| Document | Document Title |
|---|---|
| US08849536B2 |
Method and device for controlling an electrohydraulic brake system
A system and device and a method for controlling an electrohydraulic brake system of a motor vehicle especially adapted for brake by wire applications. The embodiments carryout position control of an actuator of an electronically activatable pressure supply unit based on the actuator position actual value and on and actuator position reference value which is determined on the basis of a pressure reference value. |
| US08849532B2 |
Adaptable thermal management of a vehicle dual-clutch transmission
A method of managing clutch thermal loads in a multi-speed dual-clutch transmission (DCT) that is paired with an engine in a vehicle. The method includes assessing whether the vehicle is being accelerated and identifying a DCT clutch slipping during the acceleration. The method also includes determining vehicle parameters, determining an amount of time remaining for the clutch to stop slipping using the determined vehicle parameters, and determining an amount of time remaining until the clutch reaches a threshold temperature. The method additionally includes comparing the determined amount of time remaining for the clutch to stop slipping with the determined amount of time remaining until the clutch reaches the threshold temperature. Furthermore, the method includes activating an indicator if the determined amount of time remaining until the clutch reaches the threshold temperature is less than the determined amount of time remaining for the clutch to stop slipping. |
| US08849529B2 |
Method and system for determining the contact point for a clutch in a vehicle
A method for determining the contact point for a clutch in a vehicle comprising an engine, a clutch, powered wheels and a gearbox. The gearbox has a first gearbox component which is connected to the clutch and disconnectable from the powered wheels. The method steps include estimating (405) a friction torque for the first gearbox component, whereby the torque transmitted by the clutch is a function of estimated friction torque, closing (407) the clutch, whereby a representation of a torque transmitted by the clutch is determined for a plurality of positions for the clutch, determining (409) the contact point by means of the determined representation of torque transmitted, and the further step (402), before the closure of the clutch, of accelerating the first gearbox component if its rotation speed is below a certain value. Also a system and a vehicle for performing the method are disclosed. |
| US08849528B2 |
System and method for controlling a transmission
A system for selecting shift schedules of a transmission of a vehicle includes a controller configured to receive a signal indicative of acceleration of the vehicle prior to a change of a gear of the transmission. The controller is further configured to estimate tractive effort of the vehicle following the change of the gear of the transmission, the tractive effort estimation being based on at least an estimation of a road load on the vehicle. The controller is further configured to select between a first shift schedule and a second shift schedule based on the tractive effort estimation, wherein, if the tractive effort estimation is less than a threshold value, the controller selects the first shift schedule, and if the tractive effort estimation is at least equal to the threshold value, the controller selects the second shift schedule. |
| US08849526B2 |
Adaptive speed-based control of a binary clutch assembly
A vehicle includes an engine and a transmission, the latter of which includes a controller which executes an adaptive speed-based control method. The transmission includes gear sets each having multiple nodes, an input member continuously connected to the engine and to one of the gear sets, and a binary clutch assembly connected to the same gear set as the input member. The controller is programmed to detect a requested transmission shift into an engine braking state while the vehicle is coasting. The controller also commands an increase in engine speed to a target engine speed in response to the requested shift, and applied the binary clutch assembly when the engine output speed reaches the target engine speed. The controller calculates slip across the binary clutch assembly and adjusts the target engine speed as needed over time until the target slip is achieved at the target engine speed. |
| US08849524B2 |
Vehicular shift control apparatus
A vehicular shift control apparatus configured to control a speed ratio of a belt-type transmission having first and second variable-diameter pulleys, and a transmission belt wound between the first and second variable-diameter pulleys, by controlling hydraulic pressures to be applied to respective hydraulic cylinders of said first and second variable-diameter pulleys, according to respective commanded hydraulic pressure values of the first and second variable-diameter pulleys, such that the speed ratio coincides with a target value, the vehicular shift control apparatus includes a shift control portion configured to be operable, when a first-variable-diameter-pulley hold pressure which permits the speed ratio of said belt-type transmission to be held at the target value in a shift-down action is determined as said commanded hydraulic pressure value of the first variable-diameter pulley, to temporarily reduce said commanded hydraulic pressure value with respect to said first-variable-diameter-pulley hold pressure in an initial period of said shift-down action. |
| US08849523B1 |
Systems and methods for detecting soil characteristics
A soil detection and planting apparatus. The apparatus includes a vehicle and a controller coupled to the vehicle. The apparatus further includes a planting device coupled to the vehicle, the planting device configured to plant seeds or plants into a soil material. The apparatus includes a ground penetrating radar sensor coupled to the vehicle. The ground penetrating radar soil sensor is configured to scan the soil material up to a designated depth beneath a surface of the soil material, wherein the ground penetrating radar soil sensor is further configured to provide a sensor feedback signal to the controller with respect to an intrinsic characteristic of the soil material. The controller is configured to instruct placement of a seed or a plant into the soil material based on the feedback signal. |
| US08849522B1 |
Signal based safety system for construction zone
A system incorporating one or more interrogators or readers on heavy construction equipment (e.g., loaders) detect signals emanating from signal transmitters on clothing or equipment of construction workers. Responsive to the detection of a signal emanating from behind the heavy equipment, or in another position relative to the heavy equipment, the driver is notified audibly of the danger such that the driver may stop the movement of the heavy equipment or causes the brakes to be applied and transmission to be disengaged automatically without operator involvement. |
| US08849521B2 |
Tractor
Provided is a tractor which allows continuation of a plowing work by appropriately elevating a plow when slip occurs in wheels. The tractor includes draft controlling means (34) for elevating the plow to a target machine body level value obtained by making reference to control information with a draft load value detected by a draft load sensor (S). The control information is set based on a target plowing depth set when the plow was set to a target plowing depth and a draft load value. When a slip ratio detected by a slip ratio acquiring means (37) exceeds a threshold value, in place of previously set control information, there is newly set control information which renders higher the target machine body level relative to a same draft load value, thereby to elevate the plow. |
| US08849518B2 |
Method and system for automatic wheel positioning
A system and method for automatically angularly positioning wheels of an automotive vehicle after parking. The system disclosed here includes a power-assisted steering system coupled to the wheels. Further, the system includes a controller, coupled to the steering system, which is configured to automatically position the wheels in a desired direction, based on a determination that the vehicle is parked. |
| US08849514B2 |
Driving support device
A conventional brake control can generate only a small yaw moment compared with a steering control, so that reliable avoidance of obstacles cannot be obtained. With a steering control, the driver gets behind the wheel every time when crossing a lane and has an uncomfortable feeling. To solve these problems, a traveling aid device comprises: a detection unit for detecting the traveling state of a vehicle, the position of a lane marker, and the positions and types of obstacles around the vehicle; a calculation unit for calculating, based on the traveling state of the vehicle, the position of the lane marker, and the positions and types of the surrounding obstacles, a target yaw moment so as to prevent a departure from the lane marker and a collision with the surrounding obstacles; and a distribution unit for distributing, based on at least one of the traveling state of the vehicle, the position of the lane marker, and the positions and types of the surrounding obstacles, the target moment to a first actuator for controlling the driving/braking force and a second actuator for controlling the steering. |
| US08849508B2 |
Driver assistance system and method
A driver assistance system includes a stereo vision system that includes at least one camera and at least one sensor disposed on or in a vehicle; a roadside marker detection unit configured to receive stereo image data from the stereo vision system, and to detect roadside markers from the stereo image data; and a road path estimation unit configured to estimate a road path in a direction of travel of the vehicle, based on the roadside markers detected by the roadside marker detection unit. |
| US08849507B2 |
Driver assistance system for driver assistance for consumption controlled driving
A driver assistance system for driver assistance for consumption controlled driving combines tactile and visual feedback functions, especially in the form of a drive configuration, a display concept and/or a deceleration assistant, wherein the emphasis is, on the one hand, on a modified accelerator pedal characteristic and, on the other hand, on providing ECO tips for an interactive output of efficient driving instructions. |
| US08849498B2 |
Method and system for detecting fail of steering angle sensor in electric power steering apparatus
A method and system may detect a fail of a steering angle sensor in an electric power steering apparatus. The system may include: a steering angle sensor for generating and transmitting a steering angle signal measuring a rotation angle of a steering wheel; a motor for generating an assistant power for smooth steering and transmitting a current and a voltage based on rotation of the motor; and an Electronic Control Unit (ECU) for receiving the current and the voltage from the motor, sensing the rotation direction of the motor, receiving the steering angle signal from the steering angle sensor, sensing a first rotation direction of the steering wheel, and then, when the rotation direction of the motor is not equal to the first rotation direction of the steering wheel, determining that the steering angle signal has a fail and starting operation of a fail-safe logic. |
| US08849497B2 |
Vehicle health prognosis
A method includes collecting state of health (SOH) data and usage data from a plurality of vehicles. A peer group is identified among the vehicles. A vehicle health prognosis is generated for each vehicle of the peer based on the collected SOH and usage data. The vehicles of the peer group are ranked based on the generated vehicle health prognosis and the rank is reported to an output device that is associated with each vehicle or with a user of each vehicle. If evaluation of the ranking indicates that the health prognosis of a vehicle of the peer group is improvable by modifying vehicle usage, an alert is issued to a user of that vehicle. |
| US08849494B1 |
Data selection by an autonomous vehicle for trajectory modification
An autonomous vehicle may determine to seek assistance navigating using a first trajectory. The autonomous vehicle may be configured to receive and store data about a plurality of obstacles. A particular obstacle in the plurality of obstacles may partially or wholly obstruct the first trajectory. The autonomous vehicle may select a portion of the stored data that includes data representing the particular obstacle. The selected portion of the stored data may be provided to an assistance center. A second trajectory may be received from the assistance center, where the second trajectory is not obstructed by the particular obstacle. |
| US08849492B2 |
Driving assistance apparatus
A driving assistance apparatus is provided with: a storing device for storing each of a plurality of past driving situations of a self-vehicle as a group of a plurality of driving situation factors, for storing, correspondingly to each of the plurality of past driving situations, an action characteristic value and a driving situation occurrence frequency, and for storing, correspondingly to each of the plurality of driving situation factors, a factor influence value and a factor change frequency; an estimating device for estimating a future driving action of the driver on the basis of the plurality of past driving situations, the action characteristic value, the driving situation occurrence frequency, the factor influence value, and the factor change frequency; and a performing device for performing driving assistance in accordance with the estimated driving action. |
| US08849489B2 |
Shift execution control system for an electrically variable transmission
A system and method of controlling first and second electric motors of a vehicle having an electrically variable transmission during an engine start/stop operation. The system and method determine a type of shift being performed, determine if a first clutch is being applied or released during the shift, determine if a second clutch is being applied or released during the shift, determine an acceleration limit based on the shift being performed and which clutch is being applied and/or released, determine acceleration and speed profiles based on the shift being performed, which clutch is being applied and/or released and the acceleration limit, determine a first electric motor torque and a second electric motor torque based on the acceleration and speed profiles, and set the torques of the first and second electric motors to the determined first and second electric motor torques. |
| US08849487B2 |
Utilization of vehicle portal states to assess interior comfort and adjust vehicle operation to provide additional fuel economy
A method of operating a heating, ventilation and air-conditioning system of a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle, comprising during a first engine-running condition, where a vehicle window or vent is in a more closed position, operating a climate control system to provide a user requested level of thermal comfort, and during a second engine-running condition, wherein the vehicle window or vent is in a less closed position, limiting the performance of the climate control system and biasing shared vehicle resources to provide additional fuel economy. In this manner, thermal comfort of the vehicle passengers can be maintained while providing additional fuel economy. |
| US08849484B2 |
Method and apparatus for controlling water-jet driven marine vessel
A system for controlling a marine vessel having first and second waterjets, corresponding first and second steering nozzles and corresponding first and second reversing buckets. The system comprises a speed control device for providing a first vessel control signal that corresponds to a speed to be provided to the marine vessel, a processor configured to receive the first vessel control signal and that is configured to provide at least one first actuator control signal coupled to the first and second waterjets, and at least one second actuator control signal coupled to the first and second steering nozzles and the first and to second reversing buckets. The system any of improves upon turns provided by conventional waterjet propulsion systems, improves upon slowing down or stopping marine vessels as is done by conventional waterjet propulsion systems, and improves upon the controllability of the waterjet propulsed marine vessel at low vessel speeds. |
| US08849483B2 |
Target trailing with safe navigation with colregs for maritime autonomous surface vehicles
Systems and methods for operating autonomous waterborne vessels in a safe manner. The systems include hardware for identifying the locations and motions of other vessels, as well as the locations of stationary objects that represent navigation hazards. By applying a computational method that uses a maritime navigation algorithm for avoiding hazards and obeying COLREGS using Velocity Obstacles to the data obtained, the autonomous vessel computes a safe and effective path to be followed in order to accomplish a desired navigational end result, while operating in a manner so as to avoid hazards and to maintain compliance with standard navigational procedures defined by international agreement. The systems and methods have been successfully demonstrated on water with radar and stereo cameras as the perception sensors, and integrated with a higher level planner for trailing a maneuvering target. |
| US08849482B2 |
Passenger transportation system and relative control method
A passenger transportation system having at least one rail extending along a path; at least one trolley movable along the rail; an actuating device having a linear electric motor, in turn having at least one slide fitted to the trolley, and a linear stator extending at least partly along the path, and having an elongated body, and a quantity of power windings embedded in the elongated body; and a quantity of sensors configured to control the position of the trolley, the sensors being fitted to the elongated body and so positioned as to minimize noise generated by the power windings on the sensors. |
| US08849481B1 |
GPS carrier-phase based relative navigation
Systems and methods for navigation of a vehicle may carry out one or more operations including, but not limited to: obtaining coordinates of a vector connecting two points in space using carrier phase measurements from global navigation system satellites (GNSS); setting the vector as an intended path of a vehicle; storing carrier phase signals from a GNSS receiver received at a first position of the vehicle; receiving carrier phase signals from a GNSS receiver at a second position of the vehicle; and determining a position of the vehicle relative to the intended path from one or more carrier phase signals received at the second position and one or more stored carrier phase signals received at the first position. |
| US08849475B1 |
Systems and method for managing sensors in a vehicle
A system and method for sensor management is provided. The system includes a plurality of sensors, and a sensor controller node communicatively coupled to the plurality of sensors, said sensor controller node configured to dynamically task data collections and communications with at least one of the plurality of sensors. |
| US08849472B2 |
Effectuating energization and deactivation of particular circuits through rules-based smart nodes
Systems for reducing power usage and/or wastage use sensors to gather information about a circuit and its usage. Triggers are identified based on the information from the sensors, and subsequently used to control power delivery by reversibly effectuating energization and deactivation of particular circuits through smart nodes. |
| US08849470B2 |
Method for performing service/maintenance on a switchgear panel, and related switchgear panel
A switchgear panel and a method for servicing/maintaining a switchgear panel are disclosed which provide a Human Machine Interface that includes a first memory unit, and a first circuit breaker on board of which an Intelligent Electronic Device is placed. The Intelligent Electronic Device having an associated memory unit. The first memory unit and/or on the associated memory unit storing sets of data related to one or more of the switchgear panel, the first Intelligent Electronic Device, and the first circuit breaker. The Human Machine Interface is in operative communication with the first Intelligent Electronic Device, to transfer and save one or more of the sets of data stored on the associated memory unit onto the first memory unit or vice versa. |
| US08849467B2 |
Control system for stopping or reversing movement of an irrigation system
A control system for stopping or reversing movement of an irrigation system comprises an electronic proximity sensor and a control device. The electronic proximity sensor is configured for mounting to the irrigation system and operable to detect a target. The control device is responsive to the electronic proximity sensor for stopping or reversing movement of the irrigation system when the electronic proximity sensor detects the target. |
| US08849466B2 |
Method of and apparatus for multiple channel flow ratio controller system
A four channel gas delivery system comprising: an inlet channel; four outlet channels; four flow sensors; four control valves, each valve being arranged so as to control the flow from the inlet channel through a corresponding one of the outlet channels; a flow ratio control system configured so as to control the flow from the inlet channel through the corresponding outlet channels so that the following flow ratios are controlled: (a) a first ratio of flows between the outlet channels of a first pair; (b) a second ratio of flows between the outlet channels of a second pair; and (c) a third ratio of flows between the first pair of outlet channels relative to the second pair of outlet channels; wherein the third ratio is controlled by generating at least one bias signal respectively applied to at least one pair of valves, the bias signal being a function of a predetermined set point of the third ratio and measured values of the third ratio. |
| US08849461B2 |
Methods and systems for irrigation control
A wireless system is provided for monitoring environmental, soil, or climate conditions and/or controlling irrigation or climate control systems at an agricultural or landscape site. In some embodiments, the wireless system includes at least one wireless nodes for monitoring environmental, soil, or climate conditions and/or for controlling one or more irrigation or climate control systems at the site. The wireless system also includes a server computer system located remotely from the site. The server computer system is coupled to the node/s over a communications network for receiving data from and controlling operation of the node/s. The server computer system is also coupled to a device operated by an end-user over a communications network for transmitting the data to and receiving remote control commands or queries from the end-user. |
| US08849460B2 |
Method and apparatus for determining engine pulse cancellation torque
A method for controlling operation of an electro-mechanical transmission configured to transfer torque among an input member, a plurality of torque machines and an output member includes determining an engine pulse torque, calculating a first motor torque pulse command based upon a first transfer function between the engine pulse torque and a torque command for a first torque machine and the engine pulse torque, calculating a second motor torque pulse command based upon a second transfer function between the engine pulse torque and a torque command for a second torque machine and the engine pulse torque, and controlling the first torque machine in response to the first motor torque pulse command and controlling the second torque machine in response to the second motor torque pulse command. |
| US08849459B2 |
Power management system for a handheld medical device
A system for managing power consumption of a handheld diabetes management device and limiting effects of temperature on operations performed by the handheld diabetes management device comprises a blood glucose measuring module, a temperature sensing module, and a power management module. The blood glucose measuring module selectively measures blood glucose in a blood sample and generates a status signal indicating a status of operation of the blood glucose measuring module. The temperature sensing module senses an internal temperature of the handheld diabetes management device and estimates an ambient temperature external to the handheld diabetes management device. The power management module deactivates one or more components of the handheld diabetes management device based on the status of operation of the blood glucose measuring module when the internal temperature of the handheld diabetes management device exceeds a threshold temperature. The power management module deactivates the blood glucose measuring module when the ambient temperature is greater than a first predetermined threshold or less than a second predetermined threshold. |
| US08849457B2 |
Contact displacement actuator system
A robot displacement device for use with a robotic frame shaped to approximate and be coupleable to at least a portion of the human body and configured to mimic movement of the human body. The device employs a plurality of force sensors which are attached to the robotic frame which detect a baseline controlling interface force status relationship between the sensors and the extremities of the human operator. Based on the output force signal from the sensors and the force and direction of gravity relative to the robotic frame, the computation system calculates at least a rotational force required to maintain the controlling force status relationship. That system then generates and transmits an actuation signal to a drive system attached to the robotic frame which displaces a portion of the robotic frame in order to maintain the controlling force status relationship. |
| US08849452B2 |
Robot and control system
A control system or the like capable of causing a controlled object to act in an appropriate form in view of an action purpose of the controlled object to a disturbance in an arbitrary form.Each of a plurality of modules modi, which are hierarchically organized according to the level of a frequency band, searches for action candidates which are candidates for an action form of a robot R matching with a main purpose and a sub-purpose while giving priority to a main purpose mainly under the charge of the module over a sub-purpose mainly under the charge of any other module. The actions of the robot R is controlled in a form in which the action candidates of the robot R searched for by a j-th module of a high frequency are reflected in preference to the action candidates of the robot R searched for by a (j+1)th module of a low frequency. |
| US08849451B2 |
Hopping robot
A robot includes a chassis, a motive subsystem configured to maneuver the chassis, a hopping actuator attached to the chassis and configured to launch the robot, and at least one leg pivotable with respect to the chassis to pitch the chassis upward at a selected launch trajectory angle. A control subsystem automatically actuates and controls the motive subsystem when the robot is airborne and uses the rotational momentum of the motive subsystem to control the attitude of the robot chassis in flight. |
| US08849449B2 |
Method, system and apparatus for dispensing drugs
A method, system and apparatus is provided for dispensing drugs quickly, conveniently, securely, and accurately and at relatively less cost than traditional pharmacy-based dispensing systems. A script for a drug prescribed to a user is generated comprising a human readable description of the drug and the user or a machine readable description of the drug and the user. The script is provided to a robotic prescription dispensary operable to recognize either the human readable description or the machine readable description, and validate and dispense the drug accordingly. The robotic prescription dispensary includes a user interface, a tele conferencing or video conferencing means enabling communication between the user and a human validation agent, and a scanning means for capturing an image of the script. A method for managing inventory and distribution of drugs is also provided. |
| US08849446B2 |
Vacuum processing apparatus and program
The present invention provides an efficient transferring control method in a vacuum processing apparatus of a linear tool in which plural vacuum robots are arranged in transferring mechanical units to which process chambers are connected and processing-target members are passed and received among the plural vacuum robots. In addition, the present invention provides a vacuum processing apparatus in which there are provided plural controlling methods, and a unit which determines whether rates of the transferring robots are to be controlled or rates of the process chambers are to be controlled on the basis of processing time of each processing-target member and switches the controlling method in accordance with a site whose rate is controlled. |
| US08849440B2 |
Manufacturing control based on a final design structure incorporating both layout and client-specific manufacturing information
Disclosed are embodiments of an improved design method, the results of which are a final design structure for an integrated circuit that incorporates, not only layout information, but also client-specific manufacturing information (e.g., import/export information, service requests, processing directives, purchase order requirements, design rule information, etc.) in the same data format in hierarchical form. Also disclosed are embodiments of a manufacturing control method and system. In these embodiments, a final design structure, such as that described above, is received at tape-in. The information contained therein (particularly, the client-specific manufacturing information) is sorted by type and then forwarded to the appropriate tools within the manufacturing facility for processing. By providing the client-specific manufacturing information directly to each manufacturing facility in the final design structure in conjunction with the layout information, the embodiments eliminate the need for independent information gathering by each manufacturing facility. |
| US08849438B2 |
Factory level process and final product performance control system
A factory control server stores module configuration data for modules. The modules include processes for producing a final product and have corresponding module requirements. The factory control server analyzes in real-time actual product output data that is generated by a final product tester after a factory produces at least one final product to determine whether the actual product output data meets an expected product output. The factory control server analyzes actual module data in real-time to determine a new module requirement to cause new actual product output data for a subsequent final product to meet the expected product output in response to a determination that the actual product output data does not meet the expected product output. The factory control server notifies a module controller in real-time of the new module requirement. The module controller changes parameters in real-time to manufacture the subsequent final product. |
| US08849434B1 |
Methods and apparatus to control audio leveling in media presentation devices
Methods and apparatus to control audio leveling in media presentation systems are described. An example method for controlling audio leveling in a media presentation system includes receiving data including media content and metadata and selecting an audio leveling technique to be used in an audio leveling process based on the metadata. |
| US08849426B1 |
Microcircuit cochlear electrode array and method of manufacture
A microcircuit cochlear electrode array and process for the manufacture thereof, the electrode array comprising first and second flat microcircuits comprising a plurality of laterally spaced longitudinally extending electrical conductors and longitudinally spaced electrode receiving pads extending laterally from the conductors, the first flat microcircuit being helically wrapped in a first direction along an axis with its longitudinally spaced electrode receiving pads exposed on an end of an outer surface hereof and the second flat microcircuit helically being wrapped in an opposite direction on and along an outer surface of the first helically wrapped microcircuit with its longitudinally spaced electrode receiving pads exposed on an outer surface thereof adjacent the exposed longitudinally spaced electrode receiving pads of the first microcircuit, and ring electrodes around and electrically secured to the electrode receiving pads of the first and second microcircuits. |
| US08849425B2 |
Implantable apparatus for detection of external noise using motion sensor signal
Detects external noise using a motion sensor signal for example to increase the specificity of arrhythmia detections based on active muscle noise detection. Whenever a motion signal is present that is below or above a certain frequency, for example 5 Hz, or within a certain frequency range, for example 1 to 10 Hz, and/or above a certain amplitude, for example greater than 1 mg, or close to a known motion pattern, then the detection of fast ventricular arrhythmia is suspended. For the detection of slow arrhythmia, for example asystole or syncope, an episode is confirmed when a short lasting motion sensor signal occurs. Uses a motion sensor based signal, for example as obtained from an accelerometer on an implantable electrode lead and/or implantable device. |
| US08849424B2 |
Integrated conductive sensor package having conductor bypass, distal electrode, distal adapter and custom molded overlay
This disclosure relates to implantable medical devices (IMDs); in particular, to medical electrical leads having an integrated sensor disposed in a hermetic package and said sensor package accommodates a torque coil and an elongated cable conductor extending therethrough. The integrated sensor can include a pressure sensor, an accelerometer, and the like. The coil and the cable can couple to pacing and sensing electrode coupled to the lead distal to the sensor package. The sensor package is compact, substantially circular in cross section and robust, in that the overall design promote mechanical stability. |
| US08849422B2 |
Percutaneous implantation of an electrical stimulation lead for stimulating dorsal root ganglion
A method of implanting an electrical stimulation lead to stimulate a dorsal root ganglion includes providing an electrical stimulation lead having a distal end, a proximal end, a longitudinal length, electrodes disposed along the distal end of the lead, terminals disposed on the proximal end of the body, a plurality of conductors electrically coupling the electrodes to the terminals. The method further includes sequentially inserting a series of hollow introducers into the back of a patient to open a passage to the dorsal root ganglion. Each introducer in the series has an inner diameter larger than an inner diameter of a preceding introducer in the series. The method also includes implanting the electrical stimulation lead through the passage formed using the series of hollow introducers. Upon implantation of the electrical stimulation lead, at least one of the plurality of electrodes is adjacent the dorsal root ganglion. |
| US08849421B2 |
Medical leads having forced strain relief loops
Strain relief loops are forced by being formed into medical leads such that a body of the lead imposes a force to regain the loop if the loop has been disturbed. Because the strain relief loop is forced, the surgeon implanting the medical lead is not required to create the strain relief loop as a step in the implantation procedure. Forcing the strain relief loop ensures that the strain relief is achieved. The forced strain relief loop also ensures that the loop is present to reduce heating at the electrodes of the medical caused by exposure to excessive radiofrequency energy. The forced strain relief loop may be created by heating the lead body while held in the loop configuration by a mold to cause the loop configuration to persist once the medical lead is removed from the mold. |
| US08849418B2 |
Anchor sleeve for implantable lead
An anchor sleeve for securing a therapy delivery element, such as a stimulation lead or catheter, within a living body, that includes an inner sleeve with pre-formed locations of weakness that facilitate localized deformation. The anchor includes a deformable outer sleeve with a primary lumen extending along an axis. The outer surface of the outer sleeve includes a plurality of suture grooves oriented generally concentric to the axis. The inner sleeve includes a plurality of beams connected at deflection regions arranged around a secondary lumen. The inner sleeve is located in the primary lumen adjacent to the suture grooves so that the secondary lumen is generally concentric with the primary lumen. A plurality of locations of weakness are preformed in each of the beams to facilitate localized deformation in response to a radially inward force applied around the suture grooves by a suture material. |
| US08849410B2 |
Systems and methods for producing asynchronous neural responses to treat pain and/or other patient conditions
Systems and methods for producing asynchronous neural responses to treat pain and/or other patient conditions are disclosed. A method in accordance with a particular embodiment includes selecting a target stimulation frequency that is above a threshold frequency, with the threshold frequency corresponding to a refractory period for neurons of a target sensory neural population. The method can further include producing a patient sensation of paresthesia by directing an electrical signal to multiple sensory neurons of the target sensory neural population at the stimulation frequency, with individual neurons of the sensory neural population completing corresponding individual refractory periods at different times, resulting in an asynchronous sensory neuron response to the electrical signal. |
| US08849409B2 |
Dynamic cranial nerve stimulation based on brain state determination from cardiac data
A method of treating a medical condition in a patient using an implantable medical device, comprising providing an electrical signal generator; providing at least a first electrode operatively coupled to the electrical signal generator and to a vagus nerve of the patient; sensing cardiac data of the patient; determining at least a first cardiac parameter based upon said cardiac data; setting at least a first value; declaring an unstable brain state of a patient from said at least a first cardiac parameter and said at least a first value; and adjusting the at least a first value. Also, a computer readable program storage device encoded with instructions that, when executed by a computer, performs the method. In addition, the implantable medical device used in the method. |
| US08849408B1 |
Methods for electronic directionality of deep-brain stimulation
Methods, systems and devices to provide correction parameters for implanted electrodes by applying a cathode pulse to a bilateral implanted electrode while providing a synchronized anode on the opposite electrode. The electrical field can be “shaped” over space and time to reach more of the targeted area by selecting various combinations of active contacts. The cathode lead directs the electrical field to the target and the placement and number of anode contacts activated determines the electric field path and rate of dissipation based on vertical and horizontal distance and timing. The correction parameter can be applied to anode and cathode contacts on a single implanted lead. Each lead can have plural anode and cathode contacts each independently controllable. Active anodes and cathodes are statically or dynamically selected to generate a shaped electric field to reach the target. |
| US08849402B2 |
System and method for contactless power transfer in implantable devices
A system and method for contactless power transfer in implantable devices for charging rechargeable batteries disposed within the implantable devices are provided. The system includes a first coil electrically couplable to a power source, wherein the first coil is configured to produce a magnetic field. The system further includes a second coil electrically coupled to the rechargeable battery disposed within the implantable device and configured to receive power from the first coil via the magnetic field and to transfer the power to the rechargeable battery. The system also includes a field focusing element disposed between the first coil and the second coil and configured as a self resonant coil having a standing wave current distribution to focus the magnetic field onto the second coil and enhance the coupling between the first coil and the second coil. |
| US08849401B2 |
Implantable device
An implantable device (10) is used to emit electrical stimulation signals to surrounding tissue by means of at least one stimulation electrode (17). The device (10) has an input stage which is connected to a supply unit (12) by a cable, by means of which the input stage is supplied with at least one substantially square electrical AC voltage which is, averaged over time, at least virtually free of a DC voltage with respect to an external ground (29), which can be connected to the tissue (64) (FIG. 1). |
| US08849398B2 |
Expandable blood pump for cardiac support
A pump for inducing flow within a vascular system comprises two inlets. The pump has a first configuration for deployment within the vascular system and a second, operable configuration for directing the fluid flow within the vascular system, where the second configuration has a greater diameter than the first configuration. A centrifugal impeller is configured to induce the fluid flow by rotation about an axis of rotation, where the flow is in a direction generally transverse to the impeller's axis of rotation. |
| US08849397B2 |
Device for the medical care of a patient in an emergency
A device (1) for the medical care of a patient in an emergency which comprises an item of clothing (2) which may be worn by the patient on the body and monitoring devices (8, 9) arranged on the item of clothing (2), which may monitor at least one physiological function of the patient, in order to detect an emergency. The device further comprises a cardiac compression device (3, 4) arranged on the item of clothing (2), which is operatively connected to the monitoring device (8, 9), in order to treat the patient with a cardiac resuscitation when the monitoring device (3, 4) determines an emergency, and a defibrillator (5, 6, 7) as well as the intraosseous delivery of drugs into the bone marrow cavity of the breast bone. Moreover, a device (1) for the medical care of a patient in an emergency, which comprises as a therapeutic device a respiratory therapeutic device (10, 11, 12, 13) which is able to supply oxygen and/or a drug for pulmonary resuscitation into the respiratory system of the patient. |
| US08849396B2 |
Systems and methods for making and using improved connector contacts for electrical stimulation systems
A port for receiving a lead is defined at a first end of a connector housing of a connector assembly for an implantable electrical medical device. A lumen extends from the port along a longitudinal axis of the connector housing. At least one of a plurality of connector contacts disposed in the connector housing couples to a terminal of the lead when the lead is received by the connector housing. The connector contacts include spring contact probes spaced apart from one another along the longitudinal axis of the connector housing with at least a portion of each of the spring contact probes extending along a first transverse axis into the lumen of the connector housing. The plurality of spring contact probes physically contact the terminals of the lead solely along the first transverse axis when the lead is received by the connector housing. |
| US08849390B2 |
Processing for multi-channel signals
Method and apparatus for improved processing for multi-channel signals. In an exemplary embodiment, an anomaly metric is computed for a multi-channel signal over a time window. The magnitude of the anomaly metric may be used to determine whether an anomaly is present in the multi-channel signal over the time window. In an exemplary embodiment, the anomaly metric may be a condition number associated with the singular values of the multi-channel signal over the time window, as further adjusted by the number of channels to produce a data condition number. Applications of the anomaly metric computation include the scrubbing of signal archives for epileptic seizure detection/prediction/counter-prediction algorithm training, pre-processing of multi-channel signals for real-time monitoring of bio-systems, and boot-up and/or adaptive self-checking of such systems during normal operation. |
| US08849388B2 |
R-wave detection method
A method for detecting an R-wave from an ECG signal (x(t)) derived from a living body, the method comprising the steps of (a) acquiring the ECG signal from the living body, (b) digitizing the ECG signal into a digital ECG signal (x(ti)), (c) filtering the digital ECG signal with a bandpass filter (53) and applying an absolute value filter (55) thereto to create a filtered ECG signal (g(ti)), (d) for each sequential value of the filtered ECG signal, comparing (57) the filtered ECG signal to an ECG tracking threshold (TT), (e) if the filtered ECG signal is no greater than TT, incrementing a counter (59), but if greater than TT, setting the counter to zero; and (f) comparing (63) the counter to a predetermined refractory count RC and, if the count is equal to RC, outputting an R-wave trigger indicating that an R-wave has been detected. |
| US08849381B2 |
RMS electrocardiography system and method
A system for assessing a cardiac condition of a subject includes a sensor configured to record a plurality N of electrocardiographic signals from the subject to generate an ECG (electrocardiogram). The system further includes a processor configured to compute an RMS (root-mean-square) magnitude function from the recorded signals, and to measure from the RMS magnitude function an RMS variable that contains information about the cardiac condition of the subject. The ECG may be a standard 12-lead clinical ECG. The measured RMS variables may include RMS T-wave width, RMS RT recovery time, and RMS QT interval. |
| US08849379B2 |
Apparatus and method for measuring biologic parameters
Support structures for positioning sensors on a physiologic tunnel for measuring physical, chemical and biological parameters of the body and to produce an action according to the measured value of the parameters. The support structure includes a sensor fitted on the support structures using a special geometry for acquiring continuous and undisturbed data on the physiology of the body. Signals are transmitted to a remote station by wireless transmission such as by electromagnetic waves, radio waves, infrared, sound and the like or by being reported locally by audio or visual transmission. The physical and chemical parameters include brain function, metabolic function, hydrodynamic function, hydration status, levels of chemical compounds in the blood, and the like. The support structure includes patches, clips, eyeglasses, head mounted gear and the like, containing passive or active sensors positioned at the end of the tunnel with sensing systems positioned on and accessing a physiologic tunnel. |
| US08849374B2 |
Surgery assistance system and optical axis position measurement device
A surgery assistance system including a rigid endoscope having a position-orientation detection marker, 3-dimensional (3D) shape measurement device for obtaining data corresponding to a 3D surface of a patient and data corresponding to a 3D surface of the position-orientation detection marker, and computation unit for aligning pre-stored tomographical data of the patient and the data corresponding to the 3D surface of the patient, computing an optical axis of the rigid endoscope on the basis of the data corresponding to the 3D surface of the position-orientation detection marker and a pre-obtained 3D relative position relationship between an actual optical axis of the rigid endoscope and the position-orientation detection marker, for computing a tissue wall in the patient from the 3D tomographical data, and for computing an intersection of the tissue wall and the computed optical axis of the rigid endoscope. |
| US08849371B2 |
System for analyzing and treating abnormality of human and animal tissues
A patient treatment unit for analyzing and treating abnormality of human or animal tissues, includes a display; a pulse generator circuit that outputs a sequence of electrical pulses at a pulse frequency, the electrical pulses having a pulse width, the pulse generator controlling the pulse frequency and the pulse width of the electrical pulses; a pair of probes for contacting a body of a patient and electrically coupled to the pulse generator; and a voltage and current sensing circuit that senses a voltage or a current via the probes when contacting the body of the patient. |
