| Document | Document Title |
|---|---|
| US08856108B2 |
Combining results of image retrieval processes
A MMR system for newspaper publishing comprises a plurality of mobile devices, an MMR gateway, an MMR matching unit and an MMR publisher. The MMR matching unit receives an image query from the MMR gateway and sends it to one or more of the recognition units to identify a result including a document, the page and the location on the page. The MMR matching unit also includes a result combiner coupled to each of the recognition units to receive recognition results. The result combiner produces a list of most likely results and associated confidence scores. This list of results is sent by the result combiner back to the MMR gateway for presentation on the mobile device. The result combiner uses the quality predictor as an input in deciding which results are best. |
| US08856106B2 |
Method and system for limiting share of voice of individual users
A system and method for limiting shares of voice of individual users in a result set are provided. In example embodiments, a listing user providing each listing in a result set of a search is identified. Sorting criteria indicating a number of listings a same listing user is allowed within a number of consecutive listings of the result set are reviewed. Using the sorting criteria, a sorted result set is generated by sorting the plurality of listings in accordance with the sorting criteria. The sorted result set is provided to a searching user. |
| US08856100B2 |
Displaying browse sequence with search results
Systems and computer program products may display a browse sequence for a plurality of statically paginated web pages with search engine results. The system may include a processor and a memory. The system may additionally include a program comprising a plurality of instructions stored in memory that are executed by the processor to (1) identify, in the source code of one web page, one or more links to at least another web page; (2) identify, in the source code of the at least another web page, one or more links to the one web page; (3) determine a browse sequence for the one web page and the at least another web page based on the identified one or more links to the at least another web page and to the one web page; and (4) display the browse sequence along with search results on a search engine results page. |
| US08856095B2 |
Configurable plug-in architecture for manipulating XML-formatted information
A method and system is described for building a document using a configurable plug-in architecture. In one example, a configuration file containing information of building the document with one or more components is received. The one or more components execute to modify or manipulate the document. The document may further be passed from one component to another component, where each of the components performs a function on the document. The sequence of execution of the components, the type of function or activity executed by each of the components, and/or configuration data of the components may be provided by the configuration file. The document may further be output to a user or stored. |
| US08856092B2 |
Systems and methods for managing databases
Systems and methods for managing databases are disclosed. One system includes a processor-addressable physical memory and a processor in communication with the processor-addressable physical memory and configured to execute an environment and to allocate an environment memory to the environment. In such a system, the environment is configured to maintain a database of objects in a database memory within the environment memory. An application executes in an application memory within the environment memory, and upon instantiation of a database object, the application environment allocates memory in the database for the database object, the database providing master storage for the database object. Upon an instruction to obtain the database object from said application, the environment provides to the application a reference to the database object; and upon an access operation on the database object by the application, provides to the application direct access to data of said database object. |
| US08856089B1 |
Sub-containment concurrency for hierarchical data containers
A sub-container concurrency component of a tiered middleware framework ensures optimistic concurrency for transactions on hierarchical data containers. The component identifies an uppermost container level of a data read for performing a requested data modification to one or more data containers. The component further reads one or more of a parent version value or a child version value of the data container in the uppermost container level at a first time and a second time. Thus, the component writes data to the one or more data containers when each version value, such as the parent version value or the child version value, read at the first time matches its corresponding read version value read at the second time. |
| US08856084B2 |
Data processing method and device
The invention concerns a method of processing data to provide output data based on a group of data samples having a time stamp falling within at least one rolling time period, the method comprising: receiving a new data sample and associating said new data sample with a first time stamp; updating said output data corresponding to a first rolling time period to be based on said group of data samples including said new data sample; programming a first callback based on said first time stamp and on the duration of said first rolling time period; and in response to the occurrence of said first callback, updating said output data corresponding to said first rolling time period to no longer be based on said new data sample. |
| US08856081B1 |
Single retention policy
The invention provides instructions to a retention-base archiving application or other enterprise content management application (such as EMC Documentum) for identifying which data objects should share the same retention policy based upon content and context, even if the retention policies for each data object was originally selected by different archiving applications. By matching together data objects with the same retention interval, and/or matching together data objects with the same policy name (i.e., policy ID), a single retention policy can be assigned to related data objects, no matter the source of each related data object or which application selected the particular retention policy for each data object. |
| US08856080B2 |
Backup using metadata virtual hard drive and differential virtual hard drive
Methods and systems are disclosed for backup using a metadata virtual hard drive (VHD) and a differential VHD. A particular system includes a memory device that stores files and a backup agent configured to detect changes to the files. The system includes a translation module configured to translate the detected changes into VHD formatted changes and a VHD module configured to write the VHD formatted changes to a metadata VHD stored at the memory device. The VHD module is also configured to generate a differential VHD based on the metadata VHD. A network interface at the system is configured to transmit the metadata VHD and the differential VHD to a remote storage device. |
| US08856072B2 |
Method for providing of content data to a client
The present invention relates to a method for providing an interoperable digital rights management system for content data on a client based on synchronization technology, the method comprising the steps of: —receiving of a selection of content data from the, client, —generating of an XML file having a defined DTD format, the XML file comprising license information and a locator for the content data, —sending of the XML file to the client, synchronizing any license status relates data produced on the client back to the server. |
| US08856071B2 |
Minimizing staleness in real-time data warehouses
Data tables in data warehouses are updated to minimize staleness and stretch of the data tables. New data is received from external sources and, in response, update requests are generated. Accumulated update requests may be batched. Data tables may be weighted to affect the order in which update requests are serviced. |
| US08856070B2 |
Consistent replication of transactional updates
Embodiments of the present invention provide a method, system and computer program product for consistent replication of transactional updates. In an embodiment of the invention, a method for consistent replication of data in a transaction processing system is provided. The method includes recording entries in a replication log of different data updates and corresponding transactions and additionally recording entries in the replication log indicating whether or not the transactions have been backed out. The method also includes replicating only those data updates referenced in the log which do not correspond to transactions indicated in the log to have been backed out. For instance the additionally recorded entries in the replication log indicate when a transaction has been backed out. Alternatively, the additionally recorded entries in the replication log indicate when a transaction has been committed. |
| US08856064B2 |
Method and system for information workflows
A method and apparatus for information repository workflows to transfer information between a first domain, such as healthcare sites, and a second domain, such as medical research facilities. Large quantities of medical information may be directly transferred to an information repository or indirectly transferred to the repository through the use of pointers. The information is cleansed and normalized prior to storage in a production database within the repository. The cleansing process is conducted while ensuring integrity of the production database is maintained and while continuing to receive additional information transfers. Errors encountered during processing are logged and reported. |
| US08856063B2 |
Smart device personalization assistance tool
A personalization of a batch of smart cards is provided. A user is provided with a plurality of queries regarding smart card features. Responses to the plurality of queries are received from the user. A personalization data file is generated using the responses to the plurality of queries, where the personalization data file comprises values, which may be used to provide features on a batch of smart cards. |
| US08856062B2 |
Rule creation and application
A computing device receives a rule that includes information describing conditions associated with a consequence, and identifies rule components corresponding to the rule. The computing device creates a rule formula, based on the rule components, by creating a first-order logic version of the rule and creating a rule formula table based on the first-order logic version of the rule. The computing device stores the rule formula table in a relational database. |
| US08856061B2 |
User experience adjustment in controllable events
A method for adjusting a user's experience of a controllable event including determining a user somatic state, using a computer device, from user sensor data collected from at least one physiological sensor; determining a user cognitive state, using the computer device, from user experience data collected from the user; determining a user experience model, using the computer device, from the user somatic state and the user cognitive state; correlating, using the computer device, at least one user hypothesis with the user experience model; and adjusting the controllable event, using the computer device, based upon the at least one user hypothesis. |
| US08856060B2 |
Creating stream processing flows from sets of rules
Techniques for creating a distributed application flow from a set of rules are provided. The techniques include creating a control-flow graph for each rule, creating one or more dependency links between two or more rules, partitioning a resulting graph, wherein the resulting graph comprises one or more control-flow graphs and one or more dependency links, into one or more operators by determining an optimal set of one or more cuts through the resulting graph such that a cost function is minimized, and generating stream processing flow code from the partitioned graph. |
| US08856059B2 |
Inference device and inference method
An inference device is disclosed including a rule base including a graph data structure corresponding to a table formed from columns, each column corresponding to a symbol, and one or more rows including cells, each cell arranged in a position of a column and storing a value for forming a logical expression by applying to each symbol corresponding to a column where the cell is located, the graph data structure including a root node and sequences of nodes connected in series, each sequence of nodes corresponding to a row and each node corresponding to a cell. An end-node of each sequence nodes is connected to the root node, the nodes can be scanned in order following pointers from the root node, each row represents a rule in which logical expressions are arranged on the left side as a logical conjunction and logical expressions are arranged on the right side. |
| US08856058B1 |
Business rules engine with dynamically addressable facts
A business rules engine includes dynamic objects to support dynamically addressable facts. The business rules engine is configured to reduce the need for developer resources to provision resources and adjust/adapt input data and output which would traditionally be required. As a result significant cost advantages are provided in the use of a business rules engine. |
| US08856053B2 |
Methods and systems for employing artificial intelligence in automated orthodontic diagnosis and treatment planning
Methods and systems for diagnosing and identifying a treatment for an orthodontic condition can include a server configured to receive patient data through a website. Methods and systems can include the use of a database that includes or has access to information derived from textbooks and scientific literature and dynamic results derived from ongoing and completed patient treatments. Methods and systems can include the operation of at least one computer program within the server, which can be capable of analyzing patient data and identifying at least one diagnosis of an orthodontic condition. Methods and systems can include assigning a probability value to at least one diagnosis, and the probability value can represent a likelihood that a diagnosis is accurate. Methods and systems can include instructing a computer program to identify at least one treatment approach, a corrective appliance, or a combination thereof for the at least one diagnosis. |
| US08856051B1 |
Augmenting metadata of digital objects
A metadata augmentation system determines similarities between digital objects, such as digital videos, that may or may not have metadata associated with them. Based on the determined similarities, the metadata augmentation system augments metadata of objects, such as augmenting metadata of objects lacking a sufficient amount of metadata with metadata from other objects having a sufficient amount of metadata.In one embodiment, the similarities are used to determine training sets for training of classifiers that output degrees of more specific similarities between the corresponding video and an arbitrary second video. These classifiers are then applied to add metadata from one video to another based on a degree of similarity between the videos, regardless of their respective locations within the object similarity graph. |
| US08856049B2 |
Audio signal classification by shape parameter estimation for a plurality of audio signal samples
An apparatus for classifying an audio signal configured to: estimate at least one shaping parameter value for a plurality of samples of the audio signal; generate at least one audio signal classification value by mapping the at least one shaping parameter value to one of at least two interval estimates; and determine at least one audio signal classification decision based on the at least one audio signal classification value. |
| US08856048B2 |
Method, system, and computer program product for automatically applying a predictive temporal profile to computer resource management decisions
An apparatus, system, and method are disclosed for defining normal usage of a computing system resource. A method for defining normal usage of a computing system resource includes receiving a repeating schedule that represents system usage of one or more computing resources and receiving one or more demand events that will affect the system usage of the one or more computer resources. The method also automatically creates a predictive temporal profile that represents the system usage of the one or more computer resources from information comprising the repeating schedule and the one or more demand events. The predictive temporal profile is displayed for the user to review. |
| US08856045B1 |
Mobile-device-to-machine payment systems
Described herein is a mobile-device-to-machine payment system and method for facilitating a cashless transaction for purchase of at least one product or service by a user from a payment accepting unit. |
| US08856043B2 |
Method and system for managing data and enabling payment transactions between multiple entities
A system for conducting payment transaction includes a network-enabled server that communicates with one or more user devices, other network-enabled server computers, and a payment processing network server computer. The network-enabled server facilitates transactions between one or more merchants and users by a managing data flow and interactions between the merchants and the users, providing storage area for storing of all transaction related documents, and providing seamless integration with a payment processing network for payment processing. |
| US08856040B2 |
System providing commodity price-move protection for small risk holders
A system for providing small to medium sized entities commodity price move protection is disclosed. The system may have the steps of receiving information from a client, selecting an appropriate commodity instrument, aggregating the client with other clients, and selecting an appropriate hedge in the event that the instrument provides for more protection than is sought by the aggregated clients and protection for the service provider is desired. |
| US08856039B1 |
Integration of secondary content into a catalog system
A system is disclosed that integrates secondary content, such as articles retrieved from a collaborative encyclopedia or other content site, into an electronic catalog system or site that hosts an interactive electronic catalog. In some embodiments, the system operates by retrieving secondary content articles from an external system or site, and by supplementing these articles with interactive display elements for accessing related catalog content and/or functions. For example, if an article mentions a particular catalog item or group of catalog items, it may be supplemented with a selectable display element for viewing catalog content associated with the referenced item or item group. The supplemented articles are made available to users via pages of the electronic catalog system or site. |
| US08856028B2 |
Inventory allocation for advertising with changeable supply landscape
An advertisement impression distribution system is programmed to generate an allocation plan for serving a number of advertisement impressions changeable as a result of one or more events, the allocation plan to allocate a first portion of advertisement impressions to satisfy guaranteed demand and a second portion of advertisement impressions to satisfy non-guaranteed demand. The system includes an optimizer programmed to establish a relationship between the first portion of advertisement impressions and the second portion of advertisement impressions, the relationship defining a range of possible proportions of allocation of the first portion of advertisement impressions and the second portion of advertisement impressions; and to impose at least one objective on the relationship including moderating an increase in the number of advertisement impressions available for allocation to the first and second portions, to minimize a cost associated with reducing a quality of the advertisement impressions as their volume increases. The system outputs the allocation plan to an ad serving module to control serving of the advertisement impressions according to the range of possible proportions of allocation between the first and the second portions. |
| US08856025B2 |
Method and system for redeeming product marketing rebates
A system and computerized method of processing a rebate claim from a purchaser comprising means for or steps of receiving and storing: (a) personal information about the purchaser, including an account identifier associated with a designated account, (b) promotion information comprising one or more promotional offers associated with one or more promoted products, (c) purchase information corresponding to the at least one purchase transaction in which the designated account was used as an instrument of payment. Purchase information is associated with the purchaser using the designated account identifier, the rebate claim is validated, and the collective value associated with the rebate claim is provided to the purchaser. One embodiment may comprise means for or a step of receiving an instruction from the purchaser via an online user interface prior to the end of a qualifying period authorizing completion of rebate claim processing. |
| US08856024B2 |
Determining companion and joint cards in transit
Embodiments of systems, methods, and machine-readable media are disclosed for detecting potential misuse of a primary account number (PAN) associated with a first handheld media in a transit system having one or more access points. Embodiments may creating a user account and include enrolling the first handheld media for use as a fare media for a transit product, where the PAN is stored in the user account. Embodiments may further include receiving, a plurality of fare transaction records. Each fare transaction record may include the PAN associated with the first handheld media and a transaction identifier. Embodiments may additionally include determining a potential misuse of a handheld media associated with the PAN based, at least in part, on the relationship between a plurality of the transaction identifiers. In response, an action may be taken related to using the first handheld media as a fare media for the transit product. |
| US08856023B2 |
Methods and apparatus for interactive specification of context-sensitive service level agreements; for provisioning of resources required during service delivery events regulated by service level agreements; and for monitoring compliance with service level agreements during service delivery events
In a first aspect of the present invention, methods and apparatus implement graphical user interfaces for interactively specifying service level agreements used to regulate delivery of services to, for example, computer systems. An interactive graphical user interface allows a user to see the effects of varying values of service delivery variables on the level of service achievable in a particular service delivery context. In a second aspect, methods and apparatus of the present invention provision resources required for service delivery. In the second aspect, the methods and apparatus of the present invention select a service delivery model dependent on context. The selected service delivery model is used to provision resources that will be required during service delivery. In a third aspect, methods and apparatus of the present invention monitor compliance with a service level agreement during a service delivery event. In instances where a given service delivery does not comply with service level attributes specified in a controlling service level agreement, the methods and apparatus of the present invention take corrective action. |
| US08856019B2 |
System and method of storing data related to social publishers and associating the data with electronic brand data
A system and method of storing data related to social publishers and associating the data with electronic brand data is disclosed. The system includes an online persona definition module configured to receive information about a social publisher and, based on the received information, associate personality traits with the social publisher. A social influence measurement module receives social network metrics and social network activities related to social publishers and determine a level of social influence for the social publishers. A brand promoter management module is configured to receive data from the brand promoter, the including targeting elements for an advertising campaign, including a specified a level of social influence and a set of personality traits. The brand promoter may also upload brand art to display within the social network. An association is configured to determine if social publishers meet the targeting elements. An offer selection module allows selected social publishers to accept sponsorship offers and display the brand art within their social content. |
| US08856018B2 |
Methods and systems for optimizing production forecasts using statistically prioritized discrete modeling methodology
A computer-based method for dynamic path regeneration in a production environment as a function of stochastic event-driven parameters and constraints is described. The method includes examining existing status codes, for a plurality of remaining production jobs, to determine a current status for a production unit, applying at least one of predecessor relationships and successor relationships for the remaining production jobs to the existing status codes, analyzing historical job performance statistics for a number of previous production units based on production job performance data associated with the previous production units, and providing a user interface that depicts the remaining production jobs in order of criticality, the order of criticality determined based on the existing status codes, the at least one of predecessor relationships and successor relationships, and the analysis of the historical job performance statistics. |
| US08856015B2 |
Presenting offers to users of wireless devices
A system and method facilitating the management of current and prospective customers and customer information is provided. The invention includes an aggregation system adapted to provide management and generation of current and prospective customers. The invention further provides management of current and prospective customer information. Additionally, the aggregation system provides for generating advertisements based at least in part upon market information. Finally, the present invention also includes a printstream aggregation method facilitating the printing of print orders. |
| US08856011B2 |
Excitation signal bandwidth extension
An apparatus for generating a high band extension of a low band excitation signal (eLB) defined by parameters representing a CELP encoded audio signal includes the following elements: upsamplers (20) configured to upsample a low band fixed codebook vector (uFCB) and a low band adaptive codebook vector (uACB) to a predetermined sampling frequency. A frequency shift estimator (22) configured to determine a modulation frequency (Ω) from an estimated measure representing a fundamental frequency (F0) of the audio signal. A modulator (24) configured to modulate the upsampled low band adaptive codebook vector (uACB↑) with the determined modulation frequency to form a frequency shifted adaptive codebook vector. A compression factor estimator (28) configured to estimate a compression factor. A compressor (34) configured to attenuate the frequency shifted adaptive codebook vector and the upsampled fixed codebook vector (uFCB↑.) based on the estimated compression factor. A combiner (40) configured to form a high-pass filtered sum of the attenuated frequency shifted adaptive codebook vector and the attenuated up-sampled fixed codebook vector. |
| US08856007B1 |
Use text to speech techniques to improve understanding when announcing search results
Disclosed are apparatus and methods for generating synthesized utterances related to output of commands. A command is received at a computing device. A textual output for the command is determined using the computing device. A spoken output of the computing device is generated that utilizes a plurality of vocal characteristic sets. At least a portion of the spoken output corresponds to the textual output. At least a first part of the spoken output utilizes vocal characteristics of a first vocal characteristic set. At least a second part of the spoken output utilizes vocal characteristics of a second vocal characteristic set, where at least some of the vocal characteristics of the first vocal characteristic set differ from the vocal characteristics of the second vocal characteristic set. |
| US08856006B1 |
Assisted speech input
Methods and systems are provided for assisted speech input. In one example, the method may involve (a) designating a first node of a tree as a current node. Each node in the tree is associated with a speech input data, and the first node includes one or more child nodes. The method may further involve (b) removing all nodes from a first group of nodes, (c) copying each child node of the current node to the first group, (d) removing all nodes from a second group of nodes, (e) moving a selection of nodes from the first group to the second group, and (f) presenting information associated with each node in the second group. The method may include additional elements depending on whether there is a match between a received speech input and a child node of the current node. |
| US08856005B2 |
Location based responses to telephone requests
A method for receiving processed information at a remote device is described. The method includes transmitting from the remote device a verbal request to a first information provider and receiving a digital message from the first information provider in response to the transmitted verbal request. The digital message includes a symbolic representation indicator associated with a symbolic representation of the verbal request and data used to control an application. The method also includes transmitting, using the application, the symbolic representation indicator to a second information provider for generating results to be displayed on the remote device. |
| US08856004B2 |
Text processing using natural language understanding
Techniques for converting spoken speech into written speech are provided. The techniques include transcribing input speech via speech recognition, mapping each spoken utterance from input speech into a corresponding formal utterance, and mapping each formal utterance into a stylistically formatted written utterance. |
| US08856003B2 |
Method for dual channel monitoring on a radio device
A method for dual channel monitoring on a radio device as provided enables efficient use of communication network resources. The method includes receiving at the radio device a first speech signal over a first channel, while simultaneously receiving at the radio device a second speech signal over a second channel. The first speech signal is then processed at the radio device to generate a text transcription of the first speech signal, and the text transcription of the first speech signal is displayed on a display screen of the radio device. An audible voice signal is then produced from a speaker that is operatively connected to the radio device simultaneously with displaying the text transcription of the first speech signal. |
| US08856001B2 |
Speech sound detection apparatus
A speech sound detection apparatus receives an input audio signal (as a sound reception unit), and computes input power that indicates a magnitude of the sound represented by the audio signal (as an input power computation unit). The apparatus estimates a correction function that is a continuous function defining a relation between a certain frequency and a correction coefficient used to approximate the input power computed at that frequency to the reference power predetermined for that frequency (as a correction function estimation unit). The apparatus corrects the input power at every frequency, based upon the correction coefficient that is obtained in accordance with the relation defined by the estimated correction function (as an input power correcting unit). The apparatus further determines whether or not the sound represented by the received audio signal is speech sound, based upon the corrected input power (as a speech sound detection unit). |
| US08856000B1 |
Model-driven candidate sorting based on audio cues
Methods and systems for model-driven candidate sorting based on audio cues for evaluating digital interviews are described. In one embodiment, a processing device converts audio data of a candidate in a digital interview into voice-to-text data. An audio cue generator executing on the processing device, generates audio cues of the digital interview based on the voice-to-text data. The audio cues are applied to a prediction model to predict an achievement index for the candidate based on the audio cues. The processing device displays the candidate in a list of candidates based on the achievement index. The list of candidates is sorted according to the candidates' achievement index. |
| US08855997B2 |
Linguistic error detection
Potential linguistic errors within a sequence of words of a sentence are identified based on analysis of a configurable sliding window. The analysis is performed based on an assumption that if a sequence of words occurs frequently enough within a large, well-formed corpus, its joint probability for occurring in a sentence is very likely to be greater than the same words randomly ordered. |
| US08855992B1 |
Graphical modeling blocks that execute in more than one domain
A time-driven block provided in a block diagram model may be executed in an event domain without user modification. The time-driven block is connected to one or more event-driven blocks using event domain signals. The time-driven block automatically adapts to the execution rules of the event domain modeling and simulation environment. The blocks that are configured to execute in more than one modeling and simulation environments are called polymorphic blocks. The polymorphic blocks are identified during the compilation stage of the block diagram model taking into consideration the port and line styles of the blocks. The execution rules of the polymorphic blocks are also determined during the compilation stage of the block diagram model. |
| US08855991B2 |
Method and system for assessing environmental impact of a processing device
Methods and systems for assessing the environmental impact of one or more processing devices, such one or more printers, are disclosed. The system queries a life cycle assessment (LCA) service to receive a life cycle phase model for each device. The life cycle phase model includes a set of consumption variable categories associated with potential device usage during a life cycle phase. The system then receives consumption data for the device, identifies a portion of the consumption data that corresponds to the consumption variable categories in the model, and obtains an assessment of environmental impact of the device during the life cycle phase based on the consumption data. |
| US08855990B1 |
System, method, and computer program for providing validation of network model objects within a network model design process
A system, method, and computer program product are provided for providing validation of network model objects within a network model design process. In use, a request to create a design of at least a portion of a network model is received via an interface utilized for creating a network model design. Additionally, at least one object of the network model capable of being utilized to create the design of the at least a portion of the network model is identified, in response to the request. Furthermore, it is determined whether at least one discrepancy has been identified for the at least one object. Moreover, a response to the request to create the design of the at least a portion of the network model is provided that is based on the determination of whether the at least one discrepancy has been identified for the at least one object. |
| US08855986B2 |
Iterative method and system to construct robust proxy models for reservoir simulation
A method, system and computer program product is disclosed for utilizing proxy models to evaluate a subterranean reservoir. The method includes constructing a proxy model from a set of sampling points to approximate simulation outputs of a reservoir model. The set of sampling points is updated by adding at least one new sampling point that is selected from a location associated with surface non-linearities such as gradients, curvature, and bending energy. Response surface values at new sampling points and distances to existing sampling points can also be used to evaluate new sampling points. Proxy models are refined with the updated set of sampling points until the proxy model satisfies a predetermined stopping criterion, such as when a predetermined number of iterations are reached or when changes to the response surface are below a predetermined threshold. |
| US08855984B2 |
Method and system for providing information from a patient-specific model of blood flow
Embodiments include a system for providing blood flow information for a patient. The system may include at least one computer system including a touchscreen. The at least one computer system may be configured to display, on the touchscreen, a three-dimensional model representing at least a portion of an anatomical structure of the patient based on patient-specific data. The at least one computer system may also be configured to receive a first input relating to a first location on the touchscreen indicated by at least one pointing object controlled by a user, and the first location on the touchscreen may indicate a first location on the displayed three-dimensional model. The at least one computer system may be further configured to display first information on the touchscreen, and the first information may indicate a blood flow characteristic at the first location. |
| US08855975B2 |
Adjusting wheel diameter
A method and apparatus for adjusting wheel diameter by acquiring a current wheel diameter distribution vector; calculating similarity scores between the current wheel diameter distribution vector and known wheel diameter distribution vector clusters to determine a potential wear rate of the current wheel diameter distribution vector; calculating similarity scores between candidate target wheel diameter distribution vectors and the known wheel diameter distribution vector clusters to determine a potential wear rates of the candidate target wheel diameter distribution vectors; and selecting a target wheel diameter distribution vector from the candidate target wheel diameter distribution vectors, such that the reduction of potential wear rate achieved by switching the current wheel diameter distribution vector to the target wheel diameter distribution vector meets a predetermined condition. Future potential wear rates and the amount of grinding required during train maintenance can be optimized through changing wheel diameter distribution vectors. |
| US08855968B1 |
Analytical evaluation tool for continuous process plants
A method for evaluating the operation of a continuous process plant uses operational data. The operational data includes data points representing the quantity of a substance processed by the continuous process plant during a plurality of time periods. The quantity of substance processed during these time periods is compared to a goal value. A reliability score is calculated. A banked opportunity score is calculated. An equivalent lost stream days score is calculated. The average quantity processed during periods that equaled or exceeded the goal is calculated. The average quantity processed during periods that were below the goal is calculated. The components of the equipment or machinery of the continuous process plant are classified and correlated to the quantity of lost opportunity. The scores are reported. The scores are also compared to historical data. |
| US08855966B2 |
Electronic device having proximity sensor and method for controlling the same
An electronic device includes a main body; at least one proximity sensor arranged in the main body to detect a motion of a user in a predetermined range from the main body. A memory arranged in the main body store a relationship table defining a relationship between an operation event and an executable function. The operation event includes: the times of the proximity of a user to the main body, the duration of a stationary state of the user relative to the main body, and the distance of the movement of a user with respect to the main body. In addition, includes a processor receiving data from the at least one sensor determining an operation event and executing an executable function according to the relationship table. |
| US08855961B2 |
Binary definition files
A computer implemented system for testing electronic equipment where files are provided to aid in the conversion of device generic messages into device specific messages and conversion of device specific messages into device generic messages. |
| US08855960B2 |
Device and method for testing sensors
An apparatus and a method for testing of sensors for documents of value and a pertinent test medium. A test medium (1) having an electronic data memory (7) for data is provided, the data being used for testing the sensor (11). The data are transmitted from the test medium to a test device (12), which tests the sensor in dependence on the transmitted data. |
| US08855959B2 |
Integrated cross-tester analysis and real-time adaptive test
Processing test results from a plurality of individual semiconductor testers by analyzing each test result at an adaptive test engine. A centralized system jointly analyzes all the test results from the plurality of individual semiconductor testers. The adaptive test engine or the centralized system identifies, based on the analysis of each test result or the joint analysis of all the test results, one or more of: a test environmental issue, a tester variability issue, a tester calibration issue, a product variability issue, and a manufacturing process variability issue. The adaptive test engine or the centralized system determines whether one or more of the plurality of individual semiconductor testers causes one or more of the identified issues or whether semiconductor products tested by the plurality of individual semiconductor testers causes one or more of the identified issues. |
| US08855957B2 |
Method for calibrating read sensors of electromagnetic read-write heads
Described are embodiments to ensure that the equipment utilized to detect antigens is reliable and accurate. If it is determined that a read sensor is degraded a method of calibrating a read sensor of a read head is described. In one embodiment, a method of calibrating a magnetic read sensor includes measuring a first resistance of the magnetic read sensor upon an application of a forward bias current to the magnetic read sensor and measuring a second resistance of the magnetic read sensor upon an application of a reverse bias current to the magnetic read sensor. A calibration constant is determined based on at least the first measured resistance and the second measured resistance. In one embodiment the method further includes storing the determined calibration constant for the magnetic read sensor in memory. Further, in one embodiment the head module having the magnetic read sensor is swept over at least one nanoparticle to obtain a read response of the magnetic read sensor to the nanoparticle. The read response from the magnetic read sensor of the at least one nanoparticle is adjusted based on the determined calibration constant. Calibration of each individual read sensor allows for uniform read responses from each of the read sensors on a read head, and prevents unreliable an inaccurate detection of analytes due to sensor degradation. |
| US08855953B2 |
Electrical power control device and electrical power calculation method in electrical power control device
A motor drive device including a battery 10; switching elements 15 and 16 which are connected in series with a condenser C2 having a voltage Vdc resulting from an increase action of battery voltage and which are operated in a chopper control; a reactor L2 whose one end is connected with a common connection point of the switching elements 15 and 16; and an inverter 19 for driving a PM motor 20 which is connected between another end of the reactor L2 and a negative-pole terminal of the battery 10. In such a motor drive device, an electrical power W is determined based on the voltage Vdc of positive-side point P of the condenser C2, a current Idc flowing in the reactor L2, and a switching duty d1 of the switching element 15 which satisfies a condition of 0≦d1≦1, i.e., is determined by calculating Vdc·d1·Idc. |
| US08855952B2 |
Ram air turbine with flux regulated permanent magnet generator and testing method
A deployable ram air turbine assembly includes a rotatable turbine, a drivetrain mechanically connected to the rotatable turbine, and a flux regulated permanent magnet generator operably connected to the drivetrain. |
| US08855942B2 |
Anode bleed control strategy for improved water management and hydrogen utilization
A control strategy for bleeding an anode side of fuel cell stack in a fuel cell system that improves water management and addresses durability and performance concerns. The method includes determining when to begin the anode bleed, typically by estimating or measuring the amount of nitrogen in the anode side of the stack. The method also includes determining when to end the anode bleed based on the volume of gas that has been bled. The method determines the mole flow rate of the anode gas flowing through a bleed valve, integrates the mole flow rate to get the number of moles of the gas that have passed through the bleed valve, determines a desired amount of moles to be bled, and ends the bleed when the actual number of moles of the gas equals the desired number of moles of the gas. |
| US08855940B2 |
Method of detecting coliform bacteria from reflected light
The present invention relates to a method of detecting coliform bacteria in water from reflected light, and also includes devices for the measurement, calculation and transmission of data relating to that method. |
| US08855934B2 |
Noise attenuation of seismic data
The present invention relates to a method of filtering seismic data for noise attenuation. An embodiment of the present invention provides a method of processing seismic data in which the seismic data is transformed into an f-x domain using a discrete Fourier transform and is then filtered at each discrete frequency using an infinite impulse response (HR) filter. |
| US08855932B1 |
Method and apparatus for measuring surface air pressure
The present invention is directed to an apparatus and method for remotely measuring surface air pressure. In one embodiment, the method of the present invention utilizes the steps of transmitting a signal having multiple frequencies into the atmosphere, measuring the transmitted/reflected signal to determine the relative received power level of each frequency and then determining the surface air pressure based upon the attenuation of the transmitted frequencies. |
| US08855927B2 |
Method for a two-way radio system to make an electronic map enabling each two-way radio to independently perform a function of GPS positioning and display under a condition of no GPS electronic map provided
A group two-way radio system, in a condition of failing to obtain a GPS standard map, is capable of utilizing a console to control a computer to convert any paper map or electronic map not in compliance with a GPS standard to be an electronic map drawing file in compliance with the GPS standard. The map drawing file is transmitted through a RF repeater over an existing RF channel to one or multiple two-way radios in the group so as to enable the two-way radio to perform a method of group positioning and displaying based on the map drawing file. |
| US08855923B2 |
Method and system for mapping road conditions by means of terminals
The present invention relates to methods, computer software products, server and system for mapping road conditions, especially friction. In the method according to the invention the acceleration of the vehicle is measured by means of an acceleration sensor, the position of the vehicle is monitored by means of positioning means and the measured acceleration value is combined with the position data of the measurement location. The method compares whether the measured position-specific acceleration value exceeds the value on the server for the said area and in case the value is exceeded, a measured position-specific acceleration value is sent to the server. |
| US08855922B1 |
Managing use of location-identification services
