| Document | Document Title |
|---|---|
| US08750690B2 |
Apparatus, method, and computer program for processing information
An information processing apparatus includes a controller for controlling data recording to an information recording medium. The controller executes a state determination process of determining whether the information recording medium is ready to record additionally data. Upon determining that the information recording medium is not ready to additionally record the data, the controller performs a notification process of notifying that the information recording medium is not ready to record additionally the data. |
| US08750688B2 |
Systems and methods for selectively recording at least part of a program based on an occurrence of a video or audio characteristic in the program
Systems and methods may provide for selectively recording of at least part of a program based on an occurrence of at least one video or audio characteristic in the program. The systems and methods may involve receiving or transmitting a program including a video stream and an audio stream, and monitoring at least one of the video stream and the audio stream for at least one video or audio characteristic. Based on the occurrence of the video or audio characteristic, at least part of the program may be recorded or instructions for recording at least part of the program may be transmitted. In some embodiments, only a segment of the program may be recorded or instructed to be recorded. In some embodiments, segments from a plurality of programs may be recorded and associated together. In such embodiments, the segments may be presented as a single recording. |
| US08750687B2 |
Method and apparatus for managing digital video recorders
An approach is provided for managing digital video recorders. One or more parameters related to a digital video recorder are retrieved. A configuration message is generated, at a set-top box, for transmission over a data network to a data repository. The set-top box is coupled to the digital video recorder. The configuration message specifies the one or more parameters. |
| US08750686B2 |
Home media server control
A home media server includes a processor, a storage medium; and machine-readable code, stored on the non-transitory storage medium, the non-transitory storage medium includes instructions which when executed, cause the home media server to receive downloadable instructions, an edited set of data and analysis data. The downloadable instructions, when executed by the processor cause the home media server to search for and obtain media content associated with an edited video program. The instructions also cause the home media server to receive the edited set of data corresponding to editing steps for assembly of the edited video program, and to emulate assembly of the edited video program utilizing the media content obtained by the home media server to created an emulated video program. |
| US08750682B1 |
Video interface
A system and method for facilitating interactions between a client browser and a video hosting server is provided. An interface can be generated that allows client devices and users to upload videos to the video hosting server. Modules in the video hosting server and/or the client device can process (transcode, compress, tag, and etc.) the videos and then store the videos to a video database. The interface can also enable searching for videos that are stored in the video database through keyword searches. The interface can also display related and/or suggested videos based on the video being displayed and/or contextual information about the user. The interface can be customizable with different views and layouts. |
| US08750676B2 |
Content storage system, storage apparatus for use in the system, and method of controlling storage of contents
The first video server encodes the content played back from a VTR/DVD, thus generating encoded data. The encoded data is read from the first video server and copied in the second video server. The data thus copied is further copied in the third video server. Then, the encoded data is similarly copied in other video servers, the last one being the video server. Thus, the same content is stored in all video servers. The decoded content is output from the last video server and supplied to a video-audio monitor through a switcher. At the video-audio monitor, the content is previewed. Hence, whether the data items stored in all video servers contains errors can be determined by previewing them only once at the video-audio monitor. |
| US08750674B2 |
Remotely controllable digital video camera system
A digital video camera system comprising image capture and recording units. The image capture unit includes an image sensor for capturing a digital video signal, an optical system for forming an image of a scene onto the image sensor, a controllable tilting mechanism for adjusting a pointing direction of the optical system, and a first wireless communication system. The image recording unit includes a second wireless communication system, an image display, a user interface including an orientation sensor, and a program memory storing instructions to implement a method for capturing a digital video sequence in response to user activation of a user control. The method includes wirelessly receiving a digital video signal from the image capture unit, displaying the received digital video signal on the image display, and adjusting the pointing direction of the optical system in response to detecting a change in the orientation of the image recording unit. |
| US08750670B2 |
Overhead cable termination arrangement
A system including an overhead cable pathway structure and an adapter panel or cable termination device that mounts overhead to the cable pathway structure. The cable termination device including a plurality of adapters and a cable pathway exit having a curved surface that guides cables exiting from the overhead cable pathway structure to the adapters. |
| US08750668B2 |
Cable management device for communication product
A cable management device includes a base and a locking member. The base includes a first body and a plurality of first arms. The first body defines a shaft hole, and each first arm includes a stop. The locking member includes a second body, a shaft, and a plurality of second arms. Each second arm includes a locking portion. The shaft of the locking member is received in the shaft hole of the base and capable of rotating relative to the base. A cable wraps the plurality of locking portions of the plurality of second arms. Rotation of the locking member allows the plurality of first arms of the base to overlap with the plurality of second arms of the base, respectively. The stops of base and the locking portions of the locking member collectively form a plurality of latching hole to fix the cable. |
| US08750666B2 |
Optical device using a plasmonic waveguide, and optical isolator
An optical device having a plasmonic waveguide, in which the plasmonic waveguide has a layered structure of at least three layers that a ferromagnetic metal layer, a first dielectric layer, and a second dielectric layer are layered in this order, in which the first and second dielectric layers are layers that allow light to be transmitted therethrough, and in which a refractive index of the second dielectric layer is higher than a refractive index of the first dielectric layer; and an optical isolator, having the optical device. |
| US08750664B2 |
Bend insensitive single mode fiber
This invention discloses a bend insensitive single mode fiber, which is composed by a bare glass fiber with a round cross section and two resin protective layers with circular cross sections surrounding the outer of the bare glass fiber. It is characterized in that the bare glass fiber is composed by a core layer with a round cross section and two claddings with circular cross sections. The refractive index of the core layer is higher than the index of the two claddings and the refractive index difference between the core layer and the first cladding is larger than the difference between the first and second claddings. The second cladding is made of pure SiO2. The refractive index profile of the core layer follows a power function, and the refractive index profile of the two claddings follow a ladder-type distribution. The loss of the invented fiber is insensitive to the bending of the fiber, which meets the requirements of ITU.T G.657.A and G.657.B standards, respectively. It is applicable to the Fiber To The Home (FTTH) and other local area network and the access network systems. |
| US08750663B2 |
Coupled multicore fiber
A coupled multi-core fiber 10 includes a plurality of cores 11 and a clad 12 surrounding the plurality of cores 11, wherein the plurality of cores 11 are arranged in such a way that periphery surfaces of the adjacent cores 11 contact with each other, each of the cores 11 is made to have a refractive index higher than the clad 12 and includes: an outer region 16 having a predetermined thickness from the periphery surface; and an inner region 15 made to have a higher refractive index than the outer region 16 and surrounded by the outer region 16. |
| US08750661B2 |
Optical fiber assemblies having a powder or powder blend at least partially mechanically attached
A fiber optic cable includes a tube formed from a flame-retardant material, an optical fiber disposed in a cavity of the tube, and powder comprising flame-retardant particles. At least a portion of the powder is mechanically attached to a surface of the cavity, where the mechanical attachment of the powder allows a portion of flame-retardant particles of the powder to protrude beyond the surface and not be completely embedded therein. |
| US08750660B2 |
Integrated optical interconnect
A method for fabricating an integrated optical interconnect includes disposing a layer over a substrate on which at least one optoelectronic transducer has been formed. A groove is formed in the layer in alignment with the optoelectronic transducer. A slanted mirror is formed in the layer at an end of the groove adjacent to the optoelectronic transducer to direct light between the optoelectronic transducer and an optical fiber placed in the groove. |
| US08750659B2 |
Optical module
Provided is an optical module, including: an optical system having an optical path in a space thereof; an electro-optical device optically connected to a first input/output port as one of an input port and an output port of the optical system; an optical waveguide having flexibility; and a housing including an optical interface. The optical waveguide includes: a first connection portion optically connected to the optical interface in the housing; and a second connection portion optically connected to a second input/output port as another one of the input port and the output port of the optical system. The optical waveguide is arranged so as to be bent in the housing. A first optical axis passing between the optical interface and the first connection portion is displaced from a second optical axis passing between the second input/output port and the second connection portion. |
| US08750658B2 |
Optical coupling module and method for manufacturing the same
An optical coupling module includes a substrate, a circuit board defining two through holes, an optical waveguide positioned between the substrate and the circuit board, and an optical assembly. The optical waveguide includes a core and a clad, each core comprises two coupling surfaces corresponding to the two through holes. At least one coupling surfaces is in an arcuate shape. The clad covers the core, except for the two coupling surfaces exposing out of the clad. The optical assembly formed on the circuit board comprises an optical emitting element and an optical receiving element. The optical emitting element and the optical receiving element are positioned above the two through holes, respectively. Light emitted from the optical emitting element enters the optical waveguide via one of the coupling surface, and leaves from another coupling surface to reach the optical receiving element. The coupling surface is capability of focusing light. |
| US08750655B1 |
Brillouin scattering fiber
An optical fiber may be constructed of a material having at least first and second constituents. The constituents and their relative abundance are selected such that the aggregate Brillouin frequency-shift response exhibited by a fiber constructed using the combined material is insensitive to a selected physical condition, such as temperature or strain, or the sensitivity is below an acceptable application-specific level, over an acceptable range of conditions. The constituents are selected such that the slopes or derivatives of the Brillouin frequency-shift response (with respect to the selected physical condition) of two of the constituents have opposite signs, and are combined in proper quantities such that the constituents balance each other to reduce the slope or derivative of the aggregate Brillouin frequency-shift response of the combined material to zero, or to an acceptable application-specific level, over an acceptable range of conditions. |
| US08750652B2 |
Microfluidic waveguide detector
A microfluidic detection device is provided that includes a planar waveguide, or an ion-exchange planar waveguide, a microfluidic channel disposed on the planar waveguide, a light source, such as a laser, LED or incandescent light, directed through the planar waveguide, a labeled cell disposed in the microfluidic channel, where the labeled cell lies in an evanescent field extending from the planar waveguide, and a light detector disposed to receive light from the light source through the planar waveguide. The evanescent field interacts with the labeled cell, where the light through the planar waveguide is altered according to a presence of the labeled cell in the microfluidic channel. |
| US08750650B2 |
Silicon based optical modulators including vertical slabs and methods of forming
An optical modulator structure can include a core region that comprises an optical transmission path having a refractive index that is modulated via electric charge introduced into the core region. A plurality of first vertical slabs comes into contact with and is spaced along a first side of the core region to provide a first path for the electric charge to/from the core region. A plurality of second vertical slabs come into contact with and is spaced along a second side of the core region, that is opposite to the first side, to provide a second path for the electric charge to/from the core region. Other structures and methods are disclosed. |
| US08750648B2 |
Image processing apparatus and method of processing image
An image processing apparatus includes a characteristic point extracting section and a signal processing section. The characteristic point extracting section is configured to analyze a frequency component of an inputted image and extracts a plurality of pixels characterizing the image as a plurality of characteristic points. The signal processing section is configured to perform signal processing for the plurality of extracted pixels corresponding to the respective characteristic points, produces an interpolated value based on a result of the signal processing, and rewrites a value of at least one pixel other than the characteristic points to the interpolated value. |
| US08750646B2 |
Projector and control method for the projector
A projector is disclosed. The projector divides image data, which should be displayed, into a plurality of quadrilateral regions, displays the vertexes of the divided quadrilateral regions to be superimposed on the image data, causes a user to select one of the displayed vertexes as a selected control point, causes the user to move the selected control point, deforms the quadrilateral regions including the selected control point before the movement as one of the vertexes into a shape including, in vertexes, the moved selected control point, and corrects image data corresponding to the quadrilateral regions before the deformation to be fit in the deformed quadrilateral regions. |
| US08750645B2 |
Generating a composite image from video frames
A method described herein includes acts of receiving a sequence of images of a scene and receiving an indication of a reference image in the sequence of images. The method further includes an act of automatically assigning one or more weights independently to each pixel in each image in the sequence of images of the scene. Additionally, the method includes an act of automatically generating a composite image based at least in part upon the one or more weights assigned to each pixel in each image in the sequence of images of the scene. |
| US08750641B2 |
Apparatus and method for correcting distortion of image
Provided are an apparatus and method for correcting distortion of an image. The method includes finding center point vectors including lens distortion center information about an image and dividing the image into at least two blocks on the basis of the center point vectors, and determining representative directions of the at least two divided blocks and removing outlier vectors not indicating the representative directions from the blocks to estimate a lens distortion center. Accordingly, accurate image correction is enabled by estimating distortion centers of images generated by devices equipped with any lens. Also, image content improving lens distortion correction performance is differentiated from image content degrading the same by picking out image content improving lens distortion center estimation performance, so that a superior image correction effect to other image correction techniques can be obtained. |
| US08750639B2 |
Automatic sharpening of images
Various embodiments describe image sharpening techniques that automatically estimate a sharpening amount for an unsharp mask filter for image enhancement based upon a statistical correlation between detail coefficients at a first resolution and at a second resolution. In various embodiments, statistical deviation of absolute values of detail coefficients for both the image at full resolution and the image downsampled by a pre-determined factor, e.g. a factor of two (half resolution), are retrieved. In various embodiments, the statistical deviation is retrieved for a histogram of the image at the first resolution and a histogram of the image at the second resolution. The linear model between the statistical deviation of detail coefficients at the first resolution and the second resolution is used to calculate the sharpening amount and the unsharp mask filter is applied to the image to produce a sharpened image. |
| US08750638B2 |
Image processing apparatus, image processing method, and computer program
An image processing apparatus includes a distance calculating unit that calculates a distance between first and second distributions, wherein the first distribution is a distribution of pixel values of pixels surrounding a focus pixel included in an image, the second distribution is a distribution of pixel values of pixels surrounding a pixel included in a window that includes the focus pixel at the center, and the second distribution is obtained for each pixel included in the window; a coefficient calculating unit that calculates, using the distance between the first and second distributions, a filter coefficient for each pixel included in the window; and a filter processing unit that calculates a correction value for the focus pixel by performing a filter process on each pixel included in the window using the filter coefficient. |
| US08750634B2 |
Method for coding pictures using hierarchical transform units
A bitstream includes coded pictures, and split-flags for generating a transform tree. The bit stream is a partitioning of coding units (CUs) into Prediction Units (PUs). The transform tree is generated according to the split-flags. Nodes in the transform tree represent transform units (TU) associated with the CUs. The generation splits each TU only if the corresponding split-flag is set. For each PU that includes multiple TUs, the multiple TUs are merged into a larger TU, and the transform tree is modified according to the splitting and merging. Then, data contained in each PU can be decoded using the TVs associated with the PU according to the transform tree. |
| US08750630B2 |
Hierarchical and index based watermarks represented as trees
An approach that provides hierarchical and index based watermarks represented as trees is described. In one embodiment, a watermark tree is formed from feature watermarks generated from a natural language processing (NLP) stack having NLP analytics. The watermark tree represents a hierarchical relationship between each of the feature watermarks. In particular, the watermark tree defines hierarchical pointers that point out inherited watermarks that exist between the feature watermarks according to the hierarchical relationship. Further, the watermark tree includes a time stamp specifying a time that a data set content residing in a corpus was accessed. |
| US08750621B2 |
Method of authenticating security marker
A method for authenticating security markers includes capturing an image of a region of interest on a product with a camera; storing image data in a two-dimensional array on a microprocessor; counting a number of pixels at or above a predetermined brightness level in the image data with the microprocessor to determine a first score; establishing an area within the image; counting a number of pixels within the area to determine a second score; calculating a ratio of the second score to the first score; and if the ratio is above a predetermined threshold the security marker is authenticated. |
| US08750618B2 |
Method for coding images with shape and detail information
A method for coding image data together with its shape and other details as a two dimensional barcode is disclosed. The method stores the shape details together with the color information of a product which is very useful for representing to a user. The method enables the encoding of an image with its shape, size, name and other details of the product in a most compact way. Also, the method enables decoding of the information to get the detailed information without using internet. |
| US08750617B2 |
Signature representation of data having high dimensionality
A system and method for generating an m-dimensional signature vector in a computing device is provided. The signature vector may be generated from a plurality of key-value pairs, each comprising a unique identifier and an associated non-zero value. Each element of the m-dimensional signature vector is calculated based on a summation of a plurality of terms. Each of the terms is calculated from a respective key-value pair by generating a seed based on the key of the respective key-value pair and an element identifier associated with the vector element being calculated; generating a pseudo-random number from the generated seed; and multiplying the pseudo-random number by the value of the respective key-value pair, wherein m< |
| US08750609B2 |
Image processing method and image processing apparatus which perform color correction of an image
An amount of color correction of a facial region is modified based on changes caused in face average values by white balance correction. Also, the amount of color correction of the facial region is modified according to luminance of pixels of interest to perform optimum color correction on the facial region and a highlight region. |
| US08750607B2 |
Image processing apparatus capable of efficiently compressing an original image
An image processing apparatus successively counts numbers of continuous blocks starting from a left end in view of a number of color(s) forming each block and the color of a preceding block. In this counting, when a first block formed of two colors is input, then second block formed of one of the two colors of the first block is input and then blocks formed of the same one color as the second block are continuously input (second to fourth), the image processing apparatus handles the second to fourth blocks as one-color blocks continuing after the two-color block, and encodes the first to fourth blocks into a code indicating identification information to the effect, a continuation number of the two-color block, color information of each color, information specifying the color of the one-color block being one of the two colors, and the continuation number of the one-color blocks. |
| US08750604B2 |
Image recognition information attaching apparatus, image recognition information attaching method, and non-transitory computer readable medium
An image recognition information attaching apparatus includes a retrieving unit that retrieves image information on a per piece basis of identification information, from the image information having the identification information associated thereto in advance, a generator unit that generates feature information from the image information retrieved by the retrieving unit, and a learning unit that provides a learning result by learning a relation between the feature information generated by the generator unit and the identification information of the image information corresponding to the feature information, using a stochastic model including a mixture of a plurality of probability distributions. |
| US08750603B2 |
Method and device for image compression
A method for compressing a digital image includes selecting an image patch of the digital image; assigning the selected image patch to a specific class (z); transforming the image patch, with a pre-determined class-specific transformation function; and quantizing the transformed image patch, wherein parameters of the classifier have been learned from a set of training image patches. |
| US08750602B2 |
Method and system for personalized advertisement push based on user interest learning
Embodiments of the present invention relate to a method and a system for personalized advertisement push based on user interest learning. The method may include: obtaining multiple user interest models through multitask sorting learning; extracting an object of interest in a video according to the user interest models; and extracting multiple visual features of the object of interest, and according to the visual features, retrieving related advertising information in an advertisement database. Through the method and the system provided in embodiments of the present invention, a push advertisement may be closely relevant to the content of the video, thereby meeting personalized requirements of a user to a certain extent and achieving personalized advertisement push. |
| US08750595B2 |
Registering measured images to layout data
A system and method for registering a layout to a measured image includes generating a predictive reference image from a layout design or portion thereof. The predictive reference image is correlated to a measured image obtained from a device having a corresponding structure for the layout design or the portion thereof. A best match transformation is computed between the predictive reference image and the measured image. The layout design or portion thereof is correlated with the measured image based upon the best match transformation. |
| US08750593B2 |
Substitute check incorporating encoded indication of security feature in original check
A method includes scanning a check to generate image data representative of an image of the check. The method further includes detecting at least one security feature of the check. The method also includes transforming the image data to include at least one encoded indication of the detected at least one security feature of the check. |
| US08750591B2 |
Angiography system for angiographic examination of an object under examination and angiographic examination method
An angiography system for angiographic examination or treatment of an organ, vascular system or other regions of an object of a patient is proposed. The system has an x-ray source and an x-ray image detector disposed at ends of a C-arm, a patient support table, a system control unit, an image system, and a monitor. The object contains two details hiding each other in the x-ray images depending on angulation of the C-arm. The system control unit has a device that detects a 3D dataset of the object registered to the C-arm and detects the information about a course of the object. The device calculates a desired and/or optimum angulation of the C-arm from the detected information and transfers the calculated angulation to the system control unit for adjusting the C-arm to the angulation. |
| US08750590B2 |
Removable handle scan body for impression trays and radiographic templates for integrated optical and CT scanning
A device for use in optical scanning and CT scanning including a radiographic template and at least one shape of known dimension (SKD). The radiographic template includes a plurality of radio-opaque markers and is configured to take an impression of at least one surface of a patient. The SKD is removably attached to the radiographic template and serves as a basis for registration of data of a CT scan of the device with data of an optical scan of the device. The device may further comprise a mounting plate. The SKD is mounted on the mounting plate such that the at least one SKD is in an exact same position with respect to surfaces in a model formed from the impression as when the impression of the patient is formed in the radiographic template. |
| US08750588B2 |
Method, computer readable medium and system for iterative image filtering with anisotropic noise model for a CT image
The method includes a weighted highpass filtering of the image data takes place here, with the weighting taking account, image element by image element, of an image noise on the respective image element in different directions such that increasing noise results in a stronger highpass effect. A noise-reducing smoothing of the image data takes place using the weighted highpass filtering. |
| US08750587B2 |
Method and system for PET image reconstruction using portion of event data
A method and system for use in positron emission tomography, wherein a list-based reconstructor means (129) is configured to generate first portion volumetric data responsive to a first portion of a plurality of positron annihilation events detected during a positron emission tomography scan; generate a human-readable image indicative of the first portion volumetric data; use a list-based reconstruction technique to generate composite volumetric data responsive to the first portion volumetric data and a second portion of the plurality of positron annihilation events; and generate a composite human-readable image indicative of the composite volumetric data. In another aspect the reconstructor (129) is configured to selecting first or second portion event quantities responsive to one or more parameters including image definition requirements and processing time requirements. |
| US08750585B2 |
Method and system for segmenting a liver object in an image
A method for segmenting an object of interest (which may be a liver object) in an input image is disclosed. The method comprises the steps of: (a) segmenting the points in a region of interest in the input image into a first and second group of points using predetermined intensity threshold values; (b) identifying a first set of small connected components formed by points in the first group of points and transferring the points in the first set of small connected components to the second group of points; (c) identifying a second set of small connected components formed by points in the second group of points and transferring the points in the second set of small connected components to the first group of points; and (d) forming the segmented object of interest using the first group of points. |
| US08750584B2 |
Medical image display processing method, device, and program
When brain images are inputted through MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) and subjected to image processing to assist the diagnosis of brain diseases, functional and morphological images in an ASL coordinate system are inputted from the head of a subject by an ASL (Arterial Spin Labeling) imaging method using an MRI device. The inputted functional images are subjected to mask processing to extract only the region of cerebral parenchyma, and functional images of only the extracted region of the cerebral parenchyma are thereby produced and displayed to be overlaid on the morphological images. In this manner, a functional image such as a perfusion weighted image of only the region of the cerebral parenchyma can be extracted and displayed overlaid on a morphological image. |
| US08750583B2 |
Method and system for surgical modeling
A method of surgical modeling is disclosed. A set of related two-dimensional (2D) anatomical images is displayed. A plurality of anatomical landmarks is identified on the set of related 2D anatomical images. A three-dimensional (3D) representation of at least one prosthesis is scaled to match a scale of the 2D anatomical images based at least in part on a relationship between the anatomical landmarks. 3D information from the at least one prosthesis along with information based on at least one of the plurality of anatomical landmarks is utilized to create procedure-based information. A system for surgical modeling is also disclosed. The system has a prosthesis knowledge-based information system, a patient anatomical-based information system, a user interface, and a controller. The controller has an anatomical landmark identifier, a prosthesis-to-anatomical-feature relator, and a procedure modeler. |
| US08750581B2 |
System and method for fingerprint recognition and collection at points-of-sale and points-of-entry
A method of apprehending a criminal, including scanning fingerprint images from a contact area of at least one item at a point-of-sale (POS) location and/or point-of-entry (POE) location and transmitting the fingerprint images to a local or remote electronic device to identify the criminal is presented. A fingerprint recognition and collection device is also presented including a fingerprint scanner for scanning fingerprint images from a contact area of at least one item; a transmitting unit for transmitting the fingerprint images; a receiving unit for receiving the fingerprint images; and an analyzing unit for analyzing the fingerprint images to identify persons of interest. The fingerprint scanner operates concurrently with a price scanner and/or ticket scanner. The fingerprint scanner is fixedly secured at the POS location and/or the POE location and operates concurrently with the price scanner and/or ticket scanner. |
| US08750578B2 |
Detecting facial expressions in digital images
A method and system for detecting facial expressions in digital images and applications therefore are disclosed. Analysis of a digital image determines whether or not a smile and/or blink is present on a person's face. Face recognition, and/or a pose or illumination condition determination, permits application of a specific, relatively small classifier cascade. |
| US08750573B2 |
Hand gesture detection
A method for detecting presence of a hand gesture in video frames includes receiving video frames having an original resolution, downscaling the received video frames into video frames having a lower resolution, and detecting a motion corresponding to the predefined hand gesture in the downscaled video frames based on temporal motion information in the downscaled video frames. The method also includes detecting a hand shape corresponding to the predefined hand gesture in a candidate search window within one of the downscaled video frames using a binary classifier. The candidate search window corresponds to a motion region containing the detected motion. The method further includes determining whether the received video frames contain the predefined hand gesture based on the hand shape detection. |
| US08750572B2 |
Method for monitoring an environment of a vehicle
A method for monitoring an environment (U) of a vehicle (F), wherein the environment (U) and objects (O1, O2) present therein are detected by means of at least a first image detection unit (1) and a second image detection unit (2), of which the detection regions overlap at least partially and form an overlap region, wherein an overall image (G) is produced from individual images detected by means of the image detection units (1, 2) by means of an image processing unit, the overall image (G) showing the vehicle (F) and its environment (U) from a bird's eye view. There is a progression of at least one boundary line (L1 to L3) which extends from an origin to the image edge of the overall image in such a way that the boundary line (L1 to L3) extends away from the objects (O1, O2). |
| US08750571B2 |
Methods of object search and recognition
Embodiments of the invention disclose techniques for processing of machine-readable forms of unfixed or flexible format. An auxiliary brief description may be optionally specified to determine the spatial orientation of the image. A method of searching for elements of a document comprises the following main operations in addition to the operations of preliminary image processing: selecting the varieties of structural description from several available variants, determining the orientation of the image, selecting the text objects, where the text must be recognized, and determining the minimal required volume of recognition, recognizing the text objects, searching for elements of the form. Searching for elements of the form comprises the following actions: selecting a searched element in the structural description, gaining the algorithm of search constraints from the structural description, searching for the element, testing the obtained variants. |
| US08750566B2 |
Apparatus and method for spatially relating views of sky images acquired at spaced apart locations
Homography-based imaging apparatus and method are provided. The apparatus may include a processor (44) coupled to process respective sequences of sky images respectively acquired by physical image acquisition devices 181 and 182 at respective spaced apart locations (e.g., P1, P2). The processor may include an image alignment module (32) configured to spatially relate respective views of at least one object (e.g., clouds, aerial vehicles) visible in the respective sequences of the sky images based on homography (42) of at least one astronomical image acquired at each spaced apart location. The astronomical image may include a number of spatial references corresponding to respective astronomical body positions located practically at infinity relative to a respective distance between the spaced apart locations. Further views (synthetic views) may be generated at selectable new locations (e.g., P3, P4, P5, P6), without actually having any physical image acquisition devices at such selectable locations. |
| US08750565B2 |
Adjusting display format in electronic device
A display format adjustment system includes a display control module, a distance measurement module, a timer controller, and a display format determination module. The display control module displays content in a first display format on a display. The distance measurement module continuously measures the current distance between a viewer and the display screen. The timer controller starts a timer. Once the current distance changes, the timer controller restarts the timer. If the timer reaches a predetermined time, the display format determination module determines a second display format based on the first display format and the display control module displays the content in the second display format. |
| US08750559B2 |
Terminal and method for providing augmented reality
A method for providing augmented reality includes acquiring a real-world image including an object; transmitting terminal information, in which the terminal information includes a location information of a terminal and an original retrieval distance; receiving object information corresponding to the object, in which the object information is based on the transmitted terminal information; and overlapping the received object information over the corresponding object in the real-world image. A terminal to perform the methods described herein includes a location information providing unit, an information transmitting/receiving unit, an image processing unit, and a user view analyzing unit. |
| US08750558B2 |
Electronic device and method for viewing electronic confidential document
An electronic confidential document viewing method is performed by an electronic device in electronic communication with a pair of eyeglasses. In response to display a confidential document on a display device, a protection image is generated based on a security image of the confidential document. The protection image is a copy of the security image that is offset from the security image by a predetermined distance in a vertical direction or a horizontal direction. The security image and the protection image are synchronously transmitted to the display device. The display device displays an overlapping picture based on the two images. The eyeglasses receive the overlapping picture, and separate the overlapping picture into two images. One of the two images is viewable by the left eye of a viewer, and another image is viewable by the right eye of the viewer. |
| US08750554B2 |
Speaker diaphragm and speaker device
A speaker diaphragm (2), and plural dimples (16) which are disposed radially from a center side toward the outside of the speaker diaphragm (2) and which have arch structures formed to have a concave-like shapes so as to disperse a stress are provided, whereby while weight saving is realized in terms of the speaker diaphragm (2) by the plural dimples (16) formed to have the concave-like shapes, high rigidity is maintained by the arch structures of the dimples concerned, and a maximum sound pressure can be increased along with the weight saving concerned. |
| US08750551B2 |
Shielded microphone for mobile communications device
A shielded microphone, and method for shielding a microphone, are provided for use in a communications device having a circuit board and a microphone. The microphone is provided in an electromagnetic shield and a resilient separator is provided over the shield. The device housing is stacked over the separator and shield, while the latter are stacked over the circuit board so that the separator and shield, with microphone there under, are sandwiched between the housing and the circuit board. By this sandwiching the separator is loaded onto the shield to drive the shield directly against the circuit board to make an electrical ground connection therewith, the microphone also being electrically connected to the printed circuit board. The resilience of the separator accommodates the variation in the stacking of the components. |
| US08750549B2 |
Resonator system for a speaker of an electronic device
A system providing a resonator for a transducer of an electronic device is provided. The system comprises a housing defining: a first enclosure having a first opening to house a back end of the transducer and a second opening; a port connected to the first enclosure through the second opening of the first enclosure, the port having a first end, a second end, an interior channel and a second opening in the second end; a second enclosure to cover a front portion of the speaker; and at least one aperture defined in the second enclosure to allow air outside of the electronic device to be in communication with the front of the transducer. When the transducer is mounted into the first enclosure, a first volume between the transducer and the first enclosure is formed which is in communication with air surrounding the second end of the port. |
| US08750539B2 |
Charge pump circuits
Charge pump circuits having circuit components such as transistors which may be damaged by voltage transients greater than the normal operating voltage levels of the charge pump circuit, such as may be experienced during powering down. The circuit components to be protected are connected in parallel with a leakage element arranged to have a leakage current that is small enough during normal operation to allow the charge pump to operate effectively but which is large enough, during development of a voltage transient, to prevent excess voltage levels being achieved. The leakage element may have a significant leakage current at a voltage less than the breakdown voltage of the circuit component. Suitable leakage elements are poly diodes. |
| US08750537B2 |
Differential microphone circuit
An apparatus for a portable electronic device for receiving a jack of a headset, the jack including a set of lines, the set of lines including at least one audio line, a ground signal and a microphone signal line, the apparatus comprising a set of switches for receiving the ground signal line and the microphone signal line and a sensing circuit for reducing induced noise from the headset, wherein the sensing circuit is located between the set of switches and the microphone signal line and ground signal line. |
| US08750536B2 |
Output control apparatus, output controlling method, program, and output control system
Provided is an output control apparatus connected to an audio output apparatus controlling output of audio data, including: a receiving unit configured to receive encoded data obtained by encoding multi-channel audio data; a decoding unit configured to decode the encoded data; an output control unit configured to control output of a predetermined number of channels of audio data among the multi-channel audio data obtained by the decoding; a transmitting unit configured to transmit any one of audio data different from the audio data of which the output is controlled by the output control unit among the multi-channel audio data obtained by the decoding and the encoded data to an audio output apparatus connected through an integrated cable formed by integrating at least a video line, an audio line, and a control line; and a control unit configured to control the audio output apparatus through the integrated cable. |
| US08750535B2 |
Communications headset power provision
Electric power is provided to a two-way communications headset by creating a differential DC voltage potential between a ground conductor associated with a microphone of that headset and a ground conductor associated with an acoustic driver of that headset, thereby enabling that headset to refrain from drawing electric power from a more limited local power source. |
| US08750531B2 |
Active noise cancellation
This document discusses, among other things, systems and methods for active noise cancellation. One example system includes a digital ANC circuit configured to receive first audio information from a first microphone and to produce an a digital anti-noise signal configured to attenuate noise sensed by the first microphone; an analog ANC circuit configured to receive second audio information from a second microphone and to produce an analog anti-noise signal configured to attenuate noise sensed by the second microphone; and wherein the system is configured to receive an intended audio signal and to provide an output signal for a speaker using the intended audio signal, the analog anti-noise signal, and the digital anti-noise signal. |
| US08750530B2 |
Method and arrangement for processing audio data, and a corresponding corresponding computer-readable storage medium
A method and an arrangement for processing audio data, and a corresponding computer program and a corresponding computer-readable storage medium, which can be used, in particular, in the field of audio software and sampling. At least a first spectrum with at least one first spectral property is removed from the spectrum of the audio data, the resulting spectrum of the audio data is transformed after removal of the at least one first spectrum, and the at least one first spectrum or at least one of the first spectrum and/or at least one second spectrum with at least one second spectral property are impressed on the transformed spectrum. |
| US08750529B2 |
Signal processing apparatus
A signal processing apparatus is provided. The signal processing apparatus comprises: an inputting section for inputting audio signals on a plurality of channels; an acoustic type acquiring section which is adapted to acquire an acoustic type of an audio signal on at least one channel of the audio signals; and a process controlling section which is adapted to control a characteristic of sound-field effect applied to the audio signals based on the acquired acoustic type. |
| US08750523B2 |
Interoperable digital rights management
The subject matter disclosed herein relates to a method and/or system for enabling access to media content using different digital rights management formats. |
| US08750520B2 |
Appraising systems with zero knowledge proofs