| US08849369B2 |
Wireless recording and stimulation of brain activity
Subdural arrays transmit electrocorticogram recordings wirelessly, across the patient's skull, allowing the craniotomy used for surgical placement of the arrays to be completely closed. In various embodiments, the arrays also respond to commands, applying signal patterns to the patient's brain for diagnostic and treatment purposes. |
| US08849368B2 |
Implantable electronic devices for detecting hypoglycaemia using EEG signals
Apparatus for capturing EEG signals comprising an implantable signal capture unit (34) connected to a proximal end of at least one implantable electrode (32) is implanted by passing a tubular guide sheath (24,26) along a subcutaneous path from an implantation site, passing the distal end of a said electrode through said guide sheath to bring said signal capture unit to said implantation site, and withdrawing said guide sheath from the electrode while progressively axially splitting the guide sheath to enable its removal. The signal capture unit may have a housing having at least two electrode contacts on its for capturing EEG signals in operative connection with circuitry within said housing for receiving said EEG signals and for wireless transmission thereof for reception at a location exterior to the body of the patient. |
| US08849365B2 |
Multiple wavelength sensor emitters
A physiological sensor has light emitting sources, each activated by addressing at least one row and at least one column of an electrical grid. The light emitting sources are capable of transmitting light of multiple wavelengths and a detector is responsive to the transmitted light after attenuation by body tissue. |
| US08849363B2 |
Open-structure magnetic assembly for magnetic resonance imaging
An open-structure magnetic assembly is adapted to generate a homogeneous magnetic field in an accessible space region, including a first and second independent source of magnetic field (10, 12), each generating a contribution to the resulting magnetic field. The first source includes a conducting or superconducting plate (20), carrying an unidirectional current flow (I) from an input side (22) to an output side (24) and at least one external current recirculating path (30) between the output side (24) and the input side (22) of the plate. The second source includes a volume of magnetized material or an arrangement of coils, arranged for generating a magnetic field component oriented according to the magnetic field generated by the first source (10), and whose intensity exhibits a gradient in a direction perpendicular to the conducting plate (20) adapted to compensate, in a region of interest, an opposite gradient in the magnetic field intensity generated by the first source (10). |
| US08849360B2 |
Systems and methods for communicating with wireless-enabled devices that are capable of responding to changes in operational state
A system for communicating with a wireless-enabled device. The system comprises an input for receiving from the device a signal indicative of the device being in a de-powered operational state; a functional entity configured to determine, on a basis of (i) knowledge that the device is in the de-powered operational state and (ii) context information regarding the device, a certain action to be taken by the device while in the de-powered operational state; and an output for causing transmission of a message to the device, wherein the message is for causing the device to take the certain action while in the de-powered operational state. |
| US08849356B2 |
Mobile device displaying instant message and control method of mobile device
The present invention relates to a mobile terminal displaying an instant message and a control method of the same. A mobile terminal according to an aspect of the invention may include: a wireless communication unit sending or receiving an instant message; a display unit including a first region and a second region and displaying the instant message sent or received by the wireless communication unit on the first region; and a controller displaying information corresponding to at least one object included in the instant message on the second region. |
| US08849354B2 |
Transceiver set assignment scheme for a distributed antenna system
According to one embodiment, a method includes establishing a plurality of wired connections between a base station and a plurality of geographically distributed remote transceivers. Each remote transceiver of the plurality of remote transceivers has one or more physical antenna ports. The plurality of remote transceivers are assigned to a plurality of sets where each set has one or more of the plurality of remote transceivers. One or more logical ports is assigned to each set of the plurality of sets. Each logical port of a set corresponds to at least one physical antenna port of the one or more remote transceivers of the respective set. Data traffic is sent from the base station to the endpoint using at least one wireless connection between the endpoint and at least one physical antenna port of the one or more remote transceivers of a first set of the plurality of sets. |
| US08849353B2 |
Method of grouping users to reduce interference in MIMO-based wireless network
In a system of MIMO communications in a wireless network, a number of wireless units are logically divided into a plurality of user groups, through operation of a semi-orthogonal user selection sub-system. For example, the user selection sub-system may implement a heuristic user selection algorithm based on near-orthogonality. Each user group is assigned a discrete transmission channel, which may be orthogonally defined in terms of frequency, time, or code. Data is transmitted over the channels (e.g., from network base stations) in a coherently coordinated manner, according to a zero-forcing beamforming operation. The system may be configured for operation in a time/frequency selective manner, e.g., over time/frequency selective fading channels. The wireless units may be allocated to the time/frequency slots based on prioritization of channel strength and considerations of fairness, in conjunction with the application of a semi-orthogonal user selection algorithm. |
| US08849352B2 |
Methods and apparatus for supporting multiple connections
Systems and methodologies are described that facilitate supporting multiple connections associated with a wireless terminal. Notifications may be provided to a primary base station upon establishment and/or removal of connections between the wireless terminal and secondary base station(s). Additionally, the multiple connections may be evaluated and a preferred connection from the set of multiple connections may be utilized to transfer data to the wireless terminal over a downlink connection. |
| US08849349B2 |
Method and apparatus for selecting identity module of mobile terminal supporting plural identity modules
A method and apparatus for selecting one of multiple identity modules attached to a mobile terminal is provided. The method includes selecting a network, detecting identity modules corresponding to the network, selecting one of the detected identity modules, and connecting to the network using the selected identity module. The identity module selection method enables automatic selection of one of multiple identity modules attached to a mobile terminal without cumbersome user manipulation. |
| US08849348B2 |
Mobile device session switching
A method includes identifying, by a mobile device, a time, a day, a date or a location, and accessing a database storing first information correlating the time, day, date and location to a personal mode or a business mode for the mobile device. The method also includes identifying, exception information associated with the time, day, date, or location, and identifying user preference information associated with the personal mode and the business mode. The user preference information identifies a background associated with a home screen, icons provided on the home screen, or links to information accessible via the home screen. The method further includes configuring the mobile device in the personal or business mode based on the first information and the exception information, wherein the configuring includes providing, on the home screen, information corresponding to the user preference information associated with either the personal or business mode. |
| US08849346B2 |
Method and telecommunications network for deactivating or activating a cell in such a network
The invention relates to a method for deactivation of at least one first cell of a plurality of cells in a telecommunications network. User devices in the at least one first cell are triggered to report measurement information regarding one or more second cells of the plurality of cells to the telecommunications network. The measurement information is received in the telecommunications network and analyzed, in order to determine whether one or more user devices in the at least one first cell are eligible for being served by a second cell of the one or more second cells when the at least one first cell would be deactivated. When the one or more user devices are determined to be eligible for being served by the second cell of the one or more second cells, the one or more user devices are transferred and the at least one first cell is deactivated. |
| US08849343B2 |
Wireless communication terminal and control method
A wireless communication terminal, which performs wireless communication with base stations using each of a first communication method and a second communication method and enables to be in an idle state with both methods, having a setting section that sets a suspend time for detecting an incoming call from the base station using the first communication method subsequent to completion of communication with the base station using the first communication method; and a determination section that determines a cause of the completion of communication with the base station, wherein the setting section sets the suspend time based on the cause of completion of communication determined by the determination section. |
| US08849340B2 |
Methods and devices for reducing interference in an uplink
A method of operating a communication system such that the communication system comprises at least a macrocell base station and a femtocell base station that is within the coverage area of the macrocell base station. The communication system is configured to provide an indication of the noise rise or interference at the macrocell base station to the femtocell base station and the femtocell base station, in response thereto, adjusts a maximum permitted transmission power based on the indication. |
| US08849338B2 |
Method for adjusting channels in cognitive wireless communication, and cognitive wireless communication system capable of implementing the method
There is disclosed a channel adjusting method capable of suppressing the occurrence of interference between a cognitive pilot channel (CPC) and an auxiliary control channel (ACS) in cognitive wireless communications. According to the channel adjusting method for use in cognitive wireless communications, initially, a connection using a cognitive pilot channel (CPC) is set up. Thereafter, it is determined whether or not a spectrum sensing channel (ACS) is to be utilized. If yes, it is then determined whether or not any interference occurs between the spectrum sensing channel (ACS) and the set-up cognitive pilot channel (CPC). This allows an adjustment to be performed such that no interference occurs between the cognitive pilot channel (CPC) and the spectrum sensing channel (ACS). |
| US08849334B2 |
Power control in a wireless system having multiple interfering communication resources
A power control procedure is based on assigning a common control parameter to considered interfering communication resources, and using the control parameter together with a unique power control condition for determining the individual transmit power parameters of the communication resources. In particular, for each one of at least a subset of said communication resources, an individual transmit power parameter is determined based on a power control condition implying that the total received power divided with a path gain of the communication resource should correspond to the common control parameter. The determined transmit power parameters are then used for controlling the transmit powers of the corresponding communication resources. This process helps to maximize aggregate data rate for any given amount of total invested power. |
| US08849333B2 |
Method and communication system for providing a content delivery service through push-to-talk
A method of providing a content delivery service to an actual user of a communication system supporting push-to-talk. The content delivery service includes delivering a content to the actual user, wherein the method includes associating a virtual user to said content; establishing a push-to-talk session involving the actual user and the virtual user; and delivering the content from the virtual user to the actual user through the established push-to-talk session. |
| US08849326B2 |
Network-centric link adaptation for coordinated multipoint downlink transmission
A Coordinated MultiPoint (CoMP) cell controller performs network-centric link adaptation for User Equipment (UE) in the CoMP cell. The CoMP cell controller receives at least infrequent channel estimates from a UE in the CoMP cell, from which it estimates downlink channel and thermal noise at the UE. The CoMP cell controller is aware of the desired signal to be received at the UE, and the intra-CoMP cell interference to the UE caused by transmissions to other UEs in the CoMP cell. The CoMP cell receives from the UE reports of inter-CoMP cell interference caused by transmissions by other CoMP cells. Based on the downlink channel quality, the desired signal, the intra-CoMP cell interference, the inter-CoMP cell interference, and the thermal noise, the CoMP cell controller performs link adaptation by selecting modulation and coding schemes, and other transmission parameters, for an upcoming transmission duration (such as a TTI). |
| US08849323B2 |
SMS inquiry and invitation distribution method and system
The invention is an SMS distribution method for inquiries, invitations and proposals in which inquiries are sent to mobile telephone numbers included in a distribution list and their replies are collected as text messages via the SMS service (7) provided by the telecommunications network by means of a software program (1) installed on a server (2). The problem in distributing inquiries with existing SMS services has been the limited possibility of replying to the sending telecommunications operator and separating replies to several inquiries from one another. In the method embodied by this invention, universally reachable mobile network numbers (11) are used as reply addresses for the inquiries, invitations and proposals, and replies are separated from one another by means of reply addresses consisting of public mobile communication network numbers and SMS service numbers and automatically generated reply symbols. |
| US08849320B2 |
Method and apparatus for constructing database in mobile communication terminal
A method of constructing a database in a mobile communication terminal includes analyzing one of a file attribute and a database field type of the received file when the file is received, determining whether the analyzed one of the file attribute and the database field type is identical to a field type of the database in the mobile communication terminal, and updating a database table in the mobile communication terminal according to the determination. |
| US08849319B2 |
Method for processing conflict of communication service procedures and associated devices
A method for processing a conflict of communication service procedures and associated devices are provided, which are used to solve the problem that the user equipment (UE) receiving the circuit switching (CS) domain paging message conflicts with initiating the Non-Access Stratum (NAS) procedure by itself. Said method includes that: the UE receives a first paging message from the network side equipment; when the UE judges the first paging message is a CS domain paging message and that the UE itself is about to initiate an original Non-Access Stratum (NAS) procedure, the UE ignores the first paging message and initiates the original NAS procedure. |
| US08849316B2 |
Paging and access via different nodes
Signaling-only access may be established with an access node under certain circumstances such as, for example, upon determining that a node is not authorized for data access at the access node. A node that is not authorized for data access at an access node may still be paged by the access node through the use of signaling-only access. In this way, transmissions by the access node may not interfere with the reception of pages at the node. A first node may be selected for providing paging while a second node is selected for access under certain circumstances such as, for example, upon determining that the second node provides more desirable service than the first node. |
| US08849312B2 |
User description based on contexts of location and time
A description of a user is estimated based on the context of a user's past and present locations. A disclosed data-processing system continually receives data points for each user that represent spatial and/or temporal events. These events represent, for example, presence of a person at a specific geographic location such as a geographic area or point of interest (POI). The data-processing system evaluates the received data points in relation to one or more of the geographic locations, yielding results that are also based on the demographic characteristics of each visited location and the commercial characteristics of each visited location. The data-processing system evaluates the data points also to determine patterns exhibited in each user's activity or inactivity, and patterns exhibited in the distance traveled and the type of travel. The data-processing system bases the user descriptions on the results of these evaluations. |
| US08849305B2 |
System and method for improving location estimates of co-located sectored cell sites for location services
Improved location estimates for transceivers is described. The location estimate of transceivers can be improved for sector transceivers that are co-located at a sectored cell site. The location estimate for each individual co-located sector transceiver can be updated as a centroid of all of the co-located sector transceivers. The location information of the transceivers can be used to provide network location estimation to mobile devices which do not have accurate positioning estimates. |
| US08849303B2 |
Apparatus and method for determining a wireless device's location after shutdown
A wireless data processing device is described which periodically exits an unpowered state and transmits location data. For example, one embodiment of a wireless data processing device comprises: power circuitry for maintaining the wireless data processing device in a powered or unpowered state, the power circuitry causing the wireless data processing device to enter into an unpowered state responsive to user input; a timer to periodically power up the wireless device or portion thereof in response to reaching a predetermined time; a location services module determining a current location of the wireless data processing device using one or more specified location determination techniques; a transmit thread transmitting the current location of the wireless device over one or more specified communication channels; and the power circuitry powering down the wireless data processing device a second time after the current location has been transmitted. |
| US08849301B2 |
Location-based home services and energy management
In one example, wireless mobile device data is provided to a building control system by sending location data from a wireless mobile device to an Internet-based service, receiving the location data from the wireless mobile device in the Internet-based service, determining an associated building control system from the wireless mobile device identity, sending data derived from the location data to the building control system, and implementing a change in the building control system based on the sent data derived from the location data. |
| US08849299B2 |
Cross-technology coverage mapping system and method for modulating scanning behaviour of a wireless user equipment (UE) device
A method for modulating scanning behavior of a wireless user equipment (UE) device includes determining a geographic area location where the wireless UE device is located and responsive to determining that a radio access technology (RAT) previously available in the geographic area location is not currently available, modifying the frequency of searches for the radio access technology. A corresponding wireless user device is also shown. |
| US08849298B2 |
Transmit power setting method and mobile telecommunication system using the same
A method for setting transmit power of a small base station by using a signal to interference and noise ratio (SINR) received by the small base station while the small base station is providing service and a mobile telecommunication system using the same. In one embodiment, a mobile telecommunication system includes a network base station configured to variably set a transmit power so that a signal to interference and noise ratio received from a user equipment may fall between an upper limit and a lower limit of a predetermined target signal to interference and noise ratio. |
| US08849293B2 |
Handling in-device coexistence interference
A user equipment is able to transmit, to a wireless access node, an indication of in-device coexistence (IDC) interference between the wireless interfaces. The user equipment can include a counter to track a number of transmissions having the indication of IDC interference. |
| US08849285B2 |
Method for reducing the handover frequency by a communication device in femtocell networks
A method for reducing the handover frequency by a communication device in femtocell networks includes the steps: measuring the radio signal strength by a communication device and storing the information of the serving base station into a cache memory; checking whether the stored information in the cache memory is classified as “femtocell” or not; if so, deleting the macrocell's information from the measurement report by the communication device and transmitting this to the serving base station; when the radio link failure occurred, checking whether the stored information in the cache memory is classified as “femtocell” or not; if so, initiating a timer; detecting an available femtocell before the timer expires; transmitting a call reestablishment request message to the available femtocell for rebuilding the link. |
| US08849284B2 |
Mobile communication method, radio access apparatus, and gateway apparatus
A mobile communication method according to the present invention includes the steps of: when a gateway apparatus (S-GW) is switched from a first state where downlink data is transmitted to a first radio access apparatus to a second state where the downlink data is transmitted to a second radio access apparatus, transferring, from the first radio access apparatus to the second radio access apparatus, the downlink data which is received from the gateway apparatus and to which specific information is added; and transmitting, from the second radio access apparatus to a mobile station (UE), transfer downlink data which is transferred from the first radio access apparatus and to which the specific information is added, before new downlink data transmitted from the gateway apparatus (S-GW). |
| US08849280B2 |
Mobile terminal device, its communication method, and radio network system
Provided is a mobile terminal apparatus which can realize a long-time wait as follows. The mobile terminal apparatus surely performs a reselection process to increase chances to wait for a host communication system, improve the traffic efficiency, and reduce arrival failures while reducing power consumption. A communication method and a radio network system for the mobile terminal apparatus are also disclosed. The mobile terminal apparatus (mobile telephone 10) includes a communication unit (1) and a control unit (8). The control unit (8) uses the communication unit (1) to periodically monitor presence/absence of a predetermined bit of a paging channel in a base station with which communication is in progress. If the presence of the bit is confirmed, the control unit (8) changes the communication time slot so as to acquire broadcast information reported by the paging channel and extracts a parameter containing information which identifies a communication system existing in the periphery from the broadcast information. The control unit (8) executes a reselection process for releasing the session of the communication system which is currently waiting and executes a reselection process for a capture trial on the identified communication system. |
| US08849271B2 |
Optimized handover configuration
A method for power measurements in a cellular communication system comprises receiving measurement configuration orders. Operation of a power meter is controlled in dependence on the measurement configuration orders. Reference signal received powers are measured. A measurement report is compiled and transmitted. The measurement configuration orders comprise cell status information associated with neighboring cells and measurement instructions that are dependent of the cell status of respective cell. The cell status information comprises information about whether the neighboring cell is of a different type than the serving cell. Controlling of the operation of the power meter and/or compiling of the measurement report is performed in dependence on the cell status of the neighboring cell. A method for handover based on such measurement reports is also disclosed as well as Node Bs and user equipments configured to perform such methods. |
| US08849268B2 |
Mobile terminal and controlling method thereof
A mobile terminal and controlling method thereof are disclosed, by which data can be shared with a counterpart terminal in the course of a phone call. The present invention includes a touchscreen, a sensing unit configured to sense an action of a user, a communication unit configured to communicate with a counterpart terminal via at least one of a first communication network and a second communication network, and a controller, in response to a first user command inputted via at least one of the touchscreen and the sensing unit in the course of performing a voice call to the counterpart terminal via the first communication network, controlling a first data sharing screen with the counterpart terminal to be displayed on the touchscreen, the controller controlling a data sharing via the first data sharing screen to be performed together with the voice call. |
| US08849267B2 |
Location-based call control
An architecture is presented that automatically detects a location of a user and forwards messages to a pre-configured number associated with the detected location. A location system is provided that comprises a location component and a routing component. The location component publishes presence information of a mobile device. The presence information is associated with a physical location of the mobile device. Once the mobile device's presence information is published, the routing component automatically sets the call forwarding to the physical location for communication to a user of the mobile device. The message is routed to a pre-configured number associated with the physical location of the mobile device. A user of the mobile device pre-configures numbers associated with various frequently visited physical locations (e.g., home, club, etc.). |
| US08849261B2 |
Provision of additional content to mobile communication devices
A system and method for the insertion of additional content to messages sent between mobile communications devices. The system provides for a point system which allows users of the system to accumulate points for additional content sent with text messages. The points may be used for various functions such as purchasing premium services or may be applied towards the user's service charges. |
| US08849258B2 |
Redemption system for mobile device
A redemption system for a mobile device includes a database module for determining a target customer. A streaming module is connected to the database module for serving content to the target customer. A priority module is connected to the streaming module for implementing a content delivery schedule. The streaming module serves first content data to the target customer. If the target customer affirmatively responds to the first content data, the priority module causes the system to send a redemption mechanism embedded in second content data to the target customer. The redemption mechanism enables the target customer to engage in a redemption activity using the mobile device. |
| US08849255B2 |
System for verifying access based on a determined geographic location of a subscriber of a service provided via a computer network
A method of limiting presentation of rules based events includes receiving a request to view a rules based event at a computer. A first estimate of a first geographic location of the computer is obtained. The first estimate includes a first confidence determination. If the first confidence determination is less than a first established confidence level, a second estimate of the first geographic location of the computer is obtained. The second estimate includes a second confidence determination for comparison to a second established confidence level. The first estimate and the second estimate define a composite estimated geographic location of the computer. Information on a second geographic location of the rules based event is retrieved. The retrieved information is compared with the composite estimated geographic location of the computer. Access to the rules based event is provided based on access rules, the comparison, and the composite estimated geographic location. |
| US08849251B2 |
System and method for optimizing network communication in response to network conditions
A system and method for facilitating communications between a mobile device and a network application are provided. A mobile device transmits a request for data change information that includes a time out interval. The network application receives the request and measures a time elapsed since the receipt of the data change request. The network application will only transmit a notification to the mobile device client if new data is received or the time out interval has elapsed. As notifications are received, the mobile client device tunes the time out interval based upon network and device parameters. |
| US08849248B2 |
Method and system for accessing completion of call to busy subscriber service based on identity
A method for accessing a CCBS service based on an identity comprises: when receiving a call invite and determining that the call invite includes a call completion indicator, a Terminating Application Server (T_AS) authenticates the identity of a caller initiating the call invite, allows the access of the caller when the identity authentication is passed; and rejects the access of the caller when the identity authentication is failed. A system for accessing a CCBS service based on an identity comprises: a receiving unit, configured to receive a call invite and to trigger the authenticating unit when determining that the call invite includes a call completion indicator; an authenticating unit, configured to authenticate the identity of a caller in the call invite, to trigger the accessing unit when the authentication is passed and to trigger the rejecting unit when the authentication is failed; an accessing unit, configured to access the call from the caller; and a rejecting unit, configured to reject access of the call from the caller. A call access device is provided. The disclosure fully ensures the call order of accessing a calling subscriber to a called subscriber, embodies the call access justification and prevents the preferential call access right of a malicious subscriber. |
| US08849244B2 |
Providing network access
A wireless service provider identifies a mobile computing device capable of short-range wireless communication and in an agreement to receive service from a cellular network. The wireless service provider provides, to the mobile computing device, terms for a third party computing device to accept in order to gain access to the cellular network via the mobile computing device. In response to a third party computing device agreeing to the terms, the wireless service provider indicates to the mobile computing device to allow the third party computing device to access the cellular network via the mobile computing device. |
| US08849230B2 |
Attenuator and method for attenuating
A semiconductor device is provided, including an input attenuator configured to receive an antenna signal and to output a first attenuated signal, the first attenuated signal corresponding to the antenna signal attenuated by a first attenuation factor, the input attenuator being further configured to receive a control signal and to select one of a plurality of predetermined attenuation factors as said first attenuation factor depending on the control signal; an analog to digital converter configured to generate an intermediate signal by digitizing the first attenuated signal; and a digital attenuator configured to receive the intermediate signal and to output a second attenuated signal, the second attenuated signal corresponding to the intermediate signal attenuated by a second attenuation factor, the second attenuation factor being set so as to compensate a gain quantization error of the control signal. |
| US08849228B2 |
Receiver capable of reducing local oscillation leakage and in-phase/quadrature-phase (I/Q) mismatch and an adjusting method thereof
A receiver having a mixer for mixing a radio frequency signal and a local oscillator signal so as to generate a base band signal, a detecting unit for generating from the base band signal a detection signal that represents an extent of local oscillation leakage, and an adjusting unit coupled electrically to said mixer for outputting a control signal thereto to control a current operating state of said mixer, said adjusting unit being further coupled electrically to said detecting unit, and determining whether there is a reduction in the extent of local oscillation leakage based on the detection signal from said detecting unit. In operation, the adjusting unit maintains an adjusting direction for the control signal upon determining that the extent of local oscillation leakage is reduced, reverses the adjusting direction upon determining that the extent of local oscillation leakage is not reduced, and adjusts the control signal according to the adjusting direction. |
| US08849225B1 |
Channel monitoring with plural frequency agile receivers
A system and method to efficiently use a plurality of ‘receivers’ to monitor a larger plurality of ‘sources’ for audio content. Upon identifying that a source is active, one of the plural receivers is assigned to convey the content to a destination. All other receivers are prevented from monitoring that specific source for the duration of its activity, but continue to monitor the remaining sources. ‘Source’ includes any source of information containing audio content. ‘Receiver’ includes any device capable of selectively conveying such content, including physical switches, hardware or software multiplexers, microphones, radio receivers, or any other means of obtaining such content. |
| US08849223B2 |
Power harvesting wireless transmitter
Apparatus for a power harvesting wireless transmitter. The wireless transmitter includes a magnet, an inductor, a power supply, a processor, and a transmitter with an antenna. The magnet interacting with the inductor provides a sole source of power sufficient to power the transmitter. The inductor is connected to the power supply. The power supply includes a voltage multiplier, a storage unit, and, in one embodiment, a voltage regulator. The processor includes at least one input connected to one or more local switches, sensors, and instruments. The processor outputs an identifier and data corresponding to the inputs. The processor output is connected to the transmitter, which sends a wireless signal containing the identifier and data. |
| US08849220B2 |
Electronic device including elongate connectors between stacked circuit boards and related methods
An electronic device may include a plurality of circuit boards, data processing circuitry carried by the plurality of circuit boards, and a plurality of connectors electrically and mechanically coupling the circuit boards in a stacked spaced relation defining a plurality of levels. The elongate connectors may include pairs of parallel first and second elongate connectors between adjacent circuit boards, and with each pair of parallel first and second elongate connectors being rotationally offset in successive levels. |
| US08849219B2 |
DA converter and wireless communication apparatus
In general, according to one embodiment, a DA converter configured to convert a digital signal comprising n (n>1) bits to an analog current to output the analog current from an output terminal, includes n voltage-current converters. Each of them corresponds to each bit of the digital signal and is configured to generate a current depending on the corresponding bit. A k-th (k is an integer of 0 to n−1) voltage-current converter includes a first transistor whose threshold voltage is adjustable. The first transistor includes a semiconductor substrate, a first diffusion region, a second diffusion region, an insulating film, a charge accumulating film, and a gate. |
| US08849218B2 |
Radio base station and method of adjusting radio parameter
A radio base station controls an antenna by adjusting a radio parameter value of the radio base station, and notifies another radio base station of the adjustment of the radio parameter value. The radio base station receives information from the other radio base station. The information relates to an influence on a radio characteristic of a cell formed by the other radio base station. The radio characteristic is influenced by the adjustment of the radio parameter of the radio base station. The radio base station readjusts the radio parameter value of the radio base station based on the information. The information relates to the influence on the radio characteristic of the cell formed by the other radio base station. |
| US08849209B2 |
Communications device with selective spectrum assignment and related methods
A communications device may include a wireless radio frequency (RF) transceiver, and a controller coupled to the wireless RF transceiver. The controller may be configured to determine received signal characteristics and perform a spectral estimation operation associated with a frequency spectrum on the received signal characteristics, determine a channel selection method characteristic associated with a channel in the frequency spectrum including channels, generate statistical values for each channel based upon the received signal characteristics, and select a portion of the frequency spectrum for a signal to be transmitted by the wireless RF transceiver based upon the spectral estimation operation, the statistical values, and the channel selection method characteristic. |
| US08849208B2 |
Apparatus, method and radio system
An apparatus is provided to include a detector. The detector can detect that an interfering communications connection to a received satellite system signal in a mobile terminal is to be established by the mobile terminal. The apparatus include a processor that can prevent interference to the received satellite system signal due to the interfering communications connection by controlling uplink resource allocation of the mobile terminal based on the detection. |
| US08849199B2 |
Systems and methods for customizing broadband content based upon passive presence detection of users
Systems and methods for customizing broadband content based upon passive presence detection of users are provided. A user device in proximity to a customer premise device may be detected. The customer premise device may be configured to output programming content received from a service provider. An identifier of the detected user device may be determined. Based at least in part on the identifier, an identity of a user may be determined. Based at least in part on the identity of the user, content that is output by the customer premise device may be customized. |
| US08849194B2 |
Method and system for a mesh network utilizing leaky wave antennas
Methods and systems for a mesh network utilizing leaky wave antennas (LWAs) are disclosed and may include configuring one or more devices as a mesh network in a wireless device coupled to a plurality of LWAs, and communicating data between said devices via the configured mesh network. A resonant frequency of the LWAs may be configured utilizing micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) deflection. A plurality of the LWAs may be configured to enable beamforming. The LWAs may comprise microstrip or coplanar waveguides, wherein a cavity height of the LWAs is dependent on spacing between conductive lines in the waveguides. The plurality of LWAs may be integrated in one or more of: integrated circuits, integrated circuit packages, and printed circuit boards. The devices may be internal to the wireless device. The data may be communicated via the mesh network to devices external to the wireless device. |
| US08849193B2 |
Es/No based carrier-in-carrier RF power control
A method of transmitting telecommunications data comprising modulating first and second data signals, selecting transmit powers first and second terminals to achieve a predetermined power equivalent bandwidth (PEB) through an un-attenuated, transmitting the first data signal to the second terminal and the second data signal to the first terminal through a remote receiver, measuring a total received signal-to-noise ratio of the first and second data signals and a total received signal-to-noise ratio received at the second and first terminals, respectively, measuring a signal-power density ratio between the first and second signals, determining a ratio of excess uplink to downlink losses based a rain model parameter and operating frequency, calculating excess uplink and downlink losses relative an optimized, un-attenuated telecommunications channel, and changing a transmit power of a terminal such that the predetermined PEB is maintained when at least one of the signals experiences attenuation. |
| US08849192B2 |
Method of determining reliability of received signal, method of calculating code phase error, and apparatus for determining reliability of received signal
A method of determining reliability of a received signal is provided, which includes correlating a received signal from a satellite to a replica code, determining reliability of the received signal according to a predetermined reference using a first value and a second value, the first value being a correlation value of a peak phase obtained from the correlating and the second value being a correlation value of a phase delayed for a predetermined phase from the peak phase and changing the reference according to the satellite. |
| US08849189B1 |
Wireless, self-contained relay device
A relay apparatus comprising a housing having a bottom surface, a radio, and a processor, both mounted within the housing. A self-righting mechanism is mounted to the housing such that the self-righting mechanism is configured to reposition the housing from any initial position to an upright position so that the housing rests on the bottom surface. The radio is configured to relay RF signals and to operate as a node in an ad hoc telecommunications network. The processor is operatively coupled to the radio and the self-righting mechanism. |
| US08849184B1 |
Methods and apparatus for supporting sharing of content between mobile communications devices and home based devices
Methods and apparatus for allowing a telephone user to share captured audio and/or video with a set top box user are described. Methods and apparatus can be implemented without the need for a called party to support video conferencing and/or have a computer system. In various embodiments a telephone call is used to contact a party to who content from a telephone may be streamed, e.g., in real time. Assuming the contacted party is interested a video session is established with a STB or other device corresponding to the called party and video content delivered from the cell phone. Audio may also be streamed with the video and/or the initial telephone call is maintained while video content is delivered allowing for bi-direction communication via the calling and called party's telephones. While IP signaling maybe used for video delivery an analog VOD session may alternatively be used. |
| US08849178B2 |
Sheet detecting apparatus and image forming apparatus
A sheet detecting apparatus including: a sheet detecting member having a plurality of abutment surfaces in a peripheral direction thereof, the sheet detecting member being rotated by a conveyed sheet abutting against one of the plurality of abutment surfaces; a detection portion which operates in association with the sheet detecting member; a sensor which generates a signal based on a position of the detection portion; and an urging portion which generates an urging force for positioning the one of the plurality of abutment surfaces of the sheet detecting member in a waiting position in which the leading edge of a sheet conveyed by a conveying portion abuts against the one of the plurality of abutment surfaces, and thereafter the urging portion switching the urging force to an urging force for positioning, in the waiting position, another one of the plurality of abutment surfaces against which a succeeding sheet abuts. |
| US08849158B2 |
Transfer device of image forming apparatus and related image forming apparatus
The transfer device transfers a toner image to a recording medium. The recording medium passes through a nip portion formed by a belt roller which is disposed on a main body of an apparatus and a transfer roller which is disposed on an opening and closing cover. The opening and closing cover opens and closes an opening of a main body of the apparatus. The main body includes a positioning member which positions the transfer roller which moves according to a closing operation of the opening and closing cover, to a predetermined distance with respect to the belt roller. The main body also includes an engaging member which engages with the transfer roller and pushes the transfer roller toward a positioning position of the positioning member, by being urged by a pressurizing spring. |
| US08849157B2 |
Cap for developer container and developer container having the same
In a cap for sealing a filling port formed in a developer container, a base is in the shape of a circular plate. A first cylindrical portion is in the shape of a cylinder extending from a peripheral portion of the base in a first direction. A second cylindrical portion is in the shape of a cylinder extending from the peripheral portion of the base in a second direction that is opposite to the first direction. A first projecting portion projects radially outwardly from an outer circumferential surface of the first cylindrical portion with a predetermined projecting amount. A second projecting portion projects radially outwardly from an outer circumferential surface of the second cylindrical portion with a projecting amount equal to the predetermined projecting amount of the first projecting portion. |
| US08849153B2 |
Development device and image formation apparatus
A development device includes a regulation member partially defining a developer room and configured to regulate the thickness of a developer layer on a developer carrier, the regulation member including a regulation edge facing the developer carrier to control the thickness of the developer layer on the developer carrier, and an end facing an inner wall surface of the developer room; a first seal member attached to the inner wall surface of the developer room at a position facing the end of the regulation member; and a second seal member attached to the regulation member at a portion in the vicinity of the end of the regulation member and being in contact with the first seal member to seal between the first seal member and the end of the regulation member. The second seal member is lower in hardness than the first seal member. |
| US08849148B2 |
Electronic apparatus having pivotable support member for supporting electric circuit board
An electronic apparatus includes a functional unit, an electric circuit board, a pivotable support member, an outer cover, and wiring. The functional unit is disposed inside the electronic apparatus. The electric circuit board is configured to control the functional unit. The pivotable support member is shaped rectangular having a vertical length that is shorter than a horizontal length thereof and is pivotally movable about a pivoting axis defined to extend along one horizontally extending side of the pivotable support member between a closed position in which the pivotable support member covers the functional unit and an open position in which the functional unit is exposed. The outer cover is disposed more outwardly than the pivotable support member. The wiring passes through a pivoting axis side of the pivotable support member to connect the functional unit to the electric circuit board. |