In general, the subject matter described in this specification can be embodied in methods, systems, and program products for identifying a location of a mobile computing device. A first location estimate of a mobile computing device and an accuracy of the first location estimate is determined at a mobile computing device based on wireless signals received from one or more beacons. A time period based on the accuracy of the first location estimate is determined. One or more subsequent location estimates of the mobile computing device and respective accuracies are determined. The determination of the subsequent location estimates is stopped at an end of the time period. A preferred location estimate from the determined location estimates is determined at the mobile computing device. |
| US08855916B2 |
Comparison of multi-dimensional datasets
Methods, systems, and apparatuses for comparing multi-dimensional datasets are provided. A multi-dimensional dataset comparison includes receiving a plurality of datasets, each including a plurality of coordinates, wherein a subset of coordinates defines a geo-fence. For a coordinate within a geo-fence of one of the plurality of datasets, determining analogous coordinates in each of the other datasets, the analogous coordinates defining a coordinate input set, and performing in parallel an operation on the coordinate input set to determine whether an entry is present at a coordinate of the coordinate input set. |
| US08855912B2 |
Travel route evaluation system and travel route evaluation program
A travel route evaluation system is provided which is capable of enhancing the driver's consciousness of traveling on the a recommended route, in order to improve a degree of attainment of purposes, such as suppression of a fuel consumption and shortening of a required time, that would be obtained by presenting the recommended route.The system includes: a route setting unit for setting a recommended route from a departure point to a destination, based on traveling environment information associated with a traveling environment of a vehicle and map data, a ratio calculation unit for calculating a recommended route travel ratio which is a proportion of the recommended route in a traveled route on which the vehicle traveled; and an evaluation information acquisition unit for acquiring evaluation information based on the recommended route travel ratio. |
| US08855909B2 |
Route determining system for a vehicle with navigation system
A system for determining an optimum route to a destination by a navigation system of a vehicle is provided. The system includes a navigation system, a remote information system, and a data communication network linking the navigation system and the remote information system. A method is also disclosed that includes the steps of establishing a communication connection between the navigation system and the remote information system, and determining the optimum route to the destination where the optimum route is determined based on requested information received from the remote information system. |
| US08855908B2 |
Method and apparatus for providing traffic information associated with map requests
A method and apparatus for enabling users who request a map of a specified route to invoke a data session to see images of the key markers and a video session to see live views of key points along the route are disclosed. If traffic appears congested, the subscriber can request an alternative route from the network along with image and video sessions to verify the traffic conditions of the alternative route. |
| US08855905B1 |
Real-time traffic condition measurement using network transmission data
Improved capabilities are described for identifying a first location, at time one, of a plurality of automobiles using cell phone tower triangulation to locate a cell phone within each of the plurality of automobiles, identifying a second location, at time two, for each of the plurality of automobiles using cell phone tower triangulation to locate the cell phone within each of the plurality of automobiles, calculating a vehicle speed for each of the plurality of automobiles using the first and second locations already identified, and creating a traffic condition measure for a route in proximity to the first and second locations. The computer program product may repeat this process in real-time to calculate a real-time traffic condition measure that may be a traffic density measure the computer program product may use to predict a travel time. |
| US08855902B2 |
Wireless vehicle detection system and associated methods having enhanced response time
Embodiments of the invention include a wireless vehicle detection systems and associated methods with extended range and battery life. The wireless vehicle detection system can include a plurality of sensor pods in communication with an access point without repeaters. Embodiments of the sensor pod can include a vehicle detector controller adapted to determine the presence of vehicles and a communication controller connected to the vehicle detector and adapted to transmit data 300 feet or more to an access point, which in turns communicates with the base station. To extend the battery life of the sensor pod, the sensor pod can be adapted to detect received communication signal strength and adjust transmitting power based upon said strength to thereby conserve power. Embodiments of the sensor pod can also include a battery connected in parallel to an HLC capacitor to further extend the life of the battery. |
| US08855900B2 |
System and method for self-optimizing traffic flow using shared vehicle information
A system and method for self-optimizing traffic flow using shared vehicle information that utilizes multiple controllers in dynamic communication to optimize the flow of traffic. The system and method utilizes one or more traffic synchronization controllers (TSCs) (receivers) that receive information from one or more vehicle based transmitters called vehicle information agents (VIAs) and/or a network of traffic control devices (TCDs) associated with the traffic synchronization controllers to determine a variety of information related to traffic within a geographic region, including volume, speed, destination, intended route of the vehicle, as well as other vehicle related information, in order to determine the optimal flow of traffic within the region. The system and method then transmits traffic control signals to the various traffic control devices within the region or adjacent regions in order to optimally control the flow of traffic. The system and method may also share information amongst traffic synchronization controllers within the network in order to optimize the flow of traffic over a larger region. |
| US08855899B2 |
Virtual traffic sensors
Techniques are described for virtual traffic sensors (VTS). In an implementation, an electronic device provides a variety of functionality including at least functionality to determine position. The electronic device may be further configured to ascertain locations of one or more virtual traffic sensors. In at least some embodiments, locations of virtual traffic sensors are determined by the electronic device using a variety of VTS criteria. Using a determined position, the electronic device may detect proximity to the virtual traffic sensors. The electronic device may collect traffic related data when in proximity to the one or more virtual traffic sensors. The electronic device may then communicate the collected traffic data over a suitable network connection to a service provider. |
| US08855897B2 |
Vehicle start control apparatus
An apparatus includes a first switch turned ON in response to depression of a pedal, and OFF in response to depression being released; a second switch that assumes a first state in response to depression of the pedal, and a second state in response to pedal release; and a control unit that determines whether the first switch is in the first state. The control unit starts the engine, if in the first state and if the engine start switch is operated. |
| US08855895B2 |
System and method for reducing vehicle generated carbon dioxide emissions
A system is disclosed having a primary vehicle and a secondary vehicle that is carried by the primary vehicle when not in use. The system further includes at least one of an immobilizing device to immobilize the primary vehicle if the secondary vehicle is removed from the primary vehicle, a data storage device for storing information regarding usage of the primary and secondary vehicles, a user interface device for displaying information regarding usage of the primary and secondary vehicles, and a user prompt for providing information regarding potential opportunities for use of the secondary vehicle to encourage usage of the secondary vehicle and lower CO2 emissions. |
| US08855886B2 |
Device for calculating and communicating the true aircraft braking coefficient of a runway or taxiway using data from the flight data management systems of landed aircraft
A computer network for calculating a value for the true braking coefficient of friction for an aircraft runway or taxiway using data from one or more aircraft's flight data recorders or flight data management systems, and reporting the calculated value information to individuals and agencies including air traffic control, airport operations and maintenance, and aircraft pilots and ground crews is described and claimed herein. The data may be obtained in real-time by either an onboard or an off-aircraft high-power computing system, calculating the aircraft's true braking coefficient of friction, and reporting the calculated information to the individuals and agencies. |
| US08855879B2 |
Method for operating a clutch
A method of operating a clutch serving as a shift element and/or starting clutch of a drive train. During engagement, the clutch will be filled by a fast filling up to a defined minimum pressure. The fast filling is at least subdivided into two phases comprising a basic filling phase and an extension and/or a cutout phase. At the end of the basic filling phase, the actual clutch pressure is measured, and then, when the actual clutch pressure is equal to or larger than the minimum pressure, the extension and/or cutout phase is activated immediately following the basic filling phase. When the actual clutch pressure is lower than the minimum pressure, activation of the extension and/or the cutout phase is at least delayed by a pressure holding phase and, if necessary, by a pressure surplus phase. |
| US08855874B2 |
Method and device for controlling a vehicle cruise control
A method and device are provided for controlling a vehicle cruise control in a vehicle, the method including registering a starting point and an end destination for a possible traveling route of the vehicle, registering a desired traveling time for the traveling route, calculating and setting limits for parameters of the cruise control in order to arrive at the end destination on the desired traveling time with as low fuel consumption as possible. |
| US08855871B2 |
Engine overrun-preventing control device for work vehicle
In an engine-overrun-preventing control device, if an engine speed exceeds a maximum speed, a minimum value of an inching rate is set such that higher the actual engine speed results in a higher minimum value of an inching rate. The hydraulic pump displacement is adjusted to obtain a higher inching rate between the minimum value of the inching rate and an inching rate set based on a brake stroke. If the engine speed exceeds a commanded speed and a pressure time-rate-of-change at the pump intake exceeds a prescribed value, the minimum value of the inching rate is set such that the higher the pressure time-rate-of-change, the higher the minimum value of the inching rate. The pump displacement is adjusted to obtain a higher inching rate between the minimum value of the inching rate set based on the pressure time-rate-of-change and the inching rate set based on the brake stroke. |
| US08855866B2 |
Rear end advanced collision technology
A method of controlling stability of a vehicle comprises monitoring vehicle information with an electronic control unit. The electronic control unit determines if a rear collision from a second vehicle approaching from a rear direction is likely. A first response signal is sent to at least one vehicle system from the electronic control unit prior to the rear collision. The at least one vehicle system changes state based upon the first response signal to prepare the vehicle for the rear collision. |
| US08855865B2 |
Collision determination device, collision determination method, and occupant protection device
A collision determination device for determining a collision occurrence against a door part of a vehicle has: a door acceleration detector that detects an acceleration generated on the door part of the vehicle and a direction of the acceleration; and a collision determination part that determines that a collision has occurred against the door part from the outside, when the direction of the acceleration detected by the door acceleration detector is a closing direction of the door part, and determines that no collision has occurred against the door part from the outside, when the direction of the acceleration detected by the door acceleration detector is an opening direction of the door part. |
| US08855861B2 |
Vehicle drive control systems and the related vehicles
Vehicle control systems that can be used, for example, to configure a vehicle (e.g., a lawn tractor or riding lawn mower) to make low- to substantially zero-radius turns. Some of the present vehicle control systems utilize at least one steered wheel position sensor to generate a signal that indicates the actual position of the steerable structure (e.g., wheel) to which the sensor is coupled, rather than a projected or anticipated position of that steerable structure. Vehicles that include such control systems. |
| US08855857B2 |
Electric motor controller and electric motor controller for vehicle steering apparatus
An electric motor controller for controlling an electric motor that includes a rotor and a stator that faces the rotor. The electric motor controller includes a current drive unit; an addition angle calculation unit; a control angle calculation unit; a torque detection unit; a changing unit and a suspending unit. |
| US08855855B2 |
Vehicle control apparatus
S vehicle control apparatus that includes a touch panel configured to be touched by a user and a sound wave generator. The sound wave generator including a plurality of patterns formed in different shapes and heights on the touch panel, and is configured to generate sound waves having unique shapes when the user touches the patterns. A sound wave detection sensor is configured to detect the sound waves generated by the sound wave generator. A controller is configured to receive the sound waves detected by the sound wave detection sensor and output vehicle control signals corresponding to the respective sound waves. |
| US08855849B1 |
Object detection based on known structures of an environment of an autonomous vehicle
An autonomous vehicle may be configured to detect objects based on known structures of an environment. The vehicle may be configured to obtain image data from a sensor and be configured to operate in an autonomous mode. The image data may include data indicative of a known structure in the environment. The vehicle may include a computer system. The computer system may determine, based on a first portion of the image data, information indicative of an appearance of the known structure. The computer system may determine, based on a second portion of the image data, information indicative of an appearance of an unknown object in the environment. The computer system may also compare the information indicative of the appearance of the known structure with the information indicative of the appearance of the unknown object and provide instructions to control the vehicle in the autonomous mode based on the comparison. |
| US08855848B2 |
Radar, lidar and camera enhanced methods for vehicle dynamics estimation
A system for estimation vehicle dynamics, including vehicle position and velocity, using a stationary object. The system includes an object sensor that provides object signals of the stationary object. The system also includes in-vehicle sensors that provide signals representative of vehicle motion. The system also includes an association processor that receives the object signals, and provides object tracking through multiple frames of data. The system also includes a longitudinal state estimation processor that receives the object signals and the sensor signals, and provides a correction of the vehicle speed in a forward direction. The system also includes a lateral state estimation processor that receives the object signals and the sensor signals, and provides a correction of the vehicle speed in the lateral direction. |
| US08855846B2 |
System and method for onboard vision processing
An unmanned aerial vehicle with a camera and conventional sensors, where the processor navigates the vehicle based at least in part on the image data and the sensor data. A method for navigating an unmanned aerial vehicle where a processor navigates the vehicle based at least in part on image data corrected by traditional sensor data. |
| US08855845B2 |
Systems and methods for controlling operation of a vehicle
A method of controlling operational modes of a hybrid electric vehicle includes: determining whether an all-electric range (AER) of the vehicle is at or less than a first predetermined value; activating a first operational mode if the AER is determined to be at or less than the first predetermined value; determining, while the first operational mode is active, whether the AER of the vehicle is greater than a second predetermined value; activating a second operational mode if the AER is determined to be greater than the second predetermined value. |
| US08855842B2 |
Vehicular charging facility guidance device, vehicular charging facility guidance method, and computer program
A vehicular charging facility guidance device is provided. The guidance device includes a route setting unit that sets a route from a departure point of a vehicle to a destination, a map display unit that displays a map on a display device, and a route display unit that displays the route set by the route setting unit to be overlapped with the map displayed on the display device. The guidance device also includes a frame display unit that displays a frame to be overlapped with the route on the display device and a frame movement unit that moves a reference position of the frame displayed by the frame display unit along the route. The guidance devise further includes a charging facility guidance unit that provides information on a charging facility located within an area delimited by the frame on the map. |
| US08855838B2 |
Automatic takeoff method for an aircraft with a flexible airfoil, and airfoil and aircraft
The invention relates to an automatic takeoff method for an aircraft with a flexible airfoil, comprising a carriage suspended by rigging lines from an airfoil. According to said method: —said carriage is provided with an autopilot controlling actuators that control said rigging lines; —said airfoil is provided with an airfoil attitude sensor, comprising a biaxial accelerometer and a biaxial rate gyro, capable of defining the position of an airfoil reference frame in relation to the ground, and means for communicating with said autopilot; —during takeoff, information is received from said airfoil attitude sensor and transmitted to said autopilot for the purpose of controlling said actuators. The invention also relates to an airfoil for the implementation of said method, comprising an airfoil attitude sensor with an inertial unit with a biaxial accelerometer and a biaxial rate gyro, and means for communicating with an autopilot. The invention further relates to an aircraft comprising such an airfoil. |
| US08855836B2 |
Methods and systems for implementing software-selectable multipurpose aircraft pins
An avionics system configurable through software to support more than one pin-out design. An exemplary system includes configuration pins that receive one or more signals from an external source, one or more subcircuits, one or more multipurpose input/output pins, a controller that determines a configuration mode based on one or more received signals, and a selection circuit that connects one of the subcircuits with one or more of the multipurpose input/output pins, based on the determined configuration mode. |
| US08855834B2 |
Sensing system for following a stringline
A sensing system for providing string line vehicle automation. The system includes a master controller that is electrically connected to a receiver that has a transceiver that provides over-the-air communication to a plurality of sensors that are aligned along a string line. The transceivers receive information from the plurality of sensors in order to automate the control of the vehicle to ensure the vehicle drives in a straight line. |
| US08855830B2 |
Energy management system and method
According to an aspect of the disclosure, a home energy management system and method includes a network device disposed at a residence and a wireless home energy network capable of establishing communication with the network device. A server is disposed remotely from the residence and capable of generating a control action report to control the network devices. A controller is located at the residence and in communication with the server and configured to establish the wireless home energy network; initiate a plurality of operating status requests of the network device; receive device data in response to at least one of the operating status requests; generate a site report including the device data; initiate a communication of the site report to the remote server; and detect an availability of the control action report at the remote server in conjunction with the communication of the site report. |
| US08855829B2 |
Method for controlling energy resources
A system and method for managing power consumption and storage in a power grid. Measurements are received from a plurality of geographically distributed energy management controllers. Each energy management controllers has energy storage units with stored energy. The measurements comprise the energy production and storage capacity of the energy management controllers and their associated energy storage units. The measurements are processed, e.g., aggregated, and displayed on a graphical user interface. Commands are transmitted to a first subset of the energy management controllers to command the units to discharge their stored energy into a power grid through an inverter. Commands are transmitted to a second subset of the plurality of energy management controllers to store energy in each unit's energy storage unit. |
| US08855828B2 |
Facilitating distributed power production units in a power group to store power for power conditioning during an anticipated temporary power production disruption
In an embodiment, a server monitors a set of parameters associated with future power production capacity of a set of distributed power production units that belong to a power group supplying power to a given serving area of a power grid during a given period of time. The server predicts, for a portion of the given period of time, a temporary power production disruption that will affect the power group based on the monitoring. The server sends a control message to the power group based on the prediction. At least one power production unit in the power group receives the control message, and responsive to the control message diverts at least a portion of power being supplied to the given serving area to local storage, detects the temporary power disruption and conditions power supplied to the given serving area during the temporary power distribution based upon the locally stored power. |
| US08855820B2 |
Leg motion trajectory generation device for legged mobile robot
A device 11 includes a floor surface information acquisition portion 21 which acquires floor surface information in a plurality of local regions of a floor surface. The gait generator 22 of the device 11 sets the desired landing position and posture of a free leg 3 of a robot 1 within one local region and determines a desired horizontal motion trajectory of the distal end of the free leg 3 to determine a desired vertical motion trajectory of the distal end of the free leg 3 so that the height of the distal end of the free leg 3 is equal to or higher than a lower-limit height determined to prevent a contact between the distal end of the free leg 3 and the floor surface of the local region at the positions of a plurality of sampling points on the desired horizontal motion trajectory. |
| US08855819B2 |
Method and apparatus for simultaneous localization and mapping of robot
A SLAM of a robot is provided. The position of a robot and the position of feature data may be estimated by acquiring an image of the robot's surroundings, extracting feature data from the image, and matching the extracted feature data with registered feature data. Furthermore, measurement update is performed in a camera coordinate system and an appropriate assumption is added upon coordinate conversion, thereby reducing non-linear components and thus improving the SLAM performance. |
| US08855818B2 |
Monitoring apparatus for robot
The invention is a monitoring apparatus for monitoring a condition of an end-effector of a robot having a vacuum absorption pad to hold an article. The pad is elastically supported by the end-effector. The apparatus includes a pad receiving part having a front surface and a through hole, the pad receiving part being movable in a direction perpendicular to the front surface; an elastically supporting unit for elastically supporting the pad receiving part in a direction perpendicular to the front surface; a movement detection unit for detecting a movement of the pad receiving part; a vacuum sensor connected to the through hole; and a judging unit for judging conditions of an elastic support of the pad and a vacuum absorption of the pad based on detection results of the movement detection unit and the vacuum sensor. |
| US08855816B2 |
Piezoelectric actuator, robot hand, and robot
A piezoelectric actuator includes a frequency controller that controls the frequency and power of the driving signal, wherein when the phase difference falls within a predetermined range, the control unit stores the value of the frequency of the driving signal as a first frequency memory value, sets a voltage to a upper limit voltage value, and performs control of adjusting the frequency of the driving signal so that the phase difference is maintained to be within a predetermined range, and when the frequency of the driving signal is changed from the first frequency memory value by an amount exceeding a first value determined in advance, the control unit stores the value of the frequency of the driving signal as a second frequency memory value and sets the voltage to a lower limit voltage value lower than the upper limit voltage value. |
| US08855815B2 |
Motion path search device and method of searching for motion path
A motion path search device which searches for a motion path of a movable part of a robot capable of being taught a motion by direct teaching in which the robot is directly moved by an operator includes: a first space identification unit which identifies a space swept through by the movable part of the robot in the direct teaching; a second space identification unit which identifies a space swept through by at least a portion of a body of the operator in the direct teaching; a space combining unit which calculates, as an accessible space, a union of the space identified by the first space identification unit and the space identified by the second space identification unit; and a path search unit which searches for a motion path of the movable part within the accessible space calculated by the space combining unit. |
| US08855814B2 |
Robot and control method thereof
A robot and a control method thereof which execute grasp planning of hands of the robot separately from motion planning of arms of the robot so as to apply a result of the grasp planning of the hands of the robot to the motion planning of the arms of the robot, and thus more rapidly, naturally and stably grasp an object in a grasp manner suited to a desired working purpose and judge whether or not grasping is executable prior to the motion planning of the arms of the robot, thereby more stably grasping the object. |
| US08855809B2 |
Material sorting technology
Systems for sorting materials, such as those made of metal, are described. The systems may operate by irradiating the materials with x-rays and then detecting fluoresced x-rays, transmitted x-rays, or both. Detection of the fluoresced x-rays may be performed using an x-ray fluorescence detector array. The systems may be configured to provide high throughput sorting of small pieces of materials. |
| US08855808B2 |
Storage magazine with integrated targeting
Embodiments include systems and methods for targeting using storage magazines. Some embodiments operate in context of a data storage environment, in which the magazines are used to hold data cartridges, and the data cartridges are installed in, removed from, and ferried between the magazines by a robotic mechanism. Magazine implementations include integrated targeting features in the magazine base structure. For example, some side walls of the magazine slots are shaped for optical targeting, while other side walls of the magazine slots are shaped for lead-in (i.e., to minimize undesirable collisions or interference between the cartridges and the magazine slot walls). Some embodiments describe novel locating functionality in context of magazines with integrated targeting features. Other embodiments include other geometric magazine features. |
| US08855800B2 |
Method for manufacturing dental implant components
A method for making a rapid prototype of a patient's mouth to be used in the design and fabrication of a dental prosthesis. The method takes an impression of a mouth including a first installation site having a dental implant installed in the first installation site and a gingival healing abutment having at least one informational marker attached to the dental implant. A stone model is prepared based on the impression. The model is scanned. The scan data is transferred to a CAD program. A three-dimensional model of the installation site is created in the CAD program. The at least one informational marker is determined to gather information for manufacturing the rapid prototype. Rapid prototype dimensional information is developed. The rapid prototype dimensional information is transferred to a rapid prototyping machine which fabricate a rapid prototype of the patient's dentition as well as a dental implant analog position. |
| US08855797B2 |
Managing playback of synchronized content
A computing device may provide a control interface that enables the user to manage the synchronized output of companion content (e.g., textual content and corresponding audio content). For example, the computing device may display a visual cue to identify a current location in textual content corresponding to a current output position of companion audio content. As the audio content is presented, the visual cue may be advanced to maintain synchronization between the output position within the audio content and a corresponding position in the textual content. The user may control the synchronized output by dragging her finger across the textual content displayed on the touch screen. Accordingly, the control interface may provide a highlight or other visual indication of the distance between the advancing position in the textual content and the location of a pointer to the textual content indicated by the current position of the user's finger. |
| US08855785B1 |
Circuits for minimizing heating of an implanted lead and/or providing EMI protection in a high power electromagnetic field environment
An energy management system that facilitates the transfer of high frequency energy induced on an implanted lead or a leadwire includes an energy dissipating surface associated with the implanted lead or the leadwire and at least one non-linear circuit element switch for diverting energy in the implanted lead or the leadwire to the energy dissipating surface. In alternate configurations, the switch may be disposed so that it electrically opens the implanted lead or the leadwire when diverting energy to the energy dissipating surface. The non-linear circuit element switch is typically a PIN diode. |
| US08855782B2 |
Medical accessory proximity testing, detection, and alerting system
Disclosed is a system having an implanted component and external component which are configured to provide a test of wireless communication in order to assess the success or failure of such communication and to store attributes related to such test in a memory log. To provide the communication test the implantable and external components can attempt wireless communication according to communication test parameters which relate to number of times to retry communication, duration of sending communication test signals, durations of waiting for communication test signals and the schedule of the communication tests. The schedule of tests may be periodic or may change over time in order to become more or less frequent according to a programmable schedule that may also decrease if the communication tests are successful and indicate patient compliance in keeping the external components close by. The communication tests can assist in determining if the patient is maintaining external components within a suggested proximity (e.g. 6 feet) of the patient and may assist to determine if transmission or reception difficulties are the source of communication failure. A physician programmer can provide for programming, conducting, summarizing and assessing the results of communication tests. |
| US08855778B2 |
Electrical stimulation of the sympathetic nerve chain
The present invention provides a method of affecting physiological disorders by stimulating a specific location along the sympathetic nerve chain. Preferably, the present invention provides a method of affecting a variety of physiological disorders or pathological conditions by placing an electrode adjacent to or in communication with at least one ganglion along the sympathetic nerve chain and stimulating the at least one ganglion until the physiological disorder or pathological condition has been affected. |
| US08855776B2 |
System and method for treating a nerve symptom
An implantable electrical stimulation system for treating a nerve symptom, the system comprising an implantable device. The implantable devices includes a wave generator that is operable to generate a signal wave and a white noise, mix the signal wave and the white noise, and produce an electrical stimulating signal. The system further comprises an electrode unit located in close proximity to a target nerve and is operable to provide the electrical stimulating signal to the nerve. The system further comprises an external controlling device. |
| US08855775B2 |
Systems and methods of reducing artifact in neurological stimulation systems
Systems and methods for neuromonitoring a subject are described. The system may include a stimulation assembly including a pulse generator that generates one or more stimulus waveforms; an electrode array coupled to the stimulation assembly and configured to deliver a stimulation signal to nervous system of the subject; a sensing assembly adapted to acquire a signal from a subject indicative of the subject's brain activity; a power supply configured to supply power to the stimulation assembly and the sensing assembly; and a timing controller programmed to control the use of the power supply by the stimulation assembly and the sensing assembly, said timing controller being programmed to control the time the sensing assembly is powered to acquire the signal to be substantially different than the time the stimulation assembly is powered to stimulate the subject. |
| US08855770B2 |
Duodenal eating sensor
Apparatus is described including a sensing electrode that detects electrical activity of a duodenum of a subject. The apparatus includes a control unit configured to facilitate a treatment of the subject responsively to the detected electrical activity. Other embodiments are also described. |
| US08855768B1 |
Capacitor for an active implantable medical device (AIMD) for handling high RF power induced in an implanted lead from an external RF field
An RF filter for an active medical device (AMD), for handling RF power induced in an associated lead from an external RF field at a selected MRI frequency or range frequencies includes a capacitor having a capacitance of between 100 and 10,000 picofarads, and a temperature stable dielectric having a dielectric constant of 200 or less and a temperature coefficient of capacitance (TCC) within the range of plus 400 to minus 7112 parts per million per degree centigrade. The capacitor's dielectric loss tangent in ohms is less than five percent of the capacitor's equivalent series resistance (ESR) at the selected MRI RF frequency or range of frequencies. |
| US08855767B2 |
Neural stimulation devices and systems for treatment of chronic inflammation
A system for treating chronic inflammation may include an implantable microstimulator, a wearable charger, and optionally an external controller. The implantable microstimulator may be implemented as a leadless neurostimulator implantable in communication with a cervical region of a vagus nerve. The microstimulator can address several types of stimulation including regular dose delivery. The wearable charger may be worn around the subject's neck to rapidly (<10 minutes per week) charge an implanted microstimulator. The external controller may be configured as a prescription pad that controls the dosing and activity of the microstimulator. |
| US08855765B2 |
Fault tolerant methods and architectures for embedded intelligence in medical leads
The present disclosure pertains to methods, devices and systems for detection of a lead-related condition in a medical electrical lead. In accordance with the disclosure, a physiological waveform interpreter module embedded within the lead functions to sense the occurrence of a cardiac event and to generate a minimal impact signal. In an example implementation, the physiological waveform interpreter module is disposed proximate to the sensing site or vicinity of cardiac signals. The physiological waveform interpreter module transmits the minimal impact signal that may include one or more predetermined properties to a remotely located lead monitoring module upon sensing a cardiac event. The lead monitoring module receives and processes the minimal impact signal to determine whether a cardiac depolarization has occurred and simultaneously verify the integrity of the transmission medium. |
| US08855759B2 |
Method of treating a rheumatic disorder using combination of transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation and a ginsenoside
The present invention relates to a method of treating rheumatic disorders, and symptoms of arthritis specifically. The method involves utilizing transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) in combination with administration of a ginsenoside, such as Rb1. |
| US08855757B2 |
Mobile wellness device
The invention is directed to a system for acquiring electrical footprint of the heart, electrocardiogram (EKG or ECG) and heart rate variability monitoring, incorporated into a mobile device accessory. The ECG signal is conveniently acquired and transmitted to a server via the mobile device, offering accurate heart rate variability biofeedback measurement which is portable and comfortable during normal daily life. The invention provides a reliable tool for applications such as wellness, meditation, relaxation, sports and fitness training, and stress-relief therapy where accurate heart rate variability measurement is desired. |
| US08855754B2 |
Apparatus and method for detecting epilepsy seizure
An apparatus for detecting an epilepsy seizure, includes: a graph generating unit configured to generate an orthogonal graph where values of heart beat intervals are sequentially plotted while a heart beat interval at an arbitrary timing is set as a first coordinate and a next heart beat interval is set as a second coordinate; and a seizure detecting unit configured to detect the epilepsy seizure based on: a change of a distribution of a group of the plotted values in a first direction perpendicular to a straight line passing an origin and a point where the first and second coordinates are equal to each other; and a change of a distribution of the group of the plotted values in a second direction parallel to the straight line. |
| US08855753B2 |
Apparatus and method for measuring a biological signal
Provided is a method and apparatuses for measuring a biological signal, in which a biological signal of an examinee is detected via at least one interface that touches skin of the examinee, and a dummy signal is detected via a dummy interface Noise that is generated by a fluctuation in the electrical characteristics of the at least one interface is removed from the biological signal using the biological signal and the dummy signal. |
| US08855751B2 |
Multidirectional scan and algorithmic skin health analysis
Technologies generally applicable to detecting skin conditions are disclosed. A computer graphics scanning apparatus may be configured to capture skin image data, and use the captured skin image data to calculate a subsurface transfer function for the skin, which may identify subsurface properties of the skin. The identified subsurface properties may be correlated to one or more skin conditions for medical and/or cosmetic treatment diagnosis. |
| US08855747B2 |
Engaged fiducials and system for deployment
Embodiments include a fiducial deployment system including a needle and at least two adjacent and releasably-engaged fiducials retained within a lumen of the needle by engagement with each other and/or by engagement with a pusher element. A fiducial may include one or more mechanical engagement structures that interengage with and/or are rupturably attached to one or more adjacent fiducials. The needle, which may include echogenic enhancements, may be configured to deliver a plurality of fiducials to a target location in serial fashion, one at a time. A variety of releasably-engaged fiducials are disclosed, as are methods for use. |
| US08855745B2 |
Mammography installation
A mammography installation or a mammography system allows x-ray projections of the breasts for at least one 3D volume image to be calculated with and without a contrast agent progression, and without repositioning of the patient within an examination cycle. |
| US08855744B2 |
Displaying a device within an endoluminal image stack
Apparatus and methods are described including, while an endoluminal data-acquisition device is being moved through a subject's lumen, acquiring a plurality of endoluminal data points of the lumen using the endoluminal data-acquisition device. It is determined that respective endoluminal data points correspond to respective locations along the lumen. A display is driven to display at least some of the plurality of endoluminal data points in a stack. While a second endoluminal device is inside the lumen, a current location of at least a portion of the second endoluminal device with respect to the lumen is determined. In response thereto, an image of the second endoluminal device is displayed within the stack, at a location within the stack corresponding to the current location of the second endoluminal device. Other applications are also described. |
| US08855743B2 |
Non-contrast magnetic resonance perfusion imaging
A magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system acquires MRI data within one patient breath-hold sufficient to generate (a) at least one tag-off first type non-contrast cardiac perfusion image using a data acquisition sub-sequence including a non-selective IR (inversion recovery) pulse and (b) at least one tag-on second type non-contrast cardiac perfusion image using a data acquisition sub-sequence including a non-selective IR pulse and a spatially selective IR pulse. A set of registered tag-on and tag-off images are differentially combined to produce an accurate cardiac perfusion image. |
| US08855740B1 |
System and method for determining size and size distribution of magnetic nanoparticles using VSM magnetization data
A method and apparatus for performing accurate measurements of the magnetic properties of magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) in both liquid media and biological matrices for providing information on their size, size distribution and concentration in these media and matrices and, resulting in parameters that influence their functionality and effectiveness. |
| US08855727B2 |
Mobile electronic device with an adaptively responsive flexible display
A mobile electronic device having a flexible display device is disclosed. A request to retrieve information from a server over a wireless network is triggered based on flexing the flexible display device and other gestures. |
| US08855724B2 |
Hearing aid compliant mobile handset
A hearing aid compatible mobile handset is provided with a parasitic element which is electrically connected to a groundplane of a circuit board. The parasitic element may have a length of around one-quarter wavelength of a frequency of interest. The parasitic element may be are arranged as a pair of parasitic elements. The parasitic element can be disposed in a location where the near field strength is near a peak so as to help reduce the near field level to a point that will allow operation of the handset adjacent a hearing aid. |
| US08855718B2 |
Signal transmission method, apparatus, and base station
Embodiments of the present invention provide a signal transmission method, apparatus, and base station. The method includes: sending downlink signals through N sectors, where the N sectors are created by using M sectors used to receive uplink signals, and N>M. In the embodiments of the present invention, the base station creates N sectors by using M sectors used to receive uplink signals and sends downlink signals through the N sectors, so that the multi-sector technology is mainly used in the downlink and the multi-antenna technology is mainly used in the uplink. This may resolve an existing conflict between the uplink and the downlink when system capacity is being improved, thereby improving system capacity of a wireless communication network. |
| US08855712B2 |
Mobile phone using dedicated and programmable processors for pipelined image processing, and method thereof
Cell phones and other portable devices are equipped with a variety of technologies by which existing functionality is improved, and new functionality is provided. Some aspects relate to imaging architectures, in which a cell phone's image sensor is one in a chain of stages that successively act on instructions/data, to capture and later process imagery. Other aspects relate to distribution of processing tasks between the device and remote resources (“the cloud”). Elemental image processing, such as filtering and edge detection—and even some simpler template matching operations—may be performed on the cell phone. Other operations are referred out to remote service providers. The remote service providers can be identified using techniques such as a reverse auction, through which they compete for processing tasks. Other aspects of the disclosed technologies relate to visual search capabilities, and determining appropriate actions responsive to different image inputs. Still others concern metadata generation, processing, and representation. A great number of other features and arrangements are also detailed. |
| US08855710B1 |
Apparatus and method for a web programmable telephone
A web programmable telephone and a method for operating a web programmable telephone are disclosed. In one embodiment of the present invention, a voice module of a wireless household telephone is controlled by an internal web module that can retrieve and execute data operations from a remote portal or server thus adding data functionality to the conventional functions of a telephone. The programmable web module controls all functionality of the web programmable telephone so that every function of the telephone can be programmed and customized by a user. |
| US08855707B2 |
Camera as input interface
A portable handheld electronic device contains a camera lens and accelerometer to allow a user to control voicemail and call features by swiping his finger across the camera lens and/or tapping the device. Therefore, the user can comfortably input commands into the device with a single hand and without needing to move the phone away from his ear to apply these inputs. In another embodiment, the camera lens can also be used to control navigation of the display screen or a displayed document of the device. For example, if a user wishes to shift a scrollbar for a page displayed on the screen downwards to view the bottom of the page, the user should move his finger over the camera lens in an analogous downward direction. |
| US08855706B2 |
Communication terminals and methods for controlling a receiver of a communication terminal
