock, based on the control signal, to produce output data. The clock system includes a driver configured to produce the output clock, a divider configured to divide the received clock, and a phase interpolator configured to rotate the divided clock to produce the control signal. Also, the data is parallel data, and the data system includes a multiplexer configured to receive the parallel data and to use the control signal to serialize the parallel data as the aligned data and a driver configured to produce the output data. |
| US08731093B2 |
Communication system having data-dependent superimposed training mechanism and communication method thereof
The present invention discloses a communication system with a data-dependent superimposed training mechanism and a communication method thereof. The system uses a precoding module installed in front of the data-dependent superimposed training mechanism to precode data by a precoding matrix. The precoding matrix is a N×N unitary matrix, which is constructed by Q×Q precoding sub-matrix. Q is the block size N divided by the channel length. The precoding matrix can achieve full frequency diversity. Any two sets of data precoded by the precoding matrix must be different from each other, such that the receiver can effectively identify the data transmitted from the transmitter and the computational complexity of the receiver is reduced. |
| US08731089B2 |
Radio communication system, radio base station apparatus and communication control method
The present invention provides a radio communication system which includes a plurality of radio base station apparatuses that transmit reference signals orthogonal to each other among a plurality of transmitting antennas and a mobile terminal apparatus that performs channel estimation based on the reference signals transmitted from the plurality of radio base station apparatuses, sets priority among a plurality of neighboring radio base station apparatuses and introduces a bias in the number of reference signals that can be allocated to each radio base station apparatus according to the priority from the radio resources shared among the plurality of neighboring radio base station apparatuses. |
| US08731084B2 |
Multi-carrier communication apparatus
A local carrier wave output from a synthesizer to quadrature demodulators is multiplied by an offset that makes a frequency shift by an integer number of subcarriers in units of sub-carrier bands. The offset is set to a value obtained by multiplying the number sequentially counted up from 0 to the number of unused sub-carriers included in guard tones in a signal band by the bandwidth of a sub-carrier. By shifting the frequency of the local carrier wave at the time of quadrature demodulation with the offset, the SNR of a baseband signal is prevented from being constantly degraded by a frequency characteristic possessed by the circuit of a receiver in a particular sub-carrier signal. Especially, by preventing a pilot signal from being constantly degraded, the signal can be received with higher accuracy. |
| US08731079B2 |
High-density multi-channel QAM modulator using an IDFT/IFFT and polyphase filter bank
Methods and apparatuses are provided for increasing the frequency resolution of a multi-channel QAM modulator and using a novel IDFT/IFFT and polyphase filter bank architecture to provide a more computationally efficient and high density multi-channel QAM modulator. The implementations of the improved multi-channel QAM modulator modulate QAM symbol streams onto respective carrier signals where the frequency of each carrier signal is an integer multiple of a fraction of the input sample rate of the respective QAM symbol stream. The modulated carriers are then combined using a novel IDFT/IFFT and polyphase filter bank architecture. |
| US08731077B2 |
Wireless communication system, control station apparatus and terminal apparatus
To switch among access schemes of different systems efficiently, in a wireless communication system for selecting one access scheme from among a plurality of access schemes to perform wireless communications in between a control station apparatus and a terminal apparatus, the control station apparatus notifies the terminal apparatus of an access scheme using information indirectly designating the access scheme, and the terminal apparatus selects one access scheme from among a plurality of access schemes according to the notified information to perform wireless communications with the control station apparatus. |
| US08731074B2 |
Communications device using measured frequency offset over time to adjust phase and frequency tracking
The communications device includes a phase and frequency tracking loop having a signal input and an adjustable loop filter that establishes a predetermined tracking loop bandwidth for samples of communication signals received at the signal input and processed within the tracking loop. A tracking loop update circuit updates loop filter operating parameters and is operative with the loop filter for increasing or decreasing the tracking loop bandwidth of the phase and frequency tracking loop based on the dynamics of the frequency offset of measured samples from the output of the loop filter over time. |
| US08731073B1 |
In-band lane alignment for a multi-lane transceiver
Methods, systems, and apparatuses are described for aligning lanes of low speed serial links coupled to a transceiver. The transceiver cooperatively performs lane alignment operations with a low speed device during initialization of the transceiver and the low speed device. The lane alignment operations are performed in-band using the low speed serial links, and therefore, do not require additional out-of-band-signaling wires between the transceiver and the low speed device to perform the lane alignment operations. The lane alignment operations may be performed by a handshaking process performed by the transceiver and the low speed device, where the transceiver and the low speed device provide training pattern(s) of data that are used to align the low speed serial links. The low speed serial links are continuously monitored after initialization is complete to detect various transient impairments and to re-initiate lane alignment operations in response to detecting such impairments. |
| US08731072B2 |
Adaptive filter for video signal processing for decoder that selects rate of switching between 2D and 3D filters for separation of chroma and luma signals
An adaptive temporal motion filter for a video decoder system operates in an infinite impulse response (IIR), a max or a bypass mode. The adaptive temporal motion filter includes an adaptive time constant control module and a filter gain module. A gain factor of the filter gain module is varied by the adaptive time constant control module for every pixel in a current composite video signal. The adaptive time constant control module selects a variable gain for the filter gain module based on the motion magnitude, motion polarity and chroma luma status of the pixel. |
| US08731068B2 |
Video transcoder with flexible quality and complexity management
A video transcoder for converting a compressed input video bit-stream having one spatial resolution into a compressed output video bit-stream having a different spatial resolution in a manner that enables the transcoder to dynamically change the amount of computational resources allocated to the conversion process. In one embodiment, the video transcoder has a plurality of configurable processing paths whose configuration determines the amount of allocated computational resources. Exemplary processing-path configuration changes may include, but are not limited to engaging or disengaging a processing path, redirecting a data flow from flowing through one processing path to flowing through another processing path, and attaching or detaching one or more processing modules to an engaged processing path. The capability to make these and other configuration changes enables the video transcoder to adjust the computational complexity and picture quality on the fly, without interrupting the video sequence in the output video bit-stream. |
| US08731067B2 |
Memory management for video decoding
Techniques and tools described herein help manage memory efficiently during video decoding, especially when multiple video clips are concurrently decoded. For example, with clip-adaptive memory usage, a decoder determines first memory usage settings expected to be sufficient for decoding of a video clip. The decoder also determines second memory usage settings known to be sufficient for decoding of the clip. During decoding, memory usage is initially set according to the first settings. Memory usage is adaptively increased during decoding, subject to theoretical limits in the second settings. With adaptive early release of side information, the decoder can release side information memory for a picture earlier than the decoder releases image plane memory for the picture. The decoder can also adapt memory usage for decoded transform coefficients depending on whether the coefficients are for intra-coded blocks or inter-coded blocks, and also exploit the relative sparseness of non-zero coefficient values. |
| US08731061B2 |
Motion vector refinement for MPEG-2 to H.264 video transcoding
A method for transcoding that includes (A) generating a decoded frame by decoding an MPEG-2 input video stream, the decoded frame including decoded macroblocks; (B) determining a search center for encoding a current macroblock corresponding to a pair of the decoded macroblocks on consecutive macroblock rows, when (i) the encoding uses a predictive field mode and (ii) a current field being encoded is a second field of a current frame that has a first field as a reference field, the search center is a temporally scaled version of a decoded motion vector from an upper or a lower macroblock in the pair; (C) generating a refined motion vector by searching in a temporal search direction about the search center; and (D) generating an H.264 output video stream by encoding the current macroblock based on the refined motion vector. |
| US08731055B2 |
Method and apparatus for encoding and decoding an image based on plurality of reference pictures
A method and apparatus for encoding and decoding an image using a plurality of reference pictures. In an exemplary embodiment, the method of encoding an image comprises: generating information about transforms between a first picture and a second picture; generating a reference picture by transforming the second picture based on the generated information about transforms; predicting a current block of a current picture based on at least one of the reference picture and the first picture; and encoding the current block based on the predicting. Therefore, prediction encoding based on more accurate prediction is possible, thereby increasing a compression ratio of image encoding. |
| US08731052B2 |
Image processing device and image processing method with feedback control
The present invention can suppress the generated code quantity for each image increment so as not to exceeding the target code quantity without having a usage quantizing factor deviate greatly in a sure manner.An image encoding device (200) determines a basic quantization parameter (QPMB) serving as a basic quantizing factor to be predicted in the case that the main encoding generated code comes near the target code quantity at the time of encoding an input image (91). The image encoding device (200) encodes the input image (91) for each feedback control increment by executing quantization using an adapted quantization parameter (QPt) based on an average quantization parameter BaseQP serving as a usage quantizing factor determined based on at least the basic quantization parameter (QPMB). The image encoding device (200) confirms the generated code quantity of the encoded input image (91) for each feedback control increment, and in the case of predicting that the generated code quantity for each image increment will exceed the target code quantity, increases the value of the adapted quantization parameter (QPt) by increasing the average quantization parameter BaseQP. |
| US08731048B2 |
Efficient temporal search range control for video encoding processes
Gain Saturation (GS) for MRFME is where searching in more previous frames offers very limited or even no performance gain. Similarly, gain aggregation (GA) is where significant gain can be obtained by searching more frames. By dynamically determining, while encoding, if either condition applies, and changing the search range accordingly, complexity is reduced and speed can be increased. |
| US08731047B2 |
Mixing of video content
A method and apparatus for mixing first and second video content portions is described. The method may comprise overlapping at least one frame of a first content portion comprising multiple frames with at least one frame of a second content portion comprising multiple frames to produce a composite video content. At least one reference frame comprising a frame of the first or second content portion prior to the overlapping may be designated. The composite video content and the reference frame may then be transmitted, for example, to a client device. The client device may use the reference frame to at least reduce an effect of the overlapping. |
| US08731046B2 |
Software video transcoder with GPU acceleration
Embodiments of the invention as described herein provide a solution to the problems of conventional methods as stated above. In the following description, various examples are given for illustration, but none are intended to be limiting. Embodiments are directed to a transcoding system that shares the workload of video transcoding through the use of multiple central processing unit (CPU) cores and/or one or more graphical processing units (GPU), including the use of two components within the GPU: a dedicated hardcoded or programmable video decoder for the decode step and compute shaders for scaling and encoding. The system combines usage of an industry standard Microsoft DXVA method for using the GPU to accelerate video decode with a GPU encoding scheme, along with an intermediate step of scaling the video. |
| US08731045B2 |
Motion encoding and decoding
A method is provided for encoding a portion of a current image, including: an estimation of motion between the current image portion and a plurality of candidate image portions in order to form motion components, an evaluation of a performance criterion for each candidate image portion, and the selection of a reference image portion using said performance criteria. In the method, for at least one motion component, the motion estimation, the performance criteria evaluation and the reference image portion selection only use information considered to be available at the decoder and no motion information is inserted into an output flow intended for a decoder. A corresponding decoding method is also provided. |
| US08731043B2 |
Method and apparatus for transmitting precoding martrix index and performing precoding
A method and an apparatus for sending a Precoding Matrix Index (PMI) and performing precoding are provided in the embodiments of the present invention. The method for sending the PMI comprises the following steps: a user equipment acquires the transmission channel capability of carrying the PMI; according to the transmission channel capability of carrying the PMI, the precoding matrices are selected from a locally-stored first codebook set to form a second codebook set; a first precoding matrix is selected from the second codebook set; an index corresponding to the first precoding matrix is sent to a base station over the transmission channel so as to make the base station can find out the first precoding matrix according to the index and precode the data according to the first precoding matrix. The embodiments of the present invention can realize the flexible configuration and use of the PMI. |
| US08731041B2 |
Parallel closed-loop DFE filter architecture
A DFE filter includes an input, a first filter loop coupled to the input for providing an odd bit-stream, and a second filter loop coupled to the input for providing an even bit-stream, wherein the first and second filter loops are identical and interleaved. |
| US08731039B1 |
Channel tracking in a wireless multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) communication system
An estimate of a multiple input, multiple output (MIMO) channel is computed, and an equalizer to be applied to signals received via the MIMO channel is computed. The equalizer is initialized based on the estimate of the MIMO channel. The equalizer is applied to a received signal, and the received signal is demodulated to generate a demodulated signal. The demodulated signal is decoded according to an error correction code to generate decoded data, and the decoded data is re-encoded according to the error correction code to generate re-encoded data. The re-encoded data is re-modulated to generate a re-modulated signal. The received signal is compared to the re-modulated signal, and the equalizer is updated based on the comparison. After updating the equalizer, the equalizer is applied to the received signal. |
| US08731032B2 |
Communication apparatus for continuous phase modulation signal
A communication apparatus for a continuous phase modulation signal. The communication apparatus includes a first processing unit configured to generate first information of the continuous phase modulation signal using first symbol data; a symbol converting unit configured to convert the first symbol data into second symbol data or convert the second symbol data into the first symbol data; a symbol storage unit configured to store the second symbol data; a second processing unit configured to second information of the continuous phase modulation signal using the second symbol data stored in the symbol storage unit; a third processing unit configured to generate third information of the continuous phase modulation signal using a modulo operation of an integer related to a modulation index; and an output unit configured to add an output from the third processing unit and an output from the first processing unit and generate the continuous phase modulation signal. |
| US08731030B1 |
Transmission system of digital radio information using repeaters while minimizing data transfer latency
The method for transmission a set of digital data is provided. The method comprises: (A) processing a received signal transmitted from a preceding site by at least one repeater located in a repeater hub in a processing site. The received signal includes a microwave carrier, whereas the processing compensates the received microwave signal for degradation due to propagation between the preceding site and the processing site. The method further comprises the step (B) of conditioning the received microwave signal for subsequent transmission from the processing site to a subsequent site. |
| US08731024B2 |
Noise suppression apparatus
A noise suppression apparatus is provided with: an offset correction unit that corrects changes in a DC offset generated by the hopping of radio frequencies or a local leak correction unit that corrects changes of local leaks generated by hopping of radio frequencies; and a noise elimination unit that suppresses the amplitude of noise generated by the offset correction unit or local leak correction unit and that is provided with switches that turn ON and OFF in synchronization with the hopping of radio frequencies, and an amplitude suppression unit connected between two differential output lines of the offset correction unit or the local leak correction unit by way of the switches. |
| US08731020B2 |
Constant amplitude decoding apparatus and method for multiplexed direct-sequence spread communication system
A constant amplitude decoding apparatus and method for multiplexed direct-sequence spread spectrum communication system are provided. The constant amplitude decoding apparatus includes: a despreading and demultiplexing module receiving a data stream of a constant amplitude and despreading and demultiplexing the received data stream to restore it to a 2D signal; a decoding module first performing a vertical decoding on the 2D signal and then performing horizontal decoding thereon; a control module determining whether to repeatedly perform vertical decoding and horizontal decoding; and a bit stream information output module outputting the decoding results from the decoding module as a bit stream. |
| US08731014B2 |
Output-power control apparatus for a CO2 gas-discharge laser
A carbon-dioxide CO2 gas-discharge laser is energized by the output a radio-frequency power supply (RFPS). Output-power of the laser is stabilized by adjustments of the RFPS responsive to periodic measurements of the laser output-power using detector output amplified by an amplifier. The amplifier has an offset-voltage which is subject to drift. A synchronous auto-zero arrangement is provided for canceling out the offset-voltage of the amplifier immediately prior to each periodic measurement of the laser output power. |
| US08731011B2 |
Precision optical frequency tunable laser
The invention relates to a precision optical frequency tunable laser. The laser includes: a laser gain medium, an intracavity collimating lens, an active optical phase modulator, a tunable acousto-optic filter and an intracavity total reflection mirror all arranged sequentially in a laser cavity, and the tunable laser further includes an active polarization rotator, a polarization beam splitter, two etalons, a temperature control system attached to the etalons, two total reflection mirrors, a radio frequency signal source, a laser pumping source, an active optical phase modulator drive source, an active polarization rotator drive source and a laser drive control circuit. Through the temperature control system attached to the etalons, stable laser output and the precision optical frequency tuning less than 1 GHz within a wide spectrum range can be realized, thereby greatly reducing the bandwidth requirements in achieving narrowband filtering for the tunable acousto-optic filter. The invention is compact with high performance, low cost for volume production and installation, and achieves stable tunable laser output within a wide spectrum range. |
| US08731009B2 |
Broadband high power light source
The present invention relates to a super continuum light source comprising a pump source arranged to emit light having a center wavelength λcenter arranged to provide pump pulse to a generator fiber, where the refractive index profile of the core is arranged to allow modal cleaning of the light is it propagates, such as via stimulated Raman scattering. An example of invention is the application of a relatively high power pump laser utilized to provide an optical super continuum with relatively high spectral density and/or good beam quality even though the pump laser may provide a beam with a high M2. |
| US08731008B2 |
Source of femtosecond laser pulses
A source of femtosecond laser pulses (50) comprising a 980 nm picosecond seed pulse source (12), a Ytterbium (Yb) doped fiber amplifier (14) operating in the three-level regime, a passive air-clad fiber (52) and a pulse compressor (16). The seed pulses are spectrally broadened due to self phase modulation (SPM) in the air-clad Yb doped fiber (18) and further broadened due to SPM in the passive core of the passive air-clad fiber (52), to produce sufficient spectral broadening to allow the pulses to be compressed in the dispersion compensator (16) into femtosecond pulses. The Yb doped fiber may have a phosphosilicate host composition in order to mitigate photodarkening. |
| US08731006B2 |
Signal separating circuit, signal separating method, signal multiplexing circuit and signal multiplexing method
When a data signal of a first channel is an RZ signal having a pulse period T1 and a logic “1” pulse width m, a data signal of a second channel is an RZ signal having a pulse period T2 and a logic “1” pulse width n and the relation n |
| US08731003B2 |
Method and arrangement for adjustment of a clock signal
An arrangement for adjusting a clock signal in a network element of a communications network includes a processor device arranged to produce a control variable containing information about synchronization messages received from at least two other network elements. A situation in which the reception from a sending network element of synchronization messages of a good enough quality ceases will not significantly disturb the clock signal to be adjusted because only part of the control variable used for the adjustment depends on synchronization messages sent by an individual network element. In a preferred arrangement, the reference value of the control variable is changed in response to a situation where the reception from a sending network element of synchronization messages of a good enough quality ceases. Thus it is possible to reduce the change of the difference between the control variable and its reference value which further reduces disturbances caused in the clock signal to be adjusted. |
| US08730999B2 |
Method and system for reduction of decoding complexity in a communication system
Method and System for Utilization of an Outer Decoder in a Broadcast Services Communication System is described. Information to be transmitted is provided to a systematic portion of a plurality of transmit buffers and encoded by an outer decoder communicatively coupled to the transmit buffer. The resulting redundant bits are provided to a parity portion of each transmit buffer. The content of the transmit buffers, is multiplexed and encoded by an inner decoder to improve protection by adding redundancy. The receiving station recovers the transmitted information by an inverse process. Because a decoding complexity depends on the size of a systematic portion of the transmit buffer, reasoned compromise between a systematic portion size and number of transmit buffers yields decreased decoding complexity. |
| US08730995B2 |
System and method for enabling radio operations on a wireless computing device
Embodiments of the invention provide for a wireless computing device that comprises a set of one or more radio components to transmit and receive wireless communications on the device. Additionally, the wireless computing device includes processing and memory resources that individually or in combination provide multiple wireless applications, a radio object, and an arbitration component. The multiple wireless applications are each capable of generating a user-interface for enabling user-input in connection with wireless activities performed with that wireless application. The radio object interfaces the multiple applications with the set of one or more radio components. The arbitration component is configured to arbitrate at least one of (i) requests made by each of the wireless applications to the radio object for access to one or more of the radio components in the set, or (ii) responses from the radio object to requests made by each of the wireless applications. |
| US08730994B2 |
Fair discount for network resource allocation
A method, system and computer program product for allocating network resources. In one embodiment, a service provider allocates an amount of the network resources to a group of clients, and the service provider receives a request from a client for a quantity of the network resources. The service provider negotiates with the group of clients and offers the group of clients an incentive to reduce the amount of the network resources allocated to this group of clients. The service provider reallocates some of the resources from the group of clients, based on this negotiating, to accommodate the request. In this embodiment, each of the group of clients provides a business value representing a value that would be lost due to reductions in the resources allocated to the each client, and the resources are reallocated based on this business values provided by the group of clients. |
| US08730992B2 |
System and method for transmitting network packets adapted for multimedia streams
A system and a method for transmitting network packets are provided. The system includes an information module, a scheduling module, and a forwarding module. The information module receives and records media information of a plurality of multimedia streams. The scheduling module calculates a guaranteed bit rate of each multimedia stream according to the media information provided by the information module, and rearranges isochronous packets of the multimedia streams in the first time slots of a plurality of clock cycles according to the guaranteed bit rates so that the transmission of the isochronous packets satisfies the guaranteed bit rates. The length of each clock cycle is a predetermined length. The length of the first time slot and the predetermined length are in a predetermined ratio. The forwarding module transmits all the packets of a clock cycle to a network at every a time interval of the predetermined length. |
