Document Document Title
US08873854B2 Image processing method
An image processing method for increasing the stereoscopic effect of an image is provided. Difference mask data including an object area and a background area is created from image data, and the center coordinate of the object area is calculated. Then, a gradation pattern is selected in accordance with the average brightness value of the object area and applied to the background area, whereby a gradation mask data is created. After that, the image data of the background area is converted into image data based on the gradation mask data, so that the stereoscopic effect of the image is increased.
US08873852B2 Method and apparatus for foreground object detection
The present invention utilizes depth images captured by a depth camera to detect foreground/background. The method comprises establishing a single background distribution model, updating the background distribution model if a new depth value for the pixel can be represented by the background distribution model, skipping update of the background distribution model if the pixel is before the background, and replacing the background distribution model if the pixel is behind the background. In case that the background distribution model does not exist initially, a new background distribution model is created. The fluctuation of the depth value due to noise is handled by using a candidate background distribution model. Furthermore, the noise for pixels around object edges is handled by using a mixture of two background distribution models.
US08873849B2 Image processing method, image display method, image processing apparatus and a non-transitory computer-readable recording medium
An image processing method of picking up an image of a substrate and converting pixel values of the picked-up substrate image makes the pixel values of the picked-up substrate image into a histogram, and creates a tone curve T composed of a periodic function of a predetermined amplitude and a predetermined period based on a distribution of the pixel values in the histogram. The pixel values of the picked-up substrate image are converted using the tone curve T to obtain a substrate image with a high contrast.
US08873844B2 Large-scale strongly supervised ensemble metric learning
Systems and methods for metric learning include iteratively determining feature groups of images based on its derivative norm. Corresponding metrics of the feature groups are learned by gradient descent based on an expected loss. The corresponding metrics are combined to provide an intermediate metric matrix as a sparse representation of the images. A loss function of all metric parameters corresponding to features of the intermediate metric matrix are optimized, using a processor, to learn a final metric matrix. Eigenvalues of the final metric matrix are projected onto a simplex.
US08873841B2 Methods and apparatuses for facilitating gesture recognition
Methods and apparatuses are provided for facilitating gesture recognition. A method may include constructing a matrix based at least in part on an input gesture and a template gesture. The method may further include determining whether a relationship determined based at least in part on the constructed matrix satisfies a predefined threshold. In an instance in which the relationship does not satisfy the predefined threshold, the method may also include eliminating the template gesture from further consideration for recognition of the input gesture. In an instance in which the relationship satisfies the predefined threshold, the method may further include determining a rotation matrix based at least in part on the constructed matrix.
US08873840B2 Reducing false detection rate using local pattern based post-filter
A training set for a post-filter classifier is created from the output of a face detector. The face detector can be a Viola Jones face detector. Face detectors produce false positives and true positives. The regions in the training set are labeled so that false positives are labeled negative and true positives are labeled positive. The labeled training set is used to train a post-filter classifier. The post-filter classifier can be an SVM (Support Vector Machine). The trained face detection classifier is placed at the end of a face detection pipeline comprising a face detector, one or more feature extractors and the trained post-filter classifier. The post-filter reduces the number of false positives in the face detector output while keeping the number of true positives almost unchanged using features different from the Haar features used by the face detector.
US08873833B2 System and method for effectively performing a scene representation procedure
A system for performing a scene representation procedure includes an image manager that processes source images from a given scene to define subscenes in the source images. The image manager creates an image understanding graph for each of the source images, and also creates a scene representation graph for each of the source images based upon the corresponding subscenes and certain image characteristics. The image manager further generates an integrated scene representation to represent all of the source images with a single representation. A processor of an electronic device controls the image manager to perform the scene representation procedure.
US08873832B2 Slip detection apparatus and method for a mobile robot
The present invention relates to a slip detection apparatus and method for a mobile robot, and more particularly, to a slip detection apparatus and method for a mobile robot, which not only use a plurality of rotation detection sensors to detect a lateral slip angle and lateral slip direction, but also analyze the amount of change in an image and detect the blocked degree of an image input unit to determine the quality of an input image, and detect the occurrence of a frontal slip to precisely detect the type of slip, direction of the slip, and the rotation angle, and, on the basis of the latter, to enable the mobile robot to move away from and avoid slip regions, and to reassume the precise position thereof.
US08873826B2 Method for brightness level calculation of the digital x-ray image for medical applications
The invention relates to methods for evaluation a brightness level of the digital x-ray image for medical applications by means of the image histogram using a neural network. The calculations comprise of: image acquisition, image histogram calculation, transformation the frequencies of the histogram into input arguments of the neural network and calculation the brightness level as linear transform of the output value of the neural network. Training of the neural network is performed over a learning set calculated over the given image database. The transformed frequencies of histograms of these images are used as a set of input arguments of the neural network. The brightness levels calculated for each image over the region of interest and scaled to the range of output values of the neuron network are used as a set of target values.
US08873824B2 Breast tomosynthesis with display of highlighted suspected calcifications
Systems and methods that facilitate the presentation and assessment of selected features in projection and/or reconstructed breast images, such as calcifications that meet selected criteria of size, shape, presence in selected slice images, distribution of pixels that could be indicative of calcification relative to other pixels or of other image features of clinical interest.
US08873823B2 Motion compensation with tissue density retention
A method includes reconstructing the projection data based on a reconstruction algorithm that compensates for both motion and tissue density changes of the moving organ across different motion phases, thereby generating motion and density compensated image data. A data compensator includes a reconstructor that reconstructs motion compensated image data based on an reconstruction algorithm that compensates for tissue density changes in a moving object.
US08873817B2 Processing an image dataset based on clinically categorized populations
A system for generating a processed image dataset is disclosed. The system comprises a plurality of parameter datasets (15), wherein a parameter dataset (1) corresponds to a clinically categorized population and represents a transfer function. The system further comprises a selector (2) for selecting a parameter dataset (1) from the plurality of parameter datasets (15). The system further comprises an image processing subsystem (3) for applying the transfer function represented by the selected parameter dataset (1) to at least part of an image dataset (4) specific for a patient, to obtain a processed image dataset (5). The selector (2) comprises a user interface element (6) for enabling a user to select the parameter dataset (1) from the plurality of parameter datasets (15). A parameter dataset (1) is based on a statistical distribution of a population characteristic.
US08873816B1 Method and system for identification of red colored pathologies in vivo
A system and method may identify pathologies such as red pathologies in in-vivo images. Candidate pathology regions may be identified by identifying red regions. Features indicative of the probability of pathology in candidate regions may be identified. An image score for an image may be identified based on one or more identified features, the image score indicative of existence in the image of at least one candidate region with high probability of pathology. Calculating an image score may include calculating a candidate score for at least one identified candidate region based on features, the candidate score indicative of the probability of pathology being imaged in said candidate region, where the image score corresponds to the candidate score of the candidate region with the highest probability of pathology in the image.
US08873812B2 Image segmentation using hierarchical unsupervised segmentation and hierarchical classifiers
An image segmentation method includes generating a hierarchy of regions by unsupervised segmentation of an input image. Each region is described with a respective region feature vector representative of the region. Hierarchical structures are identified, each including a parent region and its respective child regions in the hierarchy. Each hierarchical structure is described with a respective hierarchical feature vector that is based on the region feature vectors of the respective parent and child regions. The hierarchical structures are classified according to a set of predefined classes with a hierarchical classifier component that is trained with hierarchical feature vectors of hierarchical structures of training images. The training images have semantic regions labeled according to the set of predefined classes. The input image is segmented into a plurality of semantic regions based on the classification of the hierarchical structures and optionally also on classification of the individual regions.
US08873809B2 Global and dense motion estimation
The invention relates to a method which uses a series of images sensed by an image sensor including at least one preceding image and one following image to estimate movement. A first estimated movement is initially obtained by estimating the total movement from the preceding image to the following image. Next, an image compensated according to the first estimated movement is obtained from either one of the preceding and following images. Then, a second estimated movement is obtained by estimating dense movement between the compensated image and the other from the preceding and following images. Next, a residual value of global movement is determined. Finally, if the residual value is lower than a threshold value the second estimated movement is provided; otherwise, the preceding steps are repeated. The first estimated movement is determined by applying a binary image mask, and if during step /e/ the steps /a/ to /e/ are repeated, said steps are performed by applying a binary image mask updated according to the second estimated movement.
US08873804B2 Traffic monitoring device
A traffic monitoring device determines accurately the number of objects (H) such as, for example, human bodies present within a supervised sector (8), without being affected by influences of a clinging condition of a plurality of heads and/or hairdos. In determining the number of the objects (H), this traffic monitoring device performs a template matching with template blocks (20) of the shape of the objects (H), in which block areas including heads (α), hairdos buffer units (β) and shoulders (γ) are represented by template images, relative to the block projected image acquired from a three dimensional object information resulting from a detection block (B1) related to the objects (H) present within the supervised sector (8).
US08873790B2 Non-occluding earbuds and methods for making the same
Non-occluding earbuds and methods for making the same are disclosed. The earbud has a non-occluding housing having a directional port positioned offset with respect to a center axis of the housing. The directional port may be constructed to project acoustic signals into the user's ear canal. In addition, the directional port can include separate openings or ports for different front volumes existing within the housing. Front and back volumes can exist for each speaker contained within the housing, and embodiments of this invention use a midmold structure that enables the front volumes to be tuned independently of each other.
US08873788B1 In-ground audio sub woofer and method of installation
A sub woofer for in-ground installation and a method of installation. The sub woofer has a cylindrical enclosure or housing having a driver, electronics and a band pass filter. The driver cone is coaxial with the axis of the cylindrical housing. A port tube assembly having a tuned port tube and a resilient elbow interface is attached to an end wall of the housing in an eccentric position with the port tube projecting vertically and terminating at a canopy. The installation requires placing the enclosure in an excavation and positioning the housing and port assembly so a predetermined above ground spacing exists between the upper end of the above ground port tube and grade.
US08873785B2 Attenuating tip for hearing aid
A hearing aid includes a speaker in a tip that is located in an ear canal. The tip includes a coupling, a retainer that mechanically engages the coupling, and a sleeve axially surrounding the retainer. The retainer attenuates lower frequencies than are attenuated by the sleeve. The sleeve is preferably a foam rubber and the retainer is preferably a composite material. A flange on the retainer reflects sound back into the sleeve for additional attenuation. It has been discovered that operation is improved if the outside diameter of the sleeve and the outside diameter of the retainer are in the ratio of approximately 1.75:1.
US08873783B2 Waterproof acoustic element enclosures and apparatus including the same
A waterproof enclosure for a cochlear implant system or other hearing assistance device includes an outer housing, an inner support in the interior of the outer housing, an acoustic element supported by the inner support, and water-impermeable polymeric protective membrane sealing the interior of the outer housing against water ingress. A hearing device such as a cochlear implant sound processor, a headpiece, an earhook, or a hearing aid comprises an outer housing, an inner support in the interior of the outer housing, a microphone supported by the inner support, and a water-impermeable polymeric protective membrane sealing the interior of the outer housing against water ingress. A method for waterproofing an acoustic element comprises molding an outer support having a water-impermeable polymeric protective membrane; inserting an acoustic element into an inner support; anchoring the acoustic element to the inner support; inserting the inner support into the outer support; and anchoring the inner support to the outer support.
US08873782B2 Separate inner and outer hair cell loss compensation
A method and device for compensating sensorineural hearing loss in a manner that allows dysfunction of the inner and outer hair cells to be separately compensated is described. The disclosed techniques involve providing separately adjustable compression pathways for the received sound.
US08873771B2 Automatic volume adjustment
A method for automatic volume adjustment performed by a physical computing system includes, with the computing system, determining a virtual proximity between a user and a number of applications running on the computing system, the virtual proximity based in part on a type of one of the number of applications, and with the computing system, automatically adjusting a volume of the number of applications linked with a sound peripheral connecting to the computing system, the volume of each of the number of applications being based on the virtual proximity.
US08873768B2 Method and apparatus for audio signal enhancement
A method for audio signal enhancement comprising obtaining (222) a first audio signal from a first physical microphone element and obtaining a second audio signal from a second physical microphone element. The audio signals are array processed (226) to generate a virtual linear first order element and a virtual non-linear even order element. The array processing (226) includes combining the virtual linear first order element and the virtual non-linear even order element to generate a directional audio signal having a primary audio beam. An apparatus is disclosed for implementing the method.
US08873762B2 System and method for efficient sound production using directional enhancement
A system and method for generating virtual microphone signals having a particular number and configuration for channel playback from an intermediate set of signals that were recorded in an initial format that is different from the channel playback format. In one embodiment, an initial set of intermediate are Bark-banded such that each intermediate signal may lead to a corresponding power spectral density (PSD) signal representative of the initial intermediate signal. Further, one may generate cross-correlations signals for each pair of intermediate signals. Next, from the PSDs and cross correlations, one may more efficiently calculate corresponding channel signals to be used for playback on respective channel speakers. Thus, the PSDs of each channel signal may be generated at chosen angles (as well as other design factors). Further, each channel signal may also be further modified with a corresponding cancellation signal that further enhances the resultant signal in each channel.
US08873761B2 Audio signal processing device and audio signal processing method
An audio signal processing device includes: head related transfer function convolution processing units convoluting head related transfer functions with audio signals of respective channels of plural channels, which allow the listener to listen to sound so that sound images are localized at assumed virtual sound image localization positions concerning respective channels of the plural channels of two or more channels when sound is reproduced by electro-acoustic transducer means; and 2-channel signal generation means for generating 2-channel audio signals to be supplied to the electro-acoustic transducer means from audio signals of plural channels from the head related transfer function convolution processing units, wherein, in the head related transfer function convolution processing units, at least a head related transfer function concerning direct waves from the assumed virtual image localization positions concerning a left channel and a right channel in the plural channels to both ears of the listener is not convoluted.
US08873756B2 System for transmitting a data signal in a network, method, mobile transmitting device and network device
A system for transmitting a data signal is provided, comprising a plurality of network devices; a network connecting the plurality of network devices based on at least a first communication carrier, wherein the first communication carrier is a wired communication carrier; a network key generator configured to generate a network key; a mobile transmitting device configured to transmit the network key to at least one of the plurality of network devices on a second communication carrier, wherein the second communication carrier is a wireless carrier, and wherein the network devices are configured to communicate with the other network devices based on a link encryption key based on the network key. A corresponding method, a mobile transmitting device and a network device are provided as well.
US08873752B1 Distributed wireless device association with basestations
An embodiment of the invention is directed to associating a wireless device with a basestation. A connection request is received from the wireless device. The wireless device is authenticated to the basestation. A token-transfer-request message is received. The wireless device is associated with the basestation by transferring a token associated with the wireless device to the basestation.
US08873748B2 Unique surrogate key generation using cryptographic hashing
The present invention relates to a method or system of generating a surrogate key using cryptographic hashing. One embodiment of the method of the present invention may have steps such as selecting a field or group of fields that is or are unique among all records in the database and for each record, extracting the data from the fields; concatenating the extracted data into an input message; running the input message through a hash generator, either in batches or one at a time, for testing purposes perhaps; and outputting a surrogate key.
US08873747B2 Key management using security enclave processor
An SOC implements a security enclave processor (SEP). The SEP may include a processor and one or more security peripherals. The SEP may be isolated from the rest of the SOC (e.g. one or more central processing units (CPUs) in the SOC, or application processors (APs) in the SOC). Access to the SEP may be strictly controlled by hardware. For example, a mechanism in which the CPUs/APs can only access a mailbox location in the SEP is described. The CPU/AP may write a message to the mailbox, which the SEP may read and respond to. The SEP may include one or more of the following in some embodiments: secure key management using wrapping keys, SEP control of boot and/or power management, and separate trust zones in memory.
US08873743B1 Tapered capsense structure
A touchpad has interleaved conductive traces across a touchpad surface. Each conductive trace has a first end and a second end. The width of the first end is larger than the width of the second end. The interleaved conductive traces have a first group of conductive traces alternated with a second group of conductive traces.
US08873741B2 Methods, apparatuses and computer program products for providing active echo-cancellation for systems combining voice communication and synchronous audio content
An apparatus for removing an echo(es) from audio content may include a processor and memory storing executable computer code causing the apparatus to at least perform operations including receiving combined audio content including voice data associated with speech of users in a call and information including audio data provided to the users. The computer program code may further cause the apparatus to remove a first echo of a first item of voice data associated with a user(s), from the combined audio content, based in part on a prior detection of the first item of voice data. The computer program code may further cause the apparatus to remove a second echo of the audio data, from the combined audio content, based in part on a previous detection of the audio data or a previous detection of data corresponding to the audio data. Corresponding methods and computer program products are also provided.
US08873736B1 Process for capturing site maintenance and repair information and creating a closeout package in near real time
A process and system for capturing site maintenance and repair information and creating a closeout package in near real time. The process involves an on-site technician calling into a call center to establishing voice communication with the call center personnel. The personnel connect to the cloud to access photos that are to be taken by and automatically uploaded to the cloud using the technician's smart device. The technician then goes through a predetermined list of work items or actions while verbally describing to the call center personnel each item and while taking photos of key items. The call center personnel record in their computer item descriptions, information and photos in real time as the work is completed. Upon finishing the on-site work, the technician signs out and the call center personnel trigger the auto-generation of a closeout package that is immediately available to the customer via web access.
US08873733B1 Real-time feedback of survey results
A system, method, and computer readable medium for feedback of survey results comprises a data center, a call center, and a survey platform communicably coupled to the data center and to the call center, wherein the data center receives a communication initiated by an individual, wherein the communication is routed to the survey platform after an event, wherein data related to at least one of: the individual and the communication is collected, wherein the individual is prompted for participation in a survey, if the individual agrees to participate in the survey, the data is routed to the call center, based on the data and information related to the individual, the individual is routed to an agent within a call center, wherein the agent conducts a survey, and wherein results of the survey are dynamically provided to quality control database.
US08873732B2 Systems and methods for scheduling of outbound agents
A system for scheduling outbound agents comprises an instruction execution system. The instruction execution system is configured to identify a workload comprising a plurality of outbound contacts. The instruction execution system is further configured to receive historical information comprising connection rates of past outgoing contact attempts. The instruction execution system is further configured to schedule the outbound contacts based at least on the connection rates of the past outgoing contact attempts.
US08873730B2 Method and apparatus for calendared communications flow control
Methods and apparatus for forwarding communications, such as telephone calls over a voice network, are provided. A user accesses a data network to specify one or more rules for forwarding telephone calls. For example, the user may use an electronic calendar to specify patterns for forwarding their telephone calls. These patterns may include one or more rules for determining a forwarding pattern, and one or more time periods specifying when the pattern is effective. The rules are provided to a service center which provides configuration information to the voice network. The voice network then forwards calls based on the configuration information for the time periods specified by the user.
US08873728B2 Join-us call-log and call-answer messages
The present invention provides methods, devices, and systems for facilitating an ad-hoc conference. More specifically, a “join-us” concept is employed that links functionality in non-real-time messaging systems with real-time ongoing state of calls information in a communications network. This combines the spontaneity and security of an ad-hoc conference call with the join-as-you-can nature of messaging and reservation of conference bridges.
US08873726B2 Telephone exchange system, communication apparatus, telephone incoming call method, and non-transitory computer readable medium storing program
A telephone incoming call control unit 21B of a communication apparatus B 20B counts the total number of incoming calls and the number of incoming calls for each communication type indicating the breakdown of incoming call operations, as incoming call history data 21B for each telephone terminal B 30B as a slave unit, retrieves the incoming call history data 21B upon arrival of an incoming call from a certain calling party for the telephone terminal B 30B, extracts incoming call history data on the calling party from which the telephone terminal has received the incoming call, transmits the data to the telephone terminal when the telephone terminal is in an idle state, and causes an indicator 31B of the telephone terminal to display the data. The telephone incoming call control unit 21B thereafter transmits the call signal to the telephone terminal.
US08873724B2 Enhanced caller identification using caller readable devices
A method of providing originator information to an intended communications recipient during establishment of a communication session includes reading, at an originating communication terminal, originator information carried by a device located with the originating terminal, and including at least some of the originator information in at least one signal transmitted by the originating communication terminal during establishment of the communication session for transmission to a communication terminal associated with the intended communications recipient.
US08873723B1 IP telephone geographic locator
An apparatus includes a Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP)-enabled device having a unique identifier and including a receiver. The receiver is configured to receive data associated with a current geographic position of the VOIP-enabled device. The VOIP-enabled device is configured to transmit a signal including the unique identifier and the data associated with the position to a network each time a call is initiated. In other embodiments, a method includes determining a current position of a VOIP-enabled device associated with a unique identifier, and transmitting a signal including data associated with the current position to an IP gateway either before or after a call is initiated from the VOIP-enabled device.
US08873722B2 Cradle for mobile telephone, videophone system, karaoke system, car navigation system, and emergency information notification system
Provided is an integrated system having a medium printed with a dot pattern, a scanner remote controller that reads the dot pattern, a cradle, a mobile telephone, and audio-visual equipment. The cradle for the mobile phone of the invention is to be used with a scanner remote controller that reads a printed dot pattern, in which information is recorded, and transmits the information. The mobile phone cradle comprises: being capable of having a mobile phone placed thereon and holding the mobile phone and communicating with the placed mobile phone; receiving data from the scanner remote controller to cause the scanner remote controller to function as input means for the mobile phone; and communicating with audio-visual equipment and controlling the audio-visual equipment to cause the audio-visual equipment to function as output means for the mobile phone.
US08873721B2 Methods and systems for name pronunciation
In an embodiment, a system maintains a database of a plurality of persons. The database includes an audio clip of a pronunciation of a name of a first person in the database. The system determines from a calendar database that a second person has an event in common with the first person, and transmits to a device associated with the second person an indication that the database includes the pronunciation of the name of the first person.
US08873717B2 Emergency alert signaling
Novel tools and techniques to allow enhanced distribution of emergency messages and other public information. In one aspect, these tools can provide a secure channel for an emergency message source to prevent compromise of the distribution system, to ensure the integrity of alerts distributed by the system. In another aspect, these can employ a universal signaling point that can receive an emergency message intended for a particular consumer and ensure that the message is distributed appropriately among the consumer's devices. The customer signaling point might register customer devices and/or maintain a state machine that devices can access once registered with the customer signaling point.
US08873713B2 Radiation detecting device
A radiation detection device 80 according to an embodiment is a radiation detection device for a foreign substance inspection using a subtraction method, including a first radiation detector 32 and a second radiation detector 42 that detect radiation transmitted through a specimen S, a timing control section 50 that controls detection timings, and an image correction section 34, wherein a first pixel width Wb1 in an orthogonal direction orthogonal to an image detection direction of each pixel of the first radiation detector 32 is smaller than a second pixel width Wb2 in the orthogonal direction of each pixel of the second radiation detector 42, the timing control section 50 synchronizes detection timings of the second radiation detector 42 to detection timings of the first radiation detector 32, and the image correction section 34 sums Wb2/Wb1 pixel data successive in an image from the first radiation detector 32.
US08873711B2 Method and system for visualizing effects of corrosion
A method and system for visualizing the effects of corrosion are provided. In the context of a method, a workpiece is interrogated with radiation, such as by interrogating the workpiece with x-ray radiation. By relying upon a radiographic technique, the workpiece may be hidden and may be interrogated without disassembly. The method generates a backscatter image of the workpiece based upon radiation backscattered from the workpiece. The method also compares one or more regions of the backscatter image of the workpiece with respect to backscatter images of different metal loss indicators. Each metal loss indicator is representative of a different amount of metal loss. As a result of the comparison, the method estimates the metal loss attributable to corrosion of the workpiece.
US08873710B2 Multi-source radiation system and method for interwoven radiotherapy and imaging
An arc radiotherapy and imaging system is provided which includes a first radiation source and a second radiation source. The first radiation source is suitable for treating a region of a patient, and the second radiation source is suitable for imaging the region of the patient. A control is also provided for automatically adjusting system operation, according to a defined schedule, between treating the region of the patient using the first radiation source and imaging the region of the patient using the second radiation source, thereby facilitating both treating and imaging of the region of the patient.
US08873702B2 Method for controlling emmission in an X-ray imaging device
A method for controlling the emission of an X-ray imaging device configured to take images of a patient's body, into which a medical instrument has been inserted, is provided. The method comprises: processing at least one image of the patient's body taken by the X-ray imaging device to extract information representing the instrument, wherein the at least one image comprises the instrument; and adapting X-ray emission parameters of the X-ray imaging device, depending on the information extracted from the at least one image, to minimize the X-ray dose emitted towards the patient's body.
US08873700B2 Method for core thermal conductivity determination
A method for core sample effective thermal conductivity provides for scanning a core sample by X-ray micro-computed tomography scanner and transferring a three dimensional scan image to an image analysis computer for processing. Then a layer thickness to be analyzed is set and a layer with maximum thermal resistance is defined within the image. The value of core effective thermal conductivity is defined by the allocated layer.
US08873699B2 Fractional frequency divider with phase permutation
Some embodiments of the present disclosure relate to a fractional divider for frequency generation. The fractional divider includes a permutation network including a plurality of phase input terminals and a plurality of permuted phase output terminals with a plurality of propagation paths extending therebetween. Multiple propagation paths extend between a phase input terminal and a permuted phase output terminal. A control unit switches an input signal on the phase input terminal through the multiple propagation paths in time to produce a permuted phase signal on the permuted phase output terminal. A phase selection element individually switches the permuted phase output terminals to an output terminal of the fractional divider in time to generate an output signal. The output signal has an output frequency that is a non-unity fraction of an input frequency of the input signal.
US08873697B2 Liquid metal cooled nuclear reactor and heat removal method for the same
A liquid metal cooled nuclear reactor includes a reactor vessel, a containment, an air flow path, and an injection unit. The vessel has a reactor core and a coolant for the reactor core. The containment surrounds an outside of the vessel. The air flow path removes heat by flowing air around the containment. The injection unit injects filler in a gap between the vessel and the containment.