A communication terminal is described comprising a determiner configured to determine, for at least one communication connection of the communication terminal, a type of the physical channel used by the communication connection and a type of data transmitted via the communication connection and a controller configured to control a receiver of the communication terminal to use a reception performance enhancement functionality depending on the type of the physical channel and the type of data transmitted via the communication connection. |
| US08855700B2 |
Uplink power control
A power control applied to a radio network controller (40) when a user equipment (300) is in communication with a serving radio base station (10) and at least one other radio base station (20) involves the radio network controller (40) providing a quality representation of an uplink control channel (12) from the user equipment (300) to the serving radio base station (10). The radio network controller (40) generates an updated power quality target for a reference control channel based on the quality representation and transmits the updated power quality target to at least one of the serving radio base station (10) and the at least one other radio base station (20). Alternatively, the radio network controller (40) generates an updated power offset for the uplink control channel (12) relative a reference control channel based on the quality representation and transmits the updated power offset to the user equipment (300). |
| US08855699B2 |
Method and arrangement for determining a minimum transmit power gain factor for an enhanced uplink data communication
A minimum value or range for a transmit power gain factor is determined that controls the transmit power level over an enhanced uplink data channel relative so as to ensure delivery of a minimum data service requirement over the enhanced uplink data channel. The minimum value or range for the enhanced uplink data channel power gain factor may be determined based on a selected enhanced uplink transmission format and/or a maximum number of allowable transmission attempts over the enhanced uplink data channel for a communications session so that the required Quality of Service (QoS) for the communications session can be fulfilled and an expected uplink coverage gain can be reached. The minimum value or range for the enhanced uplink data channel power gain factor is also compatible with other techniques to increase enhanced uplink coverage such as autonomous retransmission and improved L2 techniques. |
| US08855695B2 |
Combined base transceiver station and base station controller data call
A system, method, and computer readable medium for a data call setup comprises receiving an origination message by a radio call control (RCC) and by a main call control (MCC), receiving an assignment request message by the MCC and by the RCC, and receiving a traffic channel assignment message by a channel element control (CEC) and by the MCC. |
| US08855693B2 |
Method and apparatus for controlling wireless devices
A wireless device operates in a first mode in which the device can send data to and receive data from an access point. The device receives control data from the access point comprising first data indicative of a time period and second data indicative of a control parameter. The device operates in a second mode for the time period specified by the first data and on the basis of the control parameter. In the second mode, at least some circuitry of the device used for sending data and at least some circuitry of the device used for receiving data is placed in a low power state, and data to be sent to the access point is stored in a buffer of the device. After expiry of the time period, the device operates in the first mode to send the data stored in the buffer to the access point. |
| US08855689B2 |
Direct SMS message delivery over broadband data networks through an SMS-C
SMS-C's and associated methods are disclosed that attempt to deliver SMS messages over a broadband data network as opposed to a voice network. An SMS-C described herein stores session information for a mobile device that has established a data session over the broadband data network. When the SMS-C receives a Mobile Terminated (MT) SMS message destined for the mobile device, the SMS-C stores the SMS message for delivery. The SMS-C then identifies a routing address for the mobile device over the broadband data network based on the stored session information, and forwards the SMS message to the mobile device directly over the broadband data network based on the routing address. |
| US08855686B1 |
Method and system of paging a mobile station
A method and system of paging a mobile station. In response to receiving a request to set up a communication with a mobile station, a radio network controller (RNC) may identify a last-known location of the mobile station. The RNC may then identify two or more paging areas based on the mobile station's last-known location. In turn, the RNC may determine an indication of traffic for each of the identified paging areas. For example, the RNC may determine an indication of traffic for a paging area by (a) determining a number of communication requests received by BTSs located in the paging area within a given time period, (b) determining a number of BTSs located in the paging area, and (c) dividing the number of communication requests by the number of BTSs. Thereafter, the RNC may page the mobile station in the identified paging area having the highest indication of traffic. |
| US08855678B2 |
Selected acknowledgment positioning optimizations
A location server, such as a Serving Mobile Location Center (SMLC) or E-SMLC and mobile terminal selectively implement the reliable transport mechanism used in, e.g., LPP or LPPe protocols, thereby decreasing unnecessary delays. The reliable transport mechanism may be selectively implemented by not requiring an acknowledgement for specific messages, such as an unsolicited assistance data message. When assistance data is solicited, however, the responsive assistance data message includes an acknowledgement request as per the reliable transport mechanism. |
| US08855674B2 |
Transmitter position integrity checking
The subject matter disclosed herein relates to determining whether a reported position of a wireless transmitter is sufficiently accurate in accordance with an accuracy metric based at least in part on a calculated range between an estimated position of a mobile station and the reported position and also based at least in part on one or more measurements taken from one or more signals transmitted by the wireless transmitter. |
| US08855673B2 |
Network location management entity
The present invention relates to a network location management entity for managing location information indicating a location of a mobile terminal in a communication network. The network location management entity comprises a provider (101) for providing pre-stored information on a network communication node which handled communications of the mobile terminal, and a transmitter (103) for transmitting a subscriber location request towards the network communication node if the pre-stored information fulfills a validity criterion, the subscriber location request requesting a transmission of the location information. |
| US08855671B1 |
System and method for determining position
Systems and methods for determining a position of a mobile device including a magnetic signal source deployed at a predetermined location. The magnetic signal source is adapted to transmit a low frequency modulated magnetic signal. The position and orientation of the mobile device relative to the predetermined location of the magnetic signal source is determined based on the signal bearing and the signal strength. |
| US08855665B2 |
Location privacy enforcement in a location-based services platform
A method for determining the privacy settings for location-based services without some of the disadvantages of the prior art is disclosed. This is done by establishing a session between the location generator and the location recipient. The session is created by a validator that is capable of keeping track of the rules for a stream of location objects created by a location generator. The validator determines what information to send to the location recipient without having to determine the rules for each location object and each location recipient every time a new location object is received by the location server. |
| US08855661B1 |
Adaptive power control with an overall power control command
Methods and computer-readable media are provided to determine which sector the mobile device will bias during soft handoff. Signals are received from multiple sectors, and for a first quantity of time slots of a frame, the signals are inspected to determine whether a quality threshold is met. Based on whether the quality threshold is met, each sector is assigned a power control command indicating that either a decrease or increase of output power is recommended when a subsequent signal is sent to the mobile device. For a second quantity of time slots, the overall power control command sent to the sectors corresponds to the power control command assigned to the sector that has communicated the highest quality signals for the first quantity of time slots of the frame. |
| US08855659B2 |
Transmission device and transmission method
A transmission device includes a transmission power setting unit that respectively sets a transmission power for transmitting a main sound signal indicating a main sound and transmission powers for transmitting one or two or more subsidiary sound signals which pertain to the main sound signal and which realize a predetermined sound effect, and a first communication unit that respectively transmits the main sound signal and the one or two or more subsidiary sound signals on time division channels using the same frequency band, based on the transmission powers set by the transmission power setting unit, wherein the transmission power setting unit sets the transmission power for the main sound signal to a first reference value, and sets the transmission powers for the subsidiary sound signals to a second reference value smaller than the first reference value. |
| US08855658B2 |
Interference avoidance on common channels in uncoordinated network deployments with flexible spectrum use
A network access node selects one chunk of spectrum from a plurality of chunks of spectrum to be a primary chunk for a particular cell; transmits in the primary chunk from a broadcast channel BCH that contains information needed by a terminal to at least perform initial cell access; and uses a synchronization channel SCH to indicate which chunk of the plurality of chunks is the primary chunk. A user equipment receives a SCH in a particular chunk of spectrum; determines from it that one chunk is a primary chunk for a particular cell; tunes its receiver to a BCH in the primary chunk and uses information received on the BCH to obtain initial access to the particular cell. In various embodiments the SCH is only in the primary chunk or the SCH has some indication (e.g., cell ID or relative position of primary chunk) telling which chunk is primary. |
| US08855655B2 |
Methods and apparatus for signaling parameter distribution for neighboring radio frequencies
Methods and apparatus for signaling parameter distribution for neighboring radio frequencies. A method includes identifying selected local operations infrastructures (LOIs) and one or more neighboring LOIs, generating a neighbor description message (NDM) that identifies the selected LOIs and their respective neighbors and specifies SP information for each RF channel associated with the selected LOIs and their respective neighbors, and distributing the NDM over each of the selected LOIs. An apparatus includes a message decoder configured to receive a NDM that identifies RF channels associated with selected LOIs and one or more neighboring LOIs, wherein each RF channel is associated with SP information, and processing logic configured to receive a request to obtain selected SP information associated with a selected RF channel, determine the selected SP information associated with the selected RF channel based on the NDM, and output the selected SP information. |
| US08855652B2 |
Mobile communication terminal, network device, mobile communication system, and mobile communication method
A mobile communication system 100 is configured to determine whether to or not to measure a reception quality of a signal broadcasted from the specific cell, based on at least one piece of information of a moving speed of the mobile communication terminal 10, location information of the mobile communication terminal 10, and a usage state of the specific cell. The mobile communication terminal 10 is configured to measure the reception quality of the signal broadcasted from the specific cell when it is determined that the reception quality of a signal broadcasted from the specific cell has to be measured. |
| US08855651B2 |
Base station, gateway, mobile communication system, and handover target specifying method and program used therefor
In order to specify a handover target of a mobile station regardless of allocation of PSCs, each of femto base stations (10—1-10—3) forming a mobile communication system (1) stores phase differences between one timing for each base station to start generation of SFN and timings for other base stations to respectively start generation of SFN. The phase differences differ from each other. Each base station adds SFN, the generation of which is started at the one timing, to each broadcast information (101—1-101—3) to be wirelessly transmitted. One femto base station (10—1), on which a mobile station (20) camps, specifies as a handover target of the mobile station (20) a femto base station (10—2) starting generation of SFN with a phase difference equivalent to a difference between one SFN1 added to the broadcast information (101—1) and another SFN2 received at the mobile station (20) with respect to the base station itself. |
| US08855650B2 |
Communication system
A communication system in which a network side and a mobile station apparatus communicate with each other through a base station apparatus. In the mobile station apparatus, a position information acquisition device acquires the position information regarding the mobile station apparatus. At the network side, a network side quality information receiving device receives the data in which the position information transmitted from the mobile station apparatus and quality information regarding each cell are associated with each other. A network side quality information storage device stores the data received by the network side quality information receiving device or a result after processing the data. A network side quality information transmitting device transmits the quality information regarding each cell, which corresponds to the position information regarding the mobile station apparatus, to the mobile station apparatus on the basis of the content stored in the network side quality information storage device. |
| US08855648B2 |
Method and device for adaptably controlling bandwidth of channel
Disclosed are a base station and mobile station to adaptively control a bandwidth of a channel. The base station includes a state information recognition unit to recognize neighboring-state information related with a traffic load of at least one neighboring network adjacent to a target network, a control state information transmitting unit to transmit control state information related with the controlled bandwidth of the target channel to mobile stations of the target network, and a bandwidth control unit to control a bandwidth of a target channel used in the target network according to a bandwidth of a channel used in the neighboring network based on the neighboring-state information. |
| US08855646B2 |
User equipment, base station device, and mobile communication method
User equipment 100n comprises a connection state processing section configured so that the connection state processing section measures the communication quality in a cell belonging to two or more layers, reports the result of the measurement to a base station device 200, and performs handover processing according to the instruction from the base station device 200 on the basis of first priority notified by a first control signal notified from the base station device 200 in an RRC_Connected state and a stand-by state processing section configured so that the stand-by state processing section measures the communication quality in the cell belonging to the two or more layers to determine a cell for performing a stand-by according to the result of the measurement on the basis of second priority notified by a second control signal notified from the base station device 200 in an Idle state. |
| US08855643B2 |
Method for improving handover success rate of group mobile terminals, mobile proxy, and mobile terminal
A method for improving a handover success rate of a group of mobile terminals include obtaining a minimum backoff time value according to obtained access parameters, receiving a message from a mobile terminal after entering a new cell, and sending the message to a base station if the message is a handover request message. If the message is not a handover request message, the method includes sending the received message to the base station upon expiry of a predetermine time after the message is received. The predetermined time is greater than or equal to the minimum backoff time value, and the minimum backoff time value is a minimum time value of the predetermined time when the received message from the mobile terminal is not the handover request message. |
| US08855640B2 |
Partitioning resources on a target side of a handover of a user equipment based on data traffic indication
It is described a method for partitioning radio transmission resources within a telecommunication network. The method includes (a) preparing a handover of a user equipment from a source access point being assigned to a source side of the telecommunication network to a target access point being assigned to a target side of the telecommunication network, (b) transferring a pre-announcement message from the source side to the target side indicating the handover, wherein the pre-announcement message is indicative for the amount of data traffic being associated with the user equipment, and (c) partitioning the radio transmission resources on the target side based on the pre-announcement message. It is further described a source side network element and a target side network element for controlling a partitioning of radio transmission resources within a telecommunication network. Furthermore, a computer program for controlling the above described method is described. |
| US08855638B2 |
Method for transitioning communications of a mobile subscriber station from a serving base station to a target base station
A method for transitioning communications of a mobile subscriber station from a serving base station to a target base station includes receiving from the mobile subscriber station a transition request message having an identifier which identifies the mobile subscriber station, and transmitting a transition request notification message having the identifier to the target base station. The method further includes receiving a transition request notification response message having information relating to capabilities of the target base station, and transmitting a transition response message having the information to the mobile subscriber station. |
| US08855637B2 |
Methods and apparatus for performing handoff based on the mobility of a subscriber station
In a wireless communication system, a mobility factor is used to influence handoff. If a subscriber station has been in a low mobility state for some period of time, the system may handoff operation from a first service type to a second service type. If the mobility factor indicates that the subscriber station is moving, the system may handoff operation from the second service type back to the first service type. |
| US08855636B2 |
Methods and apparatus for system selection in a multimode wireless device
Devices and methods are provided for system selection from a plurality of wireless system access technologies, such as a first group (e.g., 3GPP2 technologies) and a second group (e.g., 3GPP technologies). In one embodiment, the method may involve storing identification information pertaining to the first group in a database, wherein the database may concern the priority of ones of the access technologies pertaining to the second group. The method may also involve selecting a preferred access technology from one of the first and second groups based at least in part on the identification information stored in the database. |
| US08855632B2 |
Measurement termination of higher-prioritized layers for priority-based cell reselection algorithms in cellular communication systems
A user equipment (UE) is operated in a cellular communication system in which radiofrequency resources are partitioned into layers, each layer being associated with one of a set of hierarchical priority levels. While camped on a serving cell whose signals are transmitted on a first layer associated with a first priority level, the UE repeatedly measures a characteristic of a second layer that is present within its surroundings and generates from these measurements a plurality of measured surroundings data, wherein the second layer is associated with a second priority level that is higher than the first priority level. The UE ceases measuring the characteristic of the second layer that is present within the UE's surroundings in response to detecting both that at least one of the measured surroundings data is less than a predetermined threshold level and that a trend of the measured surroundings data is negative. |
| US08855629B2 |
Synchronization of mobility management data between a circuit-switched domain and a packet-switched domain
Systems and methods for synchronizing mobility management (MM) data between a CS domain and a PS domain. In one embodiment, a visitor location database of the CS domain stores MM data for a mobile device. If the visitor location database updates MM data for the mobile device to add an association for an MM node for mobility management, then the visitor location database determines if a prior association existed with another MM node. If so, the visitor location database removes the prior association with the other MM node, and transmits a release indicator to the other MM node indicating that the association has been removed. In response to the release indicator, the other MM node removes an association with the visitor location database, and the MM data for the mobile device is synchronized between the CS domain and the PS domain. |
| US08855628B2 |
Call setup for roaming subscribers
A wireless communication assembly (20) includes a visitor location register (42) that accesses a mobile station memory portion (44) that stores a visiting mobile subscriber's profile including an indication of the wireless features available to that subscriber. When a call needs to be setup involving the visiting mobile subscriber, the visitor network locally sets up the call by using the stored indication of the visiting mobile subscriber's profile from the mobile station memory portion (44). There is no need for contacting the subscriber's home network for purposes of setting up the call, which reduces the amount of signaling and communication between the visitor network and the subscriber's home network. |
| US08855627B2 |
System and method for enhanced diagnostics on mobile communication devices
A system and method may comprise providing to a device user in response to one of a user request for troubleshooting assistance and a mobile telecommunications user device monitoring software conclusion that a problem exists, a diagnostic application specific to the mobile telecommunication user device of the device user; receiving from the device user an indication of a problem with the mobile telecommunication user device experienced by the device user; selecting an application update; providing to the device user the application update updating an application running on the mobile telecommunication user device; and determining whether the problem has been solved. If determining indicates that the problem has not been solved the method may further include deleting the application and further determining whether the problem has been solved, and if so forwarding problem solution data to a knowledge database. |
| US08855625B2 |
Dynamic steering of traffic across radio access networks
Intelligent radio access technology sensing and selection are applied in a dynamic traffic steering network. Network characteristics and network policies are determined. A server sends network characteristics and network policies to user equipment devices. User equipment devices can determine a radio access technology to connect to based on network policies and network characteristics. Further, it can be determined how to select user equipment devices for connection to a radio access network via a radio access technology. In one aspect, user equipment devices dynamically select a radio access network for connection based on real-time or near real-time radio access network conditions. In another aspect, a self-organizing network can monitor and determine radio access network conditions and the radio access network conditions can be sent to user equipment devices in given cellular broadcast area. |
| US08855623B2 |
Radio wave state measurement system, radio wave state measurement method, and storage medium storing radio wave state measurement program
A propagation state measurement system includes a parameter update information reception means (101) and a measurement control means (102). The parameter update information reception means (101) stores a time when a radio parameter of a base station (30a) is updated. The measurement control means (102) indicates measurement of a radio wave state to a mobile terminal (40a) that can communicate with the base station (30a) at a timing determined according to the time stored by the parameter update information reception means (101). Then, when the radio parameter of the base station (30a) of a mobile communication system is updated, a change of the radio wave state by the radio parameter update is quickly and efficiently measured. |
| US08855621B2 |
Cellphone controllable car intrusion recording and monitoring reaction system
A cellphone controllable car intrusion system is provided. This system includes a vehicle OEM system, including an electronic control unit (ECU), a diagnostic port, a plurality of OEM cameras, a plurality of OEM sensors, an OEM satellite communication system, and an OEM local communication system. The diagnostic port, OEM cameras, OEM sensors, OEM satellite communication system, and the OEM local communication system being in electric communication with the ECU. A cellphone is provided having a local communication system disposed therein. The cellphone is in wireless communication with the ECU. The cellphone is adapted to configure the ECU to enable operation of the OEM cameras in response to receipt by the cellphone of an alert signal from the OEM sensors, indicating that an intrusion is in process. The alert signals are representative of detection of a monitor event by one or more of the OEM sensors. |
| US08855616B2 |
Method and apparatus for caller identification
The subject disclosure describes monitoring when a headset is in communication with a mobile communication device, detecting the headset, comparing a name of a caller and a telephone number of the caller against a list of names and telephone numbers previously stored in a memory, determining that the name of the caller or the telephone number of the caller matches one of the names and telephone numbers in the list, determining that the one of the names and telephone numbers is associated with a pre-recorded message that the user previously recorded and stored in the memory, retrieving the pre-recorded message, and performing a text-to-speech conversion on the name and telephone number of the caller to generate a synthesized speech signal spoken text message and sending the synthesized speech signal and the pre-recorded message to the headset. Other embodiments are disclosed. |
| US08855612B2 |
Systems and methods of terminating telephony communications to mobile telephony devices
Systems and methods for terminating telephony communications to a mobile telephony device that is roaming outside of its native service area make use of a forwarding termination service. The forwarding termination service causes the native mobile telephony service provider that provides service to the mobile telephony device to forward incoming telephony communications directed the native telephone number of the mobile telephony device to a forwarding access number. The forwarding termination service receives telephony communications directed to the forwarding access number, and then terminates the telephony communication to the mobile telephony device via any one of multiple different methods. The mobile telephony service provider can be instructed to implement and cancel call forwarding instructions by dialing a special character string on the mobile telephony device. |
| US08855607B2 |
Message forwarding and retrieval with a single messaging service
Embodiments described herein generally relate to a method and system of integrating a user's voice mail onto a single voice messaging service, e.g., a Unified Messaging (UM) service, such that a client may access this single source for voice mail retrieval, even where such voice mails are from a variety of sources, e.g., work, mobile phone, etc. A user, or the user's mobile operator, need only agree to accept the service, and the registration and configuration requirements for providing the service and forwarding calls to the service are automatically configured. The user's existing “speed dial” key or other setting for retrieving voice mail may also be automatically configured to the access number(s) for the service. Configurations may monitor the status of the service and update access and/or forwarding numbers. Voice mail forwarding and settings may also be automatically reverted back to the user's original service. |
| US08855605B2 |
Associating a particular account configuration during the out of box experience for a mobile device
A method of providing particular account configurations to a user of a mobile device based on a predetermined account configuration offering between a mobile device manufacturer and a third-party service provider based on a code stored on the mobile device. During the out-of-box experience (OOBE) when the user is initially configuring the mobile device, the third-party provider receives user information, a code, and a mobile device identification number. The third-party service provider confirms that the mobile device is eligible for the particular account configuration by using the code and mobile device identification number. Once account configuration eligibility is confirmed, the third-party service provider associates the particular account configuration with either an existing user account or with a new user account established during the OOBE. |
| US08855602B2 |
Master cipher key
A mobile telecommunications network and method of operation that includes establishing a first user plane connection between a telecommunications device registered with the network and a network gateway device of the network via a first access point; providing the telecommunications device with a token using the first user plane connection; establishing a second user plane connection between the telecommunications device and the network gateway device via a second access point by using the token information to validate the telecommunications device; and, subsequent to establishment of and corresponding to the second user plane connection, establishing a control plane connection between the telecommunications device and the network gateway device via the second access point. The token includes information indicative to the network that the telecommunications device has authorization to send a quantity of data to the network gateway device prior to full conventional authentication of the telecommunications device. |
| US08855598B2 |
Methods, systems, and products for sharing usage plans
Shared usage plans are popular with families, friends, and small businesses. These shared usage plans share some cumulative utilization of resources, such as communications services. Even though multiple devices may share a monthly allotment of resources, an individual threshold is established for each device. The multiple individual thresholds may then be dynamically regulated to maintain the monthly allotment of resources. |
| US08855597B2 |
User equipment timestamps for offline charging in IMS networks
Communication networks and associated methods are disclosed that provide offline charging in IMS networks. One of the methods includes receiving call signaling for a call from an access network serving user equipment for the call. The call signaling includes an access network identifier for the access network. The method further includes identifying location information related to the access network identifier. The method further includes determining a local time for the user equipment based on the location information. The method further includes generating a charging message for the call, and inserting a timestamp in the charging message based on the local time for the user equipment. The timestamp in the charging message provides the billing system with the local time for the user equipment to allow for variable-rate billing. |
| US08855592B2 |
Arrangements for narrow band interference detection
A method is disclosed for mitigating narrowband interference within a system for wideband communications. The method can include separating a wideband signal into a plurality of sub bands, detecting energy levels in the sub-bands, and activating a control signal if the energy levels of the sub-bands differ by a predetermined amount. Such a difference in energy levels can indicate that narrowband interference is present and interference mitigation features can be activated. In another embodiment, a system is disclosed that has a band splitter and a plurality of energy level detectors to detect energy differences in the sub bands. Other embodiments are also disclosed. |
| US08855589B2 |
Tuner
A center frequency F0 of an IF filter is effectively adjusted. The IF filter filters a down-converted signal centering around the center frequency F0. A pseudo sine wave generation circuit generates a pseudo sine wave having a level change of at least two steps respectively on both positive and negative sides. The pseudo sine wave is made to pass through the IF filter by a switch circuit, and in the state, an F0 adjustment circuit adjusts the center frequency F0 in the IF filter 14 by comparing a phase of the pseudo sine wave with a phase of a signal after passing through the IF filter. |
| US08855586B2 |
Active antenna array and method for transmitting radio signal
An active antenna array (10) for transmitting radio signals is disclosed. The active antenna array comprises a heat dissipating body (20), at least one first power amplifier (30) in thermal contact with the heat dissipating body (20), at least one second power amplifier (40) in thermal contact with the heat dissipating body (20) and an power level controller (50) for adjusting relative power levels of a first output signal (32) emanating from the at least one first power amplifier (30) and a second output signal (42) emanating from the at least one second power amplifier (40). A method for the transmission of radio signal is also disclosed. |
| US08855584B2 |
Matching network for transmission circuitry
The present disclosure relates to transmission circuitry of a wireless communication device. The transmission circuitry includes power amplifier circuitry, an output matching network, and impedance control circuitry. The power amplifier circuitry amplifies a radio frequency (RF) input signal to provide an amplified RF output signal, which is passed through the output matching network and transmitted via one or more antennas. As the center frequency of the RF input signal and conditions of operating parameters change, the impedance control circuitry adjusts the values of one or more variable impedance elements of the output matching network in a desired fashion. The values of the variable impedance elements are adjusted such that the output matching network concurrently and dynamically presents the desired load impedances at the center frequency and at one or more harmonics of the RF input signal to achieve a given performance specification. |
| US08855583B2 |
Communication system, communication terminal, server, communication method to be used therein and program therefor
Terminals 1 and 2-1 to 2-n refer to information on the state of the terminals 1 and 2-1 to 2-n and a user to add functions for modifying the operation of the terminal and processing data thereby allowing the operation of the terminal to be modified, and the communication data to be processed, when the state information is in a specific condition. A server 3 accesses the information on the state of the terminals 1 and 2-1 to 2-n and the user on the side of the server 3, extracts terminal group information under a specific condition, generates a new group, and adds a presence linking function for performing registration with a group management function, thereby allowing the above state information to be used to generate a dynamic group. |
| US08855575B2 |
Device-vehicle interoperability verification method
A device-vehicle interoperability verification method is disclosed herein. Vehicle information is obtained by a mobile communications device, and this vehicle information pertains to a vehicle within which the device is being used or is going to be used. The vehicle information and device identification information is transmitted from the device to a server. The transmission occurs in response to a command generated by an application resident on the device, which includes computer readable code, embedded on a tangible, non-transitory computer readable medium, for performing the transmission. A data aggregator at the server queries a database to obtain data pertaining to an interoperability between the device and the vehicle, and a communications module at the server sends a message to the device that includes at least the data pertaining to the interoperability between the device and the vehicle. |
| US08855572B2 |
Method and apparatus for link control in wireless communications
Methods and Systems are disclosed for use in a communication system 200 to selectively delay transmitting a second negative acknowledgement (NAK) after an initial NAK has already been sent requesting retransmission of a corrupted packet. The receiving entity 210 initiates a NAK prohibit timer 641 associated with a specific NAK 631 which prevents status reports to transmitting entity 220 from including a retransmission of the specific NAK until the timer expires. Use of the NAK prohibit timer 641 reduces the likelihood of spurious retransmissions from the transmitting entity 220 caused by a second NAK from the receiving entity 210 when the retransmission process has already been initiated. |
| US08855566B2 |
Apparatus for managing radio resources of base station and method for managing the same
A method for managing radio resources of a base station is provided. The method includes evaluating a radio environment between a base station and at least one neighboring base station or a radio environment between the base station and terminals connected to the base station, if the evaluated radio environment does not meet predetermined criteria, selecting a new radio resource, deactivating the existing radio resource, and reactivating the new radio resource. Accordingly, the radio resources can be efficiently managed. |
| US08855564B2 |
Zero client device with integrated Bluetooth capability
System and method for zero client communications. A zero client device includes a housing, and in the housing, a transcoding processing unit (transcoder) and a communications processing unit coupled to the transcoder. The transcoder is configured to receive input data from human interface device(s), encode the input data, and provide the encoded input data to the communications processing unit for transmission over a network to a server. The communications processing unit is configured to receive the encoded input data from the transcoder, transmit the encoded input data over the network to the server, receive output data from the server, and send the output data to the transcoder. The transcoder is further configured to receive the output data from the communications processing unit, decode the output data, and send the decoded output data to at least one of the human interface devices. |
| US08855562B2 |
Method and system for enabling discovery of services and automated exchange of data between bluetooth devices
A method and system for enabling discovery of services and automated exchange of data between multiple Bluetooth devices are disclosed. The method includes measuring signal attenuation of a Bluetooth signal between a first Bluetooth device and a second Bluetooth device. The method further includes comparing the signal attenuation with a set of predefined threshold values. The set of predefined threshold values is associated with a set of services. The method also includes activating a corresponding service from among the set of services based on the comparison. Activating the corresponding service enables discovery of the service and automated exchange of data between the first Bluetooth device and the second Bluetooth device. |
| US08855561B2 |
Device data collection using bluetooth
In accordance with aspects of the present disclosure, a method is described that includes establishing a wireless communication link between a mobile device and a document processing device; transmitting, by a transmitter of the document processing device, data stored in a memory of the document processing device related to the functionality of the document processing device to the mobile device; and receiving, by a receiver of the document processing device, data to control a functionality of the document processing device from the mobile device. |
| US08855557B2 |
Mobile communications device providing enhanced near field communication (NFC) mode switching features and related methods
A mobile wireless communications device may include a near field communication (NFC) device operable in a first NFC mode or a second NFC mode, wherein the second NFC mode has a lower power consumption level associated therewith than the first NFC mode. The mobile wireless communications device may further include a processor coupled with the NFC device and capable of detecting a field change via the NFC device when the NFC device is in the second NFC mode, determining a condition of the mobile communications device, and switching the NFC device from the second NFC mode to the first NFC mode based upon the field change and the condition. |
| US08855554B2 |
Packaging and details of a wireless power device
A wireless power system includes a power source, power receiver, and components thereof. The system can also include a parasitic antenna that can improve the coupling to the power source in various modes. The antenna can have both a variable capacitor and a variable inductor, and both of those can be changed in order to change characteristics of the matching. |
| US08855553B2 |
Scalable millimeter-wave wireless network architecture for high user concentrations
Technologies are presented for an architecture and infrastructure for a scalable, very high bandwidth, wireless network that can accommodate arbitrarily high geographic concentrations of high-bandwidth users. The architecture may include a network of highly localized service areas that communicate with a central access point through a hierarchy of aggregate-and-relay stages. Communications may be mediated by a hybrid combination of ad-hoc and infrastructure-network features that are supported separately within the framework of a standardized system, for example in the 60 GHz (millimeter-wave) band. The infrastructure may include a dense mesh of fixed control points that communicate over lossy, high-bandwidth, directional channels permitting dense spatial frequency sharing and providing for highly localized coverage, thereby enabling high user densities. |
| US08855549B2 |
Mobile station association procedures with type II relays
A relay node including one or more components configured to measure a signal strength of sounding reference signals (SRS) received from a mobile station, and in response to the signal strength being above a predetermined threshold, to transmit a first request to an access node. The first request is for the access node to associate the mobile station with the relay node. |
| US08855547B2 |
Method and device for band translation
A band translation method and device for selecting two or more desired frequency bands of data and bandstacking the two or more desired frequency bands of data into a single output. |
| US08855543B2 |
Transfer device
In a transfer device, a first side of a flexible guide plate faces to a recording medium being conveyed along a medium conveyance path to guide the recording medium toward an image carrying member. A support frame supports an upstream end portion of the guide plate, and includes an opposite portion disposed from and opposite to a second side (reverse to the first side) of the guide plate and a rib configured to protrude from the opposite portion toward the medium conveyance path. The rib has a first edge which is positioned at an upstream side and beyond which the guide plate protrudes downstream. The rib has an inclined surface extending from the first edge in a direction obliquely downstream toward the image carrying member. The guide plate includes an indentation to allow the guide plate to be deflected without being blocked by the rib. |
| US08855541B2 |
Heating device and image forming apparatus
A heating device includes a magnetic-field generating unit that generates an alternating-current magnetic field, an endless belt, and a heat transfer unit that includes a heat storage layer, a thermosensitive layer, and a diffusion layer. The thermosensitive layer extends so as to separate the magnetic-field generating unit and the heat storage layer from each other, and forms a magnetic path that allows a magnetic flux of the alternating-current magnetic field to pass therethrough in a direction in which the thermosensitive layer extends at a temperature below a Curie temperature and a magnetic path that allows the magnetic flux to extend therethrough and reach the heat storage layer at a temperature higher than or equal to the Curie temperature. The diffusion layer has a higher thermal conductivity than thermal conductivities of the thermosensitive layer and the heat storage layer, and diffusing heat of the belt. |
| US08855539B2 |
Induction heating type fuser and image forming apparatus
A fuser includes: a heat generating section including a heat generating layer and configured to rotationally travel; an induction-current generating section provided around the exterior of the heat generating section and including an exciting coil and an external ferrite core that covers the outer circumference of the exciting coil; an opposing section set in contact with the outer circumferential surface of the heat generating section; and an internal ferrite core arranged inside of the heat generating section in a position opposed to the exciting coil, a first center angle connecting both edges of the internal ferrite core and a rotation center of the heat generating section being larger than a second center angle connecting both edges of the external ferrite core and the rotation center of the heat generating section. |
| US08855536B2 |
Development device, and process cartridge and image forming apparatus including same in which an angle formed using an end face of a buffer area is smaller than an angle of twist of a spiral blade
A development device includes a development casing, a developer bearer, a first developer conveyance member to supply developer to the developer bearer, a second developer conveyance member to transport developer axially, and a partition dividing an interior of the development casing into a supply channel and a collecting channel via which developer received from a downstream end portion of the supply channel is forwarded to an upstream end portion of the supply channel. The supply channel includes a conveyance area and a buffer area disposed adjacent to the conveyance area in a direction perpendicular to an axial direction to temporarily retain developer and midway in the developer conveyance direction inside the supply channel, and an upstream end face defining an upstream end of the buffer area is inclined relative to the axial direction to draw away from the conveyance area downstream in the developer conveyance direction. |
| US08855532B2 |
Image forming apparatus and image forming method for forming an image covering another image by a color erasable recoding material