| US08730991B1 |
Device identification using frequency modulated signal bursts
Various techniques are provided to facilitate the identification of devices, such as high performance data communication devices, when such devices are connected over a data communication bus. In one example, high performance devices may identify each other by providing frequency modulated signal bursts which fall within a range of frequencies associated with a data communication standard. Similarly-implemented high performance devices may recognize patterns encoded in the frequency modulations of the signal bursts and thereby identify each other. Advantageously, while providing the frequency modulated signal bursts, the high performance devices may remain compliant with the data communication standard to facilitate communication with other types of devices which may expect to receive communications in accordance with the data communication standard. |
| US08730985B2 |
Technique for providing on a program channel composite programming content attributed to different sources
In providing composite programming content from different sources on a program channel, a host processor joins IP multicast groups for which “live” contents from multiple sources are provided. Specifically, the host processor collects packets containing the live contents based on their destination addresses associated with the IP multicast groups. Segments of the received live contents are selected to realize the composite programming content, which is provided on the program channel. |
| US08730984B2 |
Queuing based on packet classification
A system includes a host and a network controller coupled to the host by a bus. The system includes logic to classify Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) receive packets based on the network source, network destination, port source, and port destination of the respective receive packets; and cause queuing of the receive packets in a one of multiple receive queues based on the classifying such that receive packets having the same network source, network destination, port source, and port destination are to be queued to the same one of the multiple queues for processing. |
| US08730983B1 |
Method and apparatus for a configurable packet routing, buffering and scheduling scheme to optimize throughput with deadlock prevention in SRIO-to-PCIe bridges
A method and apparatus for a configurable packet routing, buffering and scheduling scheme to optimize throughput with deadlock prevention in SRIO-to-PCIe Bridges have been described. A single level enqueue method with dynamic buffering and dequeuing based on packet re-ordering is disclosed. Single level packet routing and scheduling to meet SRIO and PCIe rules to enqueue packets based on FType/TType is disclosed. Backpressure based on ingress watermarks for different packet types is disclosed. Use of a circular-reorder queue (CRQ) for both ingress and egress allows packet reordering and packet passing. |
| US08730982B2 |
Scheduling of data transmission with minimum and maximum shaping of flows in a network device
A network device for processing data includes at least one ingress module for performing switching functions on incoming data, a memory management unit for storing the incoming data and at least one egress module for transmitting the incoming data to at least one egress port. The at least one egress module includes an egress scheduling module and multiple queues per each of the at least one egress port. Each of the multiple queues serve data attributable to a class of service, and the egress scheduling module is configured to service a minimum bandwidth requirement for each of the multiple queues and then to service the multiple queues to allow for transmission of a maximum allowable bandwidth through a weighting of each of the multiple queues. |
| US08730980B2 |
Architecture for scalable virtual network services
Techniques are provided to start a virtual service node that is configured to provide network traffic services for one or more virtual machines. The virtual service node has at least one associated service profile comprising identifiers for corresponding service policies for network traffic services. The service policies identified in the at least one associated service profile are retrieved. A virtual machine is started with an associated virtual interface and a port profile is applied to the virtual interface, including information identifying the service profile. Information is provided to the virtual service node that informs the virtual service node of network parameters and assigned service profile of the virtual machine. Network traffic associated with the virtual machine is intercepted and redirected to the virtual service node. A virtual service data path is provided that enables dynamic service binding, virtual machine mobility support, and virtual service node chaining and/or clustering. |
| US08730978B2 |
Analog front end protocol converter/adapter for SLPI protocol
In an embodiment, an analog front end (AFE) bridge for a SLPI PHY includes: an AFE LINK-side circuit having at least one pair of differential LINK-side nodes which does not conform to SLPI PHY specifications; an AFE PHY-side circuit having a pair of differential PHY-side nodes conforming to SLPI PHY specifications, wherein the AFE PHY-side circuit is coupled to the AFE LINK-side circuit; and a termination control circuit coupled to the AFE PHY-side circuit. A method of bridging a legacy LINK circuit to a SLPI PHY circuit includes: communicating with a legacy LINK circuit with a legacy LINK protocol; communicating with a SLPI PHY circuit with a SLPY PHY protocol over a differential pair; converting outputs of the legacy LINK circuit into inputs of the SLPI PHY circuit; converting outputs of the SLPI PHY circuit into inputs of the legacy LINK circuit; controlling a termination of the differential pair. |
| US08730971B2 |
Broadband telecommunications system
A method of operating a communication signaling processor is disclosed. The method comprises receiving a signaling message for a voice call to a called party, processing the signaling message to transfer a query to a database that is updated when the called party changes locations, receiving a response from the database, and processing the response to select an identifier for a header of a voice communication to route the voice call to the called party. |
| US08730969B2 |
Method of detecting and handling and endless RLC retransmission
Disclosed is a radio (wireless) communication system providing a radio communication service and a terminal, and more particularly, to a method of effectively detecting and handling endless RLC retransmission so as to prevent endless RLC retransmission occurring between the terminal and a network in an Evolved Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (E-UMTS) that has evolved from a Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) or a Long Term Evolution (LTE) system. |
| US08730968B2 |
ARQ communication system and method with acknowledgment mapping
A method of operating a communication system in which transmissions in a first direction, say from a base station, comprise frames formed by data packets and transmissions in a second direction, say from a user equipment (U E), comprise substantially continuous transmissions having acknowledgement fields (ARQ-A, ARQ-B) for data packets and transmission gaps (GP) to allow the UE to make other measurements. The acknowledgement fields are mapped to the data packets to enable the base station to determine which data packets are being acknowledged. In order to avoid ambiguity in mapping acknowledgement fields to data packets when a transmission gap occurs, a single data packet is transmitted in either the frame whose acknowledgement field would occur in the transmission gap or the frame whose acknowledgement field would occur immediately following the transmission gap. Thus the base station will know that the acknowledgement field immediately following the transmission gap maps onto the data packet transmitted in the selected one of the two frames. In one embodiment a data packet is not transmitted in the frame whose acknowledgement field would occur immediately following the transmission gap. In a refinement of the method, the selection of the particular frame is related to the one which can support a high rate data packet. |
| US08730967B1 |
Policy-based virtual routing and forwarding (VRF) assignment
A network switch device includes network interfaces configured to receive and transmit packet based communications within a computer network, a virtual router classification engine, and a packet forwarding engine. The virtual router classification engine is configured to generate a search key for a packet received at a first network interface using header information, and additional information associated with the packet, to select a rule corresponding to the generated search key, and to apply an action associated with the selected rule to the packet. The virtual router classification engine is configured to apply an action associated with the selected rule to the packet at least by assigning a virtual router identifier to the packet. The packet forwarding engine is configured to serve organizations forming the computer network, and segregate packet communications of the first organization from packet communications traffic of other organizations based on the assigned virtual router identifier. |
| US08730960B2 |
Providing multicast transmissions with partial state block acknowledgments and retries
Described herein are techniques that provide for the transmission of a multicast stream that can resend frames that were not received using the partial state block acknowledgement mechanism. In an example embodiment, an access point reserves a channel for a transmission opportunity of a sufficient length to allow the sending of multicast data, block acknowledgement request, and receipt of a block acknowledgement. Optionally, the transmission opportunity may be of sufficient length to enable packets that re resent to be sent during the transmission opportunity, thereby preventing other stations on the channel from gaining control of the channel. Alternatively the access point may employ an appropriate backoff between TXOPs to AP prevent (T)DLS traffic to the recipients of the multicast stream. The access point does not send any frames from other queues during the transmission opportunity. |
| US08730959B1 |
Systems and methods for endpoint recording using a media application server
Embodiments of the present invention provide systems and methods for recording media communication. An exemplary method comprises the steps of: receiving an incoming communication from a first communication device; routing the incoming communication to a second communication device in a call center; transmitting media communications associated with the incoming media communication between the first communication device and the second communication device through a media application server; duplicating the media communications via the media application server; transmitting the duplicated media communications via the media application server; and recording the duplicated media communications. |
| US08730955B2 |
High speed packet capture
Packets can be read from a network interface into an application using a single kernel copy. In one embodiment, the invention includes a receiver packet memory to store captured packets, and a network interface driver operating in a kernel of a device to read packets captured by network interface hardware into the kernel by storing captured packets in the receiver packet memory. Then, an application interface can expose the receiver packet memory to an application executing on the device by representing the receiver packet memory as a virtual file. |
| US08730952B2 |
Method and apparatus for staggering internet protocol teleconferencing calls
A method and apparatus for enabling providers of PSTN toll free services to stagger simultaneous transmission of call setup signaling messages into an IP based teleconference bridge, supported by a VoIP network, by suspending a subset of calls and placing them on hold while placing other calls to be connected to the conference bridge are disclosed. The PSTN network can stagger calls by limiting the number of call setup signaling messages to be sent to the VoIP network within a predefined period of time interval and spread all the calls over multiple of such predefined periods. Prerecorded announcements or music can be played while the calls that have been placed on hold are in queue. |
| US08730949B2 |
Private branch exchange, VoIP gateway unit and private branch exchange system
This private branch exchange includes a park portion capable of parking a call put through to a telephone terminal unit via a terminal connection portion and a control portion controlling the park portion, when a nuisance call from the public telephone network is put through to the telephone terminal unit via the terminal connection portion, to park the nuisance call on the basis of a prescribed operation of the user against the nuisance call. |
| US08730947B2 |
Reverse call set up via an interconnection between different networks
To set up connections via interconnections between different networks (1, 2) (2, 3), in first networks (1) e.g. public fixed networks (first step), first information is received defining at least first parts of the connections within the first networks (1). In response, (second step) second information is sent to second networks (2) e.g. public mobile networks defining the charging control of at least the interconnections to be performed outside the first networks (1) and defining at least second parts of the connections. In response, (third step) the second parts of the connections are set up within the second networks (2). The connections comprise the first parts, the interconnections and the second parts. This way, “call back” calls can be set up without “normal” calls needing to precede these “call back” calls. |
| US08730945B2 |
Systems and methods for using a recipient handset as a remote screen
The present invention provides systems and methods for using a recipient handset as a remote screen for the initiator handset, while the two handsets are engaged in a voice call. The systems and methods allow a party to transmit its screen buffer to the other party during a voice call between the parties, without allowing the receiving party to store it or forward it to a third party. |
| US08730944B2 |
Method and entities for providing call enrichment of voice calls and semantic combination of several service sessions to a virtual combined service session
A method for controlling communication between a number of first terminal modules connected to a multimedia IP network in particular with the first communication session being a call session already running, includes the steps of establishing a first communication session between the first terminal modules, establishing at least one second communication session between at least a subset of the first terminal modules, and storing relation information relating the first and the second communication sessions. |
| US08730941B1 |
Method and apparatus for providing multiple calling name identifiers
A method and apparatus for enabling users of a packet network service, e.g., a VoIP network service, who live in the same household and share a common phone number to have individualized user identifiers to be transmitted along with their call setup messages are disclosed. For example, each user in the household would have a different user identifier which they could retrieve from an endpoint device immediately before dialing the phone number when they want to place a call that would transmit their personalized user identifier in the call setup message. |
| US08730940B2 |
Switching system
An Ethernet access connection (102) connects a user access point (10) to an access node (12) in the network. The access connection comprises a passive coupler (20), by means of which a further access connection (104) can be provided between the user access point (10) and a second access node (14), such that data can be exchanged over each access connection (102, 104) between the user access point and the network. This duplication ensures that communication is not severed if the access connection (102) is breached. To avoid interference at the destination terminal (11) between the two resulting identical data streams, the access nodes (13, 18) giving access to the destination terminal are controlled such that only one of them forwards data to the destination access point (11), with the capability to switch to the other one in the event of a loss of connection between the access node (13) and user access point (10). |
| US08730939B2 |
Wireless transmitter, wireless receiver, and preamble sequence generation method
Provided is a wireless transmitter capable of accurately specifying the number of multiplexed streams and correctly decoding the data signals when a preamble sequence transmitted from any antenna of a wireless transmitter is detected. In this device, a multiplex count determination unit (101) determines the number of streams used by the device itself from the same number of candidates as the number of spatially multiplexed streams. A sequence group generator (104) forms a plurality of preamble sequences into the same number of groups as the number of candidates, which is the number of streams. A sequence group selector (105) selects the group matching the number of streams determined by the multiplex count determination unit (101) from a plurality of groups. A preamble generator (106) selects the same number of preamble sequences as the number of streams in the group selected by the sequence group selector (105) and generates the preamble sequence used by the device itself. |
| US08730935B2 |
Method and system for bluetooth connection setup in a multi-standard multi-radio communication system
Aspects of a method and system for Bluetooth connection setup in a multi-standard multi-radio communication system are provided. In this regard, a Bluetooth system may be operable to determine whether a coexistent time division multiplexing communication system is receiving signals and to control the types of packets it transmits based on the determination. While the coexistent time division multiplexing communication system is receiving signals, the Bluetooth system may be limited to transmission of Bluetooth packets that enable establishment of a Bluetooth connection. For example the Bluetooth system may be limited to sending ID packets in response to page packets and FHS packets and/or may be limited to sending FHS packets. Also, the Bluetooth system may refrain from transmitting packets while the Bluetooth system is connected as a piconet master and while the time division multiplexing communication system is receiving. |
| US08730932B2 |
System and method for hybrid location in a CDMA 2000 network
A system and method for estimating a location of a wireless device receiving signals from plural nodes of a Code Division Multiple Access 2000 communications system. One or more ranges of a wireless device from one or more of the plural nodes may be determined as a function of signals received at the wireless device from the respective one or more plural nodes and as a function of information in an uplink pilot signal. From one or more location measurement units (“LMU”) measurements an uplink time of arrival (“TOA”) measurement from the device may be determined and then an estimation of the location of the wireless device determined as a function of the uplink TOA and determined one or more ranges. |
| US08730928B2 |
Enhancements for increased spatial reuse in ad-hoc networks
A method of facilitating communication in a wireless ad-hoc network comprises: generating, at a node in the wireless ad-hoc network, target availability information with regard to one or more transmission slots, the target availability information indicating whether the node is permitted to receive a transmission during each transmission slot; generating, at the node, owner availability information with regard to one or more transmission slots, the owner availability information indicating whether the node is permitted to transmit during each transmission slot; and broadcasting, from the node, the target availability information and the owner availability information to separately indicate availability as either an owner or a target for one or more transmission slots. |
| US08730927B2 |
UWB coexistence scheme
Roughly described, a first radio is configured to operate according to a first protocol and configured to use a coexistence signaling scheme with a second radio configured to operate according to a second protocol, wherein the coexistence signaling scheme is configured to allow a radio configured to operate according to the second protocol to be co-located and non-interfering with a radio configured to operate according to a protocol different to the first protocol, and wherein the first radio comprises behavioral logic for generating messages for the second radio in accordance with the coexistence signaling scheme to cause the second radio to adopt behavior suitable for coexistence with the first radio. |
| US08730925B2 |
Method and apparatus for generating reference signals for accurate time-difference of arrival estimation
A base station communicates a positioning reference signal (PRS) to wireless communication devices over a downlink in a wireless communication system by encoding a PRS into a first set of transmission resources, encoding other information into a second set of transmission resources, multiplexing the two sets of resources into a subframe such that the first set of resources is multiplexed into at least a portion of a first set of orthogonal frequency division multiplexed (OFDM) symbols based on an identifier associated with the base station and the second set of resources is multiplexed into a second set of OFDM symbols. Upon receiving the subframe, a wireless communication device determines which set of transmission resources contains the PRS based on the identifier associated with the base station that transmitted the subframe and processes the set of resources containing the PRS to estimate timing (e.g., time of arrival) information. |
| US08730924B2 |
Method and arrangement in a telecommunication system
The present invention relates to a method for sending reserved sub-carriers to a UE for the purpose of reducing peak to average power ratio (PAPR) of the transmitted signal to ensure sufficient quality of the modulated signal to achieve high data rate, including the steps of sending the information related to dynamic activation and deactivation of reserved sub-carriers on a common channel, which is readable for all UEs in idle and in connected mode; dynamically activating the transmission of the reserved sub-carriers in a cell when high modulation quality is to be maintained; dynamically deactivating the transmission of the reserved sub-carriers in a cell when high modulation quality is not required. The invention furthermore relates to a radio base station and a UE relating to said method. |
| US08730921B2 |
System and method for call re-establishment
A method for implementing call re-establishment using a user equipment (UE) configured to communicate with a wireless communication network includes detecting at least one of a radio link failure and a protocol failure of a connection between the UE and a serving cell. A target cell of the wireless communication network is selected and a received signal level for the target cell is compared to a signal level threshold. When the received signal level for the target cell exceeds the signal level threshold, call re-establishment is initiated on the target cell. The signal level threshold may be encoded within a system information type 21bis message, or a system information element. In some cases, the signal level threshold is equal to a minimum signal level required on the target cell. |
| US08730916B2 |
Method for realizing single radio voice call continuity and single radio voice call continuity system
A method for implementing single radio voice call continuity, comprises: User Equipment (UE) establishing an IP Multimedia Core Network Subsystem (IMS) session with a remote user through a Packet Switch (PS) network, wherein the IMS session is anchored to an enhanced Mobile Switch Center (eMSC); the PS network sending a handover request to the eMSC for handing over the IMS session to gain access through a Circuit Switch (CS) network; the eMSC receiving the handover request, establishing a media link, and relating a newly established media link with a remote media link of the IMS session, so that the UE can communicate with the remote user through the newly established media link and the remote media link. The present invention also provides a system and an eMSC for supporting single radio voice call continuity. |
| US08730912B2 |
Determining a non-access stratum message count in handover
Techniques for deriving message counts based at least in part on a locally stored message count and at least a portion of a message count received from a remote network node are disclosed. The message counts can relate to downlink (DL) non-access stratum (NAS) counts. In one aspect, a device can receive a number of least significant bits of the DL NAS count in a handover message. The device can derive a DL NAS count by utilizing a remaining portion of most significant bits of a locally stored DL NAS count, and can determine whether to increment or decrement the most significant bits based at least in part on a parameter to handle cases where the least significant bits of the locally stored DL NAS count have wrapped due to overflow and/or underflow. |
| US08730910B2 |
Methods and apparatus for providing a handover control system associated with a wireless communication network
Embodiments of methods and apparatus for providing a handover control system associated with a wireless communication network are generally described herein. Other embodiments may be described and claimed. |
| US08730902B2 |
Discontinuous reception start offset coordinated with semi-persistent scheduling system and method
An apparatus and method are provided for configuring a user agent to receive semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) transmissions independent of the user agent monitoring a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH). Also provided are an apparatus and method for configuring a user agent to monitor a PDCCH in a subframe to which one of a downlink assignment or an uplink grant is configured. |
| US08730901B2 |
Sequence allocating method and sequence allocating apparatus
A sequence allocating method and apparatus wherein in a system where a plurality of different Zadoff-Chu sequences or GCL sequences are allocated to a single cell, the arithmetic amount and circuit scale of a correlating circuit at a receiving end can be reduced. In ST201, a counter (a) and a number (p) of current sequence allocations are initialized, and in ST202, it is determined whether the number (p) of current sequence allocations is coincident with a number (K) of allocations to one cell. In ST203, it is determined whether the number (K) of allocations to the one cell is odd or even. If K is even, in ST204-ST206, sequence numbers (r=a and r=N−a), which are not currently allocated, are combined and then allocated. If K is odd, in ST207-ST212, for sequences that cannot be paired, one of sequence numbers (r=a and r=N−a), which are not currently allocated, is allocated. |
| US08730898B2 |
Method and apparatus for transmitting an uplink control signal in a wireless communication system
A method and apparatus for transmitting an uplink control signal in a wireless communication system are provided. A user equipment spreads a third control signal by using either a reference signal sequence of a first control signal or a reference signal sequence of a second control signal, thereby multiplexing the third control signal to the first and second control signals. Thus, a payload of a control channel can be increased. |
| US08730897B2 |
Method and apparatus for transmitting reference signal for reducing inter-cell interference in multiple input multiple output communication system
Disclosed is a method for transmitting a reference signal, in a method for transmitting a Channel State Information-Reference Reference Signal (CSI-RS) for measuring a transmission channel according to each antenna and a data signal in a broadband wireless communication system based on a MIMO scheme through a plurality of antennas. |