| US08849145B2 |
Image forming apparatus
An image forming apparatus includes a stack surface on which recording materials having images are stacked, the stack surface being provided on an upper surface of an apparatus body, and a movable unit shaped like a flat plate and provided on the upper surface of the apparatus body, the movable unit having a display portion configured to display information. At least a portion of the movable unit overlaps with the stack surface, as viewed in a vertical direction. A flat portion of the movable unit is movable between a first position along the upper surface of the apparatus body and a second position where a distance between the movable unit and the stack surface in the vertical direction is longer than at the first position. |
| US08849142B2 |
Image forming device
Disclosed is an image forming device including a fixing unit that fixes a first image to be fixed onto a sheet, the first image to be fixed being supported on the sheet, a target fixing temperature varying unit that varies a target fixing temperature during a time period in which a fixing process is performed, and a gradation processing unit that applies a gradation process to first image information. The target fixing temperature varying unit varies the target fixing temperature for the sheet of the recording medium to which the fixing process is applied, depending on presence or absence of a halftone process, and depending on a type of the gradation process to be utilized. |
| US08849137B2 |
Controller, image forming apparatus, non-transitory computer readable medium, and image forming method
A controller includes a pattern forming unit that forms patterns multiple times on a first image holding member which is driven such that a surface thereof is circulated, a first detection unit that optically detects the patterns formed on the first image holding member by the pattern forming unit, a second detection unit that optically detects the patterns transferred from the first image holding member to a recording medium which is transported in a set transport direction, and an adjustment unit that adjusts a length in the transport direction of an image transferred to the recording medium on the basis of a time interval when the patterns are detected by the first detection unit and a time interval when the patterns are detected by the second detection unit. |
| US08849134B2 |
Image forming apparatus having banding correction function
The image forming apparatus includes a CPU that performs control to form an inspection image for determining whether or not banding is suppressed to be smaller than a predetermined threshold value; and a density sensor that detects an intensity of banding periodically occurring in a sub-scanning direction of the formed inspection image. If based the detected banding intensity, the CPU has determined that the banding is not suppressed to be smaller than the predetermined threshold value, the CPU performs control to not perform banding correction or performs control to re-set a relationship between a phase of a rotary member and correction information. |
| US08849130B2 |
Coherent optical receivers for colorless reception
One coherent optical receiver includes a 3×3 coupler for receiving a signal and a local oscillator into a first and a third input port respectively, and three detectors for detecting a respective output of the coupler to generate corresponding first, second and third detected signals. A detected signal is filtered by an Alternating Current (AC) coupler to generate a respective first, second or third filtered signal. An adder adds the first, the second and the third filtered signals to determine a directly detected signal term. A first subtractor subtracts the directly detected signal term from the first filtered signal to determine an in-phase signal. A second subtractor subtracts the directly detected signal term from the third filtered signal to determine a quadrature signal. A digital signal processor processes the in-phase signal and the quadrature signal to recover the optical signal. |
| US08849120B2 |
Wavelength division multiplexed passive optical network
Consistent with the present disclosure, an optical communication system, such as a passive optical network (PON), is provided that includes an optical line terminal (OLT) and a plurality of optical network units (ONUs). The OLT includes a plurality of photonic integrated circuits that have both optical transmitters and receivers provided therein. Accordingly, the OLT may have fewer components and a simpler, more reliable and cost-effective design than a conventional OLT including discrete components. In addition, various ONU configurations are provided that also have a simple design and fewer components. Thus, ONUs consistent with the present disclosure may also have reduced costs. |
| US08849114B2 |
Nonlinear compensation in WDM systems
A compensator device may include a selection switch to receive a first optical signal and provide first and second groups of channels associated with the first optical signal; a polarization beam splitter to receive the first channels, and provide first and second components; a photodiode that provides an electrical signal indicative of an intensity of the first group of channels; a first modulator to receive the electrical signal and the first components and to modulate the first components to form first modulated channels; a second modulator to receive the electrical signal and the second components to modulate the second components to form second modulated channels; a polarization beam combiner to receive the first and second modulated channels to form combined modulated channels; and a coupler to receive the combined modulated channels and the second group of channels to form a second optical signal. |
| US08849113B2 |
Wavelength selective switch and optical transmission apparatus
A wavelength selective switch includes a wavelength dispersing element, a wavelength converging element, multiple transmission control elements, and a controller. The wavelength dispersing element performs wavelength dispersion of input signal light. The transmission control element divides input signal light into wavelength bands within a channel band and transmits or cuts off the divided input signal light. The wavelength converging element converges signal light having respective wavelengths produced from the transmission control elements for output. The controller controls a transmittance of the transmission control element of at least one of the low and high frequency sides in a channel band. The wavelength selective switch sets as a cutoff band at least one of predetermined bands on the low and high frequency sides, narrows a transmission band of the input signal light to be wavelength-multiplexed, deletes an overlapped band of optical spectra, and outputs the transmission signal light, thereby suppressing crosstalk. |
| US08849111B1 |
Method of processing traffic in a transport network
A network element of a transport network has three fabrics housed within a single shelf of a telco rack, namely a packet fabric, an electrical fabric and an optical fabric. A stream of traffic including a plurality of lambdas is received at a trunk interface of such a shelf. The optical fabric in the shelf performs optical switching on the stream to replace a first lambda in the stream with a second lambda. The first lambda is converted within the shelf into an electrical signal. Also within the shelf, first frames are recovered from the electrical signal. The packet fabric in the shelf is used to perform packet switching on the first frames to generate a flow of second frames. The flow of second frames is transmitted at a client interface of the shelf. |
| US08849110B2 |
Optical node
A module for routing packets of first and second optical signals comprising first and second inputs (A,B) for receiving the first and second optical signals and first and second outputs (C,D) for the optical signals. The module comprises optical switching means (8) for switching the first optical signal and the second optical signal to either one of the two outputs (C,D), and a correlator module (7). The correlator module comprises at least two optical correlators (9,10,11,12). The correlator module (7) is arranged to generate control signals for controlling the switching means (8) based on destination data in packets of the first and second signals such that if packets of the first and second optical signals overlap, the switching means directs the packet that was received first to the output (C,D) indicated by the destination data of that packet and the overlapping subsequent packet is directed to the other output (C,D) or blocked. A module is advantageous because there is no need to convert the optical signal to the electronic domain and packet contention is avoided without synchronisation or scheduling of the packets of the optical signals because, for overlapping packets, the packet that is received first is given priority with the later packet either sent to the other output, whether or not this is the correct output for the packet, or blocked. |
| US08849105B2 |
In-ceiling or in-wall retracting camera platform system
A retractable camera platform system allows a mounted camera to be hidden while not in use. The system retracts a camera platform into a recess in the ceiling, wall and the like of a room, building, hallway or other structure. The system includes the camera platform that opens a door assembly or a cover so that the camera may operate when needed. The door assembly or cover hides the camera and the associated frame structure when not in use. An actuator and linear slide track raise and lower the camera as desired. |
| US08849104B2 |
Recording device and method for capturing and processing image data in a vehicle
A recording device for capturing and processing image data in a vehicle is proposed. The recording device comprises an optical image generating sensor and an image processor for processing image data and a communication processor for bidirectional communication with the vehicle. The image data and additional vehicle data is imaged into the data structure of the vehicle bus system together as mixed data. |
| US08849101B2 |
Providing previews of seek locations in media content
Providing previews of seek locations in digital media is disclosed. While playback of the media content is progressing as normal a snapshot such as a thumbnail is displayed to show the user a representation of the media content that is associated with a seek location. The functionality of a transport key may be temporarily modified. The temporary modification allows the user to seek to a desired location very accurately and may result in fewer input keys being selected. Moreover, because the modification is temporary a great deal of flexibility is provided. |
| US08849098B2 |
Recording apparatus
A recording apparatus records data to a plurality of recording media including a first recording medium and a second recording medium. The recording apparatus includes an input unit configured to receive data, a recording/reproducing unit configured to record/reproduce data to/from the plurality of recording media, and a control unit configured to select, during a dubbing process of reading first data recorded on the first recording medium and recording the first data onto the second recording medium, in response to an instruction to record second data received by the input unit, a recording medium other than the second recording medium from among the plurality of recording media and to control the recording/reproducing unit to record the second data onto the selected recording medium. |
| US08849096B2 |
Moving image reproducing apparatus, moving image reproducing method, and computer-readable storage medium storing program
One disclosed aspect of the embodiments relates to a technique, when a moving image file is divided and divisional moving images are reproduced simultaneously in a plurality of display areas, for allowing a user to easily search for a desired scene in the entire moving image more quickly. A moving image reproducing apparatus divides a moving image to generate a plurality of divisional moving images and reproduces the divisional moving images simultaneously. If the user issues an instruction to divide a first divisional moving image that is being reproduced and generate a plurality of second divisional moving images, in response to the instruction, the apparatus acquires a reproduction position of the first divisional moving image. The apparatus starts reproduction of the plurality of second divisional moving images at a position corresponding to the acquired reproduction position. |
| US08849094B2 |
Data structure, recording medium, authoring apparatus, method, and program, recording apparatus, method, and program, verification apparatus, method, and program, and manufacturing, apparatus and method for recording medium
A data structure includes content data and accompanying data which is formed on the basis of a plurality of first units, the accompanying data being used for displaying information accompanying the content data. Among the first units in which time information is defined, the time of a target first unit based on the order of the first units is set to be later than the decoding time defined in the first unit arranged in the order earlier than the target first unit by an amount equal to N first units where N indicates the upper limit of the number of first units that can be stored in a buffer provided for a decoder for decoding the first units. |
| US08849091B2 |
Transport stream processing device, and associated methodology of generating and aligning source data packets in a physical data structure
A transport stream reproduction device, method thereof, and recording medium for efficiently reproducing transport streams. The reproduction section acquires an entry point map from said recording medium, compares a presentation time stamp (PTS) listed in the entry point map with the designated reproduction start position, and searches entry points adjacent to said designated reproduction start position, and a calculation section calculates an address of a transport packet corresponding to the entry points. |
| US08849090B2 |
High speed image capturing apparatus and method
In a high speed image capturing state, a camera signal processing circuit is not needed to perform a signal process at a high screen rate, but at a regular screen rate. In the high speed image capturing mode, raw data of 240 fps received from an image sensor 101 are recorded on a recording device 111 through a conversion processing section 201 and a recording device controlling circuit 210. Raw data that have been decimated and size-converted are supplied to a camera signal processing circuit 203 through a pre-processing circuit 202 and an image being captured is displayed on a display section 112 with a signal for which a camera process has been performed. In a reproducing state, raw data are read from the recording device 111 at a low screen rate according to a display performance of the display section 112 and the raw data that have been read are processed are processed by the pre-processing circuit 202 and the camera signal processing circuit 203 and a reproduced image is displayed by the display section 112. |
| US08849088B2 |
Playback device, recording device, playback method, and recording method
A playback device for playing back a playlist by determining, as a current sub-playitem, a sub-playitem that is optimum for the current sub-playitem each time a current playitem changes. The playback device continues a playback of a playitem when a clip file being referred to by the current sub-playitem has been downloaded and is in an Enable state in the local storage; and stops, by issuing a DataStarved event, the playback of the playitem when the clip file being referred to by the current sub-playitem is in a missing state or an invalid state in a recording medium. |
| US08849086B2 |
Optical fiber attenuator
An optical fiber attenuator includes a connector unit, an insert component and an attenuation unit. The connector unit includes a shell member and having a first shell part, and a second shell part that extends from and forms a unitary body with the first shell part, that reduces in cross-section with respect to the first shell part, and that cooperates with the first shell part to define a through hole. A resilient portion is connected to and extends inclinedly and outwardly away from the second shell part and towards the first shell part. The insert component includes an insert body disposed in the through hole, and a trench formed in the insert body. The attenuation unit has one end inserted into the trench and another end inserted into the second shell part. |
| US08849083B1 |
All glass leakage channel fibers and devices using them
The present invention relates generally to optical waveguides, and more particularly to optical fibers suitable for use with high optical energies, and to devices using them. One aspect of the invention is an optical fiber having a cross-sectional profile comprising a base glass material; a first ring of first low refractive index glass features disposed in the base glass material; and a second ring of second low refractive index glass features disposed in the base glass material outside of and substantially concentric with the first ring, wherein the optical fiber has a loss of less than about 0.7 dB/m for the fundamental mode and a loss greater than about 10 dB/m for all other modes in a coiled configuration having a coil diameter in the range of about 20 cm to about 200 cm. |
| US08849082B2 |
Low bend loss optical fiber
An optical fiber comprising: (I) a germania doped central core region having outer radius r1 and (II) a maximum relative refractive index Δ1max and a cladding region including (i) a first inner cladding region having an outer radius r2>5 microns and refractive index Δ2; (ii) a and a second inner cladding region having an outer radius r3>9 microns and comprising refractive index Δ3; and (iii) an outer cladding region surrounding the inner cladding region and comprising refractive index Δ4, wherein Δ1max>Δ4, Δ2>Δ3, and wherein 0.01%≦Δ4−Δ3≦0.09%, said fiber exhibits a 22 m cable cutoff less than or equal to 1260 nm, and 0.25≦r1/r2≦0.85. |
| US08849081B2 |
Side fire laser assembly
Embodiments include an apparatus including an optical fiber having a proximal end and a distal end. The distal end of the optical fiber has a surface configured to emit energy transverse to a longitudinal axis of the optical fiber. The apparatus also includes a tube including a channel, and the distal end of the optical fiber is disposed in the channel of the tube. The apparatus further includes an element disposed at a distal end of the tube such that a pocket is formed in the channel of the tube between the element and the distal end of the optical fiber. |
| US08849075B2 |
Systems and methods for tuning a cavity
The present disclosure describes an integrated opto-mechanical and electro-mechanical system. The opto-mechanical and electro-mechanical system can be made of photonic crystals configured to move based on electrical voltages and/or back action effects from electromagnetic waves, thus changing the resonance of the system. |
| US08849072B2 |
Surface plasmon enhanced optical devices for integrated photonics
An optical device for integrated photonic applications includes a substrate, a dielectric waveguide and a surface plasmon waveguide. The dielectric waveguide includes a dielectric waveguide core disposed relative to a dielectric waveguide cladding and a common cladding. The surface plasmon waveguide includes a surface plasmon waveguide core disposed relative to the common cladding and a surface plasmon waveguide cladding. The common cladding couples the dielectric waveguide and the surface plasmon waveguide. |
| US08849068B2 |
Image management system, image management method, and program
An image management system, image management method and program are provided that can favorably manage images for displaying images that underwent optimization processing or images for creating and displaying difference images in which the generation of artifacts is suppressed. An image from image generator 100 is input to server 109 and stored in storage device 105. The system then determines whether an image including attendant information that is the same as that of the input image is already registered in the system. When such an image is not already registered, attendant information included in the input image is read out and newly registered in association with the input image. In contrast, when an image including attendant information that is the same as that of the input image is registered in the system and the attendant information is registered, information indicating the fact that the image was input is registered. |
| US08849066B2 |
Image processing apparatus, image processing method, and storage medium
The present invention provides an image processing apparatus which can simply and appropriately analyze an image, an image processing method, and a storage medium. The present invention reduces an original image and enlarges a reduced image obtained by the reduction. The present invention enlarges the original image. The present invention analyzes the original image by comparing a first enlarged image obtained by enlargement of the reduced image with a second enlarged image obtained by enlargement of the original image. |
| US08849063B2 |
Apparatus and method for optimizing on-screen location of additional content overlay on video content
A method of providing a video content formed of a plurality of successive video frames is disclosed. The method includes: extracting a visual feature from an image of each of subject frames which are all or some of the plurality of video frames; and selecting one of a plurality of candidate overlay insertion regions which are pre-assigned on each of the subject frames at different positions for allowing an additional content as a content overlay to be overlaid on the subject frames for display, as a final overlay insertion region, based on distances of the plurality of candidate overlay insertion regions from the extracted feature. |
| US08849059B2 |
Method and device for generating images having a reduced error rate, high resolution and improved contrast
The invention relates to a method for generating images having a reduced error rate, high resolution and improved contrast from image sequences containing images having lower resolutions, which can be obtained from an image sensor having adjustable recording parameters. According to the invention, the image sequences of the images (K, R) having low resolutions are subjected to a combination of super-resolution processing (SR) and high dynamic range reconstruction processing (HDR) in order to obtain images having a reduced error rate, high resolution and improved contrast on the basis of redundant and complementary image information contained in the images having low resolution. |
| US08849057B2 |
Methods for digital image sharpening with noise amplification avoidance
A method for sharpening an original digital image includes generating a smoothed image from the original image. A residual image is generated from the smoothed image and the original image. A sharpened smoothed image is generated. The residual image and the sharpened smoothed image are combined to produce a sharpened version of the original image. |
| US08849055B2 |
Image processing apparatus and method
An image processing apparatus for performing recovery processing of correcting degradation of an image due to an aberration of an optical imaging system with respect to image data obtained by sensing an object image entering through the optical imaging system using an image sensor, comprises: a selection unit configured to select a filter to be used for recovery processing in accordance with an image sensing condition at the time of the image sensing; an image processing unit configured to perform recovery processing for the image data by using the filter selected by the selection unit; and a correction unit configured to determine a correction value based on a difference between the value of a pixel before and after recovery processing by the image processing unit, and correcting the pixel value before the recovery processing by the image processing unit using the determined correction value. |
| US08849052B2 |
Image processing apparatus and method
An image processing apparatus and a method capable of performing a quantization process or an inverse quantization process more suitable for contents of an image. A lossless decoding unit decodes coded data read from an accumulation buffer at a predetermined timing. A sub macroblock inverse quantization unit obtains a quantization value for each sub macroblock by using a quantization parameter supplied from an inverse quantization unit and returns the same to the inverse quantization unit. The inverse quantization unit inversely quantizes a quantization coefficient obtained by decoding by the lossless decoding unit by using the quantization value for each sub macroblock supplied from the sub macroblock inverse quantization unit. |
| US08849047B2 |
Methods and systems for determining image similarity
In one embodiment, a method includes determining by a computer system a distance between a first value associated with a first image and a first cluster center associated with at least one image and determining by the computer system the first image and the at least one image are not similar when the determined distance is more than a threshold distance. |
| US08849045B2 |
Display system and display device driver
A display system includes: a display device, a transmitting device which generates compressed data by performing a compression process on image data corresponding to a display image, and a driver which drives the display device in response to the compressed data received from the transmitting device. The driver includes: a decompression circuit which generates decompressed data by decompressing the compressed data, an FRC circuit configured to perform an FEC process on the decompressed data to generate display data and a drive circuit which drives the display device in response to the display data. The following relation holds: m2>m3>m1, where m1 is a number of bits of the compressed data per pixel, m2 is a number of bits of the decompressed data per pixel and m3 is a number of bits of the display data per pixel. |
| US08849044B2 |
Method and apparatus for comparing videos
A method for comparing a query video and a target video includes partitioning frames of the query video and frames of the target video into blocks and calculating the mean intensity value for each block. A plurality of query time series is produced for the query video, each query time series representing temporal variation in mean intensity value for blocks from the same location in different frames of the query video. A plurality of target time series is produced for the target video, each target time series representing temporal variation in mean intensity value for blocks from the same location in different frames of the target video the query time series and the target time series are used in determining if alignment exists between the query video and the target video. |
| US08849043B2 |
System for matching artistic attributes of secondary image and template to a primary image
A system for automatically selecting a template and a number of secondary images for display with a primary preselected image based on analyzing the primary image's attribute information and comparing the template's required image attributes and secondary image's attribute information. The attribute information is used to evaluate and arithmetically score a compatibility of the images and template so that a best compatibility fit can be obtained when displaying the image. |
| US08849042B2 |
Image processing apparatus, rectangle detection method, and computer-readable, non-transitory medium
There are provided an image processing apparatus, rectangle detection method and a computer-readable, non-transitory medium that can precisely detect boundaries of a document from a read image. The image processing apparatus includes an edge pixel extractor for extracting edge pixels from an input image, a line extractor for extracting a plurality of lines from the extracted edge pixels, a rectangle candidate extractor for extracting a plurality of rectangle candidates each of which is comprised of four lines, and a rectangle selector for, for each of the plurality of rectangle candidates, finding a number of edge pixels within a predetermined distance of each side of the rectangle candidate, using a distribution of edge pixels as the basis to find a corner likeness of each corner, and using the number of edge pixels and degree of corner likeness as the basis to select a rectangle from the plurality of rectangle candidates. |
| US08849040B2 |
Image combining apparatus
An image combining apparatus obtains information of an object area upon photographing of images, executes a preparation operation preceding to the photographing on the basis of the obtained information, measures an elapsed time from the preparation operation to a photographing instruction, divides each of the photographed images into a plurality of areas, detects a motion vector of each divided area, weights the detected motion vector by using the elapsed time and the information of the object area, and calculates a position adjustment vector by using the weighted motion vector. |
| US08849038B2 |
Rank-based image piling
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for selectively providing images. In one aspect, a method includes receiving image data that specify feature values for a plurality of images. The image data include, for each image, location data that specify a geographic location for the image. A group of images in which each image has location data specifying a geographic location that is within a threshold distance of a reference location are selected. Pairs of matching images are selected from the group of images. A reference image for the geographic location is selected from the pairs of matching images. Data that cause presentation in a map space of a photo collection image that includes a visual representation of the reference image are provided. The photo collection image is presented in the map space and at a map position for the geographic location. |
| US08849035B2 |
Image processing apparatus image processing method, and control program to perform face-detection processing
An image processing apparatus includes a detector to detect a face. The image processing apparatus sets a size of the face to be detected, changes a detection condition for face detection in accordance with the size of the face set, applies the detection condition changed to the detector, and detects the face from the image by use of the detector to which the detection condition is applied. |
| US08849032B2 |
Shape parameterisation for editable document generation
Disclosed is a method of forming an output shape parameterised by control points from an input shape. An input shape is received formed by a plurality of segments. The shape is classified as one of a plurality of predefined template shapes. The method then determines a representative form for the input shape based on a similarity measure between the input shape and the classified template shape. The representative form is selected according to the similarity measure from the group consisting of the classified template shape, and a non-template shape based on the segments of the input shape, the non-template shape having at least one control point derived from at least one control point of the classified template shape. The method then stores the determined representative form as the output shape parameterised by the derived control points. |
| US08849026B2 |
Method of adjusting output level of measurement pixel, color sensor and virtual slide apparatus
A method of adjusting an output level of a measurement pixel may include a first step of selecting a type of a target sample from a plurality of previously determined sample type candidates, a second step of measuring an output level of a reference pixel based on light from the target sample incident on the reference pixel, a third step of selecting a level adjustment parameter associated with the type of the target sample selected in the first step, the plurality of candidates being associated with the type of the target sample, a fourth step of calculating a level adjustment amount of the measurement pixel, and a fifth step of adjusting the output level using the level adjustment amount when measuring an output level corresponding to the light from the target sample. |
| US08849023B2 |
Apparatus and method of compensating chromatic aberration of image
The present invention relates to an apparatus and method of correcting a chromatic aberration of an image, and in particular, to an apparatus and method of correcting a chromatic aberration of an image that can correct a general chromatic aberration of an edge or an extreme chromatic aberration, such as a purple fringe, in an image.An apparatus for correcting a chromatic aberration of an image according to an embodiment of the present invention includes an edge detection unit detecting an edge of an input image, a level calculation unit calculating a chromatic aberration level of the detected edge, and a correction unit correcting the edge using different weighted values according to the calculated chromatic aberration level. |
| US08849022B2 |
Methods and apparatuses for encoding and decoding image based on segments
Encoding and decoding an image may be performed by setting a plurality of segments of a second color component block based on pixel values of a first color component block. The plurality of segments may be predicted by using different context pixels, and the second color component block may be encoded and decoded based on the predicted plurality of segments. |
| US08849018B2 |
Log-chromaticity clustering pipeline for use in an image process
In a first exemplary embodiment of the present invention, an automated, computerized method is provided for processing an image. According to a feature of the present invention, the method comprises the steps of providing an image file depicting an image defined by image locations, in a computer memory, generating a bi-illuminant chromaticity plane in a log color space for representing the image locations of the image in a log-chromaticity representation for the image, providing a set of estimates for the orientation of the bi-illuminant chromaticity plane and calculating an orientation for each one of the image locations as a function of the set of estimates for the orientation. |
| US08849017B2 |
Image processing apparatus, image processing method, program, and recording medium for learning from moving images
An image processing apparatus includes: an image feature outputting unit that outputs each of image features in correspondence with a time of the frame; a foreground estimating unit that estimates a foreground image at a time s by executing a view transform as a geometric transform on a foreground view model and outputs an estimated foreground view; a background estimating unit that estimates a background image at the time s by executing a view transform as a geometric transform on a background view model and outputs an estimated background view; a synthesized view generating unit that generates a synthesized view by synthesizing the estimated foreground and background views; a foreground learning unit that learns the foreground view model based on an evaluation value; and a background learning unit that learns the background view model based on the evaluation value by updating the parameter of the foreground view model. |
| US08849016B2 |
Panoramic image generation from CBCT dental images
A method for forming a panoramic image from a computed tomography image volume, acquires image data elements for one or more computed tomographic volume images of a subject, identifies a subset of the acquired computed tomographic images that contain one or more features of interest and defines, from the subset of the acquired computed tomographic images, a sub-volume having a curved shape that includes one or more of the contained features of interest. The curved shape is unfolded by defining a set of unfold lines wherein each unfold line extends at least between two curved surfaces of the curved shape sub-volume and re-aligning the image data elements within the curved shape sub-volume according to a re-alignment of the unfold lines. One or more views of the unfolded sub-volume are displayed. |
| US08849015B2 |
System and apparatus for haptically enabled three-dimensional scanning
Described herein is a three-dimensional scanning system that features a camera integrated with a user-guided haptic interface device. The system allows an operator, through the sense of touch, to intuitively and interactively identify optimum locations for obtaining images or scans of an object. The system then assembles these scans to produce a virtual three-dimensional representation of the object with a high degree of accuracy and with a minimum of data artifacts. |
| US08849013B2 |
System and method of image processing
A method of image processing comprising receiving a plurality of interpolated images, interpolated from two adjacent camera positions having different image planes, applying a transformation to each interpolated image to a respective one of a plurality intermediate image planes, wherein each intermediate image plane is oriented intermediate to the image planes of the two adjacent camera positions depending on a viewing angle of that interpolated image relative to the adjacent camera positions. Also an integrated circuit or processor, an apparatus for capturing images and an apparatus for displaying images. |
| US08849011B2 |
Video processing system and method thereof for compensating boundary of image
A method is used for compensating a boundary of an image, in which each scan line in the image is shifted by a corresponding line shift amount. The method determines a boundary region for the image and moves each pixel in a scan line from an original position to a new position within the boundary region, in which the new position is determined according to the width of the boundary region, the original position, and a line shift amount, and the scan line is shifted by the line shift amount. Then, the method interpolates at least one pixel into the scan line according to the moved pixels for generating a compensated image. |
| US08849010B2 |
Method and system for rectifying images
The present invention relates to a method and a system for rectifying images. An original stereo image pair is obtained, and the epipolar lines corresponding to the original stereo image pair are parallelized to obtain a first transformed stereo image pair. Epipolar lines corresponding to the first transformed stereo image pair are collinearized to obtain a second transformed stereo image pair. The present invention parallelizes and collinearizes the epipolar lines corresponding to the stereo image pair after the images are rectified. |
| US08849009B2 |
Image processing method and apparatus, image reproducing method and apparatus, and recording medium
Provided are an image processing method and apparatus, and an image reproducing method and apparatus. The image processing method includes receiving three-dimensional (3D) image data; generating additional information about the 3D image data; and inserting the additional information in a blanking interval of the 3D image data. |
| US08849008B2 |
Determining calibration parameters for a lithographic process
A technique for determining a set of calibration parameters for use in a model of a photo-lithographic process is described. In this calibration technique, images of a test pattern that was produced using the photo-lithographic process are used to determine corresponding sets of calibration parameters. These images are associated with at least three different focal planes in an optical system, such as a photo-lithographic system that implements the photo-lithographic process. Moreover, an interpolation function is determined using the sets of calibration parameters. This interpolation function can be used to determine calibration parameters at an arbitrary focal plane in the photo-lithographic system for use in simulations of the photolithographic process, where the set of calibration parameters are used in a set of transmission cross coefficients in the model of the photo-lithographic process. |
| US08849007B2 |
Identifying, evaluating and selecting possible pallet board lines in an image scene
A method is provided for determining which of a plurality of possible lines is most likely to be an actual line passing through a possible corner of a pallet. The method may comprise: providing a Ro image comprising pixels valued to generally correspond to an orthogonal distance from an origin point in the Ro image to one or more possible lines in a corresponding grey scale image; providing, using a computer, a location in the Ro image corresponding to a possible pallet corner; defining, using the computer, a plurality of possible lines passing through the possible pallet corner, each of the possible lines being respectively oriented at one angle within a range of angles to an axis of the Ro image; and determining, using the computer, which of the plurality of possible lines is most likely to be the actual line passing through the possible pallet corner. |
| US08849001B2 |
Voxel-based transformation method for transforming diffusion MRI data and groups test method using the same
A voxel-based transformation method includes: a) obtaining a MRI dataset in a subject space associated with subject voxel coordinates, subject sampling directions, and subject voxel spin amounts, and a dataset of a co-registration template associated with template voxel coordinates, each subject voxel coordinate corresponding to a template voxel coordinate according to a mapping function; b) through an inverse of the mapping function, obtaining subject voxel coordinates and a Jacobian matrix; and c) obtaining template voxel spin amounts, each being a function of a template sampling direction and a template voxel coordinate, using the Jacobian matrix and image data. |
| US08848998B1 |
Automated method for contrast media arrival detection for dynamic contrast enhanced MRI
This invention provides an automated system and method for determining contrast media arrival in vessels near tissues of interest that have been imaged using a predetermined imaging system that produces a plurality of temporally phased images. The system and method reliably distinguishes between actual contrast arrival and potential false positives that can render basic automated techniques inoperable or unreliable. In an illustrative embodiment, the system and method for determining a contrast arrival phase in a plurality of temporal phases of a medical image dataset of tissue includes an image pre-processor or process that, for each of at least a subset of the temporal phases of the medical image dataset, with at least a subset of the signal intensity values respectively in each of the temporal phases, computes signal intensity frequency distributions. An arrival phase analysis processor or process then determines the contrast arrival phase as a function of a relative change in the signal intensity frequency distributions between each of the temporal phases. The signal intensity frequency distributions can be characterized as histograms in an illustrative embodiment. The arrival phase can further be used for setting proper parameters in which to post-process temporally phased images using various methods for tissue perfusion analysis. |
| US08848995B2 |
Method of classification of tagged material in a set of tomographic images of colorectal region
A method of classification of image portions corresponding to fecal residues from a tomographic image of a colorectal region, which comprises a plurality of voxels (2) each having a predetermined intensity value and which shows at least one portion of colon (6a, 6b, 6c, 6d) comprising at least one area of tagged material (10). The area of tagged material (10) comprises at least one area of fecal residue (10a) and at least one area of tissue affected by tagging (10b). The image further comprises at least one area of air (8) which comprises an area of pure air (8a) not influenced by the fecal residues. The method comprises the operations of identifying (100), on the basis of a predetermined identification criterion based on the intensity values, above-threshold connected regions comprising connected voxels (2) and identifying, within the above-threshold connected regions, a plurality of connected regions of tagged material comprising voxels (2) representing the area of tagged material (10). The method further comprises the operation of classifying (104) each plurality of connected regions of tagged material on the basis of specific classification comparison criteria for each connected region, in such a way as to identify voxels (20) corresponding to the area of fecal residue (10a) and voxels (2) corresponding to the area of tissue affected by tagging (10b). |
| US08848994B2 |
Fetus modeling method and image processing apparatus therefor
An image processing apparatus includes: an image receiver which receives a predetermined image obtained by photographing a fetus; and a controller which detects a head region and a torso region of the fetus from the predetermined image, and which models a shape of the fetus by using at least one of a first contoured shape corresponding to the detected head region, a second contoured shape corresponding to the detected torso region, a first axis that is the central axis of the detected head region, and a second axis that is the central axis of the detected torso region, to model the fetus so that biometric data of the fetus can be easily measured. |
| US08848992B2 |
Susceptibility gradient mapping
The invention relates to a method of determining a susceptibility gradient map, the method comprising acquiring (300) a magnetic resonance k-space dataset, said dataset comprising magnetic resonance echo data, wherein a recursive iteration is used to determine the susceptibility gradient map. Further, the invention relates to a method of determining a susceptibility gradient map, the method comprising acquiring a magnetic resonance k-space dataset, said dataset comprising magnetic resonance echo data, wherein the acquired dataset comprises magnetic resonance echo data of multiple echoes with different echo times, wherein a susceptibility gradient map is determined separately for each echo time resulting in a temporary susceptibility gradient map, wherein the method further comprises calculating a total susceptibility gradient map by combining all determined temporary susceptibility gradient maps. |
| US08848986B2 |
Liveness detection
The present disclosure concerns a method of verifying the presence of a living face in front of a camera (112), the method including: capturing by said camera a sequence of images of a face; detecting a plurality of features of said face in each of said images; measuring parameters associated with said detected features to determine whether each of a plurality of liveness indicators is present in said images; determining whether or not said face is a living face based on the presence in said images of a combination of at least two of said liveness indicators. |
| US08848981B2 |
Processing-target image generation device, processing-target image generation method and operation support system
A processing-target image generation device generates a processing-target image which is an object to be subjected to an image conversion process for acquiring an output image based on an input image taken by an image-taking part. A coordinates correspondence part causes input coordinates, spatial coordinates, and projection coordinates to correspond to each other, the input coordinates being on an input image plane on which the input image is located, the spatial coordinates being on a space model on which the input image is projected, the projection coordinates being on a processing-target image plane on which the processing-target image is positioned and the image projected on the space model is re-projected. |
| US08848980B2 |
Front vehicle detecting method and front vehicle detecting apparatus
A method for detecting a front vehicle comprises: a moving light detecting step of detecting a front moving light area of an own vehicle in at least one image of a front scene of the own vehicle obtained at a time; a vehicle candidate generating step of extracting a light area pair from the detected front moving light area so that a front vehicle candidate is generated; and a vehicle candidate verifying step of verifying that the front vehicle candidate is the front vehicle in cases where the front vehicle candidate meets predetermined characteristics of a vehicle light. |
| US08848979B2 |
Tracked object determination device, tracked object determination method and tracked object determination program