According to one embodiment, the image forming apparatus includes an image carrier the surface of which is charged at a predetermined potential, an exposure device which forms a latent image by exposing the surface of the image carrier, a developing unit which develops a toner image generated using color erasable toner on the latent image formed on the surface of the image carrier, a transfer unit which transfers the toner image to a recording medium, and a controller which controls an operation for transferring a toner image of the color erasable toner to a printed surface of the recording medium to cover a printed portion of the recording medium to which the color erasable toner has been fixed. |
| US08855529B2 |
Devices and methods for remanufacturing toner printer cartridges
There is provided a device and method for aligning a doctor blade in a toner hopper of toner printer cartridge. In one embodiment there is provided a device for aligning a doctor blade in a toner hopper of a toner printer cartridge where the device has a base portion, at least one cartridge portion holding element on the base portion, and an alignment assembly portion setting a doctor blade alignment setting and aligning a doctor blade in a toner hopper retained by the cartridge portion holding element. |
| US08855525B2 |
Developing apparatus, and image forming apparatus
A developing apparatus includes a first chamber for accommodating a developer, the first chamber being provided with a developer carrying member for carrying the developer; a second chamber communicated with the first chamber through communication openings provided at opposite end portions to establish a circulation path; a feeding member, provided in the second chamber, for feeding the developer in a feeding direction which is from one of the communication openings toward the other communication opening; a sealing portion for openably sealing the communication openings; a moving mechanism for opening the communication openings by moving the sealing portion; and a reverse feeding member for feeding the developer in a direction which is opposite the feeding direction. |
| US08855522B2 |
Toner conveying apparatus and image forming apparatus
A toner conveying apparatus includes a conveying unit providing a toner conveyance path having an inlet portion and an outlet portion and provided for conveying toner from the inlet portion to the outlet portion, and a first rotation member that is rotatable and located upstream in a toner conveying direction of the conveyance path, wherein the first rotation member rotates about a first rotating shaft to convey toner from an outside of the toner conveyance path toward the inlet portion. In addition, a second rotation member is rotatable and located downstream in the toner conveying direction of the conveyance path, wherein the second rotation member rotates about a second rotating shaft to convey toner from the outlet portion away from the toner conveyance path, and an agitation device agitates toner in the toner conveyance path. One end portion of the agitation device is connected to a first eccentric shaft eccentric with regard to the first rotation member and another end portion of the agitation device is connected to a second eccentric shaft eccentric with regard to the second rotation member. |
| US08855521B2 |
Image forming apparatus
An image forming apparatus including: an image forming section having a intermediate transfer body to carry a toner image on a photoreceptor and transfer the toner image onto a sheet of paper; a cleaning section for removing residual toner on the intermediate transfer body by bringing a cleaning blade into close contact with the intermediate transfer body; and a control section for controlling a rotation of the intermediate transfer body so as to carry out a return action of a blade configuration which stops or reverses the rotation of the intermediate transfer body, when a rotation amount reaches a predetermined value, wherein the control section carries out the return action when the rotation amount reaches a value smaller than the predetermined value, in a case where a plurality of previous printing jobs is determined to be intermittent printing. |
| US08855520B2 |
Image forming apparatus and sensing device thereof
An image forming apparatus and a sensing device thereof. The sensing device includes a sensor, and a cleaning unit adapted to be operated by a moving printing medium and used to clean the sensor. The sensing device is operable according to delivery of a printing medium, to remove pollutants attached to the sensor. |
| US08855518B2 |
Image forming apparatus
An image forming apparatus includes a printing engine to form an image on a printing medium through printing processes, an engine frame to support the printing engine having a driving system to drive the printing engine, a high voltage power supply provided in a surface of the engine frame to apply a high voltage to at least one of units performing the printing processes, a main board provided in a surface of the engine frame adjacent to the surface having the high voltage power supply, and having a system engine controller to control the printing engine and a video controller to control a video signal, first and second main connectors respectively provided at lateral sides of the high voltage power supply and the main board adjacent to each other, and a connection control line to connect the first and second main connectors. |
| US08855517B2 |
Image forming apparatus having looped belt and method of detecting index
An image forming apparatus includes an endless belt, an index provided at part of an end edge of the belt, a detecting member, a processing unit, and a storage unit. The detecting member changes an output value thereof based on the passing states of the index and the end edge of the belt in a detection area of the detecting member. The processing unit processes the output value and determines whether the index is present in the detection area by comparing the present output value with a threshold value. The storage unit stores the processed output value. The processing unit acquires a reference value based on the stored output value. The processing unit, when determining whether the index is present in the detection area, sets as the threshold value a value obtained by changing the most recently acquired reference value by a predetermined value. |
| US08855515B2 |
Control apparatus and method, image forming apparatus and system, and non-transitory computer readable medium
A control apparatus includes the following elements. A page specifying unit specifies, concerning image data representing images included in plural pages, among the plural pages, plural pages including images each having a similarity which is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold. A controller controls a transfer bias to be applied to a transfer device which transfers a toner image formed on an image carrier onto a medium. The controller performs control, for the plural pages specified by the page specifying unit, such that each of values of the transfer bias to be applied to the transfer device when toner images corresponding to the plural pages specified by the page specifying unit are transferred onto the medium is within a predetermined range. |
| US08855514B2 |
Image forming apparatus having stretching roller correction
An image forming apparatus includes first and second image bearing members configured to bear electrostatic latent images, a rotatable belt configured to receive toner images from the first and second image bearing members, and an executing portion configured to execute an operation in a correction mode for determining timing at which formation of the electrostatic latent image starts on at least one of the first and second image bearing members with respect to a widthwise direction of the belt between test toner images transferred onto the belt from the first and second image bearing members. In addition, first and second detecting members detect positions of the belt with respect to the widthwise direction, and a calculating portion calculates a movement distance of a predetermined point on the belt with respect to the widthwise direction. An adjusting portion adjusts the timing determined by the executing portion on the basis of a result of the calculation in the correction mode and a result of the calculation of the calculating portion when the image is to be formed in accordance with an image formation signal. |
| US08855513B2 |
Image forming apparatus
An image forming apparatus includes: a transfer portion that transfers a toner image from a first image forming element to a second image forming element when transfer voltage is applied; and a control portion, at time of cleaning the plurality of image forming elements, after integrally forming a cleaning toner image to be supplied to the first image forming element and the second image forming element on the surface of the photoreceptor along a revolving direction, that controls the application of the transfer voltage to the transfer portion to transfer the toner image in a manner such that the toner image is divided into at least four sections along the revolving direction, out of which at least two sections that are not adjacent to each other are transferred from the first image forming element to the second image forming element. |
| US08855510B2 |
Image forming apparatus and fixing unit control method thereof
Disclosed are an image forming apparatus and a fixing unit control method thereof, the image forming apparatus including an image forming unit, a fixing unit, a power supply to supply operating power to the fixing unit, a temperature sensor to sense a temperature of the fixing unit, a first protection unit to compare the sensed result of the temperature sensor with a first predetermined reference value and to output a signal, a switching unit to turn on/off power supplied to the fixing unit in accordance with the signal output from the first protection unit, a second protection unit to compare the sensed result of the temperature sensor with a second predetermined reference value and to output a signal, and a relay unit to turn on/off the operating power supplied to the fixing unit in accordance with the signal output from the second protection unit. |
| US08855507B2 |
Lubricant supplying device, and image forming apparatus
In the present invention, a lubricant supplying device includes a lubricant end determining unit that determines that a solid lubricant is in an end state when the amount of a lubricant supplying operation reaches a threshold after a residual amount detecting unit detects that the residual amount of the solid lubricant is equal to or smaller than a predetermined amount. The lubricant end determining unit makes a threshold of the amount of the lubricant supplying operation at temperature or humidity of equal to or lower than a predetermined value lower than a threshold of the amount of the lubricant supplying operation at temperature or humidity of higher than the predetermined value. |
| US08855504B2 |
Optical transmission method and optical receiver
An optical receiver has an adaptive optical compensator and/or an adaptive electrical equalizer for compensating signal distortion in a received optical signal. In order to achieve a very fast adaptation of the receiver to the actual signal distortion, which is important for example for bursts mode optical signals in a packet-switched optical transmission network, at least one predetermined trainings sequence is provided in the optical signal, which is known at the receiver and thus enables fast adaptation of the compensator and/or equalizer to the actual signal distortion. |
| US08855499B2 |
Power recapture in an optical communications system
In an n-node optical communications system, energy harvesting photodetectors at each node receive extraneous electromagnetic wavelengths that are not used for communication or other purposes by the associated node. The energy harvesting photodetectors convert the unused electromagnetic energy into reusable electrical energy. The harvested electrical energy may be used as auxiliary power at the node or elsewhere in the communication system, or stored in a battery, capacitor, or other energy storage device. The system may be used in an “all-to-all” broadcast and select communication scheme or in some other broadcast and select interconnect system that has extraneous wavelengths at node receivers. |
| US08855498B2 |
Skew suppression method and optical transmission system
A method for suppressing a skew between a first channel and a second channel in an optical transmission system having a transmitter that transmits an optical signal with the first channel and the second channel and a receiver that receives the optical signal, the method includes: controlling dispersion added to the optical signal to be larger than a specified amount; and controlling a delay time of at least one of the first channel and the second channel in the receiver based on a quality of the optical signal monitored in the receiver to suppress the skew between the first channel and the second channel in the receiver. |
| US08855494B2 |
Multi-band reconfigurable optical add-drop multiplexer (ROADM) system
A device includes a first band coupler, a first reconfigurable optical add-drop multiplexer (ROADM), a second ROADM, and a second band coupler. The first band coupler is configured to decouple a regular band and an extended band. The first ROADM is configured to add or drop one or more frequencies in the decoupled regular band to produce a first output in the regular band. The second ROADM is configured to add or drop one or more frequencies in the decoupled extended band to produce a second output in the extended band. The second band coupler is configured to couple the first output and the second output to produce a third output occupying the regular band and the extended band. |
| US08855491B2 |
Techniques for protecting passive optical networks
A method for performing a protection in passive optical networks. The method comprises forming a protection maintenance link between an active optical line terminal (OLT) and a standby OLT; forming a synchronization link between the active OLT and the standby OLT; computing a base differential distance value; continuously measuring round trip time (RTT) values by the active OLT using the protection maintenance link; periodically sending at least RTT values calculated by the active OLT to the standby OLT over the synchronization link; and computing, by the standby OLT, a new RTT value based on at least a RTT value measured by the active OLT and a standby differential distance value, when a switch-over action is triggered, thereby allowing the standby OLT to serve optical network units (ONUs) in the PON without performing a ranging process. |
| US08855489B2 |
Communications method, particularly for a mobile radio network
Communications method between a main station and processing nodes includes interconnecting the main station and the nodes in an optical path defining adjacent nodes and non-adjacent nodes, operatively grouping the nodes in a plurality of distinct sub-groups, each formed by non-adjacent nodes, at least one of said sub-groups including at least two nodes generating at the main station a multiplexed optical signal propagating along the path for serving the nodes, the multiplexed optical signal including a plurality of optical channel signals having a respective plurality of distinct carrier wavelengths, each carrier wavelength being associated with a respective sub-group of nodes, and serving each node of each sub-group of nodes with a respective portion of the optical channel signal having the associated carrier wavelength. |
| US08855486B2 |
Remotely controlled fiber testing method
A remotely controlled fiber testing method has the steps of: building a fiber network system including a local fiber station and a remote fiber station; sending a modulated signal to the remote fiber station by the local fiber station; demodulating the modulated signal to obtain a control command by the remote fiber station; executing the control command to obtain a testing result by the remote fiber station; modulating the testing result and sending the testing result back to the local fiber station; and demodulating the testing result by the local fiber station. Only one technician appointed to the local fiber station is sufficient to do the testing action. Therefore, the personnel cost is effectively reduced. |
| US08855484B2 |
Method for controlling optical power and extinction ratio over entire temperature range
The present invention is to provide a method applicable to a fiber-optic transceiver including a transmitter optical subassembly (TOSA) provided therein with a laser diode, but without a monitoring photodiode, a laser driver controlled by a controller IC for driving the laser diode to generate a laser beam, and a thermal sensor for sensing temperature of the laser diode. The method includes executing an approximation process to characteristic data, i.e. threshold currents of the laser diode at a plurality of specific temperatures and corresponding slope efficiencies (SE), provided by manufacturer for obtaining relationship therebetween over entire temperature range, manually adjusting operation parameters (such as bias current and modulation current) of the laser diode for generating expected optical power and extinction ratio at a normal temperature and for subsequently determining the operation parameters over the entire temperature range, and writing the relationship and operation parameters thus obtained into the controller IC. |
| US08855483B2 |
Restoration scheme for an optical network and method of using such a scheme
A method of restoration for an optical network, the network comprising a plurality of nodes (40, 50) interconnected with each other by optical links (130), a subset of the nodes (40) each comprising a regenerator, the method comprising: storing 160) a quality of transmission parameter and a regenerator availability at each of the plurality of nodes (40, 50); notifying (170) a branch node (110) in response to detecting a failure (140) within a link (130) forming part of the path between a source node (20) and a destination node (30), wherein the branch node (110) is the neighbouring upstream node (40, 50) upstream of the link failure (140), the branch node (110) having a regenerator; the branch node (110) computing (190) a restoration segment (100) to a merge node (120) having a regenerator which is a neighbouring downstream node which is downstream of the link failure (140), the restoration path (100) being based on the quality of transmission parameter and regenerator availability information; restoring (180) the path between the source node (20) and the destination node (30) using the restoration segment (100). |
| US08855481B2 |
Apparatus and method for photographing timer control of a camera of a terminal
Terminals, methods, and apparatuses for controlling a photographing timer of a camera operating in a terminal, such as a mobile terminal, including a photographing timer control apparatus, and may include: a display unit to display a photographing icon on the terminal to set a time for a photographing timer of a camera of the terminal, a timer value computing unit to compute or determine a self-timer value based on a touch duration of a touch input on the photographing icon when the touch input is provided at a position corresponding to the photographing icon, and a control unit to control a photographing operation of the photographing timer of the camera of the terminal, based on the self-timer value computed or determined by the timer value computing unit. |
| US08855480B2 |
Camera module
A camera module comprises an housing and at least two metal plating layers. The housing comprises a base and two platforms. The base includes a bottom surface, a top surface and an outer wall surface. A receiving hole configured to receive a lens device may be formed in the base, the receiving hole may pass through the base in a direction from the top surface to the bottom surface. The two platforms may be positioned above the top surface of the base and may have different heights. The metal plating layers extends on the outer wall surface of the base. A first end portion of each of the two metal plating layers extends to the top surface of the corresponding platform and the other end portion of the each metal plating layer extends to the bottom surface of the base. |
| US08855474B2 |
Inhibiting compressor backspin via a condenser motor
Assemblies for HVAC systems and methods of operating HVAC systems are disclosed, including a method of operating an HVAC system having a compressor assembly and a condenser assembly. The compressor assembly includes a compressor having a compressor motor that is susceptible to backspinning and capable of generating electric power when backspinning. The condenser assembly includes a condenser motor operatively coupled to a fan. The condenser assembly is electrically coupled to the compressor assembly. The method includes using the condenser motor as an electric load to dissipate electric power generated by the compressor motor when the compressor motor backspins. |
| US08855473B2 |
Apparatus for and a method of storing a real time stream of digital information signals
An apparatus for recording a substantially real time stream of digital information signals on a disc like record carrier has been proposed. The stream of information signals represents information arranged in a sequence of video frames, each video frame arranged in separate, consecutive data blocks comprised in separate, consecutive data packets. The apparatus comprises input means (1) for receiving the stream of digital signals, processing means (100) for processing the stream of digital information signals to obtain digital information signals and writing means (102) for writing the digital information signals into the units of recording on the disc like record carrier. The processing means (102) are adopted to detect the data blocks in the data packets and to allocate consecutive data blocks comprised in multiple data packets into consecutive logical units, a size of each logical unit corresponding to the predetermined size of the unit of recording. This apparatus is specifically suitable for recording digital video (DV) signals in a manner that preserves the format of original data as much as possible. |
| US08855468B2 |
Video stream index generation at a video content transmitter
A method of generating and using indexing information for video content is presented. In the method, an index stream for a video stream is generated at a video content transmitter. The video stream includes video frames, and the index stream includes an index for each of at least some of the video frames within the video stream. The video stream and the index stream are transmitted from the video content transmitter to a video content receiver, which receives and stores the video and index streams. Further, at the video content receiver, the index stream is processed to locate the video frames within the video stream that are associated with at least some of the indexes of the index stream, and at least some of the located video frames of the video stream are presented to an output device under control of a user of the video content receiver. |
| US08855464B2 |
Video reproductions apparatus and video reproduction method
According to one embodiment, a video reproduction apparatus includes a processor and a controller. The processor is configured to perform signal processing on a video signal including a plurality of videos, The controller is configured to determine that a battery usable time of glasses for viewing the plurality of videos is shorter than a reproduction time of a content corresponding to the video signal, and to stop output of a video signal on which the signal processing has been performed by the processor and to display a warning message for replacement or charging of a battery of the glasses when determines that the battery usage time of the glasses is shorter than the reproduction time of the content corresponding to the video signal. |
| US08855463B2 |
Image storing apparatus, control method for image storing apparatus, and control program for image storing apparatus
In an image storing apparatus (photostorage), files are enabled to be certainly copied (or moved) without overlapping by the fairly simple operation. When image data is read out of a recording medium connected through a slot and stored into a high capacity storage unit, a management table in which a unique ID of the recording medium and the maximum value of file IDs of image files stored in the recording medium have been associated is used and the image files having the file IDs larger than the maximum value of the file IDs corresponding to the unique ID of the recording medium in the management table are read out and stored into the high capacity storage unit. The file ID is formed by combining a directory number and a file number in the DCF standard. |
| US08855461B2 |
Moving image shooting apparatus capable of changing frame rate during shooting, method of controlling the moving image shooting apparatus, and storage medium
A technique enabling a moving image reduced in image disturbance to be recorded even when a frame rate is changed during shooting. In a moving image shooting apparatus, an image pickup device picks up an image of an object. An image synthesis section combines images picked up by the image pickup device into a composite image. A moving image is recorded in a storage medium using the image or the composite image. When an instruction for changing the frame rate of the moving image is issued, the moving image shooting apparatus performs control such that a frame rate transition time period is provided. During the transition time period, images are picked up at a first frame rate, and a composite image is generated at the first frame rate. Then, the composite image is recorded at a second frame rate lower than the first frame rate. |
| US08855458B2 |
Fiber optic connector removal clips
A removal clip is provided for disconnecting a fiber optic connector from an array of installed fiber optic connectors. The removal clip includes an engagement portion for engaging the connector and a force transmitting structure that allows digital removal force from a user to be applied at a distance from the connector. The engagement portion may be generally U-shaped and includes opposing latch arms configured to accommodate the body of a fiber optic connector. The latch arms permit the engagement portion to snap attach to the connector. The force transmitting structure may include a beam and a handle extending axially or radially from the gripping section. Also included is an assembly of a removal clip attached to a fiber optic connector. |
| US08855457B2 |
Optical splitting component
The present disclosure relates to an optical device that includes an optical splitting component that optically couples an optical input fiber to a plurality of optical output fibers. The optical output fibers have non-connectorized free ends that have been processed to reduce the ability of the non-connectorized free ends to reflect light back towards the optical splitting component. |
| US08855451B2 |
Optical isolator
Various optical isolator embodiments are disclosed. Embodiments comprise a waveguide section utilizing materials that induce a propagation constant shift that is propagation-direction-dependent. Embodiments are characterized by a cutoff frequency for forward propagating waves that is different than the cutoff frequency for reverse waves. A particular embodiment is constructed as a single-mode waveguide on a substrate. The cross-section of the waveguide is inhomogeneous in terms of materials. This inhomogeneity induces a propagation constant shift, which is propagation-direction-dependent. This device works as an optical isolator from the cut-off frequency of the lowest forward wave (lower frequency) to one for the lowest reverse wave (higher frequency). Various configurations consistent with the principles of the invention are disclosed. |
| US08855449B1 |
Adiabatic waveguide polarization converter
Embodiments of the invention enable polarization diversity using a more general component than current polarization splitter and rotator solutions. Devices such as an optical receiver, transmitter or duplexer may utilize polarization diversity to efficiently process incoming signals regardless of the signal's polarization. Embodiments of the invention may be described as enabling polarization diversity via an adiabatic waveguide polarization converter. When utilized in an optical system of discrete components or in a photonic integrated circuit (PIC), this adiabatic waveguide polarization converter may receive an unknown single-mode polarization of light. This light may, for example, originate from a remote location and come through a single mode fiber. As described in further detail herein, embodiments of the invention reduce the requirements and component complexity for polarization handling for polarization diversity systems. By reducing the component complexity, insertion loss is reduced, device footprint is reduced, and device reliability and tolerances may be improved. |
| US08855448B2 |
Advanced modulation format using two-state modulators
An optical modulator device comprising an interferometer. The interferometer includes an input optical coupler, an output optical coupler, and two or more controllable optical waveguides located on a substrate. Each controllable optical waveguide connects the input optical coupler to the output optical coupler and has two-state modulator along a segment thereof. The two or more controllable optical waveguides are connected to transmit an output to the output optical coupler, substantially different light amplitudes and/or phases when the two-state modulators of the two controllable optical waveguides are in different states, as driven by data streams having different information content. The two or more controllable optical waveguides are configured to modulate the light amplitudes and/or phases in a substantially same manner when the two-state modulators are in identical states. |
| US08855445B2 |
Image processing apparatus
An image processing apparatus includes: an acquisition unit configured to acquire original image data expressing an original image that comprises a first type pixel and a second type pixel; and an enlargement processing unit configured to execute enlargement processing for the original image data to generate enlarged image data expressing an enlarged image that is obtained by enlarging the original image in a first direction. The enlargement processing unit includes: a pixel group selection unit configured to select a pixel group extending in a second direction intersecting with the first direction in the enlarge image when a specific pattern configured by the first type pixel and the second type pixel is included in the original image; and a setting unit configured to set a pixel configuring the pixel group in the enlarged image as the second type pixel. |
| US08855443B2 |
Detection of non-uniform spatial scaling of an image
To detect non-uniform spatial scaling of an image in the horizontal direction (for example in 4:3 to 16:9 aspect ratio conversion) the image is divided into regions, for example a middle region and two side regions. A measure of horizontal spatial frequency energy is taken in each region by for example subtracting the values of horizontally adjacent pixels and a comparison is made between measures of horizontal spatial frequency energy for the different regions. |
| US08855435B2 |
Image coding method, image decoding method, image coding apparatus, image decoding apparatus, and image coding and decoding apparatus
The image coding method is used to code images to generate a coded stream. The image coding method includes: writing, into a sequence parameter set in the coded stream to be generated, a first parameter representing a first bit-depth that is a bit-depth of a reconstructed sample in the images; and writing, into the sequence parameter set, a second parameter which is different from the first parameter and represents a second bit-depth that is a bit-depth of an Intra Pulse Code Modulation (IPCM) sample in the images. |
| US08855430B1 |
Refining image annotations
Methods, systems and apparatus for refining image annotations. In one aspect, a method includes receiving, for each image in a set of images, a corresponding set of labels determined to be indicative of subject matter of the image. For each label, one or more confidence values are determined. Each confidence value is a measure of confidence that the label accurately describes the subject matter of a threshold number of respective images to which it corresponds. Labels for which each of the one or more confidence values meets a respective confidence threshold are identified as high confidence labels. For each image in the set of images, labels in its corresponding set of labels that are high confidence labels are identified. Images having a corresponding set of labels that include at least a respective threshold number of high confidence labels are identified as high confidence images. |
| US08855426B2 |
Information processing apparatus and method and program
An information processing apparatus includes: an inputting section adapted to input an image; a detection section adapted to detect a portion of an image pickup object from within the inputted image; a noticed region setting block adapted to set a noticed region from the detected portion; a restriction region setting block adapted to set a restriction region from the detected portion; and an extraction section adapted to extract feature values of the noticed region restricted by the restriction region. |
| US08855425B2 |
Systems, methods and computer program products for determining document validity
A method according to one embodiment includes performing optical character recognition (OCR) on an image of a first document; and at least one of: correcting OCR errors in the first document using at least one of textual information from a complementary document and predefined business rules; normalizing data from the complementary document using at least one of textual information from the first document and the predefined business rules; and normalizing data from the first document using at least one of textual information from the complementary document and the predefined business rules. Additional systems, methods and computer program products are also presented. |
| US08855424B2 |
Word recognition method, word recognition program, and information processing device
A word recognition method in which as a result of a recognition process performed on an image of a character string, one or more character candidates are obtained for each of characters forming the character string, according to which a word corresponding to the character string is recognized using a word database having registered therein a plurality of words includes setting a predetermined number of words included in the word database, as initial word candidates, performing a process in which the characters forming the recognition target character string are set as processing targets, one character by one character, and every time a processing target character is set, word candidates present at a time of the setting are narrowed down to words in which character candidates obtained for the processing target character are arranged at a same location as a location where the processing target character is arranged in the recognition target character string, and identifying, when a narrowing-down process performed on a last processing target character in the recognition target character string is completed, a word corresponding to the character string from among word candidates extracted at a point in time of the completion of the narrowing-down process. |
| US08855422B2 |
Light source detection from synthesized objects
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for determining a location relative to an object and a type of a light source that illuminated the object when the image was captured, are described. A method performed by a process executing on a computer system includes identifying an object of interest in a digital image. The method further includes projecting at least a portion of the digital image corresponding to the object of interest onto a three dimensional (3D) model that includes a polygon-mesh corresponding to the object's shape. The method further includes determining one or more properties of a light source that illuminated the object in the digital image at an instant that the image was captured based at least in part on a characteristic of one or more polygons in the 3D model onto which the digital image portion was projected. |
| US08855418B2 |
Systems and methods for block recomposition for compound image compression
A new approach is proposed that contemplates systems and methods to support block-based compression of a compound image by skipping “don't care” blocks in the layers of the image while neither introducing significant overhead nor requiring changes to the compression method used. The block-based compression approach first segments a compound image into multiple layers and then recomposes a new set of image layers, possibly with new dimensions, from only the non-“don't care” blocks in the layers of the original image. The approach may later decompress the compressed image layers and restore the image by copying the decompressed blocks to their respective positions in the original image. |
| US08855414B1 |
Apparatus and method for encoding an image generated in part by graphical commands
A method and apparatus for encoding an image is disclosed. In one embodiment, the method comprises identifying initial pixels within a spatially defined sub-section, the initial pixels at least a defined number of pixels each comprising a first color; identifying background pixels, the background pixels comprising the first color and in a first defined spatial proximity to the initial pixels; identifying text pixels, the text pixels contrasting the first color and in a second defined spatial proximity to the background pixels; identifying picture pixels as all pixels other than the background pixels and the text pixels; generating a background encoding comprising (i) spatial locations of the background pixels and (ii) a lossless encoding of the first color; generating a text encoding identifying a spatial location and a lossless color encoding of each of the text pixels; and generating a picture encoding comprising a lossy encoding of the picture pixels. |
| US08855412B2 |
Systems, methods, and apparatus for image processing, for color classification, and for skin color detection
Embodiments include a method of image processing including decomposing a reflectance spectrum for a test surface into a linear combination of reflectance spectra of a set of test targets. The coefficient vector calculated in this decomposition is used to predict a response of an imaging sensor to the test surface. A plurality of such predicted responses may be used for various applications involving color detection and/or classification, including human skin tone detection. |
| US08855410B2 |
Method and apparatus for compressing and decompressing data
An example method includes interpreting compressed source data to produce a set of representative colors and modulation data. Portions of the modulation data are interpreted as a plurality of vectors. Each vector pertains to a respective region of the image, which has multiple portions, each with elements. Modulation data is interpreted to include vector modifier data. A respective color for each element within a first portion of the region is determined from the set of representative colors, which are combined according to a selected vector (can be a selection made from a subset of the plurality). Colors for elements in other portions of the region are determined by selecting a vector, modifying the vector according to vector modifier data, and applying the modified vector with the set of representative colors to produce colors for elements in the region. Aspects include systems and methods for source data compression and image reconstruction. |
| US08855408B2 |
Method and apparatus for recovering depth information of image
An image processing apparatus and method may estimate binocular disparity maps of middle views from among a plurality of views through use of images of the plurality of views. The image processing apparatus may detect a moving object from the middle views based on the binocular disparity maps of the frames. Pixels in the middle views may be separated into dynamic pixels and static pixels through detection of the moving object. The image processing apparatus may apply bundle optimization and a local three-dimensional (3D) line model-based temporal optimization to the middle views so as to enhance binocular disparity values of the static pixels and dynamic pixels. |
| US08855406B2 |
Egomotion using assorted features
A system and method are disclosed for estimating camera motion of a visual input scene using points and lines detected in the visual input scene. The system includes a camera server comprising a stereo pair of calibrated cameras, a feature processing module, a trifocal motion estimation module and an optional adjustment module. The stereo pair of the calibrated cameras and its corresponding stereo pair of camera after camera motion form a first and a second trifocal tensor. The feature processing module is configured to detect points and lines in the visual input data comprising a plurality of image frames. The feature processing module is further configured to find point correspondence between detected points and line correspondence between detected lines in different views. The trifocal motion estimation module is configured to estimate the camera motion using the detected points and lines associated with the first and the second trifocal tensor. |
| US08855405B2 |
System and method for detecting and analyzing features in an agricultural field for vehicle guidance
A system and method for creating 3-dimensional agricultural field scene maps are disclosed comprising producing a pair of images using a stereo camera and creating a disparity image based on the pair of images, the disparity image being a 3-dimensional representation of the stereo images. Coordinate arrays can be produced from the disparity image and the coordinate arrays can be used to render a 3-dimensional local map of the agricultural field scene. Global maps can also be made by using geographic location information associated with various local maps to fuse together multiple local maps into a 3-dimensional global representation of the field scene. The disparity images can be used to analyze a variety of agricultural features. |
| US08855404B2 |
Methods and systems for inspecting a workpiece
Methods and systems for inspecting a workpiece are provided. The method includes storing model data associated with the workpiece in an inspection system, determining a relative position of a depth sensing device relative to the workpiece, and calibrating a pose view for the inspection system relative to the model based on the position of the depth sensing device relative to the workpiece. The method further includes measuring actual depth distance data of at least one pixel of the depth sensing device relative to the workpiece and determining, based on the actual depth distance data, if the workpiece satisfies predetermined inspection criteria. |
| US08855399B2 |
System, a method and a computer program product for CAD-based registration
A system for location based wafer analysis, the system comprising: (i) a first input interface; (ii) a second input interface; (iii) a correlator; and (iv) a processor, configured to generate inspection results for the inspected wafer, with the help of at least one frame run-time displacement. |
| US08855395B2 |
Conditional likelihood material decomposition and methods of using the same
Embodiments of methods and apparatus are disclosed for obtaining a radiographic phase-contrast digital computed tomography imaging system and methods for same that can include obtaining a first and second plurality of 2D projection images over a range of scan angles, generating at least two statistically independent reconstructed images of an object from the first plurality of 2D projection images and the second plurality of 2D projection images, determining a material property as a function of volume for each of at least two materials represented in the projection images, using a conditional likelihood determination comprising the material property as a function of volume and the at least two statistically independent reconstructed images to differentiate the at least two materials in a reconstructed image of the object. |
| US08855388B2 |
Microcalcification detection classification in radiographic images
An analysis of a digitized image is provided. The digitized image is repeatedly convolved to form first convolved images, which first convolved images are convolved a second time to form second convolved images. Each first convolved image and the respective second convolved image representing a stage, and each stage represents a different scale or size of anomaly. As an example, the first convolution may utilize a Gaussian convolver, and the second convolution may utilize a Laplacian convolver, but other convolvers may be used. The second convolved image from a current stage and the first convolved image from a previous stage are used with a neighborhood median determined from the second convolved image from the current stage by a peak detector to detect peaks, or possible anomalies for that particular scale. |
| US08855386B2 |
Registration method for multispectral retinal images
A method for performing registration of multispectral retinal images. Corresponding cross-over points and bifurcation points of blood vessel in an eye are identified in a fixed image and in an offset image. The relative displacement of each point, between the images, is calculated. Based on these relative displacements, the offset of each pixel in the offset image is interpolated and the offset image is transformed into a corrected (distorted) image. Such an image can be used to assess the health of the eye. Further, a fixed image and a offset image of an eye are divided in a tile pattern. The relative displacement of each tile of the offset image with respect to the corresponding tile in the fixed image is calculated. An offset for each tile is calculated and the offset image is corrected as a function of those offsets. |
| US08855384B2 |
Continuous cardiac pulse rate estimation from multi-channel source video data
What is disclosed is a computationally efficient system and method for estimating a subject's cardiac pulse rate from multi-channel source video data. In one embodiment, A time-series signal is received. A sliding window is used to define overlapping segments of the time-series signal. Signal segments are processed by performing constrained independent component analysis (cICA) until convergence to obtain an estimated source signal. A frequency of each estimated source signal obtained by the cICA at convergence is determined to be the subject's estimated cardiac pulse rate for each signal segment. A seed reference signal used by the cICA is repeatedly updated. A sliding window is shifted to define a next time-series signal segment for processing. The method repeats for each signal segment until a termination criteria is met. In such a manner, the subject's cardiac pulse rate is estimated from a video of the subject on a continuous basis. |
| US08855383B2 |
Lesion diagnosis apparatus and method to determine regularity of shape of lesion
A lesion diagnosis apparatus and method to determine a regularity of a shape of a lesion are provided. The lesion diagnosis apparatus to determine a regularity of a shape of a lesion, includes a lesion area detecting unit configured to form a lesion area by selecting virtual points along a boundary of a lesion included in an image, and a lesion diagnosing unit configured to determine the regularity of the shape of the lesion by analyzing a correlation of the selected virtual points. |
| US08855378B2 |
Biometric authentication device and method
A biometric authentication device includes, an acquisition unit configured to repeatedly image a biological part of an authenticated person while changing a relative position with respect to the biological part so as to acquire time-series biological images; a detection unit configured to detect a pixel corresponding among the biological images from the time-series biological images; an extraction unit configured to extract a pixel of which a pixel value includes a surface reflection component from the biological part, from each of the time-series biological images, on the basis of a degree of divergence of temporal variation of a pixel value of the detected pixel in the time-series biological images from an estimation result of temporal variation; a generation unit configured to correct the pixel value of the extracted pixel on the basis of a pixel value; and an authentication unit configured to perform personal authentication of the authenticated person. |
| US08855374B2 |
Insect image recognition and instant active response