| US08730890B2 |
Apparatus and methods for wireless channel sounding
A technique of operating a wireless communication device includes receiving an assigned starting point index and an assigned reference signal bandwidth for a reference signal. The reference signal is then transmitted multiple times, beginning at an initial resource block that is associated with the assigned starting point index and in accordance with the assigned reference signal bandwidth, across a shared channel. |
| US08730888B2 |
Handling discontinuous transmission indication bits
Transmitter(s) (34), radio base station nodes (38) comprising transmitter(s), and methods of operating transmitter(s)/radio base station(s) involve handling discontinuous transmission indication bits, particularly when transmitting using a 16 QAM signal point constellation having an I-branch and a Q-branch (for a quadruple of bits comprising two I-branch bits, i1 and i2, and two Q-branch bits q1 and q2). The transmitter(s) (34) and the radio base station nodes (28) comprised thereof are operated to perform a Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service over Single Frequency Network (MBSFN) transmission wherein the MBSFN transmission comprises mapping data to a Secondary Common Control Physical Channel (SCCPCH). |
| US08730887B2 |
Method, apparatus and system for transmitting information
A method for transmitting information includes: by a NodeB, receiving information reported by a User Equipment (UE) through an Enhanced Dedicated Channel (E-DCH) transmission channel, and determining the UE corresponding to the received information according to UE ID information carried in the received information. A system and NodeB for transmitting information are also provided. Therefore, when random access data is transmitted between the UE and the NodeB, the NodeB can determine the UE from which the data is received, thus ensuring practicability of the transmission solution that uses High Speed Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA) to implement random access. |
| US08730883B2 |
Coordinated transmission method, coordinated transmission system, central station and radio base station
A coordinated transmission method of the invention has the steps of selecting a directional pattern corresponding to an area in which a radio terminal locates, from among a plurality of directional patterns determined respectively corresponding to a plurality of resources in frequency domains where the plurality of directional patterns is configured so that a plurality of radio base stations surrounding the area transmits, to the area, directional beams of same frequency domain resources to face one another, while not transmitting the directional beams of the same frequency domain resources using the same frequency domain resources to areas adjacent to the area, and of distributing a signal to transmit to the radio terminal according to the selected directional pattern, determining a frequency domain and directions of directional beams regarding the distributed signal, and delivering the signal to each of the plurality of radio base stations that simultaneously transmits the signal to the radio terminal. |
| US08730878B2 |
Power and resource efficient APPDU based approach with scheduled block ACKS for WLAN
Disclosed are methods and apparatuses for communications by which a data packet is generated for transmission to a node, or by which a data packet is received from a node, the data packet including a header and data, wherein a channel designation for a node to send an acknowledgement to an apparatus or a transmitting node is embedded in the header of the data packet. |
| US08730871B2 |
System and method for providing voice communications over a multi-level secure network
According to one embodiment, a communication network includes an analog voice bridge coupled to two secure network domains that each have a differing security level. The analog voice bridge includes two codecs that are coupled together through an analog voice line that transfers analog voice signals. The analog voice bridge is coupled to each secure network domain through a network switch that transfers data packet streams from their respective networks to the codecs while restricting data packets that are not associated with the data packet stream. |
| US08730862B2 |
Method for setting a period in a ban
A method for setting a period in a body area network (BAN) having two or more types of virtual basic service sets (BSSs) according to a type of a supported application is provided. The method includes: transmitting BAN BSS type information of a BAN BSS corresponding to an application to be supported by a device (DEV) to a central point (CP); receiving BAN BSS configuration information corresponding to the BAN BSS type information; and transmitting data to the CP in an active period according to duty cycle information included in the BAN BSS configuration information. Accordingly, the BAN BSS can be suitably managed for the application. |
| US08730861B2 |
Rate matching for data and control channels in wireless communication systems
In co-channel heterogeneous networks, subframes may be partitioned between several evolved Node Bs (eNBs) including eNBs of different power classes. Lower power eNBs may have a reduced range due to interference from neighboring higher power eNBs. Rate matching on the UE allows the UE, during communication with a low power eNB, to avoid transmitting on Resource Elements (REs) which experience interference from common resource signals of an interfering base station. |
| US08730859B2 |
Method and apparatus of sleep mode operation
Disclosed herein relates to a sleep mode operation method, and the sleep mode operation method according to the present invention may include transmitting a sleep request message for requesting sleep mode switching to a base station; receiving a sleep operating parameter including a sleep cycle and a listening window from the base station; referring to the sleep operating parameter to switch to a sleep mode; receiving a traffic indication message indicating that traffic is generated from the base station; receiving traffic from the base station during the listening window while at the same time operating a timer; and early terminating the listening window to enter into a sleep window if the timer operation is expired according to the traffic reception prior to terminating the listening window. |
| US08730852B2 |
Eliminating false audio associated with VoIP communications
Embodiments are directed to eliminating false audio using an egress gateway in a communications network. At least one false audio packet is received by an egress gateway. The false audio packet includes false audio. A DTMF packet is received by the egress gateway. The DTMF packet is received subsequent to the at least one false audio packet. The false audio in the false audio packet is replaced with a substitute signal by the egress gateway. |
| US08730851B1 |
Slot allocation, user grouping, and frame partition method and apparatus for H-FDD systems
A base station is configured to assign, to each remote station, a down-link data rate and an up-link data rate for communication between that remote station and the base station, provide, for each remote station, a down-link slot allocation for communication between that remote station and the base station, and provide, for each remote station, an up-link slot allocation for communication between that remote station and the at least one base station. A minimum down-link data rate varies with the down-link slot allocation for each remote station, and a minimum up-link data rate varies with the respective up-link slot allocation for each remote station. The down-link slot allocations and the up-link slot allocations are determined so as to maximize the minimum of the down-link data rates and the up-link data rates. |
| US08730849B2 |
Method for transmitting and receiving information related to relay station
A method of transmitting and receiving information related to a relay station is disclosed. The present invention includes the steps of periodically receiving hop information indicating whether a hop number from the relay station to a base station is odd via a superframe header and determining a timing point for the mobile station to switch to a receive mode according to the hop information. Accordingly, a mobile station is informed of a hop number between a base station and a multi-hop relay station, whereby a waste of power of the mobile station is minimized. And, resources can be efficiently usable. |
| US08730842B2 |
Connectivity management and diagnostics for cellular data devices
A cellular network device comprises a data network indicator and an automatic network reconfiguration module. A data network indicator provides an indication when data network connectivity associated with a cellular network does not meet performance or configuration criteria. An automatic network reconfiguration module automatically reconfigures network data connectivity in the event that an indication has been provided that data network connectivity does not meet performance or configuration criteria. A cellular network device comprises a data network indicator and a management channel. A data network indicator for providing an indication when data network connectivity associated with a cellular network does not meet performance or configuration criteria. A management channel for enabling automatic access in the event that an indication is received that data network connectivity does not meet performance or configuration criteria, wherein the management channel enables automatic access to the cellular network device for administrative maintenance or reporting. |
| US08730841B2 |
Peer to peer communications methods and apparatus providing for use of both WAN uplink and downlink bands
Methods and apparatus for supporting peer to peer communications are described. A peer to peer communications device uses both wide area network (WAN) uplink and downlink communications air link resources for peer to peer signaling. During an uplink share mode of operation a peer to peer wireless terminal uses a wide area network uplink communications band to communicate peer to peer signals, and the peer to peer wireless terminal implements a first transmission power control function. During a downlink share mode of operation, the peer to peer wireless terminal uses a wide area network downlink communications band to communicate peer to peer signals, and the peer to peer wireless terminal implements a second transmission power control function. The second power control function is different from the first power control function. |
| US08730837B2 |
System and method for control of power distribution networks
A system for controlling a multi-feed power distribution network includes: a first controller configured to control operation of a first network sector, the first controller configured to, in response to a topology change in the first network sector causing a change in a location from which power is supplied to at least one affected network segment, transmit a message identifying the at least one affected network segment from the first controller to the network without prior knowledge of any other controllers; and at least one second controller configured to control operation of the at least one second network sector, the second controller configured to receive the message, exchange configuration information regarding the at least one affected segment with the first controller, and automatically update the second configuration data of the second controller based on the configuration information received from the first controller to reflect the topology change. |
| US08730834B2 |
Intelligent electronic device with embedded multi-port data packet controller
An intelligent electronic device (IED) configured to supervise a process having a state has at least one of a current, voltage or resistive input configured to monitor the state of the process, a binary status input configured to monitor the state of the process, a binary status input configured to receive a digitally encoded serial communication package for monitoring the state of the process, a control output configured to output a signal to control process protection, control, or automation, or a combination thereof, or a control output configured to output a digitally encoded serial communication package to control protection, control, or automation, or a combination thereof. The IED is also configured to facilitate digital communication between at least two compatible devices by directing communication packets from ports connected to an originating compatible device to ports connected to a destination compatible device. |
| US08730832B2 |
Method and terminal for performing direct communication between terminals
Disclosed is a method for a first terminal to perform direct communication between terminals, the method including performing direct communication with at least one second terminal by using resources allocated for direct communication between terminals, the resources including a synchronization channel used for frequency synchronization and time synchronization between terminals, and the synchronization channel including a synchronization channel preamble used for at least one of preamble detection, time offset estimation, frequency offset estimation, and channel estimation. |
| US08730830B2 |
Indoor location measuring method and apparatus using access point
Provided is an indoor location measuring method and apparatus. The indoor location measuring apparatus that measures a location of a communication terminal within a building by determining a floor where the communication terminal is located may include a floor classifying means for classifying information relating to a plurality of access points (APs) and collected by the communication terminal for each floor, and a location determining means for assigning a grade constant to each item of AP information classified for each floor based on the signal intensity included in the AP information, and for calculating the sum of the grade constants for each floor, and for determining a floor having the largest sum as a location of the communication terminal. |
| US08730829B2 |
Indication of user equipment transmit power capacilty in carrier aggregation
A method of power headroom reporting (PHR) is proposed. A UE is configured with a plurality of component carriers (CCs) and is served by one or more power amplifiers (PAs) in a wireless system with carrier aggregation. The UE determines transmit power limitation (TPL) information that comprises a set of TPL values, each TPL value corresponds to a UE-configured maximum transmit power for UE-level, PA-level, and CC-level. The TPL information is then reduced to non-redundant TPL values. Based on the non-redundant TPL values, the UE determines power headroom (PH) information that comprises a set of PH values. Each PH value equals to a TPL value subtracted by a UE-calculated transmit power. The UE reports the PH information to a base station via a fixed-length or variable-length MAC CE at each PHR reporting instance. |
| US08730828B2 |
Method and apparatus for providing cooperative spectrum usage among multiple radio networks
An approach is provided for cooperatively sharing spectrum. A threshold value associated with an acceptable level of interference to a first radio network is determined. A beacon message specifying the threshold value is generated for transmission from the first radio network to one or more nodes of a second radio network that is configured to exchange traffic for mobile services. The first radio network and the second radio network share spectral resources including adjacent bands for the respective radio networks, and the beacon message is used for controlling the level of interference to the first radio network caused by the one or more nodes of the second radio network. |
| US08730827B2 |
Estimating quality of a signal in mobile wireless communication systems
A mobile station (MS) to determine signal quality values is disclosed. The MS may include a transmitter and a receiver and the receiver may determine a signal power value, a noise power value, and an interference power value of a signal received from antennas. The receiver may determine the signal power value and the interference value using a second preamble included in a super-frame of the signal, wherein the second preamble includes cell information. The receiver may determine a noise power value of the signal received from the plurality of antennas using unoccupied orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) tones of a first preamble included in the super-frame of the signal, wherein the first preamble includes carrier information. The receiver may also use the fractional frequency reuse (FFR) and MIMO features to determine signal quality values using the signal power value, the noise power value, and the interference power value. |
| US08730826B2 |
Testing fragment reassembly
Methods and apparatus for testing a network that reassembles fragments into datagrams. A packet receiver may extract a plurality of instrumentation blocks from a packet received from the network. The packet receiver may determine if the received packet constitutes a correctly reassembled datagram based on information contained within the plurality of instrumentation blocks. The packet receiver may accumulate and report test statistics indicative of a number of correctly reassembled datagrams received and a number of incorrectly reassembled datagrams received. |
| US08730822B2 |
Method for supporting SDH/SONET OAMP on ethernet
An Ethernet MAC OAMP Control sublayer is provided for supporting SDH/SONET OAMP standard functionality in Ethernet Networks. In accordance with one embodiment, an Ethernet MAC OAMP Control sublayer is provided for processing Ethernet MAC OAMP Control frames. The MAC OAMP Control sublayer provides support for a MAC OAMP Client to implement all of the SDH/SONET OAMP standard functionality. The MAC OAMP Control frame provides support for SDH/SONET OAMP on Ethernet networks. The Network Equipment can use the MAC OAMP Control frames to communicate with the downstream and upstream Network Equipment about various OAMP events, requests, performance parameters, communications channels, maintenance, and test functionality. |
| US08730820B2 |
System and method for connecting, configuring and testing new wireless devices and applications
A system, apparatus, and method are provided for connecting, configuring and testing new wireless devices and applications. For example, one embodiment of a computer-implemented method for enabling a trial wireless device comprises: automatically pre-provisioning one or more trial SIM cards for operation on a particular wireless cellular network on behalf of a prospective customer; automatically pre-configuring a trial wireless machine-to-machine (“M2M”) device on behalf of the prospective customer; wherein the trial M2M device includes testing and monitoring program code which, when the trial M2M device is connected to a computer system, performs the operations of: automatically connecting to the wireless cellular network execute a plurality of test operations for testing the SIM card and the trial M2M device, the test operations including determining whether the SIM card is correctly provisioned for the wireless network; determining whether the trial M2M wireless device is operating properly; and determining the existence of wireless data connectivity. |
| US08730819B2 |
Flexible network measurement
A method and a computer-readable storage medium are disclosed for flexible network measurement. Embodiments disclose receiving a network measurement request, transmitting portions of the request to network devices, configuring the network devices to collect metrics from packet data based on the portions of the request, and performing operations to generate metrics as a response to the network measurement request. Embodiments also disclose a flexible, dynamically configurable packet parser. Other embodiments are also disclosed. |
| US08730818B2 |
Converter/multiplexer for serial bus
This disclosure relates to a converter/multiplexer and associated method of use therefor or converting and multiplexing parallel inputs, a modem, a GPS, or even modem information into a single multimaster broadcast serial bus standard for connecting electronic control units, and more specifically, to a multiplexer for transforming analog, digital, frequency, GPS, or modem inputs into a CAN bus data transmittal over LAN and/or PAN and interrelation with a similarly equipped receiving module. Further, the converter/multiplexer is used alone or in a group as part of a larger system for multiplexing and demultiplexing signals for serial bus processing and also for guidance when the converters are cabled by operators using stored configurations. |
| US08730809B2 |
Methods for packet forwarding through a communication link of a distributed link aggregation group using mesh tagging
A method for packet forwarding through a communication link of a distributed link aggregation group (LAG) in a mesh network using a path tag is described herein. A packet is received on a non-mesh port of a first network device of the mesh network. A Media Access Controller (MAC) destination address of the packet that is associated with a plurality of network devices in the mesh is determined. Each network device of the plurality of network devices includes a link grouped in the distributed LAG. A destination mesh device from the plurality of network devices is selected. A plurality of available paths between the first network device and the destination mesh device are determined. A path of the plurality of available paths is selected. A tag associated with the selected path is inserted into the packet, and the packet is forwarded along the selected path. |
| US08730806B2 |
Congestion control and resource allocation in split architecture networks
A controller performs network-wide congestion control in a split architecture network. The controller receives flow statistics from switches for each entity that communicates via the network. The controller chooses a most congested link as a bottleneck link based on a packet loss rate that is derived from the flow statistics and estimated for each entity on each link of the network. The controller identifies a target path in the network that passes through the bottleneck link and carries the most traffic, and calculates a throttling probability for each sharing entity that shares the target path based on the capacity of the bottleneck link, capacity of the first link of the target path, bandwidth consumption and packet loss rate of each sharing entity. The controller then transmits the throttling probability of each sharing entity to the ingress switch of the target path to reduce the congestion on the bottleneck link. |
| US08730800B2 |
Method, apparatus, and system for transporting video streams
A method, an apparatus, and a system for transporting video streams are disclosed herein to handle video streams of different coding mechanisms and different encapsulation mechanisms intelligently according to visual sensitivity. The method includes: assessing a video data packet to gain visual sensitivity identifier information of the video data packet; adding the visual sensitivity identifier information into the video data packet; and handling the video data packet according to the visual sensitivity identifier information while transporting the video data packet. The embodiments of the present invention are applicable to transporting of network video streams. |
| US08730796B2 |
Providing radio access between cellular and internet protocol-based wireless communication networks
The present invention provides a method and an apparatus for providing radio access in a communication system by inter-working between at least two packet-based networks, such as heterogeneous cellular networks including a cellular network and an Internet Protocol (IP)-based wireless data network. The method includes enabling a packet routing path across the cellular and wireless data networks to provide a quality of service metric and an indication for mobility information associated with a user of a mobile device. The method further comprises transferring the quality of service metric and the indication for mobility information on the packet routing path in response to a service request across the networks. To provide wireless radio access, an IP-based communication system may use a wireless router, such as a base station router (BSR) and an inter-working unit. The inter-working unit may enable a packet routing path to provide a Quality of Service (QoS) metric and an indication for mobility information, such as mobility context information, associated with a user of a mobile device. In this way, instead of using a Mobile-IP client of the mobile device, the inter-working unit may provide radio access to the cellular network and the wireless data network using the wireless router. |
| US08730787B2 |
Cross-talk coefficient updating in vector transmission
Embodiments related to far-end cross-talk coefficient updating in vector transmission systems are depicted and described herein. |
| US08730785B2 |
Method and apparatus for reducing noise in a communication system
A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, a controller to: determine crosstalk coupling characteristics between a plurality of lines of a Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) system connected to a plurality of modems based on a transition between a full power mode and one or more other modes, and provide the determined crosstalk coupling characteristics to one or more of the plurality of modems for performance of at least one of pre-coding a transmitted signal and processing a received signal along a line of the plurality of lines, where the pre-coding and processing is performed based at least in part on the determined crosstalk coupling characteristics, and where the pre-coding of the transmitted signal and the processing of the received signal reduce effects of fluctuating crosstalk. Other embodiments are disclosed. |
| US08730780B2 |
Light delivery waveguide
A light source and a waveguide are mounted on a recording head slider. Light rays are emitted from the light source into the waveguide. The waveguide may include two core layers for light ray transmission. The first core layer enhances light coupling efficiency from the light source to the second core layer. The second core layer transforms a profile of the light. The waveguide may include a tapered portion with a narrow opening near the light source and a wider opening near the tapered portion exit. The light rays passing through the waveguide may be directed toward a collimating mirror. The collimating mirror makes the light rays parallel or nearly parallel and re-directs the light rays to a focusing mirror. The focusing mirror focuses the collimated light rays to a spot on a magnetic media disc. |
| US08730778B2 |
Data storage tape analytics method and system
A system for monitoring and analyzing operation of a tape infrastructure. The system includes a plurality of real and virtual tape libraries each including a plurality of tape drives and tape media. The system includes a server linked to the tape library. On the server, a storage tape analytics application is provided that functions to extract raw data sets from the tape library corresponding to operations of the tape library. The data pertains to use of the drives and media during data storage operations and data about the activities of the real or virtual tape libraries. The analytics application stores the extracted data sets in an analytics database. The analytics application provides a user interface for viewing data in the analytics database, e.g., a GUI operable by monitoring personnel to view and interact with the gathered and processed tape operations monitoring data to provide historical and user-driven analysis of data for an entire data center. |
| US08730777B2 |
Information storage medium, reproducing method, and recording method
A machine readable information storage medium, a reproducing method and apparatus which reproduces data from the storage medium, and a recording method and apparatus for recording data on the storage medium. The information storage medium includes a control area which stores within a data structure information usable by the recording or reproducing apparatus to record or reproduce the data on or from the storage medium. The information stored within the data structure includes a version corresponding to a specification, a revision number of recording speed, and an extended part version field. |