Determination whether a moving object appearing in input video is an object tracked and captured by a cameraman is enabled. It is determined that a moving object is a subject image to which a cameraman pays attention based on a time difference between time when a movement state determined by a motion vector of the moving object changes and time when a shooting state determined by a motion vector of a camera motion changes. |
| US08848967B2 |
Mobile terminal
A mobile terminal includes a body having a front surface and a rear surface; a display unit formed on the front surface of the body; a frame disposed between the front surface and the rear surface, and configured to support the display unit; and a sound output device configured to transmit sound using bone conduction vibrations, and connected to the frame so as to transmit the vibration to the display unit. |
| US08848966B2 |
Flexible strap listening device aid
An apparatus comprising a flexible strap, having a portion thereof in communication with at least a portion of a headphone cord is provided. The flexible strap is secured to an article of clothing for wearing the headphone cord in combination with the article of clothing. |
| US08848963B2 |
Microphone arrangement for a breathing mask
An electro-acoustical transducer device includes a body structure (101) and a differential microphone (102) located in an aperture of a wall of the body structure. The microphone includes a front side for receiving an acoustical signal and a rear side for receiving the acoustical signal in modified form. The differential microphone is arranged to produce an electrical output signal proportional to the difference of the acoustical signals at the front and rear sides. The body structure is arranged to form a chamber (105) shared with the rear side of the microphone. There are tubular channels (107) to the chamber so that the channels and the chamber constitute an acoustical filter for filtering the acoustical signal falling to the rear side of the microphone. With proper design of the chamber and the channels, it is possible to achieve acoustical filtering for background noise rejection. |
| US08848960B2 |
Speaker
A cone speaker that outputs audio by transmitting to a truncated cone, the movements of a voice coil driven when an audio current is transmitted through a voice coil placed inside a magnetic circuit formed in a space that surrounds a pole piece. Inside a space between the back surface of a center cap attached to a central portion of the cone and the apical surface of the pole piece that faces the center cap, a first filling material composed of a flexible porous body with a low porosity fills the periphery of the space and a second filling material composed of a flexible porous body with a higher porosity than the first filling material fills the central portion thereof. |
| US08848958B2 |
Hearing aid retainer accessory
A hearing aid retainer accessory is provided for use with a hearing aid having a housing with a longitudinal end face portion comprising a mechanical connection terminal and an electrical connection point. The hearing aid retainer accessory comprises a retainer element with a first end face portion having a first mechanical connection means configured to be engageable to a mechanical connection terminal of a longitudinal end face portion of a housing of a hearing aid. |
| US08848957B2 |
Hearing aid retainer accessory
A hearing aid retainer accessory to be used together with a hearing aid is provided having a housing with a relatively large diameter longitudinal end face portion and a relatively smaller diameter hook-end to which a hook is attached. The hearing aid retainer accessory comprises an elongated string with a first end portion and a second portion, a first attaching means connected to the first end portion and a second attaching means connected to the second portion, wherein the first attaching means is attachable to a hook of a hearing aid, the second attaching means is attachable to a longitudinal end face portion of a housing of a hearing aid, such that a retaining ring is formed of both the geometry of a hearing aid and the elongated string. |
| US08848956B2 |
Standard fit hearing assistance device with removable sleeve
A hearing aid kit includes a standard fit, completely-in-canal (CIC) hearing aid and a hearing aid tool set. The CIC hearing aid is for extended use and includes a core module inserted into a sleeve. The core module and the sleeve each include various features providing for a minimum overall size, ease of insertion, removal, and cleaning, and enhanced sound transmission. The tool set is configured to be stored and carried in a single piece and provides for adjustment and cleaning of the CIC hearing aid. Open ear fits and occlusive ear fits are possible using different sleeves. |
| US08848955B2 |
Deep-ear-canal hearing device
A deep-ear-canal hearing device is worn deep in the ear canal of a user. The hearing device is easy to produce and use, has a small overall size, and can be comfortably worn deep within the auditory canal, in particular in the bony part of the auditory canal as well. The hearing device has a housing, a signal-processing apparatus, and a receiver. The signal-processing apparatus is arranged within the housing. The receiver is merely arranged partly within the housing and another part is arranged outside of the housing. The receiver only being arranged partly within the housing, it is thus not completely surrounded by the housing. Hence, the housing can have a smaller configuration. In the region where the receiver is arranged outside of the housing, the double wall in the form of, the receiver wall and, the housing wall can be dispensed with, which helps in reducing the size. |
| US08848953B2 |
Method for the operation of a hearing device and hearing device with variable frequency shift
A method for the operation of a hearing device with at least one receiver includes carrying out a fixed second frequency shift of an electrical receiver signal supplying the receiver or of a predefinable frequency range of the receiver signal and a variable first frequency shift of the receiver signal or of a predefinable frequency range of the receiver signal. The first frequency shift is changed depending on the occurring feedback. A frequency shift which effectively prevents feedback is advantageously carried out, while artifacts of the frequency shift are minimized. |
| US08848952B2 |
Audio reproduction apparatus
An audio reproduction apparatus includes: a delay equalizer (301), a delay equalizer (303), a level adjuster (314), and a level adjuster (317). The delay equalizer (301) equalizes an FL signal using an equalizer characteristic EQ9 that converts a characteristic of an audio signal perceived as being reproduced at a position of an FL speaker (104) with respect to a viewing position to be perceived as being reproduced at a position of a virtual speaker (201) with respect to the viewing position. The delay equalizer (303) equalizes the FL signal using an equalizer characteristic (EQ12) that converts a characteristic of an audio signal perceived as being reproduced at a position of an SL speaker (106) with respect to a viewing position to be perceived as being reproduced at a position of the virtual speaker (201) with respect to the viewing position. The level adjuster (314) performs level adjustment, using a first coefficient K9, on an output signal of the delay equalizer (301). The level adjuster (317) performs level adjustment, using a second coefficient K12, on an output signal of the delay equalizer (303). |
| US08848949B2 |
Condenser microphone unit and condenser microphone
A condenser microphone unit includes a diaphragm; a fixed electrode defining a capacitor together with the diagram; a cylindrical electrode having a first end and a second end, the first end being fitted to the periphery of the fixed electrode; a circuit board in contact with a second end of the cylindrical electrode, the circuit board being electrically connected to the cylindrical electrode; a unit casing accommodating the diaphragm, the fixed electrode, the cylindrical electrode, and the circuit board; and a hollow insulating air chamber provided between the internal peripheral surface of the unit casing and the external peripheral surface of the cylindrical electrode. |
| US08848947B2 |
Low-noise microphone pre-amplifier with active load element
A low-noise pre-amplifier with an active load element is integrated into a microphone. The microphone has an acoustic sensor coupled to the intrinsic pre-amplifier. A controllable current source is coupled to the intrinsic pre-amplifier and supplies a pre-amplifier bias current. A current source controller is coupled to the current source and controls the amplitude of the pre-amplifier bias current to maintain the intrinsic pre-amplifier at a bias point at which the intrinsic pre-amplifier amplifies microphone signals produced by the acoustic sensor. The intrinsic pre-amplifier may be actively regulated at the pre-determined bias point using negative feedback. Alternatively, the intrinsic pre-amplifier may be set to the pre-determined bias point by sweeping the pre-amplifier bias current for the intrinsic pre-amplifier over a range of currents. Use of an active load element with the intrinsic pre-amplifier results in lower noise, lower supply current, increased power supply suppression ratio and reduced signal post-processing. |
| US08848943B2 |
Signal processing device, signal processing method, and sound emitting system
A signal processing device for supplying sound signals to a first speaker for emitting a sound on a low-pitched sound side and a second speaker for emitting a sound on a high-pitched sound side higher than the low-pitched sound side, includes a control portion that controls a characteristic of the sound signal supplied to the first speaker so that an output level of the first speaker is maintained at a crossover frequency between the first speaker and the second speaker, when an output level of the sound signal supplied to the first speaker is changed. |
| US08848940B2 |
Modular headset computer
A headset is described. The headset includes a headset insert worn on a head of a user. The headset insert includes a first connector having a first mechanical coupler. The first connector is configured to mate in at least two different orientations with a second connector having a second mechanical coupler. A frame includes the second connector that mates with the first connector. The frame is adapted to receive the headset insert in at least two different orientations. |
| US08848939B2 |
Method and device for acoustic sealing and occlusion effect mitigation
A system to occlude an ear canal is provided. The system includes an expandable device, a reservoir, a channel coupled between the expandable device and the reservoir, and a pump. The pump expands the expandable device such that a surface of the expandable device contacts an ear canal wall and imparts a force onto the ear canal wall, to produce a tensional strain in the ear canal wall. The strained ear canal wall impedes bodily-propagated sound from entering the ear canal through the ear canal wall, to reduce an occlusion effect by the bodily-propagated sound. |
| US08848933B2 |
Signal enhancement device, method thereof, program, and recording medium
The initial values of parameter estimates are set, including reverberation parameter estimates, which includes a regression coefficient used in a linear convolutional operation for calculating an estimated value of reverberation included in an observed signal, source parameter estimates, which includes estimated values of a linear prediction coefficient and a prediction residual power that identify the power spectrum of a source signal, and noise parameter estimates, which include noise power spectrum estimates. Then, the maximum likelihood estimation is used to alternately repeat processing for updating at least one of the reverberation parameter estimates and the noise parameter estimates and processing for updating the source parameter estimates until a predetermined termination condition is satisfied. |
| US08848932B2 |
Proximity sensing for user detection and automatic volume regulation with sensor interruption override
A mobile device includes at least one speaker and an audio subsystem for providing an audio signal to the at least one speaker for playback by the at least one speaker. The audio subsystem operates by detecting a distance to a user of the mobile device using a proximity sensor and controlling volume output of the at least one speaker based on the distance to the user of the mobile device and the operational status of the proximity sensor. If it is determined that the proximity sensor is functional, the audio subsystem applies a gain factor to the audio signal that varies based on the distance to the user or limits the maximum allowable speaker output based on the distance. A high or low gain setting may be applied for when the user is far away or in close proximity to the mobile device. |
| US08848927B2 |
Recorder that creates stereophonic sound
A recorder (10) for recording a scene (12) includes an apparatus frame (218), an optical assembly (220), an image system (222), a position assembly (243), an audio system (224), and a compensation system (248). The image system (222) captures an image (252) of the scene (12). The position assembly (243) can be an autofocusing assembly (244) that focuses the optical assembly (220) on a subject (16) of the scene (12). The position assembly (243) generates position information relating to the position of the subject (16) relative to the recorder (10). The audio system (224) captures a captured sound from the scene (12). The compensation system (248) evaluates the position information and the captured sound from the scene (12) and provides an adjusted sound track in view of the position information. |
| US08848925B2 |
Method, apparatus and computer program product for audio coding
The invention relates to a method and an apparatus in which samples of at least a part of an audio signal of a first channel and a part of an audio signal of a second channel are used to estimate a time delay between said part of the audio signal of said first channel and said part of the audio signal of said second channel. The method includes windowing the samples; performing a time-to-frequency domain transform; and determining an inter-channel time delay between said part of the audio signal of the first channel and said part of the audio signal of said second channel on the basis of the frequency domain representations. There is also disclosed a method and an apparatus for decoding the encoded samples. |
| US08848923B2 |
Key distribution scheme for networks of information
A method for control ling information object (102) usage in a network of information (100) wherein information objects (102) are identified by information object identities and locations of the information objects (102) are indicated by location pointing information, the method comprising receiving (5b) an encrypted information object (102), sending (7) to a resolution node (D200) a request for location pointing information of a key issuing node (D300), the request comprising an identity of the received information object (102), receiving (8) the location pointing information of the key issuing node (D300), sending (9) to the key issuing node (D300) a request for an access key (104) for decrypting the encrypted information object (102), the request comprising the identity of the received information object (102), receiving (11) the access key (104), and decrypting (12) the received encrypted information object (102) with the received access key (104). |
| US08848920B2 |
Method and apparatus for delivering keys
The present invention encompasses an electronic device, such as a server, which may be operated in a communication system. The electronic device comprises a method for receiving a request from another electronic device to transmit keys, for example a mobile terminal. Responsive to the request, the server generates the required keys and determines a best time to send the keys to the mobile client device such that a new connection is not required just for sending the requested keys. The best time to send the keys may be during a scheduled connection for sending non-key data, for example a connection setup for transmitting system parameters, content data, etc. By sending the keys along with the non-key data, a need for a special connection is avoided. |
| US08848909B2 |
Permission-based TDMA chaotic communication systems
Systems (100) and methods for selectively controlling access to data streams communicated from a first communication device (FCD) using a timeslotted shared frequency spectrum and shared spreading codes. Protected data signals (1301, . . . , 130S) are modulated to form first modulated signals (1321, . . . , 132S). The first modulated signals are combined with first chaotic spreading codes to form digital chaotic signals. The digital chaotic signals are additively combined to form a protected data communication signal (PDCS). The PDCS (136) and a global data communication signal (GDCS) are time division multiplexed to form an output communication signal (OCS). The OCS (140) is transmitted from FCD (102) to a second communication device (SCD) over a communications channel. The SCD (106, 108, 110) is configured to recover (a) only global data from the OCS, or (b) global data and at least some protected data from the OCS. |
| US08848908B2 |
Image processing apparatus and control method thereof
An image processing apparatus includes a determination unit configured to determine whether secret information that should not be transmitted to a web server is contained in an HTML file provided by a web server. A web browser does not transmit the secret information determined by the determination unit to the web server. A job control unit executes a device function using the secret information that is not transmitted to the web server according to determination by the determination unit. |
| US08848902B2 |
Headphone device
A headphone device includes: two output units for outputting playback audio which has been played back; a contact determination unit determining the occurrence of contact with respect to a telephone device; a first audio-collecting unit for collecting call voice generated from the telephone device; a second audio-collecting unit for collecting ambient external sound; and an output audio control unit performing control so that the call voice is outputted from one output unit of the two output units and the external sound is outputted from the other output unit when it is determined that contact has occurred by the contact determination unit. |
| US08848900B2 |
System and method for automating skillset additions
Embodiments of the invention provide systems and methods for updating customer service agent skillset definitions within a customer relationship management system. According to one embodiment, updating a skillset definition for an agent in a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system can comprise defining an initial skillset for the agent including indications of areas of expertise for which the agent is available to handle related customer requests. A request can be received from the agent to update the initial skillset definition to indicate a new area of expertise for which the agent wishes to be considered qualified. A determination can be made as to whether the agent is qualified for the new area of expertise. In response to determining the agent is qualified, the skillset for the agent can be updated to indicate the agent is qualified to begin handling customer requests related to the new area of expertise. |
| US08848897B2 |
Automated multimedia call center agent
An automated multimedia call center device may receive a verbal request for information from a user device during a multimedia session between the automated multimedia call center device and the user device. The automated multimedia call center device may further obtain a group of recognition results for the verbal request using speech recognition, cause at least two recognition results of the group of recognition results to be visually displayed on the user device, receive selection of one recognition result of the at least two recognition results, perform a search using the selected one recognition result to obtain multimedia content, and provide the multimedia content to the user device. |
| US08848895B2 |
Method and system for a call transfer
A system for and method of providing a gateway transfer mechanism is presented. In one exemplary embodiment, the system and method of providing a gateway transfer mechanism may be realized as a method, comprising identifying, at a gateway, a call to be routed to a first location, determining whether to transfer the call to a second location, in the event the call is to be transferred to the second location, transferring the call, wherein transferring the call comprises ending a process to route the call to the first location, generating transfer information for the second location, and transferring the call to the second location using the generated transfer information. |
| US08848892B2 |
Contact list with conversation point reminder
The present invention relates to contact list with means to attach memo to contact list entry. Memo comprises of one or more of data, voice, image, and video files. Memo is displayed on communication device when corresponding contact list entry is activated, such as when contact list entry is selected to initiate outgoing communication; and when incoming communication is received from entity corresponding to contact list entry. Present invention provides users means to remember desired conversation points at the time communication is initiated with an entity. |
| US08848890B2 |
System and method for routing calls to multiple communication devices associated with one phone number
An embodiment of a method for routing an incoming call includes receiving an incoming call addressed to a single phone number associated with a plurality of users at a network routing device. The method further includes determining, by the network routing device, an incoming caller identifier associated with the incoming call and determining, by the network routing device whether the incoming caller identifier matches at least one caller identifier in a caller list associated with at least one particular user of the plurality of users. If the caller identifier matches a caller identifier in a caller list associated with the particular user, the incoming call is routed, by the network routing device, to at least one telephone associated with the particular user. |
| US08848888B2 |
Charging for long duration sessions in communication networks
Communication networks and associated methods are disclosed that provide charging for long duration sessions. A charging data system of the communication network receives interim accounting request messages from a network element that is serving a session. The charging data system identifies interim timestamps for the interim accounting request messages, and stores the interim timestamps. After a time period during the long duration session, the charging data system generates a partial CDR. The charging data system then inserts duration information for the long duration session in the partial CDR based on the stored interim timestamps, and transmits the partial CDR to a correlation system. The correlation system may then calculate a total duration for the session based on the duration information in the partial CDR. Even if a start/stop timestamp is not available, the correlation system may estimate the total duration of the session based on the interim timestamps. |
| US08848884B2 |
Computerized method and system for randomized compilation of electronic identifiers
A computerized method and system for compiling electronic identifiers is provided. In one embodiment a computer-based engine is provided that includes a processor and two communication gateways. The first communication gateway connects to a plurality of first-type communication devices. The second communication gateway connects to a plurality of second-type communication devices. The processor is configured to randomly connect to at least one of the first-type communication devices and receive input representing an address of at least one of the second-type communication devices. |
| US08848881B2 |
Method and apparatus for telephonically accessing and navigating the internet
A method for accessing and browsing the interne through the use of a telephone and the associated DTMF signals is disclosed. The preferred embodiment provides a system that converts the information content of a web page from text to speech (voice signals), signals the hyperlink selections of a web page in an audio manner, and allows selection of the hyperlinks through the use of DTMF signals generated from a telephone keypad. Upon receiving a DTMF signal corresponding to a hyperlink, the corresponding web page is fetched and again delivered to the user via one of the available delivery methods such as voice, fax-on-demand, electronic mail, or regular mail. |
| US08848880B2 |
Inter-system communication
In one aspect, a communication system allows telephone users to roam between cellular and broadband domains and obtain equivalent level of service and features in the broadband network as in the cellular network. For example, such users can make use of Push-To Talk service, as well as continuous telephone call service, independent of which domain they are connected through. In another aspect, users can pass messages, including voice messages, or establish two-way voice communication between disparate push-to-talk (PTT) or messaging and/or voice systems. For example, a user on a cellular network using a PTT service is able to communicate with a user on a data network using an IM service. In addition, information is passed between the systems to provide coordinated presence information for users. For example, a user can have presence information in multiple networks enabling users form different networks to communication with that user. |
| US08848879B1 |
Customizable notification based on recent communication history
The present invention provides a feature for phones and other communication devices. More particularly, the feature allows a user to customize the notification for an incoming call or contact. The customization may be based on the user's recent communication history with the user currently calling. This allows the user receiving the call to determine its possible importance prior to answering the call or even identifying the caller. |
| US08848878B2 |
Systems and methods for facilitating emergency callbacks
Systems and methods for facilitating emergency callbacks are provided. A request to permit the connection of a telephone call originated by a user device may be received by a call processing system. The call processing system may include any number of computers or computing devices. The telephone call may be identified by the call processing system as an emergency call. Based upon the identification, the call processing system may override one or more incoming call parameters to permit connection of a return call to the user device. |
| US08848876B2 |
Radiographic apparatus
According to a radiographic apparatus of this invention, parameters obtained on an assumption that an X-ray tube 2 is moved Wd×m, which is an integral multiple of pixel pitch Wd, in a B− direction opposite to B+ direction which is a direction of movement by Y-direction adjust screws of a moving mechanism, are corrected as parameters obtained when X-rays are emitted from the X-ray tube 2 in a state of a grid 6 having been moved Wd×m by the Y-direction adjust screws. This allows only the grid 6 to be moved without moving the X-ray tube 2. Therefore, parameters equivalent to the parameters which should be obtained when the X-ray tube 2 is moved are obtained by moving the grid 6, and position shifting can be reduced. |
| US08848866B2 |
3D mammography
The present invention relates to 3D mammography, in which individual images of a breast are taken at different projection angles and a 3D image subsequently synthesized from this image information. According to the invention, a breast to be imaged is arranged locked in a locking means (16, 17) and during the imaging process, the x-ray source (13) is continuously moved with respect to location of the breast and the breast is irradiated at a number of angular positions of the x-ray source (13). During an irradiation period of the imaging process, the locking means (16, 17) is turned as synchronized with the movement of the x-ray source (13). The imaging process preferably further includes such non-irradiation periods during which the locking means (16, 17) is turned in a direction opposite to that when turned as synchronized with the movement of the x-ray source (13) during an irradiation period. |
| US08848861B2 |
System for medical imaging using long persistence contrast agents
A system acquires images in the presence of a contrast agent of relatively long persistence using a synchronization processor, image acquisition device and imaging controller. The synchronization processor provides an image acquisition trigger signal for acquiring images at a particular point within both a cardiac and a respiratory cycle in response to signals representing cardiac and respiratory cycles. The image acquisition device includes an assembly comprising a radiation emitter and detector rotatable about a patient for acquiring images of a portion of patient anatomy at different angles. The imaging controller initiates acquisition of data representing multiple images in the presence of a contrast agent of relatively long persistence by repetitively, initiating rotation of the assembly to an angle, acquiring an image at the angle in response to the trigger signal and incrementally increasing the angle. |
| US08848860B2 |
X-ray CT apparatus
An X-ray CT apparatus is provided. The X-ray CT apparatus includes an X-ray tube configured to apply an X-ray onto a subject, a scan device configured to rotate the X-ray tube about the subject to perform an X-ray CT scan, a first control device configured to switch an X-ray output of the X-ray tube from a first level to a second level smaller than the first level when the X-ray tube is placed at a first view angle, and configured to switch the X-ray output from the second level to the first level when the X-ray tube is placed at a second view angle, and a second control device configured to set the first view angle and the second view angle such that an X-ray exposure dose reduced by setting the X-ray output of the X-ray tube smaller than the first level becomes even on right and left sides. |
| US08848859B2 |
X-ray or infrared imaging device comprising a dose limiter, with controlled translation speed
An X-ray or infrared imagery apparatus that performs a large sweep while reducing the irradiation or illumination dose. It comprises a support, an X-ray or light ray source that emits a beam through a slit of a dose limiter which is driven in translation, a detector irradiated or illuminated by the beam in order to detect an intensity attenuated along the X-ray or light ray propagation path through the body, an analog-to-digital converter to convert the detected intensities into data in order to determine an attenuation of the X-rays or light rays by the body, and a programmed computer to process the data in order to obtain an image representing the attenuation of the X-rays or light rays. The dose limiter either is driven in translation at a speed proportional to the detector or driven in translation at the same speed than the detector in front of a reflector. |
| US08848845B2 |
Detection and avoidance apparatus and method for use in UWB receiver
A DAA (Detection And Avoidance) apparatus for use in a UWB receiver includes a frequency offset unit for adding a preset frequency offset to a UWB signal including a victim signal and an FFT unit for performing a fast-Fourier-transformation on the UWB signal with the frequency offset added thereto. The DAA apparatus further includes a DAA unit for detecting a victim signal from the fast-Fourier-transformed UWB signal and, when reception power of the victim signal is higher than a predetermined reference power level, changing a communication channel for the UWB signal to avoid interference. |
| US08848842B2 |
Recursion unit scheduling
An embodiment of a decoder is disclosed. For this embodiment of the decoder, a first estimation unit and a second estimation unit are for iterative decoding. A scheduler is to receive a mode select signal to provide either an indication of first scheduling information or second scheduling information to the first estimation unit and the second estimation unit responsive to the mode select signal. |
| US08848841B2 |
Techniques to accommodate different classes of devices in a wireless network
An apparatus, a method and a machine-readable storage medium to accommodate both high function and low cost wireless devices in a wireless network. An exemplary apparatus includes a receiver to wirelessly receive a first packet comprising first and second shifting pilot signals amidst first data symbols transmitted via multiple subcarriers in symbol sets; a transmitter to wireless transmit a second packet; and logic to track a phase shift using the first and second shifting pilot signals, to configure the receiver to compensate for the shift in phase, to refrain from using reception of the first and second shifting pilot signals to update an initial channel estimate derived from a preamble of the first packet, and to transmit third and fourth shifting pilot signals amidst second data symbols of the second packet. |
| US08848840B2 |
Control information receiving method in wireless communication system and apparatus therefor
Disclosed is a method for receiving control information by a terminal in a wireless communication system. More specifically, the method comprises the steps of receiving setup information on component carriers which are allocated to a terminal from a base station, determining one of 1st decoding and 2nd decoding modes as a decoding mode for receiving the control information by using the setup information, and receiving control information corresponding to each component carrier according to the determined decoding mode. |
| US08848823B2 |
Systems, methods, and devices to perform interleaving
An apparatus includes an interleaver configured to interleave encoded data and to output a series of interleaved bits to be transmitted via a 1 MHz orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) transmission. The apparatus also includes a modulator configured to modulate the interleaved bits and a transform module configured to transform the modulated bits. A transmit module of the apparatus is configured to transmit the transformed bits included in one or more spatial streams of the 1 MHz OFDM transmission. |
| US08848822B2 |
Feedback method for interference alignment in wireless network
A feedback method for interference alignment in wireless network having K transmitters and K receivers, the method including: transmitting, by a transmitter n−1, a precoding vector of the transmitter n−1 (n being an integer between 2 and K−1) to a receiver n+1; calculating, by the receiver n+1, a precoding vector of a transmitter n using the precoding vector of the transmitter n−1; and transmitting, by the receiver n+1, the precoding vector of the transmitter n to the transmitter n. |
| US08848820B2 |
Apparatus and method for interference alignment and cancellation in wireless communication system
An apparatus and method for interference alignment and cancellation in a wireless communication system of a multi-user communication environment are provided. The apparatus includes a plurality of receivers, each receiver including a plurality of antennas for receiving signals from a plurality of transmitters. Each of the receivers detects signals of multiple users in a designed order and performs a specific interference alignment on the remaining signals. Also, each of the receivers transmits information about the detected user signal to other receivers to enable the other receivers to cancel the received user signal and perform a user signal detection and a specific interference alignment operation. Accordingly, it is possible to present various types of transmitter/receiver structures that can reduce the complexity while implementing the maximum capacity in an interference environment between a multi-user and single-user TX/RX pair. |
| US08848812B2 |
Mixed waveform configuration for wireless communications
A mixed waveform configuration for wireless communications including a first portion that is modulated according to a single-carrier modulation scheme and a second portion that is modulated according to a multi-carrier modulation scheme. The waveform is specified so that a channel impulse response (CIR) estimate obtainable from the first portion is reusable for acquisition of the second portion. The first portion includes a preamble and header and the second portion typically incorporates the payload. |
| US08848808B2 |
Time domain symbols
Methods and apparatus are described for time domain signals. A method includes creating a bipolar pulse whose high (up) and low (down) periods are separately and precisely controllable. |
| US08848806B2 |
Device and method for improved lost frame concealment
A method and system are described herein that a employ a lost frame concealment technique for processing data frames received during transmission over a communications channel. The lost frame concealment technique involves determining whether a current data frame is a bad frame, performing source decoding on the current data frame with one or more parameters that are limited by a first set of one or more values if the current data frame is a bad frame, and performing source decoding on the current data frame with one or more parameters that are not limited if the current data frame is a good frame. |
| US08848805B2 |
Image coding method, image decoding method, image coding apparatus, and image decoding apparatus
An image coding method includes: generating a first flag indicating whether or not a motion vector predictor is to be selected from among one or more motion vector predictor candidates; generating a second flag indicating whether or not a motion vector predictor is to be selected from among the one or more motion vector predictor candidates in coding a current block to be coded in a predetermined coding mode, when the first flag indicates that a motion vector predictor is to be selected; and generating a coded signal in which the first flag and the second flag are included in header information, when the first flag indicates that a motion vector predictor is to be selected. |
| US08848802B2 |
System and method for object based parametric video coding
A video compression framework based on parametric object and background compression is proposed. At the encoder, an embodiment detects objects and segments frames into regions corresponding to the foreground object and the background. The object and the background are individually encoded using separate parametric coding techniques. While the object is encoded using the projection coefficients to the orthonormal basis of the learnt subspace (used for appearance based object tracking), the background is characterized using an auto-regressive (AR) process model. An advantage of the proposed schemes is that the decoder structure allows for simultaneous reconstruction of object and background, thus making it amenable to the new multi-thread/multi-processor architectures. |
| US08848796B2 |
Method of determining motion vectors for bi-predictive image block
In one embodiment, the method includes determining a motion vector of a current image block equal to a motion vector of an image block based on a reference picture index indicating a reference picture for the image block. For example, the motion vector of the current image block may be equal to the motion vector of the image block if the reference picture index indicates a long-term reference picture for the image block. |
| US08848791B2 |
Compressed domain video watermarking
In accordance with an embodiment, a method of watermarking encoded video frames includes electronically receiving a bitstream comprising a plurality of encoded video frames that are divided into a plurality of macro-blocks, determining macro-block dependencies based on prediction information in the received bitstream, determining a set of macro-blocks having a minimal number of macro-block dependencies, and embedding a watermark in a plurality of macro-blocks selected from the set of macro-blocks having the minimal number of macro-block dependencies. |
| US08848788B2 |
Method and apparatus for joint quantization parameter adjustment
The present principles provides a method and apparatus for jointly adjusting the rounding offset and the quantization step size on a macroblock level to improve the perceptual quality of the fine details of the encoded image. In one implementation, the content of the pictures is analyzed and the smooth regions are identified. A quantization step size value for the picture is initially defined and a rounding offset is adaptively assigned to each macroblock based on the content characteristics. The quantization step size is then calculated for the a particular macroblock according to another content characteristic of the macroblock such that the encoding of the particular macroblock is performed in response to the calculated quantization step size and the rounding offset value of the first block. |
| US08848787B2 |
Enhancement layer coding for scalable video coding
This disclosure describes scalable video coding techniques. In particular, the techniques may be used to encode refinements of a video block for enhancement layer bit streams in a single coding pass, thereby reducing coding complexity, coding delay and memory requirements. In some instances, the techniques encode each nonzero coefficient of a coefficient vector of the enhancement layer without knowledge of any subsequent coefficients. Coding the enhancement layer in a single pass may eliminate the need to perform a first pass to analyze the coefficient vector and a second pass for coding the coefficient vector based on the analysis. |
| US08848786B2 |
Method, medium, and apparatus for encoding and/or decoding video of generating a scalable bitstream supporting two bit-depths
A method, medium, and apparatus for encoding and/or decoding video by generating a scalable bitstream supporting at least two bit-depths with forward compatibility, wherein the scalable bitstream comprises a base layer bitstream including a base quantization level and a base quantization parameter corresponding to a base bit-depth, and an enhancement layer bitstream including residue between an extended quantization level and a compensated quantization level that is predicted from the base quantization level, and a refined quantization parameter for refining the difference between an extended bit-depth and the base bit-depth. |
| US08848785B2 |
Compact cumulative bit curves
Embodiments of the present invention provide a compact representation of a cumulative bit curve formed from piece-wise straight line approximations between upper and lower bounds about an actual cumulative bit curve (CBC). In one embodiment the lower bounds are found by applying a constraint such that if a delivery rate was to be calculated using the count at the lower bound it would result in a delivery rate which was greater than the delivery rate that would be calculated using the actual CBC data by a particular amount, for example 10%. The actual CBC data is then used as an upper bound. As a result, the approximated CBC will lie for each GoP between the actual CBC value and the lower bound, with the result that one can be certain that any data rate that is calculated using the approximation will be at least as high as a data rate that is calculated using the actual CBC data. In terms of line-fitting algorithms that are used, several different algorithms may be used of differing complexities, with the intention of trying to minimize the number of end-points required of within the piecewise approximation. |
| US08848784B2 |
Video bit-rate control
This document relates to video transport systems and in particular, though not exclusively, where several compressed or encoded video services are multiplexed into a fixed bit rate transmission stream. There is provided a method of allocating bit-rates for video services in a transport channel. The method comprises receiving user defined weighting parameters for a number of video services (410); then determining an available bit-rate for a transport channel for the video services (420). The method then automatically allocates a proportion of the available bit-rate to each video service according to their respective weighting parameters (430); and multiplexes the video services into the transport channel according to the allocated proportions of the available bit-rate (440). |
| US08848779B2 |
Method of parallel video coding based on block size
A system encoding and decoding video that uses a parallel encoding and decoding technique. |
| US08848777B2 |
Receiving apparatus and method for receiving signals in a wireless communication system with improved equalization performance
Described herein is a receiving apparatus and method for receiving signals in a wireless communication system, the signals including a dedicated channel estimation sequence, including a gain control means that controls the gain of a received signal, a channel estimation means that performs a channel estimation on the basis of a dedicated channel estimation sequence included in a received signal, a gain error correction means that corrects a gain error in the result of said channel estimation caused by said gain control means on the basis of the dedicated channel estimation sequence comprised in the received signal, and an equalizing means that performs an equalization on the received signal on the basis of the gain corrected channel estimation result. |
| US08848773B2 |
Rate control for a virtual diversity receiver
Devices and methods for determining transmission rates based on a virtual diversity receiver (VDR) scheme are disclosed. Performance is improved through determination of appropriate transmission rates, which are determined based on one or more signal to interference plus noise ratios (SINRs). The SINRs are calculated using virtual noise and channel coefficient values obtained as part of the VDR scheme. Utilizing an underlying pilot structure a user device may receive several sets of symbols. These symbols are then used to obtain both real and virtual channel noise power values and channel coefficients. These values and coefficients are then used to determine first and second SINR values indicative of one or more channels in the communication network. These SINR values may correlate to transmission rates (modulation order and/or coding rate). The SINRs may be sent to a base station, or the user device itself may determine one or more transmission rates. |
| US08848771B2 |
System and method for simultaneous operation of multiple modems using a single transceiver
Systems and methods for simultaneously communicating over multiple air interfaces using a single transceiver are described herein. An input is received at a transceiver. The input has a first signal encoded using a first radio technology and a second signal encoded using a second radio technology. The input is converted from an analog domain to a digital domain. The input is separated into the first signal and the second signal in the digital domain. |
| US08848768B2 |
Method and apparatus for acquiring a precoding matrix indicator and a precoding matrix
In the field of communication technologies, a method and an apparatus for acquiring a Precoding Matrix Indicator (PMI) and a Precoding Matrix (PM) are provided. The method includes: acquiring a reference PMI and a differential PMI according to a first non-differential codebook and a first diagonal differential codebook, where codewords included in the first diagonal differential codebook form a diagonal matrix. The apparatus includes a PMI acquiring module. Acquiring a reference PMI and a differential PMI according to a non-differential codebook and a diagonal differential codebook can reduce the feedback overhead or improve the feedback precision; and the fact that codewords included in the diagonal differential codebook form a diagonal matrix can maintain amplitude characteristics (for example, a constant modulus characteristic, and a finite character set constraint characteristic) of elements of the non-differential codebook or facilitate power distribution among antennas. |
| US08848765B2 |
Methods for estimation and interference suppression for signal processing
A receiver in a CDMA system comprises a front end processor that generates a combined signal per source. A symbol estimator processes the combined signal to produce symbol estimates. An S-Matrix Generation module refines these symbol estimates based on the sub channel symbol estimates. An interference canceller is configured for cancelling interference from at least one of the plurality of received signals for producing at least one interference-cancelled signal. |
| US08848763B2 |
Method and device for transmitting uplink control information in wireless communication system