A device for detecting insects on substrates such as lettuce and other leaves. The device has a microscope lens which magnifies a portion of the leaf and send an image of the leaf portion to an image recognition system. If the image recognition system detects the presence of an insect—further steps are taken to remove the insect. |
| US08855373B2 |
Similarity calculation device, similarity calculation method, and program
The similarity calculation device is provided with a displacement vector estimation unit 101 for estimating a displacement vector between a first local region set in a first image, and a second local region which is most similar to the first local region in a second image, a geometric transformation parameter estimation unit 102 for estimating a geometric transformation parameter which geometrically transforms the first image into the second image, a displacement vector correction unit 103 for correcting the displacement vector based on the geometric transformation parameter, a scoring unit 104 for scoring the displacement vector, corrected by the displacement vector correction unit 103, in a two-dimensional space and creating a scored image, a peak detection unit 105 for detecting a peak in the scored image, and a similarity calculation unit 106 for calculating a similarity of the first image and the second image according to a size of the peak. |
| US08855367B2 |
Environment recognition device and environment recognition method
There are provided an environment recognition device and an environment recognition method. The environment recognition device provisionally determines a specific object corresponding to a target portion from a luminance of a target portion, groups, as a target object, adjacent target portions provisionally determined to correspond to a same specific object, groups, as the target object, the target portions corresponding to a same specific object with respect to the target object and the luminance, when differences in horizontal distance and in height from the target object of target portions fall within a first predetermined range, and determines that the target object is the specific object when a ratio of target portion of which luminance is included in a predetermined luminance range with respect to all target portions in a specific region in the target object is equal to or more than a predetermined threshold value. |
| US08855366B2 |
Tracking three-dimensional objects
Method and apparatus for tracking three-dimensional (3D) objects are disclosed. In one embodiment, a method of tracking a 3D object includes constructing a database to store a set of two-dimensional (2D) images of the 3D object using a tracking background, where the tracking background includes at least one known pattern, receiving a tracking image, determining whether the tracking image matches at least one image in the database in accordance with feature points of the tracking image, and providing information about the tracking image in respond to the tracking image matches the at least one image in the database. The method of constructing a database also includes capturing the set of 2D images of the 3D object with the tracking background, extracting a set of feature points from each 2D image, and storing the set of feature points in the database. |
| US08855364B2 |
Apparatus for identification of an object queue, method and computer program
In daily life, people are often forced to join a queue in order, for example, to pay at a checkout or to be dealt with at an airport, etc. Because of the various forms of a queue, these are not usually recorded automatically, but are analyzed manually. For example, if a long queue is formed at a supermarket, as a result of which the predicted waiting time for the customers rises above a threshold value, this situation can be identified by the checkout personnel, and a further checkout can be opened. A device 1 is proposed for identification of a queue 2 of objects 10 in a monitoring area, having an interface 6 which can be connected to an image source 7, with the interface 6 being designed to observe at least one monitoring image 3 of the monitoring area of the image source, wherein the monitoring image 3 shows a scene background of the monitoring area with possible objects 10, having an evaluation device 5 which is designed to identify the queue 2 of the objects 10 in the at least one monitoring image, wherein the evaluation device 5 has an object detector module 8 which is designed to detect a plurality of objects 10 on the basis of the monitoring image 3, wherein the plurality of the detected objects 10 forms the basis for identification of the queue 2 of the objects 10, wherein the object detector module 8 is designed to identify the objects 8 in the monitoring image with the scene background and/or wherein the object detector module 8 has content-sensitive detectors 9 for detection of the objects 10. |
| US08855360B2 |
System and method for face tracking
Improved face tracking is provided during determination of an image by an imaging device using a low power face tracking unit. In one embodiment, image data associated with a frame and one or more face detection windows from a face detection unit may be received by the face tracking unit. The face detection windows are associated with the image data of the frame. A face list may be determined based on the face detection windows and one or more faces may be selected from the face list to generate an output face list. The output face list may then be provided to a processor of an imaging device for the detection of an image based on at least one of coordinate and scale values of the one or more faces on the output face list. |
| US08855357B2 |
Speaker diaphragm and speaker using same, and electronic equipment and device using said speaker, and speaker diaphragm manufacturing method
A diaphragm is formed of paper manufactured from a first fiber material and a second fiber material. The first fiber material is beaten to have a given freeness, and the second fiber material is made by carbonizing bamboo fiber that has been fibrillated into a microfibril state. This structure allows the second fiber material to increase a rigidity of the diaphragm and also increase an internal loss, so that sound quality of the speaker that employs this diaphragm can be improved. |
| US08855356B1 |
Dual ring magnet apparatus
An apparatus related to a magnetic circuit design is disclosed. The apparatus includes a magnetic assembly and an electrically-conductive mobile member. The magnetic assembly includes an inner magnet, an outer magnet, an inner cap, an outer cap and a washer. The magnetic assembly is configured to produce a magnetic field having a zone of operation between the inner cap and the outer cap. The zone of operation has substantially uniform magnetic field strength. The zone of operation has magnetic field directions substantially perpendicular to an ideal motion direction. The electrically-conductive mobile member is disposed in the zone of operation of the magnetic field and electrically coupled to a diaphragm of a driver. The electrically-conductive mobile member is configured to move within the zone of operation of the magnetic field in response to the magnetic field when an alternating current is passed through the electrically-conductive mobile member. |
| US08855355B2 |
Micro-speaker
Disclosed is a micro-speaker. A micro-speaker includes a frame forming a receiving space, a vibrating unit, a magnetic circuit unit, a number of contacts, a front cover and a back cover. The contacts include a first contact and a second contact retained by the frame and partially exposed out of the frame, and a third contact disposed within the receiving space. The vibrating unit includes a diaphragm and a voice coil with a first terminal and a second terminal. The first terminal is electrically connected to the first contact, the second terminal is electrically connected to the third contact. An FPC is provided to electrically connect the third contact to the second contact. |
| US08855354B2 |
Electroacoustic transducer with wireless charging coil
An electro-acoustic transducer includes a frame; a cover covering the frame, a magnetic system assembled with the frame, a vibration system having a diaphragm and a driving coil assembled with the frame, conductive terminals assembled with the frame, and an wireless charging coil supported by the frame. The conductive terminals include a pair of first terminals connecting to the driving coil and a pair of second terminals connecting to the wireless charging coil. The present electro-acoustic can provide wireless charging function. |
| US08855352B2 |
Listening aid device
An earphone plug for receiving sound signals, having a first headphone cord connected to the earphone plug having a first length and a second headphone cord connected to the earphone plug having a second length is provided. A first earphone body connected to the first headphone cord is provided for converting the sound signals to audible sounds. A second earphone body, connected to the second headphone cord, is provided for converting the sound signals to audible sounds. A flexible strap, having a portion thereof in communication with one of at least a portion of the first headphone cord and the second headphone cord is also provided. |
| US08855351B2 |
Ear phone listening device
An earphone plug for receiving sound signals, having a first headphone cord connected to the earphone plug having a first length, and a second headphone cord connected to the earphone plug having a second length is provided. A first earphone body connected to the first headphone cord is provided for converting the sound signals to audible sounds. A second earphone body, connected to the second headphone cord, is provided for converting the sound signals to audible sounds. An attachment mechanism coupled to at least a portion of the first headphone cord or the second headphone cord for securing the earphone to an article of clothing. |
| US08855345B2 |
Battery module for perpendicular docking into a canal hearing device
A modular canal hearing aid assembly having a main module and a disposable battery module that docks perpendicularly into the main module which surrounds the battery module circumferentially and laterally for secure connection that eliminates inadvertent separation of the modules during removal of the hearing aid assembly from the ear canal. The disposable battery module incorporates battery cell, sound port, and handle, in a unitary structure that is easy to handle and replace as an integrated unit when any of the degradables within are consumed. The disposable battery module also comprises a membrane filter for filtering out earwax and liquids. The perpendicular docking mechanism provides highly space efficient design for comfortable and inconspicuous fit deep in the ear canal. |
| US08855344B2 |
Dynamic noise reduction in auditory prosthesis systems
An exemplary method includes a sound processing subsystem 1) dividing an audio signal presented to an auditory prosthesis patient into a plurality of signals each representative of a distinct frequency portion of the audio signal and each contained within a distinct analysis channel included in a plurality of analysis channels, 2) determining a sound level of each signal included in the plurality of signals, and 3) setting an amount of noise reduction applied to each signal included in the plurality of signals in accordance with the determined sound level of each signal included in the plurality of signals. Corresponding methods and systems are also disclosed. |
| US08855343B2 |
Method and device to maintain audio content level reproduction
An earpiece and method to control a level of audio reproduction within an occluded ear canal are provided. The method includes the steps of measuring an ambient sound level from an Ambient Sound Microphone (ASM) at an entrance to an occluded ear canal, measuring a residual background noise level within an occluded ear canal from an Ear Canal Microphone (ECM), measuring a level of audio content delivered to the occluded ear canal, and adjusting a gain of the audio content so as to maintain reproduction of the audio content within a predetermined level range. |
| US08855341B2 |
Systems, methods, apparatus, and computer-readable media for head tracking based on recorded sound signals
Systems, methods, apparatus, and machine-readable media for detecting head movement based on recorded sound signals are described. |
| US08855335B2 |
Distortion suppression in high-level capable audio amplification circuit
The present invention relates to an audio amplification circuit comprising a first preamplifier for receipt of an audio input signal and a second preamplifier comprising a first differential input for receipt of an attenuated audio input signal. The attenuated audio input signal is generated by an attenuator coupled to the audio input signal. A non-linear element is coupled to a first input of the first preamplifier thereby distorting the audio input signal at the first input at large signal levels. A distortion compensation network is adapted to supply a distortion compensation signal from the first input of the first preamplifier to a second differential input of the second preamplifier such that distortion in the output signal of the second preamplifier is cancelled or attenuated. The invention further relates to a corresponding method of compensating an audio amplification circuit for distortion induced by a non-linear element. |
| US08855334B1 |
Mixed content for a communications device
A method for providing a user with mixed content for a device. The method includes pre-rendering mixed content comprising a mix of a first source track and a second source track identified as being compatible with the first source track. The pre-rendered content is stored in a database. Upon receiving a user request which identifies the first source track as a track to be included in the mixed content for a device, the system retrieves a list of second source tracks having characteristics compatible with the first source track and provides the list to the user. Then, the system receives request identifying the second source track as a track to be included in the mixed content along with the first track. In response, the system retrieves the pre-rendered mixed content from the database and sends the pre-rendered mixed content to the device. |
| US08855329B2 |
Quiet fan incorporating active noise control (ANC)
An active noise control (ANC) system may be implemented to both sides of a fan, such that both directions of the noise emitting are treated to reduce the overall noise. The impact on airflow is minimal, and the technique is very effective in a broad range of low frequencies. Passive sound-absorbing materials may be included for attenuation of high frequencies. The resulting quiet fan produces a low level of noise compared to any other device based on fan, which produces the same capacity of airflow. The quiet fan may be incorporated in any mechanical system which requires airflow induction such as: computers, air conditioners, machines, and more. |
| US08855326B2 |
Microphone system and method of operating the same
A microphone system is provided, wherein the microphone system comprises a microphone array comprising a plurality of microphone units each adapted to generate a primary signal indicative of an acoustic wave received from the respective microphone unit, a first echo cancellation unit, an integrator unit, and a combination unit, wherein the microphone system is adapted to generate a first dipole response and a monopole response from the primary signals, wherein the integrator unit is adapted to generate a first integrated dipole response by integrating the first dipole response, wherein the first echo cancellation unit is adapted to generate a first echo cancelled integrated dipole response from the first integrated dipole response, and wherein the combination unit is adapted to combine the monopole response and the first echo cancelled integrated dipole response. |
| US08855321B2 |
Method for processing audio signal and broadcasting output apparatus using the same
An audio signal processing method and a broadcasting output apparatus using the audio signal processing method are provided. The audio signal processing method includes selecting an audio signal to be processed from among a plurality of audio signals in which the same audio data is compressed in different formats, when the plurality of audio signals are received; and processing the selected audio signal. Therefore, it is possible to select a high quality audio signal from among audio signals compressed in various audio formats and to provide a user with the high quality sound. |
| US08855319B2 |
Audio signal processing apparatus and audio signal processing method
An audio signal processing apparatus and an audio signal processing method are provide. The audio signal processing apparatus comprises: a plurality of individual audio interfaces, an audio signal processing unit, and an audio channel splitting unit. The audio signal processing unit is utilized for determining a total number of audio channels corresponding to the individual audio interfaces and generating a first output audio signal with a first number of audio channels according to an input audio signal and the total number of audio channels when the audio signal processing apparatus is operated under a first operational mode. The audio channel splitting unit is coupled to the audio signal processing unit and the audio interfaces. When the audio signal processing apparatus is operated under the first operational mode, the audio channel splitting unit splits the first output audio signal with the first number of audio channels to the audio interfaces, respectively. |
| US08855318B1 |
Master key generation and distribution for storage area network devices
Mechanisms are provided for generating a master key used to secure key objects associated with data blocks in a data center. A cryptographic node creation request is received. It is determined that a master key can not be obtained from another cryptographic node in the data center. A master key is generated. The master key is included in a key hierarchy used to encrypt a data center key object, the data center key object corresponding to a data block maintained in a storage area network (SAN), where the data center key object includes a unique identifier, an encrypted key, and a wrapper unique identifier. The master key is split into N shares, with M shares required to recreate the master key, wherein M is less than N. The N shares are distributed to different entities. |
| US08855315B2 |
Method and system for realizing secure forking call session in IP multimedia subsystem
The present invention relates to a method for realizing a secure forking call session, which comprises: performing authentication between a calling party and a KMS or between each called party and the KMS, and acquiring a shared key between the calling party and the KMS or a shared key between each called party and the KMS; generating a random number by the calling party and calling each called party through an IMS; generating a random number by each called party and acquiring a media root key from the KMS; generating a media key, which is shared with the calling party, by each called party according to the media root key and the random number generated by the called party; sending the media root key and the generated random number by a called response party in the called parties, who responds the call, to the calling party through the IMS network; generating a media key identical to that of the called response party by the calling party according to the media root key and the random number generated by the called response party; and performing a secure media session between the calling party and the called response party with the identical media key. |
| US08855313B2 |
System and method for providing variable security level in a wireless communication system
A system and method for providing variable security levels in a wireless communication network. The present invention optimizes the often conflicting demands of highly secure wireless communications and high speed wireless communications. According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, various security sensors are scanned to determine the likely presence of an intruder within a predetermined trust zone. If an intruder is likely present, the security level is changed to the highest setting, and consequently a lower data rate, while the intruder is identified. If the identified intruder is in fact a trusted node, the security level is returned to a lower setting. If the identified intruder is not a trusted node, the security level is maintained at an elevated state while the intruder is within the trust zone. |
| US08855312B1 |
Mobile trust broker
A method performed by a first computing device is disclosed. The method includes (a) establishing a proximity-based communications channel between the first computing device and a second computing device, one of the first device and the second device being a mobile device, (b) sending a request for authentication of identity of a remote entity from the first device to the second device, the remote entity being in possession of the second device, (c) receiving, at the first device, from the second device, an identity assertion that the remote entity is authentically identified by an identifier, the identity assertion's truth being conditional on a proximity-based condition, (d) verifying, at the first device, that the proximity-based condition is satisfied, and (e) in response to verifying, validating the identifier of the remote entity. An apparatus and computer program product for carrying out the method are also provided. |
| US08855309B2 |
Apparatus and method for providing security service
An apparatus and method for providing a security service are provided. The apparatus for providing a security service includes a first block cipher and a second block cipher. The second block cipher is independent of the first block cipher, and is configured to be used as a random number generator when the first block cipher is used to perform encryption/decryption, and to be used to perform encryption/decryption when the first block cipher is used as a random number generator. |
| US08855306B2 |
Node distributed with group key and group key updating
According to one embodiment, a node that is a root node of a network forming a directed acyclic graph topology, which is composed of plural nodes including the node serving as the root node and having a parent-child relationship among nodes of adjacent hierarchies, includes a generating unit, an encrypting unit, and a transmitting unit. The generating unit generates a group key, and a list indicating a first node to which a distribution of the group key is inhibited. The encrypting unit encrypts the group key so as to be capable of being decrypted by a first child node other than the first node out of the child nodes of the root node. The transmitting unit transmits a first message, including an encrypted group key, which is the group key that is encrypted with respect to the first child node, and the list. |
| US08855305B2 |
Methods and apparatus for protecting digital content
An embodiment of the invention includes a processing system to provide protected digital content, the processing system comprising a processor and control logic which, when used by the processor, results in the processing system performing operations comprising determining first and second receivers, which are coupled to the processing system, are within a predetermined acceptable proximity to the processing system. The processing system is upstream to the first receiver and the first receiver is upstream to the second receiver. Other embodiments are provided herein. |
| US08855300B2 |
Image-based key exchange
This disclosure is directed for improved techniques for configuring a device to generate a secondary password based at least in part on a secure authentication key. The techniques of this disclosure may, in some examples, provide for capturing, by a computing device, an image of a display of another computing device. The captured image includes at least one encoded graphical image, such as a barcode, that includes an indication of the content of a secure authentication key. The computing device may use the secure authentication key to generate a secondary password to be used in conjunction with a primary password to gain access to a password-protected web service. |
| US08855297B2 |
Device and authentication method therefor
According to one embodiment, an authentication method includes generating, by the memory, first authentication information by calculating secret identification information with a memory session key in one-way function operation, transmitting encrypted secret identification information, a family key block, and the first authentication information to a host, and generating, by the host, second authentication information by calculating the secret identification information generated by decrypting the encrypted secret identification information with the host session key in one-way function operation. The method further includes comparing, by the host, the first authentication information with the second authentication information. |
| US08855295B1 |
Acoustic echo cancellation using blind source separation
Techniques for utilizing blind source separation as a front-end to an acoustic echo canceller are described herein. The techniques include removing a first portion of an acoustic echo from an audio signal using blind source separation and a reference signal. The techniques then further remove a second portion of the acoustic echo using an acoustic echo canceller and the reference signal. Further, output of the blind source separation may be used to improve double-talk detection. |
| US08855294B2 |
Dialling phone numbers
Method and apparatus for effecting a voice communication between user terminals connected via a communication network include displaying a menu of country options to a user and receiving a number in local form. Formatting rules are recalled for a destination country selected by the user from the country options. A country prefix for the destination country is prepended to the number in accordance with the formatting rules to generate a formatted number. The formatted number is supplied to a client installed at the user terminal for effecting the voice communication using the formatted number. |
| US08855287B1 |
Voice over internet protocol call handling applications
Providing alerts to a user that is participating in a telephone call includes operating a telephone call between a first user and a second user. The telephone call uses a voice path, a first signaling path, and a second signaling. An indication of an alert to be presented to the first user is received. The alert is configured for presentation to the first user on a telephone used by the first user. Control signals are sent from the telephony services provider to the first telephony proxy server over the first signaling path. The control signals are configured to cause the alert to be presented audibly to the first user on the telephone used by the first user such that (i) the first user hears the alert, (ii) the second user does not hear the alert, and (iii) the alert does not obscure other content of the telephone call. |
| US08855285B1 |
Systems and methods for conference calling using personal URL
Systems and methods are disclosed for managing conference calling using a URL assigned to a conference call organizer. One method includes receiving, from a conference call organizer, a request to be placed into a conference call associated with a URL assigned to the organizer; and receiving, from a prospective conference call participant, a request to be placed into the conference call associated with the URL. Another method includes receiving, from a first user, through a web page of a URL assigned to the first user, a first phone number at which the first user can be called; receiving, from a second user, through the web page of the URL, a second phone number at which the second user can be called; and initiating phone calls to the first user at the first number and the second user at the second number. |
| US08855284B2 |
Assignment of full enterprise identity to audio conference bridges for improved conference scheduling and call-in experience
Systems and methods can provide an identity to a conference bridge; the identity including an email address for the conference bridge. When two or more people desire to conduct a conference, a person creates an invitation to the conference. The invitation can be an email invitation from a calendar program that can be sent to the invitees. The invitation can be sent to the conference bridge using the email address for the conference bridge. The conference bridge may then receive a call from a caller for a conference. The conference bridge can extract a caller identifier from the call and determine an email associated with the caller. The conference bridge may then retrieve the invitation having the email. Then, the conference bridge can attach the caller to the conference associated with the invitation. |
| US08855280B1 |
Communication detail records (CDRs) containing media for communications in controlled-environment facilities
Systems and methods for creating, maintaining, and making available Communication Detail Records (CDRs) containing media for communications in controlled-environment facilities are disclosed. In some embodiments, a method may include enabling, at least in part via one or more communication systems, a communication between two or more parties, where at least one of the two or more parties is a resident of a controlled-environment facility, and where the resident operates a communication device disposed within the controlled-environment facility. The method may also include creating, at least in part via the one or more communication systems, a CDR associated with the communication, where the CDR includes or references a digital media file. |
| US08855277B2 |
Telephone outlet for implementing a local area network over telephone lines and a local area network using such outlets
An outlet for coupling at least one data unit to digital data carried over wiring that simultaneously carry a packet-based serial digital data signal and a power signal over the same conductors. The outlet includes: a wiring connector for connecting to the wiring; a transceiver coupled to the wiring connector for transmitting and receiving packet-based serial digital data over the wiring; a LAN connector coupled to the transceiver for bi-directional packet-based data communication with at least one data unit; a bridge or a router coupled between the transceiver and the LAN connector for passing data bi-directionally between the at least one data unit and the wiring; and a single enclosure housing the above-mentioned components. The enclosure is mountable into a standard wall outlet receptacle or wall outlet opening, and the transceiver and the bridge or router are coupled to the wiring connector to be powered from the power signal. |
| US08855276B2 |
Telecommunication and multimedia management method and apparatus
An apparatus for enabling legacy communication devices to engage in conversations in either a near real-time or a time-shifted mode. The apparatus includes a gateway node having a first interface to enable the gateway node to receive conversation control information from a remote conversation management device and a second interface to couple the gateway node to a communication network. The communication network is configured to support a conversation between a first communication device and one or more other communication devices over the communication network. The gateway node further includes a message buffer configured to receive over the second interface media of the conversation and to store the media of the conversation as the media is received from the communication network. The gateway node also includes a conversation management element configured to receive the conversation control information from the remote conversation management device, and in response, manage the rendering of the conversation for the first communication device by controlling the timing of when the media is (i) retrieved from the message buffer and (ii) transmitted over the communication network to the first communication device. |
| US08855274B2 |
System and method of providing caller identification information
Systems and methods for providing caller identification information are provided. A method of providing caller identification information may include receiving caller identification information associated with a first communication device at a video processing device via a wireless communication. The method may also include selecting a first display profile associated with the first communication device from a plurality of display profiles. The method may also include generating a display in accordance with the first display profile. The display may include data related to the caller identification information. |
| US08855266B2 |
X-ray stress measurement apparatus
An X-ray stress measurement apparatus having: a camera for producing an optical image of a sample; a display for displaying the optical image; an input device capable of inputting positions on a display screen; an X-ray source for generating an X-ray; a table for moving the sample; an X-ray detector for detecting an X-ray exiting the sample; a measurement program for determining the measurement positions of the sample on the basis of the positions indicated by the input device, and measuring the determined measurement positions of the sample; a stress computation program for computing the stress at the measurement positions of the sample on the basis of an output signal from the X-ray detector; and an image formation program for causing the optical image, the measurement positions of the sample, the absolute value of the stress, and the direction of the stress to be displayed on the same display screen. |
| US08855263B2 |
Method and apparatus for determining volume fractions in a multiphase flow
A method, apparatus and computer program product for measuring a composition of a multiphase fluid, including radiating a photon beam through the multiphase fluid and measuring radiation absorption by the multiphase fluid for at least three energy levels to obtain measured radiation absorption data, and providing the measured radiation absorption data to processing unit configured to calculate the composition of the multiphase fluid using the measured radiation absorption data, whereby an effect of an injected fluid on the absorption of the photon beam is taken into account during calculation of the composition of the multiphase fluid. |
| US08855254B2 |
Systems and methods for pre-averaged staggered convolution decimating filters
Certain embodiments of the invention may include systems and methods for implementing a multirate digital decimating filter for filtering received symbol data. The method may include sampling the received symbol data at a selected sample rate, pre-averaging the sampled received data to provide two samples per symbol; convolving the pre-averaged samples with decimated finite impulse response (FIR) aperture impulse response coefficients to produce detected output samples, convolving the pre-averaged samples with shifted decimated FIR aperture impulse response coefficients to produce zero-crossing transition samples, and adjusting the sample rate based at least in part on averaging the zero-crossing transition samples. |
| US08855251B2 |
Power adjusting method and apparatus
A power adjusting method and apparatus provided by embodiments of the present invention relate to the field of communications. The power adjusting method of this embodiment includes: receiving a signal from a sending end, where the signal includes a cyclic prefix (CP) signal; detecting and acquiring first receiving power and second receiving power of the CP signal, where the first receiving power is average power of N sampling points of the CP signal, and the second receiving power is average power of M sampling points of the CP signal; after determining that a ratio of the first receiving power to target power is greater than a first preset threshold, adjusting signal power magnification; and after determining that the ratio of the second receiving power to the target power is greater than a second preset threshold, adjusting the signal power magnification again. |
| US08855250B2 |
Wireless communication system with improved automatic gain control
A wireless communication device is disclosed that includes an automatic gain controller capable of accurately adjusting gain of a received signal. The received signal includes a plurality of symbols, including pilot symbols that each includes at least one pilot tone, and data symbols that do not include any pilot tones. A power of a pilot symbol is determined, and a power of a data symbol is determined. The determined data symbol power is then scaled by a scaling factor (that depends on various system parameters) and is subtracted from the determined pilot symbol power to provide an estimate of a power of the pilot tones within the signal. From the estimated pilot tone power, the automatic gain controller can accurately determine a preferred gain for amplifying future frames of the received signal. |
| US08855249B2 |
Preamble detection at low signal-to-noise levels
A preamble detector has a correlator outputting for every sample position of the preamble part of an incoming sampled signal stream a score and associated class value; and a multiple cluster unit receiving the class and score output values from the correlator, wherein a first cluster receives output values from the correlator and the following clusters are coupled in series such that each cluster receives output values from the correlator and a preceding cluster and wherein the output values of the correlator and a cluster are processed such that an n-th cluster of the multiple cluster unit, with n>1, accumulates the highest score values of n score values with matching class values. |
| US08855245B2 |
Method and apparatus for transmitting and receiving signals based on dual compressive sensing in wireless communication system
A method for transmitting signals based on dual sensing in a wireless communication system is disclosed. One or more sensor nodes receive Gaussian codes corresponding respectively to the one or more sensor nodes, allocated from a fusion center. The one or more sensor nodes determine whether to operate at a specific time. At least one sensor node that has determined to operate among the one or more sensor nodes multiplies the Gaussian codes by a transmission signal and transmits the multiplied signal to the fusion center. |
| US08855243B2 |
Method and system for performing complex sampling of signals by using two or more sampling channels and for calculating time delays between these channels
A method and system for performing complex sampling of signals using two or more sampling channels and calculating time delays between these channels. The system and method are operable to enable complex sampling of a signal in a frequency-domain by predefined-order sampling, including utilizing a sampling channel for converting an analog signal to a corresponding substantially non-delayed digital signal; and transforming the digital signal into a plurality of corresponding frequency-domain substantially non-delayed discrete components; providing additional sampling channels enabling to perform a predefined-order sampling, the predefined-order depending on a number of the additional sampling channels, each additional sampling channel configured to perform a number of stage, giving rise to the multiplied frequency-domain delayed discrete components; and combining the multiplied frequency-domain delayed discrete components with the corresponding frequency-domain substantially non-delayed discrete components, giving rise to an output frequency-domain complex signal. |
| US08855237B2 |
Digital broadcasting transmission/reception system having improved receiving performance and signal processing method thereof
A digital broadcasting transmission/reception system having improved receiving performance and signal processing method thereof. A digital broadcasting transmitter according to the present invention includes a data pre-processor which processed robust data and generates robust data packet of predetermined format, a TS stream generator which combines robust data packet with a normal data packet to generate a TS stream of a predetermined format, a randomizer which randomizes the TS stream output from the TS stream generator, a convolution encoder which performs convolution encoding with respect to the robust data of the data output from the randomizer, and a RS encoder which performs RS encoding with respect to the data output from the convolution g encoder. Accordingly, digital broadcasting receiving performance can be improved in a poor multipath channel, while maintaining compatibility with existing transmission/reception system. |
| US08855236B2 |
Digital amplitude modulation
A transmitter using quadrature modulation includes a rectangular to polar converter for converting data symbols into a polar form, where each polar symbol has a magnitude signal and an angle signal. Digital phase modulation circuitry includes an all digital PLL circuit for generating a phase modulated RF carrier signal responsive to the angle signal frequency control word (FCW) and a carrier frequency FCW. A digitally controlled amplifier for amplifying the phase modulated signal is controlled by a digital amplitude control circuitry for controlling the gain of the digitally controlled amplifier responsive to the magnitude signal. |
| US08855233B2 |
Method and apparatus for implementing digital baseband predistortion
An apparatus for implementing digital baseband predistortion includes a transmission channel including a digital-to-analog converter, a modulator, an amplifier and a power amplifier, and further includes a feedback channel analog part including a diode detector, a filter and an analog-to-digital converter, and a feedback channel digital part including a predistorter, a mode obtaining unit, a predistortion coefficient generator and a feedback correcting unit. The diode detector is configured to obtain an envelope of an output signal of the power amplifier. Embodiments of the present invention further provide a method for implementing digital baseband predistortion by applying the foregoing single-chip. Due to a simple structure of the diode detector, not only the number of radio frequency devices on the feedback channel is reduced, implementation complexity of hardware is lowered, power consumption is reduced, but also a feedback channel analog part may be integrated onto the single-chip. |
| US08855230B1 |
Systems/methods of transmitting information via baseband waveforms comprising frequency content agility and an orthogonality therebetween
Communications systems and/or methods are disclosed that may be used to convey information by forming, and then using, a plurality of frequency agile baseband waveforms, wherein any two different waveforms of the plurality of frequency agile baseband waveforms comprise an orthogonality therebetween. The systems/methods disclosed can convey information by mapping an information sequence into a baseband waveform sequence that includes waveforms of the plurality of baseband waveforms, and by transmitting the baseband waveform sequence. Such systems and/or methods can provide extreme privacy, cognitive radio capability, robustness to fading and interference, communications performance associated with M-ary orthonormal signaling and/or high multiple-access capacity. |
| US08855228B2 |
Calibration correction for implicit beamforming in a wireless MIMO communication system
A transmitter beamforming technique for use in a MIMO wireless communication system determines a partial description of a reverse channel without determining a full dimensional description of the reverse channel. A correction matrix is developed from the partial description of the reverse channel and a description of the forward channel. The correction matrix is used to process signals to be transmitted via the forward channel, and a steering matrix is used to perform beamforming in the forward channel. |
| US08855227B2 |
Methods of receiving multiple input multiple output signals and related communication devices
A MIMO (Multiple-Input-Multiple-Output) receiver may receive a plurality of MIMO transport blocks transmitted from a plurality of MIMO transmission antennas over a same carrier frequency. More particularly, a MIMO signal including the plurality of MIMO transport blocks may be received through a plurality of reception antennas, and respective measures of signal quality for each of the MIMO transport blocks may be computed. A MIMO transport block may be selected from the plurality of MIMO transport blocks based on the measures of signal quality, and the selected MIMO transport block may be decoded. Responsive to failure decoding the selected MIMO transport block, processing of all MIMO transport blocks received in the MIMO signal may be terminated. Related communication devices are also discussed. |
| US08855226B2 |
Rate selection with margin sharing
Rate selection with margin sharing in a system with independent data stream rates is presented. Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) estimates are obtained for each stream. Rates are selected for the streams based on the SNR estimates, such that at least one data stream has an SNR margin below a threshold, each remaining data stream has an SNR margin above a respective threshold, and the total SNR margin for all streams is above a total threshold. For rate selection with margin sharing with a vector-quantized rate set, SNR estimates are obtained for usable transmission channels. The total SNR margin is determined for each rate combination based on the estimates. Each rate combination is associated with a specific number of data streams to transmit, a specific rate for each data stream, and a specific overall throughput. The combination with the highest overall throughput and non-negative total SNR margin is selected. |
| US08855224B2 |
Receiver and method of receiving signal for reducing intersymbol interference
A synchronization method for a receiver includes generating, by a beacon detector, an operating signal by performing a logic operation on a baseband signal, and calculating, by a coarse sync block, a coarse FFT window start position value where a signal-to-noise ratio becomes maximized by estimating a noise level of the operating signal. |
| US08855223B2 |
HS-SCCH orders for CQI mode selection
A network node (28) communicates over a radio interface (32) with a wireless terminal (30). Both the network node (28) and the wireless terminal (30) have multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) capabilities. A MIMO-related order (90) is generated for inclusion in control signaling on a high speed downlink shared channel from the network node (28) to the wireless terminal (30). The MIMO-related order (90) is configured to modify channel quality indication (CQI) communications between the wireless terminal (30) and the base station (28) in view of MIMO capabilities of the wireless terminal (30). The method further comprises providing a channel quality indication (CQI) report (92) the wireless terminal (30) to the base station (28) in accordance with the order. |
| US08855221B2 |
Method and apparatus for iterative receiver structures for OFDM/MIMO systems with bit interleaved coded modulation
The techniques and components described herein may improve the performance for a class of reduced-complexity receiver designs for coded OFDM MIMO systems with bit interleaved coded modulation. The receiver structures described are soft-input soft-output inner/outer decoder receiver structures that include one or more of the following: 1) an inner decoder that includes a linear front-end followed by a limited tree-search based on a soft-output M-algorithm; 2) a conventional near-optimal or optimal decoder for the outer binary code; and 3) iterative decoding (ID), whereby decoding (output) information is passed from one decoder module as input to the other and used to refine and improve the inner/outer decoding module outputs. |
| US08855220B2 |
Robustness improvement for bandwidth communication system
A computer-implemented method of communicating message data in a frame of data includes transmitting the frame of data across a communication channel. The frame of data includes the message data, a first 8-bit digital control word, and a second 8-bit digital control word. Each control word has a unique bit pattern and is associated with a different time interval that individually indicates where or when the message data begins or began in the frame of data relative to the time interval's associated control word. At least one of the control words and other data are received. At least some of the other data are identified as the message data based upon receipt of at least one of the control words. Only one of the control words needs to be received to identify the message data from the other data. |
| US08855219B2 |