| US08730774B2 |
Optical disk device and optical disk device adjusting method
An optical disk device includes an optical pickup, and a controller. The optical pickup emits light on an optical disk, and detects return light from the optical disk. The controller performs a focus control based on a focus error signal corresponding to the return light detected by the optical pickup, and performs a tracking control based on a tracking error signal corresponding to the return light detected by the optical pickup. The controller finds a relation of an amount of deviation in a tracking balance of the tracking error signal relative to a change in a focus balance of the focus error signal while the tracking control is stopped prior to reproduction of the optical disk. The controller corrects the deviation in the tracking balance attributable to the change in the focus balance based on the relation while the focus balance is adjusted. |
| US08730773B2 |
Optical data access apparatus and method thereof
A method for controlling an OPU and an optical data access apparatus are provided. A signal generator is configured to generate a servo signal in response to data access. A comparator is configured to compare a threshold level and the servo signal, and generate a control level if a level of the servo signal against the threshold level when the OPU is controlled. An adjustment unit is configured to adjust a control signal according to the control level. The OPU is controlled according to the adjusted control signal. |
| US08730771B2 |
Recording/reproducing device
The present invention relates to a recording/reproducing device that records data on a double-sided recordable optical disk for storage and management purposes. The device includes a unit which stores a plurality of optical disks, a unit which records data onto and reproduces data from an upper side of an optical disk, a unit which records data onto and reproduces data from a lower side of an optical disk, a unit which conveys an optical disk between the disk storage unit and each recording/reproducing unit. When a request for reading data recorded on the lower side of the disk is received while the upper side is being written onto, a control unit interrupts a data recording process on the upper side, reproduces data recorded on the lower side, and after completion of reproducing the recorded data, resumes the interrupted data recording process. |
| US08730766B2 |
Seismic system with ghost and motion rejection
An underwater seismic system for reducing noise due to ghost reflections or motion through the water from seismic signals. The system includes two motion sensors. One sensor has a first response and is sensitive to platform-motion-induced noise as well as to acoustic waves. The other sensor has a different construction that isolates it from the acoustic waves so that its response is mainly to motion noise. The outputs of the two sensor responses are combined to remove the effects of motion noise. When further combined with a hydrophone signal, noise due to ghost reflections is reduced. |
| US08730764B2 |
Telemetry coding and surface detection for a mud pulser
A method for encoding a non-negative integer, for example, representative of MWD/LWD data, includes encoding at least a portion of the integer using at least a first order Fibonacci derived sequence. The remainder of the integer may be encoded using conventional Fibonacci encoding. The invention tends to improve coding efficiency, downhole and surface synchronization, and surface detection. |
| US08730756B2 |
Dual clock edge triggered memory
A memory circuitry includes memory components operable in response to first edges of an internal clock; and internal clock generating circuitry to generate the internal clock in response to a system clock, wherein the first edges of the internal clock are generated in response to both a rising and a falling edge of the system clock. |
| US08730749B2 |
Data transmission circuit and semiconductor apparatus using the same
A data transmission circuit includes a read data transmission unit configured to, when a read signal is asserted, detect and amplify a voltage level of a first data line, transmit an amplified voltage level to a second data line, and substantially prevent a voltage level of the second data line from being amplified to be substantially equal to or more than a preset voltage level, and a write data transmission unit configured to transmit the voltage level of the second data line to the first data line when a write signal is asserted. |
| US08730743B2 |
Repair method and integrated circuit using the same
An integrated circuit includes: a memory controller configured to determine whether a memory cell included in a semiconductor memory device is defective or not and extract a fail address having positional information of the defective memory cell, in a test mode; and a fail address storage unit configured to store the fail address. |
| US08730742B2 |
Device
Provided is a device, including: a first terminal which receives an external clock signal; a clock generation circuit connected to the first terminal to generate an internal clock signal based on the external clock signal; word lines and bit lines; amplifier circuits connected to the bit lines, respectively; and a control unit. The control unit controls, in a test operation, at least one of the word lines to repeat a selected state and an unselected state in accordance with the internal clock signal during a first period, and maintains the amplifier circuits in an active state during the first period. The control unit further controls, in a normal operation, the amplifier circuits to switch between the active state and an inactive state depending on switching between the selected state and the unselected state of the at least one of the word lines. |
| US08730739B2 |
Semiconductor device for accelerating erase verification process and method therefor
A semiconductor device and a method for accelerating erase verification process thereof are introduced, in which a correction unit of erase verification is connected between broken bit lines of the semiconductor device and a page buffer. Grounding switches in the correction unit of erase verification are allowed to connect the broken bit lines to ground during an erase verification process by means of a specific circuit arrangement with respect to the broken lines. Thereby, the earth voltage is received, and further, that the broken bit lines pass the erase verification is identified by the page buffer, further saving time consumed in repeated verifications in the conventional technology significantly. |
| US08730738B2 |
Nonvolatile memory devices and methods of operating nonvolatile memory devices
Methods of operating nonvolatile memory devices including a plurality of cell strings each having at least one ground selection transistor, a plurality of memory cells, and at least one string selection transistor, the operating methods including receiving a command and an address, determining a voltage applying time in response to the input command and address, and applying a specific voltage to memory cells of cell strings corresponding to the input address during the determined voltage applying time. |
| US08730727B2 |
3D non-volatile memory device and method for operating and fabricating the same
A 3D non-volatile memory device includes a plate-type lower select line formed over a substrate, a lower select transistor formed in the lower select line, a plurality of memory cells stacked over the lower select transistor, an upper select transistor formed over the memory cells, and a line-type common source line formed over the substrate and spaced from the lower select line. |
| US08730723B2 |
Structures and methods of high efficient bit conversion for multi-level cell non-volatile memories
Structures and methods of converting Multi-Level Cell (MLC) Non-Volatile Memory (NVM) into multi-bit information are disclosed. In MLC NVM system, multi-bit information stored in NVM cell is represented by the states of NVM cell threshold voltage levels. In this disclosure, “P” states of NVM cell threshold voltage levels are divided into “N” groups of threshold voltage levels. Each group contains “M” states of multiple threshold voltage levels of NVM cells, where P=N×M. The “M” states of NVM cell threshold voltage levels in each group are sensed and resolved by applying one correspondent gate voltage to the group. By applying “N” multiple gate voltages, the whole “P” states of NVM cell threshold voltage levels can be sensed and efficiently converted into storing bits in the MLC NVM cells. |
| US08730721B2 |
Reduction of read disturb errors in NAND FLASH memory
Methods and apparatuses for reduction of Read Disturb errors in a NAND FLASH memory system utilizing modified or extra FLASH memory cells. |
| US08730720B2 |
Nonvolatile memory cell operating by increasing order in polycrystalline semiconductor material
A memory cell is provided that includes a first conductor, a second conductor, and a semiconductor junction diode between the first and second conductors. The semiconductor junction diode is not in contact with a material having a lattice mismatch of less than 12 percent with the semiconductor junction diode. Numerous other aspects are provided. |
| US08730718B2 |
Memory architecture and cell design employing two access transistors
In one embodiment of an improved memory array architecture and cell design, a memory array for an integrated circuit may comprise a plurality of memory cells. Each of the memory cells may comprise a material capable of holding a logic state and two access transistors coupled to the material. The two access transistors may be configured to access the logic state of the material, and may be independently selectable by two word lines of a plurality of word lines parallel to a first dimension. |
| US08730707B2 |
Logic coding in an integrated circuit
The programming of a read-only memory formed of MOS transistors is set by a mask for forming an insulating layer prior to the forming of contacts of active regions of the transistors. The programming of the read-only memory cannot be determined by visible inspection of the memory. |
| US08730705B1 |
Serial searching in memory devices configured for stacked arrangements
Disclosed are various embodiments related to stacked memory devices, such as DRAMs, SRAMs, EEPROMs, ReRAMs, and CAMs. For example, stack position identifiers (SPIDs) are assigned or otherwise determined, and are used by each memory device to make a number of adjustments. In one embodiment, a self-refresh rate of a DRAM is adjusted based on the SPID of that device. In another embodiment, a latency of a DRAM or SRAM is adjusted based on the SPID. In another embodiment, internal regulation signals are shared with other devices via TSVs. In another embodiment, adjustments to internally regulated signals are made based on the SPID of a particular device. In another embodiment, serially connected signals can be controlled based on a chip SPID (e.g., an even or odd stack position), and whether the signal is an upstream or a downstream type of signal. |
| US08730704B1 |
Content addressable memory array having local interconnects
A CAM device is disclosed that includes an array of CAM cells in which the compare circuits of groups of CAM cells are connected together using a conductive layer interposed between a polysilicon layer of the CAM device and the metal-1 layer of the CAM device. This allows the data lines (e.g., the bit lines and/or comparand lines) of the CAM array to be formed in the metal-1 layer of the CAM device, which in turn allows the match lines of the CAM array to be formed in the metal-2 layer of the CAM device. The conductive layer, which may be a silicide layer, is connected to the match line by a via extending from the conductive layer through the metal-1 layer to the metal-2 layer. |
| US08730701B2 |
Driving circuit for powering a bi-directional load
An H-bridge control circuit comprises an input stage, comparator stage, inverter stage. The operation of the H-bridge can be controlled by a single analog input signal provided by a feedback stage. Shoot-through protection is provided for the H-bridge circuit through the inclusion of a dead gap determined by inputs to the comparator stage. The dead gap can be adjusted, allowing for adjustment of the precision operation of the load. The H-bridge can be used to drive a bi-directional load such as, for example, a Peltier conditioner. |
| US08730700B2 |
Current source inverter and method for controlling current source inverter
In controlling switching elements of a current source inverter, a switching loss in the switching element is prevented according to a normal switching operation for a commutation operation, without requiring any particular control.In the commutation operation of the current source inverter, a timing for driving the switching elements is controlled in such a manner that an overlap period is generated, during when both a switching element at the commutation source and a switching element at the commutation target are set to be the ON state, a resonant circuit is controlled based on the control of the switching elements having this overlap period, and resonant current of the resonant circuit reduces the switching loss upon commutation operation of the switching elements. By controlling the generation of the resonant current of the resonant circuit by using the control of the switching elements having the overlap period, the resonant current generated by this control renders current and voltage of the switching element at the commutation source to zero when commutation is performed, thereby reducing the switching loss in the commutation operation. |
| US08730698B2 |
Boundary conduction mode controller for a power conversion circuit
A power conversion controller for controlling the operation of a switch in a power conversion circuit, wherein the power conversion controller is configured to operate the switch according to: a variable frequency mode of operation for switching frequencies greater than a minimum threshold value; and a fixed frequency mode of operation at a switching frequency equal to the minimum threshold value. |
| US08730696B2 |
Multi-level voltage converter
A multi-level voltage converter includes a multi-point converter circuit and at least one full bridge inverter circuit. The multi-point converter circuit is configured for converting a DC voltage into an intermediate multi-level voltage. The full bridge inverter circuit is electrically connected in series with the multi-point converter circuit and configured for receiving the intermediate multi-level voltage to generate a multi-level output voltage corresponding to a single phase output. |
| US08730695B1 |
Load balancing method and system to scale DC output power by temperature of parallel DC power supplies
A system and a method are provided that allow load sharing between two or more DC output power supplies that are connected in parallel to scale the output power. As the temperature of the critical components in a power supply rises, the output voltage from that power supply will be lowered, so that the coolest supply will have the highest voltage and thus the highest current to the load. The systems and methods can operate without any additional wires connecting the supplies other than those supplying the power to the load. |
| US08730692B2 |
Switching mode power supply and method of controlling the same
A switching mode power supply (SMPS) includes at least one transformer, a switching unit to switch a voltage applied to the at least one transformer, a snubber circuit connected to the switching unit, a first switch to control an on or off operation of the snubber circuit, and a second switch to control an on or off operation of the first switch. |
| US08730691B2 |
Power conversion apparatus and methods employing variable-level inverters
A power conversion apparatus, such as an uninterruptible power supply, included first and second DC busses, a neutral node and an inductor configured to be coupled to a load. The apparatus further includes an inverter circuit coupled to the first and second DC busses, to the neutral node and to the inductor and configured to selectively couple the first and second DC busses and the neutral node to a first terminal of the inductor to generate an AC voltage at a second terminal of the inductor such that, in a given half-cycle of the AC voltage, the inverter circuit uses a switching sequence wherein the first DC bus, the second DC bus and the neutral node are successively coupled to the first terminal of the inductor. |
| US08730686B2 |
Dual-input nine-phase autotransformer for electric aircraft AC-DC converter
A dual-input nine-phase autotransformer converts first and second three-phase AC inputs to a nine-phase AC output. The autotransformer includes input terminals for connection to a first three-phase AC input and a second three-phase AC input smaller than the first three-phase AC input. The autotransformer includes a first plurality of coils, a second plurality, and a third plurality of coils wound on respective phase legs of the autotransformer. The autotransformer includes a plurality of output terminals for providing a plurality of AC output voltages, and a plurality of internal terminals for connecting the first, second, and third plurality of coils in a configuration that provides a 40° phase shift in the AC outputs provided by the dual-input nine-phase autotransformer. |
| US08730684B2 |
Ground vias for enhanced preamp heat release in hard disk drives
Described is a preamp flex cable for use in a hard drive. The flex cable incorporates a stiffener layer operable to provide a mechanical support, an insulating layer provided over the stiffener layer and having at least one via provided therein to expose the stiffener layer, and at least one conductive layer provided over the insulating layer. The at least one conductive layer forms an electrical circuit and at least one heat removing element that extends through the via and establishes a contact with the stiffener layer. |
| US08730680B2 |
Chip card holding mechanism and electronic device using the same
A chip card holding mechanism includes a support bracket defining a receiving chamber and an opening communicating with the receiving chamber; a resilient member fixed to the support bracket at an end of the support bracket opposite to the opening, and partial received in the receiving chamber; a latching assembly rotatably fixed to the support bracket and further comprising a pair of latching portions; and a tray slidably assembled to the support bracket, in which the tray comprises an accommodating space defined thereon to receive a chip card, and a pair of opposite sidewalls adjacent to the accommodating space, each sidewall defining a latching groove according to the corresponding latching portion; and the tray is received in the receiving chamber by having the latching portions of the latching assembly engaged in the latching grooves and resisting against the resilient member. An electronic device using the same is also provided. |
| US08730679B2 |
Electrically connecting module
An electrically connecting module suitable for an electronic device is provided. The electronic device includes a chassis disposed in a rack. The rack has an electrically connecting terminal. The electrically connecting module includes a shell, an adjustable position-limiting element, a circuit board and a connector. The adjustable position-limiting element connects the shell to the chassis. The shell is able to move relatively to the chassis. The circuit board is disposed in the shell. The connector is disposed on the circuit board and electrically connected to the circuit board. When the chassis enters the rack, the electrically connecting terminal presses the shell to adjust the position of the shell, such that the connector is connected to the electrically connecting terminal. When the chassis is pulled out from the rack, the connector is moved with the chassis such that the connection between the connector and the rack is terminated. |
| US08730678B1 |
Cable management apparatus
An apparatus and system for facilitating access to one or more components mounted in a rack comprising a base member and at least one pivot mechanism mounting the base member to the rack. The apparatus facilitates access to the components by being pivotable downward for access to upper components and pivotable upward for access to lower components. |
| US08730675B2 |
Electronic device and method of radiating heat from electronic device
An electronic device including a housing including a frame member exposed to an outer surface of the electronic device; a circuit substrate disposed within the housing on which a plurality of electronic components are disposed; and a heat-radiating member provided in contact with or in close proximity to the electronic components disposed on the circuit substrate, and in contact with the frame member. |
| US08730666B2 |
Electronic device
An electronic device includes a speaker, a board that includes a speaker placement section in which the speaker is disposed and a double-faced adhesive tape that surrounds the speaker placement section of the board and adheres to an edge of a back surface opposite to a sound emitting surface of the speaker so as to cause the board to support the speaker. |
| US08730665B2 |
Vertical exhaust duct
An electronic equipment enclosure comprises a frame structure formed from a plurality of support posts and at least partially enclosed by a plurality of panels. The panels include at least side, top and back panels defining an enclosure having a top, a bottom and a rear thereof. The top panel includes an opening there through that is rectangular in shape. The equipment enclosure further comprises an exhaust air duct extending upward from the top panel of the enclosure. The exhaust air duct is rectangular in cross-section and is disposed in surrounding relation to, and in fluid communication with, the top panel opening. The exhaust air duct is adapted to segregate hot air being exhausted from the enclosure from cool air entering the enclosure, thereby improving thermal management of the enclosure. |
| US08730664B1 |
Cooling system for a portable device
A cellular cooling part includes a number at least one movable part, that can be the removable flap or movable cover for a fan. The fan, for example, can be moved or opened to expose it. A flap can also be opened. In addition, different covering structures can be used. |
| US08730661B2 |
Fastening module
A fastening module for fastening a data storage device is provided. A fastening trough is formed at a lower surface of the data storage device. The fastening module includes a frame bracket, a fastening member, and a buckling member. The frame bracket is used for carrying the data storage device. The frame bracket includes a lower frame and two side frames. The side frames are connected to two sides of the lower frame. The lower frame includes a clamping hole. The fastening member is disposed at the clamping hole and inserted into a fastening trough, so as to prevent the data storage device from moving. The buckling member is movably disposed at the side frames to buckle an upper surface of the data storage device. |
| US08730660B2 |
Remote attachable flash drive
A sticky drive includes a flash storage device and a mounting structure having a stickable surface. The mounting structure is coupled to the flash storage device to enable a user to attach the flash storage device to a user-selected object. |
| US08730658B2 |
Portable device
One end portion of a connecting member 31 is connected to a first housing 1 such that the connecting member 31 is rotatable about a first rotation axis L1. The other end portion of the connecting member 31 is connected to a second housing 2 such that the connecting member 31 is rotatable about a second rotation axis L2 parallel to the first rotation axis L1. The first and the second housings 1, 2 are arranged such that when the second housing 2 is rotated up to a predetermined intermediate position, opposite end portions of the first housing 1 in a direction perpendicular to the first and the second rotation axes L1, L2 are protruded from the second housing 2 in the said direction. |
| US08730653B2 |
Interior assembly for a three phase load center
An interior assembly for a three phase load center. The interior assembly includes a base pan having at least one first module that includes a first receptacle portion and a first base portion. The base pan also includes at least one second module having a second receptacle portion and a second base portion. Each receptacle portion includes a receptacle wall having a receptacle edge portion. Each base portion includes a base wall having a base edge portion wherein upon insertion of the second base portion into the first receptacle portion the receptacle and base edge portions engage to attach the first module to the second module and form a modular base pan. The base pan further includes a bus bar located on a back side of the first and second modules and a plurality of insulators for insulating the bus bar. |
| US08730649B2 |
Aqueous electrolyte solution for electric double-layer capacitor and electric double-layer capacitor having the same
A method for decreasing resistivity of an electrolyte for an electric double-layer capacitor is provided. In this method, an aqueous electrolyte solution comprising LiNO3 and LiOH in a molar ratio of 1:9 to 9:1 is prepared first, and then purged with nitrogen or oxygen. An electric double-layer capacitor having the gas-purging aqueous electrolyte solution above is also provided. |
| US08730647B2 |
Printed wiring board with capacitor
A printed wiring board includes a capacitor including a dielectric body having a first surface and a second surface, a first electrode provided on the first surface of the dielectric body, and a second electrode provided on the second surface of the dielectric body. The first electrode has an area facing and being smaller than the first surface of the dielectric body, and the second electrode has an area facing and being larger than the second surface of the dielectric body. |
| US08730646B2 |
Laminated electronic component and method for manufacturing the same
A laminated electronic component includes outer terminal electrodes including lower plating films including metal particles having an average size of 0.5 μm or less, the lower plating films being formed by directly plating an outer surface of an electronic component body such that the lower plating films are electrically connected to exposed portions of inner conductors. The outer terminal electrodes may further include upper plating films formed on the lower plating films, the upper plating films being defined by one or more layers. Metal particles defining the upper plating films may have an average size of 0.5 μm or less. The metal particles defining the lower plating films may be Cu particles. |
| US08730644B2 |
Bipolar electrostatic chuck
Provided is a bipolar electrostatic chuck, which has excellent substrate attracting/holding performance when a voltage is applied, and excellent residual charges reducing performance when voltage application is stopped. The bipolar electrostatic chuck includes at least an electrode layer including a first electrode and a second electrode, and an upper insulating layer which forms a substrate attracting surface for attracting a substrate. In a case where a surface of the electrode layer is regarded to be divided into a plurality of virtual cells having a predetermined width (L) in an x direction and a y direction, first electrode sections forming the first electrode and second electrode sections forming the second electrode are alternately arranged in the plurality of virtual cells in the x direction, and are alternately arranged in the plurality of virtual cells in the y direction. |
| US08730642B2 |
Stacker and static elimination device for the same
This invention provides a stacker with static elimination devices arranged at both sides of each shelf of the stacker and comprises a rectangular box producing charged ions. A rotary shaft is connected with the rectangular box and with both ends fixed on upper and lower shelf holders, respectively. A standpipe parallel with the rotary shaft is provided inside the rectangular box and includes a horizontal transverse plate on which an ion generator is installed. The standpipe includes a blowing device directing charged ions generated toward a cartridge transferred in and out of the shelf. With the static elimination devices at both sides of each shelf of the stacker, the charged ions are blown toward glass substrates disposed inside the cartridge transferred in and out of the shelf to eliminate the static of the glass substrate inside the cartridge and improve the yield. |