A system, method, and computer program product are provided for requesting a proof of a security policy in a client system. Additionally, a system, method, and computer program product are provided for proving a security policy to an interrogator system. |
| US08750513B2 |
Video surveillance system and method for self-configuring network
A mesh network surveillance system and method for providing communication between a base system having at least one input capture device ICD(s) and other ICD(s), wherein the ICD(s) are operable to provide a self-configuring network with each other, including the steps of providing this base system; at least one user accessing the ICDs and inputs remotely via a user interface through a remote server computer and/or electronic device communicating with it, for providing a secure surveillance system with extended inputs range and self-configured networking for smart cross-communication for monitoring a target environment. |
| US08750512B2 |
Authenticating an ephemeral Diffie-Hellman using a trusted third party
Authentication of parties through a trusted intermediary is described. The standard Ottway-Rees authentication protocol is modified to provide authentication between A and B using intermediary T such that T serves only as an authenticator, and does not participate in the generation of the key shared between A and B. |
| US08750510B2 |
Duplication means for an electronically coded key and related method
Method for the duplication of original electronic keys used in the automotive transports, and provided with coded and encrypted electronic authentication means, comprising: an Identification Code (ID), an encrypted secret code, a Password, an algorithm, data storage and computing means, able of being used in vehicles provided with a central processing unit able of storing an Identification Code (ID), an encrypted secret code, a Password, an algorithm, said duplication method being able of obtaining a duplicated key based on a blank key, which is originally provided with an algorithm, data storage means able of storing said Identification Code (ID), said secret code and said Password, wherein said data storage means are initially empty; said duplication is based on a duplication means and on a method which allows of using the blank key as intercepting means of secret codes sent by the vehicle central processing unit, and of transferring said information to the duplication means itself. |
| US08750509B2 |
Wireless surveillance system releasably mountable to track lighting
A wireless surveillance system and methods of operating same, providing at least one data input capture device (ICDs), including cameras which have the ability to capture video, audio, and/or data from sensors such as temperature and humidity data, while being newly or retrofittably releasably mountable to a track lighting system. |
| US08750506B2 |
Methods, nodes, system, computer programs and computer program products for secure user subscription or registration
Methods and apparatus facilitate secure user subscription or registration to a service at least partly enabled in a network. The network comprises user equipment adapted to perform generic bootstrapping. A network application function provides the service. A bootstrapping server function generates a bootstrapping transaction identifier. A home subscriber system stores a user profile, comprising information relating to the user and at least one service provided by the network application function. |
| US08750505B2 |
Apparatus and method for controlling conversion of broadcasting program based on program protection information
Provided are an apparatus and method for controlling program conversion according to program protection information. The method for controlling conversion of a broadcasting program includes: demultiplexing a broadcasting program into broadcasting program data and program protection information; encrypting the broadcasting program data based on distribution condition of the program protection information when recordation of the broadcasting program data is requested; and recording the encrypted broadcasting program data. |
| US08750503B1 |
FPGA configuration bitstream encryption using modified key
Circuits, methods, and apparatus that prevent detection and erasure of a configuration bitstream or other data for an FPGA or other device. An exemplary embodiment of the present invention masks a user key in order to prevent its detection. In a specific embodiment, the user key is masked by software that performs a function on it a first number of times. The result is used to encrypt a configuration bitstream. The user key is also provided to an FPGA or other device, where the function is performed a second number of times and the result stored. When the device is configured, the result is retrieved, the function is performed on it the first number of times less the second number of times and then it is used to decrypt the configuration bitstream. A further embodiment uses a one-time programmable fuse (OTP) array to prevent erasure or modification. |
| US08750502B2 |
System on chip and method for cryptography using a physically unclonable function
A system and method for performing cryptographic functions in hardware using read-N keys comprising a cryptographic core, seed register, physically unclonable function (PUF), an error-correction core, a decryption register, and an encryption register. The PUF configured to receive a seed value as an input to generate a key as an output. The error-correction core configured to transmit the key to the cryptographic core. The encryption register and decryption register configured to receive the seed value and the output. The system, a PUF ROK, configured to generate keys that are used N times to perform cryptographic functions. |
| US08750500B2 |
Multi-dimensional montgomery ladders for elliptic curves
An algorithm is provided having a matrix phase and point addition phase that permits computation of the combination of more than two point multiples. The algorithm has particular utility in elliptic curve cryptography (ECC) such as for computing scalar multiplications in, e.g. batch ECC operations, accelerating Lenstra's ECM factoring algorithm, exploiting expanded ECC certificates (which contain pre-computed multiples of a party's public key), incremental hashing based on elliptic curves, accelerating verification of ECDSA signatures, etc. |
| US08750490B2 |
Systems and methods for establishing a communication session among end-points
Systems and methods for establishing a communications session among end-points are shown and described. The method can include receiving, from a client computing device at a gateway computing device, a request to establish a communication session with an end-point, the client computing device executing a program that locates address information for the end-point within application output displayed at the client computing device and forwarding at least a portion of the received request to a private branch exchange in communication the gateway computing device, the at least a portion of the received request including the address information of the end-point and address information associated with an end-user of the client computing device. |
| US08750489B2 |
System and method for automatic call segmentation at call center
A system and method for automatic call segmentation including steps and means for automatically detecting boundaries between utterances in the call transcripts; automatically classifying utterances into target call sections; automatically partitioning the call transcript into call segments; and outputting a segmented call transcript. A training method and apparatus for training the system to perform automatic call segmentation includes steps and means for providing at least one training transcript with annotated call sections; normalizing the at least one training transcript; and performing statistical analysis on the at least one training transcript. |
| US08750488B2 |
Predicted call time as routing variable in a call routing center system
Systems and processes are disclosed for routing callers to agents in a contact center based on predicted call handle times. An exemplary process includes using predicted call handle time as a variable for call routing along with a performance matching and/or psychodemograhpic matching process of caller-agent pairs to maximize sales, customer satisfaction, and so on. The process may allocate the highest performing agents and/or the most “demographic matchable” agents to those callers that are predicted have the shortest duration. The process may further allocate the lowest performing agents and or the least “demographic matchable” agents to those callers that are predicted have the longest duration, or may not allocate the lowest performing agents to any callers at all. |
| US08750487B2 |
Guiding calls via graphical user interface
A user device may display, via a graphical user interface, questions associated with a voice menu that is used by an interactive voice response (IVR) system to forward calls. The user device may obtain, via the graphical user interface, user responses to the questions. In addition, the user device may send information corresponding to the user responses to the questions to a remote device. The remote device may query the IVR system to identify a call agent, in a call center, whose profile matches the information, obtain contact information of the call agent from the IVR system, and send the contact information to the user device. Furthermore, the user device may receive the contact information from the remote device and display the contact information via the graphical user interface. |
| US08750485B2 |
Operating a call center based upon line information database (LIDB) data
A method, system and apparatus for processing a call in a call center using information stored in the LIDB. A call center which has been configured in accordance with a preferred aspect of the present invention can include at least one phone handset coupled to a gateway to a PSTN. An enterprise application can be associated with the handset and a data terminal coupled to the enterprise application. A view to the enterprise application further can be disposed in proximity to the handset. A database of caller information can be coupled to the enterprise application. Each record in the database can have a configuration for location based upon a searching key. |
| US08750482B2 |
Methods and systems for preemptive rejection of calls
Methods and systems consistent with the present invention screen calls. A first server receives information pertaining to a call to a user from a calling party. The first server then determines whether a real-time call management function is enabled for the user and determines whether a calling party number associated with the calling party is valid when the realtime call management function is not enabled. A call screening function is performed when the calling party number is invalid. The first server provides a notification of the call to a device associated with the user when the real-time call management function is enabled. A second server initiates the call screening function when the user selects a call screening option included in the notification. |
| US08750479B2 |
Method and apparatus for ubiquitous access to dialing plans for enterprise networks
The invention comprises a method and apparatus for providing at least one network endpoint of an enterprise customer network access to at least one dialing plan. Specifically, the method comprises receiving at least one dialing plan request from the at least one network endpoint, retrieving at least one address mapping in response to the at least one dialing plan request, and responding to the at least one dialing plan request using the at least one address mapping. |
| US08750478B2 |
Apparatus and method of processing a ghost register
Provided is a ghost register processing apparatus and method. The ghost register processing apparatus may include a ghost setting determining unit to determine whether a ghost is set with respect to a caller identification (ID) that is received in response to a call request or a message reception and a reception information controller to store reception information associated with the caller ID in a ghost memory unit when the determining determines that the ghost is set. |
| US08750477B2 |
Method and system for automatic assignment of outbound and inbound call identity
A system and method for automatic assignment of outbound and inbound call identity between a salesperson and a client is disclosed. For automatic assignment of outbound call identity between a salesperson and a client, a salesperson places a call to the telephone number of the client. A phone server matches a sales group to a salesperson and an entered sales group and an NPA (i.e., area code) of the client in a database. If a match is found, the phone server substitutes a replacement caller ID for actual caller ID of the salesperson. When the client answers the call, the replacement caller ID or default caller ID is displayed on client's phone. For automatic assignment of inbound call identity between a client and a salesperson, the client places a call using the replacement caller ID. The phone server searches the database for a sales group that matches the DID of the replacement caller ID. The phone server rings the telephones of salespeople that match the sales group entry in order of the most “efficient” salesperson of the group until one of the salespeople answers their phone. |
| US08750471B2 |
Signal detection and blocking for voice processing equipment
A telephone call processor for processing telephone calls comprising voice signals and data signals, the call processor comprising a first telephone interface and a second telephone interface, the call processor being operable in a first mode and in a second mode. In the first mode, the call processor is adapted to receive voice signals and data signals at the first telephone interface and to transmit voice signals and data signals via the second telephone interface. In the second mode, the call processor is adapted to receive voice signals and data signals at the first telephone interface, to block data signals from being transmitted via the second telephone interface and optionally to transmit voice signals via the second telephone interface. |
| US08750466B2 |
Voicemail system and method for providing voicemail to text message conversion
A method and system for allowing a calling party to send a voicemail message as a text message. A calling party leaves a voicemail message and that message is converted from voice to a text message. If the calling party wishes to confirm the conversion, the text message is then converted to a voicemail message. The converted voicemail message is presented to the calling party so that the calling party can review and edit the message. The calling party can review and edit any portion of the converted voicemail message. The edits of the voicemail message are applied and the voicemail message is converted to a new text message. If the calling party wishes to further review and edit the text message, it is converted to a new voicemail; otherwise the text message is sent to the called party. |
| US08750455B2 |
Radiation image detecting device and drive control method thereof
An FPD is provided with an ammeter for measuring current on a wired connection of a bias line that applies a bias voltage to pixels. A control circuit compares the measured value of the ammeter and a threshold value. When the measured value of the ammeter is equal to or larger than the threshold value, the control circuit judges that an emission of X-rays from an X-ray source is started. Until before the start of the X-ray irradiation is detected, the control circuit stops supplying electric power to a signal processing circuit, and turns on all TFTs. Once the start of the X-ray irradiation is detected, the control circuit turns off all the TFTs, and makes the FPD shift to a charge accumulation operation. Thereafter, the control circuit turns on a processing power source to start supplying the electric power to the signal processing circuit. |
| US08750452B2 |
X-ray imaging system having improved weather resistance
It is an object of the present application to provide a radiation inspection system, such as an X-ray system, that can operate efficiently even in inclement weather conditions while being highly mobile. Thus the improved inspection system of the present application is capable of operating in high temperature and corrosive environments and is designed to withstand moisture, dirt and/or dust from the articles of inspection as well. |
| US08750451B2 |
X-ray transparent bed and gurney extender for use with mobile computerized tomography (CT) imaging systems
A bed and gurney extender for selective attachment to a standard hospital bed or gurney for supporting the head of a patient during scanning, comprising: a support for supporting the head of the patient during scanning, wherein at least a portion of the support is X-ray transparent; and an adapter for selectively attaching the support to the bed or gurney. |
| US08750447B2 |
Systems and methods for variable thresholding in a pattern detector
Various embodiments of the present invention provide systems and methods for pattern identification. As an example, a pattern detection circuit is discussed that include: a distance calculation circuit operable to calculate a distance value corresponding to a difference between a first pattern and a second pattern; a threshold comparator circuit operable to compare the distance value to a variable threshold value; and a threshold value calculation circuit. The threshold value calculation circuit is operable to modify the variable threshold value based at least in part on the distance value. |
| US08750443B2 |
Phase error estimator, coherent receiver and phase error estimating method
The present invention relates to a phase error estimator, a coherent receiver and a phase error estimating method. The phase error estimator estimates a phase error in an inputted base band electric signal and feeds back said phase error; said phase error estimator comprises: a pre-decider, for judging a phase of data in said base band electric signal in accordance with said feedback phase error; a phase error complex value extracting section, for extracting a real part and an imaginary part of the phase error in accordance with the judgment result of said pre-decider; a phase error determining section, for determining said phase error in accordance with the real part and the imaginary part of the phase error extracted by the phase error complex value extracting section; and a time delay feeding back section, for delaying said phase error by N number of symbols and feeding back the delayed phase error to said pre-decider, wherein N is an integer greater than 1. |
| US08750441B2 |
Signal cancellation to reduce phase noise, period jitter, and other contamination in local oscillator, frequency timing, or other timing generators or signal sources
A method includes obtaining an input signal and demodulating phase contamination in the input signal to generate a baseband signal. The method also includes modulating the input signal based on the baseband signal to generate an output signal, where the output signal has less phase contamination than the input signal. The phase contamination could be demodulated using a phase demodulator or a frequency modulation (FM) detector. A portion of the input signal could be down-converted to a lower frequency, and the phase contamination in the down-converted portion of the input signal could be demodulated. Additional phase contamination in the output signal can be demodulated and used to regulate a level of the baseband signal used during modulation of the input signal. The output signal could have less phase noise or period jitter than the input signal. |
| US08750437B1 |
Radio-frequency apparatus with programmable performance and associated methods
A receiver including a mixer configured to generate (i) a first output and (ii) a second output, a first capacitance coupled to the first output, and a second capacitance coupled to the second output, A controller is configured to program (i) the first capacitance and (ii) the second capacitance to a first capacitance value in response to operating the receiver in a first mode, and program (i) the first capacitance and (ii) the second capacitance to a second capacitance value in response to operating the receiver in a second mode. The first capacitance value determines one or more of (i) linearity, (ii) gain, and (iii) noise figure of the receiver in the first mode. The second capacitance value determines one or more of (i) linearity, (ii) gain, and (iii) noise figure of the receiver in the second mode. |
| US08750436B2 |
Method and apparatus for channel estimation
Methods and apparatuses for channel estimation are disclosed. The method includes: converting −1's in a local Barker code to 0's; receiving a first preamble symbol output from a first Barker correlator and a second preamble symbol output from a second Barker correlator with a symbol determination module, the first preamble symbol being adjacent to the second preamble symbol; multiplying a result output from the symbol determination module with a correlation result output from the cyclic Barker correlator by using a multiplication module so as to obtain a channel estimation response; and receiving channel estimation responses with a time-domain channel data storage unit, and averaging them to obtain a noise-reduced channel estimation response. The channel estimation method and apparatus of the present invention can be achieved based on few hardware resources and low computation complexity. |
| US08750432B2 |
Method and apparatus for a wireless communication receiver using serial localization with indecision
In one aspect, the present disclosure provides an advantageous generalization of a SLIC receiver structure, by allowing multiple solutions to survive at any one or more of the serial stages included in the SLIC receiver. Where any given stage produces multiple solutions, the next stage of the SLIC receiver processes those multiple input solutions to produce multiple output solutions. Consequently, the contemplated SLIC receiver effectively builds a tree structure with as many levels as there are stages in the SLIC receiver. Such operations allow the SLIC receiver to form two or more solution threads spanning the stages, and to make an improved overall demodulation decision for a received symbol vector by selecting the best solution thread. Further, the additional complexity of allowing multiple survivor solutions at one or more SLIC stages is controlled in one or more embodiments, using survivor pruning for example. |
| US08750429B2 |
Multiple protocol software defined radio
A single software defined radio handles both AIS and ORBCOMM communications. A software defined software defined radio detects incoming signals and resolves whether they are AIS or ORBCOMM signals. The signal is directed to a processor in which an algorithm is selected in correspondence with the type of signal which has been recognized. The algorithm extracts intelligence when receiving or encodes intelligence when transmitting. The present software defined radio switches from the ORBCOMM mode to the AIS mode automatically as required in order to maintain a mandatory duty cycle in both the AIS and ORBCOMM modes as defined by regulations, and provides user configurable communications capabilities over both the AIS and ORBCOMM networks in a low-cost, integrated, hardware implementation. |
| US08750428B2 |
Method for channel estimation when using different modulation methods within one signal interval
The method is based on a signal interval (DB) which comprises a first part (ET) (which is modulated using a first modulation method (GFSK)) of the signal interval and a second part (which is modulated using a second modulation method (DMPSK)) of the signal interval. The channel parameters (c(i)) relating to the second part (which is modulated using the second modulation method) of the signal interval are determined using a received data signal (a(i); p(i)) from the first part (ET) of the signal interval (DB). |
| US08750427B1 |
Apparatus and method for demodulation of FSK signals
An apparatus and method for demodulation of FSK signals are provided. Digital pulses of the FSK signals can be processed to detect digital data contained in the FSK frequencies by converting the FSK frequencies from a frequency signal to a digital logic signal and vice versa. |
| US08750425B1 |
Asymptotically optimal modulation classification method for software defined radios
A method for identifying the modulation scheme of a software defined radio in real-time without pilot symbols between transmitters and receivers, includes providing a predetermined look-up table (LUT) in the software-defined radio wherein the LUT is prepared by pre-calculating discrete likelihood ratio test (DLRT) function values; storing the pre-calculated DLRT values in said LUT; and indexing the pre-calculated DLRT values by addresses. |
| US08750419B2 |
Method and apparatus for codebook based feedback in a closed loop wireless communication system
A method and apparatus are provided for feedback for closed-loop transmitting with multiple transmit antenna elements and multiple receive antenna elements. A base station includes a codebook containing sets of weightings for the multiple transmit antenna elements, with each set of weightings identified by an index and the codebook known to the base station and a served mobile station (MS). The base station pre-codes pilot signals using a precoding matrix, preferably a unitary matrix, to produce pre-coded pilot signals, which precoding matrix may or may not be known to the MS and which precoding matrix may or may not be included in the codebook. The base station then transmits the pre-coded pilot signals to the MS via the multiple transmit antenna elements and, in response, receives an index to a set of weightings in the codebook for use in a subsequent transmission of a data stream. |
| US08750418B2 |
Symbol vector-level combining transmitter for incremental redundancy HARQ with MIMO
Techniques are provided for transmitting and receiving a mother code in an incremental redundancy hybrid automatic repeat-request protocol. A set of information bits corresponding to a message may be encoded and interleaved to produce the mother code. Each bit position of the mother code may be mapped to an output symbol, and each output symbol may be mapped to an antenna for transmission. One or more transmissions of symbols contained in the output symbols may be performed, where each transmission may include puncturing the mother code by selecting one or more symbols from the of output symbols, and transmitting each symbol in the one or more symbols on an antenna corresponding to that symbol. The mother code may be decoded, in part, by determining combinable bits contained within a set of received symbols, and computing one or more log-likelihood ratio values corresponding to each symbol in the set of received symbols. |
| US08750414B2 |
Method and system for polar modulation with discontinuous phase
Aspects of a method and system for polar modulation with discontinuous phase are provided. In this regard, in-phase and quadrature-phase components may be generated from a modulated baseband signal, and the signal components may be utilized to generate a signal representative of the amplitude of the baseband signal. Furthermore, the signal components may be pulse shaped and the pulse-shaped components may be divided by the signal representative of the amplitude of the baseband signal. The resulting signals may be up-converted to RF, summed, and amplified, where the amplification may be controlled via a quantized representation of the signal representative of the amplitude of the baseband signal. In this regard, one or more bias points, and/or one or more binary weighted current sources coupled to one or more power amplifiers may be controlled. The pulse-shaping may comprise passing the signal components through a raised cosine filter. |
| US08750413B2 |
Digital modulation with arbitrary input sampling and output modulation frequencies
An arbitrary modulation frequency of a modulating signal is selected. The modulating signal is applied to an information-bearing signal, where such modulation is carried out through digital signal processing operations. The digitally modulated signal is resolution-reduced and the quantization noise introduced by such is shaped to locate a spectral null in the noise transfer function of the resolution reducing modulator at the modulation frequency. Thus, the modulation frequency can be selected independently of the clock frequency at which the resolution-reduced samples are converted to an analog signal. |
| US08750412B2 |
Data processing system and data processing method
The present invention provides a source node device and a destination node in a data processing system, a data processing system, and a decoding method. The source node device includes: an encoding unit, configured to conduct an encoding processing on collected original data according to a codebook including an encoded numerical value and a sending interval corresponding to the original data so as to encode the original data into encoded data having a corresponding encoded numerical value included in the codebook, and to determine a sending interval corresponding to the encoded data included in the codebook. According to the present invention, sending intervals of different encoded data are determined and distinguished based on sending intervals corresponding to the encoded data included in the codebook, which provides a better performance on channel load, channel access collisions, energy efficiency, consumed resources or lifetime of the data processing system. |
| US08750410B2 |
Multi-band power amplifier digital predistortion system and method
Traditionally, for multi-band communication systems, independent signal chains for each of the different bands are employed. By using such an architecture, there are a large number of components, and there is substantial power consumption. Here, transmit processor is provided that enables transmission across multiple bands using few components (namely, fewer signal chains), while also provided for digital predistortion. |
| US08750404B2 |
Codebook subsampling for PUCCH feedback
A method in a mobile communication terminal includes holding a definition of a sub-sampled codebook identifying precoding matrices to be used for providing precoding feedback by the terminal The precoding matrices in the sub-sampled codebook are selected from a master codebook that is made-up of a long-term sub-codebook and a short-term sub-codebook. The definition defines a first subset of the long-term sub-codebook and a second subset of the short-term sub-codebook. A Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) signal is received in the terminal via multiple receive antennas. Based on the received MIMO signal, a precoding matrix is selected from the sub-sampled codebook for precoding subsequent MIMO signals transmitted to the terminal. The precoding feedback indicating the selected precoding matrix is calculated. |
| US08750401B2 |
Sequential transmission multi-beamforming method with low complexity using Hadamard matrix
Provided is a sequential transmission multi-beamforming apparatus and method with a low complexity based on a Hadamard matrix. A simple codebook may be generated based on the Hadamard matrix and thus, a number of weighted-vectors is reduced and a complexity of hardware is decreased. A diversity gain may be maximized based on a spatial diversity processing apparatus and a beamforming weighted vector may be systematically generated. |
| US08750397B2 |
Apparatus and method for channel estimation in wireless communication system
An apparatus and method for regulating arrangement of pilot subcarriers to improve a channel estimation throughput in a wireless communication system using an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) scheme are provided. The apparatus includes a pilot pattern manager for providing control such that pilots are non-uniformly generated according to a distance of a preamble in order to provide a constant link throughput of the frame when the downlink frame is generated. |
| US08750396B2 |
System, method, and software for communicating with medical devices
A method for communicating with medical devices includes receiving, at a medical device communication interface, patient parameters from a first and second medical device in a respective first and second format. The method further includes identifying, at the medical device communication interface, a first and second protocol associated with the patient parameters by comparing the patient parameters and the first and second format to a predefined schema. The method further includes modifying, at the medical device communication interface, a respective configuration parameter for each of the first and second medical devices. The method further includes translating the patient parameters based on the first and second identified protocols and the respective configuration parameter for each of the first and second medical devices. |
| US08750394B2 |
Powerline communication device
A Powerline Communications (PLC) device includes processing circuitry, memory coupled to the processing circuitry, and a PLC interface coupled to the processing circuitry. The PLC device transmits a plurality of PLC queries, two of the plurality of PLC queries complying with differing PLC communication standards, receives a plurality of responses from a plurality of other PLC devices, responses received from two PLC devices complying with differing PLC communication standards, directs the two PLC devices to transmit communications according to respective differing PLC communication standards in an attempt to avoid PLC communication conflicts. The differing PLC communication standards may include a HomePlug communication standard and an ITU home networking (G.hn) communication standard. The PLC device may convert communications between the differing PLC communication standards. |
| US08750392B2 |
PLC device supporting MIMO operations
A communications device includes a PLC interface operable to couple at least two differing communication signals to at least two differing pairs of at least three conductors of a powerline medium. A processing module of the device and the PLC interface interact with a remote PLC device to determine connectivity of the remote PLC device to the PLC device via the at least three conductors of the powerline medium, select at least two conductor pairs of the powerline medium that communicatively couple the PLC device to the remote PLC device for Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) signal servicing, and simultaneously transmit MIMO PLC signals to the remote PLC device via the at least two conductor pairs. The communications device may also include a non-PLC interface, with the communications device operable to divide MIMO communications between a powerline medium and a non-PLC medium, e.g., coaxial cable, cat-5 cable. |
| US08750391B2 |
Differential signal output device and portable device
A differential signal output device includes a first transmitting terminal and a second transmitting terminal that superimpose a differential signal and a common mode signal and output the superimposed signals. The differential signal output device includes a differential signal generating circuit that generates the differential signal in response to a data signal and outputs the differential signal to the first transmitting terminal and the second transmitting terminal. The differential signal output device includes a common mode signal generating circuit that generates the common mode signal in response to a clock signal, outputs the common mode signal to the first transmitting terminal and the second transmitting terminal, and controls a slew rate of the common mode signal in response to a control signal. |
| US08750389B2 |
Video data decoder and method for decoding video data
A decoder includes a storage space that records video data and subtitle data in multiplexed form; a first buffer memory operating in “First In First Out” mode and able to temporarily contain the video data in packet form; a second buffer memory operating in “First In First Out” mode and able to temporarily contain the subtitle data in packet form; a demultiplexer configured to transmit the video data and subtitle data respectively to the first and second buffer memories; and a local clock, wherein the storage space includes a storage space configured to store the time references such that the demultiplexer transmits the time references, the decoder including a generator to generate a presentation time stamp associated with each subtitle data packet not initially containing a presentation time stamp, the presentation time stamp being determined from a time reference value transmitted by the demultiplexer and enabling the presentation of the subtitle data packets to be synchronized with relation to the local clock. |
| US08750387B2 |
Adaptive encoder-assisted frame rate up conversion
Adaptive video encoding and decoding methods and apparatuses for encoder-assisted frame rate up-conversion (EA-FRUC) are described herein. An encoder selectively encodes at least a portion of a video frame, such as a block, using an interpolated FRUC frame as a reference. The encoder interpolates at least a portion of the FRUC frame at the same time instance as the yet to be encoded video frame, and selects one of a plurality of FRUC encoding modes for that portion, e.g., based on rate distortion (RD). The encoder encodes the frame using the selected FRUC encoding mode, the FRUC reference frame, and any additional reference frames that may be indicated. A decoder interpolates the FRUC frame and uses it for decoding with knowledge of the particular FRUC mode that was used by the encoder. The encoder communicates the FRUC mode for a block via one or more existing parameters in the encoded video frame. |
| US08750386B2 |
Content reproduction device
A content reproduction device has a television broadcast reception function and an Internet connection function, and includes a detection unit and a reproduction-output switching unit. The detection unit detects, when a content of a television broadcast is output for reproduction, a content which is the same as the content of the television broadcast and has a resolution higher than a resolution of the content of the television broadcast from among contents available via an Internet. The reproduction-output switching unit switches a content of the output for reproduction from the content of the television broadcast to the content detected by the detection unit if the detection by the detection unit is successful. |
| US08750385B2 |
Video data loss recovery using low bit rate stream in an IPTV system
A system and method for recovering from data loss are described including monitoring a first bit rate video data bit stream to determine if there is frame loss or damage, multiplexing decoding parameters of a second bit rate video data bit stream, the second bit rate video data bit stream and the first bit rate video data bit stream, if there is frame loss or damage, demultiplexing the first bit rate video data bit stream and the second bit rate video data bit stream, decoding the first bit rate video data bit stream, removing damaged frames from the first bit rate video data bit stream, decoding the second bit rate video data bit stream, up-sampling frames from said processed second bit rate video data bit stream if said processed second bit rate video data bit stream has a lower resolution than said processed first bit rate video data bit stream and merging frames from the second bit rate video data bit stream and the first bit rate video data bit stream. |
| US08750382B2 |
System and method for calculating 3Deeps action specs motion estimation from the motion vectors in an MPEG file
Optimal control of 3Deeps Action Specs (also called 3Deep Viewing Spectacles in previous patent applications) for viewing motion pictures filmed in 3D with a visual effect of 3D requires calculation of a single motion vector that characterizes the direction and speed of motion for each motion picture frame. This invention discloses the calculation of the characteristic motion vector or motion estimation value from temporal redundancy information that is stored in the compressed video file bit stream. The principles of this invention can be used with any compressed video file that incorporates temporal redundancy for compression, such as MPEG. |
| US08750380B2 |
Transmission apparatus, reception apparatus, frame rate conversion system, and frame rate conversion method
[Object] To provide a transmission apparatus, a reception apparatus, a frame rate conversion system, and a frame rate conversion method that are capable of transmitting reference control information even when a data amount of the reference control information is large.[Solving Means] In a reproducing apparatus (151), a decode unit (152) decodes a certain amount of encoded video data. The decoded video data and reference control information (motion vector and identifier described above) obtained at a time of the decode are supplied to a transmission interface (153), and the transmission interface (153) transmits them to a display apparatus (161). The transmission interface (153) includes a first transmission channel for transmitting the decoded video data and a second transmission channel for transmitting the reference control information. Accordingly, a transmission data amount of the reference control information (per unit time) can be made larger than in a case where the reference control information is superimposed on a blanking area. |
| US08750379B2 |
Method and apparatus for complexity-scalable motion estimation
Embodiments of the invention generally provide a method and apparatus for complexity-scalable video coding. One embodiment of a method for video coding includes receiving a sequence of one or more video frames, obtaining a budget for the one or more video frames, the budget specifying a maximum number of computations that may be used in performing motion estimation for the one or more video frames, allocating the maximum number of computations among individual ones of the one or more video frames, performing motion estimation in accordance with the allocating, and outputting a motion estimate for the sequence. |
| US08750376B2 |
Luma and chroma decoding using a common predictor
There are provided video encoders, video decoders, and corresponding methods. A video encoder for encoding video signal data for an image block includes an encoder for encoding all color components of the video signal data using a common predictor. A video decoder for decoding video signal data for an image block includes a decoder for decoding all color components of the video signal data using a common predictor. Additionally, an apparatus and method for encoding and decoding signal data for an image block includes an encoder and decoder for encoding/decoding color components of the video signal data without applying a residual color transform thereto. Furthermore, a video encoder and decoder for encoding/decoding video signal data for an image block includes an encoder and decoder for encoding/decoding the video signal data using unique predictors for each of color components of the video signal data. |
| US08750373B2 |
Delay aware rate control in the context of hierarchical P picture coding
The present invention provides bit rate control techniques for a hybrid block based motion compensated predictive video encoder (e.g., H.264, as well as other video coding algorithms and standards). The techniques aim to reduce the picture-to-picture bit rate fluctuations within a prediction structure or over a short time interval that can lead to undesirable additional delay on links without over-provisioned capacity. In one embodiment of the present invention, the end to end delay is estimated. The end to end delay is used to determine limits on the modulation of the target coded picture size, with the goal of trading an acceptable amount of additional delay for a better coding efficiency. |
| US08750372B2 |
Treating video information
Systems, methods, and techniques for treating video information are described. In one implementation, a method includes receiving video information, classifying one or more frames in the received video information as a scene, adjusting one or more coding parameters based on the classification of the frames, and coding the video information in accordance with the adjusted coding parameters. |
| US08750369B2 |
Method and an apparatus for processing a video signal
The present invention includes determining a motion vector candidate set of a current block, obtaining motion vector indication information of a current block from a video signal, extracting the motion vector candidate corresponding to the motion vector indication information from the motion vector candidate set, determining a predicted motion vector of the current block based on the extracted motion vector candidate, deriving a motion vector of the current block based on the predicted motion vector and a motion vector difference of the current block, and performing motion compensation on the current block based on the derived motion vector. |
| US08750368B2 |
Method and an apparatus for processing a video signal
The present invention includes determining a motion vector candidate set of a current block, deriving a predicted motion vector of a current block from a motion vector candidate set, deriving a motion vector of a current block based on a predicted motion vector and a motion vector difference of a current block, and performing motion compensation on a current block based on a motion vector. |
| US08750367B1 |
Transceiver with single coefficient based equalizer taps
A transceiver including an equalizer configured to receive an input signal. A control circuit selects a predetermined coefficient, maintains the predetermined coefficient at a fixed value, and based on the predetermined coefficient, selects first coefficients and second coefficients. The control circuit that, while maintaining the predetermined coefficient at the fixed value and while the equalizer is receiving the input signal, adjusts a coefficient of one of the first or second coefficients. The equalizer includes: first taps configured to, based on the first coefficients, filter the input signal to generate a first filtered signal; a unity tap configured to, based on the predetermined coefficient, filter the first filtered signal to generate a second filtered signal; and second taps configured to, based on the second coefficients, filter the second filtered signal to generate a third filtered signal. An output transmits the third filtered signal. |
| US08750365B1 |
System and method for multi-threaded OFDM channel equalizer with coprocessor
A system for an orthogonal frequency division multiplexed (OFDM) equalizer, said system comprising a program memory, a program sequencer and a processing unit connected to each other, wherein the processing unit comprises an input selection unit, an arithmetic logic unit (ALU), a coprocessor and an output selection unit; further wherein the program sequencer schedules the processing of one or more symbol-carrier pairs input to said OFDM equalizer using multiple threads; retrieves, for each of the one or more symbol-carrier pairs, multiple program instructions from said program memory; generates multiple expanded instructions corresponding to said retrieved multiple program instructions; and further wherein said ALU performs said processing of the one or more symbol-carrier pairs using the multiple threads across multiple pipeline stages, wherein said processing comprises said ALU executing arithmetic operations to process said expanded instructions using said multiple threads across the multiple pipeline stages. |
| US08750358B2 |
Method for improving multiuser MIMO downlink transmissions
A method for improving multiple-input multiple-output MIMO downlink transmissions includes obtaining a channel state information CSI report including preferred matrix index PMI for precoding, channel quality index CQI and rank index RI at a base station from user terminals through a channel feedback; applying selectively a signal-to-interference-plus-noise-ratio SINR offset to a SINR of said CSI report; applying selectively a rate matching responsive to SINR offset or the CSI report; and controlling or adjusting the SINR offset. |
| US08750354B1 |
Nearfield testing architecture