Flexible self-adaptive differential system to improve transmission efficiency
A system and method for transmitting data. The system and method is configured to dynamically implement one of a differential signaling method or a single-ended signaling method during a transmission of data. The signaling method is selected based on a measured interference level during the transmission of data. The implementation of the signaling method is performed without interrupting the data transmission. |
| US08855217B2 |
Interface with variable data rate
A device includes a transmitter coupled to a node, where the node is to couple to a wired link. The transmitter has a plurality of modes of operation including a calibration mode in which a range of communication data rates over the wired link is determined in accordance with a voltage margin corresponding to the wired link at a predetermined error rate. The range of communication data rates includes a maximum data rate, which can be a non-integer multiple of an initial data rate. |
| US08855200B2 |
Method and apparatus for decoding/encoding a video signal with inter-view reference picture list construction
A method of decoding a video signal is disclosed. The present invention includes obtaining identification information indicating whether a coded picture of a current NAL unit is an inter-view picture group, obtaining interview reference information of the inter-view picture group, and constructing a reference picture list for inter-view prediction using the inter-view reference information according to the identification information, wherein the inter-view reference information includes view identification information of an inter-view reference picture. |
| US08855199B2 |
Method and device for video coding and decoding
Embodiments of the present invention relate to video coding for multi-view video content. It provides a coding system enabling scalability for the multi-view video content. In one embodiment, a method is provided for encoding at least two views representative of a video scene, each of the at least two views being encoded in at least two scalable layers, wherein one of the at least two scalable layers representative of one view of the at least two views is encoded with respect to a scalable layer representative of the other view of the at least two views. |
| US08855192B2 |
Device, method and system for transmitting video data between a video source and a video sink
Disclosed is a method, circuit and system for transmission of video data between a video source and a video sink. A video source transceiver may include: (1) a video source interface for receiving video data, optionally including one or more video synchronization signals functionally associated video source device; (2) a video source clock sampler for sampling a video clock parameter of received video data; (3) a video data buffer for buffering received video data prior to transmission; and (4) a video transmission circuit including packet size timing logic adapted to generate and transmit to a functionally associated video sink transceiver a value correlated to an expected data packet size based on video data stored in the video buffer. A video sink transceiver may include: (1) a video reception circuit adapted to receive a transmitted data packet, including one or more values generated by the packet size timing logic, and to regenerate a video frame; (2) video sync signal generation logic adapted to regenerate one or more video frame synchronization signals based on the one or more values generated by the video transmission circuit, and (3) a video sink interface for forwarding received video data, including one or more video clock and/or synchronization signals to a functionally associated video sink device. |
| US08855186B2 |
Methods and systems for providing optimum decision feedback equalization of high-speed serial data links
Computationally efficient methods and related systems, for use in a test and measurement instrument, such as an oscilloscope, optimize the performance of DFEs used in a high-speed serial data link by identifying optimal DFE tap values for peak-to-peak based criteria. The optimized DFEs comply with the behavior of a model DFE set forth in the PCIE 3.0 specification. |
| US08855184B2 |
System and method for non-interleaved signal field
Efficient decoding in IEEE 802.11ah networks can be achieved by transmitting the signal (SIG) preamble field without interleaving bits within the SIG field. This may allow channel equalization and decoding steps to be performed contemporaneously upon reception of the frame, which allows for the implementation of non-linear channel equalization techniques (e.g., maximum likelihood (ML) equalization, etc. |
| US08855183B2 |
Adaptive covariance matrix conditioning for a linear equalizer with receive diversity
A method of wireless communication with improved performance employs an equalizer receiver with multiple receive antennas. Equalizer taps for linear filters of the equalizer receiver are generated by determining a conditioned covariance matrix of a first data path and a second data path based on a first gain (g0) of this first data path and a second gain (g1) of the second data path. The equalizer taps of the first data path and the second data path are determined based on the conditioned covariance matrix. The first data path and the second data path are then equalized using the equalizer taps. An equalized signal is generated by combining the equalized first data path with the equalized second data path. |
| US08855181B2 |
Method and system for compensating a delay mismatch between a first measurement channel and a second measurement channel
A method and a system for compensating a delay mismatch between a first measurement channel and a second measurement channel is disclosed. A method for compensating a delay mismatch between a first measurement channel and a second measurement channel includes providing a reference point for starting the first and second measurement channel, and starting the first measurement channel after expiration of a first delay period which begins at the reference point. The method further includes starting the second measurement channel after expiry of a second delay period which begins at the reference point, wherein a difference between a length of the first delay period and a length of the second delay period is substantially equal to the delay mismatch between the first measurement channel and the second measurement channel. |
| US08855176B1 |
Serializer/deserializer apparatus with loopback configuration and methods thereof
The present invention is directed to integrated circuits. In a specific embodiment, high frequency signals from an equalizer are directly connected to a first pair of inputs of a sense amplifier. The sense amplifier also has a second pair of inputs, which can be selectively coupled to output signals from a DAC or high frequency loopback signals. There are other embodiments as well. |
| US08855173B2 |
Method of capturing satellite signal and device for capturing satellite signal
A method of acquiring a satellite signal includes calculating a correlation result of a reception signal from a GPS satellite and a replica code using an output value of one adder-subtractor for a combination of addition and subtraction corresponding to time-series change in code values of the replica code from among a plurality of adder-subtractors for addition-subtraction of sampling values obtained by sampling the reception signal in a time series with different combinations of addition and subtraction, and acquiring the satellite signal of the GPS satellite using the correlation result. |
| US08855171B2 |
Satellite signal acquisition
A technique for reducing the dwell time in acquiring a satellite signal is provided. The technique minimizes the dwell time in searching for a satellite signal in cells of a search space by comparing the peak-power-to-average ratio (PAPR) to one or more thresholds at one or more intermediate points during the search in a code phase/Doppler frequency bin. The comparison is then used to determine whether to continue the search in a current code phase/Doppler frequency bin or to continue to the next code phase/Doppler frequency bin. |
| US08855164B2 |
Laser apparatus
A laser apparatus may include: a first module including an oscillator configured to output a laser beam and an oscillator support portion for supporting the oscillator; a second module including a beam delivery unit for delivering the laser beam and a beam delivery unit support portion for supporting the beam delivery unit; a third module including an amplifier for amplifying the laser beam and an amplifier support portion for supporting the amplifier; and a frame on which the modules are placed, the frame including mounts on which the oscillator support portion, the beam delivery support portion and the amplifier support portion are placed. |
| US08855163B2 |
Optical semiconductor device
An optical semiconductor device of one embodiment includes: a first semiconductor layer of a first conductivity type; an active layer provided on the first semiconductor layer and has a ring- or disk-like shape; a second semiconductor layer of a second conductivity type that is provided on the active layer and has a ring- or disk-like shape; a first electrode provided on the first semiconductor layer; and a second electrode provided on the second semiconductor layer. The first semiconductor layer includes a first region having a ring- or disk-like shape, and a second region provided around the outer circumference of the first region and has a smaller thickness than the first region. The first electrode is provided on the second region, and a groove or holes are provided in a portion of the second region located between the first region and the first electrode. |
| US08855161B2 |
Semiconductor laser device, method of manufacturing semiconductor laser device, and semiconductor laser array
A semiconductor laser device includes a substrate, ridge stripes on the substrate and separated by separation sections, a top surface electrode continuously extending over the ridge stripes, and a bottom surface electrode on a bottom surface of the substrate. Each of the ridge stripes includes a lower cladding layer on the substrate, an active layer on the lower cladding layer, an upper cladding layer on the active layer, and a contact layer on the upper cladding layer. |
| US08855160B2 |
Horizontal-cavity surface-emitting laser
Specifically, provided is a horizontal-cavity surface-emitting laser including, on a semiconductor substrate: a cavity structure; a waveguide layer; and a reflecting part, wherein a first electrode provided on the semiconductor substrate along side regions of the cavity structure and the reflecting part and a second electrode provided on the main surface of the cavity structure are provided, the first electrode includes an electrode (1) that is provided around one side region of the reflecting part located in the direction intersecting with the traveling direction of light guided through the waveguide layer and an electrode (2) provided around one side region of the cavity structure and the other side region of the reflecting part that are located in the direction parallel with the traveling direction of light guided through the waveguide layer, and the shape of the electrode (2) has different widths at at least two positions. |
| US08855157B2 |
Surface emitting laser element
Disclosed is a surface emitting laser element capable of reducing threshold current. A surface emitting laser element according to an embodiment includes a semiconductor portion having a first semiconductor layer and a second semiconductor layer, a first reflector disposed at the first semiconductor layer side of the semiconductor portion, and a second reflector disposed at the second semiconductor layer side of the semiconductor portion. Particularly includes a second electrode disposed between the second semiconductor layer and the second reflector and connected to the second semiconductor layer, a connecting electrode disposed laterally around the second reflector and connected to the second electrode, and a current confinement portion disposed between the second semiconductor layer and the connecting electrode and capable of reflecting light from the semiconductor portion. |
| US08855155B2 |
Semiconductor laser light source
In at least one embodiment of the semiconductor laser light source, the latter includes a carrier and at least two semiconductor lasers. The semiconductor lasers are mounted on a carrier top. The semiconductor laser light source furthermore includes at least one optical component, which is arranged downstream of at least one of the semiconductor lasers in a direction of emission. The semiconductor lasers and the optical component are housed tightly in a common enclosure by way of a cover. The dimensions of the enclosure, viewed in three orthogonal spatial directions, amount in each case to at most 8 mm×8 mm×7 mm. |
| US08855151B2 |
YB: and ND: mode-locked oscilltors and fiber systems incorporated in solid-state short pulse laser systems
The invention describes classes of robust fiber laser systems usable as pulse sources for Nd: or Yb: based regenerative amplifiers intended for industrial settings. The invention modifies adapts and incorporates several recent advances in FCPA systems to use as the input source for this new class of regenerative amplifier. |
| US08855144B2 |
Method of generating pilot pattern for adaptive channel estimation in OFDMA systems, method of transmitting/receiving using the pilot pattern and apparatus thereof
Provided is a method of generating a pilot pattern capable of perform adaptive channel estimation, and a method and apparatus of a base station and a method and apparatus of a terminal using the pilot pattern.The pilot pattern selects pilot symbol positions based on distances from pilots of previous orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) symbols to a subcarrier position of a current OFDMA symbol in the frequency domain and the time domain, so that a low pilot density is maintained so as to effectively transmit data, and stable channel estimation performance can be obtained even in a bad channel environment.In addition, the minimum burst allocation size is determined according to the channel environment between the base station and the terminal, guaranteeing channel estimation performance suitable for the channel environment, and improving granularity, channel estimation latency, and channel estimation memory size. |
| US08855134B2 |
Network-assisted peer discovery
Techniques for transmitting information in a long term evolution (LTE) wireless communication network are disclosed. A base station may receive a first user equipment (UE) expression and first UE location information of a UE seeking peers. The base station may also receive a second UE expression and second UE location information of at least one of the peers. In accordance with the first and second UE expressions and the first and second UE location information, the base station may match ones of the peers proximate to the UE. The base station may transmit, using a data exchange efficiency technique, information to alert the UE to the presence of the peers. This transmission may comprise wide area network (WAN)-specific signaling. |
| US08855129B2 |
Hybrid method and device for transmitting packets
A method for transmitting packets, the method includes receiving multiple packets at multiple queues. The method is characterized by dynamically defining fixed priority queues and weighted fair queuing queues, and scheduling a transmission of packets in response to a status of the multiple queues and in response to the definition. A device for transmitting packets, the device includes multiple queues adapted to receive multiple packets. The device includes a circuit that is adapted to dynamically define fixed priority queues and weighted fair queuing queues out of the multiple queues and to schedule a transmission of packets in response to a status of the multiple queues and in response to the definition. |
| US08855127B2 |
Method and system for intelligent deep packet buffering
Disclosed is a method and system for deep packet buffering on a switch core comprising an ingress and egress deep packet buffer and an external deep packet buffer. |
| US08855120B2 |
Method and device for filtering media packets
A method including: receiving, at a video conferencing device, a packet of a video conferencing media stream, the video conferencing device including a processor; determining, by the video conferencing device, whether a length of the packet is sufficiently long to contain media; sending a request to a Look-up Table memory using the media stream ID as an input value while in parallel determining, with the processor, whether the packet is a valid media packet; in response to receiving a destination address in a media processing network from the Look-up Table memory and determining that the packet is a valid media packet, modifying, by the video conferencing device, a header of the packet with the destination address received from the Look-up Table memory; and transmitting, by the video conferencing device, the packet to the modified destination address. |
| US08855115B2 |
Methods for reliable multicasting in local peer group (LPG) based vehicle ad hoc networks
A method for routing a multicast message comprising the steps of receiving a multicast message including at least a message, a source identifier, a sequence number, a time-to-live value and a multicast group destination, determining if the multicast group destination is in a multicast forwarding table, determining if the message has been previously received, adding the multicast message to the multicast forwarding table if it is determined that the multicast message has not been previously received, determining if a node that received the multicast message is a forwarding node; randomly setting a wait time for forwarding the multicast message; and forwarding the multicast message at the expiration of the wait time. |
| US08855111B2 |
Communication device with energy saving mode and method thereof
A communication device has a transmitting circuit, a receiving circuit, and a controller. The transmitting circuit transmits a first data to a transmission line. The first data is generated by a first scrambler wherein the values of the registers of the first scrambler are characterized by a first combination number. The receiving circuit receives a second data scrambled by a second scrambler from the transmission line. The first and the second scramblers have the same scrambler generator polynomial. The receiving circuit has a descrambler having a plurality of registers for descrambling the second data. The values of the registers of the second scrambler are characterized by a second combination number when the descrambler descrambles the second data. The controller configures the values of the registers of the first scrambler according to the first combination number, the second combination number, and/or a difference between the first and the second combination numbers. |
| US08855107B1 |
Methods and systems for call routing via a telephone number
The present invention relates generally to telecommunications and in particular to systems and methods for routing telephone calls. By way of example, a first address, such as a first phone number, can be associated with a telephonic terminal, such as a mobile phone. Incoming calls to the first address can be routed to the telephonic terminal or to other destinations based on telephonic terminal status. |
| US08855106B1 |
System and process for realtime/neartime call analytics with speaker separation
A system, method, and program product for realtime/neartime call analytics, the method comprising: receiving an inbound call connection; capturing a destination network address; initiating placement of a call; capturing first data of the initiating party and converting the first data to first data packets with time stamps and a first designation; creating a first audio stream; sending the first audio stream of audio data packets to an audio analytics service; capturing second data including audio data of the destination party and converting the second data to second data packets with time stamps and a second designation; creating a second audio stream; and sending the second audio stream of audio data packets to the audio analytics service. |
| US08855105B2 |
Call handling for IMS registered user
The present invention proposes a solution for providing IMS services to users having circuit-switched controlled terminals. In particular, it is proposed, in order to allow IMS to take the full call and service control, to combine circuit-switched and packet-based multimedia functionality in a new node type called Mobile Access Gateway Control Function (MAGCF). In particular the present invention provides a method for ensuring that the MAGCF node acts as a roaming anchor point in order to enforce the handling of originating and terminating calls in the IMS. |
| US08855104B2 |
Method for switching the session control path of IP multimedia core network subsystem centralized service
A method for switching the session control path of IMS centralized services is provided. When the condition for switching the session control path is satisfied during the ICS session based on the first session control path, the following steps are performed: one party of the ICS UE and ICCF of the ICS session transmits the request of switching the session control path to the other party; the receiving party identifies the ICS session corresponding to the request, and transmits an acknowledgement response to the transmitting party; and the ICCF and ICS UE set the session control path corresponding to the identified ICS session as the second session control path and transfer the subsequent session control information associated with the ICS session via the second session control path; wherein the first or second session control path is one of the PS session control path and the CS session control path. |
| US08855092B2 |
Direct link setup method in tunneled direct link setup wireless network and station supporting the method
Provided are a Tunneled Direct Link Setup (TDLS) establishment method for a TDLS initiator and a station supporting the establishment method. In the establishment method, a requesting Non-AP QSTA transmits a TDLS setup request frame via an access point (AP) to an intended peer Non-AP QSTA. And, the requesting Non-AP QSTA receives a TDLS setup response frame via the AP from the intended peer station in response to the TDLS setup request frame. And, the requesting Non-AP QSTA transmits a TDLS setup confirm frame via the AP to the intended peer station in response to the TDLS setup response frame. |
| US08855088B2 |
Reverse protocol for low latency wireless applications
Embodiments of a system and method for communicating according to an IEEE 802.11 standard or a WiGig specification. The method includes identifying a message that requires a response from another station in less than a threshold amount of time, and that the other station cannot likely respond to within a point coordination function (PCF) interframe sequence (PIFS). The message also includes setting a reverse direction (RD) response time field in a header of an MPDU corresponding to the message to a value indicating that a response from the other station is not required within a short interframe sequence (SIFS). |
| US08855086B2 |
Method and apparatus for efficient multimedia delivery in a wireless packet network
The present invention sends multiple versions of a multimedia packet to the base station, and, based on the radio channel and traffic characteristics, an appropriate version of the multimedia packet is selected to send to the mobile station at a given time. In this way, source transmission is improved to instantaneous conditions. The steps of the present invention are performed in conjunction with RTP used for multimedia transmission over internet protocol (IP) networks. In a first embodiment, the multiple versions are sent to the base station in the same RTP packet, and the base station strips out the extraneous versions. In a second embodiment, the base station receives multiple RTP packets having identical information in the packet header in many fields, and selects an appropriate one among these for transmission to the mobile station, discarding the rest. |
| US08855083B2 |
Inter-access network handover
In a wireless network environment comprising first and second packet-switched access networks, each access network using a tunnelling-type micro-mobility protocol and a Quality of Service (QoS) routing protocol to route packet data to and from mobile nodes attached thereto, and each access network comprising an access router to which a mobile node may attach, a mobility agent with which said mobile node may register and a gateway, a method of facilitating network layer handover of said mobile node from said first access network to said second access network, said mobile node registered in said first access network with a serving mobility agent, which method comprises the steps of: said mobile node receiving a router advertisement from said second access network, which router advertisement comprises a network-layer address of a target mobility agent in said second access network with which said mobile node may register; and said mobile node forwarding said network-layer address to said serving mobility agent, whereby said serving mobility agent may communicate with said target mobility agent to facilitate network-layer handover of said mobile node to said second access network. |
| US08855081B2 |
System and method for selecting a transmission channel in a wireless communication system that includes an adaptive array
A method for establishing wireless communication between a transmitter and a receiver in a wireless communication system is disclosed. The receiver includes an adaptive array that has at least two antennas. Each antenna receives a signal and produces a received signal. The transmitter includes at least two transmission channels for communicating the signal from the transmitter to the receiver. The wireless communication system suppresses interference at the receiver by applying an interference suppression technique when combining the received signals. The selection of a channel at the transmitter is based on the channel performance at the receiver for each transmission channel. The channel performance is based on a combining technique different from the interference suppression technique. |
| US08855077B2 |
Communication method and radio transmitter
Radio transmission is performed even to a communication party whose bandwidth that can be used for transmission and reception is limited without having an influence of an offset of a DC component. A radio transmitter applied to an OFDMA communication system in which a plurality of different terminals performs communication using OFDM signals at the same time that includes a mapping part that allocates transmission power to each subcarrier, and also selects a subcarrier to which minimum power of the transmission power to be allocated is allocated and modulates transmission data in units of communication slots to output the modulated data; and a transmission part for transmitting radio signals including the modulated data using each of the subcarriers. |
| US08855069B2 |
HARQ operation for macro-diversity transmissions in the downlink
The invention relates to a downlink transmission scheme that supports downlink HARQ operation and macro-diversity that is capable of overcoming the problem of HARQ protocol de-synchronization when using HARQ in the downlink with multiple data transmitting network nodes. In this scheme, a distributed HARQ protocol operation for downlink data transmissions involving multiple network nodes is provided, where only one network node is terminating downlink HARQ protocol operation towards to mobile terminal, i.e. retransmissions of a data packet are sent from a single network node, a single HARQ transmitter, to the mobile terminal. The multiple network nodes send a first transmission of the data packet to the mobile terminal in a single transmission time interval using HARQ. One of the multiple network nodes is designated as the HARQ terminating node that controls/handles all retransmissions of the data packet. |
| US08855067B2 |
Multi-user communication group management and signaling
Systems and techniques relating to wireless communications are described. A described technique includes generating one or more assignment records for a wireless communication device, generating an assignment message that includes the one or more generated assignment records, and transmitting the assignment message to cause the wireless communication device to initialize or update a multi-user group table based on the assignment message and filter one or more received multi-user transmissions based on the multi-user group table. The assignment message can indicate one or more group identifiers and one or more group member identifiers that are assigned to the wireless communication device and one or more group identifiers that are not assigned to the wireless communication device. |
| US08855063B2 |
Method and apparatus for response scheduling in a downlink multiple-user multiple input multiple output network
Embodiment and methods and apparatus for scheduling one or more responses for multiple stations (STAs) in a downlink multiple-user multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) network transmission are provided. |
| US08855050B2 |
Soft state framework for mobile WSN routing
A soft state framework to support routing functionality in a mobile wireless sensor network is provided. This invention allows each node of the wireless sensor network to move in random directions in a three dimensional space. The invention seeks to minimize resource consumption while optimizing routing functionality in a mobile condition. |
| US08855047B2 |
Method and apparatus for PCDP discard
A method and apparatus for discarding a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) service data unit (SDU) are disclosed. A PDCP layer sets a timer and discards a PDCP SDU upon expiration of the timer. The timer may be set upon receiving the PDCP SDU from an upper layer or upon submitting the PDCP SDU to a lower layer for transmission. The timer and a radio link control (RLC) discard timer may be coordinated. Alternatively, the PDCP layer may discard the PDCP SDU based on a notification from an RLC layer or based on a PDCP status report. |
| US08855046B2 |
Method and system for uplink coordinated reception in orthogonal frequency division multiple access systems
Embodiments disclose a method of coordinating reception of uplink transmissions in order to reduce interference among transceivers in an OFDM wireless transmission system, or similar communication system, including a number of receivers communicating with one or more basestations in cell or sector arrangements. A basestation within each sector includes an uplink coordinated reception process that imposes coordinated reception techniques across sector or cell boundaries in order to improve uplink transmission quality between target terminals and basestations within each sector. |
| US08855044B2 |
Two-step uplink synchronization for pico/femtocell
A two-step uplink synchronization method is provided for uplink synchronization between a mobile station and a pico/femto base station that is deployed together with an overlay macro/micro base station. In a first step, the pico/femto BS encodes and broadcasts UL transmission timing advance offset information via a broadcast channel. The MS decodes the received UL transmission timing advance offset information and advances its uplink timing for uplink ranging or reference signal transmission based on the decoded offset value. In a second step, the MS and the pico/femto BS performs regular uplink synchronization and uplink access. In one example, the UL transmission timing advance offset information indicates a round-trip propagation time of radio signals between the pico/femto base station and the overlay macro/micro base station. By using the two-step uplink synchronization method, a unified synchronous ranging channel may be used for ranging and UL access in pico/femtocells with reduced interference. |
| US08855038B2 |
Methods and systems for handling unsuccessful reception in broadcast/multicast service
The present disclosure discloses a method for handling unsuccessful reception in broadcast/multicast service. The method comprises: the user terminal which fails to receive broadcasted/multicasted service contents obtains the service contents actively or passively after a mobile data broadcast/multicast platform broadcasts/multicasts the service contents. The present disclosure also discloses a system for handling unsuccessful reception in broadcast/multicast service, in which an obtaining unit is configured to obtain the service contents actively or passively by the user terminal which fails to receive the broadcasted/multicasted service contents after the mobile data broadcast/multicast platform broadcasts/multicasts the service contents. By the method and system provided in the present disclosure, handling of the unsuccessful reception of broadcasted/multicasted service contents can be triggered and realized by the user terminal. |
| US08855034B2 |
Method of allocating paging carrier and mobile station
A method of allocating a paging carrier in a multi-carrier environment is disclosed. The method of allocating the paging carrier includes receiving a first message including first allocation information of the paging carrier, transmitting a second message for requesting entry into an idle mode to a base station; and receiving a third message including second allocation information of a changed paging carrier from the base station. At this time, the paging carrier includes a paging channel out of multiple carriers including one or more carriers. |
| US08855030B2 |
Suppression of discovery of mobile devices in a wireless network
Technologies are generally described for suppressing discovery of mobile devices in a wireless ubiquitous computing (ubicomp) network, reducing the number of network transmissions by devices in the network and reducing network congestion and prolonging battery life. A mobile device may add supplementary information to introductory beacons transmitted by the device that indicate no response is necessary from other devices participating in the network except for a coordinator of the network. The mobile device may transmit a malformed introductory beacon that will be ignored by other devices in the network except for the coordinator. The coordinator of the wireless network may detect the mobile device moving through the network and transmit a suppression signal to other devices in the network causing the devices to ignore the introductory beacons transmitted by the mobile device. |
| US08855029B2 |
LMS adaptive filter for digital cancellation of second order inter-modulation due to transmitter leakage
A transmit signal second-order inter-modulation (IM2) canceller for a portable handset using a full duplex mode of operation (e.g., WCDMA) is used to controllably reduce IM2 introduced by a transmit signal that appears in a received signal in a receive channel of the portable handset. The transmit signal IM2 canceller includes a delay estimator and a digital signal adjuster. The delay estimator receives a first input from a receive channel and a second input from a transmit channel. The delay estimator generates an estimate of the IM2 that the transmit channel introduces in the receive channel. The digital signal adjuster removes the estimate of the IM2 before forwarding a modified receive channel signal to a baseband subsystem of the portable handset. |
| US08855027B2 |
Method for transmitting control information and apparatus therefor
The present invention relates to a wireless communication system. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method for transmitting uplink control information in a wireless communication system that supports carrier aggregation and operates in a TDD system, and to an apparatus therefor. The system comprises the steps of: generating a first set of hybrid automatic repeat request acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) associated with a first component carrier (CC); generating a second set of HARQ-ACK associated with a second CC; and transmitting 4-bit information corresponding to the first set of HARQ-ACK and the second set of HARQ-ACK on a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH). |
| US08855026B2 |
Cooperative multipoint scheme selection codebook
A network sends to a user equipment UE a reference signal configuration, and from receiving it the UE selects a codeword identifying a cooperative multipoint CoMP transmission scheme. There is a CoMP scheme selection codebook from which the UE selects the codeword corresponding to its recommended CoMP scheme. The UE sends to the network that codeword which identifies the CoMP transmission scheme, along with the CSI feedback characterizing the CoMP transmission scheme. From that codeword which the network receives it determines the UE's assumed CoMP transmission scheme, which the network uses to determine how the CSI feedback, received from the UE, was calculated by the UE (for example, joint transmission, or dynamic point selection with or without muting, or coordinating scheduling/beamforming). The network uses this information for selecting a CoMP transmission scheme for downlink CoMP transmissions to the UE. |
| US08855023B2 |
Method for SRVCC emergency call support
Methods and apparatus, including computer program products, are provided for emergency call support. In one aspect there is provided a method. The method may include a home subscriber server receiving a first message comprising a generated value representing a session transfer number. The session transfer number may relate to a transfer of an emergency session from a first network to a second network. The method may further comprise a home subscriber server updating a user profile with the generated value representing the session transfer number for the emergency session. The user profile may be stored in the home subscriber server. The method may further comprise a home subscriber server sending a second message comprising the generated value representing the session transfer number. Related apparatus, systems, methods, and articles are also described. |
| US08855021B2 |
Video delivery apparatus and method
To reduce the delivery delay of video data to a display device in which a control right for adjusting parameters of the video data is vested, a video delivery apparatus modifies a delivery tree for delivering the video data to multiple display devices, and delivers the video data to the multiple display device via a network in accordance with the delivery tree. |
| US08855015B2 |
Techniques for generic pruning in a trill network
Techniques are provided for managing and distributing communications in a network. At a first switch device arranged in a first configuration in a network, a set of one or more network attributes are determined, which are associated with network communications that the first switch device is interested in receiving from other network devices. The first switch device sends to a controller device an attribute interest message that informs the controller device of the set of network attributes. The first switch device receives a mapping of the network attributes in to one or more identifiers. The identifiers are included in a header of subsequent frames sent in the network. An identifier interest message is then sent to a second switch device arranged in a second network configuration in the network to inform the second switch device of identifiers of the network attributes of which the first device has an interest. |
| US08855014B2 |
Distributed stateful path computation element overlay architecture
In one embodiment, a particular device in a computer network maintains a locally owned tunnel-state table, and joins a distributed hash table (DHT) ring. In addition, the locally owned tunnel-state table is shared with other devices of the DHT ring to establish a DHT-owned tunnel-state table. The particular device (and other devices) determines ownership of link-state advertisements (LSAs) for a specific portion of a traffic engineering database (TED) according to the DHT ring. As such, when the particular device (or any device) computes a path for a tunnel using a local TED, the particular device may request permission to use resources along the computed path that were advertised in particular LSAs from owners of those particular LSAs when not owned by the particular device. |
| US08855012B1 |
Mobile, secure and customizable emergency service gateway system
A mobile, secure and customizable emergency communication gateway system for providing effective electronic data communications for emergency personnel in a mobile environment. The mobile, secure and customizable emergency communication gateway system generally includes a mobile communication unit, a plurality of remote devices in communication with the mobile communication unit, a central communication unit, and a plurality of telecommunication networks. The mobile communication unit creates a plurality of virtual private networks (VPN) over the telecommunication networks tunneled to the central communication unit. The plurality of VPNs ensure that at least one VPN is available at all times for the mobile communication unit to communicate with the central communication unit. Load balancing, bundling and link bonding of communications may also be achieved over the plurality of VPNs. |
| US08855008B2 |
Digital multimedia network with parameter join mechanism
A digital multimedia network with a parameter join mechanism comprising at least one apparatus. A requesting device parameter of a source apparatus updates a local parameter group list by adding an entry for each device parameter of a target apparatus which joins the parameter group. |
| US08855007B2 |
Configuring an identifier for an access point
An access point is configured based on acquired information. An access point may be configured based on the configuration(s) of at least one other access point. An identifier to be transmitted by an access point may be selected based on the identifier(s) transmitted by at least one other access point. An access point may configure itself with assistance from a configuration server. For example, the access point may send information such as the location of the access point to a configuration server and the configuration server may respond with a list of neighboring access points for that access point. A configuration server may provide configuration information to an access point based on the location of the access point. A configuration server also may direct an access point to a different configuration server. |
| US08855004B2 |
Methods and arrangements for establishing a radio connection in a communication system
This invention pertains in general to the field of establishment of radio connection in a communication system. More particularly the invention relates to establishing a radio connection in a communication system. By broadcasting Random Access Channel related system information, user equipments can send a RACH request and receive a set of DL demodulation reference signals associated with a DL control channel. |
| US08855000B2 |
Interference estimation using data traffic power and reference signal power
In a wireless communication system, interference on data tones is estimated by detecting data transmissions from interferers. An overall interference covariance matrix is estimated as a function of scalar traffic to pilot ratio (TPR) estimates, residual interference covariance estimates, and covariance of channel estimates of dominant interferers. The interference estimates are refined as a function of reliability based on a ratio of power received from a serving cell and power received from a dominant interferer. |
| US08854998B2 |
Method of UE RSRQ measurement precaution for interference coordination
A method of UE RSRQ measurement precaution for interference coordination is provided. The UE receives radio signals of a neighbor cell under measurement. The neighbor cell applies a TDM silencing pattern for inter-cell interference coordination (TDM ICIC). The UE determines a measurement pattern that includes multiple subframes. The UE performs RSRQ measurements of the cell over multiple subframes and obtains multiple RSRQ measurement samples. The UE derives RSRQ measurement result by estimating the multiple RSRQ samples and applying a weighted average. RSRQ samples estimated to be more applicable are taken into account to more extent (e.g., applied with more weight), and/or RSRQ samples estimated to be less applicable are taken into account to less extent (e.g., applied with less weight, or discarded with zero weight). With UE precaution, a more predictable RSRQ measurement result is produced. |
| US08854997B2 |
Shortest path routing systems and methods for networks with non-fully meshed vertices
Shortest path routing systems and methods are presented for networks with non-fully meshed vertices or nodes. The systems and methods may include a shortest path routing method in a network with non-fully meshed vertices, a network with non-fully meshed vertices, and a system for implementing the shortest path routing methods. The shortest path routing systems and methods include modifications to the Dijkstra algorithm to more accurately model a network, such as an optical or photonic network. In an exemplary embodiment, the Dijkstra algorithm is modified to represent degrees at a site with an ingress vertex (e.g., a demultiplexer) and an egress vertex (e.g., a multiplexer). In another exemplary embodiment, in addition to representing degrees as ingress and egress vertices, the Dijkstra algorithm is modified to maintain knowledge of previously visited degrees to prevent revisiting a same degree in determining a shortest path. |
| US08854995B2 |
Method and apparatus for transmitting/receiving channel quality information in a communication system using an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing scheme
A method and Mobile Subscriber Station (MSS) are provided for transmitting Channel Quality Information (CQI) in a wireless communication system using an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) scheme. A Carrier to Interference and Noise Ratio (CINR) of at least two bands are measured; each of the at least two bands including a plurality of adjacent subcarriers for a band Adaptive Modulation and Coding (AMC) operation. A Report Response (REP-RSP) message including first information related to the measured CINR is sent. Second information related to a differential CINR of the at least two bands is sent via a Channel Quality Information Channel (CQICH). |
| US08854991B1 |
Tunneling binding messages in registration messages
A method, system, and medium are provided for updating bindings associated with a first mobile IP session by tunneling binding updates through registration messages associated with a second mobile IP session. A first mobile IP client provides binding updates to a second mobile IP client, which includes the binding updates in an extended registration request. The extended registration request is communicated to a mobile IP agent associated with the second mobile IP session. The request is parsed, and the binding updates are provided to a mobile IP agent associated with the first mobile IP session. Binding-update acknowledgements can be returned to mobile IP clients in a similar fashion. |
| US08854986B1 |
Energy efficiency ethernet (EEE) with 10GBASE-T structures
A communications system and method for switching data rates while maintaining convergence of adaptive components. The data rates can switch between, for example, 10G, 1G, 100M and the like. The adaptive components can include, for example, equalizers, cross-talk filters (e.g., NEXT filters; FEXT filters), transmission drivers, low density parity checks and echo cancellers. The data rate is reduced by maintaining the same symbol rate over a channel, while reducing the number of channels, reducing the symbol alphabet, and zero-filling unused bits in the transmission frame. In addition, full duplex communication can be changed to simplex communication. A usage rotation (e.g., a round robin rotation) switches among different twisted pairs of a communication channel to maintain convergence of the adaptive components. Inactive components can be powered down, or the power can be reduced, in order to reduce the amount of power required for the communications system. |
| US08854985B2 |
System and method for using ultrasonic communication
A system for wireless communication using ultrasonic signals that includes a transmission module, which receives input signals from a wireless device, modifies the received input signals in a manner that converts each received input signal into a corresponding ultrasonic signal and wirelessly transmits each said ultrasonic signal over an ultrasonic link, and a receiving module, which receives the transmitted ultrasonic signals, recovers the corresponding input signals therefrom and enables outputting each respective input signal through one or more output devices. Modification of the input signals may include compressing, encoding and modulating the input signals. The input signals may be voice audio signals for enabling to use the system for supporting phone calls by enabling ultrasonic communication between for instance, a wireless headset and a mobile phone. Transmission and receiving modules may be associated with a wireless headset and mobile phone for allowing ultrasonic and optionally RF communication therebetween. |