| US08730637B2 |
Surge protection devices that fail as an open circuit
A surge protection apparatus or method for opening a surge path upon failure of a surge protection element as a short. The surge protection device may include a switch controlled by a solenoid or other switch controlling component that changes a position of the switch if the surge protection element fails as a conductive element. A first position of the switch is configured to allow transmittal of a signal from a signal connection, through the surge protection element, and to a ground connection. A second position of the switch is configured to prevent transmittal of a signal from the signal connection, through the surge protection element, and to the ground connection. A delay may be added between the changing of the switch position after the surge protection element fails as a conductor. Visual or other notifiers may indicate when the switch is in the second position. |
| US08730636B2 |
Adaptive protection circuit module for operational amplifier and adaptive protection method thereof
An adaptive protection circuit module for an operational amplifier including an over temperature protection circuit and an over current protection circuit is provided. The over temperature protection circuit provides a temperature protection function to power down the operational amplifier when an operating temperature of the operational amplifier increases higher than a first threshold temperature. The over current protection circuit provides a current protection function to limit an output current of the operational amplifier and adjusts the first threshold temperature to a second threshold temperature when the over current protection circuit is enabled. The second threshold temperature is lower than the first threshold temperature. After the first threshold temperature is adjusted to the second threshold temperature, the over temperature protection circuit powers down the operational amplifier when the operating temperature increases higher than the second threshold temperature. Furthermore, an adaptive protection method for the foregoing operational amplifier is also provided. |
| US08730635B2 |
Power supply controller
If a power supply path is in an abnormal state, a power-supply-path protection circuit of a power supply controller inhibits a switching circuit that switches on/off power supply from a power source to a load from power supply, using data related to a protection-current temperature characteristic line set by a characteristic setting circuit. The protection-current temperature characteristic line has a characteristic in which a protection current value is constant corresponding to increase in an ambient temperature or a negative characteristic in which the protection current value reduces corresponding to increase in the ambient temperature. Within a temperature range equal to or lower than an supposed maximum ambient temperature around the power-supply-path, the protection-current temperature characteristic line and a power-supply-path temperature characteristic line have a relation that the protection-current value is equal to or lower than an allowable current value at an identical ambient temperature. |
| US08730630B2 |
Apparatus and method for electronic circuit protection
Apparatuses and methods for providing transient electrical event protection are disclosed. In one embodiment, an apparatus comprises a detection and timing circuit, a current amplification circuit, and a clamping circuit. The detection and timing circuit is configured to detect a presence or absence of a transient electrical event at a first node, and to generate a first current for a first duration upon detection of the transient electrical event. The current amplification circuit is configured to receive the first current from the detection and timing circuit and to amplify the first current to generate a second current. The clamping circuit is electrically connected between the first node and a second node and receives the second current for activation. The clamping circuit is configured to activate a low impedance path between the first and second nodes in response to the second current, and to otherwise deactivate the low impedance path. |
| US08730628B2 |
Electrostatic protection circuit capable of preventing latch-up effect
An electrostatic protection circuit includes a strained transistor array, an unstrained transistor, and a control circuit. The strained transistor array has a first end electrically connected to a bias terminal. The unstrained transistor has a first end electrically connected to the bias terminal. The control circuit is electrically connected to a second end of the strained transistor array, a second end of the unstrained transistor and a ground terminal. The control circuit controls impedance between the second end of the strained transistor array and the ground terminal according to current flowing through the unstrained transistor. The electrostatic protection circuit is capable of preventing latch-up effect. |
| US08730619B2 |
Suspension substrate, suspension, element-mounted suspension, hard disk drive, and manufacturing method of suspension substrate
A main object of the present invention is to provide a suspension substrate such that design freedom of a wiring layer is improved while restraining the upsizing in accordance with an increase in a wiring layer. The present invention solves the problem by providing a suspension substrate comprising a metal supporting substrate, a first insulating layer, a first wiring layer, a second insulating layer, and a second wiring layer laminated in this order, characterized in that the first wiring layer has a functional element wiring layer connected to a functional element, and the second wiring layer has a signal transmission wiring layer comprising a pair of wiring layers and connected to a recording and reproducing element. |
| US08730618B2 |
System and apparatus for vibration damping of integrated lead suspensions in high density magnetic storage devices
An integrated lead suspension (ILS) has a constrained layer damper (CLD) that attenuates vibration of the ILS. The CLD may be applied over an already assembled ILS such that the CLD is applied to the cover layer, to the base layer, or to both. Alternatively, the ILS may be encapsulated via a deposition process such that a damping layer is sandwiched between the conductor layer and the cover layer of the ILS, between the conductor layer and the dielectric layer of the ILS, or both. |
| US08730615B1 |
Bidirectional read/write heads having backward reading compatibility
Systems and methods related to magnetic tape heads are provided. A first process forms a first read module on a substrate in accordance with a prior generation recording format. A second process, different than the first, forms a second read module on a substrate in accordance with a present generation recording format. The first and second read modules are directly bonded in parallel such that a single continuous tape reading zone is defined. Write modules can be formed and disposed on opposite sides of and aligned with the tape reading zone. Bidirectional read/write heads, having backward reading compatibility, can be made and used accordingly. |
| US08730614B2 |
Suppression of seek repeatable runout
The disclosure is related to an apparatus and methods of suppressing seek repeatable runout. In a particular embodiment, a servo loop is disclosed. The servo loop includes a seek signal generation component that generates a seek trajectory acceleration signal. The servo loop also includes a STRRO suppression component that is coupled to the seek signal generation component. The STRRO suppression component injects STRRO suppression signals into the seek trajectory acceleration signal and outputs an STRRO suppressed seek trajectory acceleration signal. |
| US08730612B1 |
Disk drive evaluating ratio of fly height setting for first and second heads to verify operability
A disk drive is disclosed comprising a first head actuated over a first disk surface, and a second head actuated over a second disk surface. A first fly height (FH) setting is adjusted for the first head, and a second FH setting is adjusted for the second head. When a ratio of the first FH setting to the second FH setting exceeds a threshold, corrective action is taken. |
| US08730608B1 |
Dual flying height control in a disk drive
A read/write head for reducing flying height in a disk drive apparatus includes a write transducer for storing data on a storage medium, a read transducer for reading data from the storage medium, and read and write heater elements configured so that during read/write operations, heat dissipated in the read heater element is greater than heat dissipated in the write heater element. A control pad in the head receives current supplied to the read and write heater elements during read and write operations. During the write operation, protrusion of the read/write head attributable to the write transducer and the write heater element is greater than a protrusion of the head attributable to the read heater element. During the read operation, protrusion of the read/write head attributable to the read heater element and the read transducer is greater than a protrusion of the head attributable to the write heater element. |
| US08730604B2 |
Writing a reference pattern to bit patterned media
A given reference pattern is written on bit patterned media that has an initial reference pattern already disposed thereon. A write phase and frequency is detected based on the initial reference pattern and the given reference pattern is written on the bit patterned media at the detected write phase and frequency. |
| US08730601B2 |
Fluorescence observation system and set of filters
A fluorescence observation system, a method for performing a fluorescence observation, and a set of filters that can be used in such system and method are provided. |
| US08730599B2 |
Piezoelectric and MEMS actuator
A micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) lens actuator having a support frame including a stationary outer portion surrounding an inner receiving portion. A piezoelectric drive member is positioned within the inner receiving portion and attached to the stationary outer portion. A first movable lens support member and a second movable lens support member are frictionally engaged with opposing ends of the piezoelectric drive member at a contact point along each of the opposing ends using a preload force at the contact point. The piezoelectric drive member may have a first actuation mode which drives movement of the first movable lens support member and the second movable lens support member in a same direction and a second actuation mode which drives movement of the first movable lens support member and the second movable lens support member in different directions. |
| US08730590B1 |
Image capturing lens system
This disclosure provides an image capturing lens system, in order from an object side to an image side comprising: a first lens element with positive refractive power having a convex object-side surface and a concave image-side surface; a second lens element with positive refractive power; a third lens element with positive refractive power; and a fourth lens element with positive refractive power having a convex object-side surface, a concave at a paraxial region and convex at a peripheral region image-side surface, and both of the object-side and image-side surfaces thereof being aspheric; wherein the lens elements of the image capturing lens system with refractive power are the first lens element, the second lens element, the third lens element and the fourth lens element. |
| US08730588B2 |
Zoom lens and image pickup unit
A zoom lens includes: a first lens group having positive refractive power, a second lens group having negative refractive power, a third lens group having positive refractive power, and a fourth lens group having positive refractive power, the first to fourth lens groups being arranged in order from an object side, in which zooming is performed through varying a distance between adjacent lens groups of the first to fourth lens groups, and the fourth lens group includes a first positive lens, a first negative meniscus lens, and a cemented lens which are arranged in order from the object side, the cemented lens being configured of a second negative meniscus lens with a convex surface facing the object side and a second positive lens. |
| US08730587B2 |
Zoom lens and image pickup apparatus using the same
A zoom lens includes in order from an object side, a first lens group having a positive refractive power, a second lens group having a negative refractive power, a third lens group having a positive refractive power, a fourth lens group having a positive refractive, and a last lens group having a positive refractive index, and at the time of zooming from the wide angle end to the telephoto end, the first lens group is fixed, the second lens group moves toward a side of an image plane, the third lens group is fixed, and the fourth lens group moves, and at the time of focusing, the fourth lens group moves. The zoom lens satisfies the following conditional expression (101) 0.20 |
| US08730585B2 |
Zoom lens
An embodiment of this invention provides a zoom lens, which primarily includes, in order from an object side to an image-forming side, a first lens group having positive refractive power; a second lens group having negative refractive power; a third lens group having positive refractive power; a fourth lens group having positive refractive power; a fifth lens group having negative refractive power; and a sixth lens group having positive refractive power; wherein the first lens group comprises a prism, and the second lens group, the fourth lens group, and the fifth lens group are moved toward the third lens group along an optical axial for zooming from a wide-angle end to a telephoto end. |
| US08730583B2 |
Microscope objective
Described is a microscope objective (10, 100, 200) having an objective housing (12) which contains a lens system including a lens unit (60) capable of being moved along the optical axis (O) of the lens system to compensate for the thickness of the coverslip, and further having an adjusting device for adjusting the lens unit (60), said adjusting device including a drive unit (14, 102, 202) and a transmission (42, 44, 46, 48, 50, 52, 54, 56, 62) which is drivable by the drive unit (14, 102, 202) and coupled to the lens unit (60). According to the present invention, the drive unit (14, 102, 202) has a motor (34) and is mounted on the objective housing (12). |
| US08730578B1 |
Sunlight coupler and sunlight system comprising thereof
A sunlight coupler is provided, the sunlight coupler may include a beam integrator configured to concentrate beams of sunlight, which may be incident from a plurality of optical fibers, in the form of a single beam, a triplet lens focusing the concentrated beam on a specific position, and an optical fiber provided for transmission of the focused sunlight. The optical fiber may be a thermally-diffusion expand core fiber. |
| US08730573B2 |
Adaptive optics microscopy with phase control of beamlets of a light beam
Microscopy techniques in which a rear pupil of an optical system is segmented and the segments are individually controlled with a wavefront modulating device to control the direction and phase of individual beamlets of an excitation or emission beam in the optical system, thereby providing an adaptive optics correction to sample and system induced aberrations. |
| US08730572B2 |
Catadioptric projection objective
A catadioptric projection objective for imaging a pattern provided in an object plane of the projection objective onto an image plane of the projection objective has a first, refractive objective part for imaging the pattern provided in the object plane into a first intermediate image; a second objective part including at least one concave mirror for imaging the first intermediate imaging into a second intermediate image; and a third, refractive objective part for imaging the second intermediate imaging onto the image plane; wherein the projection objective has a maximum lens diameter Dmax, a maximum image field height Y′, and an image side numerical aperture NA; wherein COMP1=Dmax/(Y′·NA2) and wherein the condition COMP1<10 holds. |
| US08730569B2 |
Light power control system, light power control node apparatus, and method of controlling light power
A light power control system is used in a network in which a control signal is transmitted to instruct setting of a wavelength path. The light power control system is provided with a light amplifier control section configured to carry out a constant output control to a light amplifier which amplifies a light signal transmitted from a node to another node, when said node in said network receives the control signal; and a variable optical attenuator control section configured to adjust an attenuation quantity of a variable optical attenuator to attenuate a light power of the light signal on any of wavelength paths, when said node receives the control signal and moreover the light signal is transmitted on said any of wavelength paths of said node. It becomes possible to receive the data right in a receiving end by a simple unit when there is a change of the number of wavelength paths. |
| US08730557B2 |
Low voltage drive for MEMS ribbon array light modulators
A series bias voltage increases the sensitivity of a MEMS ribbon to control signal voltages. This effect is obtained because of the nonlinear dependence of ribbon deflection on applied voltage. The resulting low-voltage operation of MEMS ribbons makes them more compatible with high speed electronics. |
| US08730555B2 |
Electrowetting display having controlled fluid motion
An electrowetting display device comprises a plurality of picture elements (2) having a first support plate (5) including a surface (68) and a second support plate. A space (10) of a picture element between the surface of the first support plate and the second support plate includes at least one first fluid and a second fluid immiscible with each other, the second fluid being electroconductive or polar. The first support plate includes an electrode (46) for applying an electric field in the picture element. It also includes a layer (44) arranged on a side of the electrode facing away from said space. The layer forms an electronic component (33) for applying a voltage to the electrode. The electrode comprises a height difference (86) corresponding to a thickness of the layer (44). The height difference causes an inhomogeneous electric field in the space, providing a preferred direction of motion of the first fluid on application of the electric field. |
| US08730552B2 |
Electrochromic devices having improved ion conducting layers
An improved ion conductor layer for use in electrochromic devices and other applications is disclosed. The improved ion-conductor layer is comprised of at least two ion transport layers and a buffer layer, wherein the at least two ion transport layers and the buffer layer alternate within the ion conductor layer such that the ion transport layers are in communication with a first and a second electrode. Electrochromic devices utilizing such an improved ion conductor layer color more deeply by virtue of the increased voltage developed across the ion conductor layer prior to electronic breakdown while reducing the amount of electronic leakage. Also disclosed are methods of making electrochromic devices incorporating the improved ion conductor layer disclosed herein and methods of making ion conductors for use in other applications. |
| US08730550B2 |
Display device
Provided is a display device, including: a pair of light transmissive substrates disposed to be opposed to each other at an interval; a sealing member which bonds the pair of light transmissive substrates together and defines an encapsulation space between the pair of light transmissive substrates; a plurality of shutters disposed in the encapsulation space so as to optically display an image; liquid having optical isotropy filled in the encapsulation space; and an optical film disposed between the liquid and at least one of the pair of light transmissive substrates. A refractive index of the optical film is different from a refractive index of the pair of light transmissive substrates. |
| US08730541B2 |
Duplex scanning apparatus
A duplex scanning apparatus includes a flatbed scanning portion and an automatic document feeder. The flatbed scanning portion has a first scanning module. The automatic document feeder has a second scanning module. The first scanning module has a first normal line perpendicular to a horizontal plane. The second scanning module is disposed in an inclined channel, and has a second normal line. In addition, an included angle is defined between the first normal line and the second normal line. Since the second scanning module is not directly disposed over the first scanning module, the height of the duplex scanning apparatus is reduced. |
| US08730540B2 |
Sheet transport apparatus
A sheet transport apparatus that transports a sheet to a reading section for reading the sheet, has a reading front roller pair contacting with a front end of the sheet to form a register loop in the sheet; a first transport path extending curvingly toward the reading front roller pair; a second transport path extending curvingly toward the reading front roller pair after joining the first transport path; a first register space in which a register loop is formed in a sheet guided along the first transport path; and a second register space in which a register loop is formed in a sheet guided along the second transport path. The first register space is provided on the upstream side of a junction position in which the first transport path joins the second transport path, and the second register space is provided on the downstream side of the junction position. |
| US08730535B2 |
Image processing apparatus, method of imaging processing and storage medium
An image processing apparatus determines a direction of document placement relative to a scanning direction based on a direction of a shadow region in an input image when a line sensor having a light receiving element performs a scan and an image read from a book document by a reading apparatus is input. When the direction of the binding portion of the document is determined to be along a longitudinal direction of the line sensor, an image of a region read by the light receiving element of the line sensor from reflected light undergoing specular reflection from the document is detected based on the amount of variation in luminance between adjacent pixels in the read image of the book document. Luminance of the image corresponding to the region is corrected. |
| US08730534B2 |
Illuminating apparatus, image reading apparatus, and image forming apparatus
In an illuminating apparatus including a plurality of rows of light source groups each having a plurality of light-emitting elements for irradiating light to an original that are arranged in a main scanning direction, the light-emitting elements in the plurality of rows of light source groups illuminate an irradiated face of the original at the same pitch within the same light source group and at different pitches from each other among the plurality of rows of light source groups. |
| US08730532B2 |
Automatic document feeding scanning device
The present invention discloses an automatic document feeding scanning device including an automatic document feeder, a flatbed scanner and a power switching mechanism. The automatic document feeder has a pickup arm and a feeding gear, the flatbed scanner has a scanning module and a scanning gear, and the power switching mechanism has two driving elements and a planet gear module. When the two driving elements rotate in the same rotating direction, the planet gear module is swung to a position near the scanning gear and engaged with the scanning gear such that the power switching mechanism transfers a driving power to the automatic document feeder. When the two driving elements rotate in different rotating directions, the planet gear module is swung to a position near the feeding gear and engaged with the feeding gear such that the power switching mechanism transfers a driving power to the flatbed scanner. |
| US08730531B2 |
Automatic document feeding scanning device
An automatic document feeding scanning device including an automatic document feeder, a flatbed scanner and a power switching mechanism is provided. The automatic document feeder has a pickup arm and a feeding gear, the flatbed scanner has a scanning module and a scanning gear. When the scanning module is moved and the movement of the scanning module is obstructed to enable the scanning module to take a first reacting force, the power switching mechanism is disengaged from the scanning gear in response to the first reacting force and transfers a driving power to the automatic document feeder. When the pickup arm is swung and the swing of the pickup arm is obstructed to enable the pickup arm to take a second reacting force, the power switching mechanism is disengaged from the feeding gear in response to the second reacting force and transfers the driving power to the flatbed scanner. |
| US08730530B2 |
Image reading system and image reading apparatus
An image reading system and an image reading apparatus is provided. The system or apparatus includes a reading unit configured to read an original, a determining unit configured to determine whether there exists a folded portion at a corner of the original, and a generating unit configured to generate a file including an image area which stores image data of the original read by the reading unit and a non-image area which stores data other than the image data, and configured to write fold information in the non-image area if the determining unit determines that there exists a folded portion, the fold information indicating that the folded portion exists in the read original. |
| US08730528B2 |
Image reading apparatus, image forming apparatus, and image reading method
An image reading apparatus includes an image reading unit that includes plural photoelectric conversion elements arranged therein and that reads an image using light, the light being reflected by a document transported to a read position and being received by the plural photoelectric conversion elements, a reference plate that is disposed at the read position, a correction data generating unit that generates correction data by modifying second reference data on the basis of a ratio of first reference data to the second reference data, the first reference data being obtained by the image reading unit using light reflected by the reference plate in a clean state, the second reference data being obtained by the image reading unit using light reflected by the reference plate before reading an image, and an image correcting unit that corrects the image on the basis of the correction data generated by the correction data generating unit. |
| US08730526B2 |
Printing control device, image forming apparatus, and image forming method
A printing control device is disclosed. The printing control device includes a user interface unit to receive an print command for a print job, an extraction unit to extract a bitmap image from the print job, a sketch image generating unit to generate a sketch image by using the extracted bitmap image, a print data generating unit to replace the bitmap image by the generated sketch image in the print job to generate print data, and a communication interface unit to transmit the generated print data to an image forming apparatus. |
| US08730523B2 |
Image processing apparatus and image processing method
In an image processing apparatus, fast error diffusion processing is performed without increasing the size of an error diffusion processing circuit, even in cases where the print data to be generated is 12 colors data or similarly large data. More specifically, with quantization by error diffusion, binarized image data for 12 colors is obtained by causing an image processing circuit that executes 6 colors quantization processing to operate twice. At this point, RAM realized by DRAM with comparatively slow operating speeds, for example, is accessed for error data diffused to a first raster and error data diffused from a last raster. In contrast, an error buffer realized by SRAM inside the image processing circuit with fast operating speeds is accessed for all other error data. Thus, as a result, memory access speeds for reading out and writing error data can be improved overall. |