An open architecture design for a digital nearfield test system for nearfield testing of a phased array antenna allows the ability to use the components of an individual phased array antenna to be tested in conjunction with a nearfield scanner probe system allowing an efficient and cost-saving “radar testing the radar” scenario. |
| US08750351B2 |
Configuration of bus transceiver
A transceiver includes a transmit pin configured to receive a signal from a microcontroller, a receive pin configured to transmit a signal to the microcontroller, at least one bus pin configured to transmit and receive signalling to or from the network, a wake-up detector, an acknowledge and/or wake-up generator, and at least one switch is operable to put the transceiver in a first mode of operation. In the first mode of operation the transmit pin is connected to the wake-up detector, and the wake-up detector is configured to activate a wake-up code in accordance with configuration information received at the transmit pin, and the receive pin is connected to an acknowledge and/or wake-up generator, which is configured to provide an acknowledge and/or wake-up signal to the receive pin based on a comparison of actual configuration information stored in the transceiver with the received configuration information from the transmit pin. |
| US08750346B2 |
Method for integrating signals transmitted from a transmitter to at least one ultra wide band (UWB) receiver as well as device for the implementation of the method
A method for integrating signals transmitted from a transmitter to at least one ultra wide band receiver, includes initializing a measurement by estimating an initial clock drift ΔDHinit between said transmitter and said at least one ultra wide band receiver, thereby generating an estimated clock drift, executing an iterative loop, wherein executing said iterative loop comprises integrating at least one received primary signal, said at least one received primary signal composed of at least two samples, wherein integrating said at least one received primary signal comprises a first integration, and at least one of a second integration and a third integration, wherein said first integration uses said estimated clock drift, said second integration uses said estimated clock drift increased by a predetermined value, and said third integration uses said estimated clock drift decreased by a predetermined value, and selecting from among said integrations an integration that maximizes a quality criterion. |
| US08750339B1 |
Method and apparatus for high-power, pulsed ring fiber oscillator
A ring laser includes a large-core rare-earth-doped fiber ring-connected with a free-space path having an electro-optic switch, output coupler, and intracavity band-pass filter to enforce lasing operation in narrow wavelength range. In some cavity-dumped modes, the laser is configured in a similar manner, except that an output coupler is omitted since the optical power is extracted from the laser cavity by the electro-optic switch itself. The same laser can be configured to operate in Q-switched and/or cavity-dumping modes as well as in hybrid modes (e.g., partial Q-switch, followed by cavity dumping, or even CW). In some embodiments, the laser can be used as, or inject laser light into, a regenerative solid-state amplifier, or a Raman laser, or can be also used to generate visible, ultra-violet, mid-infrared, and far-infrared (THz) radiation via nonlinear wavelength conversion processes. The various embodiments can use a power oscillator or seed-plus-amplifier MOPA configuration. |
| US08750335B2 |
Method, system and computer program product for measuring a communication from a first device to a second device
In response to communications from a first device to a second device, respective phase differences are estimated between a first clock of the first device and a second clock of the second device. A first average phase difference is computed within a percentile of a first subset of the respective phase differences. The percentile is less than 100. A second average phase difference is computed within the percentile of a second subset of the respective phase differences. The second subset is a modification of the first subset. The second average phase difference is computed in response to the first average phase difference and the modification. |
| US08750334B2 |
Link layer assisted robust header compression context update management
A method and system for communicating header compression layer control messages. Header compression control messages are generated by a header compression layer and are sent through at least one link layer data packet by a link transport communications protocol layer to a remote receiver. The link transport communications protocol layer monitors receipt of link layer data packet acknowledgements that are received from the link transport communications protocol layer of the remote receiver for the at least one link layer data packet. The link transport communications protocol layer determines successful transmission of the header compression control message and provides, to the header compression layer, an indication of successful header compression control message transmission. |
| US08750329B2 |
Optimized scheduling method for delay-sensitive traffic on high speed shared packet data channels
The present invention supports a scheduling protocol on a wireless communication network to transmit data packets stored in a queue from a user. Two performance metrics are generated and summed to provide a priority. The performance metrics are based on the delay for the data packets stored in the queue and the rate that the data packets can be transmitted on the network. The user with the higher calculated priority for the current time slot has its data packets transmitted. |
| US08750328B2 |
Methods and systems for communicating signaling system 7 (SS7) user part messages among SS7 signaling points (SPs) and internet protocol (IP) nodes using signal transfer points (STPs)
Methods and systems for transmitting user part messages between signaling system seven (SS7) signaling points over an internet protocol (IP) network include receiving, at a signal transfer point, a first SS7 user part message. The first SS7 user part message can be received from a first SS7 signaling point, such as a service switching point (SSP). The first SS7 signaling point is encapsulated in a first IP packet. The first IP packet is transmitted to a second SS7 signaling point over an IP network. |
| US08750326B2 |
Wireless communication system, wireless communication apparatus, wireless communication method, and computer program
Random access operation is performed under a communication environment in which a plurality of communication modes having different transmission rate coexist with small overhead. A high-grade communication station spoofs information of a packet length and a rate in a decoding portion so that a value of (packet length)/(rate) corresponds to a duration where the communication is hoped to be stopped. The other station receiving the spoofed information receives the rest of the packet with the designated rate during the interval designated by the value of (packet length)/(rate). In this case, the packet length and the rate are not those of actually transmitted packet so that this packet is discarded. |
| US08750323B2 |
Method for switching data and structure for switching data
A method and structure for switching data is provided. An output port scheduler obtains state information of VOQs and available state information of input port data channels and output port buffers. The output port scheduler sends scheduling request information to a FIC of an input port whose input port data channel is ready in input ports corresponding to non-empty VOQs pointing to an output port. After receiving the scheduling request information sent by the output port schedulers, the FIC of the selected input port selects to respond to a scheduling request of one output port scheduler, and sends the VOQ pointing to the output port in the selected input port to the output port buffer. The output port scheduler schedules the VOQ received by the output port buffer out of a switch chip. Buffer resources are saved and the switching performance is improved. |
| US08750318B2 |
Method, apparatus and system for applying relations between package base and extension
A method, an apparatus, and a system for applying relations between a package base and a package extension are disclosed herein. The method includes: A Media Gateway Controller (MGC) delivers an audit command request to a Media Gateway (MG), where the audit command request carries a package extension information property indicating audit of base-extended relationships of packages supported by the MG; the MGC receives an audit command response returned by the MG, where the audit command response carries the base-extended relationships of the packages supported by the MG; the MGC applies the packages according to the base-extended relationships of the packages supported by the MG; the MG receives a command request delivered by the MGC, where the command request carries a package extension information property whose value is the base-extended relationships of packages supported by the MGC; and the MG applies the packages according to the base-extended relationships of the packages supported by the MGC. |
| US08750317B2 |
Multimedia data monitoring system and multimedia data monitoring method
An exemplary aspect of the invention is a data monitoring system including a data monitoring apparatus, a monitoring terminal, a first network, a second network, a first communication apparatus that is connected to the first network and a second communication apparatus that is connected to the second network, wherein the data monitoring apparatus includes a call processing circuit to retrieve decoding information out of a call processing signal transmitted from one of the first communication apparatus and the second communication apparatus to the other and to transmit the decoding information to the monitoring terminal, and a data processing circuit to transmit data having voice data or image data to the monitoring terminal, wherein one of the first communication apparatus and the second communication apparatus transmits the data to the other, and wherein the monitoring terminal includes a decoding circuit to decode the data in accordance with the decoding information. |
| US08750313B1 |
Message propagation in a distributed virtual world
A message propagation scheme for a distributed virtual world is provided. In general, each of a number of peer servers hosts a cell of the virtual world, where the cell is also referred to herein as a virtual space. A peer server issues an advertisement/subscription (ad/sub) message, or message flow path setup message, identifying message types produced by the virtual objects in the virtual space hosted by the peer server and message types consumed by the virtual objects in the virtual space hosted by the peer server. Based on the ad/sub message, for each message type produced, message flow paths from the peer server to other peer servers hosting virtual objects that are consumers of the message type are identified. Likewise, for each message type consumed, message paths from other peer servers hosting virtual objects that are producers of the message type to the peer server are identified. |
| US08750312B2 |
Method and apparatus for multicasting with feedback information
A method for multicasting a packet begins by providing a buffer for each of two user equipments (UEs) in communication with a base station. A determination is made whether there is a previously unsent packet at the base station. A second determination is made whether both UE buffers are non-empty. A non-empty buffer is flushed if there is no previously unsent packet and if one of the buffers is non-empty. A packet is selected to be transmitted if there is a previously unsent packet or if both buffers are non-empty. The buffers are updated based on feedback received from the UEs. |
| US08750307B2 |
Mac learning in a trill network
A switch of a data network implements both a bridge and a virtual bridge. In response to receipt of a data frame by the switch from an external link, the switch performs a lookup in a data structure using a source media access control (SMAC) address specified by the data frame. The switch determines if the external link is configured in a link aggregation group (LAG) and if the SMAC address is newly learned. In response to a determination that the external link is configured in a LAG and the SMAC address is newly learned, the switch associates the SMAC with the virtual bridge and communicates the association to a plurality of bridges in the data network. |
| US08750306B2 |
Network management module for a vehicle communication network
A network management module includes a network interface module, memory, and a processing module. The network interface module is operable for coupling the network management module to a vehicle communication network. The processing module is operable to manage a global vehicle network communication protocol that includes instituting a content-based network packet processing protocol and managing the vehicle communication network to support the network packet processing protocol. The content-based network packet processing protocol includes determining content type of a packet, determining a processing requirement of the packet, and prioritizing execution of the processing requirement based on the content type. |
| US08750304B2 |
Controlling directional asymmetricity in wide area networks
In one embodiment a method includes detecting, at a first Wide Area Network (WAN) device deployed at an edge of a WAN, a packet passing through the first WAN device and departing a node with which the first WAN device is associated for another node connected to the WAN, identifying, by the first WAN device, a network destination address to which the packet is addressed, obtaining from memory accessible to the first WAN device an identifier of another WAN device associated with the network destination address, and marking the packet with the identifier to generate a marked packet. The marked packet is then received by a WAN device, which detects the identifier, and passes the marked packet to the identified WAN device. In an embodiment, the WAN device associated with the network destination address is a WAN device that first detects a synchronization-acknowledgement (SYN-ACK) packet. |
| US08750303B2 |
Mobility signaling delegation
Systems and methods are described which delegate reachability testing for mobility signaling in communication networks. A mobile node transmits a mobility signaling package to other network nodes, which can use the information contained therein to perform the delegated reachability testing. |
| US08750300B2 |
Relaying of multicast transmissions
A method for multicast transmissions between a source node and a client node includes the source node generating a multicast stream identifier to uniquely identify the multicast stream, and the source node establishing a path between the source node and the client node for a specified the multicast stream, each node in the path using unicast routing tables in order to identify a next node on the path during path establishment, and the source node transmitting messages of the specified multicast stream along the path. Network nodes implement the method. |
| US08750298B2 |
Aggregating network packets for transmission to a destination node
A node for transmitting digital data over a network receives a plurality of packet data units and identifies at least two of the packet data units that have the same aggregation identifier. The node then forms an aggregate packet from the packet data units that have the same aggregation identifier and transmits the aggregate packet to a common destination node or nodes. |
| US08750296B2 |
Method for recoverable message exchange independent of network protocols
A method is described to allow a device to retrieve a message, that is separated into a plurality of fragments, from a data source, wherein the method involves: establishing a first network connection with the data source; receiving a subset of the plurality of fragments; determining the first network connection has ended before completion of said message; establishing one or more subsequent network connections with the data source; and receiving any of the plurality of fragments not within the subset. The characteristics (for example: application protocol, security, speed, reach, bandwidth capability, cost of usage, network type, physical layer type, data-link layer type, or IP address of one or both of the first and second devices) of the first network connection can be potentially different than the subsequent network connections. |
| US08750288B2 |
Physical path determination for virtual network packet flows
In general, techniques are described for determining a physical network path taken by packets of a network packet flow. The techniques may be applied to determine, or “trace,” a physical network path in the virtualized network domain. In some examples, a network device includes one or more processors and a switch executed by the processors to forward packets of a packet flow to a physical network path. The network device also includes a flow trace module to generate one or more flow trace packets having incrementally increasing respective time-to-live (TTL) values, wherein the switch module forwards the flow trace packets on an outbound interface of the network device for the physical network path, and wherein the flow trace module receives corresponding time exceeded messages for the flow trace packets, wherein each of the time exceeded message includes a source network address of a network element on the physical network path. |
| US08750286B2 |
Network communication system, communication device, network linkage method and program thereof
A communication network system including a connectionless type communication network and a connection type communication network, wherein a communication device forming the communication network comprises a unit which transfers in-band control information to be exchanged on an in-band of the connectionless type communication network to other communication device through a virtual control link generated on an IP control network for controlling the connection type communication network and exchanges the in-band control information with other communication device, a unit which determines whether to generate a new connection for the connection type communication network based on the in-band control information to be exchanged, and a unit which generates a new connection for the connection type communication network in response to an instruction from the determination unit. |
| US08750285B2 |
Efficient classification of network packets
Embodiments describe a system and/or method for efficient classification of network packets. According to an aspect a method includes describing a packet as a feature vector and mapping the feature vector to a feature space. The method can further include defining a feature prism, classifying the packet relative to the feature prism, and determining if the feature vector matches the feature prism. If the feature vector matches the feature prism the packet is passed to a data recipient, if not, the packet is blocked. Another embodiment is an apparatus that includes an identification component that defines at least one feature of a packet and a classification component that classifies the packet based at least in part upon the at least one defined feature. |
| US08750284B2 |
Path computation method, node device and path computation element
A path computation method is provided. A node device and a path computation element (PCE) are also provided correspondingly. The path computation method includes: sending a path computation request message to the PCE after receiving a client-side service transmission request, the path computation request message carrying identifiers of a source node and a destination node that access a client-side service and carrying a path concatenation constraint; and receiving the path computation response message carrying path information returned by the PCE, the path information being obtained by the PCE through computation according to the identifiers of the source node and the destination node that accesses a client-side service, the concatenation constraint, and concatenation capabilities of each interface of nodes in a network. The technical solution of the present invention is simpler and more convenient, which obviously reduces the complexity of the specific implementation. |
| US08750282B2 |
Media extractor
A system generates one or more media streams from time-stamped packets received over a network. The packets may include audio, video, or a combination of both, sampled at a rate determined by a master media clock at a transmitter of the time-stamped packets or at some other node on the network. Timestamps in the packets may be presentation times based on values of a remote real-time clock at the transmitter that is synchronized with a local real-time clock at a receiver. The system may generate the media streams from the media stream samples and present the sampled data according to the presentation times. |
| US08750281B2 |
Variable-length training fields in coaxial communications
A coaxial physical layer device operates in at least two different modes: a discovery mode and a normal mode. In the discovery mode, a first orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) coaxial signal is received that has a preamble including a plurality of first training fields and at least one second training field. Each first training field is shorter than each second training field. In the normal mode, a second OFDM coaxial signal is received that has a preamble including a single training field. The single training field is shorter than an OFDM symbol. |
| US08750268B2 |
System and method for multimedia emergency access in a wireless network
A method for distributing multimedia emergency contact information using an access point of a wireless local area network (WLAN) is disclosed. The access point is configured to retrieve service contact information from a lookup table. The method includes receiving a first generic advertisement service (GAS) query from a WLAN device. The first GAS query includes a uniform resource name (URN) identifying at least one of the services. The method includes retrieving contact information for the at least one of the services identified in the first GAS query. The contact information includes a uniform resource identifier (URI). The URI is configured to include session initiation protocol (SIP) URIs, and telephone URIs. The method includes transmitting a GAS query response to the WLAN device. The GAS query response includes the contact information for the at least one of the services identified in the first GAS query. |
| US08750264B2 |
Cooperative wireless networks
A wireless local area network (WLAN) communicatively couples together a group of mobile wireless terminals configured to operate in a wireless wide area network (WWAN). A network-management operator processes WWAN-control messages used by the mobile wireless terminals and the WWAN. One or more of the mobile wireless terminals may function as the network-management operator. |
| US08750263B2 |
WLAN and WWAN connection migration methods and apparatus
Intra-enterprise wireless handset (WH) calls between WHs operating in a wireless local area network (WLAN) are established directly between the WHs via a call connection that is maintained within the LAN without being routed through the cellular network (CN). This eliminates the cost of placing and maintaining calls through the CN for intra-enterprise calls, and also enables use of capabilities that are available in the enterprise telecomm equipment. Upon detection of a trigger condition, if and when it is more likely that a complete vertical handover (VHO) may be needed, the call connection between the WHs in the LAN is replaced by one that is routed through the CN. Thereafter, a VHO may occur (if at all) upon detection of a radio handover condition. |
| US08750258B2 |
Method and device for maintaining the performance quality of a communication system in the presence of narrow band interference
A system that incorporates teachings of the subject disclosure may include, for example, a method for analyzing a wide frequency band with respect to signal power levels in specified narrow frequency bands, detecting narrow band signal power levels received in the specified narrow frequency bands, determining an average composite wideband power level from the narrow band signal power levels, determining an adaptive threshold, tracking narrow band interferers according to the adaptive threshold and the average composite wideband power level, and transmitting a report descriptive of the narrow band interferers. Other embodiments are disclosed. |
| US08750257B2 |
Method and apparatus for providing downlink reference signal transmission power information in a wireless communication system that supports multiple antennas
A method and an apparatus for providing downlink reference signal transmission power information in a wireless communication system that supports multiple antennas, where one embodiment of the method includes: a step of mapping a main synchronous signal onto a predetermined OFDM symbol of a downlink pilot time slot (DwPTS) subframe; a step of mapping, in a code division multiplexing manner, a demodulation reference signal over two or more OFDM symbols containing the predetermined OFDM symbol in the DwPTS subframe; a step of transmitting the DwPTS subframe to which the main synchronous signal and the demodulation reference signal are mapped; and a step of transmitting information on the transmission power for transmitting the demodulation reference signal mapped onto the predetermined OFDM symbol. |
| US08750255B2 |
GSM cell broadcast SMS message transmission in CDMA communication systems
Techniques to send GSM CBS messages over a CDMA air interface. The encapsulation of a GSM CBS message in CDMA messages may be achieved using various schemes. An indication is provided at each of a number of pertinent layers to allow the terminals to determine whether a GSM CBS message or a CDMA broadcast SMS message was sent. These indications include (1) a value in a designated field or subfield of a Data Burst Message, (2) a new value for a Category field in a Service Category parameter of an SMS Broadcast Message, and (3) a new value for a Msg_Encoding field in a User Data subparameter of the SMS Deliver Message. |
| US08750251B2 |
Method and apparatus for implementing network coding in a long term evolution advanced system
A method and apparatus for applying network coding in multi-user (MU) multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) control signaling are disclosed. After a pair of wireless transmit/receive units (WTRUs) transmit channel state information (CSI) to an evolved Node-B (eNodeB), each of the WTRUs receive network coded information from the eNodeB, including the CSI transmitted by both of the WTRUs, and decode the network coded information. The WTRUs transmit CSI on a scheduled basis, and store CSI that was previously transmitted. Each of the WTRUs measure the amount of time that pass since they transmitted CSI, and use the transmitted CSI to decode the network coded information on the condition that the measured time does not exceed a predetermined threshold. If the measured time exceeds the predetermined threshold, the stored CSI is used to decode the network coded information. |
| US08750248B2 |
Methods and apparatus for RF handoff in a multi-frequency network
Methods and apparatus for RF handoff in a multi-frequency network. A method includes generating a handoff table that comprises RF channels of current and neighboring local operations infrastructures (LOIs) carrying the same content as a current RF channel; detecting a handoff event; disqualifying one or more of the RF channels from the handoff table based on disqualification criteria; selecting a selected RF channel from remaining RF channels in the handoff table that have not been disqualified; and performing a handoff from the current RF channel to the selected RF channel. Another method includes detecting a handoff event; identifying a start of a handoff time interval; determining if RSSI measurements are available at the start of the handoff time interval for RF channels carrying desired content; and performing a handoff to a selected RF channel having a greatest RSSI measurement. |
| US08750244B2 |
Wireless terminal, wireless base station and communication method in wireless communication system
In a wireless communication system, time point information is transmitted from a second wireless base station. The time point information indicates a time point at which service information is transmitted from the second wireless base station. Moreover, at the time point indicated by the time point information, the service information is transmitted from the second wireless base station. On the wireless terminal side, firstly, the time point information is obtained in a first non-communication period in which communication with the first wireless base station is temporarily stopped. Then, the service information is obtained in a second non-communication period which is ensured in accordance with the time point indicated by the time point information. |
| US08750237B2 |
Method, base station and system for indicating CSI feedback
The present invention relates to the technical field of wireless communications. Provided arc an indication method, a base station, and a system for channel state information (CSI) feedback. The indication method comprises: the base station allocating to a user equipment (UE) a CSI feedback method (S701); by means of allocation signaling, the base station transmitting to the UE the CSI feedback method allocated, instructing the CSI feedback method to be employed by the UE when making an aperiodic CSI report (S702). The feedback method comprises: the UE receiving the allocation instruction transmitted by the base station, acquiring the CSI feedback method allocated for the UE by the base station; when the UE confirms the triggering of an aperiodic CSI report, using the CSI feedback method allocated therefor by the base station. In the present invention, the base station can perform the selection of the appropriate aperiodic CSI feedback method on the basis of the status of carrier allocation, thereby optimizing the CSI feedback mechanism, and improving system design flexibility. |
| US08750233B2 |
Communications apparatus and communications system using multicarrier transmission mode
A communications system for exchange of information between communications apparatuses by a multicarrier transmission mode using a plurality of subcarriers, the communication system includes a transmission data generator configured to generate frequency band information indicating which frequency band is to be used for transmission of data information between said communication apparatuses and a transmitter configured to transmit the frequency band information by using a specific frequency band which is set from among a plurality of frequency band assigned to the communications system, and to transmit data information by using at least one frequency band set from among said plurality of frequency bands and a receiver configured to receive the frequency band information by using the specific frequency band, whereby one or more of said frequency band is assigned consecutive with said specific frequency band along a frequency axis. |
| US08750232B2 |
Utility maximization scheduler for broadband wireless communication systems
Certain aspects of the present disclosure relate to a technique of designing a Media Access Control (MAC) scheduler for uplink communication in high rate wireless data systems, such as Long Term Evolution (LTE) wireless communication systems. |
| US08750231B1 |
Assignment of wireless coverage areas based on media codec
A radio access network (RAN) may receive a call setup request from a wireless communication device (WCD). The call setup request may indicate that the WCD supports a first media codec. The RAN may obtain a set of candidate wireless coverage areas for serving the WCD. A first subset of the candidate wireless coverage areas may support the first media codec, and a second subset of the candidate wireless coverage areas might not support the first media codec. The RAN may assign traffic channels to the WCD, such that the assigned traffic channels include traffic channels from at least two of the first subset of the candidate wireless coverage areas, but do not include traffic channels from any of the second subset of the candidate wireless coverage areas. The RAN may communicate with the WCD substantially simultaneously via the assigned traffic channels using the first media codec. |
| US08750227B2 |
Scheduling data transmissions between a mobile terminal and a base station in a wireless communications network
A method of scheduling wireless data transmissions between a mobile terminal and a base station using multiple system carrier signals is disclosed. The method comprises receiving (101) in the mobile terminal information from the base station indicating available system carriers and transmitting from the mobile terminal information indicating the terminal's capability to handle non-contiguous system carriers; detecting (102) at least one dynamic parameter indicative of the terminal's current capability to handle non-contiguous system carriers; determining (103) from the dynamic parameter whether a situation has occurred in which the terminal's capability to handle non-contiguous system carriers has changed; transmitting (104), in such case, a connection release request to the base station; and transmitting (105) a connection setup request and information indicating the terminal's changed capability to handle non-contiguous system carriers to the base station. Thus system carriers that can be handled by the terminal in the present situation can be allocated. |
| US08750225B2 |
Processing method and terminal for random access
A processing method and a terminal for random access are provided in the embodiments of the present invention. The method includes: triggering, by a terminal, first random access through Media Access Control (MAC), and successfully accessing a device at a network side; when a Scheduling Request (SR) of the terminal is triggered, determining whether to trigger next random access, where if the next random access is determined not to be triggered, the terminal does not execute the random access; receiving, by the terminal, a Radio Resource Control (RRC) reconfiguration message that carries an SR related parameter and the RRC reconfiguration message is sent by the device at the network side; and determining, according to the SR related parameter, by the terminal, a Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) resource for sending the SR, and sending the SR by using the PUCCH resource. |
| US08750222B2 |
Transciever device for on-body and off-body communications
The present invention relates to a transceiver device for processing a medium access control (MAC) protocol used by a transceiver. The transceiver has a first antenna system for on-body communications and a second antenna system for off-body communications, the transceiver device being designed to reserve one or more data payloads for on-body communications and to allocate the first antenna system to the transceiver for the interval of time occupied by these data payloads, and/or to reserve one or more data payloads for off-body communications and to allocate the second antenna system to the transceiver for the interval of time occupied by these data payloads. An advantageous result of this is that the optimally matched antenna system is available for on-body communications and off-body communications respectively, collisions between data payloads on the radio channel being prevented within the network, and the throughput of data thus being increased and, at the same time, energy consumption being reduced for the transceiver. |
| US08750218B2 |
Message processing in communication systems
A method and apparatus for use in a communication system, the method comprising the steps of, at a user agent receiving a configuration message from an access device, where uplink time synchronization at the user agent has been lost when the configuration message is received, using at least a portion of the configuration message information to configure the user agent and after time synchronization has been restored, communicating with the access device. |
| US08750217B2 |
Method for scheduling radio resources in mobile communication system
A method for scheduling radio resources in a mobile communication system is disclosed. The method includes allocating radio resources to a specific User Equipment (UE), receiving a release request message of the allocated radio resources from the specific UE and re-allocating unused radio resources to other UEs other than the specific UE. The method according to the present invention can re-allocate unused radio resources to other UEs using a control signal received from a specific UE such that wasted radio resources are minimized and efficiency of data communication in a mobile communication system may be enhanced. |
| US08750209B2 |
System and method for switching mobile station identification in wireless communication system
A system and a method for switching mobile station identification information in a wireless communication system are provided. A method for transmitting mobile station identification information includes, when a base station receives a RaNGing (RNG)-REQuest (REQ) message from the mobile station, sending, at a base station, a RNG-ReSPonse (RSP) message including a temporary mobile station identifier to the mobile station, determining, at the mobile station, the temporary mobile station identifier in the RNG-RSP signal, when base station receives REGistration (REG)-REQ message including the temporary mobile station identifier from the mobile station, sending, at the base station, a REG-RSP message comprising a mobile station identifier of the mobile station to the mobile station, determining, at the mobile station, the mobile station identifier in the REG-RSP message and sending a response signal for the REG-RSP message to the base station, when receiving the response signal for the REG-RSP message, deleting, at the base station, the temporary mobile station identifier of the mobile station, and communicating, at the mobile station and the base station, using the mobile station identifier. |
| US08750205B2 |
Multiple rank CQI feedback for cellular networks
Single user and multiuser MIMO transmission in a cellular network may be performed by a base station (eNB) transmitting either one, two, or more transmission layers. A user equipment (UE) receives a reference symbol from the base station. The UE processes the reference symbol with one or more of a plurality of precoding matrices to form a plurality of channel quality indices (CQI). The UE provides feedback to the eNB comprising one or more feedback CQI selected from the plurality of CQI and one or more precoding matrix indicators (PMI) identifying the one or more precoding matrices used to form each of the one or more feedback CQIs for two or more ranks. |
| US08750196B2 |
Method and device for relay node access
The present disclosure provides a method and device for Relay Node (RN) access, wherein the method comprises the following steps: a base station sends a downlink message to trigger the RN to switch from monitoring a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) to monitoring an RN-dedicated Physical Downlink Control Channel (R-PDCCH), and the RN acquires time-frequency resources for an R-PDCCH from the base station, before or while receiving the downlink message. The present disclosure enables an RN to switch from transmitting according to indication on the PDCCH to transmitting according to indication on the R-PDCCH, i.e., the RN switches from being in a connection state as the UE to being in a connection state as an RN. The present disclosure makes less change to the existing flows, offering advantages of easy implementation, flexible configuration, etc. |
| US08750187B2 |
Data driven adaptive receive chain diversity processing
Methods, systems, and devices are described for receive chain diversity processing in a mobile wireless device. When data is not being received at the mobile device, the diversity receive chain(s) may be disabled in order to reduce power consumed at the mobile device. The diversity receive chain(s) may be enabled/disabled according to one or more different algorithms based on idle time from the receipt and/or transmission of data. The amount of idle time that triggers the disabling of a diversity receive chain may be adaptive based on historical usage of the mobile device, or based on activity on the transmit chain of the mobile device. |
| US08750186B2 |
Method and apparatus for controlling discontinuous reception in a wireless communication system
A method and apparatus for controlling Discontinuous Reception (DRX) by a User Equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system is provided. The UE receives a DRX configuration parameter from an evolved Node B (eNB), and determines whether to start an on-duration timer based on the DRX configuration parameter, after a change in DRX cycle is completed in a subframe, thereby preventing system performance degradation caused by transmission mismatch between the eNB and the UE. |
| US08750184B2 |
Method for channel assignments in wireless systems
A wireless transmit/receive unit includes a receiver and a processor. The receiver is configured to receive a plurality of high-speed shared control channels (HS-SCCHs), wherein the plurality of HS-SCCHs are received over a plurality of discrete time intervals. The processor is configured to instruct the receiver to receive all of the plurality of HS-SCCHs during one of the plurality of discrete time intervals. |
| US08750183B2 |
Mobile-originated to HTTP communications
A mobile device-to-HTTP protocol gateway (MHG) which translates between Wireless Mobile Originated commands from an SMSC, and an application server on the Internet. A wireless Internet gateway establishes communications with one or more relevant SMSCs using standard format SMPP commands, and the MHG utilizes HTTP protocol POST messages to post short messages originated at the mobile device to a particular URL. Return results are received by the MHG via HTTP protocol messages, translated to SMPP messages, and forwarded back to the SMSC for delivery to the mobile device. The wireless Internet Gateway communicates with the MHG using RMI protocol commands. An MHG in the present invention enables a developer to create mobile applications using standard web development tools. The MHG allows standard format command messages to be used throughout the pathway between a mobile device and an application program on a web IP server at a particular URL. |
| US08750171B2 |
Femtocell/WLAN communication device
An Femtocell/WLAN communication device, comprising a Femtocell module for cellular wireless communications, the Femtocell module having an input for receiving a first electrical input signal and an output for outputting a first electrical output signal, a WLAN module for WLAN communications, the WLAN module having an input for receiving a second electrical input signal and an output for outputting a second electrical output signal, an optical interface having a first conversion path connected to the output of the Femtocell module, a second conversion path connected to the output of the WLAN module, a third conversion path connected to the input of the Femtocell module, and a fourth conversion path connected to the input of the WLAN module, and a common port for receiving the first optical input signal and the second optical input signal, and for outputting the first optical output signal and the second optical output signal. |
| US08750163B2 |
Communication system, forwarding node, path management server, communication method, and program
A communication system comprises a path management server that configures forwarding path information that is configured by arranging link IDs for identifying communication interfaces provided in respective forwarding nodes in a forwarding path of a data transfer network or links extending between said respective forwarding nodes and neighboring nodes thereof. For packets to which is added a header containing the forwarding path information, a forwarding node performs packet forwarding processing in accordance with the forwarding path information. |
| US08750161B1 |
Metropolitan IP aggregation network design tool
In a tool for use by network planners in designing metropolitan IP aggregation networks, several optimization methods are integrated into a tool. A k-means algorithm is used to choose access packet switch locations. A dual-k-means algorithm is used to choose the backbone switch locations. Each access packet switch is dual homed to two backbone packet switches using two diverse paths. The diverse path configuration is found using a maxflow-mincost algorithm on a modified fiber map topology. The link topology connecting the backbone packet switches to each other is designed using a heuristic that creates a skeleton network topology and then adds express links one by one, testing each link to assure reduced overall network cost. The resulting network topology is then improved upon by local search. |
| US08750157B1 |
Installation and service of a wireless home network
A diagnostic apparatus including a signal analyzer and a throughput projector for diagnosing a wireless home network. The signal analyzer analyzes wireless communication parameters at identifiable locations within a coverage area associated with the wireless home network. The throughput projector projects wireless throughput levels for at least one proposed wireless device differing in communication capabilities from the diagnostic apparatus at each of the identifiable locations, based on the communication parameters analyzed by the signal analyzer together with parameters which identify relative differences in communication capabilities of the diagnostic apparatus and the at least one proposed wireless device. |
| US08750156B1 |
Systems, methods, and devices for electronic spectrum management for identifying open space
Systems, methods, and apparatus are provided for automated identification of open space in a wireless communications spectrum, by identifying sources of signal emission in the spectrum by automatically detecting signals, analyzing signals, comparing signal data to historical and reference data, creating corresponding signal profiles, and determining information about the open space based upon the measured and analyzed data in near real time. |
| US08750154B2 |
Method and apparatus for supporting discontinuous reception operation in mobile communication system
A method and an apparatus for supporting a discontinuous reception (DRX) operation in a Node B in a mobile communication system are provided. The method includes defining a second System Frame Number (SFN) where one cycle of a first SFN corresponds to one bit, transmitting information on the second SFN to a User Equipment (UE), determining a second SFN which is used to transmit a paging signal to the UE, determining a first SFN which is used to transmit the paging signal in the determined second SFN, and transmitting the paging signal to the UE at the determined first SFN. |
| US08750153B2 |
Method and apparatus for transmitting feedback information to terminal in wireless communication system using CoMP transmission
The present invention relates to a wireless communication system having at least one base station utilizing CoMP (Coordinated Multi-Point) transmission, wherein a terminal receives a reference signal from said at least one base station. If said at least one base station makes a transmission based on said reference signal through Coordinated beamforming (CB), information based on PMI (Precoding Matrix Index) corresponding to each base station is determined. Accordingly, if said at least one base station makes a transmission based on joint processing, phase set information is determined for phase correction of the formed beam. Thus, the present method transmits feedback information, comprising PMI set information based on CB and said phase set information, from said at least one base station to a server base station. |
| US08750152B2 |
Method for transmitting coMP feedback information in wireless communication system and terminal apparatus