US08873696B2 Systems and methods for dismantling a nuclear reactor
Systems and methods for dismantling a nuclear reactor are described. In one aspect the system includes a remotely controlled heavy manipulator (“manipulator”) operatively coupled to a support structure, and a control station in a non-contaminated portion of a workspace. The support structure provides the manipulator with top down access into a bioshield of a nuclear reactor. At least one computing device in the control station provides remote control to perform operations including: (a) dismantling, using the manipulator, a graphite moderator, concrete walls, and a ceiling of the bioshield, the manipulator being provided with automated access to all internal portions of the bioshield; (b) loading, using the manipulator, contaminated graphite blocks from the graphite core and other components from the bioshield into one or more waste containers; and (c) dispersing, using the manipulator, dust suppression and contamination fixing spray to contaminated matter.
US08873692B2 Configurable baseband in a GPS receiver
Clock compensation for GPS receivers. A receiver in accordance with the present invention comprises a Radio Frequency (RF) portion, and a baseband portion, coupled to the RF portion, wherein the baseband portion comprises a crystal, an oscillator, coupled to the crystal, wherein the oscillator generates a clock signal based on a signal received from the crystal, a counter, coupled to the oscillator via the clock signal, a comparator, coupled to the counter, a controller, at least one logic gate, coupled to the comparator and the controller, and a combiner, coupled to the at least one logic gate, the controller, and the counter and producing an accurate clock signal therefrom.
US08873690B2 Method and system for multi-point signal generation with phase synchronized local carriers
A method and system of applying modulated carrier signals to tree networks and processing signals tapped from the tree networks to generate output signals with phase-synchronized carriers are disclosed.
US08873688B1 Unknown rate clock recovery from fixed rate transmission system
Systems and methods for transmitting data having a rate indicated by an associated clock signal, using a fixed rate transmission system are disclosed. One embodiment of the invention includes an unknown rate to fixed rate transmitter configured to receive unknown rate data and a clock signal that indicates the rate of the unknown rate data, and to transmit data at a fixed rate over a fixed rate link, a fixed rate to unknown rate receiver configured to receive fixed rate data including the unknown rate data via the fixed rate link, and to transmit the unknown rate data, and a recovered clock signal. In addition, the unknown rate to fixed rate transmitter is configured to insert idle data between the fixed rate data so that transmitting the combined unknown rate and idle data at the fixed rate over the fixed rate link results in the unknown rate data being transmitted over the fixed rate link at a rate corresponding to the rate indicated by the clock signal, and the fixed rate to unknown rate receiver is configured to accumulate the unknown rate data and generate a recovered clock signal based upon the rate at which the unknown rate data is accumulated by the fixed rate to unknown rate receiver.
US08873686B1 Successive interference cancellation in multiple-input multiple-output receivers
A system including a first receiver that generates a first set of decoded codewords; and a first canceller that cancels, in response to any decoded codeword of the first set of decoded codewords failing CRC and a first decoded codeword from the first set of decoded codewords passing CRC, interference of a first codeword on a second set of codewords which includes the plurality of codewords and excludes the first codeword. The system further includes a second receiver that generates a third set of decoded codewords by decoding the second set of codewords; and a second canceller that cancels, in response to any decoded codeword of the third set of decoded codewords failing CRC and a second decoded codeword from the third set of decoded codewords passing CRC, interference of a second codeword on a fourth set of codewords.
US08873685B2 Apparatus and method for mitigation of receive power imbalance on equalizer performance
An apparatus and method for mitigation of receive power imbalance including estimating input power levels on two diversity receive branches in a receiver; computing a power imbalance between the two diversity receive branches and determining a weaker receive branch; setting a weakRX parameter based on the weaker receive branch; computing an intercept parameter c0 for a switching curve based on the weakRX parameter; computing a threshold T based on the intercept parameter; and determining a switching decision for the receiver based on the threshold T.
US08873683B2 Interference and noise estimation in a multiple input multiple output (MIMO) receiver
A receiver circuit receives a signal including a first reference signal from a first antenna port that is allocated to the UE. The receiver circuit includes a descrambling and despreading unit that despreads and descrambles the signal using a spreading code of the first antenna port and a scrambling sequence assigned to the UE to generate a first antenna port signal. The descrambling and despreading unit despreads and descrambles the signal using a spreading code of a second antenna port and the scrambling sequence assigned to the UE, wherein the second antenna port is unallocated to the UE to generate a second antenna port signal. A channel estimator generates a channel estimate of the first antenna port based on the first antenna port signal. An estimation unit estimates an interference and noise covariance measure based on the first antenna port signal, the channel estimate and the second antenna port signal.
US08873680B2 Short guard interval with green field preamble
Systems, methods, and other embodiments associated with a single stream wireless communication with a greenfield preamble that uses a short guard interval are described. According to one embodiment, a wireless communication device includes a receiver configured to receive an orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) signal. The OFDM signal includes a greenfield preamble. The wireless communication device includes an interval select logic configured to determine a type of guard intervals in the OFDM signal based, at least in part, on the greenfield preamble. The wireless communication device includes a signal processor configured to process the OFDM signal based, at least in part, on the type of the guard intervals as determined by the interval select logic.
US08873677B1 Apparatus and method for enveloping tracking calibration
An apparatus for envelope tracking calibration for use in a wireless communication is provided. The apparatus includes a transmission signal path configured to carry a transmission signal to an antenna. An envelope signal path configured to feed an envelope signal with an envelope tracking power amplifier. A controller is configured to transmit a normal envelope signal being generated in a normal operation mode and measure a first Adjacent Channel Leakage Ratio (ACLR) corresponding to the normal envelope signal. The controller is further configured to transmit a comparison envelope signal being generated in a comparison operation mode and measure a second ACLR corresponding to the comparison envelope signal. The controller is configured to calculate a time misalignment between the transmission signal path and the envelope signal path based on a difference between the first and second ACLRs.
US08873676B2 Transmitter gain control and calibration
Embodiments provide improved systems and methods of gain control and calibration for wireless transmitters. In particular, embodiments allow linear gain control over the entire transmitter gain control range, independent of temperature/process variations. Embodiments require very low power consumption compared to existing approaches. Embodiments may also be used for gain control calibration during production time, thereby substantially reducing production calibration time and cost.
US08873675B2 Method and apparatus for optimizing transmitter power efficiency
A transmitter for a mobile device utilizes at least one mapper to improve power efficiency while still meeting out of band spurious emissions and waveform quality requirements. An encoder and modulator generates an encoded and modulated transmit signal from an input signal and a DAC then generates an analog representation of the encoded and modulated transmit signal. An amplifier stage coupled to the DAC amplifies the analog representation of the encoded and modulated transmit signal to generate a transmission signal. The transmitter further comprises an amplifier control block that generates an amplifier control signal to adjust at least one parameter of the amplifier stage. The amplifier control block includes at least one mapper to determine the amplifier control signal based on a peak to average power ratio and an average transmit power of the transmission signal. Environmental and operating conditions of the transmitter may be accounted for in the mappers.
US08873674B2 System and method for increasing bandwidth for digital predistortion in multi-channel wideband communication systems
A digital predistortion linearization method is provided for increasing the instantaneous or operational bandwidth for RF power amplifiers employed in wideband communication systems. Embodiments of the present invention provide a method of increasing DPD linearization bandwidth using a feedback filter integrated into existing digital platforms for multi-channel wideband wireless transmitters. An embodiment of the present invention utilizes a DPD feedback signal in conjunction with a low power band-pass filter in the DPD feedback path.
US08873672B2 Concatenated coding scheme for burst noise and AWGN for multi-channel applications
Concatenated coding scheme for burst noise and AWGN for multi-channel applications. An appropriately selected and relatively powerful error correction code (ECC) or forward error correction (FEC) code is used as an inner code to cover two or more respective channels that have respectively undergone processing in accordance with an outer code. An input signal stream may undergo partitioning into a number of respective channels (e.g., sub-carriers of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) signaling (or different respective blocks or groups of OFDM subcarriers), different respective spreading codes of code division multiple access (CDMA) modulation, etc., or elements of any type of orthogonal signaling scheme) such that those respective channels undergo outer code processing to generate a number of coded signals, and subsequent inner code processing covers two or more of those respective coded signals. Such outer code processing may cover all of the coded signals provided by the inner code processing.
US08873670B2 Insertion of a secondary binary information stream into a main symbol stream of a digital modulation
There is disclosed a method of inserting a secondary stream of binary information into a main symbol stream of at least one standard digital modulation. The stream to be transmitted resulting from the insertion of the secondary stream in the main stream is a symbol stream of a modified digital modulation. The stream to be transmitted has the same symbol rate as the main stream. The sequence of symbols of the stream to be transmitted is encoded according, cumulatively, to a first condition over at least two consecutive symbols of the main stream, on the one hand; and to a second condition on a current bit or a plurality of current bits of the secondary stream, on the other hand.
US08873669B1 Adaptable codec for selecting encoding scheme based on quality of experience
The present invention provides an adaptable codec for use in a communication system. The adaptable codec is capable of encoding a digital stream to be transmitted according to any one of a number of encoding schemes. A particular encoding scheme may be selected based on information received from a network entity that is separate from the communication system, a user associated with the communication system, a remote communication system with which communications are established, or a combination thereof. Once a particular encoding scheme is selected, an encoder will encode the digital stream to be transmitted, and a packet processor will create packets from the encoded digital stream. The selection of an encoding scheme will generally correspond to a desired quality of experience level.
US08873667B2 Digital modulation
The present application relates to embodiments of methods and a device for digital modulation. In a first embodiment of the method, the following steps are executed: determining a polarity of the signal, providing an inverted carrier signal, providing an inverted signal by an inversion of the polarity of at least one portion of the signal, mixing the signal with the carrier signal when the signal has the first polarity, and mixing the inverted signal with the inverted carrier signal when the signal has the second polarity.
US08873666B2 Communication control method, base station apparatus and mobile station apparatus
In order to suppress deterioration of the throughput performance of the whole system in the MIMO system performing MIMO transmission, the present invention is characterized in that in a codebook in which there are defined a plurality of precoding weights and a plurality of PMIs (Precoding Matrix Indicators) assigned to the precoding weights, bit information of the PMIs assigned to the precoding weights is adjusted in such a manner as to suppress an effect of feedback error from a mobile station apparatus. The bit information of the PMIs assigned to the precoding weights is adjusted in such a manner as to suppress an effect of a transmission beam formed with a PMI in which feedback error is detected.
US08873665B2 Communication devices and methods for receiving data
A communication device is provided comprising a plurality of receive antennas; a determiner configured to determine, for each receive antenna of the plurality of receive antennas, whether the receive antenna is to be used by the communication device for performing a MIMO data reception; and a receiver configured to perform the MIMO data reception using the receive antennas that have been determined to be used for performing the MIMO data reception.
US08873662B2 MIMO configuration methods and apparatus
Multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) with multiple power amplifiers and antennas in a mobile transmitter, such as a user equipment for a cellular telephone communication system, has such great impacts on the transmitter's battery life, form factor, and complexity that it should not be used unless its benefits clearly outweigh its costs. Methods and apparatus enable the benefits of MIMO by beam-forming and antenna-switching to be obtained without incurring the drawbacks of increased current consumption due to multiple power amplifiers.
US08873660B2 Diversity control in a wireless communications device
A method and apparatus controls diversity reception in a wireless communication device. By determining a value based on a number of active set pilot signals received from a set of base stations, the wireless communication device dynamically enables or disables diversity reception. Diversity reception can be controlled by adjusting a diversity threshold based on the determined value. A channel quality indicator of a channel is measured and compared against the adjusted diversity threshold. The diversity reception mode is then enabled or disabled based on the comparison. For example, if the number of active pilot signals is above a predetermined value, indicating “good” coverage, the diversity threshold is decreased. The measured channel quality indicator is compared against the adjusted threshold, and diversity reception is enabled when the channel quality indicator is less than the decreased diversity threshold.
US08873657B2 Data transmission method and related device and system
Embodiments of the present invention disclose a data transmission method and a related device and system. A data transmission method includes: A transmitter performs scrambling, constellation modulation, and multiple-input multiple-output precoding processing sequentially on downlink user data to obtain a precoded symbol sequence; performs time-frequency resource mapping on the precoded symbol sequence to obtain frequency domain data of an OFDM symbol; performs conjugate symmetric extension and IFFT on the frequency domain data of the OFDM symbol to obtain a time domain real-number sequence; performs CP insertion processing on the time domain real-number sequence to form a first downlink time domain baseband signal; loads the first downlink time domain baseband signal onto a direct current of a LED lighting circuit to form a LED driving electrical signal; and converts the LED driving electrical signal into a visible beam of the LED for transmission.
US08873656B2 Device, system and method of processing single-carrier wireless communication signals
Some demonstrative embodiments include devices, systems and/or methods of processing single-carrier wireless communication signal. For example, a device may include a receiver to receive an analog single-carrier wireless communication signal representing a first plurality of time-domain samples at a first sampling rate; to convert the analog single-carrier wireless communication signal into a digital signal including a second plurality of time-domain samples at a second sampling rate, which is greater than the first sampling rate; to convert the second plurality of time-domain samples into a first plurality of frequency-domain samples; and to map the first plurality of frequency-domain samples into a second plurality of frequency-domain samples at the first sampling rate.
US08873648B2 Serial communication apparatus
A serial communication apparatus includes a slew rate control circuit, an output circuit, a detection circuit, and a switching circuit. The slew rate control circuit has a predetermined impedance, and supplies a constant current from an output according to an input signal. In the output circuit, first capacitance is charged and discharged by the constant current from the slew rate control circuit. The output circuit outputs a digital signal from an output terminal according to a drive voltage. The noise detection circuit detects noise propagated from the output terminal, and outputs a switching signal according to a detection result. The switching circuit switches an impedance of the slew rate control circuit to a value smaller than the predetermined impedance according to the switching signal.
US08873645B2 Information transmission apparatus
A transmission circuit transmits a header pulse signal which has signal length being equal to or more than twice as long as reference time, pulse period having predetermined ratio thereof to the signal length, and pulse stop period being successive and longer than the reference time via transmission path. The transmission circuit subsequently and successively transmits a plurality of data pulse signals which have signal length being the same as the reference time, pulse period having predetermined ratio thereof to the signal length associated with data, and pulse stop period being located before and after the pulse period via the transmission path. A reception circuit receives pulse signals via the transmission path, detects the header pulse signal based on the pulse stop period of the received pulse signal, and obtains a plurality of pieces of data based on the pulse period of pulse signals following the header pulse signal.
US08873644B1 Isolated modulator circuit with synchronized pulse generator for self-monitoring reset with capacitively-coupled isolation barrier
Self-monitoring reset circuitry is presented for use in analog-to-digital converters and other modulator circuitry with capacitively coupled isolation barriers in which the modulator output data is monitored for inactivity by a reset circuit synchronized to the modulator clock, and extra pulses are selectively introduced into the data prior to transmission across the isolation barrier if no modulator state changes occur within a predetermined number of clock cycles to provide a predictable data output value for each end of the analog input range and to reset the output to the correct state in situations where transient noise toggles the output and the modulator output is static.
US08873643B2 Signal adaptive filtering method, signal adaptive filter and computer readable medium for storing program therefor
A signal adaptive filtering method for reducing blocking effect and ringing noise, a signal adaptive filter, and a computer readable medium. The signal adaptive filtering method capable of reducing blocking effect and ringing noise of image data when a frame is composed of blocks of a predetermined size includes the steps of: (a) generating blocking information for reducing the blocking effect and ringing information for reducing the ringing noise, from coefficients of predetermined pixels of the upper and left boundary regions of the data block when a frame obtained by deconstructing a bitstream image data for inverse quantization is an intraframe; and (b) adaptively filtering the image data passed through inverse quantization and inverse discrete cosine transform according to the generated blocking information and ringing information. Therefore, the blocking effect and ringing noise can be eliminated from the image restored from the block-based image, thereby enhancing the image restored from compression.
US08873636B2 Moving image distribution server, moving image reproduction apparatus, control method, program, and recording medium
A moving image distribution server selects an intermediate value map of at least one channel during execution of a rendering processing of a subsequent stage for a first screen, and determines, for each set block, whether to perform inter-frame coding by referring to a corresponding intermediate value map generated for a second screen rendered before the first screen. The moving image distribution server performs coding in accordance with the determination result and sends coded moving image data to an external device after the rendering processing of the subsequent stage for the first screen has ended. The determination result is sent to the external device before generation of the coded moving image data of the first screen is completed.
US08873630B2 Spatiotemporal prediction for bidirectionally predictive (B) pictures and motion vector prediction for multi-picture reference motion compensation
Several improvements for use with Bidirectionally Predictive (B) pictures within a video sequence are provided. In certain improvements Direct Mode encoding and/or Motion Vector Prediction are enhanced using spatial prediction techniques. In other improvements Motion Vector prediction includes temporal distance and subblock information, for example, for more accurate prediction. Such improvements and other presented herein significantly improve the performance of any applicable video coding system/logic.
US08873629B2 Interpolation of video compression frames
Video image decompression systems, methods, and computer-readable storage media are disclosed. Some techniques involve accessing a sequence of predicted and bidirectional predicted frames each comprising pixel values arranged in image regions, wherein at least one image region within a bidirectional predicted frame is determined using direct mode prediction based on motion vectors from two or more predicted frames, and wherein at least one such motion vector is scaled by a frame scale fraction of less than zero or greater than one.
US08873623B2 Apparatus and method for generating a coded video sequence and for decoding a coded video sequence by using an intermediate layer residual value prediction
A video coder performs a motion-compensated prediction both in the base layer and in an enhancement layer to determine motion data of the enhancement layer by using the motion data from the base layer and/or to predict sequences of residual error pictures after the motion-compensated prediction in the enhancement layer by using sequences of residual error pictures from the base layer via an intermediate layer predictor. On the decoder side, an intermediate layer combiner is used for canceling this intermediate layer prediction. Thereby, the data rate is improved compared to scalability schemes without intermediate layer prediction with the same picture quality.
US08873621B2 Method, medium, and apparatus for encoding and/or decoding video by generating scalable bitstream
A method, medium, and apparatus for encoding and/or decoding video by generating a scalable bitstream formed of a base layer bitstream and an enhancement layer bitstream so as to have forward compatibility, wherein the enhancement layer bitstream comprises a bit-depth field of the enhancement layer, a frame or a picture type field of the enhancement layer in consideration of a frame or a picture type of the base layer, an additional quantization information field for obtaining a quantization parameter of the enhancement layer together with a quantization parameter of the base layer, an intra-macroblock field of the enhancement layer, and an inter-macroblock field of the enhancement layer.
US08873619B1 Codec encoder and decoder for video information
A codec for encoding and decoding video data capable of downloading streaming video and data contents from a number of different types of sources (e.g., antennas, cable, and computer networks). The video files may thereafter be retrieved, processed, and provided for viewing (e.g., on a standard television set, a high-definition television set, flat panel display, computer monitor, or an equivalent output device). One embodiment of the invention enables a user to download new coder/decoder (Codec) software.
US08873618B2 Device to transmit data by displaying a coded image generated according to a selectable encoding scheme and associated methods
A communications system includes a first device with a first display, and a first processor configured to generate at least one coded image according to a selectable encoding scheme from among different encoding schemes, and display the coded image on the first display. A first communications device is coupled to the first processor. A second device includes a second camera configured to capture the coded image on the first display, a second communications device, and a second processor coupled to the second camera and the second communications device. The second processor is configured to send a status message, via the second and first communications devices to the first processor, related to whether the captured coded image is decodable based upon a currently selected encoding scheme.
US08873617B2 Method of parallel video coding based on same sized blocks
A system encoding and decoding video that uses a parallel encoding and decoding technique.
US08873616B2 High resolution pulse width modulator
A pulse width modulator has a first clock source providing a clock signal to a set input of an output controller configured to set a pulse width output signal and having a reset input to reset the pulse width output signal. A duty cycle control unit is coupled with the reset input of the output controller, wherein the duty cycle control unit has a numerical controlled oscillator (NCO) being coupled with a register and configured to provide for a direct digital synthesis to produce a specified frequency according to a value set in the register. Furthermore, logic is provided for receiving a signal from a second clock source and the pulse width output signal to trigger the numerical controlled oscillator.
US08873612B1 Decision feedback equalizer with multiple cores for highly-spectrally-efficient communications
One or more embodiments describe a decision feedback equalizer with multiple cores for highly spectrally efficient communications. An equalization circuit in a receiver may include a decision feedback equalizer circuit having a first plurality of tap coefficients that are determined based on a cost function that receives as input an error signal that is an inter-symbol-correlated (ISC) signal. The decision feedback equalizer circuit may further include a second plurality of tap coefficients that are determined based on a filter with an ISC response. The cost function may determine the mean square of the error signal. The cost function is constrained or unconstrained. The error signal may represents error caused by a channel. In some embodiments, the ISC signal may be a partial response signal, and the filter with an ISC response may be a partial response filter.
US08873607B2 Communication interface device
A sampler samples a receive signal received via a dedicated communication line. A data transfer rate adjuster measures a data transfer rate based on a number of start bit samples contained in the receive signal. A bit determiner makes a bit determination regarding the receive signal at the data transfer rate measured by the data transfer rate adjuster, to thereby acquire serial data contained in the receive signal. A transmitter sends, via the dedicated communication line, a transmit signal containing serial data sent by an MPU. An MPU communicator outputs to the transmitter the serial data sent by the MPU, and outputs to the MPU the serial data acquired by the bit determiner. The data transfer rate adjuster adjusts, when the transmitter sends the transmit signal multiple times at different data transfer rates, the data transfer rate based on the receive status of respective response signals thereto.
US08873606B2 Transceiver including a high latency communication channel and a low latency communication channel
Methods, systems, and apparatuses are described for reducing the latency in a transceiver. A transceiver includes a high latency communication channel and a low latency communication channel that is configured to be a bypass channel for the high latency communication channel. The low latency communication channel may be utilized when implementing the transceiver is used in low latency applications. By bypassing the high latency communication channel, the high latency that is introduced therein (due to the many stages of de-serialization used to reduce the data rate for digital processing) can be avoided. An increase in data rate is realized when the low latency communication channel is used to pass data. A delay-locked loop (DLL) may be used to phase align the transmitter clock of the transceiver with the receiver clock of the transceiver to compensate for a limited tolerance of phase offset between these clocks.
US08873605B2 Method of blind estimation of a scrambling code of a WCDMA uplink
A method for estimating a scrambling code used on an uplink of a WCDMA system. The scrambling code is obtained from a Gold code, sum of a first specific M-sequence of the user and of a second M-sequence known from the receiver. After sampling of the signal received at the chip frequency of the scrambling code, the successive samples are subject to a differential treatment and the sequence of differential values is multiplied by the second M-sequence. The observables thereby obtained are decoded with the aid of a belief propagation iterative decoding. The decoded values then serve to determine the content of the shift register of the generator of the first M-sequence. One then deduces therefrom the Gold code and an estimation of the scrambling code, Ĉ.
US08873600B2 System and method for high accuracy gas refill in a two chamber gas discharge laser system
Systems and methods for automatically performing a high accuracy gas refill in a laser chamber of a two chamber gas discharge laser such as an excimer laser are disclosed. Based upon a target pressure and halogen concentration that is either predetermined or entered by a user, and with no further user action, a non-halogen containing gas is added to the chamber to a first pressure, followed by the addition of halogen containing gas to a second pressure which is greater than a target pressure for the chamber, such that the halogen content in the gas at the second pressure is at a desired concentration. The gas in the chamber is bled until the pressure drops to the target pressure. The amount of non-halogen containing gas added is estimated automatically, and the amount of halogen containing gas is measured so that the desired concentration is obtained, taking into account both temperature and any gas remaining in the fill pipes from prior laser operation.
US08873596B2 Laser with high quality, stable output beam, and long life high conversion efficiency non-linear crystal
A mode-locked laser system operable at low temperature can include an annealed, frequency-conversion crystal and a housing to maintain an annealed condition of the crystal during standard operation at the low temperature. In one embodiment, the crystal can have an increased length. First beam shaping optics can be configured to focus a beam from a light source to an elliptical cross section at a beam waist located in or proximate to the crystal. A harmonic separation block can divide an output from the crystal into beams of different frequencies separated in space. In one embodiment, the mode-locked laser system can further include second beam shaping optics configured to convert an elliptical cross section of the desired frequency beam into a beam with a desired aspect ratio, such as a circular cross section.
US08873587B2 Communication method using time-division multiplexing
A communication method using time-division multiplexing that enables permanent communication between user terminals. One of the terminals is a master terminal, the others being slave terminals. The transmission channel is divided into frames, each frame being divided into time slots. Each slave terminal identifies a free time slot in the current frame, in listening mode, and transmits data in the identified time slot, in transmission mode, during at least one following frame. As soon as the slave terminal ceases transmitting, the identified time slot becomes free again.
US08873584B2 Digital data interface device
The present invention is directed a digital data interface device for transferring digital presentation data at a high rate over a communication link. The digital data interface device includes a message interpreter, content module and a control module. The digital data interface device may include an MDDI link controller. The digital data interface device can be used to control a peripheral device, such as a camera, bar code reader, image scanner, audio device or other sensor. In one example, a cellular telephone having a camera with an MDDI link and a digital data device interface is provided.
US08873583B2 Method and apparatus for improving reset of evolved media access control protocol entity in a wireless communications system
In order to enhance system efficiency, a method of improving reset of an evolved media access control (MAC-ehs) protocol entity for a user equipment in a wireless communications system is disclosed. The MAC-ehs entity includes a first reset function and a second reset function. The first reset function is activated according to an upper layer request, while the second rest function is activated when any reset timer of the MAC-ehs protocol entity expires. The method includes the steps of activating the first reset function, and stopping all active reset timers of the MAC-ehs protocol entity and setting all reset timers of the MAC-ehs protocol entity to their initial values.