| US08854984B1 |
Network fabric stress test
A method of testing network device connectivity in a network by a host computing device includes identifying a topology of the network, where the network includes a plurality of communication paths connecting a plurality of network devices. The method further includes developing a test procedure based on the topology and a plurality of constraints, where a first constraint in the plurality of constraints includes sending a test data stream through each communication path in the plurality of communications paths only once in each direction. The method further includes configuring the plurality of network devices to perform the test procedure, initiating the test procedure, where initiating includes sending the test data stream from the host computing device to a first network device in the plurality of network devices, and monitoring the progress of the test procedure. |
| US08854983B2 |
Data path utilization for low level pattern generation and checkiing
Decision modules are strategically located along with various modules to route signals from either a test pattern generator or the data link layer through the various modules for performing scrambling, encoding, and serializing procedures on the signals before transmission of the signals on a serial bus. Decision modules are strategically placed along with various modules to route signals to either a test pattern checker or the data link layer through the various modules for performing descrambling, decoding, and deserializing procedures on the signals after receiving the signals from a serial bus. |
| US08854981B2 |
Signal interference measurements in a wireless communication network
Embodiments of the present disclosure describe techniques and configurations for handling interference measurements in a wireless communication network. An apparatus may include computer-readable media having instructions and processors coupled with the computer-readable media and configured to execute the instructions to identify, for a serving eNB, a neighboring eNB for which signal interference measurements are to be performed by one or more wireless devices served by the serving eNB, and request that the neighboring eNB transmit typical interference signals within data units which are configured for, and may or may not have, a scheduled physical downlink shared channel transmission. The wireless devices may be configured to perform the signal interference measurements based at least in part on the typical interference signals, which may include non-zero-power signals or zero-power signals. Other embodiments may be described and claimed. |
| US08854980B2 |
Switching module
A fiber channel switching module can include an integrated trace buffer memory, a crossbar switch and a control processor disposed on a single line replaceable module (LRM). The trace buffer memory may be adapted to capture selected data traffic transiting the switch fabric based on pre-selected triggers. The selected data can be read out of the trace buffer memory and used for selected diagnostics. |
| US08854978B2 |
HSUPA carrier activation notification
A radio access network (20) comprises a serving base station (28S) configured to control a serving cell (34S) in an active set of a wireless terminal (30) as well as a non-serving base station (28N) configured to control a non-serving cell (34N) in the active set of the wireless terminal (30). Methods and apparatus are provided for signaling, to the non-serving base station (28N), information indicating a subset of active carriers in the set of at least two carriers. |
| US08854977B2 |
Relay node
A relay node functions as a master node or a slave node and includes a status monitoring means, an update requesting means, a master transferring means, and a master accepting means. The status monitoring means monitors a status of a connection related to communication data. The update requesting means transmits a first update request to a first node upon the relay node receiving first communication data while the first node functioning as the master node. The master transferring means determines whether to transfer authority of the master node to a second node in accordance with a status of a first connection upon the relay node receiving a second update request from the second node. The master transferring means transmits a first master transfer notification to the second node. The master accepting means prepares to become the master node upon the relay node receiving a second master transfer notification. |
| US08854973B2 |
Sliced routing table management with replication
Techniques are provided for hash-based routing table management in a distributed network switch. A frame having a source address and a destination address is received by a switch module having bridge elements and a routing table divided into slices of buckets, each slice having a respective property and including one or more buckets. If a routing entry for the source address is found in a first slice of a first set of buckets of the routing table responsive to a lookup request for the source address, and the property of the first slice satisfies a replication condition, then the routing entry is replicated to a second set of buckets of the routing table. |
| US08854972B1 |
Security device implementing flow lookup scheme for improved performance
A security device performing flow classification and storing flow information in a flow table includes a flow engine generating a flow key identifying a flow to which a received data packet belongs, the flow engine applying a hash function to the flow key to generate a flow hash value and an entry hash value being orthogonal to each other. The security device includes a hash map and a flow data table. The hash map table is indexed by the flow hash value and an entry index value is derived from the entry hash value. The flow data table is indexed by the flow hash value and the entry index value to return at least a retrieved flow key from a flow record of an indexed entry. |
| US08854971B2 |
System and method employing intelligent feedback mechanisms for traffic suspension on a client device
A method for suspending data transmission on a client device comprising: designating certain sockets within a socket layer on the client device as opportunistic and other sockets as non-opportunistic; detecting that a network interface is being throttled by utilizing flow feedback from a layer beneath the socket layer; and responsively suspending any opportunistic sockets while the network interface is throttled. |
| US08854968B2 |
Communication network, device, and method
The present invention discloses a communication network, device and method. The communication method includes the following steps: a Mobile Broadband Edge (MBB-Edge) node sends a traffic offloading indication to a NodeB according to a traffic offloading policy; and the NodeB directs User Plane (UP) data of a Packet Switched (PS) service to a Public Data Network (PDN) through a fixed broadband bearer network of an offloading path according to the traffic offloading indication. The present invention increases the transmission efficiency of PS services. |
| US08854963B1 |
Control and coordination of ODUflex bandwidth resizing operation
Methods and systems are provided for controlling elements in a signal path of a communication network to accommodate changes in the rate of a client signal. In particular, during the bandwidth resizing (BWR) portion of ITU-T Recommendation G.7044 Hitless Adjustment of ODUflex(GFP) protocol (HAO), the nodes in the chain along the ODUflex(GFP) signal path change their output rates in parallel such that FIFO over/underflow is avoided in the nodes. Certain embodiments provide mechanisms to synchronize and stabilize the nodes in a verifiable manner. |
| US08854960B2 |
Mechanism to prevent load in 3GPP network due to MTC device triggers
Embodiments of methods and apparatus to manage MTC device trigger load in a wireless network are described herein. Other embodiments may be described and claimed. |
| US08854956B2 |
System and method for finding segments of path for label switched path crossing multiple domains
An apparatus comprising a path computation element (PCE) associated with a domain in a network and configured to find a segment of a Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) Traffic Engineering (TE) Label Switched Path (LSP) that crosses a plurality of domains in the network using a Constraint Shortest Path First (CSPF) algorithm or a reverse CSPF algorithm that computes a plurality of shortest paths in the domain of which the segment is selected, wherein the CSPF algorithm or the reverse CSPF algorithm is selected to reduce the number of shortest path computations in the domain based on the number of starting nodes and ending nodes that are considered for computing the shortest paths in the domain. |
| US08854954B2 |
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. |
| US08854953B2 |
Optimizing endpoint selection of MRT-FRR detour paths
A method is described to be implemented by a node in a network. The method is for selecting an endpoint for a maximally redundant tree-fast reroute (MRT-FRR) detour path to optimize detour path cost or length across the network. The method defines a set of steps including selecting a destination node and next hop failure to calculate detour paths. A clean set of nodes for the network is then calculated, where the clean set of nodes are nodes in the network that are not impacted in reaching the destination node by the failure in the given next hop. A candidate node for the endpoint of the detour p path is selected from the set of clean nodes based on any one of a plurality of configured options and forwarding of data packets is configured to the selected candidate as the endpoint of the detour path to the destination node. |
| US08854952B2 |
Reallocating secondary destinations on a network switch
A method, system and program product that in response to a segmented server going offline reallocates only those primary and secondary destinations that need to be reallocated on an evenhanded basis, so there is at most a difference of one in the number of buckets allocated to each segmented server before and after re-allocation. |
| US08854945B2 |
Enhanced adaptive gain control in heterogeneous networks
In wireless communications, adaptive gain control may be performed by scaling of signals before and after a transform. A received signal power may be non-causally scaled to a first level within a desired range before transforming the received signal. The scaled signal is transformed between a time domain to a frequency domain and then its power is again non-causally scaled based on the first level. A feed forward circuit may be used in the power scaling. Different portions of the signal may be power adjusted independently of other portions. The different portions may be separated on a per-channel basis. Power scaling may be done on a symbol-by-symbol basis. |
| US08854943B2 |
Systems and methods for adjusting time slots of vectoring streams based on bit loading
A communication system comprises a plurality of line cards having transceivers coupled to a plurality of subscriber lines. Each line card has at least one transceiver within the same vectoring group, and each line card also has vector logic capable of cancelling crosstalk induced by a tone communicated by any member of the vector group. Further, the line cards are coupled to one another via a data connection across which a vectoring stream carrying vectoring information from one line card to the next. The bandwidth of the vectoring stream is reduced by dynamically adjusting time slots of the vectoring stream based on bit loading for the communicated tones. |
| US08854942B2 |
Systems and methods for bypassing failed line cards in multi-card vectoring groups
A communication system comprises a plurality of line cards having transceivers coupled to a plurality of subscriber lines. Each line card has at least one active transceiver within the same vectoring group, and each line card also has vector logic capable of cancelling crosstalk induced by an active transceiver that is a member of the vectoring group. Further, the line cards are coupled to one another via a ring connection across which vectoring information is passed from one line card to the next. In the event of a failure of one of the line cards, the failed card is bypassed by the vectoring stream so that the operational line cards can continue crosstalk vectoring operations despite such failure. |
| US08854941B2 |
Vectored DSL crosstalk cancellation
A vector DSL system includes a plurality of modems, which may be multi-port devices. Unprocessed user data is extracted from the modems and passed through a private vectoring data routing apparatus to one or more vectoring modules, such as vectoring cards. Each vectoring module includes one or more vector processors that include processing units configured to process the unprocessed user data on the basis of all modems' data for a given DSL tone grouping. Processing of the unprocessed user data removes the effects of FEXT from upstream and downstream user data and returns the processed user data to the modems using the vectoring data routing apparatus, which can be a specialized data transmission network utilizing one or more vector routers. |
| US08854940B2 |
Device for and method of recording information
A device for recording data and data structures on a write-once storage medium. The device has writing means for recording the data and the data structures and controlling means for generating the data structures and controlling the writing means. The data structures comprise space bit map and defect management structures. The controlling means are adapted to record the data structures at a predefined temporary location on the write-once storage medium and to finalize the write-once storage medium by recording the data structures at a predefined fixed location as defined for a rewritable storage medium. |
| US08854939B2 |
Optical information apparatus and gap control method thereof
An optical disk apparatus has: a laser (14) that outputs light; an optical system that includes an SIL (2) for forming a predetermined sized beam spot on an optical disk (1) using the light from the laser; a detector (26) that detects output power of the laser and generates a laser power detection signal; a laser power control circuit (27) that controls the output power of the laser using the laser power detection signal; a detector (10) that detects a gap length between the optical disk and the SIL and generates a gap detection signal; and a gap control circuit (15) that controls the gap length between the optical disk and the SIL using the gap detection signal. The power control circuit has a gain crossover frequency greater than a gain crossover frequency of the gap control circuit. |
| US08854936B1 |
Automatic forward sense calibration for writing systems
Embodiments of optical disc drives are described that perform automatic forward sense calibration of write laser power using a sample and hold sampling strategy that is automatically determined based on an automatically selected write strategy. Embodiments of the described optical disc drive may be dynamically configured to support any optical disc media, any write mode, and any write strategy. The write strategies supported may include dynamically changing write speeds and/or write power levels across the respective optical media tracks. As the optical drive is automatically configured for a selected write media/write mode/write strategy, the sample and hold sampling delays used to control the sampling of a forward sense feedback signal are also automatically configured, thereby allowing each forward sense sampling point to be aligned with an area of the forward sense feedback signal that corresponds to a power level of interest and that avoids distortion in the feedback signal. |
| US08854928B1 |
Differential laser diode driver apparatus and systems
Apparatus and systems create differential drive signals suitable for HAMR data recording. A laser diode differential driver provides heating current pulses at a time Φ1. The pulses energize a laser diode to pre-heat the magnetic medium to be written. Some embodiments duplicate portions of the laser diode circuit architecture to create a magnetic write head differential driver. The write head driver provides write current pulses to a magnetic write head in one direction with θ1 timing and in the opposite direction with θ2 timing. Both drivers utilize sets of reference voltages capable of being switched to one terminal or the other of the element to be driven. In the laser diode case, the common mode is split between the anode and cathode sections of the driver. A feedback element is added between the cathode and anode sections to provide current accuracy independent of the electrical characteristics of the selected laser diode. |
| US08854927B2 |
Watch capable of playing sound
A watch capable of playing sound includes a main body and a sound playing body. The main body includes an interface unit, a signal amplification unit, a control unit, and a first electromagnetic coil unit. The control unit transmits audio signal to the signal amplification unit via the interface unit. The first electromagnetic coil unit generates inducted electromagnetic filed in response to the audio signal amplified by the signal amplification unit. The sound playing body includes a second electromagnetic coil unit and a loudspeaker. The second electromagnetic coil unit generates electric signal in response to the induced electromagnetic filed. The loudspeaker plays the audio signal in response to the electric signal. |
| US08854925B1 |
Smart watch and control method for the same
Discussed are a smart watch and a control method for the same, which provide a notification indicating events, which are scheduled to occur later on the basis of a take-off time, if the smart watch is taken off. The smart watch includes a display unit to display content, a communication unit to perform transmission/reception of data, and a sensor unit to detect an input signal with regard to the smart watch and transmit the signal to a processor that serves to control the aforementioned units. The processor detects a take-off signal, indicating separation of the smart watch from a user, in a worn mode, to switch the smart watch to an unworn mode in response to the detected take-off signal, and provides a notification indicating at least one event that is scheduled to occur after detecting the take-off signal in the unworn mode. |
| US08854922B2 |
Foldable marine seismic source
The invention relates to a source device for the emission of seismic waves designed to operate by being towed by a vessel.The source device according to the invention comprises at least three support-beams, a plurality of guns placed along each support-beam, a central hub receiving one end of support-beams and arranged such that support-beams can be deployed according to a star-like geometry, and the means to keep support-beams in this geometry during operation. |
| US08854919B2 |
Generating inversion ready seismic data
A technique includes receiving first seismic data acquired by one or more receivers in response to energy produced by one or more seismic sources interacting with a subsurface feature. The first seismic data is indicative of measured reflection coefficients for image points for the subsurface feature, the measured reflection coefficients are associated with incidence angles, and a range of the incidence angles varies with respect to an image point position. The technique includes processing the first seismic data in a machine to generate second data indicative of a normal incidence reflection coefficient for at least one of the image points not associated with a normal angle of incidence. |
| US08854916B2 |
Semiconductor memory device and access method thereof
Example embodiments provide a semiconductor memory device that may include: a cell array arranged in pluralities of rows and columns; and a sense amplifier conducting writing and reading operations to the cell array in response to writing and reading commands in correspondence with an access time, which may be variable in period. The sense amplifier adjusts pulse widths of write-in and read-out data in accordance with a period of the access time. |
| US08854909B2 |
Semiconductor memory device and method of testing the same
A semiconductor memory device including an open bit line structure is disclosed. The semiconductor memory device including an open bit line structure includes a first mat, a second mat contiguous to the first mat, a first sense amplifier coupled to a first bit line of the first mat, a second sense amplifier coupled to a second bit line of the first mat and a third bit line of the second mat, a third sense amplifier coupled to a fourth bit line of the second mat, and a plurality of bit line precharge voltage providers for varying a level of a bit line precharge voltage provided to the first, second, and third sense amplifiers, selectively providing the resultant bit line precharge voltage level, and providing the same voltage as that of data of a selected cell to a non-selected sense amplifier during a read operation. |
| US08854908B1 |
System and method for memory access in server communications
A random access memory includes a plurality of memories configured to store and provide data, and a test module coupled to the plurality of memories, wherein the test module is configured to write a first write data pattern into at last a first portion of the plurality of memories in response to a data pattern value, wherein the test module is configured to read a read data pattern from the plurality of memories, wherein the test module is configured to compare the first write data pattern to the read data pattern, and wherein the test module is configured to report errors in response to a comparison of the write data pattern to the read data pattern. |
| US08854905B2 |
Semiconductor device and operation method thereof
A semiconductor device may include an internal circuit configured to perform write operations in response to each of a plurality of write commands, wherein the plurality of write commands are sequentially input to the internal circuit, a first pulse generation unit configured to generate a first pulse activated during a first delay amount in response to a write command, a second pulse generation unit configured to generate a second pulse activated during the first delay amount in response to a delayed write command out of the plurality of write commands after a second delay amount from the activation time of the first pulse, and a transfer control unit configured to prevent commands other than the plurality of write commands from being transferred to the internal circuit during a sum of the activation period of the first pulse and the activation period of the second pulse. |
| US08854902B2 |
Write self timing circuitry for self-timed memory
A self-timed memory includes a plurality of write timer cells. A reference write driver circuit writes a logic low value to a true side of the write timer cells. Each write timer cell includes a pullup transistor whose gate is coupled to an internal true node. Self-timing is effectuated by detecting a completion of the logic value write at a complement side of the write timer cells and signaling a reset of the self-timer memory in response to detected completion. To better align detected completion of the write in write timer cells to actual completion of a write in the memory, a gate to source voltage of the write timer cell pullup transistor is lowered by increasing a lower logic level voltage at the internal true node in connection with driver circuit operation to write a low logic state into the true side of the write timer cell. |
| US08854901B2 |
Read self timing circuitry for self-timed memory
A self-timed memory includes a plurality of timer cells each including an access transistor coupled to a true node and having a gate coupled to a reference wordline actuated by a reference wordline driver. Self-timing is effectuated by detecting completion of reference true bitline discharge in the timer cells resulting in enabling a sense amplifier. To better align detected completion of the discharge by the timer cells to a read from actual memory cells at any voltage in the operating voltage range of the memory, the gate to source voltage of the timer cells' access transistors is lowered by decreasing the logic high voltage level applied by the reference wordline. The timer cells may also, or alternatively, have pulldown transistors coupled to the internal true node, wherein a gate terminal of the pulldown is coupled to the reference wordline node and activated with the lowered gate to source voltage. |
| US08854900B2 |
Non-volatile memory and method with peak current control
A non-volatile memory with multiple memory dice manages simultaneous operations so as to not exceed a system power capacity. A load signal bus is pulled up with a strength proportional to the system power capacity. Each die has a driver to pull down the bus by an amount corresponding to its degree of power need as estimated by a state machine of the die. The bus therefore provides a load signal that serves as arbitration between the system power capacity and the cumulative loads of the individual dice. The load signal is therefore at a high state when the system power capacity is not exceeded; otherwise it is at a low state. When a die wishes to perform an operation and requests a certain amount of power, it drives the bus accordingly and its state machine either proceeds with the operation or not, depending on the load signal. |
| US08854898B2 |
Apparatuses and methods for comparing a current representative of a number of failing memory cells
Apparatuses and methods for comparing a sense current representative of a number of failing memory cells of a group of memory cells and a reference current representative of a reference number of failing memory cells is provided. One such apparatus includes a comparator configured to receive the sense current and to receive the reference current. The comparator includes a sense current buffer configured to buffer the sense current and the comparator is further configured to provide an output signal having a logic level indicative of a result of the comparison. |
| US08854888B2 |
High voltage switching circuitry for a cross-point array
Circuitry for generating voltage levels operative to perform data operations on non-volatile re-writeable memory arrays are disclosed. In some embodiments an integrated circuit includes a substrate and a base layer formed on the substrate to include active devices configured to operate within a first voltage range. Further, the integrated circuit can include a cross-point memory array formed above the base layer and including re-writable two-terminal memory cells that are configured to operate, for example, within a second voltage range that is greater than the first voltage range. Conductive array lines in the cross-point memory array are electrically coupled with the active devices in the base layer. The integrated circuit also can include X-line decoders and Y-line decoders that include devices that operate in the first voltage range. The active devices can include other active circuitry such as sense amps for reading data from the memory cells, for example. |
| US08854886B2 |
Memory and program method thereof
A method of programming a nonvolatile memory includes: applying a common program pulse to program cells within each page of a memory region including two or more pages; applying one or more different program pulses to the program cells within each page of the memory region, according to target threshold voltages of the program cells; and programming each page of the memory region such that the program cells have their own target threshold voltages. |
| US08854883B2 |
Fusion memory
According to one embodiment, there is provided a fusion memory including a first memory cell array formed of a NAND cell unit and a second memory cell array formed of a DRAM cell on a semiconductor substrate. The NAND cell unit is formed of a non-volatile memory cell having a two-layer gate structure in which a first gate and a second gate are stacked, and a selective transistor connecting the first and second gates of the non-volatile memory cell. The DRAM cell is formed of a cell transistor having a structure same as the structure of the selective transistor, and a MOS capacitor having a structure same as the structure of the non-volatile memory cell or the selective transistor. |
| US08854882B2 |
Configuring storage cells
Apparatuses, systems, methods, and computer program products are disclosed for configuring storage cells. A method includes detecting a shift in a read voltage level past a read voltage threshold for a set of memory cells of a non-volatile memory medium. A method includes adjusting a read voltage threshold for the set of memory cells by an amount based at least in part on one or more characteristics of the set of memory cells in response to the shift in the read voltage level. A method includes configuring the set of memory cells to use the adjusted read voltage threshold. |
| US08854878B2 |
Nonvolatile semiconductor memory device
According to one embodiment, a nonvolatile semiconductor memory device includes a memory cell array and a controller. The controller is configured to perform a verify operation using a first verification voltage and a second verification voltage (first verification voltage |
| US08854877B2 |
Nonvolatile semiconductor memory device and method of reusing same
A nonvolatile semiconductor memory device and a method of reusing the same that allow a good use of the semiconductor device without degrading characteristics even when reused. The semiconductor memory device comprises information holding means for holding information that indicates an operation mode of said memory cell array, a decoder for generating, to said memory cell array, a selection signal to designate at least a read address of said memory cell array in accordance with an address signal that comprises plural bits; and mode setting means for fixing a logical value of at least one bit of said plural bits of said address signal in accordance with the information held by said information holding means, and supplying said address signal, on which fixing of the logical value is effected, to said decoder. |
| US08854875B1 |
Phase change memory with flexible time-based cell decoding
Methods and systems for time-based cell decoding for PCM memory. Generally, the higher the PCM element resistance, the longer it takes for a read output to change state. PCM memory output is determined using differentiated timings of read outputs changing state, rather than differentiated values of read outputs. In some single-bit single-ended sensing embodiments, a reference, with resistance between the resistances corresponding to a pair of adjacent logical states, is stored in multiple reference cells; a “vote” unit emits a clock signal when a majority of the reference cell read outputs transition at the vote unit. Timing units produce different binary outputs depending on whether a data read output or the clock signal changes state first at the timing unit. Time-based decoding provides advantages including improved temperature and drift resilience, improved state discrimination, improved reliability of multibit PCM, and fast and reliable sensing. |
| US08854874B2 |
Nonvolatile semiconductor memory device including variable resistance element
According to one embodiment, a nonvolatile semiconductor memory device includes a memory cell array and a control circuit. The memory cell array include the memory cells each including a variable resistance element in which a reset current flowing in a reset operation is smaller than a set current flowing in a set operation by not less than one order of magnitude. The control circuit performs the reset operation and the set operation for the memory cells. The control circuit performs the reset operation for all memory cells being in the low resistance state and connected to selected first interconnections and selected second interconnections. |
| US08854870B2 |
Magnetoresistive random access memory (MRAM) die including an integrated magnetic security structure
An MRAM die may include a first write line, a second write line, an MRAM cell disposed between the first write line and the second write line, and a magnetic security structure adjacent to the MRAM cell. The magnetic security structure may include a permanent magnetic layer and a soft magnetic layer. |
| US08854869B2 |
Semiconductor integrated circuit device and system
A semiconductor integrated circuit which can respond to changes of the amount of retained data at the time of standby is provided. The semiconductor integrated circuit comprises a logic circuit (logic) and plural SRAM modules. The plural SRAM modules perform power control independently of the logic circuit, and an independent power control is performed among the plural SRAM modules. Specifically, one terminal and the other terminal of a potential control circuit of each SRAM module are coupled to a cell array and a local power line, respectively. The local power line of one SRAM module and the local power line of the other SRAM module share a shared local power line. A power switch of one SRAM module and a power switch of the other SRAM module are coupled in common to the shared local power line. |
| US08854866B2 |
Identification circuit and method for generating an identification bit
A semiconductor device includes an identification circuit. The identification circuit includes a memory cell which includes a first transistor having a first value of a switching characteristic and a second transistor having a second value of the switching characteristic. The identification circuit is operable to generate a memory-cell-specific identification bit which is dependent on production-dictated differences in the first switching characteristic of the first transistor and the second switching characteristic of the second transistor. The identification circuit further includes a drive circuit for the memory cell. The drive circuit is operable to connect or isolate an upper supply potential and a lower supply potential of the semiconductor device to or from the memory cell independently of one another. |
| US08854859B2 |
Programmably reversible resistive device cells using CMOS logic processes
Junction diodes fabricated in standard CMOS logic processes can be used as program selectors for reversible resistive devices, such as PCM, RRAM, CBRAM, or other memory cells. The reversible resistive devices have a reversible resistive element coupled to a diode. The diode can be constructed by P+ and N+ active regions on an N well as the P and N terminals of the diode. By applying a voltage or a current between a reversible resistive element and the N terminal of a diode, the reversible resistive device can be programmed into different states based on magnitude, duration, voltage-limit, or current-limit in a reversible manner. The P+ active region of the diode can be isolated from the N+ active region in the N well by using dummy MOS gate, SBL, or STI/LOCOS isolations. |
| US08854858B2 |
Signal level conversion in nonvolatile bitcell array
A system on chip (SoC) includes one or more core logic blocks that are configured to operate on a lower supply voltage and a memory array configured to operate on a higher supply voltage. Each bitcell in the memory has two ferroelectric capacitors connected in series between a first plate line and a second plate line to form a node Q. A data bit voltage is transferred to the node Q by activating a write driver to provide the data bit voltage responsive to the lower supply voltage. The data bit voltage is boosted on the node Q by activating a sense amp coupled to node Q of the selected bit cell, such that the sense amp senses the data bit voltage on the node Q and in response increases the data bit voltage on the node Q to the higher supply voltage. |
| US08854857B2 |
Electronic device and method for FRAM power supply management
The invention is an electronic device including a ferroelectric random access memory (FRAM), a first supply voltage domain, a second supply voltage domain and a low drop output voltage regulator (LDO) receive a first supply voltage of the first supply voltage domain and providing a second supply voltage of the second supply voltage domain. The second supply voltage domain supplies the FRAM. The LDO switches between a first state providing and maintaining the second supply voltage of the second supply voltage domain and a second state providing a high impedance output to the second supply voltage domain. The electronic device switches the LDO from the first state to the second state in response to a failure of the first supply voltage domain. |
| US08854851B2 |
Techniques for suppressing match indications at a content addressable memory
A content addressable memory (CAM) suppresses an indication of a match in response to determining that the entry that stores data matching received compare data is the subject of a write operation. To suppress the indication, an address decoder decodes a write address associated with the write operation to determine the entry of the CAM that is the subject of the write operation, and provides control signaling indicative of the determined entry. The CAM uses the control signaling to suppress any match indications for the entry being written, thereby preventing erroneous match indications. |
| US08854847B2 |
Power and management device and method
A power management device comprises: an input for receiving a transient energy pulse; a first storage section and a second storage section for storing energy from the input; an output; a switching section for selectively connecting the input, first storage section, second storage section and output in at least first and second configurations, wherein in the first configuration the first and second storage sections are connected so as to distribute energy from the transient energy pulse between the first and second storage sections, in the second configuration the respective voltages across the first and second storage sections are combined additively to produce an output voltage at the output, whereby the output voltage after switching to the second configuration is greater than the output voltage before switching to the second configuration. |
| US08854843B2 |
HVDC converter with neutral-point connected zero-sequence dump resistor
A power electronic converter (30)is for use in high voltage direct current power transmission and reactive power compensation, the power electronic converter (30) including three phase elements (32) defining a star connection (36) and a converter unit (34) including first and second DC terminals (50,52) for connection in use to a DC network (56) and three AC terminals (54), the converter unit (34) including a plurality of switching elements (70,74) controllable in use to facilitate power conversion between the AC and DC networks (44,56), the power electronic converter (30) further including a third DC terminal (78) connected between the first and second DC terminals (50,52), the third DC terminal (78) being connected to a common junction (40) of the star connection (36) to define an auxiliary connection (82), the auxiliary connection (82) including at least one dump resistor (84) connected between the common junction (40) and the third DC terminal (78), wherein the switching elements (70,74) of the converter unit (34) are controllable in use to modify a phase voltage at each AC terminal (54) to include a triplen harmonic voltage component so as to dissipate real power in the or each dump resistor (84) at a triplen harmonic frequency. |
| US08854839B2 |
AC-to-DC power converting device
An AC-to-DC power converting device includes: a filter for filtering an external AC input voltage; a rectifier for rectifying the AC input voltage filtered by the filter to output a rectified voltage; a power factor corrector for receiving the rectified voltage from the rectifier to generate a boosted voltage; and a step-down converter for receiving the boosted voltage from the power factor corrector to output a DC output voltage. The power factor corrector includes first and second capacitors connected in series across an output side of the rectifier, a series connection of a first diode, a first inductor, a third capacitor, a second inductor and a second diode coupled to the output side of the rectifier, and first and second switches connected in series across the third capacitor. A common node between the first and second capacitors is coupled to a common node between the first and second switches. |
| US08854837B2 |
Boost converter for reducing voltage stress
There is provided a boost converter capable of reducing voltage stress within each element thereof, without using a separate loss snubber circuit, by clamping a voltage applied to an output diode to correspond to a difference between an input voltage and an output voltage. The boost converter includes a transformer including a primary winding receiving an input power and a secondary winding electromagnetically coupled to the primary winding and having a preset turn ratio therewith; a switching unit switching the input power transferred to the primary winding on and off according to a preset duty ratio; a stabilizing unit including an output diode rectifying the power outputted from the secondary winding to stabilize an output power; and a clamping unit clamping a voltage applied to the output diode to correspond to a difference between the input power and the output power during a switching on operation of the switching unit. |
| US08854835B2 |
Hi-definition multimedia interface shield with fingers
An electromagnetic shield comprises a single sheet of metal having outer and inner peripheries. The outer periphery forms a plurality of outer deflectable fingers extending outward from a bent edge of the outer periphery for contacting a surface of a faceplate. The plurality of outer deflectable fingers is deflectable to allow for installation and removal of the faceplate. The inner periphery has an opening for receiving an HDMI connector and forming a plurality of inner deflectable fingers extending inwardly from a bent edge of the inner periphery. The plurality of inner deflectable fingers is deflectable to allow for insertion and removal of the HDMI connector. |
| US08854834B2 |
Dual screen folding display hinge
Dual screen display devices are disclosed. The device is able to be a mechanical hinge capable of joining multiple screens to form a single display or a substantially continuous display. The device is also capable of splitting a jointed display into separated screens. In some embodiments, the device comprises detaining mechanisms allowing the device to instantly interchange among several pre-defined angles or positions. |
| US08854832B2 |
Grounding structure of high voltage secondary battery for vehicle
Provided is a grounding structure of a high voltage secondary battery for a vehicle capable of securing stable ground potential of various electric devices included in the vehicle and reducing a risk factor that may be generated due to a potential difference by connecting a battery pack including a secondary battery and an inverter for the vehicle provided in the next generation vehicle such as a hybrid electric vehicle (HEV), an electric vehicle (EV), a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) to each other by a ground wire formed of an electric wire in order to allow a vehicle body and a battery pack to have equipotential. |
| US08854831B2 |
Low power, high density server and portable device for use with same
A high density server including a plurality of portable devices is disclosed. The portable devices may be arranged in drawers, which may be assembled into shelves for mounting within the high density server. The server rack of the high density server has a substantially open bottom and open top to permit passive airflow in and around the portable devices housed therein. Because of the configuration of the portable devices within the server, the computing power density is increased over a traditional server. Also, the design of the portable devices and their placement within the high density server minimizes the need for active cooling and in some embodiments removes the need for active cooling mechanisms altogether. The portable devices are encased in a protective coating that facilitates heat dissipation away from the portable device. The portable devices include components found in traditional servers. |
| US08854825B2 |
Terminal box, output cable connection arrangement for solar cell module terminal box and fixation arrangement for the output cable
A terminal box is provided having a terminal plate body and a fixed attachment portion to which at least one lead terminal portion of the diode is fixed, and the fixed attachment portion is connected to the terminal plate body via a displacement-allowing connecting portion. An output cable connection arrangement for a solar cell module terminal box is further provided in which an output cable is inserted to a cable insertion portion such that an inner coating portion coating a core wire of the output cable and an outer coating portion coating the inner coating portion are engaged within the cable insertion portion. An output cable fixation arrangement for a solar cell module terminal box is further provided in which an output cable is fixed to the terminal box by means of a cable fastener having a first fixing portion to be fixed to a barrel portion of the output cable. |
| US08854820B2 |
Power module
A power module can prevent damages due to cracking or breakage of an insulating substrate when molding even if a heat plate constituting a power module pre-product is made areally smaller than the insulating substrate, and can also sufficiently satisfy demand for minimization. Specifically, the power module pre-product is sealed by a molding resin layer in a state where externally exposed end portion on one end side in both external connecting terminals and the other surface side of a heat plate are each exposed to the outside. The power module substrate constituting a multilayer substrate body includes an aligning hole, into which an aligning pin is inserted, the pin being included in a lower molding die constituting a molding die with an upper molding die that molds a molding resin layer, so as to position the power module pre-product inside a cavity. |
| US08854818B1 |
Retaining and cooling system for line replaceable units
A device for selectively clamping an electronic module to a heat sink comprising a frame and a camshaft rotatably attached to the frame. The camshaft comprises at least one cam lobe arranged thereon for selectively applying a clamping force on the electronic module in a direction generally normal to the heat sink. |
| US08854816B2 |
Water-proof cover for an inverter unit
The front case of the unit case contains a circuit section including a power semiconductor module, and the rear case contains a cooling fin assembly of the semiconductor module and a cooling fan. The cooling air ventilated through the wind channel by the cooling fan is discharged upward from the unit case. The water-proof cover is placed over the top of the unit case. The water-proof cover includes an exhausting structure formed with openings downward at the left and right sides of a front part of the water-proof cover to form an exhausting path; and a ventilation guide formed around an exhausting port inside a rear part of the water-proof cover. The cooling air discharged to the inside space of the water-proof cover by the cooling fan is ventilated through the ventilating path and exhausted outside through the exhausting path. |
| US08854814B2 |
Hybrid cooling design for modular systems
A system and method for chassis cooling is provided. A preferred embodiment comprises an orthogonal backplane along with a hybrid cooling air flow. One air flow is routed horizontally through aligned and suitable openings on the backplane, vertically over components to be cooled, and horizontally out of the chassis. A second air flow is routed horizontally over components and through aligned and suitable openings on the backplane before it is routed horizontally out of the chassis. |
| US08854811B2 |
Electronic device with cover plate
An electronic device including a housing, a cover plate, and a button is provided. The cover plate is separably disposed on the housing and corresponds to an opening on the housing. A groove is formed on an edge of the cover plate. The button pivotally connects to an edge of the housing which encompasses the opening. The button can rotate on a housing plate of the housing and corresponds to the position of the groove. The button is behind the edge of the housing while the button is in a release position; a portion of the button extends out and into the groove of the cover plate while the button rotates to a lock position. |