Disclosed are a method for transmitting CoMP feedback information in a wireless communication system and a terminal apparatus using the same. Measured values of adjacent cells for performing a CoMP operation can be generated by using measured values defined in an existing LTE system. Consequently, the present invention doesn't need to define new measured values in a LTE-Advanced system. |
| US08750151B2 |
Channel calibration for a time division duplexed communication system
Techniques to calibrate downlink and uplink channels to account for differences in the frequency responses of transmit and receive chains are described. In one embodiment, pilots are transmitted on downlink and uplink channels and used to derive estimates of the downlink and uplink channel responses, respectively. Sets of correction factors are then determined based on estimates of downlink and uplink channel responses. A calibrated downlink channel is formed using a first set of correction factors for the downlink channel, and a calibrated uplink channel is formed using a second set of correction factors for the uplink channel. The first and second sets of correction factors may be determined using a matrix-ratio computation or a minimum mean square error computation. The calibration may be performed in real-time based on over-the-air transmission. Other aspects, embodiments, and features are also claimed and described. |
| US08750150B2 |
Method, apparatus and system for transmitting channel state information
An apparatus and a system for transmitting channel state information acquires channel state information of a channel between a mobile terminal and two or more cooperative base stations. The apparatus quantizes the channel state information separately by using a preset single-cell codebook used for quantizing the channel between the mobile terminal and each one of the two or more cooperative base stations. The apparatus acquires united codeword indexes of the quantized channel state information in the single-cell codebook; and transmits the united codeword indexes of the quantized channel state information in the single-cell codebook. |
| US08750147B2 |
Information processing device for determining related files for download
An activation history storage stores an activation history of applications. A determination unit refers to the activation history and determines a file that is related to an application and that should be downloaded from a server. A processing unit downloads the determined related file. The activation history storage maintains an activation history that maps identification information identifying an application into the latest activation date and time of the application, and the determination unit refers to the activation date and time and determines the related file to be downloaded. |
| US08750143B2 |
Extended uplink control information (UCI) reporting via the physical uplink control channel (PUCCH)
A method for reporting uplink control information (UCI) is described. A first part of the UCI is encoded in a single physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) symbol. A channel of the PUCCH symbol is selected to implicitly encode a second part of the UCI in the PUCCH symbol. The PUCCH symbol is transmitted via a single PUCCH signal. |
| US08750139B2 |
Method and apparatus for carrier selection in multi-carrier communication systems
Systems and methods are described that facilitate the determination and request of resources a node may wish to reserve. The resources include a plurality of carriers that are shared with other nodes. In an approach, the node determines a condition related to a plurality of resources; identify a desired amount of resources from the plurality of resources based on the condition; and transmit a resource utilization message (RUM) for at least one of the plurality of resources based on the desired amount of resources. |
| US08750138B2 |
Physical layer loopback
In some embodiments, a chip comprises control circuitry to provide inband signals, inband output ports, and transmitters to transmit the inband signals to the inband output ports. The control circuitry selectively includes loopback initiating commands in the inband signals. Other embodiments are described and claimed. |
| US08750136B2 |
Monitoring apparatus and monitoring method
The monitoring method includes: detecting a cut link among a plurality of links forming a link aggregation; counting lost packets related to remaining links in the plurality of links excluding the cut link to obtain a first lost packet count for each first address included in packets passed through the remaining links; sorting the first lost packet counts into first segments corresponding to the remaining links; determining degradation in quality for each first segment on the basis of the first lost packet counts sorted into the first segments; determining whether the cut link is in failure on the basis of the determined degradation in quality for each first segment; and outputting a determination result of whether the cut link is in failure. |
| US08750135B2 |
Communication node, method, and maintenance point for handling encapsulated data frames
A Connection Fault Management (CFM) maintenance point and method for providing Data Driven Connection Fault Management (DDCFM) in CFM maintenance points in a communication network. A Reflection Responder, an RFM Receiver, and a Decapsulator Responder are implemented in existing CFM maintenance points. The Reflection Responder selects frames to be reflected, mirrors the selected frames if a Continuation option is set, and encapsulates the selected frames with Return Frame Message (RFM) OpCode. The RFM Receiver sends received RFM frames to an analyzer if addressed to the maintenance point and otherwise to a passive multiplexer. The Decapsulator Responder decapsulates Send Frame Message (SFM) frames and sends decapsulated frames toward the destination specified in each frame. |
| US08750134B2 |
Communication network management system and method and management computer
A management computer has: a storage unit in which a route information indicating a transfer route of frames in the communication network is stored; and a monitoring unit. The monitoring unit refers to the route information to transmit a frame to the transfer route and performs identification processing that identifies a location of a failure on the transfer route. First to N-th nodes (N is an integer equal to or more than 3) line up in order along the transfer route. The i-th node (i=1 to N−1) forwards a received frame to the (i+1)-th node, and the N-th node forwards a received frame to the management computer. In the identification processing, the monitoring unit sets at least one node between the first node and the N-th node as an insertion node. Then, the monitoring unit transmits a frame to the insertion node each, and identifies the location of the failure based on reception state of a frame from the N-th node. |
| US08750132B2 |
Method and apparatus for completing a call in a network with ENUM failure
A method and an apparatus for processing a session request in a network are disclosed. For example, the method receives the session request by a Serving-Call Session Control Function (S-CSCF), and sends a query to a tElephone NUmbering Mapping (ENUM) server for the session request. The method determines if a response is received to the query to the ENUM server, and inserts an indication of a component failure in a header of the session request if the response is not received from the ENUM server, wherein the indication of the component failure indicates a non-responsive ENUM server. |
| US08750125B2 |
Method and arrangement for scheduling data packets in a communication network system
The present invention relates to a method and an arrangement for scheduling data packets each belonging to a particular traffic class associated with a certain quality of service (QoS) level and transmitted between a first communication network node and a second communication network node. Initially a token rate for assigning tokens to each traffic class is set and an incoming traffic rate of each traffic class is measured by counting a number of incoming data packets during a pre-determined period of time. Then, based on said measured incoming traffic rate said token rate is adjusted in order to obtain a fair scheduling of data packets belonging to different traffic classes. |
| US08750124B2 |
Method of radio resource allocation and related communication apparatus
A method of radio resource allocation in a wireless communication system includes allocating radio resource to a plurality of logical channels according to a grant, and allowing the plurality of logical channels to use the remaining grant when the grant remains and the plurality of logical channels having data available for transmission cannot perform resource allocation anymore. |
| US08750123B1 |
Mobile device equipped with mobile network congestion recognition to make intelligent decisions regarding connecting to an operator network
Systems and methods for recognizing congestion in a mobile network to make intelligent decisions regarding connecting to an operator network is disclosed. A mobile device having a local proxy equipped with congestion recognition capabilities can use time elapsed to establish connection with a mobile base station in the mobile network to recognize congestion at the mobile base station. Further, in response to recognizing congestion at the mobile base station, the local proxy can selectively block traffic from the mobile device from traversing the mobile network to reduce signaling overload on the mobile network. |
| US08750119B2 |
Network control apparatus and method with table mapping engine
Some embodiments provide a controller for managing a plurality of managed switching elements that forward data through a network. The controller comprising a first set of tables for storing input logical control plane data, and a second set of tables for storing output logical forwarding plane data. It also includes a table mapping engine for mapping the input logical control plane data in the first set of tables to output logical forwarding plane data in the second set of tables by performing a set of database join operations on the input logical control plane data in the first set of tables. The logical forwarding plane data is subsequently translated into physical forwarding behaviors that direct the forwarding of data by the managed switching elements. |
| US08750114B2 |
Enhanced flow control
A method of wireless communication includes periodically adjusting a target queue length based on an estimated throughput of a network link and based on a measured underflow on the network link. The target queue length represents an amount of data being buffered at a network element. The method also includes controlling a link throughput based on the target queue length. |
| US08750113B2 |
Methods for measuring cell load for adaptive rate services and related systems and computer program products
Methods of load measurement for rate adaptive services are provided in a wireless communications network. The method includes receiving a plurality of packets associated with a bearer; calculating a measured bit rate for the plurality of packets received; and marking each of the plurality of packets received with information associated with the calculated measured bit rate, wherein the marked packets are used as input for admission control, congestion control and/or scheduling schemes for the wireless communications network. Related systems and computer program products are also provided. |
| US08750100B2 |
Avoiding broken links in smart meter networks for loop-free routing of packets
Broken links in a sensor network are avoided by representing the network as a DODAG. A rank associated with each node defines a position of each node relative to other nodes, and the rank is in a form of a proper fraction, and the rank of each node never increases to enable loop-free routing. |
| US08750098B2 |
Femtocell service through a secondary connection
System(s), apparatus(es), and method(s) are provided to for providing femtocell service through a secondary connection to a network gateway node that is part of a service provider network. The secondary connection can be established in response to at least one telecommunication performance condition of a primary connection to the network gateway node; the at least one performance condition includes connectivity state of the primary connection or quality of traffic delivery through the primary connection. The secondary connection can be established, in part, via a home gateway node that is alternative to a home gateway node associated with a femtocell access point (AP) that enables, in part, the femtocell wireless service. The main home gateway node or the femtocell AP can initiate establishment of the secondary connection. Home gateway node(s) or femtocell AP(s) that can provide femtocell service through the secondary connection can manage connectivity with the network gateway node. |
| US08750097B2 |
Maintenance of overlay networks
A method of managing a ring-based overlay network that is configured to allow routing of messages across an underlying IP network to destinations not specified by an IP address. The method comprises firstly sending a probe message from an initiating node of the overlay network around the ring, with each peer node forwarding the probe message to a successor or predecessor node. Upon detection of a forwarding failure at a node of the ring, a Probe error message is sent from that node to the initiating node. The initiating node represents the final destination for the Probe message. |
| US08750095B2 |
System and method for protection against edge node failure
In one embodiment, a method includes determining, by an edge router, a plurality of prefixes reachable by the edge router, each prefix indicating a range of Internet Protocol (IP) addresses. The method further includes grouping, by the edge router, the plurality of prefixes into one or more groups, wherein each group is associated with a particular repair edge router and the prefixes in each particular group are reachable by both the edge router and the particular repair edge router associated with the particular group. The method further includes communicating instructions, from the edge router to a core router, to send data packets associated with the prefixes in each particular group to the particular edge router associated with the particular group if the edge router becomes unreachable. |
| US08750094B2 |
Trunking for fabric ports in Fibre channel switches and attached devices
N_Ports and F_Ports are provided with logic allowing designation of multiple virtual interfaces on a single host bus adaptor or other Fiber Channel interface, one virtual interface for each VSAN operating on the node interface. Node ports with this additional functionality are referred to as trunking N_Ports or TN_Ports. These ports have a functional design allowing creation of the multiple virtual interfaces as appropriate for the application at hand. This port design also includes logic for communicating with a peer fabric port to initialize and modify the configuration of the virtual interfaces on the TN_Port. A corresponding functional design and communication logic is provided for fabric ports, referred to herein as trunking F_Ports or TF_Ports. |
| US08750088B2 |
Efficient layered coding technique to mitigate shadowing in satellite propagation channel
An original data stream is encoded into a high priority data stream and a low priority data stream. The high priority data stream is encoded so as to permit decoding of the high priority data steam independently of the low priority data stream. The high priority data stream is transmitted twice, while the low priority data claim 25. is transmitted in two portions, but only once. If both the first portion and the second portion of the low priority data stream are received, and at least one complete transmission of the high priority data stream is received, then the two data streams are combined to produce a signal output of high quality. However, if any portions of the low priority data stream is lost then the low priority data stream is not used, and only the high priority data stream is used to produce output. Overall throughput is greater than would be achieved if the original data stream were transmitted with complete redundancy. |
| US08750087B2 |
Optical pickup device
An optical pickup device corresponding to a plurality of media is provided. The optical pickup device includes a light emitting system and a light receiving system including a plurality of light sources and a light transmission system shared by the light emitting system and the light receiving system, configured to irradiate light on a medium, and receive light reflected from the medium. The light transmission system irradiates light from the light emitting system to be appropriately focused on the medium, receives light reflected from the medium, and transports light to the light receiving system. The light transmission system includes one beam splitter corresponding to the light emitting system and the light receiving system and a position-changing collimating lens shared to correspond to a plurality of media. The position-changing collimating lens is disposed between the beam splitter and the medium, the position being controlled according to optical characteristics of the media. |
| US08750083B2 |
Optical pickup apparatus and disc apparatus including the same
An optical pickup apparatus includes at least: a light emitting element capable of emitting at least first wavelength light and second wavelength light; and a diffraction grating configured to split the first wavelength light into at least a first main beam and a first sub-beam and to split the second wavelength light into at least a second main beam and a second sub-beam, a following expression (1) being satisfied: 1.05 < Yp 1 Yp 2 < 2.50 ( 1 ) where: Yp1 is an interval between the first main beam and the first sub-beam when a first media corresponding to the first wavelength light is irradiated with the first main beam and the first sub-beam, and Yp2 is an interval between the second main beam and the second sub-beam when a second media corresponding to the second wavelength light is irradiated with the second main beam and the second sub-beam. |
| US08750080B2 |
Instantaneous driving mechanism for timepiece movement
An instantaneous driving mechanism for a timepiece movement is disclosed. The driving mechanism may include a mobile comprising a first wheel driven by a driving member of the timepiece movement and configured to drive rotation of a first cam of the mobile. The driving mechanism may also include a lever mounted pivotally on at least one frame element of the timepiece movement, the lever being configured to cooperate with the mobile in order to be moved and to cooperate with a counter of the timepiece movement to increment the counter by instantaneous pulses. The first cam may be coaxial with the first wheel and have a periphery of varying radius. In addition, the first cam may be configured to cooperate with a nose carried by a first arm of the lever and to move the first arm progressively away from the center of the mobile. |
| US08750079B2 |
Display device with a combination of display members
Timepiece display device (100) comprising a first display member (1) cooperating with first drive means (10) via a first transmission means (11), and a second display member (2), cooperating with a second drive means (20) via a second transmission means (21).First contactless coupling means (12) are carried by said first display member (1) or by said first transmission means (11), second contactless coupling means (22) are carried by said second display member (2), or by said second transmission means (21), said first coupling means (12) cooperate with said second coupling means (22) in a complementary, contactless, attraction coupling in order, when said coupling means are located in immediate proximity to each other, to unite the motion of said first display member (1) and said second display member (2).Said first coupling means (12) and said second coupling means (22) are magnetic or electrostatic. |
| US08750077B2 |
Acoustic ranging system for multi-line towed acoustic arrays
An acoustic ranging system and method of use is provided that measures the magnitude of the separation of a pair of towed acoustic line arrays at a discrete point along the length of each array. One array acts as the measurement source, while the other array acts as a frequency-shifted echo repeater. The source array incorporates one sonar transmitter and two sonar receivers. The system further includes a configurable frequency shifter that enables one measurement source to make measurements with multiple repeater arrays. |
| US08750076B2 |
Position detection system, transmission device, reception device, position detection method and position detection program
To enable precise calculation of a propagation time of a direct wave which arrives the earliest from an ultrasonic emission source without being affected by a reflected wave. A plurality of ultrasonic signals generated based on a plurality of M sequences different from each other are propagated from a transmission side to a reception side, whereby the reception side executes processing of correlation between each model waveform of the plurality of M sequences and a waveform of each ultrasonic signal and detects a subsidiary peak of a correlation value appearing when both waveforms partly coincide with each other to, starting with the smallest one of subsidiary peaks detected by all the correlation processing, determine a plurality of corresponding M sequences. The transmission side selects an M sequence differing in each transmission cycle from among the determined plurality of M sequences and sends out an ultrasonic signal modulated by the selected M sequence and an electromagnetic wave signal to the reception side. The reception side calculates a value of correlation between the ultrasonic signal and a model waveform, detects a first main peak of the calculated correlation value and calculates an ultrasonic propagation time from a time point of the reception of the electromagnetic wave signal and a time point of the detection of the main peak. |
| US08750066B2 |
Temperature compensation of conductive bridge memory arrays
Methods for operating a semiconductor memory array including dynamically adjusting control line voltages (e.g., unselected word line or unselected bit line voltages) based on one or more array conditions associated with the semiconductor memory array are described. The one or more array conditions may include a temperature associated with the semiconductor memory array or a particular number of write cycles associated with the semiconductor memory array. In some embodiments, an intermediate voltage is generated based on the one or more array conditions and applied to the unselected word lines and the unselected bit lines of the semiconductor memory array. The one or more intermediate voltages may be generated such that a first voltage difference across unselected memory cells sharing a selected word line is different from a second voltage difference across other unselected memory cells sharing a selected bit line based on the one or more array conditions. |
| US08750065B2 |
Thermal management apparatuses with temperature sensing resistive random access memory devices and methods thereof
An apparatus includes one or more temperature sensing and memory devices each having one or more memristors. A controller device is coupled to the temperature sensing and memory devices A processing device is coupled to the controller device and includes at least one of hardware logic configured to be capable of implementing or a processor coupled to a memory and configured to execute programmed instructions stored in the memory comprising: issuing a record instruction and a write instruction with a write address to the controller device to record the write time for the memristor at the write address to transition from one of the first and second states to the other states; receiving from the controller device the recorded time; determining and providing a temperature of the memristor at the write address based on the received write time. |
| US08750062B2 |
Memory element and method for determining the data state of a memory element
One embodiment of the present invention is directed to an electronic memory comprising a memory element and control logic that determines a data state of the memory element by: measuring a physical characteristic of the memory element to obtain a measured value corresponding to the data state, measuring the physical characteristic of the memory element, after setting the memory element to a first known data state, to obtain a first calibration value, comparing the measured value corresponding to the data state with the first calibration value to determine the data state; and determining a reliability metric for the determined data state. |
| US08750056B2 |
Random access memory devices having word line drivers therein that support variable-frequency clock signals
Integrated circuit memory devices include an array of memory cells electrically coupled to a plurality of word lines and a word line driver circuit. The word line driver circuit includes a variable-width pulse generator having a first delay unit therein. The word line driver circuit is configured to drive a selected one of the plurality of word lines with a first word line signal having a leading edge synchronized with a leading edge of a clock signal and a trailing edge synchronized with a trailing edge of the clock signal when a one-half period of the clock signal is greater than a length of delay provided by the first delay unit. |
| US08750055B2 |
Nonvolatile memory device, read method for nonvolatile memory device, and memory system incorporating nonvolatile memory device
A method of performing a read operation on nonvolatile memory device comprises receiving a read command, receiving addresses, detecting a transition of a read enable signal, generating a strobe signal based on the transition of the read enable signal, reading data corresponding to the received addresses, and outputting the read data after the strobe signal is toggled a predetermined number of times. |
| US08750053B2 |
SRAM multiplexing apparatus
An SRAM multiplexing apparatus comprise a plurality of local multiplexers and a global multiplexer. Each local multiplexer is coupled to a memory bank. The global multiplexer has a plurality of inputs, each of which is coupled to a corresponding output of the plurality of local multiplexers. In response to a decoded address in a read operation, an input of a local multiplexer is forwarded to a corresponding input of the global multiplexer. Similarly, the decoded address allows the global multiplexer to forward the input signal to a data out port via a buffer. |
| US08750047B2 |
Circuit for reading non-volatile memory cells having a precharging circuit activated after the activation of a sense circuit
A circuit for reading memory cells includes: a sense node connectable to a memory cell; a sense device connected to the sense node and configured to be activated in a precharging step which precedes a cell reading step and to provide such an output signal to assume logic values dependent on an electric signal present at the sense node; a precharging circuit connected to the sense node and configured to be activated to make the sense node reach a precharging voltage and to be deactivated upon the output signal switching in the precharging step. |
| US08750046B2 |
Storage at M bits/cell density in N bits/cell analog memory cell devices, M>N
A method for data storage includes accepting data for storage in a memory that includes multiple analog memory cells and supports a set of built-in programming commands. Each of the programming commands programs a respective page, selected from a group of N pages, in a subset of the memory cells. The subset of the memory cells is programmed to store M pages of the data, M>N, by performing a sequence of the programming commands drawn only from the set. |
| US08750045B2 |
Experience count dependent program algorithm for flash memory
In a non-volatile memory device, the parameters used in write and erase operation are varied based upon device age. For example, in a programming operation using a staircase waveform, the amplitude of the initial pulse can be adjusted based upon the number of erase-program cycles (hot count) of the block containing the selected physical page for the write. This arrangement can preserve performance for relatively fresh devices, while extending life as a devices ages by using gentler waveforms as the device ages. |
| US08750042B2 |
Combined simultaneous sensing of multiple wordlines in a post-write read (PWR) and detection of NAND failures
Techniques for a post-write read are presented. In an exemplary embodiment, a combined simultaneous sensing of multiple word lines is used in order to identify a problem in one or more of these word lines. That is, sensing voltages are concurrently applied to the control gates of more than one memory cell whose resultant conductance is measured on the same bit line. The combined sensing result is use for measuring certain statistics of the cell voltage distribution (CVD) of multiple word lines and comparing it to the expected value. In case the measured statistics are different than expected, this may indicate that one or more of the sensed word lines may exhibit a failure and more thorough examination of the group of word lines can be performed. |
| US08750037B2 |
Non-volatile memory utilizing impact ionization and tunnelling and method of manufacturing thereof
A non-volatile memory device (and method of manufacture) is disclosed and structured to enable a write operation using an ionization impact process in a first portion of the device and a read operation using a tunneling process in a second portion of the device. The non-volatile memory device (1) increases hot carrier injection efficiency, (2) decreases power consumption, and (3) enables voltage and device scaling in the non-volatile memory devices. |
| US08750036B2 |
Unipolar spin-transfer switching memory unit
A memory unit includes a magnetic tunnel junction data cell electrically coupled to a bit line and a word line. The magnetic tunnel junction data cell is configured to switch between a high resistance state and a low resistance state by passing a unipolar voltage across the magnetic tunnel junction data cell. A diode is electrically coupled between the magnetic tunnel junction data cell and the word line or bit line. A voltage source provides the unipolar voltage across the magnetic tunnel junction data cell that writes the high resistance state and the low resistance state. |
| US08750025B2 |
Data cells with drivers and methods of making and operating the same
Disclosed are methods and devices, among which is a device that includes a first semiconductor fin having a first gate, a second semiconductor fin adjacent the first semiconductor fin and having a second gate, and a third gate extending between the first semiconductor fin and the second semiconductor fin. In some embodiments, the third gate may not be electrically connected to the first gate or the second gate. |
| US08750021B2 |
Bipolar resistive-switching memory with a single diode per memory cell
According to various embodiments, a resistive-switching memory element and memory element array that uses a bipolar switching includes a select element comprising only a single diode that is not a Zener diode. The resistive-switching memory elements described herein can switch even when a switching voltage less than the breakdown voltage of the diode is applied in the reverse-bias direction of the diode. The memory elements are able to switch during the very brief period when a transient pulse voltage is visible to the memory element, and therefore can use a single diode per memory cell. |
| US08750019B2 |
Resistive memory using SiGe material
A resistive memory device includes a first electrode; a second electrode having a polycrystalline semiconductor layer that includes silicon; a non-crystalline silicon structure provided between the first electrode and the second electrode. The first electrode, second electrode and non-crystalline silicon structure define a two-terminal resistive memory cell. |
| US08750016B2 |
Resistive memory and program verification method thereof
A resistive memory including a transistor and a variable resistor is disclosed. The transistor includes a gate, a source and a drain. The variable resistor is coupled between the drain and a node. During a setting period, the gate receives a first gate voltage, the source receives a first source voltage, the node receives a first drain voltage, and the first source voltage is equal to a grounding voltage. After the setting period, if a resistance value of the variable resistor is not less than a first pre-determined value, a first verification operation is performed. When the first verification operation is being performed, the gate receives a second gate voltage, the node receives a second drain voltage less than the first drain voltage, and the source receives a second source voltage equal to the grounding voltage. |
| US08750014B2 |
Tri-state driver circuits having automatic high-impedance enabling
Memories, driver circuits, and methods for generating an output signal in response to an input signal. One such driver circuit includes an input stage and an output stage. The input stage receives the input signal and provides a delayed input signal having a delay relative to the input signal. The output stage receives the delayed input signal and further receives the complement of the input signal. The output stage couples an output node to a first voltage in response to a complement of the input signal having a first logic level and couples the output to a second voltage in response to the complement of the input signal having a second logic level. The output stage further decouples the output from the first or second voltage in response to receiving the delayed input signal to provide a high-impedance at the output node. |
| US08750013B1 |
Racetrack memory with low-power write
Methods for writing include applying a current pulse to a racetrack memory medium to position a domain in proximity to a thermally triggered magnon source in contact with the racetrack memory medium; activating a heat source/sink in contact with the magnon source to create a thermal gradient in the magnon source, generating a magnon flow in the magnon source; and changing a magnetization in the racetrack memory medium by spin torque transfer from the magnon flow. |
| US08750011B2 |
Apparatus for ROM cells
A ROM cell comprises a first first-level contact formed on a first active region of a transistor of a memory cell, a first second-level contact formed on the first first-level contact, wherein the first second-level contact shifts in a first direction with reference to the first first-level contact. The ROM cell further comprises a second first-level contact formed on a second active region of the transistor of the memory cell, wherein the second first-level contact is aligned with the first first-level contact and a second second-level formed on the second first-level contact, wherein the second second-level contact shifts in a second direction with reference to the second first-level contact, and wherein the first direction is opposite to the second direction. |
| US08750010B2 |
Memory modules and memory devices having memory device stacks, and method of forming same
A memory module, system and method of forming the same includes a memory module including a plurality of memory devices having a first portion of memory devices cooperatively forming a first rank of memory devices and a second portion of memory devices cooperatively forming a second rank of memory devices. The first and second portions of memory devices are grouped into a plurality of memory device stacks, wherein each of the plurality of memory device stacks includes at least one of the plurality of memory devices coupled to a first portion of a plurality of DQ signals and at least another one of the plurality of memory devices coupled to a different second portion of the plurality of DQ signals. |
| US08750009B2 |
Controller of a power converter that uses pulse width modulation
A controller of a power converter including an inverter that includes plural semiconductor switching elements. The controller suppresses an error between a voltage command and an inverter output voltage and responds to a voltage command at a high speed. The controller includes a voltage command generator that generates a voltage command signal and a switching pattern calculator that calculates and outputs, based on the voltage command signal, a switching pattern of a synchronous PWM system in which an average value of an inverter output voltage matches the voltage command signal. |
| US08750007B2 |
Power conversion
Exemplary embodiments are directed to power conversion. A device may include a controllable switch coupled between an AC network and a DC network. The device may further include control circuitry configured to modify a configuration of the switch based on a detected difference between a reference signal and an output signal at the DC network. |
| US08750002B2 |
Power limiting by modulating clock
A clock generation circuit for use in a power converter controller includes a modulation signal generator that is coupled to generate a modulation signal in response to an input sense signal representative of an input voltage of a power converter. The modulation signal is responsive to the input sense signal when the input sense signal is greater than a first input threshold. A clock modulator circuit is coupled to receive the modulation signal and a first clock signal from an oscillator. The clock modulator circuit is coupled to generate a second clock signal in response to the first clock signal and the modulation signal. An average frequency of the second clock signal is responsive to the modulation signal. |
| US08749989B1 |
Carrier for LTCC components
An LTCC carrier composed of thermosetting polymer, woven glass fiber and ceramic has gold over nickel contact pads on top and bottom surfaces and conductive vias therethrough between aligned pairs of top and bottom pads. The vias prevent undesirable inductive paths from limiting high frequency operation of the circuitry. Solder deposits on the top pads attach the LTCC component, which is further secured to the carrier by epoxy, thus improving resistance to thermal stress and mechanical shock. A slot through the carrier body between top and bottom surfaces further reduces thermal stress and mechanical shock. Metallized castellations on opposite carrier sides provide additional surface area for reflow solder joints with the PCB, and a means for visually inspecting the solder joint quality. A gap in the metallization on the top layer of the carrier prevents solder spreading during multiple soldering cycles, which may result in poor solder joints. |
| US08749987B2 |
Multi-connector assembly
The present invention can relate to multiple-connector assemblies for use in, for example, electronic devices. Each of the connectors are constrained to another connector by aligning one or more complementary sets of reference features. A locating bracket may be used to couple multiple connectors together. Alternatively, the connectors may be coupled to each other directly. The electronic device also may include a retainer coupled to the connectors (either directly or indirectly through the locating bracket). The retainer and a surface of one of the connectors may form a single plane to which an end cap of the housing may be coupled, thereby accurately locating the end cap with respect to the connectors. The present invention also can relate to methods of manufacturing such an electronic device. |
| US08749986B1 |
Flexible midplane and architecture for a multi-processor computer system
A flexible midplane comprises: a printed circuit board including: a middle section and at least one side section; and a flexible region disposed between the middle section and each side section; wherein each flexible region permits the corresponding side section to be bent in relation to the middle section. |
| US08749983B2 |
Portable adjunct device for portable electronic devices
Disclosed is a portable adjunct device that includes a case having a first recess and a second recess. Mounted in the first recess is a docking connector movable between closed and open positions. Detachably mounted in the second recess is a universal serial bus connector operably connected to the docking connector. The case defines a chamber and a battery operably connected to the docking connector is disposed in the chamber. |
| US08749982B2 |
Server backplate and server having same
A server backplate includes a plate, a power connector, a first connector and a second connector. The plate includes a top surface, a first surface, and a second surface opposing the first surface. The top surface connects the first surface and the second surface. The power connector is arranged on the first surface and configured to couple to a power supply unit. The first connector is arranged on the first surface and configured to couple to a first storage device. The second connector is arranged on the second surface and configured to couple to a second storage device. The power connector is electrically connected to the first connector and the second connector, and the first connector is closer to the top surface than the second connector. |
| US08749981B2 |
Mounting base for circuit boards
Systems, methods, and apparatus are provided for a mounting base for circuit board assemblies that provides both mounting of one or more circuit boards and a pathway including one or more fins to conduct heat away from the one or more circuit boards. |
| US08749979B2 |
Sheet structure and method of manufacturing sheet structure
The sheet structure includes a plurality of linear structures of carbon atoms, a filling layer filled in gaps between the linear structures for supporting the plurality of linear structures, and a coating film formed over at least one ends of the plurality of linear structures and having a thermal conductivity of not less than 1 W/m·K. |
| US08749976B2 |
Telecom utility cabinet arranged for air-based geothermal cooling
In one embodiment, the disclosure includes a telecom utility cabinet including a heat load chamber. The telecom utility cabinet also includes an air introducing duct configured to conduct air from the heat load chamber to a geothermal cooling system. The telecom utility cabinet also includes an air discharging duct configured to conduct air from the geothermal cooling system to the heat load chamber. In another embodiment, the disclosure includes a method for managing temperature in a telecom utility cabinet. The method includes introducing air from a heat load chamber to a geothermal cooling system and discharging air from the geothermal cooling system to the heat load chamber. |
| US08749972B2 |
Mounting apparatus for power supply
A mounting apparatus includes a chassis and a mounting tray. The chassis includes a side plate. The side plate includes a first clipping member and a second clipping member. A clipping hole is defined in the side plate. The mounting tray is located between the first clipping member and the second clipping member. The mounting tray includes a handle, and a clasping portion is located on the handle and engaged in the clipping hole. The mounting tray is slidable relative to the first clipping member and the second clipping member in a first direction substantially parallel to the side plate, and the handle is deformable in a second direction substantially perpendicular to the first direction, to disengage the clasping portion from the clipping hole. |
| US08749970B2 |
Security enhancing apparatus for attaching to an electronic device
An apparatus for attaching to an electronic device, where the electronic device comprises an electrical connector, a back side, a display arranged on a side opposite to the back side, and lateral sides connecting the back side and the side opposite to the back side is disclosed. The apparatus comprises a first body; an electrical connector; a slot for insertion of a smartcard; a fingerprint reader; and circuitry connected to the electrical connector. |
| US08749967B2 |
Mounting structure for Mini PCI-E equipment and a computer using the same
The present invention relates to amounting structure for Mini PCI-E equipment is provided. The mounting structure comprises a Mini PCI-E slot and a fixing bracket, wherein the Mini PCI-E slot is welded on surface of a motherboard with an opening upward and perpendicular to the motherboard, the fixing bracket is close to the Mini PCI-E slot and fixed vertically on the motherboard. The fixing bracket includes a first fixing device which includes at least two mounting holes at the same height. The present invention also disclosed a computer using the above mounting structure. The mounting structure of the present invention could significantly reduce the area on the motherboard occupied by the Mini PCI-E equipment via setting the Mini PCI-E slots and the mounting bracket perpendicular to the motherboard. The above mounting structure could also improve the performance of heat dissipation of the Mini PCI-E equipment. |
| US08749966B1 |
Data storage drive carrier
A data storage drive carrier configured for insertion into 2U or 3U slots not an electrocal chassis. The carrier has opposing side members and front and back members. A first side member is fixedly attached to the front member to form a rigid L-shaped portion of the carrier; and a second side member and the back member are pivotally attached to the L-shaped portion. The second one of side members and the back member are pivotally attached to the L-shaped portion at first ends and second ends thereof are attached to together to form a closed frame after receiving therein the drive. A light pipe is disposed within a groove formed in one of the side members, one end of the pipe being disposed adjacent to a light source of a rearward interposer to receive optical signal emitted by the source and an opposite end disposed adjacent a front end of the carrier. |
| US08749963B2 |
Housing for slate tablet computer
A housing for a slate tablet computer is composed of a frame component and an input component. The frame component is removably attached to the input component. A support mechanism attached to the input component, wherein the support mechanism extends from the input component to oppose inadvertent rotating of the slate tablet computer housing around a hinge connecting the frame component and the input component. In an alternate implementation, a support mechanism attached to the frame component is used to prevent the inadvertent rotating of the slate tablet computer housing around a hinge connecting the frame component and the input component. |
| US08749954B2 |
Electrode foil and capacitor using same
Electrode foil includes an aluminum alloy having a composition in a region at least 10 μm deep from a surface of the foil. The composition includes aluminum as a main component and zirconium of at least 0.03 at % and at most 0.5 at %. |
| US08749945B2 |
Electrical arrangement of hybrid ignition device
A corona ignition system 20 includes a corona drive circuit 26 and an auxiliary energy circuit 28. The energy circuit 28 stores energy during a standard corona ignition cycle. When arc discharge occurs or corona discharge switches to an arc discharge, the energy circuit 28 discharges the stored energy to the electrode 30 to intentionally maintain a robust arc discharge 29 and thus provide reliable ignition. The stored energy is transmitted to the electrode 30 over a predetermined period of time. The arc discharge is detected and an arc control signal 60 is transmitted to the energy circuit 28, triggering discharge of the stored energy to the electrode 30. The stored energy can be transmitted to the electrode 30 along a variety of different paths. The voltage of the stored energy is typically increased by an energy transformer 70 before being transmitted to the electrode 30. |
| US08749943B2 |
Drive circuit for electromagnetic manipulation mechanism
When a closing coil is excited with a charged capacitor by closing a switch to drive a movable core and to close a vacuum valve not shown, if switches are opened, no current flows even when a voltage is electromagnetically induced in a coil from the coil, and no power loss occurs. If a switch is closed before opening the switch, when the switch is opened, the current flowing through the coil commutates to a series circuit comprising a resistor, whereby a voltage generated in the coil can be suppressed. When the opening coil is excited with a capacitor by closing a switch to drive the movable core in the opposite direction to open the vacuum valve, if the switches are opened, no current flows even when a voltage is electromagnetically induced in the coil from the coil, and no power loss occurs. |