US08873581B2 Graphics multi-media IC and method of its operation
A graphics multi-media integrated circuit (GMIC) is connected to a host processor over two serial links: a half duplex bi-directional serial link which accords to a display serial interface protocol, and a uni-directional serial link which accords to a camera serial interface protocol. The GMIC receives packets from the host over the half duplex bi-directional serial link and processes these packets. The GMIC sends packets over the uni-directional serial link. A packet from the host can request a processing operation by the GMIC or can initiate a memory operation at the memory of the GMIC. The GMIC can also send packets to the host to initiate a host memory operation and may be connected to a display over a bi-directional serial link and to a camera over a uni-directional serial link and a bi-directional control link allowing the host to control the display and camera.
US08873578B2 Method and apparatus for use in a communications network
A method of routing traffic in a communications network employing Proxy Mobile IP is disclosed. According to the method, a traffic flow has been transferred from a first interface of a multi-homed mobile node, having a first IP address, to a second interface of the multi-homed mobile node, having a second IP address. The method further involves, at the mobile node and at a mobility anchor function, performing forward and reverse address translation between the first IP address and the second IP address.
US08873576B2 Dynamic clock gating in a network device
A switch device that includes a switch pipeline stage to process packet data may selectively clock multiple pipeline sub-stages within the switch pipeline stage. The switch device may provide a first clock to processing logic of a first sub-stage independently of providing a second clock to a processing logic of second sub-stage within the switch pipeline stage. Clocking logic associated with a current switch pipeline stage may receive an event indication, such as an event indication from a previous pipeline stage responsive to processing of packet data by the previous pipeline stage. In response, the clocking logic associated with the current switch pipeline stage may determine a clocking time to issue a clock to a selected pipeline sub-stage in the current switch pipeline stage. The clocking logic may also issue the clock to the selected pipeline sub-stage at the clocking time.
US08873570B2 Extensible system and method to bridge SIP and UPnP devices
Embodiments of the invention generally provide a method and apparatus for bridging session initiation protocol and universal plug and play devices. One embodiment of the invention specifies a method that enables legacy session initiation protocol and universal plug and play devices to communicate with each other (i.e., to access services), where the term “legacy” is defined to mean IETF RFC 3261-compliant for session initiation protocol devices, and DLNA 1.0-compliant for universal plug and play devices. The method enables inter-working between the session initiation protocol and universal plug and play devices without requiring changes to the legacy devices. One embodiment of the invention is a transparent software bridge that enables these features.
US08873568B2 Optimising communications
A method, system and program for routing a data stream amongst a plurality of network nodes including at least a plurality of end-user nodes. The method comprises: establishing a plurality of routes for the stream to a plurality of consuming end-user nodes, including at least one route via one or more relaying nodes; at each of a plurality of optimising nodes, executing an optimization algorithm to determine a respective routing modification by evaluating a routing criterion with respect to a collection of end-user nodes which share information with the respective optimising node and determining a change in the routing criterion that would result from one or more potential routing modifications. The different optimising nodes' collections of end-user nodes are at least partially coincident such that each optimising node can determine a different routing modification with respect to at least some of the same end-user nodes.
US08873563B2 Techniques for next-hop optimization
Techniques for efficiently storing and using routing and associated next-hop information in a network device. The amount of next-hop information that is stored for routes in a routing table is reduced by reducing the amount of duplicate next-hop information that is stored by a network device.
US08873559B2 Contention free pipelined broadcasting within a constant bisection bandwidth network topology
In an interconnection network, multiple nodes are connected to one of a first layer of switches. The first layer of switches is connected to one another through a second layer of switches. Each of the nodes is connected through one of multiple shared links connecting the first layer switches and the second layer of switches. A pipelined broadcast manager schedules broadcast steps for a pipelined broadcast through the crossbar switches according to each separate, single static route set through at least one of an inter-switch broadcast phase during which at least one packet is passed from at least one switch of the crossbar switches to another of the crossbar switches and an intra-switch broadcast phase during which the at least one packet is passed only among a selection of nodes connected to the another of the crossbar switches.
US08873558B2 Reverse path forwarding lookup with link bundles
In one embodiment, a method includes receiving a packet at an interface at a network device having a plurality of interfaces connected to a plurality of links forming a bundle, performing a Reverse Path Forwarding (RPF) check on the received packet, and forwarding the packet if it passes the RPF check. The RPF check includes a lookup in an RPF table having a plurality of entries for the bundle, each of the entries including the bundle and one of the links in the bundle, and verification that the interface receiving the packet is connected to one of the links in the bundle identified in the lookup. An apparatus is also disclosed.
US08873556B1 Application based packet forwarding
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer program products, featuring receiving at a network device a plurality of packets associated with a flow, one or more of the plurality of packets having associated header data and content. Based on the content of one or more first packets in the plurality of packets, the network device identifies an application associated with the flow, where none of the first packets is addressed to the network device. For one or more second packets associated with the flow, the network device determines a forwarding destination for the second packets based on the application associated with the flow and forwards the packet according to the determined forwarding destination.
US08873549B2 Managing L2VPN connectivity after a fiber node split
In one example, a routing protocol is used to propagate or flood information over a network of Cable Modem Termination Systems (CMTSs) in response to a fiber node split that changes which of the CMTSs a cable modem is coupled thereto. The network processes the information and dynamically changes a pseudowire placement to maintain the Layer 2 Virtual Private Network (L2VPN) connectivity among cable modems of different CMTSs after the fiber node split.
US08873543B2 Implementing a high quality VOIP device
A method is provided for Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) devices to communicate over an Internet Protocol (IP) network. The method includes synchronizing the VoIP devices using one or more dual-tone multi-frequency (DTMF) codes over a telephone network, retransmissions of voice packets in bursts, retransmissions of voice packets following a time lag, adjusting the number of retransmissions based on quality of service, retransmission of a missing voice packet identified in a list received from a peer device, discarding low energy voice frames in a jitter buffer to prevent overflow, stopping playout at a low energy voice frame when the jitter buffer is below a minimum buffer size, and selective transmission and retransmission of voice packets based on their energy levels.
US08873542B2 Computer program products for routing phone calls to a PSTN or a packet switched network based on called number
A phone call is selectively routed to a public switched telephone network or to a packet switched network based on a called number to which the phone call is directed. A phone call may be made as a Voice-Over-Internet-Protocol call through, for example, the Internet except when a user dials an emergency number, in which case the call is made to the public switched telephone network.
US08873540B2 Circuit-switched and multimedia subsystem voice continuity
The present invention moves service control, including call control, for a user element from a cellular network to a multimedia subsystem (MS), such as the Internet Protocol (IP) Multimedia Subsystem (IMS). Call control is provided by the MS irrespective of whether the user element is using cellular or WLAN access for the call. Call control for originating and terminating calls in the CS or MS as well as transferring calls between a circuit-switched subsystem (CS) and MS is anchored at a continuity control function (CCF) in the MS. All call signaling for the call is passed through the CCF. The CCF is a service provided in the user element's home MS and anchors the user element's active CS calls and MS sessions to enable active roaming across the CS and MS.
US08873539B2 Multimedia call control mechanism and communication equipment using the same
A method of controlling an establishment of a multimedia call between at least two communication equipments, a corresponding system, and a corresponding communication equipment comprise a set up of a bearer connection resulting in a creation of a data transmission channel between at least two communication equipments.A data stream is transmitted between the at least two communication equipments after the creation of the data transmission channel for maintaining synchronization of the data transmission channel. Predefined information elements are introduced in the data stream, wherein the predefined information elements indicate local protocol settings for the multimedia call. The predefined information elements are recognized from the data stream, and parameters of an application protocol used for the multimedia call are adjusted on the basis of the predefined information elements.
US08873531B2 Device, system and method of indicating station-specific information within a wireless communication
Some demonstrative embodiments include devices, systems and/or methods of indicating station-specific information within a wireless communication. For example, a device may include a wireless communication unit to transmit a wireless communication frame to a plurality of stations using a respective plurality of beamforming configurations, wherein the wireless communication unit is to transmit to the stations beamforming configuration information including station-specific information corresponding to the plurality of beamforming configurations, respectively.
US08873529B2 Mobile router method with priority rate limiting
A method of operating a mobile router comprises: storing priority information associated with predetermined types of download data and data rate information associated with the priority information; determining the priority of download data received via the wide area network interface; determining if data is being transferred via the local area network interface; and controlling the data rate for the download data based on the download data priority, the priority information, the data rate configuration information, and whether data is being transferred via the local area network interface.
US08873527B2 System and method for managing routers and communication interfaces on a computing device
An apparatus and method are described for managing router and communication interfaces. For example, one embodiment of a method implemented on a computing device having a plurality of communication interfaces comprises: receiving a plurality of router advertisement packets indicating a preference level of each of a plurality of routers, each of the plurality of routers reachable through one of the communication interfaces on the computing device; designating one of the communication interfaces as a primary interface and the remainder of the communication interfaces as scoped interfaces; specifying a primary router for the primary interface based on a preference level associated with the primary router, the primary router selected from a group of all of the routers reachable through the primary interface; and specifying a default router for each of the scoped interfaces based on a preference level of each default router, each default router selected from a group of all of the routers reachable through its scoped interface.
US08873522B2 Processing measurement gaps in a wireless communication system
In a wireless communication system, user equipment (UE) is provided, one or more set of rules are provided for the UE to handle the processing during a measurement gap. In some aspects, the gap measurement may be ignored. In some aspects, the processing is stored and handled at a later in time and gap measurements are performed. Depending on the system, the measurements performed during the gaps may be UE implementation dependent, wherein the UE determines whether to perform the measurement for a given gap. In some instances, the UE may not perform measurements during the gap, thereby giving priority to other processing, such as RACH processing. Depending on the type of processing required (DL-SCH, UL-SCH, TTI bundling, RACH or SR), the UE may store requests and process the measurements during the gap or ignore the gap measurement as if there were no gaps.
US08873519B2 User equipment, PDSCH A/N transmitting method thereof, transmission/reception point, and PDSCH A/N receiving method thereof
The present invention relates to a system that includes a transmission/reception point and a user equipment having different configurations in inter-band and performs a TDD (Time Division Duplex) method.
US08873512B2 Mobility in a wireless enterprise network
A method for configuring a network is described, the method comprising: receiving, from a first radio node in the network, network information associated with one or more second radio nodes in the network; generating a network relation table, the network relation table comprising network information associated with the first radio node and the one or more second radio nodes; and performing a handoff to a third radio node in the network using the network relation table.
US08873511B2 Internetworking techniques for transferring packets between source and target serving gateways
Techniques for wireless communications include operating first and second access networks to provide wireless service to wireless devices. The first and second access networks are associated with respective first and second gateways. The first gateway is operated to (1) receive a request for transferring wireless service of a wireless device from the second access network to the first access network and (2) send a message that includes key information to the second gateway based on the request. The second gateway is operated to (1) send session context information to the first gateway in response to the message and (2) forward a data packet associated with the wireless device to the first gateway. The forwarded data packet includes a packet data network identifier (PDN-ID) to identify a packet data network (PDN) associated with a downlink data packet.
US08873508B1 Assigning a resource to a wireless communication device based on soft handoff capabilities
Methods and devices for assigning a resource to a wireless communication device (WCD) based on soft handoff capabilities are presented. In particular, a radio access network (RAN) component, such as a base station controller (BSC) may receive call initiation requests from multiple WCDs. Some of these WCDs may be eligible for channel-assignment-into-soft-handoff (CASHO), wherein a WCD is assigned multiple traffic channels from multiple wireless coverage areas during call initiation procedures. However, the RAN component may take into account the effects of CASHO on WCDs with limited wireless coverage. Thus, if CASHO procedures could result in one or more WCDs not being assigned a traffic channel, the RAN component may refrain from performing CASHO, or at least refrain from performing CASHO to its full extent, in order to assign at least one traffic channel to other WCDs.
US08873506B2 Technique for transferring data between an application and a network
A technique for transferring data between an application and at least two Radio Access Technology (RAT) modules selectively connectable to a network is described. A device embodiment of this technique comprises a storage adapted to hold data from the application, the data being intended to be transmitted via at least one of the RAT modules. Furthermore, the device comprises a first control mechanism adapted to initiate holding of the data in the storage when the RAT modules assume the same connection state. The connection state is selected from a connected state in which data transmission via the respective RAT is enabled and a disconnected state in which data transmission via the respective RAT is disabled. The device also comprises a second control mechanism adapted to initiate sending of the data held in the storage to the RAT module assuming the connected state when the RAT modules assumed different connection states again.
US08873501B2 Base station, user device, and method used in mobile communication system
A base station used in a mobile communication system employing a single carrier scheme for uplink transmission is disclosed. The base station includes a scheduler configured to allocate one or more uplink resource blocks to a user device according to uplink channel conditions of the user device; and a reporting unit configured to report scheduling information indicating the allocation result to the user device. An uplink control channel of the user device is mapped to a resource block in a transmission frame including multiple resource blocks according to a hopping pattern based on the scheduling information; and the uplink control channel is mapped to a resource block according to the same hopping pattern regardless of whether the uplink control channel is associated with a user data channel.
US08873500B2 Approach for managing the use of communications channels based on performance
An approach for selecting sets of communications channels involves determining the performance of communications channels. A set of channels is selected based on the results of performance testing and specified criteria. The participant generates data that identifies the selected set of channels and provides that data to other participants of the communications network. The participants communicate over the set of channels, such as by using a frequency hopping protocol. When a specified time expires or monitoring of the performance of the channel set identifies poor performance of the set of channels, the participant selects another set of channels for use in communications based on additional performance testing. By selecting channels based on the initial performance testing and performance monitoring, the communications network adaptively avoids channels with poor performance.
US08873498B2 Network sharing in an evolved packet core network
One aspect pertains to a method of enabling an Evolved Packet Core (EPC) network to implement predetermined Quality of Service (QoS) resource policies applied to subscriber/service groups operating via the network. The method comprises receiving a request for QoS resources to be provided to a bearer for traffic of a user of a subscriber/service group from which the request originated. A Resource Class (RC) parameter is assigned to the request. The RC parameter identifies a resource partition and the originating subscriber/service group, A Gx-Request that includes the RC parameter is forwarded to the EPC network to invoke application of the requested QoS resources so as to establish a bearer in accordance with the predetermined policies identifiable from the RC. Other aspects pertain to EPC network nodes configured accordingly.
US08873495B2 Push based services in a mobile data network with data breakout at the edge
Push based services are supported on a breakout system in a mobile data network. The breakout system may not breakout some push based services and simply pass through these services to user equipment. In a PDP context with a dynamic IP address, the communication with the user equipment may be broken out and then be placed in a preserved state. In this situation, a breakout system which is not an active entity in the signaling over the mobile data network can not establish communication with the user equipment to send down the push data. To establish a new communication connection with the user equipment with a PDP context in a preserved state, a paging request from the mobile network is initiated to trigger a service request from the user equipment. The breakout system can then use the newly established connection to push the data to the user equipment.
US08873494B2 Systems and methods for fast initial network link setup
Systems and methods for communicating in a wireless communication system are described. Various processes for reducing the initial link set up time are described. In one aspect, a method in a wireless communication system is provided. The method includes receiving, at a device, at least two different access request messages each for establishing a link with the device. The method further includes determining a period of time for transmitting access response messages in response to the received access request messages. The method further includes reserving a period of transmission time on a channel for transmitting the access response messages for establishing the link, the reservation based at least in part on the determined period of time. The method further includes transmitting the access response messages during the reserved period of time.
US08873491B2 Method for data transmission and base station and user equipment using the same
A method for data transmission, a base station using the same and a user equipment (UE) using the same are proposed. The exemplary embodiments in accordance with the present disclosure implicitly allocate resources with overbooking by configuring M UEs to transmit or receive N protocol data units (PDU) where M>N. The overbooking is accomplished by using a base station to configure Small Data Sub-frame (SDS) for a plurality of UEs and request to process the SDS by sending a radio control message. The UEs would receive from the base station a sub-frame of data with multiple PDUs and perform processing on the PDUs to obtain a belonging data packet according to a candidate packet set and a search order previously embedded in the control message.
US08873485B2 Mobile station apparatus, base station apparatus, communication system, communication method and control program
An antenna for transmission of signals in respective element frequency bands is controlled to reduce power consumption and transmit a good quality signal. A mobile station apparatus performs wireless communication with a base station apparatus using a plurality of element frequency bands having a predetermined frequency bandwidth. The mobile station apparatus includes: a plurality of transmission sections having an antenna and power amplifier; a transmission processing section generating a transmission signal and outputting the signal to at least one of the transmission sections based on information indicating a first transmission mode in which signals are transmitted using a single transmission antenna and a second transmission mode in which signals are transmitted using different transmission antennas respectively.
US08873484B1 Hybrid beamforming architecture
Systems, methods, and other embodiments associated with a hybrid beamforming architecture are described. According to one embodiment, an apparatus includes a beamforming mode detection logic configured to select a beamforming mode based, at least in part, on a packet received from a wireless device. The apparatus also includes a beamformee unit and a beamformer unit. The beamformee unit is configured to derive steering information from channel related information in the packet. The beamformer unit is configured to provide weights from a steering matrix to a transmitter performing transmit beamforming on a subsequent packet being transmitted to the wireless device. The beamforming mode detection logic routes at least part of the packet to one or both of the beamformee unit and the beamformer unit based, at least in part, on the selected beamforming mode.
US08873483B2 Method of handling semi-persistent scheduling cell radio network temporary identifier and related communication device
A method of handling Semi-Persistent Scheduling (SPS) Cell Radio Network Temporary Identifier (C-RNTI) for a mobile device configured with a primary component carrier, at least one secondary component carrier and an SPS C-RNTI in a wireless communication system is disclosed. The method comprises steps of performing a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) validation process for an SPS information; and determining the SPS information is valid if the PDCCH validation process is valid and the SPS information is received on the primary component carrier.
US08873474B2 Method and mobile terminal providing priority-based uplink scheduling information
A method and mobile terminal for providing uplink scheduling information to a scheduler in a wireless telecommunication system. When a logical channel having data available to transmit triggers a buffer status report, the mobile terminal determines whether a priority level associated with the logical channel exceeds a predefined threshold. If so, the mobile terminal performs a scheduling request procedure with the scheduler. If not, the mobile terminal delays the scheduling request procedure until a predefined timing event has occurred. The predefined timing event may be at least one of expiration of a timer, a radio bearer associated with the logical channel becoming active, and if the scheduling request procedure is being performed using a contention-based random access, contention resolution succeeding for the mobile terminal.
US08873471B2 Method and apparatus for implementing LTE RLC header formats
Systems and methodologies of reducing overhead by designating various fields in an optimized Radio Link Control header. Depending on communication type (e.g., VoIP, non-VoIP) such fields include a combination of a Segment Indicator (SI—which indicates presence of a whole SDU at beginning or at an ending), a Sequence Number (SN), a Length Indicator (LI—which indicates length of a service data unit); a length for the length indicator (LLI—to enable a variable size for the LI and notify a receiver regarding such varying size); a Segment Offset (SO—to designate resegmented packets for lost protocol data units); a length indicator for the SO (LSO—to enable a variable size for the SO); and Last Segment Flag (LSF—for resegmentation of RLC protocol data units).
US08873466B2 Timing event generation circuit for mobile communication device
A system or circuit for generating timing events for mobile communications includes fetching network parameters corresponding to a cellular network. The network parameters are used to program a set of programmable registers. The timing events then are generated based on the network parameters. The timing events enable a user equipment (UE) or a base station to operate in multiple cellular networks.
US08873464B2 Method and device for maintaining the performance quality of a communication system in the presence of narrow band interference
A system that incorporates teachings of the subject disclosure may include, for example, a method for measuring power levels of signals provided by a receiver configured to scan radio frequency signals over a wide frequency band, calculating an average power level from at least a portion of the measured power levels, determining a threshold, detecting interference in the wide frequency band based on the threshold, the average power level, or both, and causing a null that substantially suppresses the interference received by the receiver. Other embodiments are disclosed.
US08873459B2 Method of random access in a wireless system
A random access method in a wireless communication system is disclosed. The present invention includes transmitting a bandwidth request indicator and a quick access message from a mobile station to a base station and starting a timer having a timer value determined according to an acknowledgement from the base station.
US08873457B2 Method and apparatus for enhanced data rate adaptation and lower power control in a WLAN semiconductor chip
A method of optimising the operation of a WLAN device which is used in the transmission and reception of a service over a medium includes determining a the value of a collision avoidance metric of the chip set at a specific time; predicting the available bandwidth of the WLAN from the value of the metric; determining the current data rate of the WLAN based on predicted available bandwidth and the type of service; and selecting a power amplifier bias voltage that is the minimum permitted for the determined current data rate to reduce the power consumption of the WLAN device.
US08873456B2 Multi-operator system for accessing satellite resources
A satellite control system comprising a communications system and an information management system. The communications system is configured to receive commands from a plurality of operators. The communications system is further configured to send the commands to a satellite using a number of communications links. The information management system may be configured to avoid conflicts between the commands sent by the communications system to the satellite from different operators in the plurality of operators that cause an undesired operation of the satellite. The information management system may be configured to provide a desired level of security for information sent between the plurality of operators and the satellite.
US08873455B2 Communication units and methods for relay-assisted uplink communication
A relay device for supporting uplink communication between a terminal device and a base station is described. The relay device comprises at least one receiver arranged to receive a downlink message from the base station; a control processor, operably coupled to the at least one receiver and arranged to determine from the downlink message information identifying an uplink control resource to be used by the terminal device; and a transmitter, operably coupled to the control processor and arranged to relay received periodic uplink control channel messages on the identified uplink control resource from the terminal device to the base station.
US08873444B2 Method in a wireless process control system for reducing power consumption, and a controller and computer program products
A method in a wireless process control system for reducing power consumption of a sensor node of the wireless process control system. The wireless process control system further includes a controller in wireless communication with the sensor node wherein the sensor node is in a sleep mode. The method includes the steps of: predicting based on an error signal, when sensor measurement data is needed from the sensor node and determining an instant of time for communication between the controller and the sensor node based thereon; and the sensor node re-entering the sleep mode. The invention also relates to computer program products and a controller.
US08873438B2 Method and system for adaptive aggregation of data in a wireless sensor network
A method and system for adaptive aggregation of data in a Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) is disclosed. The method receiving one or more packets produced from a plurality of sensor nodes at an aggregator sensor node. The method further includes categorizing and storing the received packets in the buffer queue of the aggregator node. Then initiating an aggregation process by selecting an aggregation mechanism. The aggregation mechanism is selected based on the feedback value and a special instruction. The aggregated packets are forwarded to the base station based on an aggregation function.
US08873419B2 Link assessment before terminating alternate connection during heterogeneous network handovers
When providing wireless communication capability for patient monitoring devices (PMDs) (12) in a hospital environment, the quality of a newly established wireless link is evaluated to ascertain that it is meeting quality thresholds before dropping a previous wireless link. A plurality of new links iteratively can be established and their quality assessed, if previous new network link quality does not meet required quality thresholds, until a new link is established that has a quality equal to or greater than the predetermined threshold level. Optionally, two or more links may be maintained that have signal qualities above the predetermined threshold in order to provide link redundancy for highly sensitive patient monitoring applications, such as a link between a critical patient's PMD and a nurses station, to ensure communication there between. In this manner, autonomous generation of link quality assessment reports for use by the other communicating entity or entities is facilitated.
US08873418B2 Methods and apparatus for network capacity enhancement for wireless device coexistence
Methods and apparatus for enhancing network capacity in a network comprising multiple wireless communication that overlap at least partly in frequency spectrum. In one embodiment, the apparatus comprises a portable device such as a laptop or smartphone having both a WLAN (e.g., Wi-Fi) interface and a PAN (e.g., Bluetooth) interface which each operate with approximately the same frequency range. One variant places the WLAN interface into a power-saving mode as a default, thereby mitigating interference with the PAN interface in cases where the WLAN interface is not in active use. In another variant, an aggressive PAN management algorithm is used to enforce network policy on the PAN interface, thereby mitigating interference between the PAN interface and the WLAN interfaces of other devices in the network (as well as the parent device). AP-based variants are also described. Methods of operation and doing business utilizing the aforementioned apparatus are also disclosed.
US08873413B2 Method and device for measuring signal in wireless communication system
A signal measurement method and a device for comparing measurement results of a serving cell and a neighbor cell in a wireless communication system are provided. The method includes receiving a resource restriction pattern including first pattern information that indicates specific subframes to be restricted in measurement of the serving cell, measuring the neighbor cell at a first frequency band, measuring, if a predetermined condition is met, the serving cell applying the first pattern information, and measuring, if the predetermined condition is not met, the serving cell without applying the first pattern information and performing evaluation by comparing a serving cell measurement result obtained from measurement of the serving cell with a neighbor cell measurement result obtained from measurement of the neighbor cell.
US08873409B2 Installing and using a subset of routes for forwarding packets
In one embodiment, an Internet Protocol (IP) routing information base of a packet switching device is filtered to produce a significantly smaller subset of IP routes that are installed in one or more forwarding information bases for forwarding of IP packets. In one embodiment, these smaller forwarding information bases are located in memory local to a network processor to more quickly perform lookup operations thereon. In one embodiment, one or more of these forwarding information bases is used only for exact matching of addresses (not longest prefix matching). In one embodiment, the IP routes in these smaller forwarding information bases substantially correspond to packet switching devices in a network (e.g., core and edge routers), such as in contrast to including all the IP routes for devices external to the network.