| US08730518B2 |
Application of color imagery to a rewritable color surface
Printing of color imagery onto a rewritable color surface is accomplished by providing an applicator with an alignment subsystem capable of sensing an alignment marker of one or more colors dots from multiple local color dot patterns as the applicator scans the surface to align the applicator's print head to the local color dot patterns. The alignment subsystem uses the sensed alignment markers to determine an absolute position on the rewritable color surface at a resolution of the individual color dots in the local color dot pattern and to align the state values for the corresponding portion of the color image to the individual color dots in the local color dot patterns on said surface. |
| US08730516B2 |
Image reading device, image reading method, and image forming apparatus
An image reading device includes a document tray on which documents having different sizes are stacked; a document transport mechanism that sequentially feeds and transports the documents one-by-one; an image data generator extending in a width direction that intersects a document moving direction and having an image reading sensor that repeatedly reads, in the width direction, an image from each document, the image data generator generating image data expressing an image within a target reading region of a currently fed document by permitting the image reading sensor to perform a reading process to a region protruding from the target reading region so as to cause the image reading sensor to perform the reading process over a reading region that does not cause unread parts within the target reading region; an image memory storing the image data; and an image extractor extracting the image data from the stored image data. |
| US08730515B2 |
Recording medium having printing control program thereon, printing control apparatus, and printing control method
A printing control program is disclosed which causes a computer to function as a calculating unit; a page data generating unit which generates page data for outputting unused tab sheets; a job data generating unit which generates one job data set into which a first data job set and a second data set are combined, the first job data set being for outputting a printed output to a first sheet-discharging destination based on manuscript submission data and the second job data set being for outputting the unused tab sheet to a second sheet-discharging destination based on the page data; and a job data transmitting unit which transmits the one job data set to a job management unit which causes information on job data to be displayed on a display apparatus. |
| US08730509B2 |
Network system, network setup method, and program and storage medium therefor
A network system and network system setting method including a control apparatus connected to a network and an image processing apparatus connected to the control apparatus so as to access the network, where when setup information for the image processing apparatus is transmitted to another image processing apparatus, setup information for the control apparatus is also transmitted. |
| US08730506B2 |
Image forming apparatus that can request ending time for processing print data by an external apparatus from the external apparatus and control method thereof
A printer transfers print data received from a host computer to a cloud server, requests a response, from the cloud server, indicating an ending time period when the cloud server processes the print data, receives the response indicating the ending time period returned from the cloud server, and shifts the printer to a sleep state during the ending time period. After the printer returns from the sleep state when the ending time period has elapsed, the printer requests processed data from the cloud server, receives the processed data returned therefrom, and performs print processing on the processed data. |
| US08730503B2 |
Methods and systems for balancing job assignments to machines in a production environment
Methods and systems of balancing job assignments to a plurality of machines are disclosed. A computing device receives multiple jobs each having a job size and determines a job order for the jobs based on each job's job size. A machine order is determined for a plurality of machines based on a setup time and a processing rate associated with each machine. The computing device assigns one or more jobs to each machine based on the job order and the machine order such that a maximum total processing time for the machines is minimized. A total processing time for each machine is determined based on the number of jobs and the cumulative job size of the jobs assigned to the machine, and the setup time and the processing time associated with the machine. The maximum total processing time is the largest of the total processing times for the machines. |
| US08730501B2 |
Communication apparatus, communication continuation method, and communication continuation program
A communication apparatus connected to a network to be able to communicate with another device includes a first control portion to communicate with another device connected to the network, and a second control portion to be driven in response to input of a reset signal from the first control portion and to communicate with another device through the first communication portion. The first control portion includes a detection portion to detect data transmitted from another device to the communication apparatus, a data storage portion to store the data to the communication apparatus, and a reset portion to output the reset signal to the second control portion in response to detection of the data to the communication apparatus. The second control portion includes a stop portion to stop driving of the second control portion when a predetermined condition is met, and a network communication portion to communicate with another device based on the detected data to the communication apparatus. One of the first control portion and the second control portion further includes a communication continuation portion to transmit data including a reply for continuing communication with another device, based on the detected data to the communication apparatus, until the network communication portion becomes able to communicate with another device. After becoming able to communicate with another device, if data is stored in the data storage portion, the network communication portion further communicates with another device based on the stored data. |
| US08730497B2 |
Print job management apparatus, print job management method, and storage medium for generating print job to be transmitted according to accepted print instruction
A print job management apparatus which generates a print job to be transmitted to a printing apparatus according to an accepted print instruction includes a job interpretation unit configured to determine whether an operator processing the print job generated according to the print instruction is designated in the print instruction, a logon management unit configured to confirm a logon state of the printing apparatus if the job interpretation unit determines that the operator is not designated, a job generation unit configured to generate the print job, and a transmission control unit configured to transmit the print job generated by the job generation unit to the printing apparatus, wherein the transmission control unit waits to transmit the print job if the logon management unit determines that the printing apparatus is in a logoff state and transmits the print job to the printing apparatus if the logon management unit determines that the printing apparatus is in a logon state. |
| US08730489B2 |
Printing system, printing system control method, and recording medium for sheet processing
A printing system according to the present invention, being capable of controlling a post-processing apparatus to execute post-processing for a sheet printed by a printing apparatus, has an acceptance unit and a control unit. The acceptance unit is configured to accept a post-processing execution request for executing post-processing by the post-processing apparatus without executing print processing by the printing apparatus. The control unit controls, in a case where the acceptance unit accepts the post-processing execution request, the post-processing apparatus to execute the post-processing for a sheet set in a supply source without executing print processing by the printing apparatus. |
| US08730486B2 |
Printing apparatus, printing method, and storage medium
A printing apparatus includes a determination unit configured to determine whether a document read by a reading unit is blank. The printing apparatus controls a printing unit to perform print processing based on image data corresponding to a document that has been determined not to be blank by the determination unit, and controls the printing unit not to perform print processing based on image data corresponding to document that has been determined to be blank by the determination unit. The printing apparatus discharges a sheet, on which print processing has been performed based on image data corresponding to a document, subsequent to the document that has been determined to be blank by the determination unit, which has been determined not to be blank by the determination unit, to be distinguishable from a sheet that has already been discharged. |
| US08730483B2 |
Interferometric measurement of displacement in axial direction of a grating
A displacement measurement device includes a first diffraction grating that generates first diffraction light of a prescribed order; a second diffraction grating movable relative to the first diffraction grating, the second diffraction grating dividing the zeroth-order light that has passed through the first diffraction grating into zeroth-order light and a second diffraction light of a prescribed order; and a first optical sensor that detects interfering light beams formed by the first diffraction light from the first diffraction grating and the second diffraction light from the second diffraction grating to determine an amount of a displacement of the second diffraction grating relative to the first diffraction grating. |
| US08730481B2 |
Sagnac optical ingredient-measuring apparatus with circular polarizers in parallel
An optical ingredient-measuring apparatus is provided for measuring a concentration of an optically rotative substance. The apparatus includes a sensor main body which detects a phase difference between linear polarized light beams that propagate through an optical fiber loop in opposite directions, a circular polarized input component interposed in the middle of the optical fiber loop having first and second converters that convert the linear polarized light propagating through the optical fiber loop into left-hand and right-hand circular polarized light, and a concentration detector, installed in the sensor main body, which calculates the concentration of the substance in the sample based on the detected phase difference. |
| US08730479B2 |
Detection system for droplet-based assays
System, including methods and apparatus, for light detection and signal processing for droplet-based assays. An exemplary system provides a method of detection for droplets. An examination region of a channel may be illuminated with first pulses of light interleaved with second pulses of light as droplets pass through the examination region, the first pulses being spectrally distinct from the second pulses. Data may be collected representing light detected during illumination of the examination region with the first pulses and the second pulses. Each droplet may be illuminated with a beam of light that is narrower than a diameter of the droplets. |
| US08730473B2 |
Multiple edge enabled patterning
Provided is an alignment mark having a plurality of sub-resolution elements. The sub-resolution elements each have a dimension that is less than a minimum resolution that can be detected by an alignment signal used in an alignment process. Also provided is a semiconductor wafer having first, second, and third patterns formed thereon. The first and second patterns extend in a first direction, and the third pattern extend in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction. The second pattern is separated from the first pattern by a first distance measured in the second direction. The third pattern is separated from the first pattern by a second distance measured in the first direction. The third pattern is separated from the second pattern by a third distance measured in the first direction. The first distance is approximately equal to the third distance. The second distance is less than twice the first distance. |
| US08730469B2 |
Method for detecting vibrational structure of a molecule and a system thereof
The present invention relates to a method for detecting vibrational structure of a molecule by generation of the Loss signals with the help of interaction of White Light Continuum (WL) and narrow spectral width picosecond pulse on the surface of the sample, known as Ultrafast Raman Loss Spectroscopy (URLS). The invention further defines a system for generation of Loss signals for detection of the vibrational structure of a molecule. |
| US08730465B2 |
Polarized light defect detection in pupil images
A defect inspecting apparatus inspects defects of a sample having a pattern formed on the surface. The defect inspecting apparatus is provided with a stage which has a sample placed thereon and linearly moves and turns; a light source; an illuminating optical system, which selects a discretionary wavelength region from the light source and epi-illuminates the sample surface through a polarizer and an objective lens; a detecting optical system, which obtains a pupil image, by passing through reflection light applied by the illuminating optical system from the surface of the sample through the objective lens and an analyzer which satisfies the cross-nichols conditions with the polarizer; and a detecting section which detects defects of the sample by comparing the obtained pupil image with a previously stored pupil image. Conformity of the pattern on a substrate to be inspected can be judged in a short time. |
| US08730464B2 |
Method of inspecting a substrate
A method of inspecting a substrate is disclosed. The method of inspecting a substrate, comprises: obtaining phase data per projecting part with regard to a substrate, by projecting pattern beam onto the substrate having a target object formed thereon through a plurality of projecting parts in sequence; obtaining height data per projecting part with regard to the substrate by using the phase data per the projecting part; setting up a projecting part with highest reliability in the a plurality of projecting parts to be a reference projecting part; modifying height data of remaining projecting part, referenced by height data of the reference projecting part; and obtaining integrated height data by using the modified height data. |
| US08730463B2 |
Method of verifying performance of an optical measurement instrument with a model eye and an optical measurement instrument employing such a method
A method of compensating for misalignment between an optical measurement instrument and a model eye includes: receiving a light beam from the model eye at the optical measurement instrument; producing image data, including light spot data for a plurality of light spots, from the received light beam; determining an observed location of a corneal reflex from the model eye within an image representing the image data; and determining an angle of misalignment between an axis normal to the front surface of the model eye and the optical axis of the optical measurement instrument from the observed location of the corneal reflex within the image. |
| US08730453B2 |
Exposure apparatus
An exposure apparatus includes a light emitting unit, a mask stage that holds a mask for forming a pattern on a workpiece and a moving stage that holds the workpiece and has a laser length measuring device. The apparatus further includes an XYθ direction moving mechanism that moves the moving stage within a plane parallel to the workpiece face, and a Z direction moving mechanism that moves the moving stage in a vertical direction. The laser length measuring device measures a distance between the device and a reflection mirror using laser light. A control unit controls the XYθ direction moving mechanism to move the moving stage based on the distance. The reflective mirror is fixed to a structural body that supports the mask stage. |
| US08730446B2 |
Liquid crystal display panel, and method for testing substrate for liquid crystal display panel
A liquid crystal display panel (1) includes a TFT substrate (10), a CF substrate (20) facing the TFT substrate (10), a liquid crystal layer (25) provided between the TFT substrate (10) and the CF substrate (20), an alignment film configured to control alignment of the liquid crystal layer (25), and a sealing member (26) sandwiched between the TFT substrate (10) and the CF substrate (20) and formed in the shape of a frame surrounding the liquid crystal layer (25). In a region (35) where the sealing member (26) is to be provided, a metal pattern (2) is provided which is configured to reflect infrared light emitted from a Fourier transform infrared spectrometer toward the Fourier transform infrared spectrometer in order to determine the presence or absence of the alignment film in the region (35). |
| US08730445B2 |
Liquid crystal display device with first and second substrates sealed by sealing material with an end of protective material on second substrate being disposed between inner and outer wall surfaces of the sealing material
The liquid crystal display device according to the present invention is a liquid crystal display device provided with a liquid crystal display panel having: a first substrate; a second substrate; a sealing material provided between the first substrate and the second substrate so that the first substrate and the second substrate are pasted together; and a liquid crystal layer sealed in the region surrounded by the sealing material between the first substrate and the second substrate, wherein the second substrate has a color filter and a protective film for covering the color filter on the surface of the second substrate on the liquid crystal layer side, and an end of the protective film is located inside an end of the second substrate and between the two sides of the sealing material, which are opposite to each other (outer wall surface and inner wall surface). |
| US08730439B2 |
Production method of liquid crystal display device with halftone overlapping masking and liquid crystal display device
To provide a production method of a liquid crystal display device and a liquid crystal display device, in which generation of a joint line on a display screen is suppressed and yield can be improved even if a substrate is subjected to an alignment treatment by completing exposure for the substrate through several exposures in a liquid crystal display device including pixels each having two or more domains. The present invention is a production method of a production method of a liquid crystal display device, the liquid crystal display device including: a pair of opposed substrates; a liquid crystal layer formed between the pair of opposed substrates; and an alignment film arranged on a liquid crystal layer side surface of at least one of the pair of opposed substrates, and the liquid crystal display device having two or more regions which differ in alignment azimuth in a pixel, wherein the production method comprises an exposure step of exposing the alignment film in such a way that a substrate plane is divided into two or more exposure regions through a photomask in each exposure region, and in the exposure step, exposure is performed in such a way that adjacent two exposure regions have an overlapping exposure region where the adjacent two exposure regions partly overlap with each other, and the photomask comprises a halftone part corresponding to the overlapping exposure region. |
| US08730435B2 |
Liquid crystal display device having retardation film formed of liquid crystalline polyimide having photoreactive group
In a liquid crystal display device having a plurality of retardation films for alleviating a deterioration in display quality depending on a viewing angle direction, and a driving liquid crystal layer selected from the group consisting of a driving liquid crystal layer typified by a VA mode wherein a liquid crystal molecule in a driving liquid crystal medium is aligned perpendicular to a substrate when no electric field is applied, a driving liquid crystal layer typified by an IPS mode wherein a liquid crystal molecule in a driving liquid crystal medium is aligned parallel to the substrate when no electric field is applied, and a driving liquid crystal layer that shows optical isotropy when no voltage is applied, a retardation film of a positive A-plate formed of a liquid crystalline polyimide having a photoreactive group is used as at least one layer of the plurality of retardation films. |
| US08730433B2 |
Coupling structure for wire grid type inorganic polarizer and video projector including the same
A coupling structure for a wire grid type inorganic polarization plate. The coupling structure includes a holder and a wire grid type inorganic polarization plate. The holder includes a flat portion and an open portion through which light passes. The inorganic polarization plate includes a glass substrate, a wire grid formed by metal elements on the glass substrate, and a surface protection substrate that covers the wire grid. The inorganic polarization plate is coupled to the holder with the flat portion of the holder held between the glass substrate and the surface protection substrate, and the wire grid inserted into the open portion of the holder. |
| US08730426B2 |
Liquid crystal display device
A liquid crystal display device is disclosed. The liquid crystal display device includes a panel, a first frame, and a second frame. The panel has a side face. At least one first locking hole is disposed on the side face. The first frame includes a first side edge and a second side edge. The first side edge has at least one second locking hole and at least one slot. The at least one first locking hole and the at least one second locking hole are locked with each other via at least one locking element, so as to fix the panel and the first frame. The second frame has at least one hook part used for matching the at least one slot of the first side edge such that the second frame and the first frame can be fixed to each other. |
| US08730425B2 |
Liquid crystal display device
A liquid crystal display device includes a liquid crystal panel; a backlight unit disposed under the liquid crystal panel and providing a light to the liquid crystal panel, the backlight unit including a reflective sheet, a light guide plate on the reflective sheet, an optical sheet on the light guide plate and a light emitting diode (LED) assembly at one side of the light guide plate, the light emitting diode assembly including at least one LED as a light source; a main frame that surrounds sides of the liquid crystal panel and the backlight unit, the main frame including a first portion, where the LED assembly is fixed, and a second portion extending from the first portion, the second portion covering a top portion of the LED assembly; a bottom frame under the reflective sheet and being combined with the main frame; and a top frame that surrounds an edge of the liquid crystal panel and attaches to the bottom frame and the main frame. |
| US08730424B2 |
Display apparatus
A display apparatus is provided which realizes high display quality without inclusion of bubbles when a protective cover is bonded over the display surface of the display panel with a transparent adhesive sheet therebetween. A display surface of a display panel and a protective cover are bonded with first and second transparent adhesive sheets. The first transparent adhesive sheet has a cross-sectional area vertical to the thickness direction that is formed smaller than the opening area of an opening of a frame, and it is provided within the opening. Then, a bonding member is charged into a gap formed by the frame, display panel, first transparent adhesive sheet, and second transparent adhesive sheet, so as to bond the frame, display panel, first transparent adhesive sheet, and second transparent adhesive sheet. |
| US08730422B2 |
Liquid crystal display
A liquid crystal display uses a layout which reduces the number of data lines relative to the number of pixel columns by providing one data line for every two pixel columns. The display is structured to prevent a passivation layer from becoming opaque due to a manufacturing haze effect by forming the pixel electrode below a gate insulating layer. It is structured to prevent a drain electrode from being damaged due to an etchant used for patterning the pixel electrode. Further, it is structured to prevent a short circuit between a common voltage line and a gate line while not substantially reducing an aperture ratio by disposing a common voltage contact hole for electrically connecting the common voltage line with a common electrode between vertically extending portions of two gate lines that generally extend horizontally. |
| US08730418B2 |
Array substrate and method for manufacturing the same
In an array substrate capable of improving the quality of displayed images and a method for manufacturing the array substrate, the array substrate includes a base substrate, a first conductive pattern including a gate line and a first light-blocking pattern, a semiconductor layer overlapping the light-blocking pattern, a second conductive pattern including a data line and a storage line overlapping the first light-blocking pattern, and a pixel electrode overlapping the storage line to form a storage capacitor. The first conductive pattern may further include a second light-blocking pattern overlapping the semiconductor layer which is formed under the data line. The first and second light-blocking patterns block light proceeding toward the semiconductor layer formed under the storage line and under the data line, respectively, so that the semiconductor layer may be prevented from being excited by light energy. |
| US08730415B2 |
Cover glass integrated sensor
A cover glass integrated sensor has an excellent visibility of sharp outlines of the display screen as seen through the cover glass and has a sense of unity in appearance in portions surrounding the display screen. The cover glass integrated sensor includes a cover glass and a capacitance type film sensor. The cover glass includes a glass substrate and a first frame-like light-blocking layer made of a screen printing film formed on peripheral portion on the rear surface of the glass substrate. The capacitance type film sensor has a second frame-like light-blocking layer made of an exposure/development product of color resist material formed on a periphery of the front surface. The capacitance type film sensor is attached to a rear surface of the cover glass. An inner edge of the second frame-like light-blocking layer is closer to the center than an inner edge of the first frame-like light-blocking layer. |
| US08730413B2 |
Rear seat entertainment system for a vehicle having an active headrest
An entertainment system for a vehicle seat comprises a support structure mounted to a frame of the vehicle seat, and a media unit mounted to the support structure, wherein the support structure includes a frame positioned behind and spaced apart from a headrest of the vehicle seat. The support structure frame includes a plurality of bends to position the support structure frame away from the headrest. |
| US08730412B2 |
Display apparatus and display control circuit thereof
A display apparatus has a housing, a base, a system board and a display panel. The base is connected to the housing such that the display apparatus is disposed on a flat surface. The system board is disposed in the housing and has a control system for performing an up-down inversing process for an image transmitted from a signal source. The display panel has a timing controller and a pixel array. Specifically, the display panel is put upside down in the housing such that the pixel array is also upside down, and the timing controller is adjacent to the location connecting the base with the housing. The timing controller is coupled to the system board, to perform a left-right mirroring process for the up-down inversed image. |
| US08730409B2 |
Projection system and method of curved film