| US08749940B2 |
Electronic component
An electronic component has an integrated protective device which responds in the event of a thermal overload and interrupts a current flow through the component. The protective device has an electrical terminal which may be brought under spring pretension by intrinsic resilience and assumes a mounting position in the pretensioned state and a current interrupting position in the untensioned state. |
| US08749938B2 |
Fault current limiter
Provided is a fault current limiter, the limiter including a detector detecting an inflow of a fault current and transmitting a turn-on signal to a first switch and transmitting a turn-off signal to a power semiconductor element, the power semiconductor element changed to an OFF state by the turn-off signal, the first switch forming a current limiting circuit by being switched to an ON state by the turn-on signal, and a resistance element blocking the fault current, wherein the series connection between the resistance element and the first switch is connected in parallel to the power semiconductor element. |
| US08749936B2 |
Semiconductor device and apparatus including semiconductor device
A semiconductor device includes a substrate on which an electronic circuit is provided. One or more pads may be present which can connect the electronic circuit to an external device outside the substrate. A current meter is electrically in contact with at least a part of the substrate and/or the pad. The meter can measure a parameter forming a measure for an amount of a current flowing between the substrate and at least one of the at least one pad. A control unit is connected to the current meter and the electronic circuit, for controlling the electronic circuit based on the measured parameter. |
| US08749933B2 |
Fault protection of HVDC transmission lines
A protection system for high voltage direct current, HVDC, transmission lines is provided. The protection system includes a direct current, DC, bus, a device configured to connect an HVDC transmission line to the bus, at least one DC circuit breaker arranged for disconnecting the transmission line from the bus upon reception of a trip signal, current and voltage sensors, an inductor arranged such that the current through the transmission line passes the inductor, and a fault detection unit. The fault detection unit is arranged for assessing, on the basis of current and/or voltage measurements, whether a fault exists on the transmission line, and sending, if a fault is detected on the transmission line, a trip signal to the circuit breaker. The additional inductance limits the rise in fault current and facilitates a selective fault detection. Further, a method of fault protection for an HVDC transmission line is provided. |
| US08749923B2 |
Suspension substrate, suspension, suspension with head and hard disk drive
A main object of the present invention is to provide a suspension substrate which can decrease the whole thickness thereof and limit the generation of warpage. To attain the object, the present invention provides a suspension substrate comprising: an insulation layer, a pair of wirings consisting of an upper wiring formed on one surface of the insulation layer and a lower wiring formed on the other surface of the insulation layer, and a metal substrate formed on the surface of the insulation layer on the lower wiring side. |
| US08749919B2 |
Magnetic head for perpendicular magnetic recording with shield around main pole
A magnetic head includes a shield, and first and second return path sections. The shield has an end face that is located in a medium facing surface to wrap around an end face of a main pole. The shield includes a bottom shield, two side shields, and a top shield. The first return path section is magnetically connected to the bottom shield and is greater than the bottom shield in length in a direction perpendicular to the medium facing surface. The second return path section magnetically couples the top shield and the main pole to each other. The coil includes a first portion that passes through a space defined by the main pole and the first return path section, and a second portion that passes through a space defined by the main pole and the second return path section. |
| US08749914B2 |
Disk-enclosure base configured to inhibit formation of adherent solder-flux residue
A disk-enclosure base that is configured to inhibit formation of adherent solder-flux residue. The disk-enclosure base includes a casting, a through-hole fabricated in the casting, a solder channel, an E-coat layer, and an E-coat-free zone. The E-coat layer is applied to a first portion of an interior surface of the casting. The E-coat-free zone is adjacent to and surrounds the solder channel. The E-coat-free zone also includes a second portion of the interior surface of the casting lying between the solder channel and the E-coated first portion of the interior surface of the casting. The E-coat-free zone is configured to inhibit formation of adherent solder-flux residue. A disk-enclosure-base/electrical-feedthrough assembly that is configured to inhibit formation of adherent solder-flux residue, and a hard-disk drive (HDD) including the disk-enclosure-base/electrical-feedthrough assembly are also provided. |
| US08749913B2 |
Staged storage magazine install in a storage library
Embodiments of the invention include systems and methods for facilitating relatively simple installation and/or removal of magazines in context of modules of a data storage system. For example, it may be desirable to fill a magazine with data storage cartridges and to install the full magazine into the data storage system. Embodiments use staged structural features to sequentially guide and align the magazine into a desired position in a data storage system. The structural features are designed to facilitate relatively simple installation while providing sufficiently accurate and secure positioning. |
| US08749906B2 |
Systems and methods for improved servo data operation
Various embodiments of the present invention provide systems, methods and media formats for efficiently determining a position error of a head in relation to a storage medium. In one case, a system is disclosed that includes a storage medium with a series of data. The series of data includes a first defined marker and a second defined marker located a distance from the first defined marker, and position location data. The systems further include a first detector circuit that is operable to detect the first defined marker and to establish a location of the first defined marker, and a second detector circuit that is operable to detect the second defined marker and to establish a location of the second defined marker. The systems further include an error calculation circuit and an interpolation circuit. The error calculation circuit is operable to calculate an interpolation offset based at least in part on the location of the first defined marker and the location of the second defined marker. The interpolation circuit is operable to interpolate the position location data and to provide an interpolated position location data. |
| US08749905B1 |
Defect scanning for a disk drive
Apparatus and methods for performing defect scanning on a disk drive which includes a disk constructed to have tracks written on the disk for storing data. Test data is concurrently written in more than one track on the disk and the data written to the more than one track is read to detect defects on the disk. |
| US08749904B1 |
Disk drive compensating for track squeeze by writing non-circular servo tracks
A servo writer is disclosed operable to write servo sectors on a disk to define non-circular servo tracks. The servo writer comprises control circuitry including a servo control system operable to measure a position of a head over the disk to generate a position signal, generate a position error signal (PES) representing a difference between the position signal and a reference signal, process the PES with a servo compensator to generate a control signal, and position the head over the disk in response to the control signal. A disturbance is induced into the servo control system, and while positioning the head over the disk in response to the control signal, a plurality of servo sectors are written on the disk to define a servo track, wherein the disturbance induced into the servo control system causes the servo track to be non-circular relative to a rotation axis of the disk. |
| US08749899B1 |
Environment viewing enabling system and method
An environment viewing enabling system for enabling viewing of an environment through a partition. The system enables clear and magnified viewing of the environment therethrough at controllably moveable locations thereof about the partition. The system may constitute a single hand-held exterior housing, for convenience of maneuverability and viewing. The system may include the exterior housing and an interior housing, one of which may be comprised of magnetic material, while the other is comprised of a metallic material, enabling magnetic attraction between the housings. The interior housing may be buoyant, enabling it to float to the top of a liquid environment if it becomes separated during use. The interior housing may include a lens, for enabling a longer field of view of the specimens within the environment. The system may include lighting, for illuminating the specimens within the environment. |
| US08749896B2 |
Imaging lens and imaging apparatus provided with the imaging lens
An imaging lens substantially consisting of six lenses, composed of a first lens having a positive refractive power and a convex surface on the object side, a second lens having a negative refractive power and a concave surface on the image side, a third lens having a positive refractive power and a convex surface on the object side, a fourth lens having a positive refractive power, a fifth lens having a negative refractive power and a concave surface on the image side, and a sixth lens having a negative refractive power with the image side surface having an aspherical shape which is concave on the image side near the optical axis and convex in a peripheral region. |
| US08749895B2 |
Zoom lens barrel
A lens control apparatus having a zoom lens includes first and second operation members that give a zoom instruction for moving the zoom lens, and a controller that changes a zoom stop position to a first pattern according to the operation of the first operation member, and changes the zoom stop position to a second pattern, which has an interval wider than that in the first pattern, according to the operation of the second operation member. |
| US08749893B2 |
Inner focus lens, interchangeable lens apparatus and camera system
An inner focus lens, in order from an object side to an image side, comprising: a first lens unit having positive optical power; a second lens unit having negative optical power; and a third lens unit having positive optical power, wherein the second lens unit is moved along an optical axis so that focusing from an infinite-distance object side to a short-distance object side is achieved, the first lens unit includes a bi-convex air lens, and the following conditions: 0.65<|f2/f|<5.00 and 0.5 |
| US08749888B2 |
Arrangement for producing laser radiation, and laser device comprising such an arrangement
A device for producing laser radiation includes a homogenizer device which can separately homogenize a plurality of groups of partial beams of laser radiation in such a way that each group of partial beams proceeding from the homogenizer device can produce a line-shaped intensity distribution in a work plane, with the distribution having flanks which drop steeply at the line ends. The device further includes a superposition device for superpositioning the groups of partial beams in such a way that a line-shaped or linear intensity distribution having a length longer than the length of each of the line-shaped intensity distributions of the groups of partial beams can be produced in a work plane, wherein the superposition device includes a lens array having a plurality of lenses. |
| US08749884B2 |
Telescopic gun sight free of parallax error
A telescopic gun sight free of parallax error is introduced which can accurately display a weapon's point of aim independent of the position of the shooter's eye. Additionally, the telescopic gun sight provides a wide viewing angle and a long, comfortable eye-relief. |
| US08749882B2 |
Low numerical aperture exclusion imaging
An apparatus for a low numerical aperture exclusion imaging apparatus is provided. The apparatus may include an electromagnetic illumination source for illuminating a portion of a specimen; and for collecting an image created by the electromagnetic radiation an objective lens optically coupled to the electromagnetic illuminated portion of the specimen. The apparatus also includes an optical blocking plate disposed between the objective lens and a focusing lens. The optical blocking plate is positioned to substantially block undesired electromagnetic radiation from image sources distally aligned in the same optical axis as the specimen. This invention enhances narrow depth of field characteristics in imaging and also enhances discreet imaging in a narrow focus field by eliminating some or most of the light which contributes to wide depth of field focus which is useful for optical sectioning ranging from microscopy to photography. Optical sectioning provides the information necessary for 3D image reconstructions and other X Axis spatial measurements. |
| US08749880B2 |
Off axis walk off multi-pass amplifiers
The various laser architectures described herein provide increased gain of optical energy as well as compensation of optical phase distortions in a thin disk gain medium. An optical amplifier presented herein provides for scalable high energy extraction and gains based on a number of passes of the signal beam through a gain medium. Multiple, spatially separate, optical paths may also be passed through the same gain region to provide gain clearing by splitting off a small percentage of an output pulse and sending it back through the amplifier along a slightly different path. By clearing out the residual gain, uniform signal amplitudes can be obtained. |
| US08749878B2 |
Semiconductor optical amplifier device
An apparatus including a semiconductor optical amplifier configured to amplify an input optical signal, and a controller configured to supply preheat current to the semiconductor optical amplifier when the input optical signal is not input to the semiconductor optical amplifier. |
| US08749876B2 |
Regenerative amplifier, laser apparatus, and extreme ultraviolet light generation system
A regenerative amplifier according to one aspect of this disclosure is used in combination with a laser device, and the regenerative amplifier may include: a pair of resonator mirrors constituting an optical resonator; a slab amplifier provided between the pair of the resonator mirrors for amplifying a laser beam with a predetermined wavelength outputted from the laser device; and an optical system disposed to configure a multipass optical path along which the laser beam is reciprocated inside the slab amplifier, the optical system transferring an optical image of the laser beam at a first position as an optical image of the laser beam at a second position. |
| US08749875B2 |
Non-linear optical device
A non-linear optical device includes a frequency-conversion waveguide and first and second input waveguides. The longitudinal axes of the input waveguides are inclined to that of the frequency-conversion waveguide such a first transverse mode is excited in the latter at the input frequency in operation of the device. The frequency-conversion waveguide supports a second transverse mode at an output frequency of the device, such that the phase velocity of the second transverse mode at the output frequency is substantially equal to that of the first transverse mode at the input frequency, thus providing phase-matching by balancing the effects of chromatic and modal dispersion. |
| US08749874B2 |
Optical integration system and method
An optical integration circuit includes a semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA), a readout mechanism coupled to the SOA, and an optical filter coupled to an output of the SOA. The SOA has a decaying response function and an input for receiving an optical input signal having a first wavelength. The SOA is configured to output an optical signal representing a temporal integration of the optical input signal. The readout mechanism provides an optical readout signal having a second wavelength to the SOA for measuring a state of the SOA. The optical filter is configured to receive the signal representing the temporal integration of the optical input signal and block optical signals having the first wavelength. |
| US08749865B2 |
Electrowetting display device
An electrowetting display device includes a first base substrate, a plurality of first electrodes disposed on the first base substrate and positioned to respectively correspond to positions of a plurality of pixels, a partition wall disposed on the first base substrate to partition the pixels, a second electrode disposed on the partition wall and including a plurality of openings, a second base substrate facing the first base substrate, and an electrowetting layer disposed between the first base substrate and the second base substrate, the electrowetting layer respectively being moved by voltages respectively applied to the first electrode and the second electrode. |
| US08749864B2 |
Image reading optical system and image reading apparatus
An image reading optical system, including: an imaging optical system used for imaging a slit area of a document and includes an optical element having different cross section shapes in a main scanning direction and in a sub-scanning direction; an aperture stop; and an optical phase changing filter disposed adjacent to the aperture stop and including a phase lead area and a phase delay area, in which the optical phase changing filter includes a surface shape component that is symmetric only with respect to a predetermined plane including a surface normal at the center of the incident beam and one of the main scanning direction and the sub-scanning direction, and with respect to a surface that includes the surface normal at the center of the incident beam and is perpendicular to the predetermined plane, one side is the phase lead area, and another side is the phase delay area. |
| US08749856B2 |
Configuration for multiple reading units in an image reading device
An image reading device includes a holding surface that holds a first document, a conveyor unit that conveys a second document along a conveying path, a first contact surface that contacts a first side of the second document when the conveyor unit conveys the second document, a second contact surface that contacts a second side of the second document when the conveyor unit conveys the second document, and reading units. A first reading unit reads an image on a side of the first document held by the holding surface, and reads an image on the first side of the second document being conveyed by the conveyor unit. A second reading unit is disposed above the second contact surface and reads an image on the second side of the second document. The second reading unit is disposed not to overlap the first reading unit in an up down direction. |
| US08749853B2 |
Image data display apparatus, image data display method, and image data display computer program product
An image data display apparatus includes a display section configured to display images to be printed in the form of thumbnails; a reception section configured to receive image data and print data for the image data; a memory configured to store the image data and the print data; and a controller configured to determine a display order of the display in the form of thumbnails performed by the display section. The controller extracts from the memory image data items to which the print data is attached, and displays in the form of thumbnails on the display section the image data items to which the print data is attached. |
| US08749852B2 |
Method of embedding a plurality of different two-dimensional codes in an image
The purpose of the present invention is to prevent a two-dimensional code to be additionally embedded from corrupting a two-dimensional code which has been embedded when a document in which the two-dimensional code has been embedded is copied or when a document in which the two-dimensional code has been embedded is overlaid on form data in which the two-dimensional code has been embedded. In the present invention, when it is detected that a second two-dimensional code is embedded in an input image, the input image is printed without overlay of a first two-dimensional code thereon. Furthermore, when form data for overlaying is stored, when it is detected that a third two-dimensional code is embedded in the form data or when it is detected that a second two-dimensional code is embedded in an input image, the input image is output without overlay of a first two-dimensional code thereon. |
| US08749842B2 |
Image processor
A converting unit executes a color conversion process for image data according to a normal profile when a determining unit determines that a prescribed setting is not set for the image data. The converting unit executes the color conversion process for the image data according to a colorant-saving profile configured such that an amount of colorant to be used in the colorant-saving profile is smaller than that in the normal profile when the determining unit determines that the prescribed setting is set for the image data. One of a plurality of input color values of the image data is converted to one of the plurality of output color values according to the colorant-saving profile in the color conversion process. The one of the plurality of input color values has a first hue. The one of the plurality of output color values has a second hue different from the first hue. |
| US08749840B2 |
Image forming apparatus, image processor, image processing method and computer readable medium
An image forming apparatus includes: an image processing unit acquiring image data, performing image processing, and generating color image data for respective colors; plural toner image forming units each forming and developing an electrostatic latent image on the basis of the color image data, and forming a color toner image; and a toner image holding member moving while holding each color toner image. Each electrostatic latent image has pixel rows arranged in a slow scan direction, with pixels aligned in a fast scan direction. The image processing unit performs, on the color image data, image processing to add or delete the pixel rows for a position of the electrostatic latent image in the slow scan direction. The number of the pixel rows corresponds to the amount of change in a moving velocity of the toner image holding member when each color toner image formed at the position is held. |
| US08749836B2 |
Page image treatment
An average size of a plurality of page images is determined, and a size of a first one of the page images is determined. The size of the first page image is compared to the average size. If the size of the first page image is larger than the average size by a first predetermined amount and larger than the average size by less than a second predetermined amount, then the first page image is rotated for printing. If the size of the first page image is larger than the average size by at least the second predetermined amount, then the first page images divided into multiple pages for printing. |
| US08749834B2 |
Information processing apparatus that perform margin reduction depending on the column group structure, method for controlling same, and storage medium on which computer program has been recorded
A computer executes blocking processing for an object based on the size of a blank space between objects included in document data to thereby generate a block. Then, the computer divides the block in the vertical direction, and detects the column group structure of document data based on the division result. When a multiple-column structure is included in the detected column group structure, the computer performs reblocking processing for an object of a column included in a column group area corresponding to the multiple-column structure. Then, the computer performs margin reduction processing for reducing a blank space between blocks included in the column group area by setting the column group area subject to reblocking as the subject to be processed. |
| US08749829B2 |
Image forming system which forms an image by raster image processor processing for print data, and control method for the same
An image forming system configured to execute RIP processing for print data not subjected to the RIP processing so as to produce image data, and to form an image based on the image data, includes a plurality of image forming apparatuses which are coupled in tandem, and each of which is assigned to form an image on one of regions of an recording sheet, wherein the plurality of image forming apparatuses include first and second image forming apparatuses, the first image forming apparatus is configured to execute the RIP processing for the print data so as to produce the image data, and the second image forming apparatus is configured to supply the image data produced by the RIP processing in the first image forming apparatus to each of the plurality of image forming apparatuses in synchronization with a timing of image formation in each of plurality of image forming apparatuses. |
| US08749827B2 |
Image processing apparatus, server apparatus, control method thereof, and storage medium
When a web server generates a preview screen, the web server transmits conversion information (e.g., an image size) for generating a preview image to a multifunction peripheral (MFP). The MFP generates converted image data using the conversion information, and transmits the converted image data to a web server. |
| US08749825B2 |
Image processing apparatus, method and non-transitory computer readable medium storing program with variable polling interval
An image processing apparatus includes: an acquiring unit that acquires a display request including a first external apparatus identification information and screen identification information; a storage unit storing external apparatus screen information; an update unit updating the first external apparatus screen information whenever the display request is acquired; a determining unit determining a polling interval for a first external apparatus on the basis of the stored external apparatus screen information; and a transmitting unit transmitting, to the first external apparatus, screen data which includes information of the determined polling interval, wherein, when a second external apparatus identification information item corresponding to the same screen identification information as that in the display request is stored in the storage unit, the determining unit determines the polling interval for the first external apparatus to be less than that for a second external apparatus indicated by the second external apparatus identification information item. |
| US08749824B2 |
Image processing apparatus, method and non-transitory computer readable medium using variable screen update polling interval
An image processing apparatus includes: a receiving unit that receives a screen update request including identification information of a screen and a job start request including identification information of a job; a database that defines a relationship between the identification information of the screen, the identification information of the job, and a polling interval corresponding to a degree of association between the screen and the job; a determining unit that determines the polling interval corresponding to the degree of association between the screen and the job on the basis of the identification information of the screen and the identification information of the job received by the receiving unit and the database; and a transmitting unit that incorporates information of the determined polling interval into screen data and transmits the incorporated screen data to an external apparatus that outputs the screen update request. |
| US08749823B2 |
Image forming apparatus that communicates with a portable terminal device, and information processing system
An image processing apparatus includes a near field communication (NFC) unit that establishes, when a portable terminal device comes near the NFC unit, wireless communication with the portable terminal device; a short-range communication unit that has a larger wireless communication coverage than that of the NFC unit, establishes, after the wireless communication has been established and connection setting information has been received via the NFC unit, wireless communication with the portable terminal device by using the connection setting information; a data processing unit that performs data processing on data received via the short-range communication unit; a printer unit that prints out the processed data; and a control unit that controls, when the data received via the short-range communication unit is determined to contain data about image processing control, processing performed by the data processing unit or the printer unit in accordance with the data about image processing control. |
| US08749820B2 |
Image forming apparatus that stores plural print jobs, control method and program thereof
In a network printer, in order to handle tincture variations, if all the waiting print jobs are held in two types of formats, that is, PDL and half-tone print data generated by expanding the PDL, a required memory capacity is increased. Moreover, if the tincture variations occurs, all the waiting print jobs need rendering again. When the print job is to be stored, the received PDL is expanded, continuous-tone data is generated, and the continuous-tone data is JPEG-compressed. If a compression rate is high, the print job (print image data) is stored in the JPEG format. Even if the compression rate is low, storage of only the PDL or of PDL and the half-tone print data is selected according to expansion time of the PDL. |
| US08749819B2 |
Information processing for controlling a printer
Upon receiving a job-end event from a printer, a data transfer unit executes job-end processing for completing processing relating to a print job. A communication control unit monitors the processing status of the data transfer unit notifies the job management unit of end of the print job after it has been determined, as a result of monitoring, that the job-end processing has been completed. |
| US08749816B2 |
Printing system, printing apparatus, and dolly designation method
A printing system includes, for example, a printing apparatus which forms an image on a sheet, and a plurality of dollies which are assigned different dolly identification information and used to stack the sheet discharged from the discharging port of the printing apparatus. The printing system also includes a designation unit which designates a dolly to be used for a print job, and an output unit which outputs alert information when the dolly designated by the designation unit is not allocated at the discharging port. |
| US08749813B2 |
Methods, devices and systems for encoding graphical primitives
Encoding a graphical element for processing can utilize an edge pair format in which the graphical element is divided into multiple objects, where each object contains exactly two edges which do not cross or self-intersect. Another format is a run-length encoding (RLE) format in which the graphical element is divided into multiple lines, where the RLE format includes an X start position, a Y start position, a length of a first of the lines, and, for each subsequent line, indications of right and left edge steps relative to the immediately proceeding line. |
| US08749812B2 |
Variable data printing method utilizing separate printers for different content
A variable data printing (VDP) method is disclosed in which different types of contents on each piece of the VDP production, such as color form contents and black and white contents, are printed using different types of printers, such as color printers and black and white printers, respectively. The color form content is printed first to form partially printed sheets. Partially printed sheet carrying different color contents are loaded into different input trays of the black and white printers. The black and white content is printed on the partially printed sheets using the black and white printers. When printing the black and white content, the color data in the input VDP data is excluded. The job tickets for the black and white print jobs specify the input trays to be used so that the appropriate partially printed sheet is selected for each black and white print job. |
| US08749809B2 |
Approach for managing printer driver settings
An approach is provided for managing printer driver settings. According to the approach, printer driver settings specified by a user for electronic data are maintained as a “print tag”. Print tags may be stored, either local to a client device or remotely to a client device, and later retrieved when electronic data is to be printed again. This allows printer driver settings to be maintained on a per electronic data, e.g., electronic document, basis and re-used any number of times. It also allows printer driver settings to be persistently maintained when the execution of application programs and print drivers is terminated or in the event of failures. Print tags may be shared among different users to allow multiple users to easily and conveniently use the same printer driver settings to print the same electronic data, without each user having to manually enter the printer driver settings. |
| US08749808B2 |
Printing apparatus and method of controlling same
It is determined whether a password for a secure print function has been appended to print data, which is to be reprinted, that has been stored in a memory for storing this print data received from a host computer. A prescribed period of time up to the moment of data deletion regarding the print data for which it has been determined that the secure print password has been appended thereto is set to be different from a prescribed period of time up to the moment of data deletion regarding the print data for which it has been determined that the secure print password has not been appended thereto. |
| US08749807B2 |
Method, system, and terminal for printed matter security
Disclosed are a system and a method for printed matter security. A method for printed matter security according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention includes: receiving policy information, information of a monitoring application program, and pattern information of personal information from a security server; inserting a printing interruption module in the monitoring application program when the monitoring application program corresponding to the information of the application program is executed; storing a content of a printing request by interrupting the printing request of the monitoring application program by the printing interruption module; verifying whether the personal information is included in the content of the printing request, using the pattern information; and performing an information protection function corresponding to the policy information when the personal information is included in the content of the printing request. |
| US08749804B2 |
Image forming apparatus, image forming system, and computer program product for setting a conveying speed
An image forming apparatus includes: an original conveying unit that conveys an original; an original scanning unit that scans the original conveyed by the original conveying unit so as to generate an image of the original; a plotter unit that draws the image on a recording medium; an abnormality detecting unit that detects an abnormality in the plotter unit; and a control unit that, when the abnormality detecting unit detects the abnormality in the plotter unit, shuts off first power supply to the original scanning unit, and sets a first conveying speed of the original by the original conveying unit to be higher than a second conveying speed when the original is scanned by the original scanning unit. |
| US08749798B2 |
Methods and systems for measuring openings using photogrammetry
Method and system for measuring an opening at least partially defined by a surface. A plurality of target bodies are positioned about a circumference of a target body holder that is sized to fit within the opening. The target bodies are forced radially outward to cause at least one of the target bodies to be positioned against the surface. A geometric property of the opening is determined based at least partially on a location of at least one of the target bodies positioned against the surface. |
| US08749792B2 |
Device for optical measurement of materials, using multiplexing of light
A device for optical measurement of materials includes a zone opposite a dot including a material, a light source emitting light along an axis in the direction of the zone, where the material interacts with the light it receives, and a light guide to convey a proportion of the light emitted by the dot under the effect of the illumination. The guide includes a light scatterer associated with the source and causing a proportion of the light emitted by the dot to penetrate into the guide, such that it is guided in a direction perpendicular to the axis; the scatterer is annular in shape, and thus delimits a zone of the light guide, and the area of the zone is greater than or equal to the area of the cross-section of the portion of light beam incident to the material. |
| US08749787B2 |
Fluorescence detecting apparatus and fluorescence detecting method
Excitation light beam is irradiated onto a test region while shifting the irradiation position thereof, when performing analysis of a target substance using an analysis chip having the test region within a flow channel through which a sample solution is caused to flow, for capturing the target substance within the sample solution. Fluorescence generated at the test region is detected as a plurality of adjustment fluorescence signals. The target substance is analyzed using fluorescence generated when the excitation light beam is irradiated at an irradiation position within the test region determined based on the plurality of adjustment fluorescence signals. |
| US08749786B2 |
Inspection method and apparatus, and corresponding lithographic apparatus
A method and associated apparatus determine an overlay error on a substrate. A beam is projected onto three or more targets. Each target includes first and second overlapping patterns with predetermined overlay offsets on the substrate. The asymmetry of the radiation reflected from each target on the substrate is measured. The overlay error not resultant from the predetermined overlay offsets is determined. The function that enables calculation of overlay from asymmetry for other points on the wafer is determined by limiting the effect of linearity error when determining the overlay error from the function. |
| US08749783B2 |
System and method for analyzing pore sizes of substrates
A system for analyzing the pore size of a substrate or device containing substrates adapted to separate fluids and has at least two surfaces, a first and a second surface, which are isolated from, one another and wherein the substrate or devices containing the substrates have an exit for fluids passing through the substrate, comprising: a) a particle generator (15) capable of generating particles of a controlled size; b) a system (18) for creating a pressure differential between the first and the second surface of the substrate; c) a light source (24) spaced front the exit of the substrate or device containing the substrate adapted for illuminating particles exiting the exit of the substrate or device containing the substrate; d) a closed flow path from the particle generator to the first surface of the substrate; e) a substrate or device holder (11) adapted for holding the substrate or device in the proper location in the system; and f) one or more reference images. Also described are methods of utilizing the system to identify pore sizes of substrates. |
| US08749778B2 |
Method for evaluation of oxide semiconductor electrode, apparatus for evaluation of oxide semiconductor electrode, and apparatus for production of oxide semiconductor electrode
Disclosed herein is a method for evaluation of an oxide semiconductor electrode, the method comprising: performing Raman spectrometry on a porous oxide semiconductor layer having a dye adsorbed thereto, thereby acquiring a Raman spectrum having a peak attributable to the dye and a peak attributable to the oxide semiconductor; obtaining from the Raman spectrum a parameter for dye adsorption quantity which is defined by the formula: Parameter for dye adsorption quantity=(Peak intensity attributable to dye)/(Peak intensity attributable to oxide semiconductor); and estimating the amount of the dye adsorbed to the porous oxide semiconductor layer on the basis of the thus obtained parameter for dye adsorption quantity. |
| US08749774B2 |
Integrating sphere photometer and measuring method of the same
Provided are an integrating sphere photometer and a measuring method of the same. The integrating sphere photometer includes a plurality of photodetectors, an integrating sphere having through-holes formed to correspond to the photodetectors, baffles disposed inside the integrating sphere in front of the photodetectors to be spaced apart from the photodetectors, a photometer disposed at a through-hole, and an adjustment unit adjusting output signals of the photodetectors to have the same output signal with respect to light illuminated from a point-like standard light source disposed at a center region in the integrating sphere. |
| US08749772B2 |
Integrated photodiode wavelength monitor
An optical wavelength monitor photodiode integrated on a wafer and/or an optical device and coupled to optical components thereof provides wavelength measurement. The optical wavelength monitor includes a photodiode configured to output a signal that is representative of a wavelength of the light. An additional photodiode may be included in the optical wavelength monitor, each photodiode differing from the other in operating characteristics. The monitor may be used in testing the optical device while in wafer form and when the optical device has been cleaved from the wafer at the bar level. Testing/monitoring of the optical device may also be performed during use, for example, to control the wavelength of a laser such as a tunable laser. |
| US08749762B2 |
Lithographic apparatus and device manufacturing method
A lithographic apparatus includes an illumination system to provide a beam of radiation, a support to support a patterning devices, the patterning devices configured to impart the beam with a pattern in its cross-section, a substrate table to hold a substrate, a projection system to project the patterned beam onto a target portion of the substrate, and a conditioning system to condition the substrate. The conditioning system conditions a non-target portion of the substrate with a conditioning fluid. A method of manufacturing a device includes conditioning a non-target portion of a substrate. |
| US08749761B2 |
Displacement measurement device, exposure apparatus, and working device
A device has a scale on which a grating pattern is formed, a light source to irradiate light on the scale, a wavelength plate to transform multiple diffracted lights from the light source into circular polarized light, respectively, an optical element to superposition and cause interference of the multiple diffracted lights, and a photodetector to receive the interfered light. Also, a generating unit to generate linearly polarized light by the light from the light source, so that the multiple diffracted lights input to the wavelength plate become linearly polarized light with a same mutual polarization direction. |
| US08749747B2 |
Method of manufacturing liquid crystal panel, glass substrate for liquid crystal panel, and liquid crystal panel including the same
A method of manufacturing a liquid crystal panel according to the present invention includes the steps of providing a marking pad including a marking region formed of a stack constituted only of a metal film serving as a lower layer and an ITO film serving as an upper layer on a main surface of a glass substrate, bonding a glass substrate to the glass substrate so as to be opposed to the main surface of the marking region in the marking pad at a distance therefrom, and providing marking by providing a through hole in the marking region in the marking pad by irradiating the marking region in the marking pad with laser beams through the glass substrate. Thus, the marking pad provided on the glass substrate for the liquid crystal panel can be provided with marking of high definition even though laser beams are emitted through another glass substrate for a liquid crystal panel paired with the glass substrate for the liquid crystal panel. |
| US08749746B2 |
Liquid crystal panel including pairs of pillar structures, and liquid crystal display device including the liquid crystal panel
A liquid crystal panel including a pair of substrates facing each other with a space in between and a liquid crystal layer disposed in the space between the pair of substrates. Further, the liquid crystal panel includes a plurality of pairs of pillar structures. Each pair of pillar structures is arranged on opposing faces of the pair of substrates, respectively, to face each other along a normal to the opposing faces. With the benefit of such pillar configuration, degradation of the liquid crystal panel due to an external pressure may be decreased. |
| US08749744B2 |
Liquid crystal device and electronic apparatus
A first peripheral electrode and a second peripheral electrode are provided at a peripheral region sandwiched between a pixel region and a seal material in a first substrate of a liquid crystal device, and strength of electric potentials which are applied to the first peripheral electrode, the second peripheral electrode, and a common electrode of an opposite substrate satisfies the condition of the second peripheral electrode |
| US08749743B2 |
Cholesteric liquid crystal display devices and methods of manufacturing the same
In a method of manufacturing a single-layer cholesteric liquid crystal display device, a liquid crystal composition of a cholesteric phase is formed between a first substrate and a second substrate. A plurality of liquid crystal layers are formed by sequentially adjusting the temperature of the cholesteric phase liquid crystal composition and performing a plurality of optical curing processes on the cholesteric phase liquid crystal composition. Each of the plurality of liquid crystal layers corresponds to one of the plurality of subpixels. |
| US08749739B2 |
Liquid crystal display device
A display device includes first and second substrates, first and second, red, green and blue color filters, disposed between the first and second substrates, and arranged in a first direction, a first light blocking film disposed between the first red and the green color filters, a second light blocking film disposed between the green and the blue color filters, and a third light blocking film disposed between the blue and the second red color filters, and signal lines, thin film transistors, and pixel electrodes formed on the first substrate. The first, second, and third light blocking films are overlapped with the signal lines. A width of a part of the second light blocking film disposed between the pixel electrodes in the first direction is larger than a width of a part of the first light blocking film disposed between the pixel electrodes in the first direction. |
| US08749736B2 |
Color filter using surface plasmon, liquid crystal display device and method for fabricating the same
Discussed are a color filter using a surface plasmon, a liquid crystal display (LCD) device and a method for fabricating the same, capable of enhancing a transmittance rate of an LC panel, by forming a transmissive pattern having a plurality of sub-wavelength holes having a period at a metal layer so that light of a specific wavelength can be selectively transmitted, and capable of simplifying the entire processed. |
| US08749729B2 |
Light guide plate, surface-emitting apparatus, liquid crystal display apparatus, and method of producing a light guide plate