US08873406B2 RACH-related system resource optimization method and apparatus for wireless communication system
A RACH-related system resource optimization method and apparatus is provided for a wireless communication system. Specifically, a method is provided in a user equipment for optimizing a system resource related to a random access channel in a wireless communication system. A downlink channel condition and a transmission capability for performing random access to a base station based on a stored message size parameter are measured. The measured downlink channel condition and the measured transmission capability are reported. When a new message size parameter determined based on the reported downlink channel condition and the reported transmission capability is received, the stored message size parameter is updated with the new message parameter.
US08873403B2 System and method for automatic DSCP tracing for XoIP elements
Systems, methods, and non-transitory computer-readable storage media for performing automatic Differentiated Services Code Point tracing for XoIP elements. A system configured as an agent maintains a cache of destination network addresses based on prior network communications. Then, the system identifies a destination network address to test. The system can identify the destination network address to test based on the cache of destination network addresses. The cache can include additional information, such as network test results, traffic information, port numbers, DSCP trace value, measurements of traffic protection, service provider information, etc. Next, the system automatically sends to the destination network address a network test configured to determine a Differentiated Services Code Point trace. The system can perform the network test for any type of network traffic and port.
US08873400B2 Femto base stations and methods for operating the same
Femto base stations and methods described herein suppress the need for an external GPS antenna and cable, while still providing a network service provider with the ability to obtain the desired GPS location coordinates and the user with the flexibility of placing the femto cell at the location of their choice within a home regardless of GPS signal strength.
US08873399B2 Gateway network element, a method, and a group of load balanced access points configured for load balancing in a communications network
The present invention refers to providing of a load balancing, by use of a gateway network element comprising a group of load balanced access points. In particular, the load balancing is performed by selecting of an access point from said group of load balanced access points by use of an access point name, which is derived from a packet data protocol context activation request, said packet data protocol context activation request being transmitted by a mobile subscriber or node, respectively, and received by the gateway network element.
US08873397B2 Transmission control apparatus and transmission control method
A transmission control apparatus includes: a communication unit communicating with each of communication apparatuses, which are included in a communication system in which communication is executed via one relay apparatus, via the relay apparatus; a determination unit determining, as a transmission apparatus transmitting content data indicating a content to be transmitted, the apparatus with higher transmission quality between the apparatus and the relay apparatus in the communication system based on quality information of each communication apparatus, which is received by the communication unit and includes information regarding the transmission quality between the relay apparatus and the communication apparatus; and a transmission control unit allowing the transmission apparatus determined by the determination unit to concurrently transmit the content data indicating the content to the respective apparatuses of the communication system excluding the transmission apparatus.
US08873394B2 System and method for performing packet queuing on a client device using packet service classifications
A client device having a networking layer and a network driver layer for transmitting network packets comprising: a plurality of transmit queues configured at the network layer, each of the transmit queues having different packet service classifications associated therewith, packets being queued in one of the transmit queues according to traffic service classifications assigned to the packets; a classifier module for classifying packets according to the different packet service classifications, wherein a packet to be transmitted is stored in one of the transmit queues based on the packet service classifications; and a network layer packet scheduler for scheduling packets for transmission from each of the transmit queues at the networking layer, the network layer packet scheduler scheduling packets for transmission according to the packet service classifications.
US08873392B1 Method and apparatus for controlling the flow of packets in a data network
Systems, methods, and other embodiments associated with controlling the flow of packets in a network are described. According to one embodiment, an apparatus includes a transceiver and a flow logic. The flow logic is configured to control the transceiver to transmit a frame to a downstream device by determining whether the frame matches a key value. The key value identifies a source of frames. The key value is part of a flow control rule that specifies an action to perform for frames received from the source that are to be transmitted to the downstream device. The flow logic is also configured to control the transceiver to transmit a frame to a downstream device by, in response to determining that the frame matches the key value, controlling transmission of the frame to the downstream device according to the action specified by the flow control rule.
US08873391B2 Method and system for coordinating access to a barrage relay network
Methods for coordinating access to a barrage relay networks are disclosed. For example, one disclosed method includes: receiving, by a first node, a first message from a second node on a network; suppressing transmission of messages by the first node; receiving, by the first node, a second message corresponding to the first message or waiting a sufficient amount of time without receipt of the second message; reactivating transmission of the messages by the first node.
US08873389B1 Method for flow control in a packet switched network
Efficient congestion control in a packet switched network is facilitated between at least one source and at least one destination. The source organizes known destinations, at above the link layer, into groups, each group containing one or more destinations. The group for each source packet may be identifiable by data natively present in the packet header. In some example, the source assigns an arbitrary identification to each group, and the source labels packets destined to a group with the identification for that group. A network node sends “PAUSE” packets containing at least one pause information indication back to a traffic source. The pause indication is associated with at least one group identification used by the source. The source reacts to the pause request by stopping or resuming packet transmission to the at least one group identification. Transmission to other destination groups is not affected.
US08873388B2 Segmentation interleaving for data transmission requests
Some embodiments discussed herein may interleave one data transmission request with one or more segments of another data transmission request. In one embodiment, updated context information from a previous segment is used to transmit a next segment.
US08873386B2 Method and system for regulating reboot traffic in a telecommunications network
A method of regulating traffic in a telecommunications network, including a first step of detecting a fault affecting a node or a link of the network. The second step below is then executed: the nodes located immediately upstream of said node/link that experienced the fault forward to the latter the registration requests sent by users of the network, to the extent that the throughput of said registration requests is below a predetermined clipping threshold associated with the registration requests; if the throughput of registration requests exceeds said clipping threshold, the excess requests are not forwarded to the node/link that experienced the fault, and the network sends to each user that sent a request refused in this way, a response prompting that user to observe a time-out period, said response specifying the recommended duration of said time-out period. Application in particular to IP networks using SIP signaling protocols.
US08873385B2 Incast congestion control in a network
Implementations are described for controlling, avoiding, and/or minimizing incast congestion in a network. In various embodiments, the network may be a data center network, which may include one or more senders and a receiver that transmit data across the network using Transmission Control Protocol. The receiver may be associated with a receive window that may determine amount of data that may be received by the receiver at a single time. Moreover, a size of the receive window may be adjusted based at least in part on an available bandwidth of the receiver. As a result of an increase or decrease in the receive window, the one or more senders may not be constrained in transmitting data to the receiver and incast congestion at the receiver may be reduced and/or avoided.
US08873382B2 Overload detection and handling in a data breakout appliance at the edge of a mobile data network
Mobile network services are performed in an appliance in a mobile data network in a way that is transparent to most of the existing equipment in the mobile data network. The mobile data network includes a radio access network and a core network. The appliance in the radio access network breaks out data coming from a basestation, and performs one or more mobile network services at the edge of the mobile data network based on the broken out data. The appliance has defined interfaces and defined commands on each interface that allow performing all needed functions on the appliance without revealing details regarding the hardware and software used to implement the appliance. The appliance includes overload detection and handling within the appliance. This appliance architecture allows performing new mobile network services at the edge of a mobile data network within the infrastructure of an existing mobile data network.
US08873381B2 Bearer quality of service selection
In the event an entity receives a message including an unknown quality of service parameter (e.g., class identifier) for a bearer, the entity may select a quality of service parameter for the bearer from a set of known quality of service parameters. Here, a guaranteed bit rate quality of service parameter may be selected from the set upon determining that the unknown quality of service parameter is associated with a guaranteed bit rate bearer. Conversely, a non-guaranteed bit rate quality of service parameter may be selected from the set upon determining that the unknown quality of service parameter is not associated with a guaranteed bit rate bearer.
US08873379B2 System and method to achieve sub-second routing performance
A system and method for routing data, the system having a processor, an interface in communication with the processor and capable of being in communication with a second system for routing data, a memory unit in communication with the processor, the memory unit having a network routing table having a plurality of routes, the plurality of routes having a first route; and a network failure route selection logic including instructions adapted to configure the processor to determine when the first route is inoperative, transmit a first data packet to the second system for routing data when the first route is inoperative and utilize a second route selected from one of the plurality of routes, the second route being different from the first route.
US08873377B2 Method and apparatus for hitless failover in networking systems using single database
A device includes a master control card that performs control plane processing, a backup control card, where the backup control card takes over control plane processing if the master control card goes out of service, and a database card that connects to the master control card and the backup control card, where the database control card stores information relating to control plane processing. A method of achieving hitless failover in a network element includes detecting that a master control card of the network element has gone out of service, designating the backup control card as a new master control card of the network element, establishing communication with a database card of the network element, and retrieving protocol states information from the database card.
US08873368B2 Method for processing channel switching failure case, terminal device, and channel switching server
A method for processing a channel switching failure case is disclosed. The method for processing a channel switching failure case is used to provide media services for receiver in unicast and multicast modes and includes: detecting whether a data stream is of failure case after sending a channel switching request; and sending a failure case message and/or a failure case processing message to a channel switching server when a failure case occurs so that the channel switching server may process the failure case. A terminal device and channel switching server are provided so that the channel switching server may recover channel switching services provided for receiver and provide correct services for a user.
US08873364B2 Ordered reduced set successive detector for low complexity, quasi-ML MIMO detection
An Ordered Reduced Set Successive Detector (RSSD) for the V-BLAST spatial multiplexing scheme that uses a general two-dimensional non-uniform set partitioning for different symbols. The detector provides improved diversity and SNR gains at reduced complexity compared to a uniform set partitioning based detector. The detector can be used to reduce the complexity, with a small tradeoff in performance. Further, it is possible to obtain a quasi-ML performance using the disclosed detector at a reduced, yet fixed, complexity.
US08873363B2 Information on reference signal structure for neighbouring cell measurements
The present invention relates to cellular radio communication and in particular to providing information on neighbour cells to enable terminals to perform neighbour cell measurements. In the prior art the terminal attempts to make neighbour cell measurements in a reference signal structure that is the same in the neighbour cell as in the cell the terminal camps in. The present invention is based on the insight that the reference signal structure may differ between neighbouring cell for example in the situation of an MBSFN area that is restricted to a region of all cells of a radio network, or in the situation of TDD mode being applied there may be different regions with different allocation of sub-frames for transmission in the uplink and downlink directions. The present invention solves the problem by broadcast information in a cell indicative of the reference signal structure in neighbour cells.
US08873360B2 Library apparatus
A library apparatus which can be used alone and which, when linked, enables conveyance of a cartridge between linked library apparatuses by minor remodeling, that is, a library apparatus which is provided in a cabinet with first to third storage racks which can store a plurality of recording media, a drive of the cartridges, and a robot which conveys a cartridge between the first to third storage racks and the drive by an instruction from a control device, wherein when expanding the capacity by providing another library apparatus of the same specifications as the library apparatus, part of the first storage rack which is at the back side at the same height from the set surface of the cabinet is replaced with a track member which passes between the cabinets, and a moving member which can convey a cartridge is provided on the track member.
US08873355B2 Servo processor receiving photodetector signals
A servo processor for an optical disk drive is provided that includes: an analog-to-digital converter for converting versions of photodetector output signals into digital signals; and a digital signal processor configured to receive the digital signals, the digital signal processor being further configured to determine a focus error signal (FES) and a tracking error signal (TES) from the digital signals, the digital signal processor being further configured to process TES and FES through servo algorithms to produce tracking and focus control signals.
US08873352B1 Light mitigation layer between write pole and waveguide
An apparatus has a near-field transducer located proximate a media-facing surface of a slider magnetic recording heat. A waveguide is configured to couple light to the near-field transducer and includes a top cladding layer facing the near-field transducer, a bottom cladding layer, and a core layer between the top and bottom cladding layers. The apparatus includes a write pole with a flat portion substantially parallel to the core layer and a sloped portion extending from the flat portion of the write pole towards the media-facing surface at an angle to the core layer and to the media-facing surface. A light mitigation layer is located between the top cladding layer and the write pole.
US08873351B1 Thermally-assisted magnetic recording head, head gimbal assembly, and magnetic recording device
A thermally assisted magnetic recording head includes a plasmon-generator that generates near-field light (NF light) from a near-field light generating portion on a near field light generator end surface constituting a portion of the medium opposing surface. The plasmon-generator has a first PG part having the near field light generator end surface constituting a portion of the medium opposing surface, and a second PG part positioned at a back side compared to the medium opposing surface when viewed from the medium opposing surface side. When viewed from the medium opposing surface side, the first PG part extends toward the back side from the medium opposing surface, and the second PG part is placed to contact at least a portion of both side surfaces of the first PG part. A material that configures the first PG part is a material having high thermostability compared to a material that configures the second PG part, and the material that configures the second PG part is a material having high excitation efficiency of plasmon compared to the material that configures the first PG part.
US08873348B2 Method and apparatus for coupling a laser diode to a magnetic writer
A write head includes a cavity configured to couple a laser diode to the write head. A bottom of the cavity includes a heat conductive element configured to contact the laser diode, a plurality of thermal studs disposed below the heat conductive element, and a substrate disposed below the thermal studs. The heat conductive element, thermal studs, and substrate are thermally coupled to draw heat from the laser diode.
US08873346B2 Watch dial secured to a bottom plate
An assembly including a watch dial and a bottom plate, the bottom plate being delimited by an upper peripheral rim which is extended downwards by an external peripheral surface, the watch dial being secured to the upper peripheral rim of the bottom plate via at least first and second securing mechanisms, wherein the first securing mechanisms includes a boss provided on the external peripheral surface of the bottom plate, the dial having a peripheral edge via which the dial is held between the head of a nail or a screw and the upper peripheral rim of the bottom plate, the head of the nail or screw being extended by a shank which is housed in the boss of the bottom plate.
US08873345B2 Solar power generating device and electronic timepiece
A solar power generating device of the present invention includes a first solar section which has a plurality of solar cells arranged flatwise, a second solar section which has a plurality of solar cells arranged flatwise and is placed a predetermined space away and below the first solar section so as to be shifted with respect to the first solar section in a surface direction, and a coupling section which couples the first solar section and the second solar section together. In the solar power generating device, the coupling section has a connecting section placed in an area below the second solar section, and the connecting section is provided with contact terminals to which the first solar section and the second solar section are electrically connected.
US08873344B2 Power consumption control device, timepiece device, electronic device, power consumption control method, power consumption control program
A power consumption control device includes a power consumption control unit that receives the output potential of a photovoltaic cell generating an electromotive force, receives the output potential of a secondary battery charged by the electromotive force of the photovoltaic cell, causes a timepiece device to transition to a power saving state where a clock operation of measuring time is stopped when the output potential difference of the secondary battery is not greater than a predetermined threshold value, and the secondary battery is in a non-charging state indicating a state where the output potential difference of the photovoltaic cell is not greater than the output potential difference of the secondary battery.
US08873341B2 CMUT cell formed from a membrane of nanotubes or nanowires or nanorods and device for ultra high frequency acoustic imaging including multiple cells of this kind
A cMUT-type capacitive electroacoustic transducer including: at least one membrane configured to oscillate under effect of an electric field and/or an acoustic wave, wherein the membrane is formed from one or more layers of juxtaposed nanotubes or nanowires or nanorods, and an acoustic imaging device or UHF sonar including such transducers.
US08873340B1 Highly directive array aperture
An apparatus and method is provided that utilizes sonar array discontinuities for increasing the directivity gain of a sonar system by increasing the ratio of trace wavelengths (replicated) to the length of a fixed array aperture. Impedance discontinuities, or blocking masses, are embedded in a matrix material of fixed length to create Bragg scattered longitudinal displacements of a wavelength. The longitudinal displacements are induced by an incident acoustic plane wave. This creates longitudinal replicas of the displacements, shifted in wave number, creating a scaled acoustic trace wavelength. The replicated trace wavelength is sampled and resolved, thereby increasing the directivity gain of a sonar system.
US08873334B2 Correlation techniques for passive electroseismic and seismoelectric surveying
A method for surveying, may include receiving, by a processor, first survey data from a first source, the first source comprising a first signal generated by a subsurface earth formation in response to a passive-source electromagnetic signal, wherein the electromagnetic signal is generated by an electroseismic or seismoelectric conversion of the passive-source electromagnetic signal. The method may also include receiving, by the processor, second survey data from a second source and processing the first survey data and the second survey data to determine one or more properties of a subsurface earth formation.
US08873328B2 Nonvolatile memory device including sudden power off detection circuit and sudden power off detection method thereof
A nonvolatile memory device includes a memory cell array comprising memory cells connected to bit lines and word lines; a word line decoder configured to apply word line voltages to the word lines; a bit line selector configured to select at least one bit line of the bit lines; a control logic configured to control the word line decoder and the bit line selector so that write data is programmed in the memory cell array; and a sudden power off (SPO) detection circuit, wherein the SPO detection circuit comprises: a sensing cell; a first driver configured to provide a first voltage to the sensing cell; and a second driver configured to provide a second voltage to the sensing cell, wherein a program state of the sensing cell becomes different depending on an order or a time difference between the first driver and the second driver being powered off.
US08873323B2 Method of executing wear leveling in a flash memory device according to ambient temperature information and related flash memory device
A method of executing wear leveling in a flash memory device includes determining whether a current temperature is in a normal operating temperature range of the flash memory device, and reprogramming data associated with data blocks to another location in a flash memory array when the current temperature is in the normal operating temperature range of the flash memory device, wherein the data is programmed in a temperature out of the normal operating temperature range of the flash memory device.
US08873320B2 DRAM repair architecture for wide I/O DRAM based 2.5D/3D system chips
A 2.5D or 3D repair architecture includes a logic die, and a memory die. In the 2.5D architecture, the logic die and memory die are mounted on an interposer. In the 3D architecture, the memory die is mounted on the logic die. The logic has a control logic wrapped with a processor wrapper. The processor wrapper enables testing components of the control logic. The control logic further comprises a wide input/output controller, a built-in-repair analyzer (BIRA), and a repair controller. A method utilizing the repair architecture provides for repairing failed columns and rows of a memory device.
US08873311B2 Supply independent delayer
Electronic apparatus, systems, and methods can include a delayer having an inverter chain, where each inverter of the chain can be operatively regulated using current generators to control variation of the delay time of the delayer. In various embodiments, current generators can be arranged to provide reference voltages to each inverter stage of an inverter chain. Additional apparatus, systems, and methods are disclosed.
US08873310B2 Reference voltage regulator for eDRAM with VSS-sensing
A method of operating an embedded dynamic random access memory (eDRAM). The method includes sending requests for sampling and correction between accesses of the eDRAM using an oscillator. The method further includes sending a pulse defining a time interval during which sampling and correction occurs using a control block and providing a reference level using a reference generator and comparing the reference level with a sampling of a reference voltage using a comparator. The method further includes sending a correction request using the comparator if the reference voltage requires correction and generating a correction pulse according to the correction request from the comparator and the pulse defining the time interval from the control block using a pulse generator. The method further includes adjusting the reference voltage during the correction pulse using a driver determining a logic value stored in the eDRAM based on the adjusted reference voltage.
US08873304B2 Integrated circuitry, chip, method for testing a memory device, method for manufacturing an integrated circuit and method for manufacturing a chip
In various embodiments an integrated circuit or chip is provided, the integrated circuit including a memory device including a plurality of memory cells, and with the memory cells being configured to store a data content, and a controller being configured to write a predefined data pattern in the memory cells of the memory device, reading the data content of the memory cells, mapping each read data content which corresponds to an expected data content depending on the predefined data pattern to a predefined instruction for the controller, with the predefined instruction causing the controller to carry out a predefined action which is representative for the accurate operation of the memory cells, determining that the memory device operates accurately, if the controller carries out the predefined action, and determining that the memory device does not operate accurately, if the controller does not carry out the predefined action.
US08873302B2 Common doped region with separate gate control for a logic compatible non-volatile memory cell
An array of memory cells, in which one or more memory cells have a common doped region. Each memory cell includes a transistor with a floating gate, source and drain regions, and separate gate and drain voltage controls. Each memory cell also includes a coupling capacitor electrically coupled to and located laterally from the floating gate. In the array, first bit lines are oriented in a first direction, wherein a first bit line is coupled to drain regions of transistors that are arranged in a column. The array includes second bit lines also oriented in the first direction, wherein a second bit line is coupled to source regions of transistors that are arranged in a column. The array also includes word lines oriented in a second direction, wherein each word line is coupled to control gates of coupling capacitors that are arranged in a row.
US08873301B2 Semiconductor memory device and method of operating the same
A semiconductor memory device and a method of manufacturing the same are provided. The device includes a memory block and one or more peripheral circuits. The memory block includes a bit line, a common source line, a vertical channel layer coupled between the bit line and the common source line, word lines surrounding the bit line at different heights from a semiconductor substrate, and memory cells formed in portions where the word lines surround the vertical channel layer. The one or more peripheral circuits are configured to set the word lines to a floating state to supply holes to the vertical channel layer when a precharge voltage is applied to the common source line, and set word lines of memory cells to be erased to a ground state when an erase voltage is applied to the common source line.
US08873300B2 Semiconductor memory device and method of operating the same
A semiconductor memory device is provided. The semiconductor memory device includes memory cells having first to fourth middle states corresponding to different threshold voltage distributions. The semiconductor memory device also includes a peripheral circuit configured to perform a first program operation to program memory cells having the third and the fourth middle states to have four upper states and perform a second program operation to program memory cells having the first and the second middle states to have another four upper states.
US08873294B2 Nonvolatile memory devices, erasing methods thereof and memory systems including the same
Provided are erase methods for a memory device which includes a substrate and multiple cell strings provided on the substrate, each cell string including multiple cell transistors stacked in a direction perpendicular to the substrate. The erase method includes applying a ground voltage to a ground selection line connected with ground selection transistors of the cell strings; applying a ground voltage to string selection lines connected with selection transistors of the cell strings; applying a word line erase voltage to word lines connected with memory cells of the cell strings; applying an erase voltage to the substrate; controlling a voltage of the ground selection line in response to applying of the erase voltage; and controlling voltages of the string selection lines in response to the applying of the erase voltage.
US08873293B1 Dynamic erase voltage step size selection for 3D non-volatile memory
Techniques are provided for erasing memory cells in a 3D stacked non-volatile memory device in a way which avoids prolonging erase time as the erase speed deceases due to the accumulation of program-erase cycles. In particular, a step size for erase pulses can be set which is a function of the number of program-erase cycles, e.g., as indicated by a count of program-erase cycles, a loop count during programming which is a function of programming speed, or an initial program voltage which is a function of programming speed. Further, the erase operation can account for different erase speeds of memory cells in different word line layers.
US08873291B2 Non-volatile memory device with single-polysilicon-layer memory cells
An embodiment of a nonvolatile-memory device includes: a body accommodating at least a first semiconductor well and a second semiconductor well; an insulating structure; and at least one nonvolatile memory cell. The cell includes: at least one first control region in the first well; conduction regions in the second well; and a floating gate region, which extends over portions of the first well and of the second well, is capacitively coupled to the first control region and forms a floating-gate memory transistor with the conduction regions. The insulating structure includes: first insulating regions, which separate the floating gate region from the first control region and from the second well outside the conduction regions and have a first thickness; and second insulating regions, which separate the floating gate region from the first well outside the first control region and have a second thickness greater than the first thickness.
US08873288B2 Simultaneous sensing of multiple wordlines and detection of NAND failures
Techniques for a post-write read are presented. In an exemplary embodiment, a combined simultaneous sensing of multiple word lines is used in order to identify a problem in one or more of these word lines. That is, sensing voltages are concurrently applied to the control gates of more than one memory cell whose resultant conductance is measured on the same bit line. The combined sensing result is use for measuring certain statistics of the cell voltage distribution (CVD) of multiple word lines and comparing it to the expected value. In case the measured statistics are different than expected, this may indicate that one or more of the sensed word lines may exhibit a failure and more thorough examination of the group of word lines can be performed.
US08873282B2 Interfaces and die packages, and appartuses including the same
A memory device includes a die package including a plurality of memory dies, an interface including an interface circuit, and a memory controller to control the interface with control data received from at least one die. The interface is to divide and multiplex an IO channel between the package and the controller into more than one channel using the data received from the at least one die. The interface includes a control input buffer to receive an enable signal through a control pad, a first input buffer to receive first data through a first IO pad in response to a first state of the enable signal, and a second input buffer to receive second data through a second IO pad in response to a second state of the enable signal. The interface further includes an input multiplexer to multiplex the first data and the second data to provide input data.
US08873279B2 8T SRAM cell with one word line
An integrated circuit with SRAM cells containing dual passgate transistors and a read buffer, all connected to one word line is disclosed. The read buffer and one passgate transistor may be variously configured to a separate read data line and write data line, or a combined data line, in different embodiments. The read buffer in addressed SRAM cells may be biased during read operations. The read buffer in half-addressed SRAM cells may be biased or floated, depending on the configuration of the read data line and the write data line. The read buffer in addressed and half-addressed SRAM cells may be biased or floated, depending on the configuration of the read data line and the write data line.
US08873278B1 Volatile memory elements with soft error upset immunity
Memory elements are provided that exhibit immunity to soft error upset events when subjected to high-energy atomic particle strikes. The memory elements may each have ten transistors. To overcome difficulties in writing data into the memory elements, signal strengths for one or more of the signals provided to the array may be adjusted. There may be two positive power supply voltages that are used in powering each memory element. One of the power supply voltages may be temporarily lowered relative to the other power supply voltage to enhance write margin during data loading operations. Other signal strengths that may be adjusted in this way include other power supply signals, data signal levels, address and clear signal magnitudes, and ground signal strengths. Adjustable power supply circuitry and data read-write control circuitry may be used in making these signal strength adjustments.
US08873274B2 Resistive memory cells and devices having asymmetrical contacts
A memory cell includes a plug-type first electrode in a substrate, a magneto-resistive memory element disposed on the first electrode, and a second electrode disposed on the magneto-resistive memory element opposite the first electrode. The second electrode has an area of overlap with the magneto-resistive memory element that is greater than an area of overlap of the first electrode and the magneto-resistive memory element. The first surface may, for example, be substantially circular and have a diameter less than a minimum planar dimension (e.g., width) of the second surface. The magneto-resistive memory element may include a colossal magneto-resistive material, such as an insulating material with a perovskite phase and/or a transition metal oxide.