The invention involves a sort of curved film projection system, including a rendering surface, a projection screen, a real scene rendering model of image system, a rendering model of projection system that renders the projection the image rendered by the rendering model of image system on the rendering surface, and projecting devices that projects the image finally rendered by the rendering model of projection system onto the projection screen through optical lens. The viewing direction and angle from observer's eyes to the rendering surface is consistent with that to the projection screen: The image system rendering model can be reversible on optical path with the projection system rendering model. The curved film projection system not only reduces the rendering cost, but also produces lifelike experience for audience. |
| US08730407B2 |
Remote control command setting device and method for setting remote control command
Provided is a remote control command setting device capable of regulating some operations while being easy to handle for children. The device reconfigures a correspondence between an operation for an operation area having multiple operation buttons arranged therein and a control command for an electric device. The device includes an operation history holding unit (180) for accumulating operation history for the operation area, a control command setting unit (200) for reconfiguring an available control command on the basis of the operation history, and an operation area setting unit (210) for reconfiguring a sub-area in the operation area on the basis of the operation history and the available control command. |
| US08730406B2 |
Set-top box receiver soft control system and method
A set-top box is constructed including a processor, an input port, an auxiliary input port, and an output port. The input port is electrically coupled to the processor, and is configured to receive first control signals from a remote control. The auxiliary input port is also electrically coupled to the processor, and is configured to receive second control signals from an auxiliary remote control and send the second control signals to the processor. The output port is electrically coupled to the processor, and is configured to send graphical representations of a remote control to a display. The processor is configured to compose a graphical representation of the remote control, receive a second control signal, modify the graphical representation of the remote control in response to the second control signal, and send the graphical representation to the output port for display. |
| US08730404B2 |
Providing a reset mechanism for a latch circuit
In an embodiment, the present invention includes a latch circuit having a first input to receive a data signal and a second input to receive a clock signal. This latch circuit may have a first pair of transistors including a first transistor gated by the data signal and a second transistor gated by an inverted data signal and a second pair of transistors including third and fourth transistors gated by the clock signal. The first transistor may be coupled to the third transistor at a first inter-latch node and the second transistor coupled to the fourth transistor at a second inter-latch node. A reset circuit may be coupled to the latch circuit to maintain the first and second inter-latch nodes at a predetermined voltage level when the clock signal is inactive. |
| US08730401B2 |
Circuit module for use in digital television receiver for receiving digital television broadcasting wave signal
A circuit module for a digital television receiver is formed by multi-layering a decoder LSI including a CPU and a decoder, a decoder layer substrate including a CA interface circuit, a demodulation function layer substrate including a demodulator, and an extension function layer substrate including a communication controller. The demodulation function layer substrate and the extension function layer substrate can be selectively multi-layered to the decoder layer substrate in response to a broadcasting system of a digital television signal or a type of a CA module. |
| US08730394B2 |
Video display system, video display device, its control method, and information storage medium
To provide a video display system for allowing a user to look at and listen to video and sound on various means. A video display system has a video display device and a portable video display device, connected to each other for communication. The video display device produces own device video data and own device sound data to be displayed and reproduced, respectively, on the video display device; displays the own device video data and reproduces the own device sound data; encodes these data into a data format which the portable video display device is able to handle, to thereby produce other device video data and other device sound data; and sends to the portable video display device. The portable video display device receives these data, and decodes and displays the other device video data, and decodes and reproduces the other device sound data. |
| US08730390B2 |
Picture processing apparatus, picture processing method, program, and picture display apparatus
Disclosed herein are a picture processing apparatus and a picture display apparatus. A picture processing apparatus includes: an interpolated picture data generation portion generating interpolated picture data at given points in time in the course of time-series picture data based on the time-series picture data; and a control portion controlling the interpolated picture data generation portion by using multi-screen information of the time-series picture data. A picture display apparatus includes: the interpolated picture data generation portion generating interpolated picture data at given points in time in the course of the time-series picture data based on the time-series picture data; a picture display portion displaying pictures derived from the time-series picture data including the interpolated picture data generated by the interpolated picture data generation portion; and the control portion controlling the interpolated picture data generation portion by using the multi-screen information of the time-series picture data. |
| US08730386B2 |
Imaging apparatus including metal main frame as assembly basis
The imaging apparatus includes a lens mount to which a lens unit is mountable, an imaging unit operable to generate an image signal, and a shutter unit that is arranged between the lens mount and the imaging unit, and is capable of limiting the light incident on the imaging unit, opening and closing at least at recording and being kept in an opened state during a recording preparation operation, and a main frame to which the lens mount, the shutter unit and the imaging unit are fixed. |
| US08730384B2 |
Systems, methods, and devices for flash exposure control using preflash statistics
Systems, methods, and devices for obtaining a properly exposed strobe-illuminated image are provided. One method for doing so may include, for example, gathering image capture statistics during a first period when a strobe is not emitting light and during a second period when the strobe emits a preflash. These image capture statistics may include distinct image capture control statistics and luma values associated with the periods. Final image capture control statistics then may be determined based at least in part on the first luma value normalized to the first image capture control statistics and the second luma value normalized to the second image capture control statistics. Thereafter, the final image capture control statistics may be used to capture a properly exposed strobe-illuminated image when the strobe emits a main flash. |
| US08730380B2 |
Imaging device, method for controlling imaging device, and computer-readable storage medium
During a period before focusing is instructed, contrast detection is used to detect positions at which focus evaluation values reach a peak in regard to detection regions obtained by dividing a region containing a region in which phase-difference detection pixels of an imaging element are disposed; when focusing is instructed, focus evaluation value peak positions of each of the detection regions are acquired; if an optical system is in a focused state, the number of detection regions whose deviation in focus evaluation value peak position is within a threshold value is counted; if the number of applicable detection regions is equal to or greater than a predetermined value, focus position detection and focus control are performed by phase-difference detection, and if the number of detection regions is less than the predetermined value, focus position detection and focus control are performed by contrast detection. |
| US08730379B2 |
Quick auto-focus method
An auto-focus method controls a motor to drive an optical lens of a lens module to a focus point and includes steps of: describing a first parabola according to three coordinate points in a coordinate system; describing a second parabola according to a first highest point of the first parabola and two coordinate points selected from the three coordinate points in the coordinate system, wherein the resolution values of two selected coordinate points are greater than that of unselected coordinate point; comparing a difference between the electric current value of a second highest point of the second parabola and the electric current value of the first highest point with a preset value; wherein when the difference is less than the preset value, the second highest point is regarded as the focus point. |
| US08730377B2 |
Imaging apparatus adjusting autofocus position based on stored adjustment amount
The imaging apparatus includes an optical system including a focus lens operable to adjusts a focus state of a subject image, an imaging unit operable to capture a subject image obtained through the optical system to generate image data, a controller operable to obtain a plurality of image data generated in the imaging unit while moving the focus lens along an optical axis, a display unit operable to display an image based on the plurality of generated image data; a receiving unit operable to receive an instruction of a user for selecting one of the plurality of images displayed on the display unit, a storage unit operable to store information on a focus lens position at which the image data selected by the receiving unit is captured; and an autofocus control. |
| US08730375B2 |
Imaging apparatus having focus control function
A digital camera includes a focus position table. The focus position table, in which focus positions for person-priority pan focus have been set, is used when a face has been detected, and the focus position table, in which focus positions for non-person priority pan focus have been set corresponding to the types of non-person priority pan focus, is used when a face has not been detected. When a face has been detected, the digital camera determines the pan focus as the person-priority pan focus, and after acquiring a focus position from the focus position table, executes the pan focus processing. On the other hand, when a face has not been detected, the digital camera acquires, from the focus position table, a focus position corresponding to a type of non-person priority pan focus determined based on the photography scene and executes the pan focus processing. |
| US08730370B2 |
Solid-state imaging device having image pixel position correction to reduce shape distortion
According to one embodiment, a correction-parameter storing unit corrects a position of a captured image captured by an image sensor, and an image-position correcting unit corrects the position of the captured image for each pixel based on the correction parameter. |
| US08730366B2 |
Solid-state imaging device, method of driving solid-state imaging device, and camera
A solid-state imaging device is provided in which transfer failure of signal charges is suppressed. The solid-state imaging device includes a plurality of photoelectric conversion units, a plurality of vertical transfer units having a plurality of vertical transfer electrodes, a plurality of horizontal transfer units having a plurality of horizontal transfer electrodes, and an intermediate transfer unit having a branch transfer electrode. In the first horizontal transfer unit, one of the horizontal transfer electrodes includes a plurality of column direction electrodes that are disposed adjacent to one another in the vertical direction and transfer the signal charges via the intermediate transfer unit to the second horizontal transfer unit. The vertical transfer electrode, the horizontal transfer electrodes, and the branch transfer electrode are a single layer electrode. |
| US08730365B2 |
Image capturing apparatus and image capturing system
The present invention provides an image capturing apparatus, which comprises a plurality of photoelectric converter-containing pixels that are positioned horizontally and vertically and a gain circuit, has a gain controller that can control the gain of the gain circuit in N stages (where N is an integer equal to or greater than 2). The gain circuit outputs each of a plurality of signals given by the product of the output signal from one of the plurality of pixels and the gain in each stage of the N stages. |
| US08730363B2 |
Analog-digital converter, analog-digital conversion method, image pickup device, method of driving the same, and camera
An analog-digital converter includes: comparators disposed to correspond to analog signals which are converted into digital signals and configured to compare a voltage value of the analog signal, which is converted into the digital signal, with a voltage value of a predetermined reference signal; counters disposed to correspond to the comparators and configured to count a count value at the time point when the comparison process of the corresponding comparator is finished; and a determiner configured to determine a time point when all the comparators finish their comparison processes. |
| US08730362B2 |
Image sensor with controllable vertically integrated photodetectors
An image sensor includes front-side and backside photodetectors of a first conductivity type disposed in a substrate layer of the first conductivity type. A front-side pinning layer of a second conductivity type is connected to a first contact. The first contact receives a predetermined potential. A backside pinning layer of the second conductivity type is connected to a second contact. The second contact receives an adjustable and programmable potential. |
| US08730358B2 |
Noise-cancelling image sensors
An image sensor that has a plurality of pixels within a pixel array coupled to a control circuit and to one or more subtraction circuits. The control circuit causes an output transistor coupled to a pixel to provide a first reference output signal, a common reset output signal, and a first sense-node reset output signal, between which a subtraction circuit may form a weighted difference to create a noise signal. The control circuit causes the output transistor to provide a second sense-node reset output signal, a light response output signal and a second reference output signal, between which a subtraction circuit may form a weighted difference to create a normalized light response signal. The light response output signal corresponds to the image that is to be captured by the sensor. The noise signal is subtracted from the normalized light response signal to generate a de-noised signal. |
| US08730356B2 |
System and method for automatic flash removal from images
A system, method, computer program product, and business method for automatic image glare removal. Glare is often caused by direct reflection of a photographic flash. Images are acquired from at least two different locations, possibly simultaneously, and from one or more cameras, and digitized if necessary. A glare pattern is identified, typically by recognition of a fully overexposed area or known test glare patterns. The images are processed to remove the glare pattern by subtraction of the glare pattern from at least one image and substitution of corresponding data from a related image not identically impacted. The substituted data typically comprises chrominance data, which may be from a luminance-adjusted exposure-bracketed image. The processing may be performed by a camera, a pc, or a networked server, and the processed image is output. The business method includes automated image glare removal via a fee-based per-transaction or subscription service. |
| US08730347B2 |
Image pickup apparatus with focus detection
An image pickup apparatus of the present invention includes an image pickup element having imaging pixels and focus detection pixels, and configured to read a signal for which a photoelectric conversion has been performed in a first direction, a focus detector capable of detecting a focus state using a phase difference of a pair of images in the first direction and a pair of images in a second direction based on outputs of the focus detecting pixels, a flicker reduction portion configured to reduce the flicker, and a controller configured to control a focal point in accordance with the focus state obtained from a phase difference of the pair of images in the first direction before an operation of the flicker reduction portion. |
| US08730340B2 |
Apparatus and method for processing wide dynamic range image
Apparatus and method for processing wide dynamic range (WDR) image are disclosed. The WDR image processing apparatus could be integrated within an image sensor or an image backend apparatus. Whether the m-th bit of the sensing image signal is equal to 1 is determined. If the m-th bit is equal to 1, then the values corresponding to the m-th to the (m−r)-th bits are added by first offset to output a WDR image signal. If the m-th bit is not equal to 1, then whether the (m−1)-th bit is equal to 1 is determined. If the (m−1)-th bit is equal to 1, then the values corresponding to the (m−1)-th to the (m−s)-th bits are added by a second offset to output the WDR image signal. The same processing is applied up to the (m−t)-th bit, m, n, r, s and t are positive integers, and m is greater than n. |
| US08730338B2 |
Set of camera modules hinged on a body and functionally connected to a single actuator
An apparatus, method and computer program, in which there is provided an apparatus with a body, which apparatus has a set of camera modules mounted on the body, each camera module configured to take images with a first field of view and an adjustment mechanism configured to move the camera modules between a first configuration and a second configuration. In the first configuration, each camera module shares a substantially common field of view that covers a first view area. In the second configuration, the fields of view of the camera modules collectively form a second view area that is continuous and covers a second view area. A zoom-in image is formed in the first configuration using super-resolution combining of the images taken by the camera modules. |
| US08730336B2 |
Offloading processing of images from a portable digital camera
Images are offloaded from a portable camera automatically to a network server at the time the images are taken, transparently to a user of the camera. The server executes processing functions on the images and returns the output of the processing over the network to the camera and/or other user-defined destination device to thereby relieve the camera processor of potentially complex processing chores. |
| US08730335B2 |
Imaging apparatus and imaging system
An imaging apparatus includes: an image sensor configured to capture an image of a subject; an identification information storage unit configured to store a particular subject and a terminal device corresponding to the particular subject; a face detection unit and a face recognition unit configured to detect the particular subject stored in the identification information storage unit in the image captured by the image sensor; and a microcomputer configured to shoot the subject using the image sensor. When the particular subject is detected in the image captured by the image sensor, the microcomputer performs the shooting, and sends a shooting condition used for the shooting to the terminal device which is stored in the identification information storage unit and does not correspond to the shot particular subject. |
| US08730332B2 |
Systems and methods for ergonomic measurement
Systems and methods for ergonomic measurement are disclosed. For example, in one embodiment a method for ergonomic measurement includes: receiving a first signal from an image sensor, the first signal comprising data associated with a user's orientation with respect to the image sensor. A second signal is received from a orientation sensor, the second signal comprising data associated with the image sensor's orientation with respect to gravity. An ergonomic measurement of the user is determined based at least in part on the first and second signals. Another embodiment includes a computer-readable medium comprising processor-executable code for executing such a method. |
| US08730331B2 |
Display apparatus and calibration method therefor
A display apparatus is disclosed. The display apparatus includes a display unit which displays a calibration screen divided into a plurality of areas when a calibration mode is initiated, an image generating unit which generates a guide image for displaying an arrangement position of a calibrator, and a controlling unit which controls the display unit to display a guide image on areas where calibration is to be performed of the plurality of areas. Accordingly, it becomes possible to improve user convenience and exactness of calibration. |
| US08730312B2 |
Systems and methods for augmented reality
A method for generating an augmented reality display on a display device according to embodiments of the present invention includes overlaying augmented reality data onto an actual image using three dimensional positioning data and three dimensional orientation data of the display device. The augmented reality data may include at least one line feature and/or at least one video feature, and may take into account both elevation of the device and the three-dimensional direction in which the imaging device is pointed. |
| US08730309B2 |
Projectors and depth cameras for deviceless augmented reality and interaction
Architecture that combines multiple depth cameras and multiple projectors to cover a specified space (e.g., a room). The cameras and projectors are calibrated, allowing the development of a multi-dimensional (e.g., 3D) model of the objects in the space, as well as the ability to project graphics in a controlled fashion on the same objects. The architecture incorporates the depth data from all depth cameras, as well as color information, into a unified multi-dimensional model in combination with calibrated projectors. In order to provide visual continuity when transferring objects between different locations in the space, the user's body can provide a canvas on which to project this interaction. As the user moves body parts in the space, without any other object, the body parts can serve as temporary “screens” for “in-transit” data. |
| US08730308B2 |
Volume scanning three-dimensional floating image display device
A volume scanning three-dimensional floating image display is constructed from a real mirror image forming optical system capable of forming the real mirror image of an object to be projected in a planar symmetric position with respect to a symmetry surface, and a display located under the symmetry surface showing images that serve as the object to be projected, and an actuator means capable of moving the display in a direction with a component perpendicular to the display surface, so by changing the displayed image synchronously with the motion of the display, the real mirror image of that image will be formed in the space on the other side of the symmetry surface as a three-dimensional floating image. |
| US08730307B2 |
Local multi-view image display apparatus and method
A local multi-view image display apparatus and method is provided. The local multi-view image display method may track a location of an observer, and locally display a multi-view input image on the tracked location. |
| US08730300B1 |
Three dimensional television encoding and broadcasting method
The present invention is directed to a method of encoding, broadcasting, transmitting, decoding, and displaying a 3D image signal. The image signal is acquired by deploying a pair of stereoscopically positioned digital cameras to acquire a corresponding pair of digital image signals. A first camera is operated in a horizontal scan mode, while a second camera is operated in a vertical scan mode to produce differential video signals. The unmixed signals are simultaneously transmitted, each via one of dual single sidebands on the same center frequency. A video receiver includes digital signal decoding and processing circuitry and a standard digital display having both horizontal and vertical scan capability. The receiver decodes the dual sideband signal and presents the 3D image signal via alternating horizontal and vertical scans to produce a 3D image. |
| US08730299B1 |
Surround image mode for multi-lens mobile devices
A user activation of an image capture function of a mobile device is received. The image capture function is for a surround image mode. Two or more camera lenses are approximately concurrently activated. Responsive to activating the lenses, a front-side image from a first camera lens and a rear-side image from a second camera lens are optically captured. Content from the front-side image and content from the rear-side are recorded in a non-transitory storage medium of the mobile device within a single file for a surround mode image. |
| US08730296B2 |
Method, device, and system for video communication
The embodiments of the present invention disclose a method, device, and system for video communication, and relate to the field of video conference technologies, so as to implement automatic switching of video images during a video conference. The method includes: obtaining video image signals and voice information of a first site; determining video image signals including a video object according to the video image signals and voice information of the first site; and sending the video image signals including the video object to a second site. The method, device, and system provided in the embodiments of the present invention implement automatic switching of video image signals during the video conference, thus avoiding switching errors caused by human factors and improving the efficiency of the conference. |
| US08730293B2 |
Laser light irradiating system
A laser light irradiating system which irradiates a laser light onto a thermally reversible recording medium which is pasted on a face on one side of an object to be conveyed to perform one of image erasing and image recording is disclosed. The laser light irradiating system includes a conveying unit; a detecting unit; a laser light emitting unit; and a control unit, wherein the control unit conveys the object to be conveyed to a specific position and, when the thermally reversible recording medium is not detected by the detecting unit, the laser light with a power level greater than or equal to a predetermined power level is prevented from being emitted from the laser light emitting unit. |
| US08730291B2 |
Image forming apparatus
An image forming apparatus wherein a photosensitive drum is located such that its circumferential surface is exposed to light at a position between an image surface of light that is emitted from an LED at a distance of a half of a pitch of a plurality of rod lenses from a first rod lens of the plurality of rod lenses and that passes through the first rod lens and an image surface of light that is emitted from an LED at a distance of the pitch of the plurality of rod lenses from a second rod lens of the plurality of rod lenses and that passes through the second rod lens. |
| US08730282B2 |
2D/3D switchable backlight unit and image display device
A 2D/3D switchable backlight unit and an image display device employing the same are provided. The 2D/3D switchable backlight unit includes a light source, a light guide plate in which light emitted from the light source is total-internal-reflected, and a switch array comprising a plurality of switches that selectively contact a first surface of the light guide plate and emit light by frustrated total internal reflection inside the light guide plate. In 2D mode, each of the switches contacts the first surface of the light guide plate. In 3D mode, some of the switches contact the first surface of the light guide plate. |