A light guide plate includes a light-emitting surface, a light-reflecting surface opposed to the light-emitting surface, and a light-incident surface including a protrusion formed continuously along an edge portion of the light-emitting surface. Accordingly, light that has entered the protrusion is transmitted through the protrusion and totally reflected on an inner surface of the light-emitting surface to thus propagate inside the light guide plate. As described above, since incident light components emitted toward an upper portion of the light-incident surface can be effectively blocked by the protrusion, luminance distribution characteristics as well as a light use efficiency can be improved. The light guide plate is produced by a punching press process. |
| US08749725B2 |
Flat panel display apparatus and method of manufacturing the same
A flat panel display apparatus including a gate electrode on a substrate, a first insulating layer and a semiconductor layer sequentially stacked on the gate electrode and including a transparent conductive oxide, a capacitor first electrode extending on a plane on which the gate electrode extends, and a capacitor second electrode extending on a plane on which the semiconductor layer extends and including a material of the semiconductor layer, wherein the first insulating layer is between the capacitor second electrode and the semiconductor layer, source and drain electrodes that are separated by a second insulating layer and are connected to the semiconductor layer and the capacitor second electrode, a third insulating layer covering the source and drain electrodes, and a pixel electrode electrically connected to the source or drain electrode on the third insulating layer and being electrically connected to one of the source electrode and/or the drain electrode. |
| US08749721B2 |
Touching display panel and display device using the same
A touching display panel and a display device using the same are provided. The touching display panel includes a liquid crystal layer, a first substrate having a hard surface structure, a second substrate, a touch sensor layer, a thin-film transistor layer, and a color filter layer. The first and second substrates are respectively disposed at two sides of the liquid crystal layer. The touch sensor layer is disposed between the first substrate and the liquid crystal layer, and is formed on the first substrate. The thin-film transistor layer and the color filter layer are both disposed between the first substrate and the second substrate. At least one of the thin-film transistor layer and the color filter layer is formed on the first substrate. |
| US08749720B2 |
Exposing device
An exposing device includes: a first light-emitting element that emits first light; a second light-emitting element that emits second light; and a liquid crystal panel that is disposed between the first and second light-emitting elements and a photoreceptor body to be exposed to the second light, and focuses the second light on the photoreceptor body by a convex refractive index distribution that is formed in the liquid crystal panel by an orientation variation that is caused by illumination with the first light. |
| US08749715B2 |
Information processing system and information processing method
According to one embodiment, an information processing system includes a television receiver, a mobile terminal, and an interface. The terminal includes a wireless controller configured to acquire a state signal from the television receiver and to supply a control signal to the television receiver. The interface is provided in the television receiver or the terminal and configured to convert a state acquisition request and a control signal from the controller into a request and a signal which can be detected by the television receiver and to convert a state signal from the television receiver into a state signal which can be detected by the controller. |
| US08749713B2 |
Video processing apparatus and method
There are provided a video processing apparatus and a video processing method. The video processing apparatus includes: a buffer for storing data of an image frame inputted from the outside in the unit of line; a memory unit for randomly writing and reading data; a video processing unit for processing and outputting the image frame; and a central processing unit for inverting the image frame left-side right and/or upside down when writing the image frame stored in the buffer in the memory unit and/or reading the image frame from in the memory unit. |
| US08749710B2 |
Method and apparatus for concealing portions of a video screen
A simple, cost-effective, and robust method and system to obstruct crawls, logos, and other annoying and distracting images overlaid on a video signal and displayed on a TV set or monitor is provided. The method and system may detect the presence of the unwanted images and block them automatically, or they may accept manual input from the user via a handheld control device to block or obstruct these images. |
| US08749704B2 |
Video terminal and method for forming display images
A video terminal and display image forming method are provided that enable power consumption to be reduced while maintaining a moving image display quality level sensed by a user, even if a variety of types of images are displayed superimposed on a moving image, and a method of representing such images is complicated. In a video output apparatus (100), an update rate adjustment section (104) decides a moving image update rate based on a “moving image exposure area.” Specifically, the update rate adjustment section (104) decides an update rate based on an update rate adjustment table in which moving image status pattern candidates are associated with update rate target values, and a moving image status pattern actually used in a display image forming section (103). A moving image status pattern candidate is a combination of “moving image exposure area,” presence or absence of special processing, and type of special processing. |
| US08749702B2 |
Network camera assembly
The invention relates to a network camera comprising an image acquisition part, an image processing part, a flat cable connecting the image acquisition part with a first end of the image processing part, and an inlet for an external data cable arranged at a second end of the image processing part. The image acquisition part is tiltable around a first axis in relation to the image processing part, the image processing part and the image acquisition part in combination are rotatable around a second axis, and the first and second axes are essentially perpendicular to each other. |
| US08749700B2 |
Combined camera and flash lens
Disclosed is an electronic device, comprising an image sensor; a flash; a lens having a flash portion for covering the flash, an image sensor portion for covering the image sensor and an etching for reducing optical interference at the image sensor from the flash; and, a housing for housing the image sensor and the flash. |
| US08749699B2 |
Method and device for video processing using a neighboring frame to calculate motion information
A video processing method includes: dividing a currently processed frame into a top field and a bottom field, and performing field exposure on the top field and the bottom field respectively to acquire an exposed top field and an exposed bottom field, where a field exposure time length of the top field and that of the bottom field are different; processing the exposed top field and the exposed bottom field by using a de-interlacing technique to acquire two reconstructed exposed frames; and performing image enhancement processing on the two reconstructed exposed frames to acquire an image of the currently processed frame. |
| US08749697B2 |
Image capturing apparatus and control method thereof
An image capturing apparatus comprises: an image sensor having multiple segmental pixels each including multiple photoelectric conversion units arranged two-dimensionally for receiving light beams that have passed through different pupil regions, the photoelectric conversion units being divided for each segmental pixel in a first or second pupil-division direction for addition reading; a determination unit configured to determine an edge direction of an image for each divided area of the image sensor; a decision unit configured to, based on the determined edge direction, decide for each divided area either the first or second pupil-division direction; a reading control unit configured to perform addition reading of the segmental pixels by dividing the photoelectric conversion units in the first or second pupil-division direction decided, and to control the image sensor such that pairs of image signals are outputted; and a focus adjusting unit configured to carry out phase difference focus adjustments. |
| US08749694B2 |
Methods and apparatus for rendering focused plenoptic camera data using super-resolved demosaicing
A super-resolved demosaicing technique for rendering focused plenoptic camera data performs simultaneous super-resolution and demosaicing. The technique renders a high-resolution output image from a plurality of separate microimages in an input image at a specified depth of focus. For each point on an image plane of the output image, the technique determines a line of projection through the microimages in optical phase space according to the current point and angle of projection determined from the depth of focus. For each microimage, the technique applies a kernel centered at a position on the current microimage intersected by the line of projection to accumulate, from pixels at each microimage covered by the kernel at the respective position, values for each color channel weighted according to the kernel. A value for a pixel at the current point in the output image is computed from the accumulated values for the color channels. |
| US08749689B2 |
Detecting unit configured to detect temperature of image capturing unit
An image capturing apparatus has a plurality of predetermined temperatures to be compared with the temperature of an image sensor. Every time a detected temperature of the image sensor exceeds one of the plurality of temperatures, a different predetermined indication corresponding to the predetermined temperature is displayed on a display device together with an image signal output from the image sensor, thereby giving a warning to the user. |
| US08749687B2 |
Apparatus and method of capturing jump image
A method of capturing an image of a subject jumping performed by an apparatus for processing digital images with a first and a second display is disclosed. The method includes displaying a notification for the subject to jump on the second display unit; and capturing the image of the subject jumping after the displaying of the notification has indicated that the subject should jump. An apparatus for capturing an image of a subject jumping, the apparatus including a first display unit disposed on a rear of the apparatus; a second display unit disposed on a front of the apparatus; and a digital signal processor configured to display a notification for the subject to jump on the second display unit, and configured to capture the image of the subject jumping after the display of the notification to jump has ended. |
| US08749686B2 |
CCD image sensors and methods
In various embodiments, image sensors include photosensitive pixels, associated vertical CCDs, sense nodes each accepting charge from one or more of the vertical CCDs, and readout circuitry accepting signals from the sense nodes. |
| US08749685B2 |
Solid-state imaging device, driving method thereof, and imaging apparatus
A solid-state imaging device includes: light receiving portions that accumulate signal charges corresponding to incident light; charge transfer portions that are formed to be adjacent to the light receiving portions so as to transfer the signal charges read out from the light receiving portions; readout electrodes to which a readout voltage for reading out the signal charges accumulated in the light receiving portions to the charge transfer portions is applied; and a controller that is configured to be able to apply the readout voltage to the readout electrodes corresponding to first predetermined light receiving portions which are part of the light receiving portions in an exposure period when the signal charges are accumulated in the light receiving portions. |
| US08749680B2 |
Image pickup device
An image pickup device may include an image pickup unit in which unit pixels having photoelectric conversion elements are arranged, the unit pixels outputting pixel signals, a reference signal generation unit, a comparison unit that includes a differential amplifier unit and a reset unit, the differential amplifier unit comparing a voltage of the first input terminal to a voltage of the second input terminal, a measurement unit that measures a comparison time of the comparison unit from a comparison start to a comparison end, and a change unit that changes the voltage of the first input terminal so that a voltage difference between the first input terminal and the second input terminal is set to a voltage at which a comparison operation by the comparison unit is ensured after a reset operation by the reset unit. |
| US08749678B2 |
Solid-state imaging apparatus
A solid-state imaging apparatus which performs a global exposure operation, in a determined imaging region, for performing exposure as matching respective start times and respective end times of all rows, comprises: plural unit pixels arranged in two-dimensional matrix and each comprising a photoelectric converting unit for generating a pixel signal by photoelectric conversion, a holding unit for holding the generated pixel signal, and a first gate for transferring the generated pixel signal to the holding unit; a first controlling line connected commonly to the first gates in the unit pixels on the same row; a vertical controlling circuit for resetting the unit pixel; and a first driving line connected to the first controlling line, and not connected to and thus independent of the vertical controlling circuit, thereby enabling to reduce a current flowing in a power supply of the vertical controlling circuit when driving electrodes of the holding units. |
| US08749675B2 |
Solid state image pickup device and camera which can prevent color mixture
A solid state image pickup device which can prevent color mixture by using a layout of a capacitor region provided separately from a floating diffusion region and a camera using such a device are provided. A photodiode region is a rectangular region including a photodiode. A capacitor region includes a carrier holding unit and is arranged on one side of the rectangle of the photodiode region as a region having a side longer than the one side. In a MOS unit region, an output unit region including an output unit having a side longer than the other side which crosses the one side of the rectangle of the photodiode region is arranged on the other side. A gate region and the FD region are arranged between the photodiode region and the capacitor region. |
| US08749672B2 |
Digital camera having a multi-spectral imaging device
A multi-spectral imaging device includes pixels R, G, B, λ1, λ2, . . . , λ12 composing color sensors for four or more colors having mutually differing spectral sensitivity characteristics. In a first signal readout mode, an image signal including all of four or more types of signals read from the pixels composing the color sensors for the four or more colors is read from the multi-spectral imaging device. In a second signal readout mode, an image signal having a smaller number of colors than that of the first signal readout mode is read such that a narrower gamut than a gamut that can be reproduced by the image signal read in the first signal readout mode is formed. |
| US08749670B1 |
Digital camera and image sensor readout method with black level calibration
A digital camera and an image sensor readout method with black level calibration are disclosed. In a readout circuit of the digital camera, a black reference for black level calibration and an analog-to-digital conversion reference voltage for analog-to-digital conversion are generated from reference voltages provided by one voltage ladder. Device-to-device variations of sensor characteristics are considered when selecting the reference voltage for generating the black reference, and, a gain between the selected reference voltage and the black reference varies with a gain of a programmable gain amplifier coupled after a compensator. The compensator subtracts the black reference from a sensed signal that the readout circuit receives from an image sensor of the digital camera. |
| US08749668B2 |
Adaptive pixel compensation method
An adaptive pixel compensation method for an image processing apparatus includes receiving an image array data, calculating an average of luminance values of a first plurality of green sub-pixels surrounding the green sub-pixel as a first average value, calculating an average of luminance values of a second plurality of green sub-pixels surrounding the green sub-pixel as a second average value, calculating an absolute luminance difference value of the first average value and the second average value, calculating an average luminance gradient value of the green sub-pixel and a third plurality of green sub-pixels surrounding the green sub-pixel, and determining whether to compensate the green sub-pixel according to a luminance value of the green sub-pixel, the absolute luminance difference value and the average luminance gradient value. |
| US08749661B2 |
Imaging compositions of multiple images having different image ranges
The present invention relates to an imaging apparatus and method and program whereby composition can more readily be confirmed.An imaging unit 432 receives light from a lens 431 and images an imaging image; an extracting unit 435 extracts an extracted image which is an image having a different size from the imaging image and which includes a subject having a high degree of focus; a synthesizing unit 436 synthesizes the extracted image so that the positions of the subject match to the imaging image; and a display unit 438 displays the imaging image of the portions corresponding to a predetermined region having the same size as the extracted image in the display region wherein the entire imaging image can be displayed, and displays the extracted image that has been synthesized with the imaging image. The present invention can be applied to a digital camera, for example. |
| US08749659B2 |
Image processing program, image processing method, image processing apparatus, and image pickup apparatus
A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium stores a process for causing a computer to execute a method including the steps of acquiring optical transfer function information corresponding to an image pickup condition of a picked-up image (S102), generating a restoration image using correction optical transfer function information that is obtained by correcting the optical transfer function information using a correction value (S106-S108), and setting a settable range of the correction value based on an inverse characteristic of the optical transfer function information (S103, S104). |
| US08749654B2 |
Detecting objects from images of different resolutions
An image is input on a frame unit basis, the input image is sequentially reduced, and an object is detected from the input image and the reduced image at a frame rate according to a reduction ratio of the reduced image to the input image, thereby decreasing an amount of calculations necessary to detect the object from the image. |
| US08749649B1 |
Digital still camera with multiple frames combined into a single frame for digital anti-shake/anti-blur
A method of capturing a still frame is disclosed. The method generally includes the steps of (A) generating a plurality of initial frames with a sensor in response to an optical signal and (B) generating the still frame by combining the initial frames using a noise reduction technique. |
| US08749648B1 |
System for camera motion compensation
An apparatus including one or more motion sensors, a first circuit, and a second circuit. The one or more motion sensors may be configured to generate motion samples representing motion of a camera. The first circuit may be configured to record a plurality of the motion samples from the one or more motion sensors while capturing image data with the camera. The second circuit may be configured to transfer information about the motion of the camera based on the plurality of motion samples. The information about the motion of the camera may be transferred within a bitstream carrying the image data captured by the camera. |
| US08749644B2 |
Method and apparatus for video stabilization by compensating for view direction of camera
A video stabilization method includes: measuring an inter-frame camera motion based on a difference angle of a relative camera view direction in comparison with a reference camera view direction in each frame of a frame sequence of a video; generating a camera motion path of the frame sequence by using the inter-frame camera motion and determining a camera view direction adjustment angle based on a user's view direction by using the camera motion path; and compensating for the camera view direction by using the camera view direction adjustment angle in each frame. |
| US08749643B2 |
Suspension wire for compensating for hand vibration and image photographing device having the same
Disclosed herein are a suspension wire for compensating for hand vibration and an image photographing device having the same. The suspension wire for compensating for hand vibration, which is mounted between an optical unit and a housing so as to have a length thereof in an optical axis direction to float and support the optical unit within the housing, includes: a wire body having both ends thereof each fixed to the optical unit and the housing; and a deformation buffer formed in the wire body to allow the wire body to flexibly receive impact force when external impact is applied to the wire body, thereby preventing permanent deformation or fracture of the wire body. |
| US08749641B1 |
Detecting media source quality to determine introduced phenomenon
A system and method for detecting media source quality are provided. The system includes a data store comprising a computer readable medium storing a program of instructions for the detection of media source quality; a processor that executes the program of instructions; a video data receiver to receive video raw data, the video raw data corresponding to an uploaded and transcoded video; a video improver to apply a video improvement technique to the received video raw data to produce a modified version of the video raw data; and a video quality assessor to compare the received video raw data and the modified version of the video raw data, and based on the modified version of the video raw data improving on a factor associated with the video improvement technique, the video quality assessor indicates a phenomena affecting the quality of the uploaded and transcoded video. |
| US08749636B2 |
Passive multi-band aperture filters and cameras therefrom
A multi-band aperture filter for optically coupling to a focal plane array (FPA) of a camera includes a substrate, and a first spectral coating on a first surface of the substrate that passes both a first longer and a second shorter wavelength band. A second spectral coating that passes the longer wavelength band and blocks the shorter wavelength band is on an outer annulus region, but not on an inner region on the first surface or a second surface of the substrate. The second spectral coating provides a larger aperture area for the longer wavelength band as compared to an aperture area for the shorter wavelength band to passively realize different F-numbers for the bands to provide substantially matched beam spot sizes on the detector array for the longer wavelength band and the shorter wavelength band, such as a long-wave infrared (LWIR) band and a mid-wave IR (MWIR) band. |
| US08749633B2 |
Vehicle accessory system
An accessory system for a vehicle includes an attachment member attached at an interior surface of a vehicle windshield, an accessory module configured to mount to the attachment member and an accessory disposed at least partially in the accessory module. The accessory includes a camera having a lens. The accessory module is detachably mounted to the attachment member. With the camera disposed in the accessory module and with the accessory module mounted to the attachment member, the camera has a forward field of view through the vehicle windshield. With the camera disposed in the accessory module and with the accessory module mounted to the attachment member, the lens of the camera is spaced from the interior surface of the vehicle windshield. A resilient element is provided to cushion the accessory module when the accessory module is mounted to the attachment member. |
| US08749630B2 |
Method and system for automatic objects localization
A method for automatic localization of objects in a mask. The method includes building a dictionary of atoms, wherein each atom models the presence of one object at one location and iteratively determining the atom of said dictionary which is best correlated with said mask, until ending criteria are met. The invention system concerns also automatically detects objects in a mask. At least one fixed camera is provided for acquiring video frames. A computation device is used for calibrating at least one fixed camera for extracting foreground silhouettes in each acquired video frames for discretizing said ground plane into a non-regular grid of potential location points for constructing a dictionary of atoms, and, for finding objects location points with the previous method. And a propagating device is provided to propagate the result in at least one fixed camera view. |
| US08749629B2 |
Apparatus and method for temperature mapping a turbine component in a high temperature combustion environment
Method and system for calibrating a thermal radiance map of a turbine component in a combustion environment. At least one spot (18) of material is disposed on a surface of the component. An infrared (IR) imager (14) is arranged so that the spot is within a field of view of the imager to acquire imaging data of the spot. A processor (30) is configured to process the imaging data to generate a sequence of images as a temperature of the combustion environment is increased. A monitor (42, 44) may be coupled to the processor to monitor the sequence of images of to determine an occurrence of a physical change of the spot as the temperature is increased. A calibration module (46) may be configured to assign a first temperature value to the surface of the turbine component when the occurrence of the physical change of the spot is determined. |
| US08749628B2 |
Dry agricultural materials management
Systems and methods that improve farmers' ability to measure quantities of dry agricultural materials and rates of change of those quantities are disclosed. Also disclosed are systems and methods to rapidly and effectively communicate materials quantities and rates between farm equipment operators. |
| US08749624B2 |
Dual-view stereoscopic display using linear modulator arrays
A method for displaying first and second stereoscopic images to first and second viewers provides the first viewer with a first decoding device having a first viewer differentiating element for receiving the first stereoscopic image and further having a first left- and right-eye differentiating elements for separating left- and right-eye images. The second viewer is provided with a second decoding device having a second viewer differentiating element for receiving the second stereoscopic image and further having a second left- and right-eye differentiating element. The first stereoscopic image is displayed to the first viewer by forming a first left-eye image and forming a first right-eye image, each over substantially half of the refresh period. The second stereoscopic image is displayed to the second viewer by forming a second left-eye image and forming a second right-eye image, each over substantially half of the refresh period. |
| US08749621B2 |
Volumetric projection device
A three-dimensional (3D) display device creating 3D illusions or effects within a contained space or volume. The device includes a front sidewall providing a viewing window to an interior of the display device. The device includes a transparent rear projection screen with a front surface facing the viewing window that is spaced apart a distance from the front sidewall. A media source projects a two dimensional (2D) image onto a back surface of the projection screen in a direction that is oblique to the front sidewall. The projection screen is positioned such that the front surface is angled away from the front sidewall, whereby the front surface is oblique to the viewing window. A leading edge of the projection screen is proximate to the front sidewall and a trailing edge of the projection screen is distal to the front sidewall with the front surface angled away from the front sidewall. |
| US08749618B2 |
Distributed three-dimensional video conversion system
A project network application can provide functionality for a plurality of worker systems to perform digital video editing so as to at least partially perform two- to three-dimensional conversion of a video. The project network application may, for instance, include tools for performing rotoscoping, depth mapping, object offsetting, occlusion filling, and the like. |
| US08749616B2 |
Apparatus and method for creating and displaying media file
A method and apparatus for creating and displaying a media file. A computer-readable recording medium is disclosed for storing stereoscopic content having two or more tracks and stereoscopic video-related information of each track in the stereoscopic content. The medium includes a duplication indication field indicating duplication of stereoscopic video-related information of each track in the stereoscopic content, and a track reference field including information used to connect a current track to at least one other track to which the current rack refers. |
| US08749615B2 |
Demultiplexing for stereoplexed film and video applications
A method for demultiplexing frames of compressed image data is provided. The image data includes a series of left compressed images and a series of right compressed images, the right compressed images and left compressed images compressed using a compression function. The method includes receiving the frames of compressed image data via a medium configured to transmit images in single frame format, and performing an expansion function on frames of compressed image data, the expansion function configured to select pixels from the series of left compressed images and series of right compressed images to produce replacement pixels to form a substantially decompressed set of stereo image pairs. Additionally, a system for receiving stereo pairs, multiplexing the stereo pairs for transmission across a medium including single frame formatting, and demultiplexing received data into altered stereo pairs is provided. |
| US08749611B2 |
Video conference system
A video conference system built in an internet protocol (IP) network is provided. The system has: a multimedia capturing unit configured to photograph and output a first video signal; a DECT telephone configured to receive sounds and output a first audio signal; and a video conference terminal apparatus, including: an audio processing unit is an audio codec; a video processing unit is an video codec; and a network processing unit for transmitting a first network packet consisting of first audio/video streams generated by the audio/video processing units to the IP network, wherein the network processing unit receives a second network packet consisting of second audio/video streams from the IP network, wherein the second audio/video streams are decoded by the audio/video processing units, respectively, to generate second audio/video signals, which are displayed on the DECT telephone and a display apparatus, respectively. |
| US08749600B2 |
Methods and devices for electrophotographic printing
A printing device includes a developer for developing a latent image with toner particles; an imaging plate comprising a plurality of pixel plates; and a plurality of voltage generators connected respectively to the pixel plates. The voltage generators positively bias selected pixel plates to form a latent image that is developed with toner from the developer.Another printing device includes a developer for developing a latent image with toner particles; an imaging plate comprising a plurality of pixel plates for selectively receiving toner particles from the developer; a plurality of voltage generators for biasing respective to pixel plates; and a background grid in the imaging plate for preventing toner particles from being deposited in areas between the pixel plates, wherein the background grid is connected to a voltage generator for applying a range of biases, positive and negative to the background grid. A method of electrophotographic printing in which toner particles are moved electrostatically from a developer to develop a latent image includes positively biasing selected pixel plates of a plurality of pixel plates of an imaging plate to form the latent image; and developing the latent image with the toner particles from the developer. |
| US08749598B2 |
Organic light emitting diode display device
Disclosed in an organic light emitting diode display device including: a driving element for controlling a driving current, a first TFT that switches a current path between the first node and the second node, a second TFT that switches a current path between a data line and a third node, a third TFT that switches a current path between the third node and a reference voltage input terminal, a fourth TFT that switches a current path between the second node and a fourth node, an organic light emitting diode connected between the fourth node and a ground voltage input terminal to emit a light by the driving current, a storage capacitor connected between the first node and the third node, and a variable capacitor connected between the first node and the first gate line and having a capacity changed when the first TFT is turned on and off. |
| US08749597B2 |
Multi-frame overdriving circuit and method and overdriving unit of liquid crystal display
A multi-frame overdriving circuit for use in a liquid crystal display including a counting unit and a multi-frame overdriving unit is provided. The counting unit counts a number m of frame periods for which a pixel data corresponding to a pixel keeps a first gray value, wherein m is a positive integer. When the pixel data changes to a second gray value from the first gray value in a first frame period, the multi-frame overdriving unit respectively outputs y multi-frame overdriving pixel data corresponding to the pixel within successive y frame periods starting from the first frame period. The y multi-frame overdriving pixel data are related to the first gray value, the second gray value and the number m of frame periods, wherein y is a positive integer. |
| US08749594B2 |
Avionics device display dimming system and method
The present general inventive concept provides a system and method to use alpha blending properties of a graphics processor to dim the display, effectively darkening it with neutral color overlays, beyond the last hardware dimming step. |
| US08749591B2 |
Image processing apparatus, image processing method, and image display device
An image processing apparatus has a light source luminance calculating unit which calculates the luminances of the light sources of the plurality of colors of a back light based on an input image, a light source maximum value detecting unit which detects a light source maximum value that is the largest value in the light source luminances of the plurality of colors, a light source luminance correcting unit which corrects the light source luminances to obtain corrected light source luminances so as to reduce the difference among the light source luminances of the plurality of colors if the light source maximum value is smaller than a threshold value, a gradation conversion function calculating unit which calculates a gradation conversion function applied to the input image corresponding to each of the plurality of colors, by using the corrected light source luminance, and a control unit which converts the input image by using the gradation conversion function and outputs the input image to a liquid crystal panel and generates the luminance control signal by using the corrected light source luminance and outputs the luminance control signal to the back light. |
| US08749585B2 |
Adding custom content to mapping applications
Digital maps can be composed of a series of image tiles that are selected based on the context of the map to be presented. Independently hosted tiles can comprise additional details that can be added to the map. A manifest can be created that describes the layers of map details composed of such independently hosted tiles. Externally referable mechanisms can, based on the manifest and map context, select tiles, from among the independently hosted tiles, that correspond to map tiles being displayed to a user. Subsequently, the mechanisms can instruct a browser, as specified in the manifest, to combine the map tiles and the independently hosted tiles to generate a more detailed map. Alternatively, customized mechanisms can generate map detail tiles in real-time, based on an exported map context. Also, controls instantiated by the browser can render three-dimensional images based on the combined map tiles. |
| US08749584B2 |
Apparatus and method for providing augmented reality service using sound
An apparatus and method for providing an AR service using a sound. When a user starts an AR service providing function in a mobile communication terminal, a sound signal is received, whether the sound signal is carrying additional information is determined by analyzing the sound signal, if the additional information is carried on the sound signal, the additional information is extracted, data associated with the extracted additional information is acquired, and the AR service is provided using the acquired data. Accordingly, various kinds of additional information may be provided, and the AR service may be provided. |
| US08749574B2 |
Method and apparatus for improved color management
A method and apparatus for color matching during compositing. In one embodiment of the invention, a set of one or more un-color matched pixels are stored and associated with a first color profile. A fragment program is generated based on the first color profile and a second color profile associated with a display. During compositing of the set of un-color matched pixels, the fragment program is applied to the set of un-color matched pixels to match colors of those pixels with the display. The color matched pixels are written to the display. Other methods and apparatuses are also described. |
| US08749568B2 |
Parameter FIFO
A graphics system may include one or more processing units for processing a current display frame, each processing unit including a plurality of parameter registers for storing parameter settings used in processing the current display frame. A parameter buffer in the graphics system may store frame packets, with each frame packet containing information corresponding to parameter settings to be used for at least one display frame. A control circuit coupled to the buffer and to the one or more processing units may retrieve and process a top frame packet from the parameter buffer to update one or more of the parameter registers according to the contents of the top frame packet. The control circuit may issue DMA requests to fill the parameter buffer with frame packets transferred from system memory, where the frame packets may be written by an application (or software) executing on a central processing unit. |
| US08749563B2 |
Multi-thread graphics processing system
A graphics processing system comprises at least one memory device storing a plurality of pixel command threads and a plurality of vertex command threads. An arbiter coupled to the at least one memory device is provided that selects a pixel command thread from the plurality of pixel command threads and a vertex command thread from the plurality of vertex command threads. The arbiter further selects a command thread from the previously selected pixel command thread and the vertex command thread, which command thread is provided to a command processing engine capable of processing pixel command threads and vertex command threads. |
| US08749558B2 |
Method for displaying displacement of object on display of electronic device
The method for displaying according to the present invention is used for displaying the displacement of an object (group) on the display of an electronic device. The method calculates an animation interval according to an amount of animation and an animation time; calculates an animation end time according to the animation interval and the order of animation to be executed; calculates a distribution ratio according to the animation end time and a distribution curve; calculates a displacement according to the distribution ratio and an animation execution distance; calculates an updated coordinate according to the displacement after the object (group) is moved; and replots the displaced object (group) in the display window of the display of the electronic device according to the updated coordinate. By calculating the displacement of each step of animation during the animation process, the present invention can present the process of object (group) movement. Thereby, when the object (group) is moving, the animated displaying effects with speed variations can be exhibited. |
| US08749555B2 |
Method of processing three-dimensional image in mobile device
A processing method of interfacing a 3D image and a camera image is provided. In the processing method, a specific image pattern defined by a user is recognized, the recognized pattern is traced within an image, and a camera image and a 3D image are interfaced based on the tracing result. A 3D object is animated and rendered using a 3D graphic engine. The rendered image of the 3D object and the camera image are integrated and displayed. |
| US08749550B1 |
Display of replicated geographic data using a hierarchical data structure
An exemplary method for displaying replicated geographic data in a three-dimensional environment includes identifying a first node in a node tree including an instance set. The exemplary method also includes identifying a collection referenced by the instance set. The exemplary method further includes identifying a second node in the node tree including the collection referenced by the instance set, a depth of the first node in the node tree being greater than a depth of the second node in the node tree. The exemplary method also includes identifying a model in the collection, the model being referenced by the instance set and the instance set including location data for replicated instances in the instance set. The exemplary method further includes displaying the first node, where displaying the first node includes displaying model data in the collection at the locations specified by the instance set. |
| US08749549B2 |
Prospect assessment and play chance mapping tools
Prospect assessment and play chance mapping tools are provided. For assessing potential resources, example systems provide dynamically linked chance maps, transformed in real time from geological properties. Input geological maps or other data are dynamically linked to resulting chance maps, so that changes in the input maps automatically update the chance map in real time. Users can generate a custom risk matrix dynamically linking geological maps with chance maps via interface tools, dropping maps directly into the matrix. A transform may programmatically convert the geologic domain to the chance domain. The user can navigate input maps, select areas of interest, and drag-and-drop geologic properties into an uncertainty engine and distribution builder for uncertainty assessment based on geologic reality. A merge tool can programmatically unify multiple geological interpretations of a prospect. The merge tool outputs a single chance of success value for multiple geologic property values at each grid node. |
| US08749546B2 |
Apparatus and methods for processing digital 3D objects
A digital 3D object processing apparatus is provided, for processing a digital 3D object comprising a plurality of sub-objects belonging to one of a plurality of digital 3D object formats, comprising: a communication unit coupled to a first outer computer through a network; an interface unit coupled to the communication unit, receiving an instruction from the first outer computer; and a control command unit coupled to the communication unit, transmitting a control command to the first outer computer, wherein the first outer computer establishes a relative position of the plurality of sub-objects according to the control command, and transmits the relative position and the plurality of sub-objects to the communication unit. |
| US08749538B2 |
Device and method of controlling brightness of a display based on ambient lighting conditions
This disclosure provides systems, methods and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media, for controlling brightness of a display based on ambient light conditions. In one aspect, a display device can include a reflective display and an auxiliary light source configured to provide supplemental light to the display. The display device further can include a sensor system configured to determine an illuminance of ambient light, and a controller configured to adjust the auxiliary light source to provide an amount of supplemental light to the display based at least in part on the determined illuminance. In one aspect, the amount of supplemental light remains substantially the same or substantially increases in response to increasing illuminance when the illuminance is below a first threshold, and substantially decreases in response to increasing illuminance when the illuminance is above a second threshold that is greater than or equal to the first threshold. |
| US08749537B2 |
Photo sensor and flat panel display device using thereof
A photo sensor that is capable of generating a photo sensing signal corresponding only to ambient light by comprehending changes in electrical current depending on the change of temperature and compensating for the electrical current according the change of temperature and a flat panel display device using the photo sensor, and the photo sensor including a photo sensing unit generating a first current corresponding to an ambient light and a second current corresponding to an ambient temperature; a temperature compensating unit including a dark diode generating a third current having a same magnitude as the second current, corresponding to the ambient temperature due to block of light to be incident; and a buffer unit outputting a light sensing signal corresponding to current having the same magnitude as the first current by subtracting the third current generated in the temperature compensating unit from the second current generated in the photo sensing unit. |
| US08749535B2 |
Clock-shared differential signaling interface and related method
The present invention provides a clock-shared differential signaling interface and a method of driving output data to a display panel. The apparatus includes a plurality of driver circuits, wherein each driver circuit in the plurality of driver circuits respectively provides output data. The apparatus also includes a timing controller providing a first clock signal to the plurality of driver circuits via a multi-drop connection, and providing a respective differential data signal to each driver circuit via a respective point-to-point connection. |
| US08749533B2 |
Haptic device for carving and molding objects
A system, method, and computer program product for automatically providing a haptic stylus based interface for enhanced user interaction with touch screen devices are disclosed. The stylus communicates with the touch screen device to report stylus operating information from onboard sensors, and to receive application program instructions defining feedback and friction forces to be applied by onboard actuators. The applied feedback and friction forces may be independently controlled. Friction forces are provided via a rolling contact ball gripping mechanism that mimics varying physical engagement between the contact ball and a touch screen display surface by controlling the relative rotational freedom of the contact ball. Embodiments of the invention enable a haptic stylus to mimic three-dimensional interactions for gaming, object manipulation and sculpting, and non-contact proximity-based stylus operation scenarios. |