US08873273B2 Semiconductor storage device and test method thereof
A memory includes memory cells each storing data according to a change in a resistance state, and reference cells referred to in order to detect data stored in the memory cells. Sense amplifiers compare reference data in the reference cells with data in the memory cells to detect the data in the memory cells. A counter counts a number NH of the memory cells having a resistance higher than a resistance of each reference cell or a number NL of the memory cells having a resistance lower than the resistance of each reference cell based on a result of detecting first logical data stored in the memory cells using each reference cell storing the first logical data. A determining part determines one of the reference cells as an optimum reference cell used in an actual data reading operation based on the number NH or NL for the reference cells.
US08873271B2 3D architecture for bipolar memory using bipolar access device
Memory device and method for fabricating a memory device on two layers of a semiconductor wafer. An example device includes bit lines and word lines fabricated at one layer of a semiconductor wafer and re-writable nonvolatile memory cells that include a two-terminal access device with a bidirectional voltage-current characteristics for positive and negative voltages applied at the terminals. Additionally, a drive circuit electrically coupled to the memory cells and configured to program the memory cells is fabricated at another layer of the semiconductor wafer. Another example embodiment includes a memory device where a plurality of memory arrays are fabricated at one layer of a semiconductor wafer and a plurality of drive circuits electrically coupled to the memory cells and configured to read the memory cells are fabricated at a second layer of the semiconductor wafer.
US08873267B2 Semiconductor apparatus
A semiconductor apparatus includes a controller, a memory, a normal line, a test line, and a path setting unit. The normal line is provided for communication between the controller and the memory. The test line is provided for a test operation of the memory. The path setting unit connects either the normal line or the test line to the memory according to a type of access mode.
US08873266B2 Nonvolatile semiconductor memory device and method for manufacturing the same
According to one embodiment, a nonvolatile semiconductor memory device includes a first memory string including a first memory cell and a second memory cell aligned along a first axis, a source contact provided at a source-side end of the first memory string, a second memory string that extends along the first axis and includes a third memory cell that aligns with the first memory cell along a second axis perpendicular to the first axis, and a shield conductive layer. The shield conductive layer extends along the first axis between the first memory string and the second memory string and is electrically connected to the source contact.
US08873263B2 Dual-input 18-pulse autotransformer rectifier unit for an aircraft AC-DC converter
A dual-input 18-pulse autotransformer rectifier unit for more electric aircraft AC-DC converter uses an autotransformer with a nine-phase output to condition AC power prior to DC rectifying the AC power.
US08873259B2 DC-DC converter including regeneration snubber circuit
A DC-DC converter includes a regeneration snubber circuit. The snubber circuit is connected in parallel with the secondary diode circuit and includes a series circuit of a discharge blocking diode, a snubber capacitor, and a switching element for regeneration connected in parallel with the discharge blocking diode. The DC-DC converter further includes a control unit which turns the switching element for regeneration on a predetermined time period after the timing of turning the primary side switching element off. The predetermined time period is set to approximately the time period during which the charge, accumulated in the snubber capacitor due to reverse recovery time when one of the secondary diodes has been turned off, discharges.
US08873257B2 Power supply apparatus with drive control signal inversion based upon resonance current level detection
A control circuit performs at least one of detecting whether the resonance current detected by the current detection unit is beyond a first detection level over a predetermined time period, and detecting, when detecting that the resonance current is beyond the first detection level over the predetermined time period, that the resonance current falls below a second detection level, and detecting whether the resonance current detected by the current detection unit is below a first detection level over a predetermined time period, and detecting, when detecting that the resonance current is below the first detection level over the predetermined time period, that the resonance current exceeds a second detection level, and inverts, when detecting that the resonance current falls below or exceeds the second detection level, the levels of the drive control signal at which the first switching element and the second switching element are turned on or off.
US08873255B2 Power supply and startup circuit thereof
A power supply and its startup circuit are provided. The startup circuit includes a first transistor, a bias resistor, a pull-down switch, a voltage detector, and a discharging path generator. A first end of the first transistor receives alternating current (AC) input power. The bias resistor is serially coupled between a second end and a control end of the first transistor. The pull-down switch is turned on or turned off according to a detection result. The voltage detector generates the detection result by detecting a voltage on the second end of the first transistor. The discharging path generator provides a discharging path between the second end of the first transistor and a reference ground voltage according to the detection result.
US08873254B2 Isolated flyback converter with sleep mode for light load operation
A flyback converter uses primary side sensing to sense the output voltage for regulation feedback. A comparator on the primary side detects whether the output voltage has exceeded a predetermined regulated voltage by a first threshold to detect an over-voltage condition, resulting from a current generated by the converter exceeding the load current. Triggering of the comparator causes the converter to enter a non-switching sleep mode, whereby the output voltage droops over a period of time. When the output voltage has drooped below the predetermined regulated voltage by a second threshold, a synchronous rectifier is controlled to turn on, then off, to generate a pulse in the primary winding. Upon detection of the pulse, the sleep mode is terminated, and normal operation resumes until a regulated voltage is achieved or until the first threshold is again exceeded by the output voltage.
US08873249B2 DIMM riser care with an angled DIMM socket and a straddle mount DIMM socket
A DIMM riser card that includes a PCB having a first edge, a second edge, and one or more faces. The first edge of the PCB is configured for insertion into a main board DIMM socket. The first edge includes electrical traces that electrically couple to a memory bus. The DIMM riser card includes an angled DIMM socket mounted on one face of the PCB, where the angled DIMM socket is configured to accept a DIMM at an angle not perpendicular to the PCB and electrically couple the DIMM to the memory bus. The DIMM riser card includes a straddle mount DIMM socket mounted on the second edge of the PCB. The straddle mount DIMM socket is configured to accept a DIMM and electrically couple the DIMM to the memory bus through the electrical traces on the first edge of the PCB.
US08873248B2 Decoration plate and electronic apparatus having the same
A decoration plate and an electronic apparatus having the same are provided. The decoration plate includes a cover plate, a conductive ring, an insulating layer, and a conductive element. The conductive ring is disposed on a surface of the cover plate. The insulating layer is disposed on the surface of the cover plate and covers the conductive ring, and the insulating layer has at least one opening. The conductive element is disposed in the opening.
US08873247B2 Device and manufacturing method of the same
A device includes a wiring board, an element mounted on the wiring board, a spacer member intervening between the wiring board and the element to form a space therebetween, and an encapsulation body filling the space and encapsulating the element on the wiring board.
US08873245B2 Embedded chip-on-chip package and package-on-package comprising same
An embedded chip-on-chip package includes a printed circuit board having a recessed semiconductor chip mounting unit constituted by a recess in the printed circuit board and a circuit pattern at the bottom of the recess, a first semiconductor chip embedded in the recessed semiconductor chip mounting unit and electrically connected to the circuit pattern at the bottom of the recess, and a second semiconductor chip mounted to the recessed semiconductor chip mounting unit and electrically connected to the first semiconductor chip and the printed circuit board independently of each other.
US08873244B2 Package structure
A package structure includes a base body having a first encapsulant and a wiring layer embedded in and exposed from the first encapsulant. The wiring layer has a plurality of conductive traces and a plurality of first electrical contact pads. The first encapsulant has openings for exposing the first electrical contact pads, a chip electrically connected to the wiring layer, and a second encapsulant formed on the base body for covering the chip and the wiring layer, thereby providing an even surface for preventing the encapsulant from cracking when the chip is mounted.
US08873242B2 Automotive control unit
Automotive control unit having two connectors is provided in an uncomplicated configuration that allows holding durability to be ensured against high external force upon insertion of the connectors, watertightness in a severer environment, and high reliable connecting portions.The automotive control unit includes a board 100 on which an electronic device is mounted; a first connector directly inserted into and attached to a device to be controlled; a second connector 200 for connecting to another control unit; and a housing which holds the board and includes a cover 130 and a case 500 to which the first and second connectors 300 and 200, respectively, are attached. The first connector 300 is configured to be secured to the housing from the outside of the housing. The second connector 200 is held by and secured onto the board and then secured to the housing from the inside of the control unit.
US08873237B2 Embedded heat pipe in a hybrid cooling system
One embodiment of a system for cooling a heat-generating device includes a base adapted to be coupled to the heat-generating device, a housing coupled to the base, a liquid channel formed between the base and the housing, where a heat transfer liquid may be circulated through the liquid channel to remove heat generated by the heat-generated device, and a heat pipe disposed within the liquid channel, where the heat pipe increases the heat transfer surface area to which the heat transfer liquid is exposed. Among other things, the heat pipe advantageously increases the heat transfer surface area to which the heat transfer liquid is exposed and efficiently spreads the heat generated by the heat-generating device over that heat transfer surface area. The result is enhanced heat transfer through the liquid channel relative to prior art cooling systems.
US08873235B2 Container data center and heat dissipation system thereof
A container data center includes a container having a raised floor defining a number of vents, a server system including a cabinet supported on the raised floor adjacent to the vents, a cooling device, an adjusting plate movably installed to the cabinet for covering or uncovering the vents, a driving member, a temperature sensor mounted to the cabinet, and a micro control unit (MCU) electrically connected to the driving member and the temperature sensor. The cooling device releases cooling air into the container under the raised floor. The temperature sensor senses the temperature in the cabinet. The MCU receives the sensed temperature and compares the sensed temperature with a preset temperature, to direct the driving member to drive the adjusting plate to move relative to the vents.
US08873231B2 Electronic device enclosure configured to shield against electromagnetic interference
An electronic device enclosure configured to shield against electromagnetic interference (EMI). The electronic device enclosure includes an electronic device-enclosure base and at least one laterally disposed blunt boss. The electronic device-enclosure base includes a bottom, and sides and attached to the bottom in a boxlike configuration. The laterally disposed blunt boss is configured so as to be disposed between, and to couple electrically, a side of the electronic device-enclosure base and a vertical flange of an electronic device-enclosure cover. The electronic device-enclosure base and the electronic device-enclosure cover are configurable with respect to said laterally disposed blunt boss to shield an interior space enclosed by the electronic device-enclosure base and the electronic device-enclosure cover against EMI at a resonant frequency of a slot of the electronic device enclosure. A hard-disk drive including a disk enclosure configured to shield against EMI and a method for assembling the hard-disk drive are also provided.
US08873229B2 Electronic device having card holder
An electronic device includes a housing, a card holder, and a card holder mechanism. A sidewall of the housing defines a slot. A projection protrudes from the card holder. The card holder control mechanism includes a knob and a rotatable plate. The knob includes an operation portion and a connecting portion. The operation portion is external to the housing for operation, and the connecting portion is received in the housing and secured to the rotatable plate. When the knob is rotated from a first orientation to a second orientation, the rotatable plate is driven to rotate by the rotation of the knob. During the rotation of the rotatable plate, the rotatable plate resists the projection of the card holder to drive the card holder to move toward the slot until a portion of the card holder extends the housing.
US08873225B2 Electronic apparatus with a flexible display having a body enabling further functionality
The invention relates to an electronic apparatus 10 comprising a body 14 about which a collapsible flexible display 16 is wrapped. In accordance with the invention the body 14 comprises an area 16a on which the flexible display is conceived to overlay in its extended state. This area may be provided with illumination unit for enabling a front illumination of the display in use and/or with a touch-sensitive area 13 for enabling touch functionality in use.
US08873224B2 Parking lot power pedestal
A parking lot power pedestal is described which has a single spring attaching a tubular body to a base. The spring flexes in response to a blow to enable the tubular body to be angularly offset relative to the base and the spring resiliently returns to its original state to reposition the tubular body in a position extending vertically relative to the base. The spring has a first end providing a weather seal with a central bore of the tubular body. The spring has a second end providing a weather seal surrounding an opening in the base. The spring is tightly wound to provide a weather seal for a central passage defined by the spring through which wires pass.
US08873222B2 Electric protective switching device with control electronics
An electric protective switching device is configured as a modular system and includes a switching device base module including first mechanical guide elements and an installation space with electric contacts. A control module including control electronics, first mechanical elements and electric counter-contact elements is installable into the installation space. A communication module including second mechanical elements is configured as an interface between the control electronics and an electronic bus system. The control module and the communication module are connectable mechanically and electrically to the switching device base module. The first mechanical guide elements of the switching device base module are configured to slidably receive the first mechanical elements of the control module and the second mechanical elements of the communication module in a plugging sequence wherein an electric contacting between the communication module and the control module is only established when, in the plugging sequence, the second mechanical elements of the communication module are connected to the first mechanical guide elements of the switching device base module before the first mechanical elements of the control module are connected to the first mechanical guide elements of the switching device base module.
US08873220B2 Systems and methods to connect sintered aluminum electrodes of an energy storage device
This document provides an apparatus including a sintered electrode, a second electrode and a separator material arranged in a capacitive stack. A conductive interconnect couples the sintered electrode and the second electrode. Embodiments include a clip interconnect. In some embodiments, the interconnect includes a comb-shaped connector. In some embodiments, the interconnect includes a wire snaked between adjacent sintered substrates.
US08873219B2 Method for stacking electronic components
A method of forming a stacked electronic component, and an electronic component formed by the method wherein the method includes: providing a multiplicity of electronic components wherein each electronic component comprises a first external termination and a second external termination; providing a first lead frame plate and a second lead frame plate wherein the first lead frame plate and the second lead frame plate comprises barbs and leads; providing a molded case comprising a cavity and a bottom; and forming a sandwich of electronic components in an array between the first lead frame plate and the second lead frame plate with the barbs protruding towards the electronic components and the leads extending through the bottom.
US08873216B2 Plasma generation device
The plasma generation device 30 is provided with a high frequency generation device 37 that generates a high frequency wave, and a high frequency radiator 15 that radiates the high frequency wave outputted from the high frequency generation device 37 to a target space 10, and generates plasma by supplying energy of the high frequency wave to the target space 10. In the plasma generation device 30, the high frequency generation device 37 is provided with an oscillator 41 that oscillates a high frequency wave, and an amplifier 42 that amplifies and outputs the high frequency wave oscillated by the oscillator 41 to the high frequency radiator 15. In the high frequency generating device 37 the amplifier 42 alone is integrated with the high frequency radiator 15, from among the oscillator 41 and the amplifier 42.
US08873214B2 Wind turbine lightning protection and monitoring systems
A wind turbine hub (8) and nacelle (4) assembly including lightning conducting means (26, 30, 32, 40) for conducting lightning between the hub (8) and the nacelle (4), the hub (8) being mounted for rotation relative to the nacelle (4) and being adapted to support turbine blades, the hub (8) including a hub conductor (26) for connection to a turbine blade supported by the hub (8), the lightning conducting means including a conductive track (40) and a terminal (30, 32) which confront and are displaceable relative to each other, one of the conductive track (40) and the terminal (30, 32) being mounted on the hub (8) and being electrically connected to the hub conductor (26) and the other of the conductive track (40) and the terminal (30, 32) being mounted on the nacelle (4), the terminal (30, 32) including a terminal main body (30) which is spaced from the conductive track (40) and a sacrificial conductive terminal extension (32) extending from the terminal main body (30) towards the track (40).
US08873213B2 High voltage swing decomposition method and apparatus
A voltage swing decomposition circuit includes first and second clamp circuits and a protection circuit. The first clamp circuit is configured to clamp an output node of the first clamp circuit at a first voltage level when an input node of the voltage swing decomposition circuit has a voltage higher than the first voltage level. The second clamp circuit is configured to clamp an output node of the second clamp circuit at a second voltage level, higher than the first level, when the voltage of the input node is lower than the second voltage level. The protection circuit is coupled to the output nodes of the first and second clamp circuits, and is configured to selectively set an output node of the protection circuit to the first or second voltage level. The first and second clamp circuits are coupled together by the output node of the protection circuit.
US08873209B2 Integrated circuit and method of providing electrostatic discharge protection within such an integrated circuit
An integrated circuit (IC) with electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection includes functional circuitry for performing processing functions required by the IC, and interface circuitry for providing an interface between the functional circuitry and components external to the IC. The IC is formed of a plurality of layers, including component level layers, power grid layers, and intervening layers between the power grid layers and the component level layers providing interconnections between the functional components. The functional circuitry further includes at least one ESD protection circuit constructed so as to reside solely within the component level layers in order to provide ESD protection for an associated one or more of the functional components. Such an approach enables the required ESD protection to be provided locally within the functional circuitry, whilst retaining flexibility with regard to the placement of, and routing between, the various functional components of the functional circuitry.
US08873204B1 Current-perpendicular-to-the-plane (CPP) magnetoresistive (MR) sensor structure with multiple stacked sensors and center shield with CoFeB insertion layer
A two-dimensional magnetic recording (TDMR) read head structure has the lower read sensor free layer magnetization biased by side shields of soft magnetic material. A center shield between the lower and upper sensors is an antiparallel coupled magnetic structure, i.e., first and second ferromagnetic layers separated by an antiparallel coupling (APC) layer. The first ferromagnetic layer is ferromagnetically exchange coupled to the side shields of the lower sensor to stabilize the magnetization of the lower sensor's free layer. The first ferromagnetic layer of the center shield is a multilayer of a lower NiFe layer and an upper CoFeB alloy layer inserted below the APC layer. The CoFeB alloy insertion layer increases the antiparallel coupling of the first and second ferromagnetic layers of the center shield after two orthogonal anneals so that the magnetization of the first ferromagnetic layer is aligned parallel to the air-bearing surface (ABS) of the TDMR structure.
US08873203B2 Magnetic head having a soft magnetic layer formed behind a tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR) sensor in an element height direction
A magnetic head according to one embodiment includes a read sensor adapted for sensing an external magnetic field; an upper magnetic shield positioned above the read sensor along an air bearing surface (ABS) of the read sensor; a lower magnetic shield positioned below the read sensor along the ABS of the read sensor; a rear insulating layer positioned on a rear side of the read sensor, the rear side being on an opposite side of the read sensor as the ABS of the read sensor; and a soft magnetic layer positioned near the rear side of the read sensor opposite the ABS of the read sensor, wherein the rear insulating layer is positioned between the soft magnetic layer and the read sensor, and wherein the rear insulating layer is positioned between the soft magnetic layer and the lower magnetic shield.
US08873201B2 Low-recess write pole coil near shield at media-facing surface
An apparatus includes a write pole magnetically coupled to write coils that generate a first magnetic field during a switching event. The apparatus includes a shield at a media-facing surface and proximate the write pole. A conductive element is disposed proximate the shield and configured to generate a second magnetic field opposite to the first magnetic field during the switching event. A selected one of the write coils is located adjacent the shield separate from others of the write coils.
US08873197B1 Motor and disk drive apparatus
A motor includes a rotating portion and a stationary portion. The stationary portion includes a shaft component which includes an inner shaft portion and an outer shaft portion, an upper plate portion, and a lower plate portion. The upper plate portion is disposed in one side of the shaft component and extends radially outward from the one side of the shaft component. The lower plate portion is disposed on the other side of the shaft component and extends radially outward from the other side of the shaft component. The rotating portion includes a sleeve portion. The inner shaft portion and the outer shaft portion are fixed by an adhesive. An adhesive retaining portion is provided between an outer peripheral portion of the inner shaft portion and an inner peripheral portion of the outer shaft portion.
US08873196B2 Base plate made of materials which have a different young's modulus, base unit, motor, disk drive apparatus and method of manufacturing the base plate
A base plate of a disk drive apparatus includes a motor base disposed around a central axis and a base body portion extending radially outward of the motor base. The motor base is made of a metallic material of a first type. The base body portion is made of a metallic material of a second type. The base body portion is a casting product in which the motor base is an insert component. An upper protruding portion and a lower protruding portion are defined in one of an outer end portion of a bottom plate portion of the motor base and an inner end portion of the base body portion.
US08873189B2 Magnetic disk device and disturbance compensation method for dual-stage actuator
A magnetic disk device according to one embodiment includes: a disturbance vibration detector; a movement position controller; and a disturbance compensation module. The disturbance vibration detector detects a disturbance vibration component with respect to a fine-movement actuator. The movement position controller drives each of the fine-movement actuator and a coarse-movement actuator to control a movement position of a magnetic head. The disturbance compensation module corrects the movement position so as to suppress the disturbance vibration component detected by the disturbance vibration detector.
US08873188B2 Storage device having degauss circuitry configured for generating degauss signal with asymmetric decay envelopes
A hard disk drive or other storage device comprises a storage medium, a write head configured to write data to the storage medium, and control circuitry coupled to the write head. The control circuitry comprises degauss circuitry coupled to or otherwise associated with one or more write drivers. The degauss circuitry is configured to generate an asymmetric degauss signal to be applied to the write head. The asymmetric degauss signal has a waveform with upper and lower decay envelopes that are asymmetric about a specified degauss current level, such as a substantially zero current level.
US08873183B2 Disk drive and method of writing servo write tracks to a disk
A system and method of writing servo write tracks to a rotating disk using a head having a read/write offset is disclosed. One embodiment utilizes a write element on the head to write the servo write tracks. A read element on the head is then positioned over the servo write tracks. The phase of a specific frequency component of the track shape error in the servo write track is measured during the positioning of the read element over the servo write track. A sine wave having a specific frequency and a phase is selected based on the measurement results. The sine wave is then applied to a servo system as a correction signal. A new servo write track is then written with the write element.
US08873179B1 Bit-patterned media magnetic recording disk with two sizes of dots and imprint template made with directed self-assembly (DSA) of block copolymers
A bit-patterned media (BPM) magnetic recording disk has two sizes of dots of magnetic material. The large and small dots are formed together in a hexagonal-close-packed (HCP) pattern. In the data regions none of the larger sized dots are adjacent one another; however in the servo regions some of the larger sized dots are adjacent one another. The adjacent larger sized dots form blocks that provide large amplitude “bursts” as the readback signal, as required for servo burst fields. The disk is made by imprint lithography using an imprint template, which can be made by directed self-assembly (DSA) of a block copolymer (BCP). The imprint template has two sizes of recesses, resulting in BPM disks with two sizes of dots. After the disks are imprinted they are exposed to a DC magnetic field, which magnetizes all the dots in the same direction.
US08873173B2 Object lens drive unit and optical pickup using the same
In the object lens drive unit including a lens holder with an object lens attached to, a plurality of driving coils attached to the lens holder, connection substrates attached to both sides of the lens holder, and a plurality of suspension wires with end parts thereof connected to the connection substrates for operatively supporting the lens holder, a plurality of sets of wire connection electrodes for connecting the suspension wires and coil connection electrodes electrically connected to the wire connection electrodes for connecting terminal wires of the coils are arranged in line in an optic axis direction of the object lens and the wire connection electrodes and the coil connection electrodes are formed in a symmetric shape to a central axis parallel to the optic axis direction on the connection substrates.
US08873170B2 Replacement lens cartridge
Embodiments relate generally to a replaceable lens cartridge for use with a face mask, for example a respirator. The cartridge comprises a plurality of molded lenses, each lens sized to extend over one or more eyes of a wearer and typically having a curved shape and a plurality of catches; and a molded carrier mounting the lenses in stacked arrangement, the carrier having a first set of catches receiving the catches on one of the lenses.
US08873167B2 Wide-angle lenses with reduced ghost reflections
Low ghosting wide-angle lens designs are presented. The dimensions and materials are selected such that the lens has a field of view of at least 145 degrees, f# of 2.2-2.9 and all secondary images of an object imaged on the image plane are focused such that they fall either outside of the image plane thus having a relative intensity that is less than 10−4 times the intensity of the primary image.In one embodiment a set of conditional expressions are all met. In another embodiment the conditional expressions are all met and the conditional expressions related to the physical size of the lens is narrowed. In another embodiment five and seven element designs are produced.
US08873165B1 Optical lens system
An optical lens system having a small F number, a wide angle of view, a short total length and a low manufacturing cost, includes, in order from an object side to an image side: a stop; a first lens element with a positive refractive power; a meniscus second lens element with a negative refractive power; a third lens element with a positive refractive power; a fourth lens element with a positive refractive power; a fifth lens element with a negative refractive power, the optical lens system has a focal length of f, the first lens element has a focal length f1, the third lens element has a focal length f3, the fourth lens element has a focal length f4, the fifth lens element has a focal length f5, and they satisfy the conditions: 0.4
US08873163B2 Lens barrel and lens unit
A lens barrel and a lens unit of the present invention each include a cam drum having a cam groove, a lens holding frame for holding a moving lens group, and a cam follower installed on an outer periphery of the lens holding frame. The cam groove has two groove side walls, and an inclined wall that extends outward in a radial direction of the cam drum from one of the two groove side walls to the other thereof, and the cam follower has a contact member that contacts the inclined wall and a cam follower main unit respectively, and a biasing member that biases the contact member outward in the radial direction.
US08873159B2 Telephoto lens system
A telephoto lens system includes a first lens group having a positive refractive power, and comprising at least three positive lenses and one negative lens; a second lens group having a negative refractive power, and which moves along an optical axis to perform a focusing operation; a third lens group having a positive refractive power, and comprising a cemented lens in which a positive lens having a convex surface toward the object side and a positive lens having a convex surface toward the image side are bonded to each other, a bi-convex positive lens, and a negative lens having a concave surface toward the object side, and the first through third lens groups are disposed sequentially from the object side to the image side.
US08873153B2 Camera apparatus and image pickup apparatus including the same
Provided is a camera apparatus including a lens apparatus which is attachable thereto and detachable therefrom, the camera apparatus including: an optical system; and an optical element which is insertable to and removable from an optical path of the optical system, in which: the optical element includes a surface having positive refractive power; and the optical system includes a surface having negative refractive power.