| US08730272B2 |
Apparatus and method for controlling dual display device using RGB interface
Dual display control device and method using an RGB interface are provided. A dual display control device controlling a first display device and a second display device using an RGB interface includes: a synchronization signal output unit that outputs vertical and horizontal synchronization signals to the first display device and the second display device; and a data output unit that outputs first data to the first display device in a first section of a first pixel clock and outputs second data to the second display device in a second section of a second pixel clock, in accordance with the vertical and horizontal synchronization signal via a data line shared by and connected to the first display device and the second display device. Accordingly, it is possible to reduce the number of signal lines, thereby embodying an efficient hardware configuration. |
| US08730269B2 |
Interpreting a gesture-based instruction to selectively display a frame of an application user interface on a mobile computing device
In general overview, the present disclosure is directed to a system and method for selectively displaying a frame of an application user interface on a mobile computing device. A user interface analyzer on a mobile computing device analyzes a user interface for an application executing on a remote server. The user interface analyzer identifies frames in the user interface, the positions of the frames, relationships between frames, and horizontal and vertical panning offsets to move between adjacent frames. The mobile computing device receives a user input requesting the display of an adjacent frame. Based on the information the user interface analyzer obtained, the mobile computing device displays an adjacent frame of the user interface. |
| US08730266B2 |
System and method for integrating gaze tracking with virtual reality or augmented reality
This invention relates to gaze tracking methods and systems integrated with virtual reality (VR) or augmented reality (AR). A system may include one or more cameras for capturing images of a subject's eyes, a display device for displaying a VR or AR image, a first reflecting surface associated with the display device for at least partially reflecting light from the eyes to the one or more cameras and for transmitting the VR or AR image; and a second reflecting surface for at least partially reflecting light from the eyes to the one or more cameras and for receiving the VR or AR image and rendering the VR or AR image to the subject as at least one component of a VR or AR environment. The methods and systems described herein may be used in research, medical, industrial, aerospace, and entertainment applications. |
| US08730265B2 |
Character generating system and character generating method
A character generating system (10) includes a pickup image information acquiring unit (14), a texture generating unit (15), and a texture pasting unit (16). The pickup image information acquiring unit (14) acquires face pickup image information corresponding to an image pasting area (51) of a face texture (53) of character (70) from the pickup image information. The texture generating unit (15), on the basis of color information of a difference area (52), sorts pixels in the image pasting area (51), replaces the color information of the selected pixels with the color information of the difference area (52), and generates the face texture (53) from the face pickup image information. |
| US08730260B2 |
Obstacle information notification apparatus for vehicle
An in-vehicle obstacle information notification apparatus for displaying an intersection map on a screen of a display section and superimposing a movable body mark on the intersection map when an own vehicle is in an intersection-surrounding area is disclosed. The display section displays the intersection map in a first mode or a second mode. In the first mode, an upper direction of the map is fixed to a given direction, which is determined before the entry into the intersection. In the second mode, the upper direction of the map on the screen is determined based on own vehicle direction, which is changed at a turn at the intersection. Based on information on a movable body in the intersection-surrounding area, the in-vehicle obstacle information notification apparatus determines whether to set the first mode or the second mode as a display mode of the display section. |
| US08730256B2 |
Color selection input device and method
The invention relates to color selection input, for example by means of a color selection wheel or pad, particularly for a lighting system. The invention provides color selection means (10) representing selectable colors in terms of hue gradation (12) along a direction thereof, wherein the hue gradation is adapted to user preferences in that the hue gradation is divided into non-equal segments (20, 22) with segments of user preferred hue (20) larger than segments of non user preferred hue (22). The invention has the main advantage that the input of a color selection may be better adapted to user preferences. |
| US08730245B2 |
Defining an animation of a virtual object within a virtual world
In a method of defining an animation of a virtual object, during which values for attributes of the virtual object are updated at each of a series of time points, a user specifies a structure representing the update that includes a plurality of items and one or more connections between respective items. Each item represents a respective operation. Each connection represents that data output by the operation represented by one item is input to the operation represented by the connected item. The user specifies that the structure comprises one or more items in a predetermined category associated with a predetermined process that may be executed at most a predetermined number of times at each time point. An item belongs to the predetermined category if performing the respective operation represented by that item requires execution of the predetermined process. One or more rules are applied. |
| US08730244B2 |
Method and device for generating character data, method and control device for displaying character data, and navigation apparatus
A device includes a character-data rotating section that rotates a regular-position character by a predetermined angle with respect to a reference point that is the center point of the background area of the regular-position character by using regular-position character data having a rotation angle of 0° and a center-point matching processing section that horizontally and/or vertically enlarges the background area of the rotated character data to cause the center point of the rotated character and the center point of BMP data to match each other even with respect to rotated character data. Thus, when multiple pieces of character data are arranged so that the center points thereof lie on a reference line, not only are the center points of the characters aligned along the reference line, but also bottom portions of the characters aligned with respect to the reference line. |
| US08730238B2 |
Visual three dimensional simulation system and method
A system and method receive an object representative of a new element of a scene to be simulated. A probabilistic prediction of coordinates of the new element in the scene is provided. The new element is placed in the scene as a function of rules for combining probabilistic nature objects in the scene. A visual representation of the simulated scene including the new element is also provided for display. |
| US08730237B2 |
Coupling the viewing direction of a blood vessel's CPR view with the viewing angle on the 3D tubular structure's rendered voxel volume and/or with the C-arm geometry of a 3D rotational angiography device's C-arm system
The present invention describes a method for rendering and displaying a curved planar reformat (CPR) view (7′) of a blood vessel's 3D tubular structure (1), wherein the viewing direction of the curved planar reformat view (7′) is coupled to the viewing angle on a segmented or raw representation of the 3D tubular structure's rendered voxel volume to be visualized or, alternatively, to the C-arm geometry of a 3D rotational angiography device's C-arm system (6). The proposed method thus enables measurements on the X-ray image which do not suffer from spatial foreshortening and do not need to be calibrated. Thereby, said coupling can be performed bidirectional. According to a first aspect of the proposed method, this means that the viewing direction of the aforementioned curved planar reformat view (7′) follows the viewing angle on a segmented or raw representation of the 3D tubular structure's rendered voxel volume to be visualized, or vice versa. According to another aspect of the proposed method, this means that the viewing direction of the curved planar reformat view (7′) is set depending on the C-arm geometry given by the roll (θx), pitch (θy) and yaw angle (θz) of a 3D rotational angiography device's C-arm system (6), or vice versa. |
| US08730235B2 |
Method for determining point connectivity on a two manifold in 3D space
One particular implementation of the present invention may involve a method for determining connectivity of a plurality of points on a surface of a computer-generated object in 2D or 3D space. In general, the method may utilize a recursion process to determine or approximate a plurality of association region boundaries related to the points on the computer-generated object. The method may include a first stage of a refinement operation that may recursively search the surface of the computer model for the region boundaries of the set of points, a stopping operation that may cease the recursive search when an acceptable tolerance is achieved and a connecting operation that may use the determined region boundaries to connect the series of points on the surface of the model to form a connectivity graph of the points. The connectivity information obtained through the above method may be utilized as part of an interpolation process to generate hair or fur along the surface of the object. |
| US08730232B2 |
Director-style based 2D to 3D movie conversion system and method
Automated or semi-automated conversion of 2D movies into 3D movies through generation and use of director-style statistics or characteristics to determine which processes to apply to convert regions of images based on the director's movie making style, without requiring the creation, moving or reshaping of masks. System works by breaking a movie down into scenes and shots and identifying lighting, lens, camera moves and color schemes habitually utilized by a director. The characteristics or statistical information is stored in a database accessible by a computer over a network for example. Swarms of computers or any other architecture employing any required amount of computing power allows for the desired speed of conversion to take place. Once a director's style has been analyzed, embodiments utilize the director-style characteristics to determine the specific processes to utilize to convert the movie from 2D to 3D. |
| US08730231B2 |
Systems and methods for creating personalized media content having multiple content layers
Systems and methods are disclosed for creating personalized media content having multiple content layers in “one-click” fashion by selecting a background media template or by using an end-user media composition tool to create or modify a template. For example, the personalized media content can include at least two separate layers, the data of each being stored independently of one another. The two layers may include a background layer including at least one background character and an intermediate layer including an individualized three-dimensional (3D) head model, alignment information, and lighting information. The personalized media content can be displayed by overlaying the background layer using the alignment intermediate layer using the alignment information and the lighting information. In certain examples, template data associated with the background media is created and subsequently used on multiple occasions in generating personalized media content with various 3D head models. |
| US08730230B2 |
Continuous graphics display method for multiple display devices during the processor non-responding period
The present invention provides an image/graphics data display mechanism for continuously displaying image/graphics data on multiple display devices of a computer that contains a system memory directly accessed by the computer's CPU during the CPU's power saving non-responding period, wherein there is provided sufficient system bandwidth, the mechanism of the present invention is independent on the resolution running on each display device and the number of display devices connected to the computer system. The mechanism provides two approaches to achieve continuous display of image/graphics data on multiple display devices computer system. In the first approach, a common clock source is used to coordinate display device horizontal synchronization signals, vertical synchronization signals, horizontal blank periods, and vertical blank periods. In the second approach, the mechanism has a control on the lengths and occurrences of the display device blank periods. |
| US08730229B2 |
Devices and methods for zero-bias display turn-off using VCOM switch
Methods and devices employing zero-bias display turn-off circuitry, including turn-off logic and switching devices, are provided. In one example, a method may include supplying a common voltage output of ground to a common electrode of a pixel of an electronic display, supplying an activation signal to the pixel to activate the pixel, supplying a data signal of ground to a pixel electrode of the pixel, and removing the activation signal from the pixel while the data signal is being supplied to the pixel to store the data signal in the pixel. When the activation signal is removed, the method may include causing the common voltage output being supplied to the common electrode of the pixel to change to a floating value to prevent a kickback voltage from affecting the data signal stored in the pixel. |
| US08730219B2 |
Display device
A display device (liquid crystal display device 100) includes a display panel (10) (liquid crystal panel 10), light receiving sensors (first light receiving sensors 122), and an image changing section (250). A display region (10a) of the liquid crystal panel (10) has a plurality of pixels (30) located therein. The first light receiving sensors (122) receive external light directed to the liquid crystal panel (10), at a plurality of positions in the display region (10a). In the image changing section (250), a reference value is predefined for light receiving information (a1 through d1) obtained by the first light receiving sensors (122). When light receiving information (a1 through d1) exceeding the reference value is obtained by the first light receiving sensors (122), the image changing section (250) changes an image to be displayed on the display region (10a), based on the light receiving information (a1 through d1). |
| US08730217B2 |
Display panel with two display directions opposite to each other, electronic device and method for switching electronic device
A display panel with two display directions opposite to each other, an electronic device and a method for switching the electronic device are provided. The display panel comprises a substrate, a first switching element, a second switching element, and a light-emitting diode. The first switching element is coupled to a scan line and a data line. The second switching element is coupled to a power source. The light-emitting diode is coupled to the second switching element and another power source. The display panel further comprises a dielectric layer covering the above elements, a pixel electrode formed on the dielectric layer, an opposite substrate formed above the substrate and a non-emission display medium layer formed between the substrate and the opposite substrate. The pixel electrode is coupled to an electrode of the first switching element through the opening and is made of reflective material. |
| US08730214B2 |
COG panel system arrangement
Provided is a COG panel system capable of minimizing a block dim effect by considering a relationship among a plurality of chips. The COG panel system includes: an FPC which supplies at least two power supply voltages having a constant voltage level; a plurality of SDIs which are commonly supplied with a bypass power supply voltage from the FPC and generate respective parts of a plurality of consecutive LCD driving signals required for an arbitrary one line of an LCD; and at least one block dim correction resistance. |
| US08730213B2 |
Method and system for detecting touch events based on redundant validation
A method of detecting a touch event on an acoustic fingerprint based touch system comprises digitizing at least two signals to form first and second sets of digitized signals. The at least two signals are received from at least two sensors on a touch panel. A frequency transform is performed upon the first and second sets of digitized signals to form first and second frequency transform data sets of frequency components. At least first and second live fingerprints are constructed wherein at least one of the first and second live fingerprints is based on the first and second frequency transform data sets. A touch location is identified based on the at least first and second live fingerprints. |
| US08730212B2 |
Illuminator for touch- and object-sensitive display
An integrated vision and display system comprises a display-image forming layer configured to transmit a display image for viewing through a display surface; an imaging detector configured to image infrared light of a narrow range of angles relative to the display surface normal and including a reflection from one or more objects on or near the display surface; a vision-system emitter configured to emit the infrared light for illuminating the objects; a visible- and infrared-transmissive light guide having opposing upper and/or lower face, configured to receive the infrared light from the vision-system emitter, to conduct the infrared light via TIR from the upper and lower faces, and to project the infrared light onto the objects outside of the narrow range of angles relative to the display surface normal. |
| US08730210B2 |
Multipoint source detection in a scanned beam display
Briefly, in accordance with one or more embodiments, an image or projection cone is projected onto a projection surface via a raster scan to generate the image, or in a light cone. Movements of two or more input sources with respect to projection cone are detected, and a determination is made whether the input sources have crossed a crossover line in the projection cone. If the input sources have moved greater than a threshold amount after crossing the crossover line, position data between the input sources may be exchanged to reflect proper position data for the input sources. |
| US08730205B2 |
Touch panel input device and gesture detecting method
Detection of complex input by two touched points are enabled to be detected by a resistive film type touch panel input device equipped with two resistive films facing each other with a minute gap therebetween; a first electrode pair; a second electrode pair extending in directions perpendicular to the first electrode pair; means for applying voltages between the first electrode pair and between the second electrode pair; means for measuring the voltage which is divided at two touch points with respect to the first electrode pair and the second electrode pair, when the resistive films are caused to contact each other by being touched at two points; means for measuring currents that flow between the first electrode pair and between the second electrode pairs when the touch occurs; and discriminating means, for discriminating the trajectories of the two touch points based on the values of the measured voltages and currents. |
| US08730203B2 |
Method and device for acquisition of data from a multicontact matrix tactile sensor
A data acquisition method to acquire data from a multicontact matrix tactile sensor having a matrix array of a cells, includes scanning the cells of the matrix array sequentially, and measuring an electrical characteristic of a cell, which represents a weight of the cell. The method also includes comparing the weight with a predetermined significant weight value interval, storing cell data associated with the cell, where the cell data includes the weight and coordinates of the cell in the matrix array, after the weight is determined to lie within the predetermined significant weight value interval. The method also verifies an existence of a data record associated with neighboring cells in a neighboring zone of the cell, and updates the data record associated with the neighboring cells by storing in the data record data associated with the cell, after the existence of the data record is confirmed. |
| US08730202B2 |
Touch sensing apparatus and touch sensing method thereof
A touch sensing apparatus and a touch sensing method are provided. The touch sensing apparatus includes a plurality of capacitance touch sensors and a post-processing circuit. Each of the capacitance touch sensors determines a value of an output current according to a distance between two electrodes of a touch sensing capacitor thereof. The post-processing circuit performs an integration operation for output currents to obtain a plurality of voltage values. The post-processing circuit further judge whether a touch event occurs according to a voltage difference between two voltage values corresponding to two capacitance touch sensors thereof, to further determine whether calculating a coordinate of a touch position. There is a linear relation between a variation of each of the voltage values and a variation of a distance between the two electrodes of the corresponding touch sensing capacitor. |
| US08730200B2 |
Touch-screen panel comprising cells that have holed or dummied interior portions
A touch-sensitive panel is provided for a display assembly and computing device. Individual cells of the panel are structured to include electrically inactive interior portions or centers to enhance the sensitivity and performance of the panel. |
| US08730198B2 |
Display device and driving method thereof
A display device includes a display panel having a plurality of pixels, a plurality of sensing units formed in row and column directions in the display panel, each of the sensing units generating a first sense data signal based on a contact on the display panel, a sense signal processor generating second sense data signals based on the first sense data signals, and a contact determiner generating first deviation data based on the second sense data signal of a predetermined frame and the second sense data of a sample frame group, in the second sense data signals with respect to a predetermined sensing unit of the second sense data signals in a plurality of frames, generating second deviation data based on the first deviation data of a predetermined sensing unit and the first deviation data of a sample sensing unit, in the first deviation data of a predetermined frame, and determining whether a contact occurs and a contact position based on the second deviation data. |
| US08730196B2 |
Integrated touch screen
Displays with integrated touch sensing circuitry are provided. An integrated touch screen can include multi-function circuit elements that form part of the display circuitry of the display system that generates an image on the display, and also form part of the touch sensing circuitry of a touch sensing system that senses one or more touches on or near the display. The multi-function circuit elements can be, for example, capacitors in display pixels of an LCD that are configured to operate as display circuitry in the display system, and that may also be configured to operate as touch circuitry of the touch sensing system. For example, one or more circuit elements of the display pixel stackup can form a conductive portion of the touch sensing system, such as a charge collector, which can be operated with switches and conductive lines to sense touch. |
| US08730189B2 |
Coordinate input device and display device including the same
Provided is a coordinate input device including: a coordinate input unit having a plurality of first detection electrodes and a plurality of second detection electrodes; an electrode drive circuit that applies a drive signal to one or more of the detection electrodes; a capacitance detection circuit that detects a capacitance of the first and/or second detection electrode; means for selecting one or more of the detection electrodes to which the drive signal is not applied from among the detection electrodes which are disposed in parallel to the detection electrodes to which the drive signal is applied, as a reference electrode; means for detecting a capacitance of the selected reference electrode; means for correcting a capacitance detection result of the capacitance detection circuit on the basis of the detected capacitance of the reference electrode; and an input coordinate computing circuit that calculates an input coordinate from the corrected capacitance detection result. |
| US08730186B2 |
Touch panel
A touch sensor (touch panel) which can be formed over the same substrate as a display portion is provided. Alternatively, a touch sensor (touch panel) which does not cause degradation in the quality of an image displayed on a display portion is provided. The touch panel includes a light-emitting element and a microstructure in which a pair of electrodes facing each other is isolated with an insulating material. As the insulating material, an elastic material or a material having a hole is used so that a filler layer formed using the insulating material can be deformed when a movable portion operates. It is preferable to use a material which is softened or hardened by certain treatment (e.g., heat treatment or chemical treatment) after formation. |
| US08730184B2 |
Touch sensitive device with multilayer electrode having improved optical and electrical performance
A touch sensor including one or more multilayer electrodes, said electrodes including at least two transparent or semitransparent conductive layers separated by a transparent or semitransparent intervening layer. The intervening layer includes electrically conductive pathways between the first and second conductive layers to help reduce interfacial reflections occurring between particular layers in devices incorporating the conducting film or electrode. |
| US08730183B2 |
Large scale multi-user, multi-touch system
A large scale multi-user, multi-touch system with a specialized zone-based user interface including methods for space management and spatial apportioning of audio cues. The system comprises a multi-touch display component fabricated in dimensions sufficient for at least a plurality of users and for displaying projected images and for receiving multi-touch input. The apparatus includes a plurality of image projectors, a plurality of cameras for sensing multi-touch input and the apparatus includes interface software for managing user space. The interface software implements techniques for managing multiple users using the same user interface component by allocating physical spaces within the multi-touch display component and coordinating movement of displayed objects between the physical spaces. Embodiments include a plurality of audio transducers and methods for performing audio spatialization using the plurality of audio transducers corresponding to the physical spaces, apportioning of volume levels to the audio transducers based on movement of a displayed object. |
| US08730182B2 |
Systems and methods for piezo-based haptic feedback
Systems and methods for piezo-based haptic feedback are disclosed. For example, one described apparatus for piezo-based haptic feedback includes a polymer matrix, and a piezoelectric actuator at least partially embedded within the polymer matrix, the piezoelectric actuator configured to output a haptic effect. |
| US08730177B2 |
Contact tracking and identification module for touch sensing
Apparatus and methods are disclosed for simultaneously tracking multiple finger and palm contacts as hands approach, touch, and slide across a proximity-sensing, multi-touch surface. Identification and classification of intuitive hand configurations and motions enables unprecedented integration of typing, resting, pointing, scrolling, 3D manipulation, and handwriting into a versatile, ergonomic computer input device. |