Disclosed are a method and a device for transmitting uplink control information (UCI) by a terminal in a wireless communication system. The UCI transmission method comprises the steps of: generating an encoding information bit stream by performing channel coding for a UCI bit stream; generating complex modulation symbols by performing modulation for the generated encoding information bit stream; spreading the complex modulation symbols in block-wise on the basis of an orthogonal sequence; and transmitting the spread complex modulation symbols to a base station. The encoding information bit stream is generated by a channel coding for circularly repeating the UCI bit stream. |
| US08848754B2 |
Multiquantum well structures for suppression of electron leakage and reduction of threshold-current density in quantum cascade lasers
Semiconductor structures for laser devices are provided. The semiconductor structures have a quantum cascade laser structure comprising an electron injector, an active region, and an electron extractor. The active region comprises an injection barrier, a multiquantum well structure, and an exit barrier. The multiquantum well structure can comprise a first barrier, a first quantum well, a second barrier, a second quantum well, and a third barrier. The energies of the first and second barrier are less than the energy of the third barrier. The energy difference between the energy of the second barrier and the energy of the third barrier can be greater than 150 meV and the ratio of the energy of the third barrier to the energy of the second barrier can be greater than 1.26. |
| US08848752B2 |
High spectral-purity carrier wave generation by nonlinear optical mixing
Signal generating systems and methods are described. One signal generation system includes first and second lasers configured to generate first and second laser beams having respective frequencies wherein a difference in the respective frequencies corresponds to an output frequency, a photodetector configured to produce a signal at the output frequency, and first and second electro-optic modulators configured to respectively electro-optically modulate the first and second laser beams using the signal to produce respective first and second modulated optical signals, each of the first and second modulated optical signals having a respective sideband corresponding to the frequency of the other one of the first and second laser beams. The first laser is seeded with the respective sideband of the second modulated optical signal and the second laser is seeded with the respective sideband of the first modulated optical signal to phase-lock the first and second laser beams to each other. |
| US08848751B2 |
Short-pulsed compact MOPA
A master oscillator power amplifier (MOPA) system includes an oscillator having a neodymium-doped gadolinium vanadate gain-medium and delivering seed-pulses. A length of single mode fiber is used to broaden the spectrum of the seed pulse. An amplifier having a neodymium-doped yttrium vanadate gain-medium amplifies the spectrally broadened seed-pulses. The gain-spectrum of the amplifier partially overlaps the broadened pulse-spectrum, providing spectral selection of the seed-pulses in addition to amplification. This provides amplified output-pulses having a duration about one-third that of the corresponding seed-pulses. |
| US08848749B2 |
Light radiating device and method of fabricating organic light emitting diode display device using the same
A light radiating device capable of reducing production costs and preventing sealing defects for a display device, and a method of fabricating an organic light emitting diode (OLED) display device using the same are provided. The light radiating device includes a light source to generate light and a light modifier, including a transmissive region and a non-transmissive region, that define an exposure region on a substrate. The method includes applying a frit to at least one of a first substrate having a pixel region and a second substrate, plasticizing the frit, and aligning the first substrate, the second substrate, and a light radiating device to define an exposure region on the at least one of the first substrate and the second substrate, and radiating the light to the frit to couple the first substrate and the second substrate. |
| US08848748B2 |
Methods and systems for fiber delivery of high peak power
Methods and systems for delivery of high peak power optical pulses through optical fiber are disclosed. Raman soliton generation is utilized to maintain the properties of the pulses in the delivery fiber. The apparatus can comprise any high peak power pulse source and delivery fiber supporting Raman soliton generation. |
| US08848741B2 |
High-speed CLD-based TCP segmentation offload
A method of offloading data intensive tasks from a processor, comprises, at a processor, preparing a TCP packet comprising a TCP header and a data payload, transmitting the TCP packet to a configurable logic device (CLD); and at the CLD, receiving the TCP packet, generating set of TCP segment packets containing, a copy of the TCP header, an incrementing segment sequence identifier, and a portion of the data payload, and transmitting the set of TCP segment packets on an external network interface. |
| US08848740B2 |
Retransmission in data communication systems
Embodiments related to retransmission in data communication systems are described and depicted. In one embodiment, a data packet is received and separated to a plurality of data fragments. Information indicating whether a fragment of the plurality of fragments is to be protected by retransmission is provided or information indicating whether a group of fragments is to be protected by retransmission is provided. A request for retransmission from the second transceiver unit to the first transceiver unit may be generated. Based on the request, one or more identified data fragments may be retransmitted. |
| US08848739B2 |
Efficient switch fabric bandwidth distribution
According to one general aspect, a method may include receiving at least a portion of a packet of data by an ingress device. The method may include determining an egress device to receive the packet. In some embodiments, the method may include dividing the received portion of the packet into a plurality of segments. The method may include editing, for each segment, a header to include an address field that indicates the address of the egress device, wherein the header is associated with a current segment. The method may include, for each segment, editing the header to include a next link field that indicates a link that will be used to transmit the next segment of the packet. The method may also include transmitting the current segment and header to the egress device via the link indicated in the next link field of the header of a preceding segment. |
| US08848737B2 |
Method and apparatus for wireless transmission of data
There are provided methods for selecting a communication protocol for formatting data and for wirelessly transmitting data, preferably medical data, e.g., electrocardiogram data, methods for reducing data and/or selecting from data, methods for adding data, methods for generating trend data, methods for rendering data, methods for inputting and/or transmitting addressee data and for transmitting data to the addressee(s) and/or notifying the addressee(s), and methods for wirelessly transmitting data to a server and transmitting data from the server, as well as systems for carrying out such methods. |
| US08848723B2 |
Scheduling hierarchy in a traffic manager of a network processor
Described embodiments provide for dynamically constructing a scheduling hierarchy of a network processor. A traffic manager generates a tree scheduling hierarchy having a root scheduler and N scheduler levels. The network processor generates tasks corresponding to received packets. The traffic manager queues the received task in the associated queue, the queue having a corresponding parent scheduler at each of one or more next levels of the scheduling hierarchy up to the root scheduler. A parent scheduler selects, starting at the root scheduler and iteratively repeating at each of the corresponding N scheduling levels until a queue is selected, a child node to transmit at least one task. The traffic manager forms output packets for transmission based on the at least one task from the selected queue. |
| US08848722B2 |
Data center network distribution system
A method and apparatus (“utility”) for facilitating connection of rack-mounted data devices (50) to a data network is provided. The utility includes a distribution strip (42) and a number of network ports (44), disposed on the distribution strip (42), for use in connecting the rack-mounted data devices (50) to the network. The distribution strip (42) has a longitudinal axis, and is disposed on a rack (40) such that a length of the distribution strip (42), defined relative to the longitudinal axis, extends primarily or exclusively along a vertical axis of the rack (40). The distribution strip may further include a data network switch device. A utility is also provided that provides improved redundancy with regard to connections of rack-mounted data devices by including a distribution strip (42) that includes first and second ports (46) for connecting the distribution strip (42) to a network device (56). |
| US08848720B2 |
Method and apparatus for determining propagation delay in a network
A propagation delay in the transmission of a frame from an initiator node to a peer node is determined by initially identifying a frame number and byte offset of a first incoming frame from the peer node at a time when the initiator node outputs a portion of a transmitted frame. The portion of the transmitted frame may be the first byte of a sub-frame within the transmitted frame. At the peer node, the frame number and byte offset of a second frame to be supplied to the initiator node is identified at a later time when the frame portion transmitted by the initiator node is received by the peer node, and such information is transmitted to the initiator node. Thus, since the frames output and received by the initiator node are typically of fixed duration, the frame number and byte offset of the incoming frame represent the time when the initiator node outputs the frame portion (a transmit time). In addition, the frame number and byte offset of the second frame represents the time at which the frame portion is received by the peer node (a receive time). Accordingly, by comparing the frame numbers and byte offsets of the first and second frames received from the peer node, a difference between transmit and receive times or propagation delay can be obtained. |
| US08848718B2 |
Hierarchical metering in a virtual router-based network switch
Methods and systems are provided for applying metering and rate-limiting in a virtual router environment and supporting a hierarchy of metering/rate-limiting contexts per packet flow. According to one embodiment, multiple first level metering options and multiple second level metering options associated with a hierarchy of metering levels are provided. A virtual routing engine receives packets associated with a first packet flow and packets associated with a second packet flow. The virtual routing engine performs a first type of metering of the first level metering options on the packets associated with the first packet flow using a first metering control block (MCB) and performs a second type of metering of the second level metering options on the packets associated with the first packet flow and the packets associated with the second packet flow using a second MCB. |
| US08848712B2 |
Distributed RSVP-TE in a multi-chassis node architecture
A network device includes a multi-chassis system in which each chassis includes a RSVP-TE protocol stack that may provide RSVP-TE services for LSP tunnels associated with each chassis. The multi-chassis system may include an administrative chassis. The administrative chassis may forward RSVP messages to other chassis of the network device. The administrative chassis may encapsulate the RSVP messages with a chassis address. The other chassis may de-encapsulate the RSVP messages and process the RSVP messages according to the RSVP-TE protocol. The administrative chassis may obtain session information associated with other chassis based on RSVP messages received. The administrative chassis may manage adjacency mechanisms and failure and recovery mechanisms. The multi-chassis system including the distributed RSVP-TE protocol stacks may minimize scalability issues and improve performance when high-capacity routing and/or switching services are needed. |
| US08848709B2 |
Source rooted multicast (SRM)
Methods and apparatus for source rooted multicast (SRM) are provided. As defined herein, SRM generally refers to associating outgoing interface lists (OILs) in the forwarding entry with the source address instead of the group address and aggregating the resulting multicast forwarding states. In this manner, the amount of forwarding state may be reduced, especially in deployments where many hosts are all running the same application and using the same group. One example method generally includes—for each of a plurality of multicast forwarding states associated with a multicast group, wherein each multicast forwarding state is referenced by a source address representing a multicast source and is associated with an outgoing interface list—associating the outgoing interface list with the source address; and aggregating the two or more of the multicast forwarding states having the outgoing interface lists associated with the source addresses to form one or more aggregated forwarding states. |
| US08848706B1 |
Console with network device based frame routing according to remotely received switch information
A console is provided and includes a switch and a network device. The network device includes a switch port, first network ports, and a controller. The switch is separate from the network device. Each of the first network ports receives a frame of data, and inserts source information into the frame of data. The source information in each frame of data identifies the first network port that received the frame of data. The controller transfers each frame of data, including the source information, to the switch via the switch port. The switch: adds to each frame of data, destination information identifying one or more of the first network ports; and transfers each frame of data, including the source and destination information, to the switch port. The controller transfers each frame of data, received from the switch port, to the first network ports. |
| US08848704B2 |
Facilitating network routing using virtualization
A method of facilitating network routing using virtualization includes receiving, at a second device via a virtual machine for a network connection that virtualizes network capabilities of the second device, a packet transmitted by a first device, the packet including a header and a payload, the virtual machine being spawned and managed by virtual dispersive routing (VDR) software; loading, by the VDR software, information from the packet into memory of the second device; appending, by the VDR software, to the payload of the packet, information associated with the second device; and transmitting the packet to a third device using the virtualized network capabilities of the virtual machine. |
| US08848694B2 |
System and method of providing a high-quality voice network architecture
Providing high quality voice/sound communications over a local loop of a telephone network is disclosed. The method includes receiving a voice signal, digitizing the voice signal into a high quality voice signal, utilizing sampling rates and/or sizes above the threshold, negotiating voice processing characteristics between a customer premises equipment and a network element, receiving speech at a customer premises equipment according to the negotiation, converting the received speech into high bandwidth signal and transmitting the high bandwidth signal to a telephone local loop, transmitting the high bandwidth signal from the local loop to wideband node that packetizes the high bandwidth signal for transmission to a packet network and receiving the packetized signal from the packet network at a switch that switches between an on-network or off-network status. A voice over IP platform can route packetized signals from the packet network to the telephone network or another packet network. |
| US08848690B2 |
Method and communication system for automatically discovering the multimedia service capability
The present invention relates to a method, a system and a server for automatically discovering the common Multimedia Service Capability, and computer program. This solution avoid unnecessary use of the radio interface and is based on making use of the circuit switched network, e.g. the Intelligent network IN, as trigger to the packet switched network to find out about the calling as well as the called user's multimedia capabilities during a voice call. If there is a positive capability discovery result out of this for both users, the network will send a message to each of the two mobile phones that they should notify the users e.g. by displaying an icon above a soft button. It can be that the phone displays a shared multimedia-Image icon, if this was the only commonly supported capability of both users, up to a whole range of more or less complicated SMM services. |
| US08848689B1 |
Telephony application platform
A hosted private branch exchange (PBX) platform includes associated application programming interfaces (APIs) that provide a range of integration points with the PBX platform that, in turn, enables the development of a broad range of applications that can customize and/or enhance the basic functionality of the underlying PBX platform. |
| US08848688B1 |
System and method for using a handoff threshold associated with a slot cycle index to determine whether to perform an access terminal handoff
A method and system for using a handoff threshold associated with a slot cycle index to determine whether to perform access terminal handoff from a current pilot signal to a target pilot signal. The determination may be conditioned on whether the current pilot signal and target pilot signal are transmitted from base stations within a common subnet. If the base stations are within a common subnet, handoff of the access terminal is based on a default handoff threshold. On the other hand, if the base stations are not within a common subnet, then the determination of whether to perform access terminal handoff from a current pilot signal to a target pilot signal may be made based on the handoff threshold associated with the slot cycle index. As a result, ping-ponging of the access terminal from one subnet to another may be reduced or prevented. |
| US08848686B1 |
Single carrier-frequency-division multiple access (SC-FDMA) physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) 2/2a/2b detection
A system and method are provided for Single Carrier-Frequency-Division Multiple Access (SC-FDMA) Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) format 2/2a/2b detection. A receiver accepts a plurality of multicarrier signals transmitted simultaneously from a plurality of transmitters, with overlapping carrier frequencies. For each multicarrier signal, a single tap measurement of time delay is performed using a Direction of Arrival (DoA) technique. After performing a back-end processing operation, PUCCH 2/2a/2b format signals are detected. The back-end processing operation is selected from one of the following options: (1) decorrelation, channel estimation, equalization per user, and decoding per user; (2) channel estimation, equalization, and decoding per user; (3) decorrelation plus maximum likelihood detection (ML) per user; and, (4) ML detection over all users. Selection criteria is also provided. |
| US08848685B2 |
Transmitting/receiving system and method of processing data in the transmitting/receiving system
A transmitting/receiving system and a data processing method of the same are disclosed herein. The receiving system may include a receiving unit, a first processing unit, and a second processing unit. The receiving unit receives a broadcast signal including mobile service data from at least one slot. The first processing unit acquires FIC segments divided from an FIC chunk of at least one sub-frame. Herein, each FIC segment comprises a 2-byte segment header and a 35-byte segment payload. The segment header includes an FIC type information, a number of a corresponding FIC segment, and a number of a last FIC segment among the FIC segments divided from the FIC chunk. The second processing unit obtains the FIC chunk including signaling information between at least one ensemble and at least one mobile service from respective payloads of the FIC segments, based upon the acquired FIC type information, number of the corresponding FIC segment, and number of the last FIC segment of each FIC segment. |
| US08848683B2 |
Method of data modulation adapted to selected modulation rotational angle
In a method, modulator, transmitter and receiver, the modulator of data signals to be transmitted simultaneously to at least two receiving mobile stations in the same transmission time slot is adapted to select rotational angle of a QPSK transmission modulation, such as a hybrid α-QPSK modulation used to modulate the data signals to the at least two mobile stations in response to the capabilities of the mobile stations that share the same transmission slot. |
| US08848682B2 |
Method for sub-channelization and resource mapping of wireless resources
A method for sub-channelization and resource mapping of wireless resources is provided. The method includes: according to bandwidth features or scheduling features supported by a wireless communication system, determining processes of sub-channelization and resource mapping of wireless resources or parameters of the processes. Therefore, the processes of sub-channelization and resource mapping of wireless resources or the parameters of the processes are different when the bandwidth features or scheduling features are different. |
| US08848676B1 |
Apparatus and method for coexistent wireless and bluetooth communication employing interruption of arbitration requests to allocate use of a shared antenna
An apparatus has first and second wireless communication modules with respective first and second wireless communication signaling terminals. An arbiter is coupled to receive a request for access to an antenna from one of the first and second wireless communication modules. The arbiter is operable to cause the antenna to be coupled to one of the first and second wireless communication signaling terminals in response to the request, and a coexistence module is operable to prevent the arbiter from receiving a request from the second wireless communication module to thereby allow a communication of the first wireless communication module. |
| US08848670B2 |
Authentication system and authentication method in wireless LAN environment
The authentication system in the wireless LAN environment includes a first wireless LAN access point for providing a wireless LAN service to a terminal device accessing the first wireless LAN access point; the terminal device for transmitting an authentication request to a second wireless LAN access point when the terminal device moves to access the second wireless LAN access point while receiving the wireless LAN service through an access to the first wireless LAN access point; and the second wireless LAN access point for identifying the first wireless LAN access point based on identification information contained in the authentication request transmitted from the terminal device which has moved to access the second wireless LAN access point, acquiring authentication information on the terminal device from the identified first wireless LAN access point, and performing an authentication for the terminal device based on the acquired authentication information. |
| US08848660B2 |
Preferred PLMN list for faster service acquisition
A user device determines whether a modem specifies at least one network present at a current geographical location of the user device. When the modem does not specify any present networks, the user device identifies one of the present networks that is available to provide a roaming service to the user device, and adds the identified network to a list of preferred networks in the modem. |
| US08848656B2 |
Utilizing broadcast signals to convey restricted association information
Systems and methodologies are described that facilitate transmitting access point types and/or restricted association parameters using broadcast signals, such as beacons, pilot signals, and the like. The type or restricted association information can be indicated by one or more intrinsic aspects of the signal, such as specified parameters. In addition, the type or information can be indicated by one or more extrinsic signal aspects, such as frequency, interval, periodicity, and the like. Using this information, a mobile device can determine whether an access point implements restricted association. If so, the mobile device can request an access point or related group identifier before determining whether to establish connection therewith. The identifier can be verified against a list of accessible access points or groups to make the determination. |
| US08848655B2 |
System, method, and computer-readable medium for user equipment handoff from a macrocellular network to an IP-femtocell network
A system, method, and computer readable medium for handoff of a user equipment from a macrocellular system to a femtocell system is provided. A micro-pilot assisted handoff routine may be implemented to facilitate handoff of a user equipment from a macrocellular system to a femtocell system. The femtocell system may transmit very low power pilot, paging, and synch channels on a common frequency used by the macrocellular system. In another embodiment, a mobile assisted handoff routine facilitates handoff of a user equipment from a macrocellular system to a femtocell system. The user equipment's preferred roaming list includes an entry for the femtocell system and specifies a SID/NID and pseudo-noise offset for the femtocell system. The user equipment is configured to periodically enter a search mode to attempt to locate the femtocell system by switching to a femto carrier that is specified in the preferred roaming list. |
| US08848652B2 |
Method and multimode terminal for minimizing mute interval
A method and a multimode terminal for minimizing a mute interval caused when call interruption occurs due to a handover between communication networks which provide communication services using different mobile communication technologies. In the method, communication network modems of the terminal supporting a multimode are interconnected through a one-to-one communication path, so that a voice path through the current communication network is maintained until the handover is completed. If a Handover Completion Message is received, switching to a voice path through a handover-target communication network modem can be performed through the communication path. Further, the modems are interconnected through the communication path, so that a modem switching procedure is not necessary and a handover processing procedure is simplified. Accordingly, handover processing time can also be reduced. In addition, time for switching the voice path is minimized, so that it is possible to considerably reduce a mute interval which inevitably occurs during a handover. |
| US08848651B2 |
Data transmission in a multi-user OFDM system with adaptive modulation
A method processes information to be sent via radio, according to which first bits represent a first number of N-tuples and second bits represent a second number of N-tuples. The first bits are to be sent using a first group of sub-bands of a frequency band, and the second bits are to be sent using a second group of sub-bands of the frequency band. A first modulation method is used for the first bits and a second modulation method is used for the second bits. The first bits are rearranged, forming M-tuples, and a symbol is formed from each M-tuple according to the first modulation method. The second bits are rearranged, forming P-tuples, and a symbol is formed from each P-tuple according to the second modulation method, and M≠P. A corresponding method is used for processing information received by radio. Base stations and mobile radio stations carry out the method. |
| US08848649B2 |
Method for transmitting an uplink signal, and apparatus for same
The present invention relates to a wireless communication system. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method for transmitting an uplink signal, comprising: multiplexing control information and multiple pieces of data information; and transmitting the multiplexed control information and multiple pieces of data information through a physical uplink shared channel. The number Q′ of modulation symbols for transmitting the multiplexed control information is determined by a specific mathematical expression, and selection offset â is a value which is set by a preset condition from among the offset values corresponding to the respective data information. |
| US08848644B2 |
Wireless local area network using TV white space spectrum and long term evolution system architecture
A wireless local area network (WLAN) gateway uses a LTE radio frame and TV white space spectrum for data communications in a wireless local area network. In the LTE downlink frame, a predefined subset of the pilot (reference) symbol positions are used to carry information to data sinks in the WLAN. |
| US08848642B2 |
Aperiodic transmission method and apparatus for sounding reference signal in wireless communication system
Provided are a method and an apparatus for an aperiodic transmission of a sounding reference signal (SRS), which is performed by a user equipment (UE), in a wireless communication system. The UE aperiodically transmits an SRS through a certain uplink (UL) component carrier (CC) of a plurality of UL CCs. The determination of the certain UL CC is based on a downlink (DL) grant, wherein the downlink grant contains a message that triggers the aperiodic transmission of the SRS. |
| US08848638B2 |
Cellular communication system support for limited bandwidth communication devices
A network node that serves a host cell in a cellular communication system transmits, at (a) first time interval(s), first control channel information on a control channel that extends over a first bandwidth of a radiofrequency spectrum. The first control channel communicates information necessary to enable a first type of communication device to receive data from the host cell. The first type of communication device can receive first bandwidth-wide signals. At (a) second time interval(s), second control channel information is transmitted on a second control channel of a first M-cell. The second control channel occupies a second bandwidth that is smaller than the first bandwidth. The second time interval(s) do(es) not coincide with any of the first time interval(s). A second type of communication device having reduced receive bandwidth capabilities compared to those of the first type of communication device is thereby made capable of being served by the node. |
| US08848637B2 |
Mobile communication system, base station, higher-order apparatus, communication method, and program
A mobile communication system includes terminals and a plurality of base stations that use scrambling codes to perform radio communication with the terminals. Each of the plurality of base stations transmits to neighboring base stations information of the range of scrambling codes for uplink that is reserved in its own station, and when determining the range of scrambling codes for uplink to be reserved in its own station, receives from neighboring base stations information of the ranges of scrambling codes for uplink reserved in the neighboring base stations. |
| US08848631B2 |
Wireless communication apparatus, wireless communication system, and wireless communication method
Interference between users in an MU-MIMO system is minimized by effective precoding, without increasing an overhead of control data. In a wireless communication system in which multiplex communication is possible between multiple UE1, UE2, and BS, a channel estimation and precoding selection unit 539 in BS estimates channels from the respective UE1, UE2 to the BS, determines a precoding matrix P from a projection matrix to make the two channel response matrices orthogonal or nearly orthogonal, and feeds back the precoding matrix P to UE2, and executes precoding on only UE2 of the two. A precoding unit 524 in the UE2 employs the precoding matrix P that has been notified to perform precoding of a data stream, and sends the precoded data stream to the BS. |
| US08848629B2 |
Method and apparatus for the transmission of a control signal in a radio communication system
The present invention provides a method and an apparatus for the transmission of control signal in a radio communication system. The method includes the steps of processing first control information on the basis of a first resource index to create a first control signal, processing second control information on the basis of a second resource index to create a second control signal, and transmitting the first control signal and the second control signal. |
| US08848627B2 |
Method for allocating control channel
A method for allocating a submap is disclosed. The method includes configuring a subframe including one or more resource areas according to a size of the submap, allocating the submap and a control header including subframe configuration information and submap information to the one or more resource areas, and transmitting the control header. |
| US08848625B2 |
Method, server and system for propagating a wireless communication device state
A method server and system for propagating a mobile communication device state are provided. State data defining a state of a mobile communication device is received from the mobile communication device at a server in communication with the mobile communication device. The state data is incorporated into wireless network data transmitted from the mobile communication device. The state data is stored in a resource indicator storing at the server. A request for the state data is received from a second server. At least a subset of the state data is transmitted to the second server, such that the second server can determine whether the mobile communication device is in a state to handle incoming data. |
| US08848624B2 |
Multi-user uplink communications within multiple user, multiple access, and/or MIMO wireless communication systems
Multi-user uplink communications within multiple user, multiple access, and/or MIMO wireless communication systems. Within such communication systems, uplink communications from various receiving wireless communication devices (e.g., STAs) to a transmitting wireless communication device (e.g., AP) may occur in any of a number of various dimensions or combinations thereof including MU-MIMO dimension and frequency dimension (asynchronous FDM or synchronous FDM). In accordance with such uplink communications, various considerations such as time synchronization, frequency synchronization, and/or power control (including wireless communication device grouping). When performing uplink asynchronous FDM signaling, power control as grouping is used. When performing uplink synchronous FDM signaling, time synchronization, frequency synchronization, and power control (such as including wireless communication device grouping) is performed. |
| US08848622B2 |
Methods and apparatus for improving power efficiency and latency of mobile devices using an external timing source
Methods and apparatus for increasing power efficiency and decreasing latency of communication of a mobile device operating in an unlicensed spectrum using global timing data are disclosed. The method includes receiving, at the mobile device, the global timing data from an external timing source, the mobile device communicating in the unlicensed spectrum, obtaining, at the mobile device, a time from the global timing data, and determining, at the mobile device, a wake time to switch the mobile device from a sleep state to an active state based on the time obtained from the global timing data. |
| US08848620B2 |
Simultaneous transmission of acknowledgement, channel quality indicator and scheduling request
Systems and methodologies are described that facilitate simultaneous transmission of control information in a single sub-frame. For instance, simultaneous transmission can maintain single carrier waveforms for a control channel even when a plurality of information types is scheduled in concurrently. Channel quality indicators, scheduling requests and acknowledgement messages can be jointly coded. In addition, reference symbols in a sub-frame can be modulated to indicate values associated with a scheduling request or an acknowledgement message. Moreover, in situations where channel quality indicators, scheduling requests and or acknowledgement messages are simultaneously scheduled, one or more can be dropped. Further, a single carrier constraint can be relaxed to enable simultaneous transmission of information in the sub-frame at different frequencies. |
| US08848615B2 |
Network-adaptive function control method for dual-mode mobile terminal
A network-adaptive function control method is provided for a dual-mode mobile terminal. The network-adaptive function control method for a dual-mode mobile terminal supports communication via first and second-type networks includes registering at least one function as a network-adaptive; determining, when a function is requested to be activated, whether the requested function is the network-adaptive function. If it is determined that the requested function is the network-adaptive function, it if determined whether the mobile terminal is in the first-type network; and activating, if the mobile terminal is in the first-type network, the requested function in association with the first-type network. The network-adaptive function control method of the present invention allows registering portable IP network-friendly functions that are served only in a portable IP network domain but not in the cellular network domain, thereby restricting handover to the costly cellular network, resulting in reduction of communication cost. |
| US08848607B2 |
Method and apparatus to facilitate support for multi-radio coexistence
Interference between potentially conflicting radio access technologies (RATs) in a wireless device may be managed through a coexistence manager which allows communication using a first active RAT (e.g., Long Term Evolution (LTE)) and communication with a second active RAT (e.g., wireless local area network (WLAN)) when the first RAT is not scheduled for communicating during an uplink timeslot. Communications by a WLAN radio may be controlled using a power save mode. WLAN communications may be timed so that downlink signals (such as data or acknowledgement messages) to the WLAN radio are received during an inactive uplink subframe for an LTE radio. WLAN communications may also be timed so that downlink signals to the WLAN radio are received during downlink times scheduled for an LTE radio. |
| US08848604B2 |
Application-originated text messages delivered over a packet-switched network
Systems and methods are disclosed for correlating messages used to deliver an Application Originated (AO) text message to User Equipment (UE). A text message gateway is implemented between a text message application and a packet-switched network that uses Session Initiation Protocol (SIP). The text message gateway receives a delivery request from the text message application that includes an Application Originated (AO) text message intended for the UE. The text message gateway identifies a correlation identifier (ID) for the AO text message, inserts the correlation ID in a delivery response, and transmits the delivery response to the text message application (to store for later use). The text message gateway also converts the delivery request into a SIP request that encapsulates the AO text message, inserts the correlation ID in the SIP request, and transmits the SIP request to the UE. |
| US08848600B2 |
Method and apparatus for efficiently transmitting control information to support uplink multiple antenna transmission
The present invention relates to a method for transmitting control information regarding uplink multiple antenna transmission may comprise the steps of: transmitting DCI for scheduling the uplink transmission of a plurality of data blocks through a PDCCH; receiving the plurality of data blocks scheduled by the DCI; transmitting information which indicates positive acknowledgement or negative acknowledgement to each of the plurality of received data blocks through the PHICH; and receiving retransmission for the negative acknowledged data blocks. When the number of the negative-acknowledged data blocks is not equal to the number data blocks indicated in the PDCCH, a pre-coding matrix, which is for the number of transmission layers equivalent to that of layers corresponding to the negative-acknowledged data blocks, may be used for retransmission. |
| US08848598B2 |
Method of analyzing interference between data communication terminals
A method may include distributing a interfered terminal; calculating an initial signal-to-interference power ratio and a data throughput of the interfered terminal; distributing interfering terminals and an interfering link base station; calculating a final transmitting power of the interfering terminal through power control between the interfering terminal and the interfering link base station; calculating a path loss and a collision factor between the interfered terminal and the interfering terminal; and calculating a final signal-to-interference power ratio and a data throughput of the interfered terminal. Accordingly, it is possible to analyze interference in consideration of a terminal use pattern in view of presence of hot spots, and to provide basic data for setting an effective emission transmitting power level of the terminal and a protection band between the terminals since the signal-to-interference power ratio and the data throughput can be calculated through interference analysis. |
| US08848597B2 |
Channel status information feedback method and apparatus in wireless communication system with relay station
The present invention relates to a wireless communication system, and more particularly, to a channel status information feedback method and apparatus in a wireless communication system with a relay station. The method for transmitting channel status information according to one embodiment of the present invention comprises: receiving a backhaul downlink signal from a base station; generating channel status information based on the backhaul downlink signal; and transmitting the channel status information via a backhaul uplink subframe, wherein the backhaul uplink subframe to which the channel status information is transmitted can be determined based on a subframe index without a designated backhaul downlink subframe and a backhaul uplink transmission timing relation. |
| US08848596B2 |
Method for controlling timing of backhaul link and relay system for the same
Embodiments for providing a method of controlling timing of a downlink backhaul sub-frame and a relay system for the same are disclosed. According to the present invention, a control signal is transmitted to user equipment during a control symbol period of a sub-frame and a data starting point of the sub-frame is set after a time (SG1) for switching from a transmission mode to a reception mode to receive backhaul data of a base station during a backhaul symbol period. Timing of a transmission sub-frame and a reception sub-frame is delayed by the SG1. A sum of a length of the SG1 and a time (SG2) for switching from the reception mode to the transmission mode is shorter than a length of a symbol having a normal CP. At this time, the lengths of the SG1 and the SG2 are identical to each other or the length of the SG2 is shorter than the length of the SG1. In such a case, the backhaul data are received up to a last symbol period of backhaul symbols of the reception sub-frame. |
| US08848595B2 |
Communication system, dependent station thereof and dependent-station relay transmission method
In a communication system that includes a control station and dependent stations, the control station broadcasts data intended for the dependent stations on a per-superframe basis. The dependent stations relay the data received from the control station among themselves. If a dependent station has received the data transmitted from the control station, the dependent station transmits an acknowledgement response. If a dependent station does not receive an acknowledgement response from another dependent station, then the dependent station relays the data intended for the other dependent station. |
| US08848592B2 |
Method and apparatus for supporting CSG service in wireless communication system
A method and apparatus for supporting a closed subscriber group (CSG) service is provided. A user equipment determines whether a neighbor cell is a CSG member cell for which a CSG whitelist includes a CSG identity of the neighbor cell and PLMN identities of the neighbor cell. The user equipment sends a CSG membership indicator indicating whether the neighbor cell is the CSG member cell. |
| US08848590B2 |
Multicast group management in wireless networks
A source device which is a distributed device and which is not a wireless network access point advertises a multicast data stream; receives from a destination device a message indicating that the destination device wants to receive the multicast data stream; and adds the destination device to a list of destination devices for the multicast data stream, in which the list is stored in a computer readable memory. In various exemplary embodiments the advertising comprises broadcasting in a protocol adaptation layer an advertisement comprising a multicast medium access control (MAC) address and an address for the source device; or sending to a centralized controller a first message comprising the MAC address which triggers the centralized controller to broadcast an advertisement for the multicast data stream to destination devices. Prior to advertising the source device may create a multicast MAC address and check for uniqueness of the created address via signaling. |
| US08848587B2 |
Multicasting network packets
Multicasting network packets is disclosed. A total number of copies of a frame, t, to be sent is determined. A number of copies of the frame, m, which is less than a total number of copies of the frame, t, to be made during a current iteration is determined. M copies of the frame are made. The m copies of the frame are then sent to their destinations. The original input frame is provided as output with an indication that the frame should be returned for further processing. Processing of the frame is discontinued during an interval in which other frames are processed. The process is repeated until t copies have been sent. |
| US08848584B2 |
Time synchronization and routing method in wireless sensor network, and apparatus for enabling the method
A time synchronization method in a wireless sensor network, a low power routing method using a reservation scheme, and an apparatus for performing the method are provided. The time synchronization method in the wireless sensor network may include: receiving a first synchronization request command packet from a parent node that manages time synchronization for a predetermined synchronization region; receiving, from the parent node, a second synchronization request command packet that has a transmission timestamp value of the first synchronization request command packet; and performing time synchronization for a child node based on a reception time of the first synchronization request command packet, a reception time of the second synchronization request command packet, and the transmission timestamp value of the first synchronization request command packet. |
| US08848582B2 |
Method for measuring throughput and maintenance end point
The disclosure claims a method for measuring throughput and a Maintenance End Point (MEP). The method is applied in the Multi-Protocol Label Switching-Transport Profile (MPLS-TP) network. The method comprises the following steps: a first MEP in the MPLS-TP network performs the transmission of the data packets with a second MEP in the MPLS-TP network in a preset time period; after the preset time period, the first MEP receives measurement information fed back by the second MEP, wherein the measurement information indicates the number of data packets transmitted by the second MEP in this transmission; according to the measurement information, the first MEP judges that packet loss does not occur in this transmission of the data packets and the transmission rate meets the requirement of target precision, and then obtains the throughput of the transmission of the data packets in the transmission direction. According to the technical solutions provided by the disclosure, measurement cost can be saved and operation and maintenance can be simplified. |
| US08848581B2 |
Unsynchronized signaling in radio systems using frequency domain processing