US08873152B2 Liquid optical element array and display
A liquid optical element array with good long-term stability is provided. The liquid optical element array includes: a first substrate and a second substrate facing each other; barrier ribs arranged upright on a surface facing the second substrate of the first substrate and sectioning a region on the first substrate into a plurality of cell regions; a first electrode and a second electrode arranged on wall surfaces of the barrier ribs to face each other; a third electrode arranged on a surface facing the first substrate of the second substrate; a projection arranged upright in each of the cell regions on the first substrate or the second substrate; and a polar liquid and a nonpolar liquid sealed between the first substrate and the third electrode and having different refractive indices.
US08873151B2 Illumination system for a microlithgraphic exposure apparatus
An illumination system of a microlithographic exposure apparatus comprises a condenser for transforming a pupil plane into a field plane. The condenser has a lens group that contains a plurality of consecutive lenses. These lenses are arranged such that a light bundle focused by the condenser on an on-axis field point converges within each lens of the lens group. At least one lens of the lens group has a concave surface. The illumination system may further comprise a field stop objective that at least partly corrects a residual pupil aberration of the condenser.
US08873150B2 Method of making a substrate-guided optical device utilizing polarization beam splitters
There is provided an optical device, including a light waves-transmitting substrate having two major surfaces and edges, optical means for coupling light into the means for coupling light into the substrate by total internal reflection, and plurality of partially reflecting surfaces (22a, 22b) carried by the substrate wherein the partially reflecting surfaces (22a, 22b) are parallel to each other and are not parallel to any of the edges of the substrate, and wherein one or more of the partially reflecting surfaces (22a, 22b) is an anisotropic surface.
US08873147B1 Chord authentication via a multi-touch interface
Exemplary methods and systems involve chord-based authentication on a touch-based interface. An exemplary method may involve: (a) providing a user-interface on a touch-based interface of a computing device, wherein the user-interface comprises a plurality of input regions; (b) receiving input data corresponding to a plurality of touch interactions on the touch-based interface; (c) determining a sequence of chords from the input data, wherein each chord is defined by touch interaction with a certain combination of one or more of the input regions; (d) determining that the sequence of chords substantially matches a predetermined chord authentication sequence; and (e) responsive to the match, causing a computing device to make at least one function accessible.
US08873146B2 Attachment methods for daylighting films
Attachment methods for daylighting sheets and a resulting optical construction enable daylighting microstructures to be secured to a light incident surface, such as a glazing. Applying an adhesive to selected portions of the daylighting microstructures creates a transparent, optical adhesive surface that enables the daylighting microstructures to be oriented outward, facing the incident light, and effectively seals the microstructures against the glazing to prevent ingress of dust and contaminants that would degrade optical efficiency.
US08873141B2 Stereomicroscope
A stereomicroscope includes a base and a vessel which is disposed on the base. The vessel includes a transparent body and a light emitting unit. The transparent body has a bottom and a sidewall. The bottom and the sidewall define an opening. The sidewall extends from a side of the bottom. The opening of the transparent body places a specimen. The light emitting unit is fixed in the sidewall of the transparent body for emitting light. The light emitted from the light emitting unit illuminates the specimen, and is substantially parallel to the bottom of the transparent body.
US08873140B2 ATR objective for an IR microscope and method for operation thereof
An ATR objective (1) for an IR microscope has a Cassegrain objective (2), an ATR crystal (7), a holding bar (8) to one end of which on the side of the sample, the ATR crystal (7) is mounted, a holding element (10), thin struts (9) which rigidly connect the holding bar (8) to the holding element (10) and intersect an optical path of the ATR objective (1) entering or exiting the Cassegrain objective (2) in such a fashion that they shade less than 10% of the beam cross-section of the optical path, and a motor drive (12) for axial movement of the holding element (10) relative to the sample position (3). The automated ATR objective thereby enables simple adjustment of operating modes and different contact pressures of the ATR crystal with respect to a sample (19).
US08873138B2 Auto focusing devices for optical microscopes
A focusing device for an optical microscope may include a light emitting unit configured to emit laser light having a specific wavelength, a wedge mirror configured to enable the emitted laser light to be incident on a plurality of locations of a surface of a specimen, first and second light receiving units configured to detect an amount of laser light reflected from the surface of the specimen, a spatial filter configured to eliminate out-of-focus light from light beams reflected from the surface of the specimen and to detect an amount of in-focus light, and a control unit configured to generate a control signal used to carry out focus adjustment of the optical microscope using a plurality of light-amount information detected by the first and second light receiving units and the spatial filter.
US08873137B2 Catadioptric projection objective
Catadioptric projection objective (1) for microlithography for imaging an object field (3) in an object plane (5) onto an image field (7) in an image plane (9). The objective includes a first partial objective (11) imaging the object field onto a first real intermediate image (13), a second partial objective (15) imaging the first intermediate image onto a second real intermediate image (17), and a third partial objective (19) imaging the second intermediate image onto the image field. The second partial objective is a catadioptric objective having exactly one concave mirror and having at least one lens (L21, L22). A first folding mirror (23) deflects the radiation from the object plane toward the concave mirror and a second folding mirror (25) deflects the radiation from the concave mirror toward the image plane. At least one surface of a lens (L21, L22) of the second partial objective has an antireflection coating having a reflectivity of less than 0.1% for an operating wavelength of between 150 nm and 250 nm and for an angle-of-incidence range of between 0° and 30°. As an alternative or in addition, all the surfaces of the lenses of the second partial objective are configured such that the deviation from the marginal ray concentricity is greater than or equal to 20°.
US08873127B2 Thin-film coatings, electro-optic elements and assemblies incorporating these elements
Electro-optic elements are becoming commonplace in a number of vehicular and architectural applications. Various electro-optic element configurations provide variable transmittance and or variable reflectance for windows and mirrors. The present invention relates to various thin-film coatings, electro-optic elements and assemblies incorporating these elements.
US08873126B2 Electrooptic device and electronic apparatus
An electrooptic device includes first and second substrates that are disposed opposing each other with an electrooptic material layer therebetween, a sealing material that bonds the first and second substrates, a pixel area, and an ion trap portion between the pixel area and the sealing material. The ion trap portion includes first and second electrodes that are formed in a comb-tooth shape and are disposed so that branch electrodes of the first electrode and branch electrodes of the second electrode are engaged with each other. A direction of the branch electrodes intersects with an orientation direction of the electrooptic material at an interface between the electrooptic material layer and the first substrate.
US08873121B2 Optical probe using sensor and method for controlling the same
Disclosed are an optical probe using a sensor and a method for controlling the same. The optical probe includes: an optical converter to change a light path of light generated from a light source; a vibrator to convert an electrical signal into a mechanical motion; a transmission member to transmit the motion of the vibrator to the optical converter; a position sensor to sense the position of the optical converter; and a controller to adjust the position of the optical converter by controlling the vibrator based on the position sensed by the position sensor.
US08873116B2 Sheet scanners
A sheet scanner comprises a sheet inlet on a front side, a scanned sheet outlet on a rear side, and a deflector to direct scanned sheets from the outlet towards the front side of the scanner, over the top cover thereof, and further comprises a stopper on the top cover, at the front side of the scanner and above the sheet inlet, to temporarily restrain the leading edge of a scanned sheet such that the sheet advances and folds over itself and beyond the stopper, the leading edge being released from the stopper when the sheet folded over itself and beyond the stopper pulls it downwards.
US08873115B2 Image reading apparatus
An image reading apparatus includes: a contact glass provided at an upper surface of a main body of the apparatus to set a manuscript thereon, an image sensor being positioned below the contact glass and having a reading surface on contact glass side for reading an image from the manuscript on the contact glass, a carriage supporting the image sensor accommodated in a sensor container formed to have a recess open to the contact glass side, a rail member slidably supporting the carriage, and a biasing member biasing the image sensor to the contact glass side via a biased portion adjacent to the reading surface of the image sensor. An upper end of the biasing member is positioned below the contact glass and above the lower surface of the image sensor.
US08873113B2 Image reading apparatus and related methods
According to embodiments, an image reading apparatus and an image reading method are disclosed. The image reading method comprises receiving a signal of an image color of an image on an original, and based on the received signal, controlling an illuminating section comprising a red light source, a green light source and a blue light source so that one of the red, green and blue light sources is turned off, while the remaining light sources are turned on. The image reading method further comprises receiving, on an image sensor, light from the turned-on light sources that is reflected off of the original, and processing the light received by the image sensor to form a monochromatic image.
US08873106B2 Method and system for enabling halftoning of a color image based on its color separation content
A method for enabling halftoning of an image based on its color separation content is provided. The method provides better image quality and includes: analyzing image data to determine whether one or more pixels of a plurality of input pixels are separation overlay pixels having colorant requests from multiple contone planes; and halftoning the pages of the color image to produce an output color image based on the following: if a page of the color image includes more than a threshold amount of separation overlay pixels and if a property of the separation overlay pixels exceeds a predetermined threshold value, then a first halftoning model of the image printing device is used to halftone that page of the color image, else a second halftoning model, which includes an adjustment of a property of a halftone dot in the output image, is used to halftone that page of the color image.
US08873100B2 Image forming apparatus, method of controlling image forming apparatus, computer program product, and image forming system
An image forming apparatus includes: a storage unit configured to store therein a plurality of function setting items; a display unit configured to display the function setting items stored in the storage unit; a selecting unit configured to select one or more function setting items to be displayed on the display unit from the function setting items stored in the storage unit based on a selecting condition for selecting the function setting items to be displayed on the display unit; and a control unit configured to select, when a single function setting item is selected by the selecting unit, the single function setting item as a function setting item to be executed by the image forming apparatus.
US08873099B2 Facsimile apparatus, communication apparatus, communication method and storage medium
Provided are a facsimile apparatus, a communication apparatus, and a communication method that perform communication using a session established according to a session initiation protocol (SIP). If an INVITE in which a media type is designated as “audio” is received, an INVITE in which a media type is designated as “image” is transmitted. If a success response is made to the transmitted INVITE, an image session is established and facsimile communication or image communication is executed. If an error response is made to the transmitted INVITE, calling processing for calling an operator is started.
US08873097B2 Information transmitting apparatus and method, and non-transitory computer readable medium
An information transmitting apparatus includes a first interface connected to a first network; a second interface connected to a second network; a saving unit that saves, when the first or second interface receives information from a device belonging to the first or second network, identification information of the device in a memory; and a transmitter that transmits, at a certain timing, information to the device indicated by the saved identification information. The saving unit saves, when the first or second interface receives information transmitted from a device belonging to the first or second network, interface information indicating the network interface that has received the information and identification information of the device in an associative manner in the memory. The transmitter obtains the interface information associated with the saved identification information and transmits information via the network interface indicated by the obtained interface information.
US08873092B2 Printing system, printing device, host device, and computer accessible storage storing program therefor
A printing system is configured such that, when authentication data is input by a user and a print request is made, if print data regarding the print request is stored in a printing device side storage, the printing device prints images on a printing sheet based on the print data stored in the printing device side storage, while, if the print data has been deleted by the printing device side deletion unit and is not stored in the printing device side storage, the printing device transmits print data request data identifying the print data regarding the print request to a host device and obtains the print data regarding the print request, and prints images on the printing sheet based on the obtained print data.
US08873091B2 Printing system, computer, image forming apparatus and printing method
In a printing system configured such that a computer and an image forming apparatus can be connected via a network, the computer sets a stamp image and transmits the set stamp image to the image forming apparatus via the network. The image forming apparatus includes a reading device that reads an original image, an image combining unit that reads out at least one stamp image from a storage unit, combines the stamp image with the original image read by the reading device, and forms a composite image, and a printing unit that prints the composite image on recording paper.
US08873090B2 Print system for outputting data from web application on a network
A print system according to the present invention includes an information processing apparatus including a Web browser, an application server including a Web application to be used via the Web browser, and a printer. The print system includes a transmission unit that, if the Web browser included in the information processing apparatus receives print data generated by the Web application and receives a print execution instruction, transmits the print data to the printer.
US08873072B2 Printing control method and printing control apparatus and computer program using program module for varying print settings
A method includes determining whether a program module for varying print settings for a printer driver is participating in print processing when the printer driver executes print processing; and switching a part of the print settings for the printer driver to the print settings according to the program module when the program module is participating in the print processing.
US08873069B2 Motion sensing method for determining whether to perform motion sensing according to distance detection result and related apparatus thereof
A motion sensing method for an object includes: receiving a distance detection result which is used for indicating distance detection information of the object in a neighborhood of a motion sensing apparatus; and determining whether to perform optical motion sensing upon the object of the neighborhood according to the distance detection result.
US08873068B2 Low coherence interferometric system for phase stepping shearography combined with 3D profilometry
The present invention relates to a portable industrial instrument for performing, in an integrated and two-way manner, an interferometric fringe projection and shearography, on a object to be tested, so that, when the two-way interferometer (1) is associated with the coherent or quasi-coherent projection device (2), the instrument is able to measure the 3D shape of the object by interferometric fringe projection, also known as moiré method, and, when the two-way interferometer (1) is associated with the recording or imaging device (4), the instrument is able to perform shearographic measurements on the object, the direction of the traversing light beam in the interferometer (1) being reversed when shifting from one measurement configuration to the other one.
US08873066B2 System and method for improved resolution, higher scan speeds and reduced processing time in scans involving swept-wavelength interferometry
A system and method for measuring an interferometric signal from a swept-wavelength interferometer by scanning a tunable laser source over two wavelength ranges, whose centers are separated substantially more than the length of wavelength ranges. The spatial resolution of the measurement is determined by the inverse of the wavelength separation between a first and second wavelength region, as well as by the wavelength range of the first and second regions. An electronically tunable laser may be utilized to produce two wavelength ranges that are widely separated in wavelength. Such a system and method has wide applications to the fields of optical frequency domain reflectometry (OFDR) and swept-wavelength optical coherence tomography (OCT), for example.
US08873063B2 Low noise resonator fiber optic gyro
A low-noise resonator fiber-optic gyroscope is provided. The low-noise resonator fiber-optic gyroscope includes at least one laser to output a reference optical beam, a first-optical-beam frequency controller to modulate the first optical beam at a first-modulation frequency, a second-optical-beam frequency controller to modulate the second optical beam at a second-modulation frequency to form a second-frequency-modulated optical beam, a fiber resonator having a counter-clockwise-input end configured to input the first-frequency-modulated optical beam and the clockwise-input end configured to input the second-frequency-modulated optical beam; a first-frequency demodulator to demodulate an optical beam output from the clockwise-input end of the fiber resonator; and a second-frequency demodulator to demodulate an optical beam output from the counter-clockwise-input end of the fiber resonator. The first-modulation frequency and the second-modulation frequency are adjusted so that sideband noise spectrum centered on the first and second modulation frequencies are from each other.
US08873059B2 Method for assessing an interaction of a sample with light beams having different wavelengths and a plurality of intensity modulating functions
A method for assessing an interaction of a sample with light beams having different wavelengths, the method comprising: generating a light beam having a wavelength and being intensity modulated according to a modulation function to create an intensity modulation in the light beam; irradiating the sample with the light beam; detecting a response light from the sample, the response light being released by the sample when the sample is irradiated with the light beam, the response light having intensity fluctuations caused by the intensity modulation; using the intensity fluctuations in the response light to identify the modulation function and associate the wavelength and the response light to each other; assessing the interaction of the sample with the light beam using the response light; stopping irradiating the sample with the light beam and performing the previous step with at least one other light beam having a different wavelength. The modulation functions provide wavelength information in the light beams by encoding the wavelengths in the light beams, the wavelength information being conveyed in the response lights to allow association of the response lights respectively with a respective wavelength.
US08873057B2 Variable path length probe
A probe having a probe head in which is formed an opening for receiving a sample to be analyzed, the head comprising a pair of optical interfaces disposed at an opposing inner surface of the opening to delimit a path for optical radiation through the opening, wherein one of the pair of optical interfaces comprises a transparent element adapted to permit optical radiation in one or more wavelength regions of interest to travel between the probe head and the opening, the optical probe comprising a movable diaphragm in which one of the pair of optical interfaces is located for movement therewith and an actuator operably connected to the diaphragm to control its movement so as to vary the path length wherein the probe head comprises a hinge system cooperable with the actuator to move the optical interface in the movable diaphragm in an arc to vary the path length.
US08873055B2 Optical technique for chemical and biochemical analysis
Structures and methods are described for optical detection of physical, chemical and/or biological samples. An optical detection structure may include a LED source, multiple filters and single or multiple sample areas. A detector may be used to record a fluorescence signal. The sample area may allow the introduction of removable cartridges.
US08873054B2 Metrology systems and methods
Various metrology systems and methods are provided. One metrology system includes a light source configured to produce a diffraction-limited light beam, an apodizer configured to shape the light beam in the entrance pupil of illumination optics, and optical elements configured to direct the diffraction-limited light beam from the apodizer to an illumination spot on a grating target on a wafer and to collect scattered light from the grating target. The metrology system further includes a field stop and a detector configured to detect the scattered light that passes through the field stop. In addition, the metrology system includes a computer system configured to determine a characteristic of the grating target using output of the detector.
US08873053B2 Method and system for gas measurements in a combustion chamber
The present invention relates to a method for determining at least one gas condition at a location in a combustion chamber of a power plant or a combined heat and power plant by means of a laser pulse. The method comprises emitting (S1) the laser pulse into the chamber, determining (S2) a first point of time at which the laser pulse is emitted into the chamber, detecting (S3) laser light backscattered by gas molecules at the location in the chamber, determining (S4) a second point of time at which the laser light backscattered by the gas molecules is detected, determining (S5) the location based on the first point of time, the second point of time, and a pulse length of the laser pulse, and determining (S5) the at least one gas condition at the location based on at least one characteristic of the backscattered laser light detected at the second point of time. A gas measurement system and a combustion system are also presented herein.
US08873052B2 Method and device for determining the quality of measurement results of a scattered light meter
A method for determining the quality of the measuring results of a scattered light meter for measuring the particle concentration in motor vehicle exhaust gases, which has at least one scattered light measuring chamber, at least one light source and at least one light sensor, includes the steps: determining the difference between two scattered light sensor signals, that were picked up in a reference state of the scattered light meter; determining the difference between two scattered light sensor signals, which were picked up in a used state of the scattered light meter; and comparing the difference of the signals picked up in the used state to the reference signal difference of the signals picked up in the reference state.
US08873051B2 Methods and systems for controlling the flow of particles for detection
A method of focusing particles is provided. The method includes transiting a fluid containing particles therein through a channel at a flow rate and adjusting the flow rate for a desired transit time through an interrogation zone through which a light from an excitation source passes. The method further includes optically exciting the particles with the excitation source, detecting an optical signal from the particles, and analyzing the optical signal. The particles may be droplets. Further, the particles may transit the interrogation zone in single file. A system of focusing particles is also provided. The system includes a channel having an inlet for accepting a fluid containing particles. The system further includes a flow adjuster configured to adjust the flow rate for a desired transit time through an interrogation zone, a light source configured to optically excite the particles, and a detector configured to detect optical signals from the particles.
US08873046B2 Spectroscopic detection device and confocal microscope
A spectroscopic detection device including: a stop in which an aperture is formed; a first and second photodetectors which detect detection light; a collimator which converts the detection light emitted from the stop into substantially parallel light, and emits light to at least one of the first and second photodetectors; a dispersive element which is arranged between the collimator and the first photodetector, and disperses the detection light; a condensing optical system which condenses the detection light dispersed by the dispersive element to the first photodetector; and a wavelength selection filter which is arranged between the collimator and the second photodetector, and allows light in a specified wavelength range to enter the second photodetector. The collimator is configured so that the focal length for the detection light emitted to the first photodetector may be different from the focal length for the detection light emitted to the second photodetector.
US08873039B2 Non-linear Raman spectroscopy apparatus, non-linear system, and non-linear raman spectroscopy method
A non-linear Raman spectroscopy apparatus includes a light source unit emitting a pulse beam having a pulse width of 0.2 ns to 10 ns, a pulse peak power of 50 W to 5000 W, and a wavelength of 500 nm to 1200 nm, and a single-mode fiber through which continuous white light is generated from the pulse beam. A test sample to be measured is radiated with a pump-cum-probe beam formed of the pulse beam and a Stokes beam formed of the continuous white light to obtain a Raman spectrum.
US08873037B2 SERS substrates
A surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy substrate device, including a base substrate, a single or multiple layered nanostructure that contains metals, and a plasma coating. The nanostructure metal is selected from the group including silver, gold, platinum, copper, titanium, chromium, and combinations thereof. The plasma coating has a thickness of 1-200 nm and may locate on the nanostructure layer or on the base substrate. The plasma coating can precisely control the surface characteristics, including surface energy, hydrophilicity, and contact angle, of the SERS device and may then help to regulate the SERS substrate with well defined and uniform water/oil contact angle with small standard deviation. The water contact angle of the SERS substrate may range from 20 to 140 degrees.
US08873036B2 Optical devices and systems for use in spectroscopy
Certain examples described herein are directed to optical devices and systems for use in spectroscopy. In particular, certain embodiments described herein are directed to devices and methods that may separate excitation light and Raman optical pathways, prior to sample irradiation, so that, if desired, the excitation light and the Raman scattered radiation may be independently manipulated.
US08873035B2 Systems and methods for correcting optical reflectance measurements
We disclose measurement systems and methods for measuring analytes in target regions of samples that also include features overlying the target regions. The systems include: (a) a light source; (b) a detection system; (c) a set of at least first, second, and third light ports which transmit light from the light source to a sample and receive and direct light reflected from the sample to the detection system, generating a first set of data including information corresponding to both an internal target within the sample and features overlying the internal target, and a second set of data including information corresponding to features overlying the internal target; and (d) a processor configured to remove information characteristic of the overlying features from the first set of data using the first and second sets of data to produce corrected information representing the internal target.
US08873034B2 Fiber-type image capturing method and apparatus thereof
A fiber-type image capturing apparatus includes a fiber optic, an optical rotating module, an outer tube, an air inlet hole, and an air outlet hole. The optical rotating module is connected to one end of the fiber optic and has a light forward exit and a light lateral exit. The optical rotating module further includes a stator, a rotor, and a light path selector. The stator is fixed correspondingly to the fiber optic. The rotor has a fan blade which is pivotally connected to the stator. The light path selector is installed at the rotor and has a forward scanning path and a lateral scanning path. The outer tube fixes the fiber optic and the optical rotating module. The air inlet hole is disposed at the outer tube and feeds the fan blade with air. The air outlet hole is disposed at the outer tube and vents the air.
US08873033B1 Cured-in-place-pipe liner inspection system and method
A cured-in-place-pipe (CIPP) liner inspection system used to inspect a resin level in a CIPP liner that has been impregnated with resin using an inspection chamber having an optical sensor. The CIPP liner inspection system is also used to identify zones within an installed CIPP liner having lower mechanical strength due to inadequate distribution of resin using a robotic unit having an optical sensor. The optical sensor measures an optical property, which is used to determine a resin level or a mechanical property based on predetermined correlations between the optical property and the resin level and predetermined correlations between the optical property and the mechanical property.
US08873029B2 Coaxial gyro accelerometer in a semiconductor substrate
A coaxial gyro accelerometer device in a semiconductor substrate for simultaneously sensing coaxial linear and rotational forces. An exemplary device includes a resonating cantilever beam within a substrate and a package having a resonating cavity. The package supports the substrate while allowing the beam to resonate. The substrate also includes a piezoresistor driver, a piezoresistor sensor, and a semiconductor interferometric optical gyro. The piezoresistor driver and sensor are incorporated within the beam. The driver electrothermally resonates the beam. The sensor piezoresistively senses a signal that relates to an acceleration force out-of-plane of the beam. A waveguide of the semiconductor interferometric optical gyro is incorporated in the substrate around the beam. The gyro senses rotational motion about the axis that is the same as the acceleration vector (out-of-plane of the beam). The gyro also includes a laser source and a light detector. The beam is formed contiguously from the semiconductor substrate.
US08873021B2 Debris mitigation system with improved gas distribution
A debris mitigation system for use in a radiation unit for EUV radiation and/or X-rays, for example, includes a foil trap having several passages allowing a straight passage of radiation, and one or several feed pipes for gas supply of buffer gas to the foil trap. The foil trap has an interior space extending over several of the passages, where the feed pipes open into the interior space.
US08873020B2 Cleaning nozzle for advanced lithography process
The present disclosure provides an apparatus for fabricating a semiconductor device. The apparatus includes a lithography tool. The lithography tool includes: a first nozzle configured to dispense a developer solution to a wafer; a second nozzle configured to dispense a cleaning solution to the first nozzle; and a controller configured to operate the second nozzle according to a predefined program. The present disclosure also provides a method of fabricating a semiconductor device. The method includes performing a developing process, wherein the performing the developing process includes dispensing a developer solution on a wafer using a first nozzle. The method also includes cleaning the first nozzle with a second nozzle, wherein the cleaning the first nozzle is executed according to one of a plurality of program recipes that each specify a sequence and a duration for which the first nozzle and the second nozzle are to be selectively activated.
US08873012B2 Liquid crystal display panel and liquid crystal display device using the same
A liquid crystal display panel includes a first substrate, a second substrate, a liquid crystal layer and an electrode structure. The second substrate is parallel to the first substrate. The liquid crystal layer is located between the first substrate and the second substrate. The electrode structure is disposed on the first substrate. The electrode structure includes a first branch portion and a second branch portion. The first branch portion includes first branch electrodes. The two adjacent first branch electrodes are parallel to each other and separated apart by a first interval. The second branch portion includes second branch electrodes. The two adjacent second branch electrodes are parallel to each other and separated apart by a second interval. Any first branch electrode corresponds to at least part of one of the second intervals. Any second branch electrode corresponds to at least part of one of the first intervals.
US08873011B2 Liquid crystal display device and method of manufacturing the same
In a liquid crystal display device of an IPS system, to realize reduction of manufacturing cost and improvement of yield by decreasing the number of steps for manufacturing a TFT. A channel etch type bottom gate TFT structure, where patterning of a source region and a drain region and patterning of a source wiring and a pixel electrode are carried out by the same photomask.