| US08749528B2 |
Display device
A display panel of an organic EL display device includes a photo-detection section that detects reflected light when a screen is touched by a finger or the like. The photo-detection section includes a photodiode that receives the reflected light, and an output amplifier that outputs an output voltage corresponding to the amount of the received light. If an a-Si diode is used for such a photodiode, a sufficiently large signal difference between the bright state and the dark state can be achieved. Also, if a p-Si amplifier is used for the output amplifier, the output voltage becomes the saturation voltage at the time of read-out. This allows the p-Si amplifier to directly output the large difference detected by the a-Si diode as a large difference in the output voltage. |
| US08749523B2 |
Methods and apparatus for capacitive sensing
The present disclosure addresses methods and apparatus facilitating capacitive sensing using a conductive surface, and facilitating the sensing of proximity to the conductive surface. The sensed proximity will often be that of a user, but can be another source of a reference voltage potential. In some examples, the described systems are capable of sensing capacitance (including parasitic capacitance) in a circuit that includes the outer conductive surface, and where that outer conductive surface is at a floating electrical potential. In some systems, the systems can be switched between two operating modes, a first mode in which the system will sense proximity to the conductive surface, and a second mode in which the system will use a capacitance measurement to sense contact with the conductive surface. |
| US08749520B2 |
Detection method for a capacitive touchpad to identify a real touch point
A two-step detection for a capacitive touchpad to identify a real touch point first detects the self capacitances from multiple capacitance sensor traces of the capacitive touchpad to identify any touch point on the capacitive touchpad and then, if multiple touch points are detected, further detects the mutual capacitance at one of the detected touch points to identify whether it is a real touch point. |
| US08749514B2 |
Touch screen panel
A touch screen panel includes a transparent substrate, a plurality of first sensing cells on the transparent substrate, the first sensing cells being connected to each other along a first direction, a plurality of second sensing cells between the first sensing cells and insulated from the first sensing cells, the second sensing cells being connected to each other along a second direction, a plurality of first connection patterns connecting the first sensing cells along the first direction, a plurality of second connection patterns connecting the second sensing cells along the second direction, the second connection patterns intersecting the first connection patterns, an insulating layer between the first and second connection patterns, the second connection patterns crossing over the insulating layer, and a plurality of conductive auxiliary patterns on the second connection patterns and electrically connected to the second connection patterns. |
| US08749511B2 |
Integrated LCD touch screen to determine a touch position based on an induced voltage superimposed on both the scan signal of the gate line and a timing pulse of the signal line
The present invention provides an array substrate, a liquid crystal display device comprising the same, and a method for forming the same. The array substrate comprises a gate line, a data line, a signal line and a pixel electrode formed thereon. The gate line intersects the data line to define a plurality of pixel regions in which the pixel electrodes are formed. Each of the pixel electrodes overlaps the signal line to form a first sensing capacitor and overlaps the gate line to form a second sensing capacitor. |
| US08749506B2 |
Noise cancellation circuit of a touch panel
A noise cancellation circuit includes at least one antenna, a multiplexer, and a readout circuit. The at least one antenna is used for coupling noise of a touch panel and noise of a liquid crystal panel coupled to the touch panel. The multiplexer is used for receiving first X axis sensing signals and first Y axis sensing signals of the touch panel. The readout circuit is used for utilizing the noise of the touch panel and the noise of the liquid crystal panel to cancel noise of the touch panel and noise of the liquid crystal panel in the first X axis sensing signals and the first Y axis sensing signals, and to generate and output second X axis sensing signals and second Y axis sensing signals not including the noise of the touch panel and the noise of the liquid crystal panel. |
| US08749497B2 |
Multi-touch shape drawing
Multi-touch shape drawing. The use of multi-touch gesture detection improves the user interface experience associated with generating and modifying shapes. By associating unique multi-touch gestures with the generation of corresponding shapes, the accuracy and ease of use with which shapes can be generated can be improved. By associating multi-touch gestures with the modification of shapes, the ease of use with which shapes can be modified can be improved. |
| US08749496B2 |
Integrated touch panel for a TFT display
This relates to displays for which the use of dual function capacitive elements does not result in any decreases of the aperture of the display. Thus, touch sensitive displays that have aperture ratios that are no worse than similar non-touch sensing displays can be manufactured. More specifically, this relates to placing touch sensing opaque elements so as to ensure that they are substantially overlapped by display related opaque elements, thus ensuring that the addition of the touch sensing elements does not substantially reduce the aperture ratio. The touch sensing display elements can be, for example, common lines that connect various capacitive elements that are configured to operate collectively as an element of the touch sensing system. |
| US08749493B2 |
Movable touch pad with added functionality
An input device is disclosed. The input device includes a movable touch pad capable of detecting an object in close proximity thereto so as to generate a first control signal. The input device also includes a movement indicator capable of detecting the movements of the movable touch pad so as to generate one or more distinct second control signals. The control signals being used to perform actions in an electronic device operatively coupled to the input device. |
| US08749486B2 |
Control surface for touch and multi-touch control of a cursor using a micro electro mechanical system (MEMS) sensor
A method and apparatus for touch detection, multi-touch detection and cursor control in which the acceleration of a control surface is sensed to provide sensed signals. The control surface is supported at one or more support positions and moves in response to a force applied by a user at a touch position. The sensed signals are received in a processing unit where they are used to estimate a change in the position of force application. A touch control signal is generated from the estimated change in touch position. The touch control signal may be output to a graphical user interface, where it may be used, for example, to control various elements such as mouse clicks, scroll controls, control of single or multiple cursors, or manipulation of views of an object on a visual display unit, or remote control manipulation of objects themselves. |
| US08749484B2 |
Multi-screen user interface with orientation based control
Control of a plurality of displays of a computing device in response to the change in orientation of the computing device. The computing device may be a handheld computing device with a plurality of displays that are concurrently visible by a user. The displays may be capable of displaying a graphical user interface (GUI). The plurality of displays may be modified in response to a change in orientation of the handheld computing device. The modification may include expanding a GUI that is displayed in a single display when in a first orientation to occupy at least two of the plurality of displays in response to the change in orientation. |
| US08749482B2 |
Mirror feedback upon physical object selection
A highlighting method and an interaction system (100) include a switchable mirror (110) facing a first side of an item (120) having a second side facing a viewer (130); and a processor (220) configured to perform switching the mirror from a transparent or non-transparent state to a reflective state so that said first side of said item (120) becomes visible to the viewer (130) through reflection from the switchable mirror (110). A light source (170) is configured to provide incident light to the switchable mirror (110) for reflection from the switchable mirror (110) in the reflective state for illuminating the first side of the item (120). |
| US08749481B2 |
Option menu for use with a computer management system
A method for improving video quality of a video stream. The method decodes the video stream and generates subblocks of video data from the video stream. The method then removes effects of subblock boundaries from previous deblocking. Each subblock is then smoothed to create pixel values and optionally, subblocks are merged if a predetermined quality is not achieved from the smoothing analysis. The pixels values are filled into each pixel position in the subblock. The subblocks are deblocked and then at least one subblock is outputted to a rendering device. |
| US08749478B1 |
Light sensor to adjust contrast or size of objects rendered by a display
Techniques and apparatuses are disclosed to adjust a visual representation of content displayed by an electronic device based at least in part on a measured light intensity. In some aspects, a light sensor may be used to measure a light intensity of ambient light. An electronic display may present a visual representation of objects including text and images. A display controller may control aspects of the electronic display based on at least the light intensity, such as a font size of the text, size of the images, or contrast of the text and the images. In further aspects, the electronic display may be an electronic paper display. |
| US08749477B2 |
Method of driving electrophoretic display device, electrophoretic display device, and electronic apparatus
An electrophoretic display device driving method includes: applying a first voltage between a first electrode and a common electrode to display a highest or lowest gray scale at a first pixel, subsequently applying a second voltage between a second electrode and the common electrode to display an intermediate gray scale at a second pixel, and subsequently applying a third voltage between a third electrode and the common electrode to display the other of the highest and lowest gray scale at a third pixel; then, with each electrode in a high-impedance state, applying a first auxiliary voltage between one of the first and third electrodes and the common electrode; and thereafter, applying a second auxiliary voltage between the other of the first and third electrode and the common electrode, the second electrode is in the high-impedance state while the auxiliary voltages are applied to the first and third electrodes. |
| US08749466B2 |
Vertical alignment type liquid crystal display apparatus having improved display uniformity
A mono domain vertical alignment type liquid crystal display apparatus to be multiplex driven is provided whose display uniformity at a large pretilt angle (near 90°) is improved. Waveform A is applied to a liquid crystal cell of a mono domain vertical alignment type, the waveform A having a duty not lower than 4 and a frame frequency of f. The frame frequency f is determined from a pretilt angle θp, and is a frequency not lower than 60 Hz at a pretilt angle of 88.5°≦θp<89.6° or a frequency not lower than [120×(θp−89.6)+60] Hz at a pretilt angle of 89.6°≦θp≦89.9°. |
| US08749465B2 |
Method and system for driving an active matrix display device
A method for driving an active matrix display wherein each image frame is divided into a number of displayed frame portions, each of which is followed by a darker frame portion. The image data in the darker frame portion is removed so as to allow the pixel luminance to diminish. The temporal separation between the displayed frame portion and the following darker frame portion is smaller than a frame time. In a display where the lines are driven repetitively for forming the display image in a plurality of frame times, the image data provided to a pixel, after the luminance in that pixel changes from low to high, is adjusted so that the brightness of the pixel in the preceding frame times appear higher or not lower than that in following frames times. |
| US08749463B2 |
Phase-modulating apparatus
A phase-modulating apparatus includes a spatial light modulator, an input value setting unit, a plurality of sets of reference data, a converting unit, and a driving unit. The input value setting unit sets an input value for each pixel. Each set of reference data corresponds to at least one pixel. The converting unit converts an input value inputted for each pixel to a control value by referencing the corresponding set of reference data. The driving unit converts the control value to a voltage value. The driving unit drives each pixel with a drive voltage corresponding to the voltage value. Each set of reference data correlates a plurality of first values from which input values are taken, and a plurality of second values from which control values are taken to ensure that the relationship between the plurality of first values and phase modulation amounts attained by the corresponding at least one pixel is a prescribed linear relationship. |
| US08749461B2 |
Display device
A display device in which the current load of wirings are distributed and display variations due to voltage drop are suppressed. An active matrix display device of the invention comprises a first current input terminal, a second current input terminal, and a plurality of current supply lines extending parallel to each other. Each current supply line is connected to a plurality of driving transistors in a line. One end of each current supply line is connected to the first current input terminal via a first wiring intersecting with the current supply lines, and the other end thereof is connected to the second current input terminal via a second wiring intersecting with the current supply lines. Accordingly, a current is supplied to each current supply line from both the first and. the second current input terminals. The first and the second current input terminals are provided separately from each other. |
| US08749458B2 |
Organic light emitting diode display capable of adjusting a high potential driving voltage applied to pixel
Embodiments of the invention provide an organic light emitting diode (OLED) display capable of preventing a defect of picture quality by instability of an output voltage of a power IC in a low temperature environment. The OLED display comprises: a display panel having an effective display area in which pixels displaying a gray scale are formed and a non-display area in which a pixel monitoring part monitoring a degree of deterioration of the pixels is formed, wherein each of the pixels includes an organic light emitting diode and a driving element; a power IC supplying a driving voltage to the display panel; and a voltage limiting part connected between the pixel monitoring part and the power IC to restrict voltage levels of feedback voltages supplied from the pixel monitoring part. |
| US08749454B2 |
Image display device and method of controlling the same
An image display device includes a luminescence element, a capacitor, and a driver having a gate connected to a first electrode of the capacitor and a source connected to an anode of the luminescence element. A power source supplies a reference voltage to the first electrode of the capacitor via a first switch. A data line supplies a signal voltage to the second electrode of the capacitor via a second switch. A third switch connects the anode of the luminescence element to the second electrode of the capacitor. A controller supplies the signal voltage to the capacitor by switching ON the first and second switches when the third switch is OFF, and switches OFF the first and second switches to switch ON the third switch after a voltage corresponding to the signal voltage is held by the capacitor. |
| US08749451B1 |
Reduced cavity wideband multi polar spiral antenna
A wideband antenna with backlobe elimination in a confined space is disclosed. Backlobe elimination is by an array of electromagnetically conductive members disposed between the spiral element and the ground plane and almost contacting the ground plane so as to bleed a backlobe away from the spiral antenna to the ground plane. In one embodiment, the members are conical elements disposed between the spiral element and the ground plane of a spiral antenna such that the apexes of the conical elements almost contact the spiral element and the bases of the conical elements contact the ground plane. In some embodiments, other means may be employed to perform this function. In operation, conical elements bleed the backlobe of the signal away from the spiral element to the ground plane. |
| US08749440B2 |
Antenna and mobile terminal including the same
Provided are an antenna and a mobile terminal including the antenna. The antenna includes a loop antenna, a solenoid, and a plurality of connections. The loop antenna is installed on a mobile terminal. The solenoid is connected in parallel to the loop antenna, and receives power. The connections connect the loop antenna to the solenoid. Accordingly, the degree of freedom of an antenna shape and a recognition distance of the antenna are improved. |
| US08749437B2 |
Mobile communication terminal
A mobile communication terminal comprises a motherboard and an internal antenna that is arranged at one end of the motherboard, and an isolation structure similar a hairline crack is formed at the other end of the motherboard far from the internal antenna. The mobile communication terminal provided by the present invention extends the main ground length of an antenna by means of an isolation structure on a motherboard, thereby increasing the antenna bandwidth so as to meet radio-frequency performance requirements. |
| US08749434B2 |
Dielectric resonant antenna using a matching substrate
A dielectric resonator antenna is disclosed that includes a multi-layer substrate on which a plurality of insulating layers and conductor layers are alternately stacked. The dielectric resonator antenna also includes a first conductor plate that has an opening part on the upper portion of the top insulating layer of the multi-layer substrate and a second conductor plate that is formed on the lower portion of the bottom insulating layer from the first conductor plate. The insulating layer is formed with at least two stacked layers and is disposed at a position corresponding to the opening part. The dielectric resonator antenna also includes a plurality of first metal via holes, a feeding part and a matching substrate that is stacked on the opening part and is stacked with at least one insulating layer. |
| US08749432B2 |
Satellite signal determination apparatus
A vehicle direction estimation section estimates an absolute direction of a heading direction of a vehicle based on GPS information and vehicle information. A satellite direction estimation section estimates an absolute direction of a target satellite of several satellites for positioning based on corresponding GPS information, and estimates a relative direction of the target satellite with respect to the heading direction based on the estimated absolute direction of the heading direction and the estimated absolute direction of the target satellite. A shield determination section determines a shielded state of the target satellite by determining whether a signal strength of a satellite signal from the target satellite is greater than a threshold value relative to a target partition of several partitions into which a three-dimensional sphere with respect to the heading direction is divided, the target partition which the calculated relative direction of the target satellite belongs to. |
| US08749431B2 |
Spacecraft position estimating system and method
A system for estimating a spacecraft (6) position is disclosed. It includes receiving stations (4) for receiving signals transmitted from the spacecraft (6) and a processing station (2) for receiving data from the receiving stations (4). Each receiving station (4) records, during a recording window (8), the signals transmitted from the spacecraft (6) and transmits, to the processing station (2), data representing the recorded signals during the recording window (8). The recording windows (8) associated with each of the receiving stations (4) are offset and/or of different size with respect to each other. The processing station (2) correlates the recorded signals to estimate the distance difference between the spacecraft (6) and each of a plurality of receiving stations and to estimate the spacecraft (6) position. A method, a receiving station (4), a processing station (2) and a computer program are also disclosed. |
| US08749430B2 |
Active array antenna device
In one embodiment, an active array antenna device includes: M (M≧2) bandpass filters to filter signals received by M antenna elements; M low noise amplifiers to amplify the filtered received signals; M distributors to distribute respective of the M amplified signals into N (N≧2) distributed signals; M sets of N phase shifters provided for respective of the M distributors to shift phases of the N distributed signals; M sets of N attenuators to attenuate N phase-shift signals; N beam synthesis circuits provided for N sets of the M attenuators to synthesize a beam by summing attenuator outputs from the M attenuators corresponding to the M distributors; a heat insulating container accommodating the low noise amplifiers and the receiving filters and formed of a superconductor material; and a cooler to cool the receiving filters and the low noise amplifiers to make the receiving filters in a superconducting state. |
| US08749425B1 |
Reference charge cancellation for analog-to-digital converters
An analog-to-digital converter (ADC) includes reference charge cancellation features to at least partially offset a voltage distortion on a bypass capacitor of a reference buffer due to a voltage reference hit taken by a switched capacitor bank with which the bypass capacitor is connected. The charge cancellation may be configured in logic to be input signal dependent because different resolved bits or transitions between resolved bits may cause different amounts of voltage reference hits. By adjusting the bypass capacitor in response to each of at least some of the reference hits while resolving a word of bits, the reference voltage signal provided by the bypass capacitor undergoes far less settling, remaining more stable and linear for a more accurate reference voltage. Furthermore, a smaller capacitor may be used for the bypass capacitor, reducing power consumption and area on chip. |
| US08749424B2 |
Comparator, analog-to-digital convertor, solid-state imaging device, camera system, and electronic apparatus
A comparator includes a first amplifier, a second amplifier, and a level holding part. The first amplifier includes differential-pair transistors and outputs a signal of a level corresponding to a comparison result from a first output node. The differential-pair transistors compare a reference voltage with a potential of an input signal. The second amplifier gain up the signal output from the first output node of the first amplifier and outputs the signal from a second output node. The level holding part holds a level of the second output node at a predetermined level. The second amplifier includes a transistor for amplification and a transistor for a current source. The level holding part holds the level of the second output node of the second amplifier such that the transistor for the current source does not fall into a level at which a saturated operation condition is not satisfied. |
| US08749422B1 |
Signal conversion using state sensitive device arrays
An analog to digital conversion device and method utilizing an array of state sensitive cells. A gate timing component selectively exposes each cell to an analog input signal to effect a change in the exposed cell's state. Upon shielding the cell from exposure, the state change is ascertained by a cell measurement component to determine a digital value representative of the input signal amplitude at exposure. |
| US08749417B2 |
Multi-mode analog-to-digital converter
A method of configuring an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) includes configuring the ADC to operate in one of a low-pass filter mode and a band-pass filter mode according to a value of a control signal. In at least one embodiment, the method further includes configuring an integrator gain of the ADC and a feed-forward gain of the ADC based on selection of one of a low-intermediate frequency (LIF) mode and a zero-intermediate frequency (ZIF) mode. |
| US08749413B2 |
Digital correction circuit for a pipelined analog-to-digital converter
A digital correction circuit for a pipelined analog-to-digital converter (ADC) is disclosed. Compared to the conventional digital correction circuit which uses adders to perform operations in ADC digital correction part and hence needs a rather long operation time, the digital correction circuit of this invention can reduce the time needed in operations in the finial digital correction circuits and thus can optimize operation time, by allocating the operations to a plurality of pipeline stages of second sub-circuits configured to synchronize digital codes, each of which can perform part of the operations only with NAND gates, NOR gates, phase inverters and D-type flip-flops, without needing to use adders. |
| US08749409B2 |
Entropy decoding methods and apparatus using most probable and least probable signal cases
An entropy decoding apparatus may include a data structure stored in memory. The data structure may include a decoding engine vector or context engine vector. The decoding engine vector many have a first set of bits representing a value corresponding to a state of a coding engine, a second set of bits representing an offset value, and a third set of bits representing the contents of an input stream buffer. The context vector may have a first set of bits representing an addresses of a context most probable state, a second set of bits representing a plurality of possible values corresponding to a least probable symbol state of a coding engine, a third set of bits representing an addresses of a context least probable state, a fourth set of bits representing a binary most probable symbol value, and a fifth set of bits representing a binary least probable symbol value. |
| US08749408B1 |
Methods for simplified MMI VQ based HARQ buffer reduction for LTE
Methods of simplified MMI VQ based HARQ buffer reduction are disclosed. In one embodiment of the invention, the VQ obtains distribution information from source data based on a predefined codebook subset design. The subset design is predefined. Source data is trained within its corresponding subset to generate codebook. In one embodiment of the invention, the predefined subset algorithm is based on the LLR sign value. In another embodiment of the invention, source data is divided into subset based on predefined algorithm. The index to codebook is generated by search through the corresponding subset of the codebook instead of the whole codebook. In one embodiment of the invention, the training method is a modified Lloyd algorithm for MMI VQ. In another embodiment of the invention, the training method is a modified Lloyd algorithm for Euclidean distance VQ. |
| US08749394B2 |
System and method for efficiently generating audible alarms
Various inventive features are disclosed for efficiently generating regulation-compliant audible alerts, including but not limited to 520 Hz square wave alert/alarm signals, using an audio speaker. One such feature involves the use of a non-linear amplifier in combination with a voltage boost regulator to efficiently drive the audio speaker. Another feature involves speaker enclosure designs that effectively boost the output of the audio speaker, particularly at relatively low frequencies. These and other features may be used individually or combination in a given alarm-generation device or system to enable regulation-compliant audible alerts to be generated using conventional batteries, such as AA alkaline batteries. Various examples of efficiently generated regulation-compliant audible alerts and further enhancing such audible alerts by utilizing speaker enclosure designs are provided. |
| US08749393B1 |
Water leak detection and shut-off method and apparatus using differential flow rate sensors
A method and apparatus for detecting leakage of flowing liquids from pipes includes an upstream flow-rate sensor positioned between a source of a flowing liquid which is conducted from a source to a destination terminal such as a VAV heat exchanger, and a downstream flow-rate sensor positioned between an outlet port of the destination terminal and a return line for the flowing liquid. The apparatus includes electronic control circuitry which is responsive to a differential flow-rate between upstream and downstream measured flow rates which exceeds a predetermined limit value in removing a valve-opening signal to the upstream shut-off valve, thus closing the valve to interrupt flow of liquid through the valve if the differential flow-rate signifies a leak. Optionally, the apparatus also includes a downstream shut-off valve positioned between the destination terminal and a return line, which is also closed in response to a differential flow-rate exceeding the limit value. |
| US08749389B2 |
Device and method for food management
A medical device is disclosed. The medical device includes an RFID reader for receiving information from at least one RFID transponder. The medical device also includes a memory for storing a database and at least one processor for processing information. Also, a remote controller for a medical device is disclosed. The remote controller includes an information receiver for receiving information related to food. The infusion device also includes a memory for storing a database and at least one processor for processing information. A method for use in a medical device is also disclosed. The method includes receiving information from an RFID transponder related to food. Also, the processing the information by comparing the information to a database is included in the method. The method also includes determining the acceptability of the food and providing information related to acceptability to the user. |
| US08749383B2 |
Method of neighborhood watch implemented in-part with electronic surveillance system
A regional surveillance system includes a plurality of local geo-tagged surveillance systems each of which is associated with a predetermined virtual neighborhood. The surveillance systems wirelessly communicate alarm or incident indicating messages, along with neighborhood defining indicia to a common control unit. The common control unit evaluates the incoming messages, and responsive to predetermined criteria, determines which members of a plurality of subscribers should be notified by an alarm or incident indicating message. Once the appropriate subscribers receive the message(s) then a determination can be made as to which, if any, non-subscribers should be notified. |
| US08749377B2 |
Temperature tracking device and method using same
A device, system and method for monitoring conditions within an environment in which an item is disposed includes a reusable environment monitoring tag operably connected to a return postcard that can be disposed adjacent an item to be monitored, the tag equipped to sense and store surrounding environmental conditions thereof and an electronic reader electronic reader which upon receipt of the a return postcard having the tag therein in a predetermined range receives environmental data sensed and stored by the tag and analyze the data. The method includes mailing the return postcard to a receiving site for reading. |
| US08749376B2 |
Information processing apparatus, information processing method, program, storage medium, and information processing system
There is provided an information processing apparatus including a similar tag list acquiring unit that acquires a similar tag list from which wireless tags having similar tracking information are extracted, a tracker extracting unit that extracts users permitted to access information of the wireless tags included in the similar tag list, a determining unit that determines whether a suspicious tag, which is a wireless tag included in the similar tag list that does not permit the user to access the information of the wireless tag, is included, with respect to each of the extracted users, and a notifying unit that transmits a notification to the user for whom it is determined that the suspicious tag is included in the similar tag list. |
| US08749372B2 |
Remote monitoring systems and methods
A method comprising selecting a piece of equipment to be monitored; selecting a plurality of operating parameters to monitor; calculating a deviation for each of the operating parameters; and calculating a composite index for the piece of equipment based on the deviations. |
| US08749370B2 |
Gear shift indicator
A gear shift indicator can reduce bothersome feelings of the driver. The EFI-ECU acquires information about the travelling state of a vehicle, and calculates a target gear shift stage for improving fuel consumption. The EFI-ECU acquires information about a current gear shift stage. The EFI-ECU determines that a gear shift request is generated when the current gear shift stage is different from the target gear shift stage. When the EFI-ECU determines that an AI control is under execution and that the calculated target gear shift stage is a restricted gear shift stage prohibited in the AI control, the EFI-ECU does not present a gear shift indication. |
| US08749365B2 |
Method of controlling a collision warning system using line of sight
A collision warning system for a motor vehicle is disclosed. The collision warning system includes a first mode and a second mode. The system operates in the first mode when there is line of sight with a target vehicle. The system operates in the second mode where there is no line of sight with the target vehicle. The line of sight conditions are determined according to power delay spread characteristics or frequency response characteristics of signals from a vehicle communications network. |
| US08749364B2 |
In-vehicle display apparatus, server, vehicle information display system, and communication method
The in-vehicle display apparatus includes a meter design file storage device, a vehicle data output device, a meter image control device; and a meter image display device. The meter design file storage device is able to store a plurality of meter design files, the meter image control device generates a meter image such that data output from the vehicle data output device is arranged on a meter design expressed by selected at least one of the plurality of meter design files stored in the meter design file storage device, the meter image display device displays the meter image, and at least one of the meter design file storage device and the meter image control device processes only the meter design file that includes authorization data. |
| US08749363B2 |
Universal accessory for viewing a smartphone display in an automobile
The invention is directed to systems, methods and computer program products for presenting visual information in an automobile. An exemplary system includes a receiving station that receives a mobile device; and a display unit that presents, to a driver or a passenger in the automobile, visual information in response to one or more instructions input to the mobile device. The display unit of the system is separate from the mobile device's display. In some embodiments, the display is a mirror, while, in other embodiments, the display is an electronic display. In some embodiments, the receiving station has the ability to receive mobile devices of a plurality of types. |
| US08749361B2 |
Method and system for tactile signaled authentication
A system and method of transmitting an authentication code includes automatically calculating a security code on a device executing a security program. The security program may periodically calculate a respective unique security code. In response to a user requesting the security code, the device automatically vibrates according to a pattern representing the security code. The pattern tactilely communicates the security code to the user. |
| US08749360B2 |
Systems and methods for sleep management
A sleep management application on a computing device having a processor and a storage medium executes code that establishes to a server that maintains data pertaining to the computing device or to a user, retrieves data from the remote server, and generates a custom interface to configure a feature of the computing device. The custom interface is used to program a sleep management setting. In one implementation, a method uses the sleep management application to provide an alarm function using external data from a remote server. The sleep management application can receive the external data from the remote server and analyze the external data to identify elements that pertain to the sleep management application. Then, the sleep management application can generate a control signal based on the elements, and modify a setting governing an operation of the alarm function in accordance with the control signal. |
| US08749359B1 |
Tablet holder with alert system
A tablet holder with an alert system for reminding individuals to take their medications featuring a base with seven compartments. Each compartment has a separate lid, and a base lid covers all the compartment lids. Compartment LEDs are disposed in each compartment lid. A touch screen display, a speaker, a vibrating component, and a microprocessor are each disposed in the base. The microprocessor is connected to a time keeping system that keeps the date and time. The microprocessor can be programmed to be activated at various dates and times. When the microprocessor is activated, the microprocessor activates the LEDs, the speaker, and the vibrating component to alert the user to take his/her medicine. |
| US08749352B2 |
Method for coded data transmission between a base station and at least one transponder within a wireless data transmission system
A method for coded data transmission between a base station (10) and at least one transponder (20) within a wireless data transmission system (1), the method comprising the steps of: —providing a set of symbols (S1 . . . S2n) for encoding data (DD), wherein the set of symbols (S1 . . . S2n) is divided into at least two sub-sets (SS1, SS2), and wherein each symbol (S1 . . . S2n) of the complete set is assigned to one of said at least two sub-sets (SS1, SS2); —encoding said data (DD) using symbols (S1 . . . S2n) of said at least two sub-sets (SS1, SS2), wherein at least one encoded symbol (S1 . . . S2n) comprises several bits; —transmitting each encoded symbol (S1 . . . S2n) within a symbol duration (SD) of an encoded data signal (DS) between said base station (10) and at least one transponder (20), wherein the sub-set (SS1, SS2) assigned to each encoded symbol (S1 . . . S2n) is indicated by a value of at least one bit (LB) of each encoded symbol (S1 . . . S2n); —identifying the value of said at least one bit (LB) of the transmitted encoded symbols within the encoded data signal (DS); —determining the sub-set (SS1, SS2) assigned to each encoded symbol (S1 . . . S2n) depending on the identified value of said at least one bit (LB); and —decoding each encoded symbol (S1 . . . S2n) according to the determined sub-set (SS1, SS2). |
| US08749351B2 |
System and method for determining location
The present invention introduces a location determining system. The location determining system includes a reader array and a location determining engine server. The reader array includes three readers, where each reader includes a plurality of reader groups that receives a tag information signal transmitted from the tag, generates a PN code generated from inside, correlation and standard deviation of the correlation, and bypasses the tag information signal, in a case a ratio of correlation and standard deviation of the correlation is greater than a predetermined critical value. The location determining engine server determines a final location value relative to the tag, using the tag information signal having a time difference of tag information signals received from the three readers forming each reader group among the tag information signals bypassed by the plurality of reader groups smaller than a predetermined marginal time difference. |
| US08749349B2 |
Method apparatus and computer program
A method and apparatus and computer program configured to perform the method, the method comprising: enabling an apparatus to provide an alert in response to the occurrence of an event wherein; when the apparatus is determined to be in a particular context a first alert is provided and when the apparatus is determined not to be in the particular context a second, user defined, alert is provided. |
| US08749347B1 |
Authorized custodian verification
Embodiments of the present invention relate to systems and methods for authenticating the identity of an authorized custodian of a physical item and activating a tracking device concealed in the physical item in the event the item is removed from a controlled area or accessed by an unauthorized individual. In particular, according to some embodiments, the identity of an authorized custodian of a physical item stored in a controlled area is authenticated by: recording an image of an iris of the authorized custodian in a database; capturing an image of an iris of an individual attempting to remove the physical item from the controlled area; and verifying, prior to allowing removal of the physical item, that the captured image of the iris of the individual attempting to the physical item matches the recorded image of the iris of the authorized custodian. |
| US08749346B2 |
Vehicle security system including pre-warning features for a vehicle having a data communications bus and related methods
A remote control system is for a vehicle including a data communications bus extending therein, and a plurality of vehicle devices communicating over the data communications bus. The system may include a cellular transceiver within the vehicle, and a multi-vehicle controller within the vehicle and coupled to the data communications bus for communication with at least one of the plurality of vehicle devices to perform a remote vehicle function based upon a received remote control signal. The multi-vehicle controller may be enabled to communicate via the data communications bus using a desired set of signals for a corresponding desired vehicle from a plurality of sets of signals for different vehicles based upon learning from at least one of the plurality of vehicle devices on the data communications bus and downloading via the cellular transceiver. |
| US08749344B2 |
Exit lane monitoring system
An exit lane monitoring system (10) detects wrong-way movement through a passage (P) between a secure area and a public area. Heel before toe sensors (12) are positioned on the floor of the passage and detect the foot pressure exerted by people moving through the passage from the secure area toward the public area and of persons moving the wrong way through the passage. Positioning of the sensors in the passage depends upon the geometry of the passage so sensors may be oriented in a non-geometric pattern if so dictated by the passage's geometry. A door (D) is selectively operated to block the passage and prevent persons moving the wrong way through it from entering the secure area. A control unit (16) is responsive to a sensor indication that someone is moving the wrong way to activate the door to block the passage and prevent movement into the secure area. |
| US08749343B2 |
Selectively enabled threat based information system
A method for selectively monitoring a privacy sensitive area includes assigning the privacy sensitive area a privacy threshold value, receiving a threat level, and activating surveillance equipment associated with said privacy sensitive area when said threat level exceeds said privacy threshold value. |
| US08749340B2 |
Electric receptacle apparatus with replaceable protection module
A thermal protection module includes a surge absorber, a switch unit, and a pyrocondensation belt connected to the surge absorber and the switch unit. The switch includes a casing, at least one conductive pin, at least one conductive portion, and a moving part. The conductive portion is disposed on the moving part. The moving part is stuck in the casing movably. The conductive pins are stuck in the casing. The pyrocondensation belt is configured to shrink according to the heat conduction from the surge absorber, so as to change the position of the moving part. The conductive portion is in contact with or separated from the conductive pin according to the position of the moving part. |
| US08749337B2 |
Micro coil apparatus and manufacturing methods therefor
A method for manufacturing a conductive coil, the method comprising using a semiconductor fabrication process (e.g. TSV) to manufacture a coil, typically a planar spiral conductive coil. |
| US08749335B2 |
Reactor
A reactor comprises a reactor core in which two U-shaped core members are connected in a ring shape with gap sections including adhesive layers therebetween, a primary insert-molded resin part which is provided covering leg parts of the core member and which includes joint sections formed around end surfaces of the leg parts a coil placed around the gap sections and the leg parts of the core members, and a secondary insert-molded resin part which is made of a thermoplastic resin and which is insert-molded around the coil to fix the coil on the reactor core and fix the leg parts of the two core members in a connected state, wherein the joint sections of the primary insert-molded resin parts are fitted to each other in a state where the core members are placed connected in a ring shape, to form a peripheral wall surrounding the gap section. |
| US08749327B2 |
Circuit interrupter trip apparatus and method
A circuit interrupter trip apparatus operably connected to an operating mechanism of a circuit interrupter includes a sensor and a switch operably connected and responsive to the sensor. The switch is positioned such that the sensor changes the operating state of the switch in response to detection of a predetermined electrical condition, such as an electrical fault. A controller is operably connected to the switch and is configured to activate the operating mechanism in response to a change in the operating state of the switch. |
| US08749314B2 |
Oven-controlled crystal oscillator
A crystal unit and a thermistor with negative resistance-temperature characteristics are housed in a thermostatic oven heated by a heater. A transistor driving the heater is controlled by an output of a differential amplifier, the thermistor is placed between a power supply voltage and an inverting input of the amplifier, and a first resistor used to adjust the temperature of a zero temperature coefficient point of the crystal unit is installed between the inverting input and a ground point. A second resistor is installed between the power supply voltage and a non-inverting input of the amplifier and a third resistor is installed between the non-inverting input and ground point. One of the second and third resistors is a resistor assembly made up of a plurality of resistance elements and one of these resistance elements is provided with positive resistance-temperature characteristics and adapted to detect ambient temperature. |
| US08749306B2 |
Enhanced Doherty amplifier