A method for unsynchronized signaling between nodes in a network is described. The method includes partitioning a message for asynchronous transmission in a network into a plurality of symbols. A symbol includes a cyclic prefix. Causing the plurality of symbols to be transmitted (for example, via a transmitter) on one or more subcarriers allocated for asynchronous transmissions is also included in the method. A given symbol is transmitted so as to reduce a discontinuity between a previous symbol and the given symbol. The method may also include applying a phase shift to one or more symbols of the plurality of symbols. Transmitting may include transmitting at a transmission frequency, where a length of a transmission cycle is determined by the transmission frequency, and where a length of the cyclic prefix is equal to an integer number of transmission cycles. Apparatus and computer readable media are also described. |
| US08848575B2 |
High availability and multipathing for fibre channel over ethernet
A physical Fiber Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) switch defines a multipath virtual FCoE switch to provide uninterrupted storage access between N_PORTs of an FCoE host and a Fiber Channel (FC) storage target, for example, in response to an F_PORT failure. Through the multipath virtual FCoE switch, the fabric is configured with multiple physical paths available between the FCoE hosts and FC targets. The multipath virtual FCoE switch is defined between or among multiple physical FCoE switches coupled to the Ethernet fabric. One of the F_PORTs is designated as being in the primary FCoE path, while any other F_PORTs sharing the virtual FCoE switch are reserved for standby paths in case the primary FCoE path is disabled. When a failure to a primary FCoE path is detected, a standby path is promoted to become a new primary FCoE path and subsequent traffic is routed in both directions through the new primary FCoE path. |
| US08848570B1 |
Custom automatic remote monitoring for network devices
A system including a user interface circuit, a classifier, a counter, and an action circuit. The user interface circuit is configured to receive a user input establishing a rule, wherein the rule describes (i) a characteristic of an event, and (ii) an action to initiate in response to a predetermined threshold being met. The classifier is configured to identify, based on the characteristic described in the rule, events that have the characteristic in a network device. The counter is configured to count a number of the events that have the characteristic in the network device as identified by classifier. The action circuit is configured to initiate the action described in the rule in response to the number of the events meeting the predetermined threshold in the rule. |
| US08848568B2 |
Adaptive partial packet decoding
A user device receives packets from a base station. The user device may invoke decoding while the packet is still being received, based on the incomplete contents of a given packet. This “partial packet decoding” relies on the fact that the underlying information in the packet is encoded with redundancy (code rate less than one). If link quality is poor, the partial packet decoding is likely to be unsuccessful, i.e., to fail in its attempt to recover the underlying information. To avoid waste of power, the user device may be configured to apply one or more tests of link quality prior to invoking the partial packet decoding on a current packet. |
| US08848567B2 |
Method of allotting carrier to station
Disclosed is a carrier wave allotting method of an operation and maintenance system in a wireless communication network. The carrier wave allotting method includes searching a wireless resource of the wireless communication network; updating cell information indicating information of cells of the wireless communication network; searching an access mode of a station connected with the operation and maintenance system; searching a wireless capacity of the station; and allotting a carrier wave to the station according to the wireless resource, the cell information, the access mode, and the wireless capacity. |
| US08848566B2 |
Quality of service prediction and call failover
A method, computer program product, and system for a quality-of-service history database is described. One or more characteristics of an electronic call are monitored. A current quality-of-service score is determined, based upon, at least in part, the one or more characteristics. A predicted quality-of-service score is determined based upon, at least in part, one or more of the current quality-of-service score and the one or more characteristics, wherein the predicted quality-of-service score is associated with one or more future times. A failover connection associated with the electronic call is provided. A current connection associated with the electronic call is replaced with the failover connection based upon, at least in part, one or more of the predicted quality-of-service score and a threshold quality-of-service score. |
| US08848564B2 |
Quality control apparatus, moving image transmission system, quality control method, and recording medium
A moving image transmission system determines adequate number of packets, which are corresponding to redundant portion, in accordance with a network state.The moving image transmission system estimates a correlation between a transmission bit rate and a packet loss rate based on both of information which indicates the packet loss rate and bit rate information, and determines the packet loss rate, which makes an encode bit rate of moving image data maximum, based on the correlation, and determines redundancy, which is applied to the moving image data, based on the determined packet loss. |
| US08848563B2 |
Systems and methods for measuring frame loss in multipoint networks
Systems and methods for measuring frame loss in multipoint networks are provided. In one embodiment, a method for calculating frame loss comprises: performing a first continuity check message exchange between a first and a plurality of other devices, the first exchange comprises the first device collecting a first set of frame count data from each of the first and other devices, the first set of frame count data associated with a first instance of time by a first sequence identifier; performing a second continuity check message exchange between the first and plurality of other devices, the second exchange comprises the first device collecting a second set of frame count data from the first other devices, the second set of frame count data associated with a second instance of time by a second sequence identifier; and calculating a frame loss measurement by accounting for frame Ingress and frame Egress. |
| US08848561B2 |
Autonomous maximum power setting based on channel fingerprint
A home base station (HBS) (104, 801) performs radio channel measurements to detect one or more user equipments (UEs) (107) not served by the HBS which may be in a potentially interfering environment caused at least in part by the HBS. A database (812) of historical channel data (channel fingerprinting) of the HBS coverage area is used to predict the channel conditions and expected interference signal power seen by the detected UE(s). Based on a combination of the radio measurements (813) and historical channel data, the HBS can accurately and adaptively reduce its transmit power to a level that reduces or eliminates interference with the detected UE(s), while also not significantly degrading communication quality between other UEs served by the HBS. |
| US08848560B2 |
Apparatus and method for adaptive transmission during almost blank subframes in a wireless communication network
A system and method for communication in a wireless communication network are disclosed. One embodiment of the system includes an overlay access node that supports Almost Blank Subframes (ABSs). The overlay access node, such as macro eNB, can receive measurement results from one or more user equipments, including macro user equipments (UEs) and/or pico (UEs), either directly or via an underlay access node, such as a pico eNB. The macro eNB can determine a set of macro UEs that are sufficiently close to the macro eNB for transmission during ABSs with a low transmission power or beamforming without significant interference to the pico UEs. This scheme improves the throughput of transmission between the macro eNB and macro UEs while reducing interference to the pico UEs. |
| US08848557B2 |
Multiplexing of control and data in UL MIMO system based on SC-FDM
In a wireless network that operates according to the Long-Term Evolution Advanced standard, a mobile station determines a number of resource elements to be used for HARQ-ACK (hybrid automatic-repeat-request acknowledgement information) or RI (rank indication) on a MIMO (multiple-input multiple-output) PUSCH (physical uplink shared channel). In an embodiment, the mobile station determines a number O of bits in a payload for HARQ-ACK or RI. When the payload O is within a first range, the mobile station determines a minimum number Qmin of resource elements to be used according to a first equation. When the payload O is within a second range, the mobile station determines the minimum number Qmin of resource elements to be used according to a second equation. The mobile station then determines the number Q′ of resource elements according to Qmin and a third equation. |
| US08848556B2 |
Carrier aggregation with power headroom report
Methods, apparatuses, and software can be used for providing power headroom reporting in a telecommunication system. A method can include configuring a user equipment to send a power headroom report control element in uplink, wherein the power headroom report control element includes a bitmap indicating which power headroom reports are being reported. The method can further include receiving the power headroom report control element from the user equipment. The method additionally can include processing the received power headroom report control element based on the configuration of the user equipment. |
| US08848550B2 |
CQI adjustment for arbitrary transport format selection algorithms
Network node (100), mobile terminal (200), method and computer program wherein a network node (100) or a mobile terminal (200) comprise a transceiver (110, 210) which is adapted for transmitting data frames comprising data transport blocks and redundancy information, further comprising a processing unit (120, 240) receiving at least one parameter value indicative of the quality of a radio channel and at least one message indicative of an actual block error rate for the transmitted data frame, wherein the processing unit (120, 240) determines an expected block error probability for each transmitted data frame and adjusts the at least one received parameter value based on the difference between an at least one previously calculated block error probability and the actual block error rate. |
| US08848547B2 |
Apparatus and method for signaling between a user equipment and a wireless network
In accordance with an example embodiment of the present invention, a method is disclosed that comprises deciding at a user equipment (UE) an outage period during which the UE has limited communications with the serving base station; and sending to the serving base station a signaling message indicating the outage period. |
| US08848546B2 |
Channel allocation method in wireless mesh network and communication device using the method
A channel allocation method and a communication device are provided. The channel allocation method includes determining a communication device type based on information received from neighboring communication devices, allocating a channel according to the communication device type, and transmitting the communication device type and information about the allocated channel to the neighboring communication devices. |
| US08848543B2 |
System and method of controlling in-bound path selection based on historical and continuous path quality monitoring, assessment and predictions
A system and method of automatically controlling in-bound traffic from a first communications peer to a second communications peer based on an input from a historical path quality assessment and prediction system is disclosed. The second communications peer receives an input from the historical path quality assessment and prediction system, selects a path through a relay based on the received input, requests allocation of the relay, and sends an address of the selected relay to the first communications peer. The system and method works in concert with an Interactive Connectivity Establishment (ICE) mechanism, or takes advantage of the features of the Interactive Connectivity Establishment (ICE) mechanism. |
| US08848541B2 |
Method and system for simplifying protocol analysis
A system and method in accordance with exemplary embodiments may include receiving, from a user system, one or more protocol analysis request messages via a network, transmitting, to one or more multipurpose interface devices, one or more control signals based on the one or more protocol analysis request messages, receiving, from the one or more multipurpose interface devices, protocol analysis data associated with data traffic transmitted on one or more test networks in response to the transmitted control signals, and outputting, to the user system, the protocol analysis data via the network. |
| US08848540B2 |
Estimating multimedia data packet buffering time streamed over a selected wireless network
A computer-implemented method for estimating buffering time of multimedia data packets for efficient playout of multimedia applications by a mobile device is provided. A wireless network with highest quality of service is selected from a plurality of wireless networks based on recorded information related to multimedia calls placed by the mobile device over the plurality of wireless networks. A multimedia call is placed over the selected wireless network for the mobile device and one or more conditions related to the selected wireless network and the mobile device is monitored. Information related to the one or more conditions of the selected wireless network and the mobile device are gathered. Based on the gathered information, buffering time of multimedia data packets is estimated. Before playout, multimedia data packets that are received by the mobile device are buffered for a predetermined time period corresponding to the estimated buffering time. |
| US08848534B2 |
Dynamic resource allocation within a heterogeneous wireless transport network
A system to receive an instruction to allocate resources to a particular link of a group of links, to permit traffic to be transmitted to one of a group of nodes, associated with one of a group of base stations, via the particular link; and identify a respective achievable throughput, associated with each link during a first time period, based on a respective capacity and condition associated with each link. The system is also to identify a respective achieved throughput, associated with each link, based on a respective achieved throughput associated with each link during a second time period and a respective quantity of traffic to be transmitted via each link during the first time period; generate a respective value, associated with each link, based on the respective achievable throughput and the respective achieved throughput; and transmit, to a node and via a link, a quantity of traffic, based on a determination that a respective value, associated with the link, is a greatest respective value. |
| US08848531B1 |
Dynamic quality of service (QOS) assignment
Computer-readable media for dynamic quality of service assignment are described. In embodiments, a data packet is received that is part of a communications stream and a dynamically modifiable quality of service indicator (DMQOSI) is embedded into the data packet wherein, in various embodiments, the DMQOSI indicates a prescribed quality of service that is associated with the data packet and is modifiable prior to completing a communication of the communications stream. In various embodiments, the data packet is communicated from a source to a destination that at least periodically references the DMQOSI to ensure that the data packet is being communicated consistent with the prescribed quality of service associated with the data packet. |
| US08848528B1 |
Network data flow collection and processing
Systems and methods are provided for collecting and analyzing packet data flows. A flow collector generates flow data records based on each packet that is observed at one or more network monitoring points. A flow processor receives the flow data records from one or more flow collectors and examines the flow data records to identify related flows. Further features, such as content capture and application identification, are also provided. |
| US08848527B2 |
System, device and method for distributing link state information in a communication network
A system, device, and method for distributing link state information in a communication network combines a link state routing protocol with a sliding window mechanism in order to efficiently distribute link state information. The sliding window mechanism permits a predetermined number of unacknowledged link state advertisement protocol messages to be outstanding at any given time. Unacknowledged link state advertisement protocol messages are retransmitted after a predetermined timeout period. |
| US08848524B2 |
Multiple major version signaling on session initiation
Embodiments of the invention provide an improved major release negotiation mechanism between an initiating node and a receiving node during Diameter session establishment in a 3GPP network. |
| US08848519B2 |
MPLS fast re-route using LDP (LDP-FRR)
MPLS (Multiprotocol Label Switching) fast re-routing using LDP (Label Distribution Protocol) is described. A first network element in a MPLS network receives a first label advertised from a second network element in the MPLS network. The first network element computes a shortest path tree (SPT) to reach a destination network element under a potential failure condition. The second network element is a nexthop of the first network element in the computed SPT and is not upstream from the potential failure condition. The first network element advertises a second label to one or more third network elements for a backup LDP LSP (Label Switched Path) that will serve as a backup when the potential failure condition is realized. The third network element(s) are upstream neighbors on the computed SPT with respect to the first network element. The first network element installs a swap action from the second label to the first label. |
| US08848517B2 |
Fencing off switch domains
Techniques are disclosed to reduce crossover between traffic from switch elements of different switch domains in a distributed switch. Addition of a first switch element to the distributed switch is detected. The distributed switch includes multiple switch elements at least subsequent to the addition, and each switch element has a switch element identifier and a fabric identifier. The respective fabric identifiers of the first switch element and of a second switch element are retrieved. The second switch element is communicably connected to the first switch element via a link, and the link is configured to allow only command traffic to be transmitted via the link. Upon a determination that the fabric identifier of the first switch element does not match the fabric identifier of the second switch element, then no command is issued specifying to reconfigure the link to allow at least one additional traffic type, different from command traffic. |
| US08848516B2 |
Methods and apparatus for relocating and restoring connections through a failed serving gateway and traffic offloading
In a radio telecommunications network, a serving gateway support node controls connections between user equipment nodes and a packet-based network that pass through at least one serving gateway and at least one packet gateway. The serving gateway support node detects failure of communications to a first serving gateway. The serving gateway support node responds to the detected failure by initiating relocation of existing connections through the first serving gateway to instead pass through a second serving gateway. The serving gateway support node detects recovery of communications to the first serving gateway, and responds by ceasing relocation of at least some of the existing connections that have not yet been relocated to the second serving gateway. Related methods, serving gateways, and packet gateways are also disclosed. |
| US08848515B2 |
Method and apparatus for topology discovery
A method and an apparatus for topology discovery are disclosed. Link state information of each port of each device on a ring network is confirmed through neighbor negotiation between a first device and a neighbor device, and by broadcasting a link state information base of each device to other devices on the ring network, each device on the ring network can obtain the newest and synchronous link state information of each port on the ring network, so that each network device on the ring network implements topology discovery of the ring network where the network device is located. |
| US08848514B2 |
System and method for failover handling at geo-redundant gateways
A method, system and apparatus for reversion of UE sessions from a backup SGW or protect node to an operationally restored primary SGW or working node. |
| US08848511B2 |
Network architecture for data communication
This invention relates to a network architecture for data communication between data sources and data destinations via network nodes and at least one data concentrator. According to the invention the nodes (2, 4) are conceived to communicate with a data concentrator (1) in both directions either via a permanently operative network (8) in the multihop mode or via an occasionally operative network (5) in wireless connection with mobile user nodes (6) in the nomadic mode. Means for commutation are provided to detect faulty multihop nodes and to activate nomadic nodes instead until the fault disappears, in order to maintain the overall functionality of the network. Moreover the network according to the invention allows to share the data collected by mobile users with other mobile users, thus forming a peer-to-peer network. |
| US08848509B2 |
Three stage folded Clos optimization for 802.1aq
A three stage folded Clos network is used for Ethernet routing with improved efficiency for computational complexity, network administration, multicast addressing and load redistribution upon failure. The network includes an array of root nodes coupled to an array of edge nodes. Forwarding states are computed and installed for spanning trees rooted on the root nodes. When an edge node is identified as having a failed connection to a root node, a shortest path first (SPF) tree rooted on that edge node is constructed for each Backbone VLAN identifier (B-VID) for the spanning trees rooted on that root node and use the failed connection. A filtering database in each node is populated for edge node pairs having a common service identifier, and unicast and multicast data are forwarded between the edge node pairs according to the filtering database via the SPF trees using a hybrid multicast addressing. |
| US08848506B2 |
OFDM transmission/reception device for transmitting and receiving OFDM symbols having a variable data transmission rate and method thereof
An orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) transmission device transmits OFDM symbols to at least one reception device and includes an OFDM transmission processing unit which generates a plurality of OFDM symbols; a pilot insertion unit which inserts pilot tones into each of the plurality of OFDM symbols; and a control unit which controls the pilot insertion unit to insert the pilot tones according to a pilot insertion pattern which is selected to correspond to a communication environment from among a plurality of pilot insertion patterns. |
| US08848501B2 |
Detection lens, lens unit, optical pickup device, optical disc device, computer, optical disc player and optical disc recorder
The present application discloses detection lens provided with lens portion and flange portion including first surface connected to lens portion and second surface opposite to first surface. Flange portion includes base along optical axis of lens portion, and first to fourth projections projecting from base. First and second projections are point-symmetric around optical axis. Third and fourth projections are point-symmetric around optical axis. Flange portion excludes projection extending beyond second surface. First projection includes first intersecting surface which intersects with first axis. Second projection includes second intersecting surface which intersects with first axis. Third projection includes third intersecting surface which intersects with second axis. Fourth projection includes fourth intersecting surface which intersects with second axis. First distance between first and second intersecting surfaces is longer than second distance between third and fourth intersecting surfaces. |
| US08848500B2 |
Optical read/write apparatus
This optical read/write apparatus has first and second optical heads 2a, 2b and includes location control sections 4a, 4b which make the relative arrangement of the first and second optical heads 2a, 2b variable according to either the environmental temperature or from one medium to another. The first optical head 2a performs a write operation to record a mark on an optical storage medium 1, and the second optical head 2b reads the information that has been written by scanning the recorded mark. The apparatus further includes a nonvolatile memory which saves the relative arrangement of the first and second optical heads 2a and 2b either on an environmental temperature basis or on a medium by medium basis. |
| US08848499B2 |
Optical disc and optical disc device
In a multilayer optical disc having information layers conforming to a plurality of different optical disc standards, because the type of each information layer is not recorded in the other information layers, in read and write operations by a compatible optical disc device conforming to a plurality of optical disc standards, every time the information layer being accessed changes, it has been necessary to read the type of the information layer and select a method of generating a tracking error signal adapted to the type of information layer, so access has taken time. In order to solve the above problem, in the optical multilayer disc according to the present invention, having information layers conforming to a plurality of different optical disc standards, in an area in one of the information layers, information about the other information layers is recorded. The time required to access the other information layers can be reduced by using this information to select a tracking error signal generating method. |
| US08848497B2 |
Recording management apparatus, recording management method, and program
A recording management apparatus includes: a control unit configured to perform track setting processing arranged to set a fixed management information track where management information to be fixedly disposed with a data structure conforming to the UDF, in a layer on the front-most side as viewed from a laser entry face side, to a recording medium having a plurality of layers serving as recording layers where recording of information is performed by laser irradiation on which a track serving as a continuous recording area is formed in which recording of data is performed, closing track processing arranged to set the fixed management information track to a consecutive recording completed state immediately after setting, and writing request processing arranged to record, by performing management information writing request for the fixed management track which has been closed, management information relating to this writing request in another track by sparing processing. |
| US08848495B1 |
Plasmon generator self-annealing with current injection in TAMR
A dual plasmon generator (PG) mirror image structure is used during fabrication of a TAMR head to locally anneal the PGs without substantially elevating the temperature in adjacent layers. Two PGs have narrow peg portions aligned head to head, and larger back end portions with a back side facing away from the eventual ABS. A first lead is attached to a back side of a first PG while a second lead is connected to a back side of a second PG. A 10 mA current is injected into a first PG and exits from the second PG and causes resistive heating in the rod-like portions where the temperature may be raised by 250° C. or more. A temporary overcoat layer may be formed over the PGs to dissipate heat and to keep the PGs from deforming during the annealing step. |
| US08848490B2 |
GPS reception apparatus and positional calculation method for the same
A reception apparatus includes a first determination unit to determine whether a state exists in which timing information and six orbital elements information can be obtained from GPS signals transmitted by only two GPS satellites. When the state exists, a calculation unit calculates a trajectory line having a predetermined width on a surface of the earth, based on the GPS signals transmitted by the two satellites. A second determination unit determines whether the trajectory line traverses a district of use stored by the apparatus. A time correcting unit obtains a current time using the obtained timing information, by correcting the timing information based on a time zone corresponding to the district of use, when the trajectory line traverses the district of use. The time correcting unit does not obtain the current time using the obtained timing information when the trajectory line does not traverse the district of use. |
| US08848488B2 |
Dual display timepiece
A timepiece mechanism for a secondary display of a first physical quantity, wherein a push-button activates first mechanism for the coupling/uncoupling of the secondary display to or from a movement including a first display, and a pivoting first physical quantity cannon-pinion heart, wherein the first mechanism controls the coupling/uncoupling to or from the movement. A second push-button controls the zero reset of the secondary display, by uncoupling the first coupling/uncoupling mechanism, and returning the heart-piece to the original position thereof. A second coupling/uncoupling control mechanism includes either a pivoting time zone wheel set including a friction wheel, meshing with the movement, and a time zone wheel which, when the wheel set is in the coupling position, drives a second physical quantity cannon-pinion heart and/or a third physical quantity cannon-pinion heart, the friction wheel and time zone wheel being coaxial and cooperating via friction; or an inter-time zone mechanism. |
| US08848486B1 |
Ultrasonic transmitter having adjustable output
An ultrasonic transmitter of an ultrasonic occupancy sensing device has adjustable ultrasonic signal output amplitude to prevent overload of an ultrasonic sensor associated with the ultrasonic occupancy sensing device. A circuit for controlling the operating voltage to a power driver of the ultrasonic transmitter allows field adjustment of the output thereof so that an optimal level (amplitude) for the transmitted ultrasonic signal may be found in an area of actual use (e.g., field adjustable). |
| US08848481B2 |
Reconstructing an acoustic field
Disclosed is a method of reconstructing a sound field. The method comprises receiving measured values of a first acoustic quantity measured at a set of measurement locations; computing a second acoustic quantity for a target location from a superposition of plane waves. The method comprises storing a set of representations of interpolations of respective functions, each function being a function of two or less input parameters; and computing comprises computing each of a set of correlation functions, each correlation function being indicative of a correlation of the plane waves at a first one of said measurement locations with the plane waves at a second location, as a linear combination of values obtained from the set of representations of interpolations. |
| US08848480B1 |
Synchronous multiple port memory with asynchronous ports
A method of operating a multiport memory, which has first and second sets of word lines and bit lines for accessing a memory array, uses a first port and a second port for accesses during a first phase of a master clock and a third port and a fourth port during a second phase of the master clock. Each port has its own port clock, which clocks their own row and column addresses, that is no faster than the master clock. Assuming there is demand for it, four accesses occur for each cycle of the master clock. This has the effect of being able to be sure that a given access is complete within two cycles of the port clocks and can be operated at the rate of one access per cycle of the port clock. |
| US08848476B2 |
Flash memory device and associated charge pump circuit
A charge pump circuit comprises a first booster set, a second booster group, and a detecting circuit. The first booster set receives a supply voltage and generates a first output voltage. The detecting circuit generates a detecting signal depending on the voltage level of the first output voltage. The second booster group receives the supply voltage and generates the first output voltage or a second output voltage according to the detecting signal. The second booster group is composed of a plurality of booster sets connected in parallel, wherein each booster set comprises a plurality of charge pump stages and a plurality of switch units. The number of serially-connected charge pump stages of each booster set in the second booster group is controlled by the plurality of switch units according to the stable voltage levels of the first and second output voltages. |
| US08848475B2 |
Fuse circuit, fuse array, semiconductor memory device and method of manufacturing semiconductor device
A fuse circuit includes a program unit and a sensing unit. The program unit is programmed in response to a program signal and outputs a program output signal in response to a sensing enable signal. The sensing unit outputs a sensing output signal based on the program output signal and the sensing output signal indicates whether the program unit is programmed or not. The program unit includes an anti-fuse cell, a selection transistor, a program transistor and a sensing transistor. The anti-fuse cell includes at least two anti-fuse elements which are connected in parallel and are respectively broken down at different levels of a program voltage. |
| US08848473B2 |
Semiconductor device and test method thereof
A semiconductor chip includes a memory array including a plurality of memory cells, a plurality of terminals including a plurality of test terminals to output a result of a specific test, and a circuit that outputs the result to a selected one of the plurality of test terminals based on a chip identification data. |
| US08848471B2 |
Method for optimizing refresh rate for DRAM
A method for determining an optimized refresh rate involves testing a refresh rate on rows of cells, determining an error rate of the rows, evaluating the error rate of the rows; and repeating these steps for a decreased refresh rate until the error rate is greater than a constraint, at which point a slow refresh rate is set. |
| US08848470B2 |
Memory operation upon failure of one of two paired memory devices
A method and apparatus for continued operation of a memory module, including a first and second memory device, when one of memory devices has failed. The method includes receiving a write operation request to write a data word, having first and second sections, by a first memory module. The memory module may have a first memory device and a second memory device, for respectively storing the first and second sections of the data word. A determination if one of the first and second memory devices is inoperable is made. If one of the first and second memory devices is inoperable, a write operation is performed by writing the first and second sections of the data word to the operable one of the first and second memory devices. |
| US08848468B2 |
Semiconductor device and control method thereof for permitting the reception of data according to a control signal
A semiconductor device comprises: a control signal generating circuit that generates and outputs a control signal that is in an active state during a period around at least one of rising edges and falling edges of a clock signal; and a data input circuit that is controlled to be in an active state, in which a data signal can be received, while the control signal is in an active state, and otherwise controlled to be in an inactive state. |
| US08848465B2 |
Memory devices including selective RWW and RMW decoding
A nonvolatile memory device is provided, which includes a memory core including a plurality of nonvolatile memory cells, a first read circuit that reads a first codeword from the memory core during a Read While Write (RWW) operation, a second read circuit that reads a second codeword from the memory core during a Read Modification Write (RMW) operation, and a common decoder that is shared by the first read circuit and the second read circuit and selectively decodes the first codeword or the second codeword. |
| US08848463B2 |
Integrated circuit with separate supply voltage for memory that is different from logic circuit supply voltage
In one embodiment, an integrated circuit includes at least one logic circuit supplied by a first supply voltage and at least one memory circuit coupled to the logic circuit and supplied by a second supply voltage. The memory circuit is configured to be read and written responsive to the logic circuit even if the first supply voltage is less than the second supply voltage during use. In another embodiment, a method includes a logic circuit reading a memory cell, the logic circuit supplied by a first supply voltage; and the memory cell responding to the read using signals that are referenced to the first supply voltage, wherein the memory cell is supplied with a second supply voltage that is greater than the first supply voltage during use. |
| US08848458B2 |
Fast-bypass memory circuit
A memory circuit in which a level of a first data input appears promptly at an output in response to a clock pulse received. The circuit includes a flip-flop triggered by the clock pulse and configured to receive the first data input and drive a second data input. The circuit also includes a first control input driven by the clock pulse, a second control input driven by the flip-flop and selection logic configured to receive the first and second data inputs and the first and second control inputs. The selection logic is configured to drive the output of the memory circuit to the level of the first data input or of the second data input depending on the first and second control inputs. |
| US08848452B1 |
Erase verification circuitry for simultaneously and consecutively verifying a plurality of odd and even-numbered flash memory transistors and method thereof
Embodiments described herein generally relate to verifying that a FLASH memory has been erased. In an embodiment, a method of erase verifying a memory column of a FLASH memory includes applying a pass gate voltage to even numbered memory transistors while applying an erase verify voltage to the odd numbered memory transistors. Applying a string current to the memory column allows a probe to determine if the string current is successfully traversing the memory column, and thus verifying that the odd numbered memory transistors were erased. The even numbered memory transistors are verified in the following cycle. |
| US08848444B2 |
Signal transmission system and storage system
A signal transmission system is provided which connects a memory controller and a plurality of semiconductor memories. The signal transmission system comprises a semiconductor device arranged between the memory controller and the plurality of memories, in which: the semi-conductor device comprises a control circuit; and the control circuit receives a signal from the semiconductor memory and outputs a control signal to the memory controller in response to the signal from the semiconductor memory. |
| US08848442B2 |
Multi-bit-per-cell flash memory device with non-bijective mapping
To store input data in a plurality of memory cells, a mapping function of bit sequences to physical parameter states of the cells is provided. The cells are programmed, in accordance with the mapping function, to store the input data, in a way that would store uniformly distributed data with a programming state distribution other than any native state distribution of the mapping function. To store input data in a single memory cell, a mapping function of bit sequences to states of a physical parameter of the cell, such that if uniformly distributed data were stored in a plurality of such memory cells then the states of the physical parameter of the cells would be distributed non-uniformly, is provided. The memory cell is programmed to store the input data in accordance with the mapping function. |
| US08848439B2 |
Threshold optimization for flash memory
Described embodiments provide enhanced read accuracy of a multi-level cell (MLC) flash memory. A read request for desired cells is received by a media controller of the memory. The media controller sets m thresholds to initial values, each threshold corresponding to a cell voltage level of the memory, and measures the cell voltage level of a given cell. For each of the desired cells of the memory, the media controller iteratively, until the measured cell voltage level converges on one of the thresholds, compares the measured cell voltage level to the thresholds. If the measured cell voltage level does not converge on one of the thresholds, the media controller updates the thresholds, remeasures the cell voltage level and compares the remeasured cell voltage level to the updated thresholds. Once the measured cell voltage level converges on a threshold, the media controller determines a binary level of the cell. |
| US08848434B2 |
Magnetic resistance memory apparatus having multi levels and method of driving the same
A magnetic resistance memory apparatus capable of implementing various levels and a method of driving the same are provided. The magnetic resistance memory apparatus includes a first magnetic device that includes a fixed layer having a fixed magnetization direction, a tunnel layer disposed on the fixed layer, and a first free layer disposed on the tunnel layer having a variable magnetization direction, and a second magnetic device disposed on the first magnetic device including a plurality of free layers insulated with a spacer layer interposed. |
| US08848432B2 |
Magnetoresistive elements and memory devices including the same
Magnetoresistive elements, and memory devices including the same, include a free layer having a changeable magnetization direction, a pinned layer facing the free layer and having a fixed magnetization direction, and an auxiliary element on a surface of the pinned layer. The auxiliary element has a width smaller than a width of the pinned layer, and a magnetization direction fixed to a direction the same as a direction of the fixed magnetization direction of the pinned layer. |
| US08848430B2 |
Step soft program for reversible resistivity-switching elements
A method and system for forming, resetting, or setting memory cells is disclosed. One or more programming conditions to apply to a memory cell having a reversible resistivity-switching element may be determined based on its resistance. The determination of one or more programming conditions may also be based on a pre-determined algorithm that may be based on properties of the memory cell. The one or more programming conditions may include a programming voltage and a current limit. For example, the magnitude of the programming voltage may be based on the resistance. As another example, the width of a programming voltage pulse may be based on the resistance. In some embodiments, a current limit used during programming is determined based on the memory cell resistance. |
| US08848425B2 |
Conductive metal oxide structures in non volatile re-writable memory devices
A memory cell including a memory element comprising an electrolytic insulator in contact with a conductive metal oxide (CMO) is disclosed. The CMO includes a crystalline structure and can comprise a pyrochlore oxide, a conductive binary oxide, a multiple B-site perovskite, and a Ruddlesden-Popper structure. The CMO includes mobile ions that can be transported to/from the electrolytic insulator in response to an electric field of appropriate magnitude and direction generated by a write voltage applied across the electrolytic insulator and CMO. The memory cell can include a non-ohmic device (NOD) that is electrically in series with the memory element. The memory cell can be positioned between a cross-point of conductive array lines in a two-terminal cross-point memory array in a single layer of memory or multiple vertically stacked layers of memory that are fabricated over a substrate that includes active circuitry for data operations on the array layer(s). |
| US08848424B2 |
Variable resistance nonvolatile memory device, and accessing method for variable resistance nonvolatile memory device
A variable resistance nonvolatile memory device includes: bit lines in layers; word lines in layers formed at intervals between the layers of the bit lines; a memory cell array including basic array planes and having memory cells formed at crosspoints of the bit lines in the layers and the word lines in the layers; global bit lines provided in one-to-one correspondence with the basic array planes; and sets provided in one-to-one correspondence with the basic array planes, and each including a first selection switch element and a second selection switch element, wherein memory cells connected to the same word line are successively accessed in different basic array planes, and memory cells are selected so that voltages applied to the word line and bit lines are not changed and a direction in which current flows through the memory cells is the same. |
| US08848421B2 |
Forming method of performing forming on variable resistance nonvolatile memory element, and variable resistance nonvolatile memory device
A forming method of a variable resistance nonvolatile memory element capable of lowering a forming voltage and preventing variations of the forming voltage depending on variable resistance elements. The forming method is for initializing a variable resistance element, including a step (S24) of determining whether or not a current flowing in a 1T1R memory cell is greater than a reference current; a step (S22) of applying a forming positive voltage pulse having a pulse width (Tp(n)) is gradually increased when it is determined that the current is not greater than the reference current; and a step (S23) of applying a negative voltage pulse having a pulse width Tn equal to or shorter than a pulse width Tp(n). The determining step (S24), the application step (S22), and the application step (S23) are repeated until the forming becomes successful. |
| US08848419B2 |
Sensing memory element logic states from bit line discharge rate that varies with resistance
A digital memory element has a sense circuit latch to read the value stored in a bit cell. Before addressing a word line, the bit lines are precharged. During the read operation, a bit line is coupled to a supply voltage through a bit cell memory element that has different resistances at logic states “0” and “1.” A reference bit line is coupled to the supply voltage through a comparison resistance value, especially a resistance between high and low resistance of the memory element in the two logic states. Voltages on the bit line and reference bit line ramp toward a switching threshold at rates related to the resistance values. The first line to discharge to switching threshold voltage sets the sense circuit latch. |
| US08848416B2 |
Semiconductor storage device with wiring that conserves space
A semiconductor storage device has a great number of logic circuits and fuse blocks with its space-saving design. In the semiconductor storage device, a plurality of fuse blocks is arranged in a line or row in the vicinity of a gate array. Each fuse block includes a plurality of fuse pieces arranged in a juxtaposed manner and exposed to the exterior through a fuse window. A power-supply wire and a ground wire extend along the juxtaposed direction of the fuse pieces. Spacing in the vicinity of the gate array is used for arrangement of the fuse blocks. |
| US08848412B1 |
Ternary content addressable memory
A ternary content addressable memory (TCAM) has at least one TCAM cell comprising first and second memory bitcells for storing first and second bit values representing a cell state comprising one of a first cell state, a second cell state and a mask cell state. The first and second memory bitcells share a pair of bitlines for accessing the first and second bit values. Access control circuitry is provided for triggering, in response to a clock signal, a read or write access to the first memory bitcell during a first portion of a clock cycle and triggering a read access or write access to the second read bitcell during a second portion of the clock cycle. |
| US08848411B2 |
Shared stack dual phase content addressable memory (CAM) cell