US08873010B2 Liquid crystal display device
According to one embodiment, a device includes a first substrate including a gate line, a source line which extends to intersect with the gate line, a pixel electrode which includes a primary pixel electrode extending substantially parallel to the source line, and a switching element located at the intersection of the gate line and the source line, a second substrate includes a common electrode which extends substantially parallel to the primary pixel electrode on both sides across the primary pixel electrode, and a liquid crystal layer including liquid crystal molecules held between the first and second substrates. The switching element includes a drain line which is electrically connected to the pixel electrode and which is located to overlap the gate line.
US08873009B2 Liquid crystal display device
A liquid crystal display device includes first and second substrates. The first substrate includes a pixel electrode covered by a first alignment film and having a belt-shaped main pixel electrode. The first alignment film is alignment processed in a first alignment treatment direction substantially in parallel with an extending direction of the main pixel electrode. The second substrate includes a common electrode arranged on both sides sandwiching the pixel electrode and extending substantially in parallel with the extending direction of the main pixel electrode. A sub-common electrode extends in a direction crossing the extending direction of the main pixel electrode on one end side of the main pixel electrode located on a starting side of the first alignment treatment direction. A second alignment film is processed in a second alignment treatment direction substantially in the same direction as the first alignment treatment direction.
US08873008B2 Liquid crystal display device
In one embodiment, a liquid crystal display device includes a first substrate and a second substrate. The first substrate includes a first source line and a second source line extending in a first direction, a main pixel electrode arranged between the first source line and a second source line and extending in the first direction, and a pair of first main common electrodes arranged on the first source line and the second source line interposing an insulating layer and extending in the first direction, respectively. The second substrate includes a pair of second main common electrode arranged above the first main common electrode and extending in the first direction, and the first main common electrode is connected with the second main common electrode. A liquid crystal layer is held between the first substrate and the second substrate.
US08873007B2 Liquid crystal display device
A liquid crystal display device is disclosed, comprising a first substrate, a second substrate and a liquid crystal layer. The first substrate comprises gate lines and a first transparent electrode while the second substrate is provided with a second transparent electrode. Relative to the first substrate, the inner side of the second substrate is separated into a first zone and a second zone. The first zone is locations on the second substrate to which the gate lines correspond, and the second zone is located aside to the locations on the second substrate that correspond to the gate lines. The second transparent electrode is disposed in the second zone. The liquid crystal display device of the present invention is capable of reducing parasitic capacitance of gate lines preferably, enabling the signal delay to subside in the gate lines.
US08873001B2 Display substrate and display device including the same
A display substrate and a display device are provided. The display substrate includes a substrate having a shielding area and a pixel area, and a black matrix layer disposed in the shielding area of the substrate and having a column spacer and a peripheral portion other than the column spacer, wherein an area of the peripheral portion of the black matrix layer relative to unit pixel area is approximately 11% or less.
US08872999B2 Backlight assembly and liquid crystal display including the same
A backlight assembly includes a light source, a light guide plate configured to receive and diffuse light emitted from the light source, and a mold frame including a central opening part configured to receive the light guide plate, an attachment opening part adjacent to the central opening part, the attachment opening part being configured to receive the light source, and a protrusion in the attachment opening part, the protrusion contacting the light source in the attachment opening.
US08872995B2 Flat panel display device, stereoscopic display device, and plasma display device
The present invention provides a flat panel display device, a stereoscopic display device, and a plasma display device. The flat panel display device includes a backlight system and a display panel. The backlight system includes a light source, a light homogenization mechanism, and a back frame. The back frame carries the light source and the light homogenization mechanism. The back frame includes at least two assembling pieces. The at least two assembling pieces are joined to form the back frame. The back frame further includes a bracing piece. An end of the bracing piece is fixed to the assembling piece and an opposite end of the bracing piece suspends. The present invention also provides a backlight system of flat panel display device. With this arrangement, the flat panel display device, the stereoscopic display device, and the plasma display device of the present invention have a mold for the back frame is of a simple structure, the cost of back frame mold is reduced, the material used for back frame is saved, and the manufacturing cost is lowered down. Further, the bracing piece has an end fixed to the assembling piece and an opposite end suspending so that the structure of the back frame is simple, the material for the back frame is saved, and thus, the weight and cost are reduced.
US08872992B2 Optical assembly, backlight unit including the same, and display apparatus including the backlight unit
An optical assembly includes a plurality of light sources emitting light in a first direction at a predetermined orientation angle, and a light guide panel having a light incident section and a light emitting section. The light incident section has a first surface to receive the light emitted from the light sources in the first direction and the light emitting section is to emit light received from the light incident section in a second direction. Also included is at least one cover having a first surface adjacent the light sources and a second surface adjacent at least one portion of the light emitting section.
US08872990B2 Display device
An arrangement with a shared polarizer disposed between two panels capable of displaying a 3D image using parallax barrier techniques is provided, where the quality of a displayed 3D image is prevented from decreasing due to the left-right imbalance in contrast ratio. The arrangement includes: a main panel; a switch panel for displaying a slit image serving as a parallax barrier; a polarizer located closer to the viewed side of the main panel; a polarizer located between the main panel and the switch panel; and a polarizer located closer to the side of the switch panel opposite the side closer to the main panel. The direction of rubbing for one of the alignment films of the switch panel is at an angle relative to the absorption axis of one of the polarizers such that a contrast ratio within a view range of the left and right eyes is equal to or higher than a reference value, the contrast ratio being measured on a visual line corresponding to the transmission axis of one of the polarizers.
US08872987B2 Stereoscopic image display
A stereoscopic image display includes a liquid crystal display panel, a patterned retarder attached to the liquid crystal display panel, polarizing glasses including a left eye filter passing through only a first polarized light passing through a first pattern of the patterned retarder and a right eye filter passing through only a second polarized light passing through a second pattern of the patterned retarder, and a backlight unit including an upper light source disposed under the upper side of the liquid crystal display panel, a lower light source disposed under the lower side of the liquid crystal display panel, a light guide plate between the upper light source and the lower light source, and a vertical viewing angle improvement sheet having prism patterns opposite to the light guide plate.
US08872986B2 Display device and method of manufacturing display device
A display device includes a glass substrate, a glass substrate arranged at a distance from and opposite to the glass substrate, a lower electrode formed on the glass substrate, a counter electrode formed on the glass substrate opposite to the lower electrode, a spacer ball for supporting the glass substrate and the glass substrate to maintain a gap between the glass substrate and the glass substrate, and a plurality of conductive particles in particulate form arranged between the glass substrate and the glass substrate, a clearance being provided between the conductive particles positioned on the lower electrode and the counter electrode, the conductive particles positioned on the lower electrode being able to come into contact with the counter electrode when the glass substrate is pressed.
US08872980B2 System and method for accumulative stillness analysis of video signals
A method and system for accumulating stillness characteristics is presented. The method and system generates field stillness characteristics for a current pixel of a current field. The field stillness characteristic is accumulated with an accumulated stillness characteristic that corresponds to a pixel location of the current pixel. The accumulated stillness characteristic includes stillness information regarding previous pixels of previous fields in the same pixel location as the current pixel.
US08872973B2 Light guiding sysetm, edge type backlight module and liquid display device
A light guiding system, an edge type backlight module and a liquid crystal display are disclosed. The light guiding system includes an ambient light collection system facing toward ambient light to absorb the ambient light and to generate absorbed light, a plurality of light guiding devices, and at least a first and a second light guiding bar. Each of the light guiding devices includes a light emitting end and a light incident end. The light incident ends of the optical fibers are arranged close to the ambient light collection system, and the lights entered from the light incident ends are propagated toward the light emitting ends. Each of the light guiding bars includes a light emitting surface, a light incident surface connected to the light emitting surface, and a first lateral side opposite to the light incident surface.
US08872972B2 Smart television with a built-in router module
A router module is arranged in a housing of a smart television. The router module is externally connected to a modem for surfing the Internet. The router module is electrically connected to a micro processing unit of the smart television. Therefore, the smart television is connected to the Internet through the router module. A wireless transmission chip of the router module is configured to process Internet signals. An antenna module is configured to wirelessly transmit the Internet signals, so that wireless network is shared to outside.
US08872970B2 System and method for transport stream sync byte detection with transport stream having multiple emulated sync bytes
A method and receiving device are provided that determine a synchronization byte in a plurality of transport stream packets, wherein the synchronization byte has a predetermined synchronization value. The method/receiving device receives, via a receiver, a portion of a first transport stream packet of the plurality of transport stream packets; detects, starting from the beginning of the portion of a first transport stream packet, a continuous four byte pattern that does not include the predetermined synchronization value; detects a first occurrence of a byte having the predetermined synchronization value; detects a subsequent byte separated from the first occurrence by a predetermined byte length; determines a byte value of the subsequent byte; and validates that the first occurrence is the synchronization byte based on a comparison of the byte value and the predetermined synchronization value.
US08872968B2 Adaptive windowing in motion detector for deinterlacer
A method of determining a motion value for a missing pixel in an interlaced video field using an adaptive window. The method includes computing a first mean absolute difference (MAD) value for a pixel based on a 1×5 window, computing a second MAD value for the pixel using a 3×5 window, and selectively blending the first and second MAD values to form a resultant motion value.
US08872967B1 Imaging unit and installation device
An imaging unit includes an imaging device that transmits an image data to an external display device; and an installation portion that is attachable to and detachable from the display device. The imaging device includes a communication part that transmits an image data to the display device, an outer barrel, and an imaging element. The installation portion includes a slider that is slidable with respect to the outer barrel, a first attached body that is connected to the slider, a second attached body that can change its gap with the first attached body, and a biasing member that biases the first attached body and the second attached body in a direction in which a gap therebetween becomes narrowed, in which the display device is grasped by the first attached body and the second attached body.
US08872966B2 Image capture apparatus
An image capture apparatus includes a connector, a first terminal resistor having a first resistance value, a second terminal resistor having a second resistance value which is smaller than the first resistance value, and a connection unit. The connection unit is configured (a) to disconnect the second terminal resistor from the connector if a time code signal is input to the connector, and (b) to connect the second terminal resistor to the connector if an external synchronization signal is input to the connector.
US08872963B2 Imaging apparatus and imaging method
A lens drive unit drives a focus lens. An imaging element obtains an image signal. An evaluation value calculation unit calculates an AF evaluation value from the image signal read out based on an interlace system. A determination unit determines whether the continuous AF evaluation values have a distribution of continuous increases and decreases. If the AF evaluation values are determined to have the distribution of continuous increases and decreases, an in-focus position calculation unit calculates an in-focus position by obtaining an interpolation curve from an intermediate value of the AF evaluation values adjacent to each other, otherwise, calculates the in-focus position by obtaining an interpolation curve of the AF evaluation value. A control unit drives the focus lens to the in-focus position.
US08872957B2 Display control method and device for finder device
There are provided: a half mirror provided in a finder device and transmitting an incident light image from a subject side and projecting the incident light image onto a photographer side finder view window side; a display panel provided in a position facing the half mirror in the finder device and displaying a taken image of the subject taken by an imaging device with given brightness so that the displayed taken image (EVF image) is reflected by the half mirror so as to be projected onto the photographer side finder view window side; and a display control portion changing brightness of the display image (EVF image) displayed on the display panel so that the brightness of the display image (EVF image) increases gradually to given brightness or the brightness of the display image (EVF image) further increases gradually from the given brightness.
US08872955B2 Digital photographing apparatus and method of controlling the same
Provided are a digital photographing apparatus including a 3D touch panel through which various manipulation signals of a photographer are input, and a method of controlling the digital photographing apparatus. Accordingly, not only plane coordinates information of an object is determined but also a distance between the object and the digital photographing apparatus is recognized as depth information to thereby control execution of a predetermined operation according to the depth information.
US08872951B2 Method and system for operating an image data collection device
In accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, a method is provided to form an image using an active pixel sensor imager (108). The method includes placing an active pixel sensor (202) in electrical contact with a column readout line (204), lacing a sample-and-hold capacitor into electrical contact with the column readout line, and placing the sample-and-hold capacitor (314 or 320) in electrical contact with an input capacitor (324 or 334) on an amplifier (222). All of the input capacitor (324 or 334), the sample-and-hold capacitor (314 or 320), and the active pixel sensor (202) are in electrical contact for an overlapping period of time. A differential output (228) from the amplifier (222) is digitized, and used to form an image.
US08872943B2 Imaging apparatus having framing assist control
In an imaging apparatus having framing assist control, a controller controls a change speed of the display angle of view changed by a second or a third instruction member faster than the change speed of the display angle of view changed by a first instruction member. The first instruction member is configured to issue an instruction regarding a change of a display angle of view and a change direction of the display angle of view. The second instruction member is configured to issue an instruction to change the display angle of view displayed on the monitor to a wide-angle side by a predetermined amount. The third instruction member is configured to issue an instruction to change the display angle of view displayed on the monitor to the display angle of view before the display angle of view is changed by the second instruction member.
US08872942B2 Imaging device
The imaging device of the present invention is provided with: an imaging sensor that captures subject light; a display unit that displays a through-image based on an imaging signal from the imaging sensor; a movie image generation unit that generates, on the basis of the imaging signal from the imaging sensor, at least two movie images each focused to at least two different regions set in the through-image displayed on the display unit; an image processing unit that performs image processing in linking portions of each of the movie images in order to link the at least two movie images generated by the movie image generation unit and generate compiled movie images; and a display control unit that controls the display unit to display the compiled movie images.
US08872940B2 Content aware storage of video data
Video analytics and a mass storage unit are contained in a camera housing of a video camera. The video analytics analyzes video data produced by the video camera and detects whether there is an occurrence of a defined event of interest. The video data representing the field of view of the scene observed by the video camera are stored in the mass storage unit. The stored video data include video data of first and second qualities. The first quality represents the occurrence in a field of view of the video camera of the defined event of interest detected by the video analytics. The second quality represents the nonoccurrence in the field of view of the defined event of interest detected by the video analytics. Storing video data of first and second qualities reduces system storage capacity demands.
US08872938B2 Sense amplifier including negative capacitance circuit and apparatuses including same
A sense amplifier having a negative capacitance circuit receives differential input signals via a pair of data lines, and senses and amplifies a voltage difference between differential output signals corresponding to the differential input signals as loaded by the negative capacitance circuit using a differential-to-single-ended amplifier to generate a corresponding data output signal.
US08872937B2 Image capture apparatus and image capturing method
An image capture apparatus includes: an image capturing unit; a first image capture controller configured to control the image capturing unit to capture a set of a plurality of images while changing exposure time for each of the images; a second image capture controller configured to obtain a plurality of sets of the images; an addition combination section configured to perform image alignment on the images contained in each of the sets and to perform addition combination on the aligned images to generate a combined image; a combination controller configured to control the addition combination section to perform the image alignment and the addition combination for each of the sets to obtain a plurality of combined images; a selector configured to evaluate the combined images and to select one of the combined images most highly evaluated as a selected image; and a storage configured to store the selected image.
US08872936B2 Image processing device, white balance correction method, and imaging device
An image processing device of the present invention comprises: an image combining section for combining a plurality of combination image data and generating combined image data; a WB setting section for performing setting for white balance correction processing; an image WB gain calculation section for calculating image WB gain respectively for the plurality of combination image data in accordance with setting of the WB setting section; a combined image WB gain calculating section for calculating combined image WB gain for the combined image data in accordance with information relating to a combination ratio for the image combining section and image WB gain for the respective plurality of combination image data; and a WB correction section for carrying out white balance correction for image data according to the combined image WB gain.
US08872935B2 Imaging apparatus and imaging operation processing method
An imaging apparatus includes: an imaging portion that obtains an imaging video signal; an enlargement processing portion that extracts a partial range from a picture frame range of the imaging video signal and applies video enlargement processing; a first detection portion that obtains a detection value for an automatic processing capability of a first type using the picture frame range before enlargement as a subject; a second detection portion that obtains a detection value for an automatic processing capability of a second type using a picture frame range of the imaging video signal after enlargement by the enlargement processing portion as the subject; a control portion that controls operations of the automatic processing capabilities of the first and second types according to the detection values; and one or plural processing portions that execute the automatic processing capabilities of the first and second types under control of the control portion.
US08872928B2 Methods and apparatus for subspace video stabilization
Methods, apparatus, and computer-readable storage media for subspace video stabilization. A subspace video stabilization technique may provide a robust and efficient approach to video stabilization that achieves high-quality camera motion for a wide range of videos. The technique may transform a set of input two-dimensional (2D) motion trajectories so that they are both smooth and resemble visually plausible views of the imaged scene; this may be achieved by enforcing subspace constraints on feature trajectories while smoothing them. The technique may assemble tracked features in the video into a trajectory matrix, factor the trajectory matrix into two low-rank matrices, and perform filtering or curve fitting in a low-dimensional linear space. The technique may employ a moving factorization technique that is both efficient and streamable.
US08872925B2 Method and device for camera calibration
Techniques pertaining to methods and devices for calibrating camera parameters are disclosed. According to one aspect of the present invention, objects on an image are detected and features on the objects, such as the top of a person, are identified. Perspective parallel lines based on the object features are constructed and vanishing points from the converged perspective parallel lines are determined. A vanishing line is defined according to the vanishing points. The intrinsic parameters, such as focal length, and the extrinsic parameters, such as tilting and pan angles, of a camera are calibrated according to the vanishing points, the vanishing line and a reference object with known dimensions, or known camera angles, The calibrated camera parameters are used for accurate photogrammetric measurements and computer vision applications.
US08872924B1 Imaging based auto display grid configuration system and method
An apparatus and method provides an automated mechanism for configuring a position arrangement of displays in a group of displays, such as a display grid. The apparatus and method uses an image capture unit, such as a camera to capture an image of the entire display grid while test patterns are being provided. In one example, a first device outputs the test patterns to the display grid while a second device that includes the camera analyzes the captured images and determines whether a display in the display grid needs to be logically remapped to provide proper image display when the first device outputs full SLS frames in normal operation.
US08872912B2 High speed distributed optical sensor inspection system
An electronics assembly line includes a first electronics assembly machine and a second electronics assembly machine. The first electronics assembly machine has a first electronics assembly machine outlet. The second electronics assembly machine has a second electronics assembly machine inlet and outlet. The inlet of the second electronics assembly machine is coupled to the outlet of the first electronics assembly machine by a conveyor. A first optical inspection sensor is disposed over the conveyor before the inlet of the second electronics assembly and is configured to provide first sensor inspection image data relative to a substrate that passes beneath the first optical inspection sensor in a non-stop fashion. A second optical inspection sensor is disposed over the conveyor after the outlet of the second electronics assembly machine and is configured to provide second sensor inspection image data relative to a substrate that passes beneath the second optical inspection sensor in a non-stop fashion. A computer is operably coupled to the first and second optical inspection sensors and is configured to provide an inspection result based upon at least one of the first and second inspection image data.
US08872910B1 Method and apparatus for a compact and high resolution eye-view recorder
An embodiment of an eye-view image recording apparatus includes an eyeglass frame, at least one first optical unit disposed on the eyeglass frame for capturing an image corresponding to a field of view of a user, and at least one second optical unit disposed on the eyeglass frame for tracking movement of at least one eye of the user to determine a direction within the field of view to which the at least one eye is directed. The eye-view image recording apparatus further includes at least one processor for receiving the determination of the direction within the field of view to which the at least one eye is directed, and generating a subset of the captured image based on the determination.
US08872907B2 Endoscope apparatus
Provided is an endoscope apparatus including a light-guiding part that guides illumination light emitted from a light source to the distal end of an inserted portion; a scanning part that makes the light-guiding part vibrate with a predetermined period, thus two-dimensionally scanning the illumination light emitted from the inserted portion on an observation subject; an image-acquisition part that receives return light of the illumination light coming from the observation subject and that generates an image signal based on a position scanned by the scanning part and an intensity of the return light; and a light-source control part that controls the light source so as to change the intensity of the illumination light emitted from the inserted portion in accordance with an angle formed between the longitudinal direction of the inserted portion and a direction in which the illumination light is emitted toward the observation subject.
US08872905B2 Multi-view stereoscopic display
A multi-view stereoscopic display includes a display panel and a parallax barrier panel. The display panel includes a plurality of scan lines, a plurality of data lines, and a plurality of pixels. The parallax barrier panel includes a plurality of barriers and a plurality of control lines. The parallax barrier panel can block the display panel for displaying a plurality of images of different view angles. Each barrier corresponds to a predetermined number of pixels of the same data line. The barriers corresponding to the same scan line are divided into a plurality of groups of barriers. The plurality of control line corresponds to the plurality of scan lines. Each control line drives a group of barriers corresponding to the same scan line.
US08872903B2 Stereoscopic video processor and stereoscopic video processing method
According to one embodiment, a stereoscopic video processor includes a mode setting module, an adjustment module, and a communication module. The mode setting module sets a mode from among a plurality of modes each specifying an adjustment amount related to the disparity between first stereoscopic video and second stereoscopic video. The adjustment module adjusts the disparity between the first stereoscopic video and the second stereoscopic video by an adjustment amount corresponding to the mode set by the mode setting module. The communication module communicates with stereoscopic glasses for viewing the first stereoscopic video and the second stereoscopic video the disparity between which is adjusted by the adjustment module.
US08872894B2 Stereoscopic video transcoder and methods for use therewith
A video transcoder includes a deformatting module that generates a deformatted video signal based on a video signal in a source stereoscopic video format, and further based on device data that corresponds to a particular target device. A scaling module generates a scaled video signal, based on the deformatted video signal and further based on the device data. A formatting module generates a reformatted video signal in accordance with a target video format, based on the scaled video signal and further based on the device data.
US08872891B2 Storage medium, information processing apparatus, information processing method and information processing system
A computer-readable storage medium having stored therein an information processing program to be executed by a computer is provided. The information processing program causes the computer to function as: preferential display object placing means for placing a preferential display object in an imaging range of a virtual stereo camera in a virtual three-dimensional space; stereoscopically visible image rendering means for taking the virtual three-dimensional space using the virtual stereo camera, and rendering a stereoscopically visible image of the virtual three-dimensional space; and display control means for causing the display apparatus to display the stereoscopically visible image rendered by the stereoscopically visible image rendering means. The stereoscopically visible image rendering means renders the preferential display object in preference to a predetermined object in front of the preferential display object, such that a portion of the preferential display object being overlapped by the predetermined object is translucent.
US08872889B2 Synchronization of the orientation of a 3D measurement device and the orientation of an intelligent guidance device
There is described a method to synchronize the orientation of an IGD 3D Coordinate System and the orientation of a 3DM 3D Coordinate System, in which the IGD's gravity direction measurement device and electronic compass are used explicitly. There is also described how an IGD, once its orientation has been synchronized to the orientation of a 3DM, can be used to display 3D graphics that guide the measurement process.
US08872887B2 Object detection and rendering for wide field of view (WFOV) image acquisition systems
An image acquisition device having a wide field of view includes a lens and image sensor configured to capture an original wide field of view (WFoV) image with a field of view of more than 90°. The device has an object detection engine that includes one or more cascades of object classifiers, e.g., face classifiers. A WFoV correction engine may apply rectilinear and/or cylindrical projections to pixels of the WFoV image, and/or non-linear, rectilinear and/or cylindrical lens elements or lens portions serve to prevent and/or correct distortion within the original WFoV image. One or more objects located within the original and/or distortion-corrected WFoV image is/are detectable by the object detection engine upon application of the one or more cascades of object classifiers.
US08872886B2 Method, apparatus, and system for establishing multi-cascade channel
A method, an apparatus and a system for establishing a multi-cascade channel. The method includes: receiving the site code stream obtaining request, where the request includes at least one identifier of the site; receiving an address and a port that correspond to the identifier of the site according to encoding information of a stream of the site code identified by the identifier of the site, and the address and the port that correspond to the identifier of the site; establishing a multi-cascade channel used for transmitting the code stream of the site identified by the identifier of the site; and sending the code stream of the site identified by the identifier of the site through the multi-cascade channel.
US08872882B2 Streaming a videoconference using distributed transcoding
A federated media server system. The federated media server system may include a plurality of media servers. A first media server may be coupled to a second media server over a network. The first media server may also be coupled to a third media server over the network. Additionally, the second and third media servers may be coupled to a plurality of respective clients. The first media server may be configured to record video, e.g., videoconferences, and stream recordings to clients and/or the second and third media servers. The second and third media servers may assist in performing video recording, transcoding, storage of recordings, multicasting, etc.
US08872881B2 Minimal decoding method for spatially multiplexing digital video pictures
A combined video image is created from a plurality of video images. Each video image has a plurality of video image components, and each video image component has an image component header. The image header is removed from each video image to be included in the combined video image, and a new image header is generated for the combined video image. The image component header of each video image component to be included in the combined video image is altered to set an image position for the video image component within the combined video image. The combined video image is generated by concatenating the new image header with the plurality of video images having no image headers and the video image components having the altered image component headers.
US08872880B1 Video conference service with multiple service tiers
A system may include a device that receives requests to initiate a videoconference call. The requests may include an indication of a service priority tier that should be applied to the call and first and second client devices for the call. The system may determining bandwidth availability in a network and determine, based on the bandwidth availability and based on the indication of the service priority tier of the call, whether to admit the videoconference call to the network. The device may provision, when it is determined to admit the call to the network, traffic policies corresponding to one or more network devices, where the policies are determined based on the service priority tier of the videoconference call.
US08872879B2 System and method for controlling videoconference with touch screen interface
A videoconferencing system includes a touch screen display device and a videoconferencing unit. The display device displays video data for the videoconference and generates touch data based on user selections relative to the touch screen. The videoconferencing unit is operatively coupled to the touch screen device by a video connection and a data interface connection, for example. The unit establishes and conducts a videoconference with one or more endpoints via a network. The unit sends video data to the display device and receives touch data from the device. The received touch data is used to control operation of the videoconferencing system. The received touch data can be used to initiate a videoconference call, change an operating parameter, change orientation of a camera, initiate a picture-in-picture display, access a menu, access memory, change a source of video data, initiate a whiteboard display, and access a screen of a connected device.