| US08854807B2 |
Converter arrangement with an air cooling system
A converter arrangement includes a housing having a first cooling air channel, at least one capacitor disposed in the housing, a fan for generating a cooling air flow, and a first power electronics module disposed in the housing between the at least one capacitor and the fan, as viewed in a direction of the cooling air flow. The first power electronics module is positioned in relation to the fan so as to only be cooled by a first partial air flow. A second partial air flow provided for cooling the at least one capacitor is routed via the first cooling air channel past the first power electronics module such that the second partial air flow is thermally separated from the first power electronics module. |
| US08854805B2 |
Storage device carriers for adapting a storage device of a first size to a slot for a storage device of a second size
Apparatus and devices for carrying a storage device and adapting it to a slot for a storage device having a different form factor. The system comprises an opening means for elastically deforming a shape of the system from an original shape so that the carrier may receive the storage device. The system also comprises restraining means for constraining the motion of the storage device within the system when the system returns to the original shape. Furthermore, the system comprises a spacing means for aligning the storage device with the slot while the storage device is restrained within the system. |
| US08854801B2 |
Portable computer display housing
A display housing for a portable computing device that utilizes a plastic cover bonded to an internal metal frame is described. To account for thermal cycling issues and in particular to prevent bond slippage, multiple types of adhesives are employed to join the metal frame and the plastic cover. In particular, a very high bond (VHB) adhesive material is used in certain areas to bond the metal inner frame to the plastic cover and a liquid adhesive is used in other areas. The plastic cover can be translucent to light. A method of coating the plastic cover to block light, such as from a backlight used for the display, is described. |
| US08854800B2 |
Portable computer
A portable computer includes a main body casing including an upper plate and an opening formed on the upper plate; a cover pad which may be coupled to the upper plate and covers the opening, the cover pad having a plate surface and a rear surface; and a touch-pad coupled to the rear surface of the cover pad through the opening, thus protecting the touch-pad and enabling the touch-pad to sense a coordinate touched on the plate surface and generate a position data of a pointer. |
| US08854798B1 |
Transmitter holder apparatus and method
A transmitter holder apparatus includes a bezel with a front surface, sides and a flat back where the front surface includes a recess A transmitter assembly is provided where the transmitter assembly is configured to fit within the recess in the front surface of the bezel. A connector device is provided for removably connecting the transmitter assembly with the bezel. |
| US08854792B2 |
Low operating temperature high voltage contactor
An electrical contactor for use in a high voltage bus utilizes two capacitor plates and a dielectric element movable in a gap between the plates under a charging voltage applied to the plates. The dielectric element is biased to a contactor off, or open, position by a biasing element, such as a spring. Once activated, the contactor remains closed under the influence of the charging voltage across the capacitor plates, yet does not draw a current during this state. The contactor may be released by a controllable discharge circuit placed across the capacitor plates. |
| US08854788B2 |
Ion generating apparatus and ion presence determining method
It is expected to provide an ion generating apparatus and an ion presence determination method that can prevent the lower accuracy of the ion presence determination caused by the humidity effect. The ion generators are switched ON at the different timing, the electrical potential of the collecting electrode is measured to determine that the ion is present (or not present) when the voltage difference is larger (or smaller) than the threshold. A humidity detecting unit is arranged in a duct. The set threshold for the determination is based on the humidity of the humidity detecting unit, and the ion presence determination is not performed when the humidity is equal to or more than a predetermined humidity. When the determination representing no ion is obtained predetermined times, the warning is output for the users with a LED of a display, a buzzer of a controller or the like. |
| US08854784B2 |
Integrated FET and reflowable thermal fuse switch device
A circuit protection device includes a reflowable thermal fuse that shuts off current to a field-effect transistor if the field-effect transistor is overheating. In particular, the reflowable thermal fuse is integrated with the field-effect transistor to provide greater proximity between the field-effect transistor and the reflowable thermal fuse, thus providing efficient and accurate detection of an overtemperature condition in the field-effect transistor. |
| US08854782B2 |
Overcurrent protection device
An overcurrent protection device includes a power input terminal, a power output terminal, a first signal terminal, a second signal terminal, a testing circuit, and a switch element. The power input terminal and the first signal terminal are connected to a power supply. The power output terminal and the second signal terminal are connected to a computer motherboard. If the first and second terminals are disconnected from each other when the computer motherboard works, the power supply stops working. The testing circuit includes a fixed resistor and a control chip parallel connected between the power input and output terminal. The control chip stores a predetermined voltage threshold, and detects voltage between the two terminals of the fixed resistor, and compares the measured voltage with the predetermined voltage threshold. The switch element disconnects the first and second signal terminals when the measured voltage is greater than the predetermined voltage threshold. |
| US08854781B2 |
Power supply device for plasma processing
A power supply device for plasma processing, wherein electric arcs may occur, comprises a power supply circuit for generating a voltage across output terminals, and a first switch connected between the power supply circuit and one of the output terminals. According to a first aspect the power supply device comprises a recovery energy circuit connected to the output terminals and to the power supply circuit. According to a second aspect the power supply device comprises an inductance circuit including an inductor and a second switch connected parallel to the inductor. According to a third aspect the power supply device comprises a controller for causing the power supply circuit and the first switch to be switched on and off. The controller is configured to determine a quenching time interval by means of a self-adaptive process. The quenching time interval defines the time interval during which, in an event of an arc, no voltage is generated across the output terminals. |
| US08854776B2 |
Relay and method for protecting transformer, and transformer protecting system having the same
Disclosed are a relay and method for protecting a transformer, and a transformer protecting system having the same. In the present disclosure, whether a transformation ratio of a transformer has been correctly set or not may be determined based on an inner algorithm. If it is determined that the transformation ratio of the transformer has been incorrectly set, a user may be informed to reset the transformation ratio. This may prevent a malfunction of the relay when the system is operated, and may enhance a system stability. |
| US08854774B1 |
Nanut fault current limiter circuits
A fault current limiter includes a rectifier having AC terminals and direct current (DC) terminals, the AC terminals to be coupled to an AC power source and a load. The fault current limiter further includes a DC diode coupled in parallel across the DC terminals of the rectifier and a DC reactor coupled to the DC diode. When an AC current drawn from the AC power source is less than a predetermined threshold, the DC diode is in a forward bias state to allow the AC current flowing to the load through the DC diode. When the AC current drawn from the AC power source is greater than or equal to the predetermined threshold, the DC diode is in a reverse bias state, forcing the AC current to flow to the load through the DC reactor. |
| US08854771B1 |
Hard disk drive bypass channel having a close-sided voice coil motor
Approaches to improving head positioning accuracy in a hard disk drive, by suppressing airflow disturbances that would otherwise cause unwanted component vibration, include a voice coil motor having a sidewall spanning a gap between the VCM upper yoke and lower yoke. This VCM sidewall also serves as the inner wall of a bypass channel, for diverting airflow away from the actuator arm and associated components. |
| US08854768B2 |
Magnetic head and magnetic recording/reproducing apparatus
To realize a highly reliable magnetic head for a high-frequency magnetic field assisted recording system by preventing current crowding in an oscillator and increasing the current resistance of the oscillator. Between a main pole that generates a recording magnetic field and a trailing shield, an oscillator that includes a non-magnetic metal layer, a spin injection pinned layer, an intermediate layer, and a high-frequency magnetic field generation layer and that generates a high-frequency magnetic field is disposed. The non-magnetic metal layer adjacent to the main pole is tapered with the width gradually increasing from the trailing side toward the leading side. |
| US08854764B2 |
Multiple-sense thermo-resistive sensor for contact detection of read-write heads
Techniques of the present invention include detecting a touchdown between a read/write head of a disk drive and a surface of a magnetic disk using multiple touchdown sensors located at an air-bearing surface (ABS). The multiple sensors increase the likelihood that a touchdown event—i.e., a portion of the ABS of the head contacting the underlying magnetic disk surface—will be detected. During touchdown, the portion of the head contacting the magnetic disk generates frictional heat which changes a characteristic (e.g., the electrical resistance) of at least one of the sensors located at the ABS. When the sensors are connected to a detection circuit, the changing characteristic may be monitored to identify a touchdown event. The touchdown sensors may be, for example, electrically connected in either series or parallel to the detection circuit. Thus, as long as the electrical resistance of one of the sensors is changed, a touchdown event may be detected. |
| US08854761B1 |
Method and system for specifying self-servo-write patterns
A method of writing servo data to a data storage medium includes reading a servo instruction from a memory, the servo instruction comprising a control portion and a data portion, processing the servo instruction in a controller to generate a servo data pattern from the data portion based on the control portion, and transferring the servo data pattern to the data storage medium. The processing may include transforming the data portion into the servo data pattern based on the control portion. The processing also may include following a command in the control portion to use the data portion as an index to retrieve a pre-programmed servo data pattern from a pattern store. The transferring may include storing the servo data pattern in a buffer, and writing the servo data pattern from the buffer to the data storage medium. |
| US08854757B2 |
Systems and methods for old data inter-track interference compensation
Systems and methods for data processing, and more particularly to estimating or calculating interference between tracks on a storage medium. |
| US08854756B1 |
Systems and methods for mitigating data interference in a contact signal
The present inventions are related to systems and methods for determining contact between two elements, and more particularly to systems and methods for determining contact between a head assembly and a storage medium. |
| US08854749B2 |
Voice coil motor having a base with protrusions and a shell with mounting holes receiving the protrusions
A voice coil motor includes a base made of plastic or resin, a stator, a moving and a shell. The base includes a mounting surface, assembling surfaces, and protrusions extending from at least one of the assembling surfaces. The stator includes a rack and magnets. The rack is mounted to the mounting surface. The moving unit received in the rack. The shell includes a top plate and side plates extending from the top plate. The shell defines at least one slot. Each slot is positioned at a joint between two neighboring side plates. At least one side plate defines mounting holes. The base, the moving unit, and the stator are accommodated in the shell. Each protrusion passes through a mounting hole and is heated to form a head portion. The head portion is positioned outside the shell and has an outer diameter greater than a diameter of each mounting hole. |
| US08854747B2 |
Optical system and image pickup apparatus including the same
An optical system includes a first lens unit, an aperture stop, and a second lens unit having a positive refractive power. The first lens unit includes a first lens having a negative refractive power and a second lens having a positive refractive power. The second lens unit includes a cemented lens, a fifth lens having a negative refractive power and a concave surface facing an object side, and a sixth lens having a positive refractive power and a convex surface facing an image side. In the cemented lens, a third lens having a positive refractive power and a fourth lens having a negative refractive power are cemented. A distance D1 from an object-side lens surface vertex of the first lens to the aperture stop and a distance Dt from the object-side lens surface vertex of the first lens to an image plane are appropriately set. |
| US08854736B2 |
Optical body, window member, fitting, solar shading device, and building
An optical body includes a first optical layer having a concave-convex surface, a wavelength selective reflecting layer formed on the concave-convex surface, and a second optical layer formed on the wavelength selective reflecting layer and embedding the concave-convex surface. The wavelength selective reflecting layer selectively directionally reflects light in a particular wavelength band while transmitting light other than the particular wavelength band therethrough. The concave-convex surface is made up of a plurality of triangular pillars arrayed in a one-dimensional pattern, and the triangular pillar has an apex angle α and a slope angle β, the apex angle α and the slope angle β satisfying a predetermined relationship. |
| US08854735B2 |
Virtual image display system
A thickness of a tapered part provided at the deeper side (−X side) in a light guide direction of a light transmission member is smaller toward the deeper side, and thus, a reflection angle of ghost light that has passed through a fourth reflection surface provided with a half mirror layer and reached the light transmission member gradually becomes smaller within the tapered part and no longer satisfies a total reflection condition, and the light is ejected to the outside in the position diverging from an eye of an observer. That is, the tapered part may prevent the ghost light from reaching the eye and good see-through observation can be realized. |
| US08854730B2 |
Negatively birefringent polyesters and optical films
Presently described are multilayer optical films, oriented polyester films, negatively birefringent copolyester polymers, fluorene monomers, and polyester polymers prepared from such fluorene monomers. In one embodiment, the multilayer optical film comprises at least one first birefringent optical layer; and at least one second optical layer having a lower birefringence than the first optical layer; wherein at least one of the optical layers comprises a negatively birefringent polyester polymer comprising a backbone and repeat units comprising at least one pendent aromatic group that is conformationally locked relative to the backbone. |
| US08854729B2 |
Microscope adapter unit
A microscope adapter unit disposed on an optical path of illumination light between a light source unit including a light source and a sample surface includes a first lens group having at least one lens and a second lens group having at least one lens. The first lens group converts the illumination light into roughly parallel luminous fluxes, and makes the illumination light enter the second lens group. |
| US08854728B1 |
Endcaps for hollow-core optical fibers and method
A method and apparatus use a photonic-crystal fiber having a very large core while maintaining a single transverse mode. In some fiber lasers and amplifiers having large cores problems exist related to energy being generated at multiple-modes (i.e., polygamy), and of mode hopping (i.e., promiscuity) due to limited control of energy levels and fluctuations. The problems of multiple-modes and mode hopping result from the use of large-diameter waveguides, and are addressed by the invention. This is especially true in lasers using large amounts of energy (i.e., lasers in the one-megawatt or more range). By using multiple small waveguides in parallel, large amounts of energy can be passed through a laser, but with better control such that the aforementioned problems can be reduced. An additional advantage is that the polarization of the light can be maintained better than by using a single fiber core. |
| US08854725B2 |
Wavelength conversion element, method of manufacturing the same, and LED element and semiconductor laser light emitting device using wavelength conversion element
A wavelength conversion element disclosed in the present application includes a phosphor layer including a plurality of phosphor particles and a matrix that is located among the plurality of phosphor particles and is formed of zinc oxide. The zinc oxide is columnar crystals or a single crystal in a c-axis orientation. |
| US08854715B2 |
Magnetic control of surface states
A magnetic field may be applied to a plasmon path to affect plasmon propagation. |
| US08854714B2 |
Colored conductive fluids for electrowetting and electrofluidic technologies
Colored conductive fluids for electrowetting or electrofluidic devices, and the devices themselves, are disclosed. The colored conductive fluid includes a polar solvent and a colorant selected from a pigment and/or a dye. The polar solvent has (a) a dynamic viscosity of 0.1 cP to 1000 cP at 25° C., (b) a surface tension of 25 dynes/cm to 90 dynes/cm at 25° C., and (c) an electrowetting relative response of 20% to 80%. The colored conductive fluid itself can have an electrical conductivity from 0.1 μS/cm to 3,000 μS/cm and can have no greater than 500 total ppm of monatomic ions with ionic radii smaller than 2.0 Å and polyatomic ions with ionic radii smaller than 1.45 Å. The colored conductive fluid should not cause electrical breakdown of a dielectric in the device in which it is employed. An agent for controlling electrical conductivity can optionally be added to the colored conductive fluid. |
| US08854710B2 |
Method of laser illumination with reduced speckling
Proposed is a method of laser illumination with reduced speckling for in optical microscopy, machine vision systems with laser illumination, fine optical metrology, etc. The method comprises forming a net of planar ridge waveguides into an arbitrary configuration and providing them with a plurality of holograms having holographic elements formed into a predetermined organization defined by the shape of a given light spot or light field which is to be formed by light beams emitted from the holograms on the surface of the object or in a space at a distance from the planar ridge waveguide. Speckling is reduced by locating at least a part or all of the holograms at distances from each other that are equal to or greater than the coherence length. The geometry and organization of the holographic elements allows controlling position, focusing and defocusing of the beam. |
| US08854701B2 |
Image-forming lens, image reader, and image-forming device
An image-forming lens includes, in order from an object side to an image side, a first group having a negative power as a whole, the first group consisting of a positive meniscus lens having a convex surface on the object side and a negative meniscus lens having a convex surface on the object side, the positive meniscus lens and the negative meniscus lens being cemented, an aperture stop, a second group consisting of a positive meniscus lens having a convex surface on the image side, a third group consisting of a positive meniscus lens having a convex surface on the image side, a fourth group consisting of a lens having a negative power, and a fifth group consisting of a biconcave lens. |
| US08854700B2 |
Image reading apparatus
An image reading apparatus includes a main body, a rotation unit supported on the main body so as to be rotatable around a rotation axis, an imaging unit that is mounted on the rotation unit at an outward position in a radial direction of the rotation axis and images a medium to be read that is placed on a placement surface located under the rotation unit in the vertical direction, and a light source that irradiates the medium to be read with light. The light source and the imaging unit can be arranged with a relative positional relationship capable of suppressing specular reflected light of light that is emitted from the light source and reflected by the medium to be read from being incident on the imaging unit. |
| US08854699B2 |
Scan movement indicator and an image forming apparatus having the same
A scan movement indicator in which light directed toward an indicating unit or external light entering through the indicating unit does not penetrate a scanning area so that improved quality of a scanning and printing operation is provided, and an image forming apparatus having the same are provided. The scan movement indicator includes a light source unit disposed in a scan unit which is movable in a main body of an image forming apparatus, an indicating unit disposed in the main body of the image forming apparatus along a moving direction of the scan unit, and having a portion of the indicating unit that is brightened by light from the light source, and a light blocking unit to block light directed toward the indicating unit or external light entering through the indicating unit from penetrating into a scanning area. |
| US08854697B2 |
System and method for scanning and enlarging user selected grid areas of a printed page
Systems and methods of scanning, enlarging, and printing one or more selected areas of a document are disclosed. The systems and methods include an imaging device that partitions a document into a plurality of grid areas and receives, from a user, a selection for one or more of the grid areas to be enlarged and printed. The imaging device further receives or determines an enlarged output size for the selected grid areas. The imaging device scans the document to form digital images corresponding to the selected grid areas, and adjusts and enlarges the digital images to equate to the enlarged output size. A printer of the imaging device outputs the enlarged digital images on paper of the output size. |
| US08854696B2 |
Facsimile apparatus capable of transmitting converted fax data to transmission source apparatus based on identifcation of the transmission source apparatus
A facsimile device includes a facsimile receiving unit that receives facsimile data transmitted from a transmission source device, a storing unit that stores identification information and transmission source information of the facsimile data received by the facsimile receiving unit in a storing portion. The identification information distinguishes the facsimile data received by the facsimile receiving unit from other facsimile data received by the facsimile receiving unit, and the transmission source information indicates the transmission source device of the facsimile data. The facsimile device also includes a message transmitting unit that transmits a message to an external device in response to receiving the facsimile data from the transmission source device, the message including the identification information and the transmission source information of the facsimile data stored in the storing portion, and a message receiving unit that receives a message transmitted from the external device or from another external device. |
| US08854691B2 |
Image processing apparatus and image processing method for extracting a line segment
An image processing apparatus extracts a line segment included in an image, and includes a density gradient direction determining section that determines a direction, in which density changes, of each processing unit composed of a predetermined number of pixels of an image, and an line segment extracting section that regards a couple of processing units whose density gradient direction are opposite each other as a processing unit pair and extracts a processing unit group including a plurality of processing unit pairs allocated in a row in a direction perpendicular to the density gradient directions as a line segment. |
| US08854690B2 |
Creation method of total color material amount restriction table, and recording medium
According to the present invention, it is possible to adequately restrict the total color material amount from the viewpoint of the second scale which substantially represents a color material amount, and sufficiently produce the color reproducibility which is potentially held by an image formation apparatus. Moreover, since the order of the CMY ratio in the space of the first scale is maintained, it is possible to smoothly secure the connection between tones. |
| US08854689B2 |
System, method and software for reducing printer colorant usage
A system, method, and printer controller software for reducing printer colorant usage by using printer controller software which controls the deposition by the printer of the printer colorant on the printable medium in response to selected print image quality and printer colorant reduction criteria, as well as identifying printer colorant deposition characteristics of the printable medium, identifying characteristics of the printer, and identifying characteristics of the printer colorant. |
| US08854687B2 |
Image forming apparatus with setting screen, setting method, and non-transitory computer-readable recording medium encoded with setting program
An image forming apparatus includes a setting screen displaying portion to display a setting screen having a setting value setting area, an input screen displaying portion, responsive to designation of a position within a prescribed area determined by the setting area in the setting screen while the setting screen is being displayed, to display an input screen including input key images to be overlaid on the setting screen, a first setting value accepting portion to accept a value corresponding to the input key image designated by the user in the input screen, an operation accepting portion including hard keys, a second setting value accepting portion to accept a value corresponding to the hard key designated by the user, and a display terminating portion, responsive to acceptance of an operation of enabling the operation accepting portion while the input screen is being displayed, to terminate the display of the input screen. |
| US08854686B2 |
Digital printing systems for packaging and document printing with special colors
A printing apparatus or printing system that uses multiple print engines to form an image on a substrate. The printing apparatus or printing system may be a surface printing system or a reverse printing system. Each of the multiple print engines has at least one color station. The color stations are arranged in the print engines and between the multiple print engines based on whether the printing system is a surface printing system or a reverse printing system to control the order in which colorant is formed on a substrate. Multiple print engines allow for, among other things, a greater color gamut and therefore assists in expansion of the standard color gamut. |
| US08854685B2 |
Image forming device that detects an undecodable image portion
Provided is an image determination device including a sheet detecting unit that detects a sheet on which a code image is printed, a first acquiring unit that acquires information on the code image and an absorption wavelength of the code image, a second acquiring unit that acquires a reading unit necessary for decoding a code portion of the code image, a third acquiring unit that acquires a document image of an electronic document, a dividing unit that divides the document image into plural blocks corresponding to the reading unit, a detecting unit that detects a block in which an image portion of the document image that uses a color having an absorption band at the absorption wavelength of the code image overlaps with the code portion of the code image as an undecodable block, and an output unit that outputs a warning indicating the generation of an undecodable area. |
| US08854684B2 |
Lenticular image articles and method and apparatus of reducing banding artifacts in lenticular image articles
A method of creating a lenticular imaging article. The method comprises printing an interlaced composite image according to a reference grid of a printer, providing a lenticular lens sheet having a plurality of parallel lenticular lines between a plurality of lenslets, selecting an acute angle for an intersection between the first and second axes according to a function of a resolution of the interlaced composite image and a pitch of the lenticular lens sheet, and positioning the lenticular lens sheet so that the intersection forms the acute angle. |
| US08854682B2 |
Image processing apparatus and processing program for arranging manuscript data on folded sheets
An image processing apparatus that prints a plurality of manuscript data onto sheets and folds the printed sheets into N (2≦N) equally sized divisions is equipped with: a manuscript size obtaining section that obtains sizes of the manuscript data; a reference size obtaining section that obtains a first reference size, set based on a unit size equal to the size of the sheets divided into N divisions, and M reference sizes, set based on the unit size multiplied by M (2≦M≦N); and an arrangement setting section that arranges manuscript data of the reference size or less at single surfaces from among a plurality of printing surfaces of the sheets formed by the sheets being folded, and arranges manuscript data of an (M−1)th reference size or greater and an Mth reference size or less at M continuous surfaces from among the plurality of surfaces. |
| US08854678B2 |
Scanner, reading system, and computer program that sequentially supplies image data to an external device
A scanner connected to an external device through a network is provided. The scanner includes, a reading section that reads an image recorded on a sheet so as to generate image data, an image data group supply section that, in a case where a plurality of images recorded on a plurality of sheets are read by the reading section, sequentially generates an image data group every time a part of the plurality of sheets is read by the reading section, and sequentially supplies the generated image data group to the external device, a joint information generation section that generates joint information used to join two or more of the image data groups, the two or more of the image data groups representing the plurality of images; and a joint information supply section that supplies the joint information to the external device. |
| US08854676B2 |
Merging a scanned document with an existing document
An approach for processing scanned document data includes a document merging network service receiving a request for existing electronic document data. In response, the document merging network service identifies and providing, to a scanning device, identification data that identifies existing electronic document data. The existing electronic document data may be stored by a third party storage service. In response to user selection of an existing electronic document identified in the identification data, the scanning device transmits, to the document merging network service, scanned document data, data that identifies an existing electronic document, and location insertion data. The document merging network service merges the scanned document data at one or more locations in the existing electronic document based on the location insertion data. |
| US08854674B2 |
Image forming apparatus equipped with real size preview function, method of displaying image, and storage medium
An image forming apparatus having a preview function which enables a user to select a desired area of a print image and is capable of providing a real size preview of the area selected by the user. A bird's eye preview unit displays the image by changing a size of the image, to a size which enables the whole image to be displayed on a display unit. A real size preview unit performs real size preview display of the image. A real size preview display area-setting unit accepts a setting of a preview display area of the image for being displayed by the real size preview display, from the image displayed by the bird's eye preview display. The real size preview unit displays an image within the set preview display area on the display unit. |
| US08854673B2 |
Image forming apparatus and image forming method for controlling sending of an advertising packet
An image forming apparatus comprises an image forming unit configured to form an image on a recording medium, a communication interface configured to connect with a network and a control unit configured to stop sending an advertising packet indicating the existence thereof if an aggregate server for storing documents is detected based on the advertising packet received via the communication interface. |
| US08854671B2 |
Method and apparatus for setting printing option
A method of setting printing options at a host apparatus using a LINUX-based operation system (OS), the method including displaying at least one printing option providing text input for a user from among printing options provided by an image forming apparatus connected to the host apparatus; receiving setting information regarding printing options selected by a user from among the at least one printing option as text input; and storing the setting information with the corresponding printing options. |
| US08854664B2 |
Image forming system including a plurality of image forming apparatuses, each storing information indicating a plurality of storage locations
An image forming system includes a transmitter apparatus that transmits, to a predetermined storage location of multiple storage locations, identification information identifying a user and image data associated with the identification information, and multiple image forming apparatuses. Each of the image forming apparatuses includes a first storage unit that stores storage information indicating the storage locations, a storage location that is included in the storage locations and stores the identification information and the image data associated with the identification information, a retrieval unit that accesses the storage locations, indicated by the storage information stored on the first storage unit, when the identification information is inputted by the user, and retrieves the image data from the storage location, and an image forming unit that forms an image corresponding to the image data retrieved by the retrieval unit. |
| US08854663B2 |
Dynamic print server generation in a distributed printing environment
Methods, systems, and devices are described for dynamic print server generation in a distributed printing environment. A data store may store multiple operating systems. A central server computer system is in communication with the data store. The central server computer system may receive notification of a print job, select a printer for the print job, map a stored driver to the selected printer, select an operating system associated with the driver from the data store, and dynamically load the operating system associated with the driver to generate a print server for the print job. |
| US08854661B2 |
Tool for positioning an icon on a display
According to one embodiment, a print setting apparatus includes an input section, a display section configured to display, on a same screen, an icon showing a tool to perform a process of binding sheets, a preview image showing a state of a sheet after printing, and one or plural area images displayed on the preview image, and a control section configured to change, when detecting that a specified coordinate from the input section is moved from a display area of the icon to a display area of the area image, the area image to an image showing a state after the process of binding the sheets is performed. |
| US08854658B2 |
Selectively displaying print job information based on image forming apparatus display capability
Upon reception of print jobs from a host, an application server holds the print jobs, saves a price list, and calculates the cost to output the print jobs based on the price list and the setting information of the received print jobs. The server transmits the cost information and print jobs to a print apparatus which outputs the print jobs. The print apparatus displays the received cost information on an operation unit to make a user determine whether to output the print jobs prior to output of the jobs. |
| US08854656B2 |
Management apparatus, system, and management method
A management apparatus transmits a reservation request for specifying time for turning off power supply of an image processing apparatus in response to determination that current time is in a time period for turning off the power supply of image processing apparatus if a start-up request is received from the image processing apparatus, transmits a start-up response for permitting start-up of functions other than a communication function provided in the image processing apparatus when a reservation response, to the reservation request from the image processing apparatus, including specified time for turning off the power supply of the image processing apparatus is received, and transmits a command for turning off the power supply of the image processing apparatus at the time specified by the reservation response, to the image processing apparatus. |
| US08854655B2 |
Image forming apparatus and method of generating additional information-added documents
Provided are a method of generating an additional information-added document and an image forming apparatus performing the method, the method including inputting a property of the additional information to at least one document box in the image forming apparatus, storing a first document, which is an object document, to one of the at least one document box, generating a second document by adding additional information corresponding to a property that is set in the document box in which the first document is stored, to the first document, and storing the second document. |
| US08854651B2 |
Image forming apparatus, information processing method, and recording medium indicating a version of a function supported by the image forming apparatus
An image forming apparatus including an application is disclosed. The image forming apparatus includes a determining unit that, when the application starts in the image forming apparatus, checks first information indicating a function to be used by the application against second information indicating a function supported by the image forming apparatus so as to determine whether the function to be used by the application is executable, and changes operations of the application according to a determination result. The determining unit is automatically updated if the determining unit does not support a structure of the first information or a structure of the second information. |
| US08854647B2 |
Image forming apparatus with time-divisional function execution
Whether or not allocation to router control is used up is determined. Whether or not CPU utilization allocated to the router control is used up is determined. If it is determined that the allocation for router control is used up, a sub-allocation changing process is executed for changing the CPU utilization. If it is determined that the allocation for router control is not used up, a router control allocation subtracting process is executed. |
| US08854645B2 |
Method of displaying, processing and storing search screen information in a hierachical structure
A search screen information processing system includes a display device, an input device, and a computer, and displays imposition templates acquired in search screen information based on a processing sequence of the computer. The search screen information processing system displays, as search screen information, a search condition menu display area in which search contents information corresponding to a plurality of search conditions can be entered, and imposition templates that agree with a plurality of entered pieces of search contents information. Further, the search screen information processing system creates folders based on the search contents information, constructs layers according to an order in which the search conditions are entered, and displays a plurality of folders based on layers in the search condition menu display area. |
| US08854644B2 |
Instruction accepting system for contacting one or more instruction devices on display device and validate identification information to process images
Between a digital multi-function peripheral for processing data, and one or a plurality of memory devices for giving an instruction for the digital multi-function peripheral to process data, when the memory device(s) contacts a display surface of a display section of the digital multi-function peripheral, the digital multi-function peripheral accepts a first instruction concerning authentication and a second instruction concerning processing of the data based on a contact position, in this case, acquires first identification data stored in the memory device(s) concerning the first instruction and second identification data stored in the memory device(s) concerning the second instruction, and when the first identification data and the second identification data do not coincide with each other, invalidates the accepted second instruction. |
| US08854639B2 |
Control device, image forming apparatus, and reading device
For functions of a multifunction machine for processing of processing items relating to document reading operations and processing items relating to operations other than document reading operations in a case where operation screens for setting content in regard to the processing items in a wizard format display are displayed in the wizard format display, a display order is set in advance for the operation screens for the processing items so that the operation screens for processing items relating to document reading operations are displayed prior to operation screens for processing items relating to operations other than document reading operations. |
| US08854637B2 |
Host apparatus connected to image forming apparatus and setting information management method thereof
A setting information management method of a host apparatus which is communicatively coupled to a plurality of image forming apparatuses that include setting information, the method including selecting at least two image forming apparatuses, receiving at least one setting item and a setting value corresponding to the setting item of the setting information from the selected image forming apparatuses, displaying the at least one received setting item and setting value for each of the selected image forming apparatuses; comparing and displaying the at least one setting item and setting value of the selected image forming apparatuses according to a comparison option, selecting at least one of the displayed setting item and setting value to be updated, and changing at least one of the setting item and the setting value of at least one of the selected image forming apparatuses. |
| US08854628B2 |
Interferometric methods for metrology of surfaces, films and underresolved structures
A method for determining information about a test object includes combining two or more scanning interference signals to form a synthetic interference signal; analyzing the synthetic interference signal to determine information about the test object; and outputting the information about the test object. Each of the two or more scanning interference signals correspond to interference between test light and reference light as an optical path length difference between the test and reference light is scanned, wherein the test and reference light are derived from a common source. The test light scatters from the test object over a range of angles and each of the two or more scanning interferometry signals corresponds to a different scattering angle or polarization state of the test light. |
| US08854626B2 |
Rotating stall detection using optical measurement of blade untwist
Systems and methods are provided for real-time detection of the onset of stall in turbomachinery, such as compressor stall. The methods are capable of detecting and analyzing time of arrival of the chord of the blade at a sensor array to provide an indication of the onset of compressor stall. Systems for detecting the onset of compressor stall include: light sources; a plurality of linearly arranged optical fibers for transmitting light from the light sources and for receiving transmitted light reflected from a blade; a detector for measuring intensity of the reflected light; and a processor for analyzing the intensity of the reflected light to determine blade twist angle and from the blade twist angle identify onset of compressor stall. The invention can prevent the needless loss of life and assets caused by compressor stall that may lead to unexpected catastrophic failure of an engine. |
| US08854615B2 |
Inspection apparatus and inspection method
According to one embodiment, an inspection apparatus includes a first monochromatic body disposed behind an inspection target including a transparent member or a semitransparent member, relative to an observation position which deviates from a normal direction of the inspection target, a light source configured to illuminate the inspection target and disposed at such a position in front of the inspection target that an image of the light source is not reflected on the inspection target which is observed at the observation position, and a second monochromatic body disposed at such a position in front of the inspection target that an image of the second monochromatic body is reflected on the inspection target which is observed at the observation position. |
| US08854611B2 |
Method for determining the optic center of a lens blank
A method comprises providing a lens blank, a precision positioning device, an illumination device, and a vision system, wherein the lens blank includes at least one feature whose position is known relative to a position of an optic center of the lens blank, and wherein the vision system comprises an image sensor and a processor; mounting the lens blank on the precision positioning device; illuminating the lens blank with the illumination device; viewing the lens blank with image sensor of the vision system; determining the position of the at least one feature using the processor; and determining the position of the optic center of the lens blank based on the position of the at least one feature using the processor. |
| US08854606B2 |
Projection exposure system, method for manufacturing a micro-structured structural member by the aid of such a projection exposure system and polarization-optical element adapted for use in such a system
The invention relates to a projection exposure system, in particular for micro-lithography. The projection exposure system according to the invention comprises a light source for producing light in the EUV region. The projection exposure system further comprises a first optical system for illuminating a mask by the light of the light source and a second optical system for imaging the mask on a component. At least one polarization-optical element is disposed on the beam path between the light source and the component. |
| US08854602B2 |
Holding device for an optical element in an objective
A holding device for an optical element in an objective has a mount that is connected to the objective, on the one hand, and at least indirectly to the optical element, on the other hand. Arranged between the mount and the optical element is a reinforcing element whose coefficient of thermal expansion corresponds substantially to the coefficient of thermal expansion of the optical element. |