A shared stack dual-phase CAM cell is provided. The CAM cell includes at least first and second stacks that share a single pair of pull-down transistors. At least one pair of pull-down transistors can thus be eliminated, reducing the area and power consumption of the CAM cell. Sharing of the single pair of pull-down transistors is enabled by time-staggered pre-charge and compare operations such that the pre-charge interval of the first stack corresponds to the compare interval of the second stack, and vice versa. |
| US08848410B2 |
Matrix converter
A matrix converter includes input terminals, output terminals, a power conversion circuit, and a snubber circuit. The power conversion circuit includes bidirectional switches of which each includes antiparallel connection circuits connected serially. The snubber circuit is connected to the bidirectional switches. The snubber circuit includes first diodes, a capacitor, a second diode, and third diodes. The first diodes are respectively corresponded to the bidirectional switches. A first connecting point of each the first diode is connected to a connection point between the two unidirectional switching elements constituting the bidirectional switch. A first connecting point of the capacitor is connected to a second connecting point of each the first diode. First and second connecting points of the second diode are connected to a second connecting point of the capacitor and the corresponding output terminal. The bidirectional switches, the first diodes, and the second diode are arranged in one power module. |
| US08848408B2 |
Discharge control device of electric power conversion system
In an electric power conversion system having a discharge control device capable of discharging a voltage charged in a capacitor to a voltage of not more than a predetermined voltage, a linear regulator decreases a voltage of the capacitor and outputs the decreased voltage to a drive unit at a bottom arm in a U phase. A flyback converter for discharging use inputs an output of the linear regulator, and outputs electric power to a drive unit at an upper arm in the U phase. When detecting that own vehicle collides with an obstacle, the discharge control device starts to execute discharge control of the capacitor by turning off a photo coupler and turning on the linear regulator. |
| US08848405B2 |
Highly efficient half-bridge DC-AC converter
The invention relates to a DC to AC converter circuit. In particular, the invention relates to a half-bridge inverter for converting a DC to an AC voltage. The half-bridge inverter for converting a DC input voltage to provide an AC output voltage at an output terminal, comprising a first switching circuit connected to at least one input terminal and to the output terminal and configured to provide a high or a low voltage level at the output terminal; a second switching circuit connected to the output terminal and configured to provide a connection to an intermediate voltage level, the intermediate voltage level being between the high and the low voltage level; and wherein the second switching circuit is further connected to the at least one input terminal allowing the second switching circuit to provide the high or the low voltage level at the output terminal. |
| US08848399B2 |
Very high frequency switching resonant synchronous rectification
A VHF switching power converter comprising one or more VHF switching frequency resonant synchronous rectifiers receives an output from an inverter and delivers a DC output to a load. The power converter includes a controller for controlling at least one of the one or more VHF switching frequency resonant synchronous rectifiers based on feedback derived from a waveform of at least one of the rectifiers. The controller controls a phase angle of at least one of the rectifiers with a delay locked loop. The power converter delivers a regulated DC output via adjustment of a phase shift between at least one of the one or more rectifiers and the inverter. |
| US08848395B2 |
Securing mechanism and electronic device with connector cover
An electronic device includes a printed circuit board (PCB), at least one socket mounted to the PCB, at least one connector inserted into the at least one socket, a first member mounted to the PCB, a second member mounted to the PCB, and a first cover. The first cover covers and presses against the at least one connector, the first cover includes a first end for being fixed to the first member and a second end opposite to the first end for being fixed to the second member. At least one of the first member and the second member is soldered to the PCB, and a soldered area of the at least one of the first member and the second member is larger than a predetermined value. |
| US08848391B2 |
Co-support component and microelectronic assembly
A component is configured for connection with a microelectronic assembly having terminals and a microelectronic element connected with the terminals. The component includes a support structure bearing conductors configured to carry command and address information, and a plurality of contacts coupled to the conductors and configured for connection with the terminals. The contacts have address and command information assignments arranged in a first predetermined arrangement for connection with a first type of microelectronic assembly in which the microelectronic element is configured to sample command and address information coupled thereto through the contacts at a first sampling rate, and in a second predetermined arrangement for connection with a second type of microelectronic assembly in which the microelectronic element is configured to sample the command and address information coupled thereto through a subset of the contacts at a second sampling rate greater than the first sampling rate. |
| US08848389B2 |
Transmission device and method for manufacturing same, and wireless transmission device and wireless transmission method
An electronic device provided with a plurality of circuit boards uses a support member for supporting the circuit boards as the transmission path of a wireless signal. For example, the electronic device is provided with a first printed circuit board for processing a millimeter-wave signal, a second printed circuit board which is signal-coupled to the printed circuit board and receives the millimeter-wave signal to subject the received signal to signal processing, and a waveguide which is disposed with a predetermined dielectric constant between the printed circuit boards, wherein the waveguide constitutes the dielectric transmission path, and the waveguide supports the printed circuit boards. This configuration makes it possible to receive the electromagnetic wave based on a millimeter-wave signal radiated from one end of the waveguide constituting the dielectric transmission path, at the other end thereof. |
| US08848385B2 |
Embedded isolation filter
The present disclosure relates to reducing unwanted RF noise in a printed circuit board (PCB) containing an RF device. An isolation filter is embedded in a PCB containing an RDF device. By placing the isolation filter as close as possible to the RF device in order to dramatically reduce unwanted RF noise due to unavoidable coupling between Vias and planes in the PCB structure. |
| US08848380B2 |
Bumpless build-up layer package warpage reduction
The present disclosure relates to the field of fabricating microelectronic packages and the fabrication thereof, wherein a microelectronic device may be formed within a bumpless build-up layer coreless (BBUL-C) microelectronic package and wherein a warpage control structure may be disposed on a back surface of the microelectronic device. The warpage control structure may be a layered structure comprising at least one layer of high coefficient of thermal expansion material, including but not limited to a filled epoxy material, and at least one high elastic modulus material layer, such as a metal layer. |
| US08848379B2 |
Mounting apparatus for memory card
A latching apparatus for a memory card includes a socket and a pair of latching members assembled on opposite ends of the socket. A cutout is defined in each end of the memory card. Each latching member includes a main body, two pivoting portions extending from opposite ends of the main body for pivotably attaching the latch member to one end of the socket, and a C-shaped locking portion extending down from a middle portion of the main body. The insertion of the memory card in the socket causes the bottom edge of the memory card to engage with distal ends of the locking portions and so rotate the latch member, until the main bodies of the latching members engage in the cutouts of the memory card. |
| US08848378B2 |
Securing structure for mounting server to server cabinet
A securing structure used to mount a server including a housing to a server cabinet includes a sliding member and a fixing member. The sliding member includes a sliding portion, a receiving portion, and a fixing portion configured between the sliding portion and the receiving portion. The sliding portion extends into the housing and is slidably connected to a sidewall of the housing. The receiving portion is used to receive at least one cable connected to the server. The fixing member is securely connected between the fixing portion and the server cabinet. |
| US08848375B2 |
System and method for reduced thermal resistance between a power electronics printed circuit board and a base plate
An apparatus includes a base plate including a plurality of depressions, and a power electronics printed circuit board including a plurality traces and a plurality of high voltage components. The plurality of high voltage components is located at a plurality of locations corresponding to the plurality of depressions in the base plate. A plurality of fasteners secures the printed circuit board to the base plate with the plurality of high voltage components received at the corresponding plurality of depressions. A thermally conductive and electrically isolating interface between the base plate and the printed circuit board is made of a gap filler material conforming to the base plate and to the plurality of depressions in the base plate, and conforming to the printed circuit board and to the plurality of high voltage components. |
| US08848373B2 |
Heat sink for an electronic or electrical component
The invention relates to a heat sink (1) for an electronic or electrical component, including: a base element (2) including a first main surface (2a) suitable for receiving the electronic component in close thermal contact; a plurality of elongate fins (3) projecting outwards from the second main surface (2b) of the base element (2), opposite the first surface (2a), and arranged around the entire periphery of the case element with enough space between fins to allow air circulation, characterized in that said space can be obtained by cutting a star-shaped geometrical shape matching said base element and said fins in a thin plate; and folding the fins relative to the plane of the base element. |
| US08848363B2 |
Heat dissipation system
A heat dissipation system includes a computer case having a base plate and a back plate perpendicularly to the base plate, a motherboard on the base plate adjacent to the back plate, and a mass storage device beside the motherboard. The motherboard has a heat sink and a first fan on the heat sink. The base plate has a second fan beside the motherboard. The second fan is adjacent to the back plate. The mass storage device is away from the back plate. The first fan rotates in such a manner that airflow is drawn into the computer case, flows through the heat sink and is exhausted out of the computer case. The second fan rotates in such a manner that airflow is drawn into the computer case, flows through the mass storage device and is exhausted out of the computer case. |
| US08848360B2 |
Module and port
A module includes a housing. The housing can include a port. The port can extend though an opening in the housing if the module is inserted in the chassis. |
| US08848357B2 |
Electronic device with connector
An electronic device includes an enclosure, a bracket, a connector, and a fan. The enclosure includes a bottom plate and two side plates located on the bottom plate. The bracket is secured to the side plates and includes a bottom wall. The bottom wall is substantially parallel to the bottom plate and defines an installing opening. Two locking pieces extend from two opposite edges of the installing opening. Each of the locking pieces defines a locking hole. The connector is secured in the installing opening, the connector comprising two resilient portions. A locking protrusion protrudes from each of the resilient portions. The locking protrusions of the resilient portions engage in the locking holes of the locking pieces. The resilient portions are deformable to disengage the locking protrusions from the locking holes. The fan is received in the bracket and adapted to be electrically coupled to the connector. |
| US08848356B2 |
Externally accessible memory card reader for GPS device
A memory card reader assembly for a device having a GPS component includes a housing having an exterior wall and defining two interior compartments. A jack for a memory card is secured within one compartment, and the housing includes a slot for enabling insertion of a memory card through the housing wall and into the jack. That compartment, including the slot, is sealed to prevent fluid entry into the compartment. |
| US08848353B2 |
Display apparatus and electronic equipment
A display apparatus may include a display module having a flat display unit with a front surface and a touchscreen panel extending to cover the front surface by protruding from the display unit. The display unit may have a display screen and projecting pieces projecting parallel to the front surface. The display apparatus may further include a front cover part including an opening to receive the display unit, and a front surface to receive a region of the touchscreen panel protruding from the display unit, and a presser member inserted between the front surface of the front cover part and the projecting pieces in order to minimize floating or lifting of the display module from the front cover part. |
| US08848350B2 |
Support structure of touch panel
Disclosed herein is a support structure of a touch panel. According to the present invention, by implementing a touch panel support structure having the maximum resistance to vibration and warpage transferred to the touch panel by a vibration generating device, it is possible to uniformize a vibration width by minimizing a deviation of vibration displacement for each position of a touch panel and it is possible to safely protect the touch panel by effectively absorbing external shock through a cushion operation of a buffering member. |
| US08848344B2 |
Solid insulated switchgear
A solid insulated switchgear having at least one circuit switches for switching a three-pole AC circuit includes a plurality of bus-bars for pole. Each of the bus-bars for pole being providing correspondingly for each pole comprises a ring-shaped bus-bar portion electrically connecting the arc extinguishing mechanisms for the same pole, and each having an internal electrical conductor portion and an external solid insulated mold portion in which the conductor portion is built; and a plurality of extended connecting portions respectively extended from the ring-shaped bus-bar portion while being space apart from one another in a circumferential direction so that the plurality of circuit switches are connected in the state in which the plurality of circuit switches are separated from one another. |
| US08848337B2 |
Signal processing devices having one or more memristors
Signal-processing devices having memristors are described for performing frequency-discrimination functions, amplitude-discrimination functions, and time-oriented functions. In each case, the time-domain behavior of the memristors described herein enables these functions to be performed. In one embodiment, memristance of an arrangement of memristors of a device is, after an initial transitional period, predominantly at a first level if frequency of an input signal of the device is less than a first frequency and predominantly at a second level if the frequency of the input signal is greater than a second frequency. |
| US08848336B2 |
Perovskite material with anion-controlled dielectric properties, thin film capacitor device, and method for manufacturing the same
A crystalline perovskite crystalline composite paraelectric material includes nano-regions containing rich N3− anions dispersed in a nano-grain sized matrix of crystalline oxide perovskite material, wherein (ABO3-δ)α-(ABO3-δ-γNγ)1-α. A represents a divalent element, B represents a tetravalent element, γ satisfies 0.005≦γ≦1.0, 1-α satisfies 0.05≦1-α≦0.9, and 1-α is an area ratio between the regions containing rich N3− anions and the matrix of remaining oxide perovskite material. |
| US08848331B2 |
Protection device, complementary protection device, signal output device, latch-up preventing method, and computer-readable medium
A protection device includes: a serial element unit that includes a first switching element and a resistive element, one end being connected to a control terminal of a protection-target switching element, the other end being connected to a first voltage line, the protection-target switching element including a first terminal connected to the first voltage line, a second terminal connected to a second voltage line and an inductor unit, and the control terminal, the protection-target switching element switching a conduction state at the normal time to a non-conduction state between the first terminal and the second terminal when an off-voltage is applied to the control terminal; a capacitance provided at the protection-target switching element and has a predetermined capacitance value; and a controller that performs control such that the first switching element is in a conduction state if the protection-target switching element is put into a non-conduction state. |
| US08848330B2 |
Circuit with a temperature protected electronic switch
A method can be used for driving an electronic switch integrated in a semiconductor body. A first temperature is measured at a first position of the semiconductor body. A temperature propagation is detected in the semiconductor body. The electronic switch is switched off when the temperature at the first position rises above a first threshold that is set dependent on the detected temperature propagation. |
| US08848328B2 |
Load driving device
A load driving device according to an exemplary aspect of the present invention includes: an output transistor coupled between a first power supply line and an output terminal, the output terminal being configured to be coupled with a load; a protection transistor that is provided between a gate of the output transistor and a second power supply line, and brings the output transistor into a conduction state when a polarity of a power supply coupled between the first power supply line and the second power supply line is reversed; and a back gate control circuit that controls the second power supply line and a back gate of the protection transistor to be brought into a conduction state in a standby mode when the polarity of the power supply is normal. |
| US08848325B2 |
High voltage semiconductor element and operating method thereof
A high voltage semiconductor element and an operating method thereof are provided. The high voltage semiconductor element comprises a high voltage metal-oxide-semiconductor transistor (HVMOS) and a NPN type electro-static discharge bipolar transistor (ESD BJT). The HVMOS has a drain and a source. The NPN type ESD BJT has a first collector and a first emitter. The first collector is electronically connected to the drain, and the first emitter is electronically connected to the source. |
| US08848324B2 |
Apparatus and method for disabling the operation of high power devices
A drive circuit for delivering high-level power to a load, and method of stopping a high power load from operating, are disclosed. The drive circuit includes a high power circuit capable of being coupled to the load and delivering the high level power thereto, and a to power circuit that controls the high power circuit. The low power circuit includes a first circuit portion that provides at least one control signal that is at least indirectly communicated to the high power circuit and that controls the delivering of the high level power by the high power circuit, and a second circuit portions coupled to the first circuit portion. The second circuit portion is capable of disabling the first circuit portion so that the at least one control signal avoids taking on values that would result in the high power circuit delivering the high level power to the load. |
| US08848323B2 |
Superconducting fault current limiter
A superconducting fault current limiter comprises a superconducting element having a plurality of superconducting portions and at least one connector. Each superconducting portion has end regions and each connector is connected to the end regions of adjacent superconducting portions to electrically and thermally connect adjacent superconducting portions of the superconducting fault current limiter together. Each connector provides a local reduction in the critical current and quench current of the end regions of the superconducting portions in contact with the at least one connector. This provides a phased transition of the superconducting fault current limiter in relation to the severity of a fault current. |
| US08848322B2 |
Gate control circuit, power module and associated method
It is presented a gate control circuit comprising: a main gate unit arranged to supply, via a plurality of main gate unit outputs, a gate signal to respective gates of a plurality of power switches, for controlling a main current; and an auxiliary gate unit comprising an optical power converter for converting incoming optical power to an auxiliary electrical gate signal. The auxiliary gate unit is arranged to, when a failure occurs in one of the plurality of power switches, provide the auxiliary electrical gate signal to respective gates of any of the plurality of power switches still being in operation. A corresponding power module and method are also presented. |
| US08848321B2 |
SMPS having a safety arrangement, a method of operating a SMPS, and a controller therefor
A switched mode power supply (SMPS) is disclosed. The SMPS includes a mechanism for discharging charge stored in an input capacitor, upon the SMPS becoming disconnection from the mains, for instance by being unplugged. The SMPS includes a detector for detecting the disconnection of the mains, and a discharge circuit. The discharge circuit comprises a discharge element. The discharge element may be a part of the SMPS which is used otherwise, for instance, a high-voltage current source, or a bus capacitor or it may be an additional element, for instance a resistance load. The discharge circuit is adapted for, in response to the detector detecting a disconnection of the mains, discharging the input capacitor along a path. The detector controls a switch which engages the discharge circuit upon the detection. The switch forms a part of the discharge path. |
| US08848308B2 |
Systems and methods for ADC sample based inter-track interference compensation
Various embodiments of the present invention provide systems and methods for mitigating inter-track interference using pre-equalized data samples. |
| US08848306B2 |
Magnetic recording reproducing apparatus and magnetic recording medium
In information recording areas of a disc-shaped magnetic recording medium, recording columns adjacent to each other relative to a radial direction are formed to partially overlap with each other in the radial direction. A first recording and a second recording are selectively performed. In the first recording, a first recording column, a second recording column (the outer adjacent recording column of the first recording column) and a third recording column (the outer adjacent recording column of the second recording column) are formed so that the radial positions of the inner and outer circumferential edges of the first recording column, those of a second recording column, and those of a third recording column satisfy R1in |
| US08848303B1 |
Disk storage apparatus and method for servo demodulation
According to an embodiment, a disk storage apparatus includes a disk with a servo pattern recorded thereon and a processor. The processor offsets a reader in a cross-track direction on the disk and performs a discrete Fourier transform (DFT) operation on an amplitude sequence of readback signals with respect to the cross-track direction. The processor calculates an optimal correction coefficient for a linearity correction function used for a linearity correction of a position error signal based on a result of the DFT operation. |
| US08848302B2 |
Lens barrel and imaging device
The lens barrel includes a first lens unit, a second lens unit, and a drive unit. The first lens unit includes a first lens element and a first lens support frame supporting the first lens element. The second lens unit includes a second lens element and a second lens support frame supporting the second lens element. The second lens unit is supported by the first lens unit to be movable in the optical axis direction of the first lens element with respect to the first lens unit. The drive unit is arranged to be used to drive the second lens unit with respect to the first lens unit, and is fixed to the first lens unit. When viewed in the optical axis direction, the drive unit is fixed to the first lens unit so that a first profile line formed by the first lens unit and the drive unit is substantially circular. |
| US08848301B2 |
Focus compensation for optical elements and applications thereof
Optical imaging apparatus are provided having the desired focal properties, which can be manufactured and/or assembled at the wafer level. |
| US08848299B2 |
Two lens module including a plano-convex lens
An optical module (10) comprises a positive meniscus lens (16) having a focal length F1 and comprising a first convex optical surface (12) and a second concave optical surface (20), and a plano-convex lens (22) having a focal length F1 and comprising a third flat optical surface (24) and a fourth convex optical surface (26) from an object side (12) to an image side (14). The curvatures of the four optical surfaces (12, 20, 24, 26) are defined by the equation: Zi=CURViYi2/(1+(1+Ki)CURVi2Yi2)½)+(Ai)Yi2+(Bi)Yi4+(Ci)Yi6+(Di)Yi8, and the two lenses are defined by 0.35 |
| US08848293B2 |
Optical filter, optical filter module, and photometric analyzer
An optical filter includes a first substrate, a second substrate opposed to the first substrate, a first optical film provided on a surface of the first substrate facing the second substrate, a second optical film provided on the second substrate and opposed to the first optical film via a gap, a first electrode provided on the surface of the first substrate facing the second substrate, and a second electrode provided on the second substrate and opposed to the first electrode, wherein a first charged body film with charge is formed on top of the first optical film, a second charged body film with charge is formed on top of the second optical film, and the first charged body film and the second charged body film are charged with the same polarity and opposed. |
| US08848289B2 |
Near-to-eye display with diffractive lens
An eyepiece for a HMD includes a waveguide, an ambient light polarizer, and a wire grid polarizer with a diffraction lens having a lens function patterned into the wire grid polarizer. Polarized image light is guided between eye-ward and ambient sides of the waveguide from a display source to a viewing region of the waveguide where the polarized image light is directed out of the waveguide through the eye-ward side. The viewing region passes ambient light incident on the ambient side through to the eye-ward side. The ambient light polarizer is disposed adjacent to the ambient side to polarize the ambient light into polarized ambient light having a second polarization orthogonal to the first polarization. The wire grid polarizer is disposed adjacent to the eye-ward side along the viewing region. The wire grid polarizer is oriented to applying the lens function to the polarized image light via diffraction. |
| US08848288B2 |
Composite optical articles
Provided is a composite optical article including (a) a polymeric base layer comprising a sulfur-containing urethane-based material having a refractive index of at least 1.57; and (b) a polymeric outer layer cast over a surface of the base layer (a) comprising (i) a poly(urea-urethane) material having a refractive index of less than 1.57, and (ii) a photochromic compound and/or a static dye. The thickness of the base layer (a) is greater than the thickness of the outer layer (b). |
| US08848286B2 |
Lens plate for wafer-level camera and method of manufacturing same
A lens plate includes a transparent substrate wafer, and a plurality of lenses and spacers that are formed of a single portion of material on the transparent substrate wafer. An assembly includes a first lens plate that includes a first transparent substrate wafer, a plurality of first lenses and a plurality of spacers, the first lenses and spacers being formed of a single portion of material on said first transparent substrate wafer. The assembly also includes a second lens plate that includes a second transparent substrate wafer and a plurality of second lenses formed thereon, each of the plurality of second lenses corresponding to a respective one of the plurality of first lenses. The lens plates are aligned such that each of the plurality of first lenses aligns with the respective one of the plurality of second lenses, and the lens plates are bonded to one another. |
| US08848284B2 |
Bidirectional optical amplifier
A bidirectional optical amplifier (1) is arranged to be passed through in one direction by a downstream optical signal (SDS) and in an opposite direction by an upstream optical signal (SUS), and comprises: a first optical circulator (2) having three ports, a first port of the first optical circulator defining a first connector (8) at one end of the bidirectional optical amplifier, a second optical circulator (3) having three ports, a first port of the second optical circulator defining a second connector (9) at an opposite end of the bidirectional optical amplifier, a downstream unidirectional optical amplifier (4) connected between a second port of the first optical circulator and a second port of the second optical circulator so as to define a downstream amplification path (5) for the downstream optical signal, and an upstream unidirectional optical amplifier (6) connected between a third port of the first optical circulator and a third port of the second optical circulator so as to define an upstream amplification path (7) for the upstream optical signal. The bidirectional optical amplifier (1) further comprises a waveband separator (10) connected between the second port of the first optical circulator (2) and an input of the downstream unidirectional optical amplifier (4). |
| US08848281B2 |
Wavelength conversion apparatus, light source apparatus, and wavelength conversion method
In order to create a stable non-linear optical effect with high efficiency for a plurality of input lights having different wavelengths, according to a first aspect of the present invention, provided is a wavelength conversion apparatus comprising an input section into which input light is input; a wavelength converting section that includes a polarity inverting structure whose polarity inverts periodically and that, in response to the input of light having a wavelength corresponding to the period with which the polarity inverts, converts the wavelength of the light; and a direction changing section that changes a progression direction in which the input light passes through the polarity inverting structure, according to the wavelength of the input light, without changing relative positions of the input section and the polarity inverting structure. Also provided are a light source apparatus and a wavelength converting method. |
| US08848278B2 |
Asymmetrical deformable diffractive grating modulator
A system for modulating light using a micro-electro-mechanical structure includes a plurality of deformable mirror elements (30) having an L-shaped cross section. Each of the deformable mirror elements is comprised of a pedestal (32) and an elongated ribbon (33). Each of the ribbons has a reflective surface (35). A beam of light is directed on the deformable mirror elements. The deformable mirror elements is flexed about an axis parallel to a long dimension of the ribbons to vary a curvature of at least one of the reflective ribbons. |
| US08848277B2 |
System and method for protecting a seed laser in an EUV light source with a Bragg AOM
A method and apparatus for protecting the seed laser in a laser produced plasma (LPP) extreme ultraviolet (EUV) light system are disclosed in one embodiment, a Bragg AOM is used as a switch on the beam path from the seed laser to other optical components and ultimately to an irradiation site. Power is applied to the Bragg AOM and pulses from the seed laser are thus deflected onto the desired beam path rather than passing straight through the Bragg AOM. Once the pulses have passed through the Bragg AOM, power to the Bragg AOM ceases, so that any reflections from the irradiation site will pass straight through the Bragg AOM and will not be deflected back to the seed laser. Use of the Bragg AOM rather than components previously used results in lower power consumption and better protection for the seed laser. |
| US08848273B2 |
Amplitude, phase and polarization plate for photonics
An optical plate includes a substrate and a resonator structure formed on or in the substrate, wherein the resonator structure is configured to produce an abrupt change in phase, amplitude and/or polarization of incident radiation. |
| US08848269B2 |
Method for projecting an image
According to the present invention there is provided a method of projecting an image, the method comprising the steps of, providing light signal which is configured such that it can be projected onto a display surface to display an image; oscillating a first reflective surface, to scan the light signal over the display surface, using an actuator which is in operable co-operation with the first reflective surface, by applying a first actuation signal to the first reflective surface, wherein a rise time or fall time of the first actuation signal is inversely proportional to a resonant frequency of oscillation of the first reflective surface. |
| US08848265B2 |
Color conversion device, color conversion method, recording medium, and color separation device
Granularity level adjustment areas, in each of which a granularity level of an image is adjusted, are extracted. Each of target values for the granularity levels in the extracted granularity level adjustment areas is set. The granularity level is calculated, and the device color signals in the granularity level adjustment areas are converted, such that the calculated granularity level is closer to the target value than before the device color signals are converted, and such that the new device color signals fall within an isochromatic range in a device-independent color space. |
| US08848264B2 |
Image reading apparatus
An image reading apparatus comprising: a reading unit; a feeding unit; a carriage; a motor-side transmission gear for transmitting power from a motor; a feeding unit-side transmission gear for transmitting the power to the feeding unit in a feeding reading of reading an image of the document fed by the feeding unit; a carriage-side transmission gear for transmitting the power to the carriage in a moving reading of reading an image of the document while moving the carriage; a switching gear configured to be switched between a feeding unit-side position and a carriage-side position; a sensor; and a control device configured to, when it is determined that the jam has occurred, drive the motor in a direction of releasing a meshed state between the feeding unit-side transmission gear and the switching gear. |
| US08848263B2 |
Image reading apparatus
Disclosed is an image reading apparatus comprising: a movable unit having a transparent member; a guide portion arranged to face the transparent member to guide a conveyed sheet; a reader portion configured to read an image on a sheet guided by the guide portion past the transparent member; abutting portions that are provided on the guide portion and abut on the movable unit; an actuating portion configured to move the movable unit in a direction along the surface of the transparent member; and an engaging portion provided on the movable unit and engaged with the guide member such that the movable unit and the abutting portion are separated from each other as the movable unit is moved by the actuating portion. |
| US08848257B2 |
Color prediction method, color conversion lookup table generation method, image processing method and image processing apparatus
According to the present invention, even if the coloring material use amount is limited but ambiguities remain and an accurate coloring material use limit is not known, then a virtual coloring material use limit is set artificially, the color measurement values of virtual patches in a region that exceeds the coloring material use limit are inferred by extrapolation and the color measurement values in the region exceeding the coloring material use limit are predicted by interpolation using the inferred color measurement values. Therefore, it is possible to predict colors in relation to any input exceeding the coloring material use limit. |
| US08848255B2 |
Image forming apparatus, image forming system and updating method of multi-dimensional LUT
An image forming apparatus including an image forming unit; a color conversion unit; a storage unit which stores a mixed-color pattern including a gradation of tones of a mixed color and a reference value of each of the tones; and a control unit which forms an image of the mixed-color pattern on the sheet with the image forming unit, compares color values representing color shades for each of the tones between an observed value of the image of the mixed-color pattern formed on the sheet and the reference value of the mixed-color pattern stored in the storage unit, and determines that the multi-dimensional LUT needs to be updated and updates the multi-dimensional LUT if a difference of the color values is determined to be large on the basis of a threshold value. |
| US08848251B2 |
Halftoning printing with a page-wide-array printer
A page-wide-array printer has a print unit including an array of print-heads, wherein a printing direction is defined by a relative movement between the print unit and a print medium during a printing process. The page-wide-array printer receives a continuous tone image and divides the continuous tone image into a series of slices along a printing direction. Halftone image data is generated from each of the slices using error diffusion halftoning. The error diffusion halftoning comprises processing, with regard to error diffusion, each slice pixel-by-pixel following a processing pattern mainly oriented along a main processing direction which is parallel to the printing direction. The page-wide-array printer prints the halftone image data along the printing direction. |
| US08848249B2 |
Creating an image to be printed using halftone blending
A method for creating an image to be printed is provided. A first halftone pattern and a second halftone pattern for respective first and second periodic clustered dot halftone regions of the image are selected. The regions have respective frequencies and one of the frequencies is higher than the other frequency. A transition region is determined. The transition region includes a boundary between the two regions and includes additional portions of the two regions beyond the boundary. The two halftone patterns are blended with each other in the transition region based on a blending ratio of the two halftones where the blending ratio changes as a function of distance between the edges of the transition region. |
| US08848248B2 |
Gradation correction device for generating gradation correction data in accordance with density data obtained by reading control strip, and printing system having the same
Disclosed is a gradation correction device in which the control strip has white or light-colored end patches and has at least one reference point at each of both ends of the control strip, which is defined by two straight lines including a fine line drawn on at least a part of a peripheral edge of each end patch except a border between the end patch and an adjacent patch which is adjacent to the end patch, and in which the gradation correction device detects the reference point at each of the both end portions of the control strip in the read image data, and obtains the density data of each patch by specifying a position of each patch in the control strip in the read image data in accordance with the detected reference point. |
| US08848247B2 |
Image retouching program
Provided is photo retouching software which is easy for photo studio personnel to use. Upon opening photo image(s), special photo retoucher converts photo image data thereof to working color space image data. At such time(s), if working ICC profile(s) is/are set which is/are different from ICC profile(s) previously embedded in such photo image file(s), color perceptual matching is carried out on the photo image data thereof based on such embedded ICC profile(s) and working ICC profile(s) when such photo image file(s) is/are opened. Furthermore, when such photo image(s) is/are displayed at monitor(s), such image data is converted to monitor color space image data through color matching using working ICC profile(s) and monitor ICC profile(s). |
| US08848243B2 |
Image processing apparatus, controlling method of image processing apparatus, and storage medium
A plurality of preview images in case of color printing performed to an area selected by a user and monochrome printing performed to an area not selected by the user are generated based on a plurality of parameters, and then the generated preview images are displayed. Further, preview images in case of color printing performed to a specific area and monochrome printing performed to another area are generated respectively to a plurality of patterns, and then the generated preview images are displayed. |
| US08848242B2 |
System and method to implement sharing of paper documents using virtual currency
The application discloses systems and methods for physically sharing a hard copy of a document. The systems and methods include presenting to a user a graphical user interface having printing options for printing the document, where the graphical user interface has an input for receiving an indication by the user that the user is willing to share the hard copy of the document; presenting to the user options for defining characteristics of the hard copy of the document in response to receiving the indication; and publishing at least one of the defined characteristics within a profile page of the user. |
| US08848240B2 |
Image processing apparatus, image reading apparatus, image forming apparatus, image processing method, and recording medium
An object area containing a text or a graphic is extracted from a document image containing the text or the graphic. Then, on the basis of the extracted object area and stored size information, a cropping area is determined that surrounds the object area with given margins. Further, setting of margins is received. Then, on the basis of the object area and the received setting of the margins, the cropping area is determined. Then, the cropping area determined on the basis of the object area and the size information or alternatively the cropping area determined on the basis of the object area and the setting of the margins is cropped from the document image. |
| US08848239B2 |
Decoloring device comprising a mechanism for discharging a decolored sheet, and related sheet conveying method and non-transitory computer readable recording medium
There is provided a decoloring device including a decoloring unit, a first sheet conveying unit, a second sheet conveying unit, a reversing and conveying unit, a manual feed tray, and a manual discharge tray. The reversing and conveying unit is disposed adjacent to an outer wall of the decoloring device in relation to the first sheet conveying unit, and conveys once again the sheet, which is temporarily brought into the second sheet conveying unit after being decolored by the decoloring unit and is switch-back conveyed, to the first sheet conveying unit. The manual feed tray is provided at an outer wall side of the decoloring device adjacent to the reversing and conveying unit. The manual discharge tray is provided at a position of the outer wall side of the decoloring device adjacent to the reversing and conveying unit. |
| US08848237B2 |
Wireless scanning device and method for scanning and transmitting scan data
A wireless scanning device includes a scanning module adapted to scan a subject, a processor coupled to the scanning module, and a wireless communication module coupled to the processor for wireless communication with a user device. The processor is operable to control the scanning module to start scanning the subject according to a scan command from the user device. The scanning module is operable to generate scan data segments during scanning. The processor is further operable, for each scan data segment, to generate and transmit a real-time display data segment for real-time display and a compressed data segment for storage to the user device. |
| US08848236B2 |
Changing the resolution of a printer using a pulse train
A variable resolution print system is provided. The system includes a variable resolution printer coupled to a positional encoder and a configuration module. The position encoder provides a pulse train to a controller in the variable resolution printer, the pulse train representing the movement of a target relative to the printer. A user of the print system enters or sets a desired resolution for printing via the configuration module. The controller calculates the difference between pulses in the pulse train. The controller then determines an adjustment to the calculate difference based on the desired resolution. The adjustment is used to generate a pulse train that actuates one or more print head of the printer. |
| US08848233B2 |
Method for reducing image quality artifacts in three-dimensional printing
A relief print master, such as a flexographic print master or sleeve is created by printing a sequence of intermediate layers on top of each other with an inkjet printing system. The top layer corresponds with the halftoned image that is to be printed by the print master and the lower intermediate layers are supporting layers. The pixels of the intermediate layers that are stacked on top of each other are printed with different nozzles to reduce image quality artifacts. Both a method and a system are described. |
| US08848230B2 |
Image forming apparatus and image forming system
An image forming apparatus includes: an operation unit; an image forming unit; a control unit making the image forming unit perform an image formation; a data acquisition unit obtaining an image formation object data; a data conversion unit converting the image formation object data to an image formation format data; and a plurality of memory regions storing the image formation format data, wherein when the data acquisition unit obtains the image formation object data, the control unit makes the data conversion unit convert the image formation object data to the image formation format data, makes each of the plurality of memory regions store each of the image formation format data, and, when the operation unit receives an image formation instruction, makes the image forming unit perform an image formation, in a predetermined order, of the image formation format data stored in the plurality of memory regions. |
| US08848229B2 |
Information processing device, information processing system, control method, and storage medium
A cooperation server executes printing processing of a document from an MFP through a printing server based on matter information including a printing instruction for the document received from a matter management server. The cooperation server notifies the client PC of the printing order that includes the printing ID and access information used for registering the costs related to the printing after completion of printing, provides a registering screen for costs related to printing by reason of the access from the client PC, and registers the costs registering information received from the client PC on the matter management server. |
| US08848228B2 |
Image forming apparatus supporting peer to peer connection and method of performing image forming operation thereof
A method of performing an image forming operation in an image forming apparatus supporting peer to peer (P2P) connection includes P2P connecting the image forming apparatus to an external wireless device while the image forming apparatus is wirelessly connected to an access point (AP) of an infrastructured network, receiving a discovery packet from the wireless device via a P2P interface, transmitting to the wireless device a response packet including an Internet protocol (IP) address of the P2P interface, receiving from the wireless device an image forming operation performing request having the IP address of the P2P interface as a destination, and performing the requested image forming operation. |