The disclosure relates to an enhanced Doherty amplifier that provides significant performance improvements over conventional Doherty amplifiers. The enhanced Doherty amplifier includes a power splitter, combining node, a carrier path, and a peaking path. The power splitter is configured to receive an input signal and split the input signal into a carrier signal provided at a carrier splitter output and a peaking signal provided at a peaking splitter output. The carrier path includes carrier power amplifier circuitry, a carrier input network coupled between the carrier splitter output and the carrier power amplifier circuitry, and a carrier output network coupled between the carrier power amplifier circuitry and the Doherty combining node. The peaking path includes peaking power amplifier circuitry, a peaking input network coupled between the peaking splitter output and the peaking power amplifier circuitry, and a carrier output network coupled between the power amplifier circuitry and the Doherty combining node. |
| US08749303B2 |
Over-current protection for a switch mode class D audio amplifier
Circuits and methods for over-current protection of pulse-width modulation systems such as switch mode class D audio systems, DC-to-DC converters, or switch mode power supplies have been disclosed. Over-current protection has been achieved by introducing supply-scalable pulses to bring the modulation index of PWM pulses to a safe level. Additionally to the over-current protection a recovery circuit and method to be applied right after an over-current situation has been disclosed. |
| US08749302B2 |
Semiconductor integrated circuit apparatus having I/O signal line
A semiconductor integrated circuit apparatus includes: a plurality of column select signal lines extended in parallel to each other with a predetermined distance provided therebetween; a local I/O line arranged in a selected space among spaces formed between the respective column select signal lines; and an upper segment I/O line arranged to overlap the local I/O line and a local I/O line bar. |
| US08749299B2 |
Semiconductor device generating varied internal voltages
The present invention describes a semiconductor device that generates internal voltages having different levels using an external voltage. The semiconductor device includes a plurality of asynchronous internal voltage generating circuits that share an external voltage source and generate internal voltages having different levels from one another. The plurality of asynchronous internal voltage generating circuits maintain the levels of the internal voltages at target levels by using the external voltage at different time points, respectively. The semiconductor device minimizes noise in the external voltage according to the use of the internal voltages. |
| US08749298B2 |
Anti-fuse circuit
An anti-fuse circuit includes: an anti-fuse unit including an anti-fuse capable of being programmed in response to a rupture signal and configured to generate a fuse signal corresponding to a state of the anti-fuse; a dummy fuse unit including a dummy fuse and configured to generate a dummy fuse signal corresponding to a state of the dummy fuse; and a blocking unit configured to output the fuse signal as a fuse output signal in response to a state of the dummy fuse signal. |
| US08749293B2 |
Stackable programmable passive device and a testing method
A programmable passive device comprising a first node and a second node. A plurality of passive device elements electrically coupled to the first node. A plurality of switches are electrically coupled to at least the second node and selectively coupled to a number of the plurality of passive device elements to provide the programmable passive device with a pre-determined value. |
| US08749289B2 |
Multi-phase clock generation apparatus and method
A multi-phase clock generator may receive an input clock signal as an input. The clock generator may also receive an inverse of the input clock signal. The clock generator may produce a plurality of output clock signals having different phases. The phases of the output clock signals may be evenly spaced. The output clock signals may have a similar waveform to the input clock signal, with a frequency that is lower than the input clock signal by a division factor. |
| US08749287B2 |
Semiconductor device
A semiconductor device has a first latch circuit, a second latch circuit configured to receive an output of the first latch circuit, a first switching element provided between the first latch circuit and the second latch circuit, a feedback line for feeding data held by the second latch circuit to the first latch circuit, and a second switching element provided on the feedback line. |
| US08749286B2 |
Programmable scannable storage circuit
A scannable storage circuit includes a scan enable input, a storage element having a Node coupled to a data output buffer for driving a data output terminal. The data output buffer includes an inverter; a transmission gate having a first MOS transistor and a second MOS transistor with sources and drains coupled to each other, drains coupled to an output of the inverter and sources coupled to the data output terminal and gates coupled to the scan enable input and an inverted scan enable input. A third MOS transistor and a fourth MOS transistor is coupled to the sources of the first and second MOS transistors, the third MOS transistor and fourth MOS transistor are configured to pull up or pull down the data output terminal in response to a first control signal and a second control signal respectively. A scan output is generated from the output of the inverter. |
| US08749280B2 |
Frequency synthesizer and associated method
A frequency synthesizer includes an oscillator for providing an RF clock, a phase shifter arranged to provide a shifted reference clock by changing phase of a frequency reference clock, and a time-to-digital converter (TDC) for producing a digital TDC output by quantizing a time difference between said RF clock and said shifted reference clock; wherein a range of said TDC covers significantly less than a full range of said RF clock period. An associated method is also provided. |
| US08749277B2 |
Half bridge apparatus and half bridge control method
A half bridge method and apparatus that provides a desired output using pulse width modulation and the predicted condition of a power supply is disclosed. The power supply is operatively connected to a first one the switch drivers of the switching elements of the half bridge. The condition of the power supply is predicted using of a model of power supply operating parameters. This model is used in conjunction with a signal applied to a second one of the switch drivers of the switching elements of the half bridge to determine whether an operating criterion for the power supply is satisfied. If the condition is satisfied then a signal to the first one of the switch drivers is enabled. |
| US08749271B2 |
Methods for synchronizing high-speed signals in a digital phase detector
Methods of synchronizing signals are provided. Specifically, a detector is provided in the digital phase detector to detect certain failure conditions that may result from clock skew and duty cycle distortion. If the condition is detected, an adjusted signal is generated and the adjusted signal is synchronized with the reference signal. By using the generated signal to provide a lock if certain conditions arise, adjustment errors resulting from duty cycle distortion and clock skew can be minimized. |
| US08749268B2 |
High-speed driver circuit
An inverter-type high speed driver circuit having a first inverter branch and a second inverter branch wherein each of the inverter branches comprising a parallel circuit of a serial connection of a first impedance tuning unit and a respective first clocking transistor and a serial connection of a second impedance tuning unit and a respective second clocking transistor. The impedance tuning units are configured to adapt the conductivity of the respective inverter branch to set the output impedance of the driver circuit and each of the impedance tuning units is controlled in accordance with a data stream. |
| US08749265B2 |
Semiconductor chip and method for generating digital value using process variation
Provided is a semiconductor chip to generate an identification key. The semiconductor chip may include a first inverter having a first logic threshold, a second inverter having a second logic threshold, and a first switch. The first switch may include a first terminal and a second terminal, and may short or open a connection between the first terminal and the second terminal according to an first input voltage value. An input terminal of the first inverter, an output terminal, and the first terminal of the first switch may be connected to a first node. An output terminal of the first inverter, an input terminal of the second inverter, and the second terminal of the first switch may be connected to a second node. |
| US08749258B2 |
Parallel scan paths with three bond pads, distributors and collectors
An integrated circuit (70) having parallel scan paths (824-842, 924-942) includes a pair or pairs of scan distributor (800,900) and scan collector (844,944) circuits. The scan paths apply stimulus test data to functional circuits (702) on the integrated circuit and receive response test data from the functional circuits. A scan distributor circuit (800) receives serial test data from a peripheral bond pad (802) and distributes it to each parallel scan path. A scan collector circuit (844) collects test data from the parallel scan paths and applies it to a peripheral bond pad (866). This enables more parallel scan paths of shorter length to connect to the functional circuits. The scan distributor and collector circuits can be respectively connected in series to provide parallel connections to more parallel scan paths. Additionally multiplexer circuits (886,890) can selectively connect pairs of scan distributor and collector circuits together. The scan distributor and collector circuits can be formed in core circuits (704). The core circuits then can be connected to other core circuits and functional circuits with simple connections to the parallel scan circuits through the scan distributor and collector circuits. |
| US08749256B2 |
Measurement system
The invention discloses a contacting device for a thin film solar cell, comprising a positioning plane for positioning the solar cell thereon, a contact element for electrically contacting the solar cell and a suction element, wherein the solar cell is arrangeable on the top side of the positioning plane, the contact element is arranged slideably in a direction orthogonal to the positioning plane and arranged slideably through an opening of the positioning plane, and the suction element is arranged on the bottom side of the positioning plane for sucking air through the opening. The contacting device allows for obtaining improved measurement accuracy. |
| US08749254B2 |
Power cycling test arrangement
A device instructs a power supply to provide a current to a power cycling test structure that includes a heat source interconnected with a package, via a first level interconnect mechanism, and a printed circuit board (PCB) interconnected with the package, via a second level interconnect mechanism. The device also monitors thermal feedback associated with the heat source, and monitors, based on the provided current, voltage feedback associated with the power cycling test structure. The device further determines a thermal profile of the power cycling test structure based on the thermal feedback and the voltage feedback. |
| US08749252B2 |
Method and equipment for monitoring the current drained by the grounding electrode in electric impedance tomography
There are disclosed a method and an equipment for monitoring current drained by a grounding electrode in an electric impedance tomography system. The grounding electrode and a set of electrodes may be simultaneously applied to a patient in an electric impedance tomography apparatus. The equipment may be configured to convert current into a voltage signal and amplify, demodulate, and filter the voltage signal in order to recover its almost continuous component. The equipment may further be configured to compare the value of the continuous component with limit/threshold values proportional to an intensity of an excitation current applied to the set of electrodes. In addition to detecting the disconnection of the grounding electrode, the comparison may also detect the disconnection of one or more tomography electrodes, as well as unbalance in the currents injected through the electrodes and the contact of the patient with voltage sources or conductive bodies. |
| US08749248B2 |
Shielding flaw detection and measurement in quadrature amplitude modulated cable telecommunications environment
Signal egress from a shielding flaw in a cable telecommunication system is detected, even where signals carried by the cable telecommunication system are quadrature amplitude modulated signals that statistically resemble broadband noise by generating a marker signal comprising a double side band, suppressed carrier signal in the fringes of contiguous frequency bands and at a power level which cannot cause perceptible interference with signals in those contiguous frequency bands. The separation of the sidebands comprising the marker signal can unambiguously identify the marker signal and can distinguish between different cable telecommunication systems installed in the same geographic area. The marker signal can be additionally coded by varying the frequency and/or amplitude of the modulating signal used to create the marker signal. |
| US08749247B2 |
Apparatus and method for detecting abnormality of high voltage circuit
Disclosed are abnormality detecting apparatus and method for a high-voltage circuit (A), in which: a square wave pulse is outputted to a measuring point (p1) with a switch (SW1) set off, the switch (SW1) provided between an inverter circuit (2) and the ground, a difference voltage (Vp-p) between a voltage (Vh) detected at a phase of T/2 and a voltage (V1) detected at a phase of T is obtained, the occurrence of a ground fault is detected based on the size of the difference voltage (Vp-p); and the square wave pulse is outputted to the measuring point (p1) with the switch (SW1) set on, and it is judged that a loosening of a fastening section (p2) occurs when the difference voltage (Vp-p) exceeds a reference voltage (Vref2). |
| US08749245B2 |
Ion gauge, a monitoring system and a method for determining a total integrated concentration of substances having specific molecular weight in a gas sample
The invention relates to anion gauge for determining a total integrated concentration of a substance having a molecular weight falling into a pre-determined range of molecular weights in a gas sample. The anion gauge includes an ionization region in a vicinity of the ionization source; an accelerator for generating a flow of ionized molecules; a mass filter for intercepting the flow for separating ions having the molecular weight falling into the pre-determined range from the ionized molecules and a detector for generating a signal representative of the total integrated concentration of such ions present in the gas sample. The invention further relates to a lithographic apparatus and a method for determining a total integrated concentration of a substance having a molecular weight falling into a pre-determined range of molecular weights in a gas sample. |
| US08749244B2 |
Circuit for monitoring of accumulator cells connected in series
In one embodiment, a circuit includes a measuring circuit coupled to an accumulator cell. A first output of the measuring circuit outputs a current signal based on a cell voltage of the accumulator cell. The circuit includes an interface circuit coupled to the first output of the measuring circuit and a second output of a level-shifter circuit configured to change a voltage level on the first output at the interface circuit. The level-shifter circuit includes a first input coupled to the first output and one or more transistors coupled in series with one or more gate terminals that are each coupled to each of one or more terminals of the accumulator cell. |
| US08749238B2 |
Magnetic resonance apparatus
A magnetic resonance apparatus includes a receiving system with at least one receiver configured to process at least one receive signal of a receive channel. The magnetic resonance apparatus further includes at least one switching device configured to variably assign a first number of receive channels to a first number of inputs of the at least one receiver. The switching device has a crossbar switch and a pre-selection circuit connected upstream of the crossbar switch. Each receive channel of a first group of receive channels is directly connected to an input of a first group of inputs that is permanently assigned to the respective receive channel. |
| US08749231B2 |
Sensing a field with a sensor that includes bias resetting of an active device of the sensor
Apparatuses, methods and systems of sensor sampling of a field are disclosed. One apparatus includes a magnetometer that includes a sensor responsive to an applied field. Embodiments of the sensor include an active device and oscillator circuitry, wherein the sensor generates an output signal having a frequency that is dependent on the applied field. The magnetometer further includes a bias reset controller for resetting a bias of the active device and a sampler for sampling the output signal. Further, a reset-rate of the resetting of the bias of the active device is high enough to influence 1/f noise generated by the active device. |
| US08749230B1 |
Method and system for measuring the thickness of an object
Methods and systems are provided for measuring a thickness of an object. A first portion of a device is positioned on a first side of the object, and a second portion of the device is positioned on an opposite side of the object. The first portion includes at least one first mount and at least one eddy current sensor coupled to the first mount. The second portion includes at least one second mount and at least one target coupled to the second mount. The first mount is magnetically coupled to the second mount such that the eddy current sensor is oriented to interact with the target to enable the thickness of the object to be measured. |
| US08749228B2 |
Torque index sensor
A torque index sensor is configured to enhance productivity with excellent economic feasibility by simplifying a magnet structure of an index sensor unit. The torque index sensor is connected to an input shaft and an output shaft, and the torque index sensor includes a housing; an index magnet housed in the housing, connected to the output shaft to rotate with the output shaft and formed in the shape of a rectangle at a cross-sectional view; and a magnetic device secured to an interior of the housing to output a magnetization signal in response to rotation of the index magnet, such that the shape of the index magnet is simplified to a rectangle to enhance productivity and economic feasibility. |
| US08749225B2 |
Apparatus and method of power measurement for pulsed terahertz quantum-cascade laser
The present invention provides a power measurement apparatus and method for a pulsed terahertz quantum-cascade laser (THz QCL). The apparatus includes a light source part, a light path part, and a detection part. Terahertz light emitted by a THz QCL reaches a terahertz quantum-well photodetector (THz QWP) through the measurement apparatus, and is absorbed to generate a corresponding current signal. A signal processing circuit extracts a voltage signal from the current signal, amplifies the voltage signal, and inputs the amplified voltage signal to an oscilloscope for reading and displaying. According to a responsivity of the THz QWP at a lasing frequency of the laser, the measurement of the output power of the pulsed THz QCL is acquired. The present invention avoids integration estimation when a thermal detector is used to measure output power of a THz QCL in a pulse operating mode, and can directly acquire the power value of a pulsed output from the laser according to the amplitude of the detector responding to the pulsed terahertz light. |
| US08749222B2 |
Method of sensing magnitude of current through semiconductor power device
A cascode current sensor includes a main MOSFET and a sense MOSFET. The drain terminal of the main MOSFET is connected to a power device whose current is to be monitored, and the source and gate terminals of the main MOSFET are connected to the source and gate terminals, respectively, of the sense MOSFET. The drain voltages of the main and sense MOSFETs are equalized, in one embodiment by using a variable current source and negative feedback. The gate width of the main MOSFET is typically larger than the gate width of the sense MOSFET. Using the size ratio of the gate widths, the current in the main MOSFET is measured by sensing the magnitude of the current in the sense MOSFET. Inserting the relatively large MOSFET in the power circuit minimizes power loss. |
| US08749220B2 |
Low noise current buffer circuit and I-V converter
A low noise current buffer circuit includes a first transistor, for receiving an input current, a second transistor, for draining a first current from a drain of the second transistor according to the input current received by the first transistor, a third transistor, for outputting first current, a fourth transistor, for outputting a second current to an output resistor, to generate an output voltage, and a feedback capacitor, for eliminating impacts of noise of a system voltage on the output voltage. |
| US08749216B2 |
Constant on-time converter with stabilizing operation and method thereof
A constant on-time converter has an input terminal, an output terminal, a feedback circuit, an operating circuit, a comparison circuit, a timer, a driving circuit and a switching circuit. The operating circuit is coupled to a compensation signal adjusted by a digital controller, and the compensation signal rises up to a predetermined amplitude when a feedback signal is less than a reference signal. |
| US08749209B2 |
System and method for providing adaptive dead times
System and method for adaptively altering a power supply's dead time. A method comprises detecting a start of a dead time, detecting an ending condition of the dead time, and ending the dead time. The detecting of the ending condition is based on a first current flowing through a lower portion of the power supply or a second current flowing through a gate driver of a lower switching element in the power supply. |
| US08749207B2 |
Reactive power management
Methods and systems for controlling a reactive power contribution to reactive power flowing in an electricity distribution network, so as to optimize this reactive power flow are described. A reactive power characteristic of electrical power flowing in the electricity distribution network is detected at a power device. The reactive power characteristic relates to a reactive power component of electricity flowing in the network. On the basis of the detected reactive power characteristic a reactive power contribution to the electricity distribution network is controlled so as to adjust a value of the detected reactive power characteristic. This enables individual power consumption and/or provision devices to react autonomously to local variations in the electricity distribution network, and to provide a reactive power contribution, to drive the detected reactive power characteristic towards a desired value. |
| US08749206B2 |
Circuit and method for de-energizing a field coil
A circuit includes a first half bridge including a first controllable semiconductor switch and a first diode. The first controllable semiconductor switch is coupled between a first constant supply potential and a center tap of the first half bridge. The first diode is coupled between the center tap and a constant reference potential. A second half bridge includes a second diode and a second controllable semiconductor switch. The second diode is coupled between a second constant potential higher than the first potential and a center tap of the second half bridge. The second controllable semiconductor switch is coupled between the center tap and the constant reference potential. Driver circuitry controls the conducting state of the first and the second semiconductor switch thus controlling the current flow through a field connectable between the center taps. |
| US08749205B2 |
Control device for vehicle AC generator
In a control device for a vehicle AC generator, a voltage control includes target voltage adjusting means for adjusting a target voltage value in response to a target change command from an external control unit and a gradual excitation control circuit that controls an excitation duty to increase according to an excitation duty control characteristic when a vehicle load increases and when the target voltage adjusting means varies the target voltage value to a lower value. The gradual excitation control circuit includes duty characteristic varying means for varying the excitation duty control characteristic. The duty characteristic varying means varies a rate of increase of the excitation duty in a predetermined region of the excitation duty control characteristic in comparison with its other region. |
| US08749203B2 |
Residential electric power storage system
A controller includes a data accumulation unit that obtains data of an amount of electric power consumed in a residence and accumulates the obtained data a representative pattern creation unit that creates a representative pattern based on the data accumulated in the data accumulation unit, the pattern representatively indicating how the electric power storage device varies in state of charge for its discharging period and a limit value determination unit that determines a limit value to correspond to the pattern. |
| US08749202B2 |
Battery control system, battery controller, battery control method and program
Provided is a battery control system including a power generation unit that generates electric power from renewable energy as an energy source, a battery storing the electric power, a power generation amount estimation unit that estimates a generation amount of electric power generated by the power generation unit, based on estimation information in which a renewable energy amount available to the power generation unit is estimated, a power consumption amount estimation unit that estimates power consumption, a determination unit that determinates whether or not electric power is to be stored in the battery, based on a storage amount of the battery, the generation amount of electric power and the amount of power consumption, and a power acquisition unit that acquires electric power to be stored in the battery, when, as a result of determination by the determination unit, electric power is to be stored in the battery. |
| US08749195B2 |
Contactless charging module, contactless charging device, and method of manufacturing contactless charging module
A contactless charging module, a contactless charging device, and a method of manufacturing the contactless charging module, wherein a magnetic sheet can be prevented from being damaged and giving an adverse effect on power transmission characteristic, by adopting a flexible magnetic sheet having slits, and wherein power transmission efficiency of the contactless charging module can be prevented from decreasing significantly. The contactless charging module is provided with: a planar coil unit; a magnetic sheet upon which the planar coil unit is to be mounted; a recess section or a slit that is formed on the magnetic sheet, and that is for housing therein a portion of a conductor wire of the planar coil unit; and a plurality of flexible slits that are for giving flexibility to the magnetic sheet. At least one of the plurality of flexible slits is formed such that a virtual extension line of the flexible slit will be arranged within the width of the recess section or the slit. |
| US08749194B1 |
Inductive charging retail display device
A retail display device for use with a plurality of inductively charged electronic devices includes a cable assembly having a length defined by a first and second end including at least one electrical conductor. A mounting member is adapted to receive the first end of the cable assembly. The mounting member is also adapted to be affixed to the plurality of inductively charged electronic devices. A primary coil for electromagnetic field coupling is disposed within the mounting member and in electrical communication with the at least one conductor of the cable assembly. The primary coil forms an electromagnetic field coupling with a secondary coil within the inductively charged electronic device so as to inductively convey energy for charging a rechargeable battery. In an alternate embodiment, the primary coil is disposed in a base member. |
| US08749192B2 |
Electric motor and electric generator
An electric motor comprising a stator having two coil sets arranged to produce a magnetic field of the motor, each coil set comprising a plurality of coil sub-sets; and two control devices, wherein the first control device is coupled to the plurality of coil sub-sets for the first coil set and the second control device is coupled to the plurality of coil sub-sets for the second coil set and each control device is arranged to control current in the respective plurality of coil sub-sets to generate a magnetic field in each coil sub-set to have a substantially different magnetic phase to the other one or more coil sub-sets in the respective coil set; and wherein the first control device and the second control device are mounted adjacent to the stator. |
| US08749191B2 |
Float switch
A float switch includes a floater (106), a float leader (105), a reed pipe detection device and a relay (101). The floater (106) is sleeved on the float leader (105), and can slide freely. The reed pipe detection device comprises a high-level reed pipe (108), a low-level reed pipe (109) and a magnet (107). The float leader (105) is hollow. The high-level reed pipe (108) and the low-level reed pipe (109) are located in a high level and a low level inside the float leader (105) respectively. The magnet (107) is provided inside the floater (106). A motor is controlled by the relay (101) in the float switch. The motor begins to work when the relay (101) is switched on, and the motor stops working when the relay (101) is switched off. The switch has a long service life, high reliability and an excellent waterproof property. The float switch has a simple manufacture and installation process, less fraction defective and condemnation factor, thus further reduces the cost. |
| US08749187B2 |
Dynamically modified fan speed table for cooling a computer
A computer-implemented fan control method includes measuring a temperature within a computer system and dynamically selecting a fan speed step in response to the temperature received, wherein the fan speed step is selected from a fan speed table defining a finite number of fan speed steps each having an associated fan speed. A fan is operated at the dynamically selected fan speed step, wherein the fan is positioned to drive air through the computer system where the temperature is being measured. The fan output variation is measured over a prescribed time interval and the fan speed table is automatically modified to change the fan speeds associated with each fan speed step, wherein the fan speeds are changed as a function of the measured fan output variation while continuing to drive the fan. |
| US08749185B2 |
Ventilation apparatus with feedback compensation control and method for operating the same
A ventilation apparatus with a two-section feedback compensation control and a method for operating the same are disclosed. The ventilation apparatus includes a power conversion unit, a driven circuit, a DC motor, a current-sensing unit, a voltage compensation unit, and a control unit. The power conversion unit receives and converts an AC power voltage into a DC power voltage. The driven circuit receives the DC power voltage and outputs a driven voltage. The DC motor is driven through the driven voltage. The current-sensing unit senses an output current of the DC motor. The control unit receives the output current to compare to a threshold current value, thus controlling the voltage compensation unit. Accordingly, the DC power voltage is adjusted to adjust the speed of the DC motor. |
| US08749178B2 |
Electrode system, in particular for gas discharge light sources
The present invention relates to an electrode system, in particular of a gas discharge device for generating EUV radiation and/or soft X-rays. The electrode system comprises at least two electrodes (1, 2) formed of an electrode material which contains Mo or W or an alloy of Mo or W as a main component. The electrode material has a fine grained structure with fine grains having a mean size of <500 nm. With the proposed electrode system, a high thermo-mechanical and thermo-chemical resistance of the electrodes is achieved. The electrode system can therefore be used in known EUV light sources using liquid Sn and being operated at high temperatures. |
| US08749176B2 |
Lamp driving device
A lamp driving device is provided for driving plural lamps. The lamp driving device includes a power conversion circuit and plural lamp connectors. The power conversion circuit is capable of converting an input voltage into a first DC voltage, and outputting a first current having a constant current value. The plural lamp connectors are serially connected with each other, and have respective positive terminals and respective negative terminals connected with corresponding lamps, thereby outputting respective output voltages and respective output currents to corresponding lamps. The first DC voltage is subject to voltage-division to obtain the output voltages, and the magnitudes of the output voltages from the lamps are substantially identical. |
| US08749172B2 |
Luminance control for illumination devices
An illumination device is provided having one or more illumination LEDs configured to provide illumination for the device. Along with the illumination LED is a reference LED. The illumination LED provide illumination during normal operation of the device, whereas the reference LED provides a reference illumination, but does not provide illumination during normal operation. A light detector can detect light from the illumination LED and the reference LED, and control circuitry can be used to compare light detected from the reference LED and the illumination LED to adjust a brightness for the device. The light detector can comprise a photo-detector or can comprise an LED, such as one of the illumination LEDs if more than one illumination LED is utilized. A method is also provided for controlling brightness of an illumination device. |
| US08749169B2 |
LED device with voltage-limiting unit and voltage-equalizing and current-limiting resistances
An LED device with voltage-limiting unit and voltage-equalizing and current-limiting resistances includes an LED connected in parallel with a voltage-limiting unit, and a current-limiting resistance connected in series between the LED and the voltage-limiting unit. Two ends of each LED are connected in parallel with a voltage-equalizing resistance for forming a light-emitting unit, so that a light-emitting unit set can be structured through connecting two or more than two of the mentioned light-emitting units in series or in series-parallel in the same polarity. With the two ends of each LED being connected in parallel with the voltage-equalizing resistance, the end voltage of each light-emitting unit can be evenly stabilized; and the current-limiting resistance connected in series between the connection joints of the LED and the voltage-limiting unit for limiting the shunt current passing through the voltage-limiting unit. |
| US08749165B2 |
Light source driving device including a switching current adjustment circuit
A light source driving device configured to drive a light-emitting unit is provided. The light source driving device includes a direct voltage source, a first capacitance unit, and a switching current adjustment circuit. The direct voltage source is coupled with the light-emitting unit and supplies a direct voltage. The first capacitance unit and the light-emitting unit are connected in parallel. The switching current adjustment circuit and the light-emitting unit are connected in series. The switching current adjustment circuit is configured to bear a part of a voltage stress of the direct voltage source and is configured to switch the direct voltage. |
| US08749161B2 |
Compact fluorescent lamp and LED light source with electronic components in base
Light sources are presented in which lamp ballast or LED driver circuitry is disposed within a base assembly using integrated boards with components embedded between board layers and/or circular flex boards with pot core magnetic components and/or ASICs and thermally conductive board core materials with thermal vias, reflective mirrors, and/or potting materials to conduct heat out through the base to facilitate reduced form factors for lamps and/or LED light sources. |
| US08749156B2 |
Electric lighting driver circuit
An electric lighting driver circuit for driving an illuminating unit to emit light includes a flyback converting unit for converting a DC input voltage to a low ripple DC voltage, and a half-bridge converting unit electrically connected to the flyback converting unit, for converting the low ripple DC voltage to a low frequency, rectangular wave output voltage to drive the illuminating unit to emit light. The flyback converting unit includes a dual-output winding transformer connected to the half-bridge converting unit. The dual-output winding transformer includes a first winding at a primary side of the dual-output winding transformer and a second winding and a third winding at a secondary side of the dual-output winding transformer. The third winding converts leakage inductance attributed to the first winding and the second winding to electrical energy that is provided to the half-bridge converting unit. |
| US08749155B2 |
Circuit assembly for operating at least one discharge lamp
A circuit assembly for operating a discharge lamp is disclosed having DC input terminals, a bridge circuit to implement a first bridge midpoint, an output coupling the discharge lamp thereto and a shunt resistor with a tapping point and a device for detecting overload operation. A device for ignition control of the discharge lamp, having an input for supplying a measurement signal and a switch control device is provided connected to the device for detecting overload operation and the ignition control device. The switch control device is designed to modify control signals for at least a first and second electronic switch as a function of the output signals of the device for detecting overload operation. |
| US08749147B2 |
LED circuit
There is provided an LED circuit. The LED circuit may include 2N+2 light emitting units connected between a 2K−1-th node and a 2K-th node among 4N+4 (N is a natural number) nodes including a first node supplied with input voltage (K is all natural numbers equal to or smaller than 2N+2); 2N+2 switches connected between a 2K-th node and a ground (K is all natural numbers equal to or smaller than 2N+2); 2N+1 switches connected between a 2L−1-th node and a 2L+1-th node and 2N+1 switches connected between a 2L-th node and a 2L+1-th node (L is all natural numbers equal to or smaller than 2N+1); and N switches connected between the first node and a 4M+1-th node (M is all natural numbers equal to or smaller than N). |
| US08749146B2 |
Auto commissioning of light fixture using optical bursts
Methods and systems herein provide for determining lighting contributions of light fixtures to an environment. In one embodiment, a system includes a light sensor and a controller. The light sensor generates light level data based on measured light levels. The controller determines a nominal light level based on the light level data, and identifies an optical burst pattern in the light level data generated by a light fixture. The controller then determines a lighting contribution of the light fixture based on the optical burst pattern and the nominal light level. |
| US08749145B2 |
Determination of lighting contributions for light fixtures using optical bursts
Methods and systems herein provide for determining lighting contributions of light fixtures to an environment. In one embodiment, a system includes a light sensor and a controller. The light sensor generates light level data based on measured light levels. The controller determines a nominal light level based on the light level data, and identifies an optical burst pattern in the light level data generated by a light fixture. The controller then determines a lighting contribution of the light fixture based on the optical burst pattern and the nominal light level. |
| US08749141B2 |
Elevator control device
An elevator control device capable of carrying out proper control considering the energy saving and service life of lamp for various types of the lighting fixtures provided in an elevator car. The control device which controls the lighting fixture includes a storage which stores the type of the lighting fixture, a setting mechanism which sets transfer time for automatically pausing the car based on the type of the lighting fixture stored in the storage, and a detector which detects that the car is in a predetermined standby state. The control device turns off the lighting in the car when the standby state of the car continues for the transfer time set by the setting mechanism. |
| US08749139B2 |
Microwave driven plasma light source
A lucent crucible of a Lucent Waveguide Microwave Plasma Light Source (LWMPLS) comprising a Light Emitting Resonator (LER) in form of a crucible (1) of fused quartz which has a central void (2) having microwave excitable material (3) within it. In one example, the void is 4 mm in diameter and has a length (L) of 21 mm. The LWMPLS is operated at a power (P) of 280 W and thus with a plasma loading P/L of 133 w/cm and a wall loading of 106 w/cm2. The lamp is thus operated with a high efficiency—in terms of lumens per watt—while having a reasonable lifetime. |
| US08749135B2 |
Mother substrate structure of light emitting devices, light emitting device and method of fabricating the same
A mother substrate structure includes a mother substrate, a cover plate, a sealant and a spacer structure. The mother substrate has light emitting units thereon. The cover plate is disposed above the mother substrate and has unit regions, each unit region corresponding to one of the light emitting unit. The cover plate has a cutting line around each unit region, sealant regions between the cutting line and each of the unit regions, and spacer disposing regions between the cutting line and each of the sealant regions, wherein a distance between the cutting line and each of the spacer disposing region is 0˜100 um. The sealant is disposed in the sealant regions to bond the mother substrate and the cover plate. The spacer structure is disposed in the spacer disposing regions and surrounds each of the light emitting units, and materials of the spacer structure and the sealant include a glass fit. |
| US08749131B2 |
Lamp using solid state source and doped semiconductor nanophosphor
A lamp uses a solid state source to pump one or more doped semiconductor nanophosphors to produce a light output of a desired characteristic. The nanophosphor(s) is dispersed in a material, examples of which include liquids and gases. Various nanophosphors are discussed. In the examples, the material with the doped semiconductor nanophosphor(s) dispersed therein appears at least substantially clear when the lamp is off. The exemplary lamp also includes circuitry for driving the solid state source and a housing that at least encloses the drive circuitry. The lamp has a lighting industry standard lamp base mechanically connected to the housing and electrically connected to provide electricity to the circuitry for driving the solid state source. |
| US08749125B2 |
Spark plug
A task of this invention is to provide a spark plug that is superior in withstand voltage characteristics at high temperatures. A spark plug of this invention is equipped with a center electrode, an insulator, and a metal shell, and is characterized by that the insulator is equipped with an alumina-based sintered body containing silicon component (Si component), magnesium component (Mg component), at least one component of calcium component, strontium component, and barium component, and a rare earth element component (RE component), that a grain boundary phase of the alumina-based sintered body has a hexaaluminate crystal containing the RE component, that, in the alumina-based sintered body, the weight ratio of the RE component to the Mg component is 5.4≦RE oxide/MgO≦17.5, and that the content of an alkali metal component in terms of oxide in a spot having a diameter of 0.3 nm, where the hexaaluminate crystal or the hexaaluminate crystal and Si component in the grain boundary phase is present by TEM, ranges from 0.01 weight % to 20 weight %. |
| US08749122B2 |
Piezoelectric vibrator having peripheral notches therein
Provided are a vacuum package and a method for manufacturing the vacuum package having excellent airtightness and capable of improving mounting strength, and a piezoelectric vibrator, an oscillator, an electronic device, and a radio-controlled timepiece. The package includes a base substrate and a lid substrate bonded to each other, a cavity formed between the base substrate and the lid substrate and configured to be capable of sealing a piezoelectric vibrating reed, and penetration electrodes penetrating through the base substrate in the thickness direction so as to make the inner side of the cavity and the outer side conductive. Portions of the base substrate and the lid substrate in the vicinity of the cavity form bonding regions in which the two substrates are bonded. A notch portion through which the bonding surface of the lid substrate is exposed as seen from the thickness direction of the base substrate is formed on the corner portions of the base substrate. |
| US08749119B2 |
Piezoelectric device
A piezoelectric device prevents damage to a piezoelectric thin film caused by etching and the manufacturing cost of the piezoelectric device is reduced. On a surface of a support layer formed on a support substrate, an etching adjustment layer is formed. An etchant flows through etching windows to simultaneously form a through hole through which a portion of a sacrificial layer is exposed to a side of a piezoelectric thin film and an opening through which the etching adjustment layer, which is conductive with a lower electrode, is exposed to the side of the piezoelectric thin film. By making an etchant flow through the through hole, the sacrificial layer is removed. A lead-out wiring is formed between an upper electrode and a bump pad and a lead-out wiring is formed between the conductive etching adjustment layer, which is conductive with the lower electrode, and a bump pad. |
| US08749117B2 |
Vibrating body of vibratory drive unit and vibratory drive unit
Provided is a vibrating body for a vibratory drive unit, including: a piezoelectric element including a piezoelectric layer and an electrode layer; and a plate-shaped elastic member bonded to the piezoelectric element, wherein the vibrating body drives a body to be driven, which is in contact with the plate-shaped elastic member, by a vibration generated in the plate-shaped elastic member through an application of a drive voltage to the piezoelectric element, and the plate-shaped elastic member has a front surface and a back surface each provided with one or a plurality of the piezoelectric elements to generate at least two different vibration modes through the application of the drive voltage to the one or the plurality of the piezoelectric elements. |
| US08749111B2 |
Motor for washing machine and washing machine having the same
A motor include a rotor to rotate a drum of the washing machine, and the rotor includes a base, a ring-shaped rib formed at the edge of the base, and a back yoke ring connected to the ring-shaped rib. The back yoke ring is inserted into the ring-shaped rib while the base is formed by injection molding. |
| US08749107B2 |
Spacer for supporting conductors in an electric machine
A spacer for supporting conductors in a stator assembly of an electric machine includes a plurality of positioning elements cooperating with various conductors in the specials region of the winding arrangement. The spacer illustratively includes an insulating body formed of an electrically non-conductive material and including surfaces facing axially inwardly for contacting short conductors and crossover pockets for receiving crossover conductors which electrically connect an inner winding set and an outer winding set. The spacer further illustratively includes phase lead pockets facing axially outwardly for receiving a terminal phase lead conductor. |