| US08848227B2 |
Job division apparatus
A job division apparatus for dividing a print job including a plurality of print sets which are units to be processed by respective image forming apparatuses and transmitting the print sets to the image forming apparatuses. The job division apparatus includes a judgment unit configured to judge whether the print job is dividable at a planned division position indicating a position at which the print job is planned to be divided, on a basis of the planned division position and a set separation position for the print sets included in the print job, a calculator configured to calculate a division position by moving the planned division position so as to agree with the set separation position upon judgment that the print job is not dividable, and a divider configured to divide the print job on a basis of the division position as calculated. |
| US08848226B2 |
Printing apparatus, printing system, and printing method for managing a print job queue with a timer
The printing apparatus is provided for processing a print job received from an information terminal to accumulate the print job sent from the information terminal in an image storage portion, and includes a timer for measuring elapse of a predetermined time from reception of a print job for each user indentified according to user identification information included in the print job; and a control portion for controlling a print order, during the time measurement, so as to skip printing of a print job received from a corresponding user to print a print job not including the user identification information first, and print print jobs received from the corresponding user in a lump after the elapse of the predetermined time. |
| US08848225B2 |
Image forming apparatus for determining whether images are normally formed in a set of pages based on a comparison result between stored processing results, and image forming system and non-transitory computer readable recording medium
An image forming apparatus for outputting a plurality of sets of output units, the output unit composed of a plurality of pages with a determined order being one set, includes an image forming unit for successively forming images corresponding to the respective pages on sheets, a control unit for performing an arithmetic processing of an image eigenvalue for each output unit, a first storage storing the result of the arithmetic processing performed for one specific set of output unit, and a second storage storing the result of the arithmetic processing performed for the nth set of output unit, wherein the control unit determines whether or not the images are normally formed on the sheets for the nth set of output unit based on a comparison result between the result of the arithmetic processing stored in the first storage and that of the arithmetic processing stored in the second storage. |
| US08848223B2 |
Printing method for maintaining proper page sequence while reducing printer artifacts
A printing method for a print job having at least two pages. After determining a position of rolled media in the printer, print data for either a first page or a second page of the print job can be staged for printing first. This can be performed at a host computer connected to the printer or it can be performed in the printer. |
| US08848221B2 |
Method and system for managing print on demand jobs with remote cache
A method and system for managing print job through a process carried out by an online web-store server. The process includes the steps of receiving a print job order by a web-store server, and checking a remote cache via a network to determine whether a PDF file is stored therein. If the matching PDF file does not exist, then the server generates a new PDF file containing the sequence of articles and transmits the new PDF file to the print server, and saves the new PDF file in the remote cache. If the matching PDF exists, then the stored PDF is retrieved from the remote cache, and the print server uses the retrieved PDF file to print the print job without the web-store server creating the new PDF file or transmitting the new PDF file to the print server. |
| US08848219B2 |
Printing control apparatus, printing control method, and program for reducing the number of times of shifting a printing apparatus to the standby state to reduce power consumption
A printing control apparatus includes a storage unit configured to store information about a plurality of print jobs and a plurality of printing devices in a storage device, a detection unit configured to detect the shift of operating status of the plurality of printing devices, a determination unit configured to determine a print job which a printing device prints from the plurality of print jobs based on the information about the plurality of print jobs and the plurality of printing devices stored in the storage device when the shift of the printing device to a standby state is detected by the detection unit, and a print control unit configured to cause the first printing device to print the print job determined by the determination unit. |
| US08848214B2 |
System and method for automatically validating a workflow plan using an automated planner
An improved automated planning method and system includes the use of an automated planner for validating a workflow plan with respect to device capabilities. As such, the present invention provides for an improved method and system for implementing and managing workflow plans utilized in printing environments such as, for example, print shops. A plurality of device capability descriptions can be converted into a data indicative of facts and operators for utilizing in a knowledge-based reasoning system. Next, a workflow plan can be converted into properties indicative of a goal state. The goal state and the data indicative of facts and operators can then be utilized in association with a domain-independent or domain-dependent planner to determine if said workflow plan is valid and executable in order to thereby validate said workflow plan. |
| US08848213B2 |
Object-based network scanning
In accordance with one or more aspects, a user selects one or more capabilities of a repository service and one or more capabilities of a scanner. A scan object including both acquisition parameters based on the selected one or more capabilities of the scanner and post-scan instructions based on the selected one or more capabilities of the repository service is generated and stored for subsequent access by the scanner. At the scanner, multiple scan objects available to a user of the scanner are identified. One or more electronic documents are created by scanning one or more documents using the acquisition parameters in the selected scan object. Both the post-scan instructions in the selected scan object and the one or more electronic documents are sent to a service identified in the scan object, where the post-scan instructions are processed. |
| US08848211B2 |
Maintenance program creation for an image forming apparatus
With a computer-readable non-transitory recording medium that stores a program, the program causes an information processing apparatus to function as an error-code-accepting unit, a data-management unit, an extracting unit, and a creating unit. The error-code-accepting unit accepts an error code. The data-management unit has (i) image data, each of which is associated with a setting, the value of which can be adjusted, (ii) control programs that supplies an output to an image forming apparatus, and (iii) combination information about a combination of the image data and the control program. When the error code is accepted, the extracting unit extracts the image data and the control program. The creating unit creates a maintenance program by using the image data and control program. |
| US08848207B2 |
Computer capable of setting new environment for using new electronic device
A computer allowing a user to use, even when the printing device is changed, a new printing device in a state close to a familiar environment of use is provided. The computer includes a determining unit determining whether an existing environment for using another electronic device used for the same usage as the new electronic device has been set in the computer. The computer further includes a setting unit selectively executing a process for setting an environment for using the new electronic device in the computer using the existing environment as a reference, and a process for setting a default setting for using the new electronic device in the computer, depending on a result of determination. |
| US08848204B2 |
Image forming apparatus that prints an image on a recording medium set for manual feed
An image forming apparatus includes: a manual feed detecting unit that detects if a recording medium is set in a manual medium feeding unit; a print data receiving unit that receives print data; a medium orientation setting unit that receives an instruction for an orientation of the recording medium to be fed from the manual medium feeding unit, and sets the orientation; a printing control unit that controls the printing device to print an image based on the print data and executes a manual feed forcing operation if the manual feed detecting unit has detected the recording medium; and an image generating unit that generates the image based on the print data and determines an orientation of the image based on the orientation of the recording medium. |
| US08848197B2 |
Cavity opto-mechanical sensor array
A mass sensor system including multiple Fabry-Perot microcavities connected in parallel by multiple waveguides. Each of the mass sensors includes a microbridge having a fundamental resonance frequency, and a movable reflective mirror etched into the microbridge; a fixed reflective mirror etched in a substrate, the fixed reflective mirror being fixed to the substrate in a region spaced apart from the movable reflective mirror; and an optical waveguide etched in the substrate that connects the movable mirror and the fixed mirror forming the Fabry-Perot microcavity interferometer. The system includes a tunable continuous-wave laser operative to optically interrogate the Fabry-Perot microcavity of each of the plurality of mass sensors, and a receiver operative to receive sensor signals from each of the plurality of mass sensors, the sensor signals comprising reflective signals and transmitted signals. A continuous-wave laser may generate optical forces that modify the motion, dynamics, or mechanical Q-factor of the microbridge. |
| US08848191B2 |
Photoacoustic sensor with mirror
A photoacoustic sensing device includes a laser tuned to emit light to cause optical absorption by a gas to be detected, a resonant acoustic sensor positioned to receive pressure waves from the gas, wherein the laser is modulated to match a resonant frequency of the resonant acoustic sensor, and a first mirror positioned to receive light from the laser after the light has passed through the gas and to reflect the received light back through the gas to cause additional optical absorption. |
| US08848189B2 |
Method and device for express analysis of acetone traces in gases
A device, system, and method for measuring acetone levels exhaled from a patient and correlating the measured level to a blood glucose concentration. |
| US08848187B2 |
Spectroscopic sensor device and electronic equipment
A spectroscopic sensor that applies lights in a wavelength band containing plural wavelengths to an object and spectroscopically separates reflected lights or transmitted lights from the object using plural light band-pass filters that transmit the respective specific wavelengths and plural photosensor parts to which corresponding transmitted lights are input based on output results of independent photosensors. The spectroscopic sensor may be integrated in a semiconductor device or module by integration using a semiconductor process and downsizing may be realized. |
| US08848185B2 |
Optical system and method for measuring in three-dimensional structures
An optical system is presented for use in measuring in patterned structures having vias. The system is configured and operable to enable measurement of a via profile parameters. The system comprises an illumination channel for propagating illuminated light onto the structure being measured, a detection channel for collecting light returned from the illuminated structure to a detection unit, and a modulating assembly configured and operable for implementing a dark-field detection mode by carrying out at least one of the following: affecting at least one parameter of light propagating along at least one of the illumination and detection channels, and affecting propagation of light along at least the detection channel. |
| US08848184B2 |
Optical position-measuring device
In an optical position-measuring device for recording the relative position of a scanning unit and a measuring standard, the scanning unit includes a light source, first annular scanning graduation, reflector element, beamsplitter element, and detection unit. A beam emitted by the light source impinges on the measuring graduation and is split into at least two partial beams of rays. The partial beams propagate toward the scanning unit, impinge the first scanning graduation on the reflector element, are reflected through the first scanning graduation toward the measuring graduation, impinge the measuring graduation, propagate toward the scanning unit and undergo superposition, and are deflected by the beamsplitter element toward the detection unit. There, a plurality of positionally dependent, phase-shifted scanning signals can be recorded. The first scanning graduation focuses the partial beams from the measuring graduation at the reflector element, thereby recollimating the partial beams to be reflected toward the measuring graduation. |
| US08848182B2 |
Optical device, analyzing apparatus and spectroscopic method
An optical device includes a first projection group in which electrically conductive projections are arranged at a first period along a direction parallel to a virtual plane. When light traveling in a direction inclined with respect to a vertical line directed to the virtual plane is incident on the first projection group, surface plasmon resonance is generated at a first resonance peak wavelength and a second resonance peak wavelength. A first resonance peak wavelength band including the first resonance peak wavelength includes an excitation wavelength in surface-enhanced Raman scattering. A second resonance peak wavelength band including the second resonance peak wavelength includes a Raman scattering wavelength in the surface-enhanced Raman scattering. |
| US08848179B2 |
Apparatus for focus beam analysis of high power lasers
An in-line laser beam waist analyzer system includes an optical prism that picks off a portion of a second surface reflection from either a laser processing focus lens or a protective debris shield for the processing lens and directs that focused light to a pixelated detector. This provides real time monitoring of the focused laser beam while it is processing material by welding, cutting, drilling, scribing or marking, without disrupting the process. |
| US08848177B2 |
Apparatus for focus beam analysis of high power lasers
An in-line laser beam waist analyzer system includes an optical prism that picks off a portion of a second surface reflection from either a laser processing focus lens or a protective debris shield for the processing lens and directs that focused light to a pixelated detector. This provides real time monitoring of the focused laser beam while it is processing material by welding, cutting, drilling, scribing or marking, without disrupting the process. |
| US08848174B2 |
Apparatus and method for coupling an optical beam with an optical fibre
A method and corresponding apparatus for coupling an optical beam into a first end of an optical fiber includes two steps. First, light is coupled into a second end of the optical fiber such that an optical reference beam is output from the first end of the optical fiber. Second, at least one beam parameter of the optical beam is matched with the corresponding beam parameter of the optical reference beam. The second step may be performed using a wavefront sensor. |
| US08848172B2 |
Distance measuring device having homogenizing measurement evaluation
A handheld measuring device for optical distance measurement includes a transmitting device, a receiving device, an evaluation device, and a homogenizing device. The transmitting device is configured to transmit periodically modulated optical measurement radiation toward a target object. The receiving device is configured to detect optical measurement radiation returning from the target object. The evaluation device is configured to receive and evaluate detection signals of the receiving device. The evaluation device comprises a plurality of accumulation devices configured to accumulate detection signals. The evaluation device conducts detection signals during a sampling time window from a plurality of sampling time windows temporally schematically changeably to an assigned accumulation device from the plurality of accumulation devices, such that the accumulation device accumulates the detection signals during the sampling time window. |
| US08848171B2 |
Highly accurate distance measurement device
Highly accurate electro-optical time of flight distance measuring device for determining a distance to a target, including a transmitter for sending out a pulse shaped optical radiation to the target as well as a receiver for an optical signal built for turning the optical signal to an electrical signal, and a filter with a transfer function for filtering the electrical signal whereby the filter is built in such a way that its transfer-function is of at least 4th order, in particular 5th or 7th or higher order, so that aliasing is suppressed. Further a waveform-sampler, as an analog-to-digital-converter, for digitalizing the pulse shape from the filtered electrical signal as time- and value-quantized digital data, and a computation means for a numerical evaluation of the distance according to the pulse shape or a pulse shape representing numerical signature from the digital data. |
| US08848166B2 |
Apparatus and method for maintaining immersion fluid in the gap under the projection lens during wafer exchange in an immersion lithography machine
An immersion exposure apparatus and method expose a substrate with an exposure beam via an optical assembly and via immersion liquid. A first stage on which a substrate is mounted is positioned below the optical assembly so that the immersion liquid is maintained in a space between the optical assembly and the substrate. The first stage is replaced below the optical assembly with a second stage while maintaining the immersion liquid below the optical assembly. The replacing includes arranging a movable member, which is independently movable relative to the first and second stages and away from below the optical assembly, to face the optical assembly so as to substantially maintain the immersion liquid below the optical assembly while the first and second substrate stages are away from below the optical assembly. A control system controls a drive system to move the first and second stages. |
| US08848165B2 |
Lithographic apparatus and device manufacturing method
An immersion lithography apparatus is disclosed in which liquid is supplied to a space between a projection system and a substrate, and a plate structure is provided to divide the space into two parts. The plate structure has an aperture to allow transmission of the projection beam, has through holes in it to reduce the damping effect of the presence of the plate and optionally has one or more inlets and outlets to provide various flows around the aperture in the plate. An embodiment of the invention may reduce the transportation of contaminants, stray light, temperature gradients, and/or the effect of bubbles on the imaging quality. |
| US08848163B2 |
Photoresist materials and photolithography processes
A lithography apparatus generates a tunable magnetic field to facilitate processing of photoresist. The lithography apparatus includes a chamber and a substrate stage in the chamber operable to hold a substrate. A magnetic module provides a magnetic field to the substrate on the substrate stage. The magnetic module is configured to provide the magnetic field in a tunable and alternating configuration with respect to its magnitude and frequency. The magnetic field is provided to have a gradient in magnitude along a Z-axis that is perpendicular to the substrate stage to cause magnetically-charged particles disposed over the substrate stage to move up and down along the Z-axis. The lithography apparatus also includes a radiation energy source and an objective lens configured to receive radiation energy from the radiation energy source and direct the radiation energy toward the substrate positioned on the substrate stage. |
| US08848158B2 |
Liquid crystal display device and associated liquid crystal media for use in the same
A reverse mode liquid crystal display device, including: a first substantially transparent substrate having an electrically conductive material associated therewith; a second substrate having an electrically conductive material associated therewith; an insulating layer associated with at least one of the first and second substrates; and a liquid crystal medium contained within a chamber positioned between the first and second substrates which includes a macrocyclic ether and/or a borane; and a nematic, negative dielectric anisotropic liquid crystal mixture. |
| US08848153B2 |
Image display device
An image display device includes a light source, an array substrate having a plurality of sub-pixel areas and corresponding to a plurality of color filters, wherein the array substrate includes: a display region and a peripheral region around the display region; and a liquid crystal layer comprising a plurality of liquid crystal molecules. A light transmittance per unit area in the peripheral region of the array substrate is equal to or less than a light transmittance per unit area in the display region of the array substrate, and a resistivity ratio of the color filter having a highest resistivity to the color filter having a lowest resistivity is less than 10 and greater than 0. |
| US08848149B2 |
Controllable optical device and the forming method thereof
A controllable optical device comprises a first substrate, a first conductive layer, a liquid crystal layer, a semiconductor conductive layer, a second conductive layer, and a second substrate. The first conductive layer is formed on the first substrate, the liquid crystal layer is formed on the first conductive layer, the semiconductor conductive layer is formed on the liquid crystal layer, the second conductive layer is formed on the semiconductor layer, and the second substrate is formed on the second conductive layer. |
| US08848146B2 |
Liquid crystal device, electronic device and phase difference compensating plate
An O plate is included which includes a phase difference compensating layer which is an assembly of columns obtained by oblique deposition of an anisotropic refractive index medium with respect to a substrate and has negative biaxial refractive index anisotropy. In the O plate, a front surface phase difference value of the O plate in the normal direction is 5-15 nm, and a ratio of Re(−30)/Re(30) is 2.5-5.5. |
| US08848145B2 |
Method for producing light reflective film, and light reflective film
A light reflective film is produced by (a) forming a hard coat layer having a surface energy of less than 30 mN/m and a pencil hardness of at least 2H on a resin film, (b) applying a curable liquid crystal composition onto the surface of the opposite side, (c) drying the applied curable liquid crystal composition to be in a state of a cholesteric liquid crystal phase, (d) promoting the curing reaction to form a light reflective layer, and (e) repeating at least once the process of from (b) to (d). |
| US08848134B2 |
LED assembly and liquid crystal display device including the same
A light emitting diode (LED) assembly includes a printed circuit board; first and second LED arrays arranged on the printed circuit board and each including a plurality of LEDs, wherein the LEDs in each of the first and second LED array are connected to each other in series, and an output terminal of the first LED array faces an output terminal of the second LED array; a first input line connected to an input terminal of the first LED array; a second input line connected to an input terminal of the second LED array; and one output line connected to the output terminal of the first LED array and the output terminal of the second LED array, wherein the first input line, the second input line and the one output line are disposed at one side of the printed circuit board with respect to the LEDs. |
| US08848133B2 |
Hybrid type liquid crystal display device
The present disclosure relates to a hybrid type liquid crystal display device. The present disclosure suggests a hybrid type liquid crystal display device comprising a liquid crystal display panel having a display area; and a window area defined within the display area, wherein an image disposed at outside of the liquid crystal display panel is shown in front of the liquid crystal panel through the window area. The present disclosure suggests a hybrid type display device in which main video data is represented using the liquid crystal display device, an additional image represented on an external screen is shown through the liquid crystal display device, or the external image can be shown by overlapping with the main video data of the liquid crystal display device, as needed. |
| US08848131B2 |
Lighting device, display device and television receiver
An object of the present invention is to stably fix a light source board without using any screw. A backlight unit 12 according to the present invention includes an LED board 18 including an LED 17 as a light source, a chassis 14 that stores the LED board 18 and has an opening 14b through which light from the LED 17 exits, and a holding member 20 that extends in at least one direction along a plate surface of the LED board 18 and is fixed to the chassis 14 so as to hold the LED board 18 together with the chassis between the holding member 20 and the chassis 14. |
| US08848123B2 |
Liquid crystal display device
A liquid crystal display device includes a liquid crystal display module including an in-plane switching mode liquid crystal panel; a first cover covering a rear side of the liquid crystal display module; a second cover covering a front side of the liquid crystal display module and including a transparent conductive layer; and a discharging path connecting the transparent conductive layer to the in-plane switching mode liquid crystal panel, wherein the transparent conductive layer is attached to the liquid crystal display module. |
| US08848120B2 |
Liquid crystal lens panel
Provided is a liquid crystal lens panel. The illustrative liquid crystal lens panel may provide a display device capable of viewing a 3D or 2D image without glasses. |
| US08848114B2 |
Controlling polarization for liquid crystal displays
Certain embodiments of liquid crystal display protection panels and liquid crystal display protection panel integrals have low reflection for outdoor applications. Various embodiments also have the advantage of being able to provide increased contrast and brightness for certain convenient viewing directions for outdoor viewers wearing polarized sunglasses. |
| US08848103B2 |
Content data display device, content data display method and program
It is desired to provide a content data display device having a caption display function which can effectively use the screen of the limited size and achieves a high operability. A content data display device includes: a storage unit configured to store an image data and a content data which includes at least one caption data which respectively corresponds to at least one region on the image data; a display unit configured to display the image data; an input unit configured to select a selected region from the at least one region; and a control unit configured to display a caption data which is one of the at least one caption data and corresponds to the selected region to overlap on the selected region of the image data as a selected caption data. |
| US08848100B2 |
Information processing device, information processing system, and launch program and storage medium storing the same providing photographing functionality
A game device according to the present embodiment includes a camera as image pick-up means. An inner camera is accommodated in an upper housing. In addition, a microphone hole is provided in an inner surface of the upper housing so as to sense external sound through a microphone. |
| US08848094B2 |
Optimal blur matching selection for depth estimation
Autofocusing is performed in response to a capturing object images upon which multiple depth estimation techniques are applied to yield a plurality of iterations. An iteration from one of these depth estimation techniques is selected based on results, such as based on largest absolute value, and checked. If the iteration fails the check, another of the iterations is selected and tested. Once a valid iteration is found, additional focus positions are executed in like manner from which an accurate focus position is determined. |
| US08848092B2 |
Solid-state imaging device and electronic apparatus
A solid-state imaging device includes: a light-receiving element; and a multilayer film which is disposed on a side of a light-receiving surface of the light-receiving element and is formed by laminating a plurality of layers made of materials having different refractive indices, in which a defect layer is included in at least one of the laminated layers, wherein in the defect layer, a plurality of kinds of materials having different refractive indices coexist in a surface parallel to the light-receiving surface. |
| US08848083B2 |
Photographing apparatus and file transfer method used in the photographing apparatus
A photographing apparatus and a file transfer method in the photographing apparatus efficiently process files of an external device and image data of the photographing apparatus which have a same name when transferring the image data to the external device, such as a personal computer. The photographing apparatus which captures an image and creates and stores image data of the image includes a display unit that displays the image data, a communication interface that performs data communications with an external device by transmitting data to and receiving data from the external device, and a control unit that controls the communication interface to transfer the image data to the external device and, when the external device includes a file having the same file name as the image data, controls the display unit to display a synthesized image of the image data and an image of the file of the external device. |
| US08848080B2 |
Active pixel sensor with a diagonal active area
An imaging device formed as a CMOS semiconductor integrated circuit having two adjacent pixels in a row connected to a common column line and a processor based system with such an imaging device. By having adjacent pixels of a row share column lines, the CMOS imager circuit eliminates half the column lines of a traditional imager allowing the fabrication of a smaller imager. The imaging device also may be fabricated to have a diagonal active area to facilitate contact of two adjacent pixels with the single column line and allow linear row select lines, reset lines and column lines. |
| US08848079B2 |
Solid-state imaging device and imaging system using buffered counter value of a counter
A solid-state imaging device includes a plurality of pixels arranged in a matrix, a plurality of readout circuits provided in each column of the plurality of pixels arranged in a matrix, configured to read out for each column a signal of the plurality of pixels, a plurality of comparison units configured to compare a signal output from the plurality of readout circuits with a reference signal whose level changes with time, a counter configured to perform a count operation from when the level of the reference signal starts to change, first and second buffers each configured to buffer a count value of the counter, and a plurality of storing units connected to the plurality of comparison units, configured to store a count value of the counter when a magnitude relation between a signal output from the plurality of the readout circuits and the reference signal is inverted. |
| US08848077B2 |
Imaging apparatus and imaging method
An imaging apparatus includes a solid-state imaging device that has a plurality of pairs of a first photoelectric conversion element and a second photoelectric conversion element, which have different spectral sensitivity characteristics, respectively. A wavelength range where the first photoelectric conversion element of each pair mainly has a spectral sensitivity and a wavelength range where the second photoelectric conversion element of the pair mainly has a spectral sensitivity fall within wavelength ranges of specific colors of visible light respectively. The plurality of pairs include a plurality of types of pairs having different specific colors. A half-width in a spectral sensitivity characteristic of the second photoelectric conversion element of each pair is wider than a half width in a spectral sensitivity characteristic of the first photoelectric conversion element of the pair. |
| US08848071B2 |
Imaging apparatus that switches between hardware image processor and software image processor
An imaging apparatus capable of capturing a moving image with an imaging device is equipped with a first image-processing device that uses hardware to process images captured by the imaging device and a second image-processing device that processes captured images with software. The imaging apparatus includes an image-processing switching device that selectively operates one of either the first image-processing device or the second image-processing device. The imaging apparatus includes a light-detection device that detects the amount of light received by the imaging device and a sensitivity adjustment device that increases the sensitivity of the imaging device as the amount of light decreases. The image-processing switching device operates the first image-processing device when the sensitivity is lower than a predetermined value and operates the second image-processing device when the sensitivity is higher than the predetermined value. |
| US08848063B2 |
Image processing including image correction
Long and short exposure time pixel information are input to pixel information. A long exposure time image set with the pixel values assuming all of the pixels have been exposed for a long time and a short exposure time image set with the pixel values assuming all of the pixels have been exposed for a short time are generated. A point spread function corresponding to the long exposure time image is computed as a long exposure time image PSF. A corrected image is generated using the short exposure time image, the long exposure time image, and the long exposure time image PSF. The corrected image is generated as a wide dynamic range image utilizing the pixel information for the long and short exposure time image. Utilizing the pixel information for the short exposure time image with little blurring, makes the corrected image a high quality corrected image with little blurring. |
| US08848058B2 |
Method for analyzing the motion of a person during an activity
A method is disclosed for analyzing with a computer (1) the motion of an athlete (3), of a team or a patient during an activity, said method comprising the steps of defining a number of unevenly time-spaced key positions in said motion, said key positions being of particular interest for analyzing the correct execution of said motion by said athlete (3) or team. A video sequence (11) of said motion is acquired with a camera (2) and still pictures (12) are extracted from said video sequence (11). Templates can trigger the automatic extraction of still pictures (12). For extraction purposes, a metadata recorded with a sensor (5) at the same time as the video sequence (11) can be used. Said still pictures (12) correspond to said previously defined key positions. Thereafter said extracted still pictures (12) are displayed simultaneously on a same display (10). |
| US08848055B2 |
Object recognition system, and obstacle recognition system and method for vehicle
Provided is an object recognition system. The object recognition system recognizes an object in an ROI of a source image. The object recognition system includes an image change unit and an ROI detection unit. The image change unit receives the source image, and changes the object into an edge image which is represented as an edge line. The ROI detection unit divides the edge image into a plurality of regions, compares a total sum of edge component values of an edge line included in each of the regions and a predetermined threshold value by regions, and detects a region, in which the total sum of edge component values is greater than the threshold value, as the ROI from among the plurality of regions. |
| US08848054B2 |
Presentation capture with automatically configurable output
A device and method for simultaneously capturing a combination of content video, content audio, presenter video and presenter audio, as well as distributing a combination of content video, content audio, presenter video and presenter audio to a digital sink via an HDMI connection. Video sources are automatically routed to the digital sink depending on the source configuration. |
| US08848048B2 |
Electronic mirroring system
An electronic mirroring system comprises a mirroring unit (12) consisted of a flat panel television (10) attached a touch panel (11), a front video camera (13), a rear video camera (14), and a main unit (21). A front image and a back image are displayed on the flat panel television (10) of the mirroring unit (12) simultaneously. |
| US08848045B2 |
Stereoscopic flat panel display with a continuously lit backlight
This disclosure describes stereoscopic flat panel display systems based on the polarization encoding of sequentially displayed left and right eye images. The systems comprise line-by-line addressed liquid crystal display (LCD) panels, illuminating back light units and polarization control panels (PCPs). Right and left eye images are written sequentially onto the LCD whose polarization is controlled by a substantially synchronously driven PCP. The backlight may be continuously illuminated, or modulated temporally, spatially or both, as can the PCP. |
| US08848044B2 |
Image processing apparatus, method, program and display
This invention is to provide an image processing apparatus, an image processing method, a program, and a display in which both of a secret image and a public image can be efficiently displayed with high picture quality without reducing contrast of the public image. One of output images is a secret image which displays an input secret image as one of input images in a partial area of a screen, all the output images including the secret image have a relationship to become, when a luminance value of each pixel thereof is totaled, an input public image as one of the input images; and during a period in which at least the secret image is being outputted, shutter glasses disposed between a display to which the image signals are inputted and user's eyes are set to a light transmission state. |
| US08848041B2 |
Method and apparatus for displaying stereoscopic image
Provided are methods and apparatuses for displaying a stereoscopic image. The method includes alternately generating repeated left-eye images and repeated right-eye images; turning off a backlight unit during a period in which a left-eye image and a right-eye image are mixed and turning on the backlight unit during a period in which only one of the left-eye and right-eye images is displayed; and controlling a left-eye shutter and a right-eye shutter of shutter glasses during a period in which the backlight unit is turned on. |
| US08848040B2 |
3D display system with active shutter plate
A 3D display system uses a lenticular screen or a parallax barrier, along with a shutter plate, as a light directing device to allow a viewer's right eye to see a right image and the left eye to see a left image on a display panel. The right and left images are alternately displayed. The shutter plate has a plurality of right shutter segments and a plurality of left shutter segments arranged in an interleaving manner. When the right image is displayed, the right shutter segments are open and the left shutter segments are closed. When the left image is displayed, the right shutter segments are closed and the left shutter segments are open. But when the 3D display panel is used as a 2D display panel, both the right and left shutter segments are all open so that both the viewer's eyes see the image simultaneously. |
| US08848037B2 |
Data structure, recording medium, playing device and playing method, and program
The present invention relates to a data structure, a recording medium, a playing device and a playing method, and a program, which enable providing of a video format for 3D display, suitable for 3D display of subtitles and menu buttons.Subtitle data for the left eye and subtitle data for the right eye which are used for 3D display of subtitles is recorded in a disc 501 in increments of epochs. The structures of epochs of subtitle data for the left eye and subtitle data for the right eye to be played simultaneously are the same. That is to say, the number of display sets making up an epoch of subtitle data for the left eye, and the number of display sets making up an epoch of subtitle data for the right eye, that are to be played simultaneously, are the same. The present invention can be applied to a disc for 3D display. |
| US08848034B2 |
Image processing apparatus, control method thereof, and program
There is provided an image processing apparatus for processing at least two still images that are picked up in such a manner that two still images successively picked up have shared portions, the apparatus comprising: a synthesis unit which generates a synthesized image from the at least two still images by synthesizing the shared portions; a capturing unit which captures a plurality of frame images from a plurality of areas in the synthesized image so that a frame image is captured from an area straddling two adjacent still images across the shared portions; and a generation unit which generates a moving image in which the synthesized image is scrolled and displayed, from the plurality of frame images captured by the capturing unit. |
| US08848033B2 |
Regulating method for panoramic imaging, apparatus for the same, and panoramic imaging apparatus
A regulating method for panoramic imaging, a regulating apparatus for the same, and a panoramic imaging apparatus are provided. The method includes: determining the circular viewing angle and the pitch angle of the current zone which is ready for being detected, determining the side length of the rectangular imaging part in the panoramic imaging apparatus, regulating the round panoramic image in the focal plane formed by a panoramic lens according to the side length of the rectangular imaging part and the circular viewing angle and the pitch angle of the current zone which is ready for being detected, in order to make the diameter of the round panoramic image in the focal plane formed by the panoramic lens greater than the length of the shorter side of the rectangular imaging part. |
| US08848031B2 |
Digital microscope system
Disclosed is a digital microscope system capable of controlling two or more microscope units with a controlling unit. The digital microscope system includes (i) two or more microscope units, (ii) a camera interface, (iii) a controlling unit and (iv) a light output device. The microscope unit includes a lens tube, a digital camera, a light terminator and a stand. The camera interface includes two or more camera interface (I/F) channels and a camera interface channel selector. The controlling unit includes a memory, a display device, a CPU (Central Processing Unit) and a power supply. |
| US08848030B2 |
Method and system for determining a direction between a detection point and an acoustic source
A method including: receiving acoustic signals originating from an acoustic source at a first pair of microphone elements, arranged symmetrically about a detection point; calculating, with a processor device, a cross correlation of signals provided by the first pair of microphone elements, resulting in a first cross correlation signal; receiving the acoustic signals originating from the acoustic source at a second pair of microphone elements, arranged symmetrically about the detection point; calculating, with the processor device, a cross correlation of signals provided by the second pair of microphone elements, resulting in a second cross correlation signal; and calculating, with the processor device, a direction between the detection point and the acoustic source based on a convolution of the first cross correlation signal by the second cross correlation signal. |
| US08848029B2 |
Optimizing room lighting based on image sensor feedback
A mechanism for efficiently and dynamically adjusting lighting conditions in a space through the use of existing video capture devices in the space or video capture devices on computing devices brought into the space is provided. Incident lighting levels, light composition, and similar aspects on the participants, displays, projectors, white boards, walls, and comparable objects may be calibrated and/or optimized based on captured image quality. |
| US08848027B2 |
Video conference call conversation topic sharing system
Systems and methods are disclosed herein to a method for presenting topics of conversation during a call comprising: connecting, by a computer, a first device and a second device over a network; opening, by a computer, an audio channel that facilitates audio communication between a first user of the first device and a second user of the second device; receiving, by a computer, an audio stream over the audio channel; analyzing, by a computer, the audio stream to determine spoken words said by either the first or second users; correlating, by a computer, the determined spoken words to determine a topic of conversation; and displaying, by a computer, the topic of conversation in an information post to a remote terminal connected to the network. |
| US08848025B2 |
Flow-control based switched group video chat and real-time interactive broadcast
Real-time interactive broadcast sessions for client devices include: for each client device in the interactive broadcast session, configuring downstream video and audio ports for the interactive broadcast session between a central controller and the client device; receiving from each client device a selected broadcaster corresponding to a broadcaster flow control signal; in response to receiving the selected broadcaster from each client device, sending video and audio streams of the selected broadcaster to each client device over the interactive broadcast session; receiving a request from a given client device on the interactive broadcast session to interact with the selected broadcaster; configuring upstream and downstream video ports for one-to-one video chat session between the central controller and the given client device; and sending the video and audio streams of the given client device, and the video and audio streams of the selected broadcaster, to each client device over the interactive broadcast session. |
| US08848020B2 |
Auto focus
A method of controlling a user interface to display participants of a call in dependence upon the participants' speech activity in the call, the method including monitoring the speech activity of the participants in the call and determining whether a participant is an active participant or an inactive participant in dependence on the participants' speech activity over a minimum time period of the call. In response to determining whether a participant is an active or inactive participant, an active participant is displayed in a first area of the user interface and an inactive participant is displayed in a second area of the user interface. The first area of the user interface is larger than the second area of the user interface. |
| US08848018B2 |
Method and apparatus for providing video call service
A method for providing a video call service in a videophone apparatus comprising: establishing a peer-to-peer connection between the videophone apparatus and a peer over a wireless connection; generating a local video stream in the videophone apparatus based on a video signal provided by a camera of the videophone apparatus; and rendering the local video stream to provide a first preview video of the video call for a user of the videophone apparatus. The method further comprises receiving at least one frame of a peer video stream; rendering the at least one frame of the peer video stream to provide a second preview video of the video call for the user of the videophone apparatus; and cross-fading the second preview video with the received peer video stream in response to a frame rate of the peer video stream exceeding a threshold value. |