US08872875B2 Single-pass imaging system with anamorphic optical system
An single-pass imaging system utilizes a light source, a spatial light modulator and an anamorphic optical system to form a substantially one-dimensional high intensity line image on an imaging surface (e.g., the surface of a drum cylinder). The light source and the spatial light modulator are used to generate a relatively low intensity two-dimensional modulated light field in accordance with an image data line such that each pixel image of the line is elongated in the process (Y-axis) direction. The anamorphic optical system utilizes a cylindrical/acylindrical optical element to anamorphically image and concentrate the modulated light field in the process direction to form the substantially one-dimensional high intensity line image. The line image is generated with sufficient energy to evaporate fountain solution from the imaging surface. The imaging system simultaneously generates all component pixel images of the line image, thus facilitating a printing apparatus capable of 1200 dpi or greater.
US08872874B2 Light scanning unit and electrophotographic image forming apparatus using the same
A light scanning unit and an electrophotographic image forming apparatus employing the same. The light scanning unit includes an imaging optical system including, when a path of one of the light beams directed to one of the surfaces disposed relatively far from the deflector is referred to as a first light path and when a path of one of the light beams directed to one of the surfaces disposed relatively close to the deflector is referred to as a second light path, light paths in which both of a section of the second light path before a first change of the second light path and a section of the second light path after the first change of the second light path intersect a section of the first light path after a second change of the first light path.
US08872872B2 Optical scanning apparatus, including an adjustor, and image forming apparatus
An optical scanning apparatus, including: light sources; a deflector configured to deflect beams emitted from the light sources; and imaging optical systems configured to focus the beams deflected by a deflecting surface of the deflector on surfaces to be scanned, respectively, wherein: the beams entering the deflecting surface are P-polarized beam; the optical scanning apparatus further includes at least one reflection optical element reflecting a beam in a sub-scanning cross section on each of optical paths from the deflecting surface to the surfaces to be scanned; the optical paths include first and second optical paths having different numbers of the reflection optical elements from each other; and the optical scanning apparatus further includes an adjustor configured to adjust an output of a light source corresponding to at least one of the first and the second optical paths from among the light sources so that predetermined conditions are satisfied.
US08872869B2 System and method for correcting defective pixels of a display device
A method of displaying an image with a display device having at least one defective display pixel is provided. The method comprises generating first, second, and third sub-frames using image data for the image, information that identifies the at least one defective display pixel, a first pixel offset associated with the second sub-frame, and a sub-pixel offset associated with the third sub-frame, and alternating between displaying the first sub-frame in a first position, displaying the second sub-frame in a second position spatially offset from the first position according to the first pixel offset, and displaying the third sub-frame in a third position spatially offset from the first position and the second position according to the sub-pixel offset.
US08872867B2 Signal processing device, signal processing method, display device, and electronic apparatus
A signal processing device measures an actual luminance of a light-emitting device by setting levels of gradation values indicating the degree of light emission to a pixel circuit having the light-emitting device to generate measurement information. The device also calculates gradation deterioration characteristics based on the measurement information and the relationship between a gradation value and a luminance value when the pixel circuit is in a correction reference state. A deterioration value calculation calculates a conversion efficiency deterioration value of conversion efficiency for the light-emitting device to convert a driving current supplied for a gradation value into a luminance to generate conversion efficiency deterioration characteristic information. Finally, the device calculates current amount deterioration value that calculates a current amount deterioration value regarding deterioration of a driving current of the pixel circuit based on the gradation deterioration characteristic to generate current amount deterioration characteristic information of the prescribed pixel circuit.
US08872865B2 Pixel-driving circuit
A pixel driving circuit includes a first pixel, a second pixel, and a data driving circuit. Each pixel includes a main region and a sub region. The main region stores a gray level voltage and the sub region stores a gray level voltage corresponding to the gray level voltage stored in the main region when the main region and the sub region display image. In the data driving circuit, first, second, third, and fourth gray level voltages are generated by means of a first selecting circuit outputting first digital data corresponding to the first pixel and second digital data corresponding to the second pixel to the corresponding digital-to-analog converters. The first, second, third, and fourth gray level voltages are distributed to the main and sub regions of the first and second pixels by a second selecting circuit, thereby reducing the number of digital-to-analog converters.
US08872864B2 Display device, display system, and correction method
A control unit performs calibration when a determining unit determines that an absence condition of an operator is satisfied. Calibration is performed to a whole or part of brightness, a white point (gain), gamma (gradation), and primary colors (red, blue, and green colors). The control unit stores a correction amount by calibration in a storage unit, measures the (corrected) calibrated brightness or color tone by using an optical sensor, and stores the measured final measurement result in the storage unit as a corrected measurement value. After performing calibration or when the determining unit determines that a presence condition of the operator is satisfied, a profile generating unit generates color space information.
US08872862B2 Image display device
A gradation change detection circuit determines whether a gradation value has been changed from a previous frame. In at least one example embodiment, a first frame memory stores, when the gradation value is changed, a gradation value before change. A hold count calculation circuit determines a hold count indicating the number of frames inputted after the change of the gradation value. A second frame memory stores the determined hold counts. An emphasis conversion circuit performs a process of emphasizing a change in gradation value on a video signal, and makes a degree of emphasis smaller with a larger hold count. A liquid crystal panel is driven based on a video signal obtained by an overdrive circuit. By this, double optical responsivity occurring due to overdrive drive is prevented.
US08872860B2 Display device and driving method thereof
A method for driving a display device includes cumulatively applying a reset pulse of a predetermined level to a first electrode and applying a common voltage to a second electrode opposed to the first electrode to form an initial state of a plurality of cholesteric liquid crystal capsules included in a liquid crystal layer between the first electrode and the second electrode. The method also includes cumulatively applying a data pulse of a predetermined level to the first electrode to display a grayscale.
US08872857B2 Supervisory control system, method and computer program products
A supervisory control system includes a display unit for displaying an overview picture including at least one object. The supervisory control system further includes a display view displaying in an integrated manner the overview picture including overview information and a detailed information view including detailed information. A corresponding method and computer program products are also included.
US08872856B1 Macroblock based scaling of images using reduced memory bandwidth
A method and/or system of scaling images by providing a horizontal macroblock scaler with pixels of the images in units of macroblocks and a vertical macroblock scaler where the pixels of the output image are in units of macroblocks. For the horizontal macroblock scaler macroblocks decoded or vertically scaled are read into the horizontal scaler to generate horizontally scaled macroblocks of pixels. The horizontal scaler need not access data stored in a memory, which reduces the memory bandwidth need for scaling the image. For the vertical macroblock scaler macroblocks decoded or horizontally scaled are read into the vertical scaler from memory to generate vertical scaled macroblocks of pixel. The output of the vertical scaler can be sent directly to an encoder without going through memory first, which reduces the memory bandwidth need for scaling the image. A transcoder parameter may also be provided to scale transcoder parameters such as quantization step sizes and motion vectors that are received from the decoder. The scaled transcoder parameters may be fed to an encoder or a transcoder to encode or transcode the scaled images without motion estimation that is computationally expensive.
US08872854B1 Methods for real-time navigation and display of virtual worlds
A portable display device is operative to modulate the appearance of a real or virtual image in response to the motion of the display device with respect to its relative movement with respect the object's virtual position. The display in effect becomes a portable window into a virtual world. The virtual object can be created from a real object by image capture and can be 2 or 3 dimensional. Specific modes of display movement can be used to infer a relative movement of the display window with respect to the one or more objects in the virtual world.
US08872852B2 Positional context determination with multi marker confidence ranking
An augmented reality (AR) system receives image data from a camera of mobile device. The image data includes images of objects in the field of view of and at least two markers. A repository contains position information for objects and markers that may potentially appear in an image. The AR system receives a confidence level for the markers in the image, and selects the marker with the highest confidence level. The transformation and position of the marker in the image data is used to determine the identity of objects in the field of view. Further, the AR system generates overlaid image data that can be incorporated into the image data and sent back to be displayed on the mobile device. The overlaid image data is positioned according to the position data for the object it is associated with, and the transformation and position data for the selected marker.
US08872844B2 Method of deriving a graphical representation of domain-specific display objects on an external display
Technique for deriving a graphical representation of domain-specific display-objects on an external display (13) within a patient-monitoring system (1), in which only a small amount of data has to be transmitted to the external display device (3) and at the same time the user of the external display (13) gets the same “look and feel” as he is used to from the built-in display (12) of a patient monitor (2).
US08872836B2 Detecting static images and reducing resource usage on an electronic device
An electronic device for detecting static images and reducing resource usage is described. The electronic device includes a processor and instructions stored in memory. The electronic device determines image memory. The electronic device also sets a timer. The electronic device further monitors the image memory. The electronic device also determines whether there is a write access request for the image memory. Furthermore, the electronic device determines whether a time threshold has been reached based on the timer if there is not a write access request for the image memory. The electronic device also reduces display resource usage if the time threshold has been reached.
US08872835B2 Prevention of DoS attack by a rogue graphics application
A mechanism is described for mitigating the effects of such a DoS attack by detecting a multiple TDR situation within a short duration, identifying the errant virtual machines, and suspending all rendering ability for that virtual machine or set of virtual machines. While the disclosed embodiments are described in the context of virtual machines, the principles may be extended to the general problem of DoS attacks due to TDRs and bugchecks on any physical machine that includes a GPU. For example, DoS attacks can be generated from web sites directly using GPU rendering.
US08872834B2 Electronic payment terminal with an improved display
An electronic payment terminal is disclosed including a display screen including first and second terminals for receiving display data, a first processor connected to the first terminal and adapted for supplying display data to the first terminal at a first rate, and a second processor connected to the second terminal and adapted for supplying display data to the second terminal at a second rate lower than the first rate and adapted for supplying to the display screen a signal for the selection of the display data received at one of the first and second terminals. The second processor is further connected to the first processor and is adapted to send to the first processor a signal for authorizing or forbidding the transmission of display data to the display screen.
US08872832B2 System and method for mesh stabilization of facial motion capture data
A method and system for removing head motion from facial motion capture data. The method includes receiving a set of measured points of a target model, wherein each point is associated with coordinates in a 3D space. The method includes computing an optimal affine transformation function. The computing includes selecting an unprocessed point from the set of measured points. The computing includes selecting two nearby neighboring points of the unprocessed point. The computing includes computing an affine transformation function that minimizes an L2-norm error. The computing includes identifying the optimal affine transformation function from a set of computed affine transformation functions. The method includes displaying an aligned target model and reference model utilizing the optimal affine transformation function. The method includes outputting the optimal affine function to a computer-readable storage medium.
US08872828B2 Method for generating a graph lattice from a corpus of one or more data graphs
A document recognition system and method, where images are represented as a collection of primitive features whose spatial relations are represented as a graph. Useful subsets of all the possible subgraphs representing different portions of images are represented over a corpus of many images. The data structure is a lattice of subgraphs, and algorithms are provided means to build and use the graph lattice efficiently and effectively.
US08872827B2 Shadow softening graphics processing unit and method
A shadow softening GPU and method. One embodiment of the GPU is configured to render a shadow cast by a surface occluding a light source and includes: (1) a fetching circuit operable to retrieve a depth value from a texture associated with the surface and a depth comparison result in a single fetch operation, and (2) a shadow softening circuit configured to respectively employ the depth comparison result and the depth value to identify the surface as a blocker and attenuate the light source for a pixel.
US08872824B1 System, method, and computer program product for performing shadowing utilizing shadow maps and ray tracing
A system, method, and computer program product are provided for performing shadowing utilizing shadow maps and ray tracing. In operation, one or more shadow maps are rendered for at least one light source. Additionally, low confidence pixels associated with the one or more shadow maps are determined. Furthermore, shadow rays associated with the low confidence pixels are traced.
US08872822B2 Visualization of temporal data
Temporal data is analyzed and visualized with medical images. Visualizing temporal data includes providing a set of temporal data, detecting the number of distinct regions (40, 41) in the temporal data, based on the temporal behavior of the data, identifying and assigning a color scheme to each region and visualizing each region in accordance with the assigned color scheme. In embodiments, the number of distinct regions is detected based on the use of a clustering algorithm.
US08872820B2 System and method for splitting faces on a solid model
A system, method, and computer program for selecting modifications to a solid model that is manipulated in a computer having software instructions, comprising a computer system, wherein the computer system includes a memory, a processor, a user input device, and a display device; a computer generated geometric model stored in the memory in the memory of the computer system; and wherein the computer system selects a selecting point on a modification feature directly on a solid model using a computer peripheral input; sorts by distance a plurality of adjacent faces that are adjacent to a selection face determined by the selecting point; determines whether a convex condition exists wherein the plurality of adjacent faces are convex to the selection face; determines whether a candidate curves exists where the plurality of adjacent faces share a same surface with a previously visited face and the convex condition exists; imprints the candidate curve on the solid model to prepare the solid model for modification according to a modification intent from a user; modifies the solid model according to the modification intent that results in a modified solid model and modified visual display information; and displays the modified solid model using the modified visual display information to the user, and appropriate means and computer-readable instructions.
US08872817B2 Real-time three-dimensional real environment reconstruction apparatus and method
A real-time three-dimensional (3D) real environment reconstruction apparatus and method are provided. The real-time 3D real environment reconstruction apparatus reconstructs a 3D real environment in real-time, or processes data input through RGB-D cameras in real-time using a plurality of GPUs so as to reconstruct a wide ranging 3D real environment.
US08872807B2 Video processing circuit, video processing method, liquid crystal display device, and electronic apparatus
A video processing circuit used in a liquid crystal panel, includes: a first boundary detector that analyzes a video signal of a present frame to detect a boundary between a first pixel and a second pixel; a second boundary detector that analyzes a video signal of a frame one frame before the present frame to detect a boundary between the first pixel and the second pixel; a third boundary detector that detects a risk boundary that is determined by a tilt azimuth of the liquid crystal; and a correction portion that corrects an applied voltage to a liquid crystal device corresponding to a first pixel from the applied voltage to a liquid crystal device corresponding to the first pixel to a third voltage or higher, when the applied voltage specified by the video signal input to the first pixel is lower than the third voltage.
US08872806B2 Direction indicating device
An embodiment of the present invention provides a direction indicating device for generating a 2D direction indicating signal, which includes a base board, a first rectangular conductive plane formed on the base board, including a first sliding slot, a second rectangular conductive plane formed on the base board, overlapping the first rectangular conductive plane, and including a second sliding slot, a positioning axle perpendicular to the base board, passing through a space corresponding to overlap portions of the first sliding slot and the second sliding slot, for moving the first conductive plane along a first direction, and moving the second conductive plane along a second direction, and a control signal generating module for outputting the 2D direction indicating signal according to electric information of the first conductive plane and the second conductive plane.
US08872802B2 Optical touch module and related method of rotary angle adjustment
A method of adjusting a rotary angle of an optical touch module is disclosed in the present invention. The method includes measuring a length and a width of a panel; measuring a first moving distance and a second moving distance of a sensor of the optical touch module as moving from the first position to the second position; calculating a first projecting distance and a second projecting distance of the sensor at the first position according to the length and width of the panel; calculating a first angle and a second angle of the sensor at the second position according to the first moving distance, the second moving distance, the first projecting distance and the second projecting distance; and calculating the rotary angle of the sensor that moves from the first position to the second position according to the first angle and the second angle.
US08872801B2 Touch apparatus with separated compartments
A touch-sensitive apparatus for determining a location of at least one object on a touch surface. The touch-sensitive apparatus extends in a direction of depth and comprises a light transmissive panel, a display arranged behind the light transmissive panel, and a first compartment and second compartment arranged behind the display. Light from a light emitter arrangement in the first compartment is introduced into the light transmissive panel for propagation by internal reflection. The light is thereafter coupled out to be received by a light detection arrangement in the second compartment. The first and second compartments are separated, such that light from the light emitter arrangement is prevented from reaching the light detection arrangement without first having propagated in the light transmissive panel.
US08872800B2 Optical tablet stylus and indoor navigation system
Optical user input technology comprises three-dimensional (3D) input sensors and 3D location emitters to enable high-precision input in a 3D space, and the 3D location emitter may be a stylus or other writing or pointing device. Certain implementations may comprise an orientation assembly for transmitting orientation of the 3D location emitter in addition to location within a 3D space, and some implementations may also use selectively identifiable signaling from the 3D location emitters to the 3D input sensors to distinguish one 3D location emitter from another, to transmit data other data from a 3D location emitter to a 3D location sensor, or as a means of providing orientation information for the 3D location emitter with respect to the 3D location sensor. Also disclosed are position fixing, indoor navigation, and other complementary applications using 3D input sensors and/or 3D location emitters.
US08872797B2 Organic light emitting display device with touch screen function
An organic light emitting display device with a touch screen function, the apparatus including a first substrate including a pixel region and a nonpixel region, a second substrate disposed above the first substrate so as to be spaced apart from the first substrate, a plurality of pixel units disposed in the pixel region, and a sensor unit disposed in the nonpixel region and detecting light, where each of the plurality of pixel units includes a red subpixel, a green subpixel and a blue subpixel, and the red subpixel is arranged so as not to be adjacent to the sensor unit.
US08872794B2 Information processing apparatus
An information processing apparatus including a touch panel that detects a non-contact operation of an operation element by detecting an electrostatic capacitance of an operation surface of the touch panel; and a controller that determines a distance between the operation surface and the operation element based on the detected electrostatic capacitance, and controls a predetermined operation of the information processing apparatus based on the determined distance.
US08872791B2 Touch sensing device and method thereof
There are provided a touch sensing device and a method thereof. The touch sensing device, including: a plurality of sensing circuit units measuring capacitance variations from a plurality of sensing electrodes; at least one TDC circuit connected with the plurality of sensing circuit units to convert the capacitance variations into digital signals; a calculating unit judging a touch from the digital signals; and a delay circuit sequentially receiving the capacitance variations from the plurality of sensing circuit units.
US08872784B2 Character input method and apparatus in portable terminal having touch screen
A character input method and apparatus in an electronic terminal are provided. The character input method includes displaying a virtual keypad having at least one key area to which a plurality of characters are associated, displaying a plurality of areas when a touch is detected on the at least one key area, detecting whether the touch includes a drag and inputting, after the drag is detected, a character mapped to an area corresponding to a point where the drag is released.
US08872771B2 Touch sensing device having conductive nodes
A touch sensing device having conductive nodes is disclosed. The device can include a first structure having one or more conductive electrodes disposed on a surface opposite the structure's touchable surface and a second structure having one or more conductive nodes disposed on a surface. The two surfaces can be placed with the conductive electrodes and conductive nodes facing each other in close proximity so that the electrodes and the nodes can form capacitive elements for sensing a touch on the touchable surface. Separately disposing the conductive nodes from the touchable surface structure can make the touch sensing device thin. An example touch sensing device can be a click wheel.
US08872768B2 Input device
An input device for use in controlling medical equipment controlled by a mouse. The device includes an elastic finger cot having an interior sized and shaped for selectively receiving and retaining a user's finger. The device has a light emitting diode for emitting a beam of light to illuminate a selected surface and a light sensor for sensing a light reflected from the selected surface to detect movement of the sensor and finger cot relative to the surface and producing a signal corresponding to the detected movement. The device includes a transmitter for receiving the signal from the light sensor corresponding to the detected movement and generating an electromagnetic signal corresponding to the light sensor signal for receipt by the medical equipment. A power supply connected to the diode, the sensor, and the transmitter provides power. The medical equipment views the input device as the mouse controlling the medical equipment.
US08872765B2 Electronic device, portable terminal, computer program product, and device operation control method
According to one embodiment, an electronic device includes]: a connected device information management module; a connected device information sending module; an operation state sending module; and a connected device operation module. The connected device information management module is configured to manage function information of an external device connected to the electronic device. The connected device information sending module is configured to send the function information of the external device to a portable terminal in response to a transmission request from the portable terminal. The operation state sending module is configured to send an operation state of the electronic device with respect to the external device in response to the transmission request from the portable terminal. The connected device operation module is configured to perform a functional operation of the external device specified by a request sent from the portable terminal.
US08872764B2 Illumination systems incorporating a light guide and a reflective structure and related methods
This disclosure provides systems and methods for illumination systems with one or more reflective structures over a light guide. In one aspect, each reflective structure can have an absorber structure with a width greater than a width of the reflective structure. The absorber structure can have overhanging portions that are in parallel with and laterally protrude past one or more edges of the reflective structure, or the absorber structure can have enclosing portions that substantially enclose the reflective structure. The reflective structures can include light-turning features, such as facets, and/or conductive wires, such as touch sensor wires.
US08872763B2 Position detecting system and position detecting method
A position detecting system includes an indicating device including a photodiode that detects timing of a light pulse and a transmission unit that transmits a signal representing the timing, a plurality of light sources that emit light pulses to areas acquired by dividing a screen into a plurality of parts at timings unique to the light sources, a reception unit that receives the signal representing the timing, and a control unit that detects a position of the indicating device based on the signal representing the timing.
US08872761B2 Method and device for processing signals from a pointing device
The invention relates to a pointing device and a method for processing signals from such a pointing device, said device comprising a base and an actuator movable with respect to the base, and a detector, said detector adapted for providing at least first and second positional signals indicating a position of the actuator with respect to the base along corresponding first and second axes, wherein said signal processing method comprises the steps of converting the at least two positional signals into a polar coordinate signal comprising a magnitude signal, and thresholding the magnitude signal of the polar coordinate signal to provide a thresholded magnitude signal. In an embodiment the method further comprising the step of applying a conversion curve to the thresholded magnitude signal to produce a velocity magnitude signal.
US08872760B2 Recording and reproducing apparatus
A recording and reproducing apparatus includes: a recording means for storing a plurality of images in groups; a display means for displaying images stored in the recording means; a detecting means for detecting a part of a human body or an object in a predetermined form; and a display switching means for switching images to be displayed on the display means in accordance with a form of a part of a human body or a form of an object detected by the detecting means.
US08872753B2 Adjusting brightness of a display image in a display having an adjustable intensity light source
To adjust brightness of at least a portion of a display image, a type of content to be included within the display image is determined and, based on the identified content type, the light source of the display is set to an adjusted intensity. Thereafter, that portion of the display image unrelated to the content requiring adjusted brightness is processed to account for the adjusted intensity of the light source. Because the processing in accordance with the present invention is performed entirely on one or more processors that provide the display images to the display, the present invention overcomes the added complexity and cost associated with prior art techniques, while simultaneously providing the flexibility to quickly adjust display brightness based on types of content being included in the displayed image.
US08872751B2 Liquid crystal display device having interconnected transistors and electronic device including the same
A driver circuit includes a circuit 200, a transistor 101—1, and a transistor 101—2. A signal is selectively input from the circuit 200 to a gate of the transistor 101—1 and the transistor 101—2, so that the transistor 101—1 and the transistor 101—2 are controlled to be on or off. The transistor 101—1 and the transistor 101—2 are turned on or off; thus, the wiring 112 and the wiring 111 become conducting or non-conducting.
US08872747B2 LCD panel with structure of Cs-on-gate type storage capacitor connecting with thin film transistor
A liquid crystal display (LCD) panel is provided. The LCD panel includes a plurality of pixel units each having a storage capacitor, a plurality of scan lines coupled to the pixel units, and a plurality of storage capacitor charge transistors each respectively coupled to the storage capacitors of the corresponding pixel units and further coupled to two of the scan lines. The storage capacitor charge transistors are used for charging the storage capacitors of the pixel units.
US08872746B2 Display operable in both reflective and transmissive modes
A display apparatus includes a first display panel with a plurality of first pixels, a second display panel facing the first display panel and having a plurality of second pixels, a light reflective polarizer, and a backlight unit. The light reflective polarizer is interposed between the first and second display panels to transmit light polarized in a first direction, and reflect light polarized in a second direction substantially perpendicular to the first direction. The backlight unit is arranged proximate to the second display panel to supply light to the first and second display panels. The first display panel displays an image by using reflected ambient light, and the second display panel displays an image by using light from the backlight unit.
US08872743B2 Liquid crystal display device and control method therefor
The present invention provides a liquid crystal display device including a multiple primary color panel capable of improving the display quality in the vicinity of a monochromatic color, and a control method therefor. The present invention provides a liquid crystal display device that performs display by input thereto of image signals for three colors from outside. The liquid crystal display device includes a liquid crystal display panel and a backlight. A plurality of pixels each including picture elements of four colors or more are formed in a display region of the liquid crystal display panel. Each pixel includes picture elements of three colors, provided with color filters having colors corresponding to the respective colors of the image signals, and at least one picture element of other color(s), provided with a color filter having a color corresponding to a color other than the colors of the image signals. The light emission intensity of the backlight can be controlled in accordance with image signals input. The light emission intensity of the backlight when a monochromatic color or a color close to a monochromatic color is displayed in the display region is greater than the light emission intensity when white is displayed in the display region.
US08872742B2 LCD and drive method thereof
This invention relates to a liquid crystal display device and its driving method for improving a visual picture quality. A liquid crystal display device according to an embodiment includes a liquid crystal display panel where plural pixels composed of sub-pixels arranged in a fixed pattern are arranged by the unit of one horizontal line; a timing controller for controlling the gray level realization of digital data inputted from a system; and a data drive circuit that differently realigns a data pattern of the digital data by the unit of one horizontal line for each k horizontal period, that converts the digital data of the realigned data pattern into analog data voltages, and that makes the analog data voltages, which are buffered in accord with the realigned data pattern, in accord with an arrangement pattern of the sub-pixels constituting each pixel to supply the analog data voltages to each pixel.
US08872739B2 Semiconductor device, display device, and electronic device
A pixel includes a load, a transistor which controls a current supplied to the load, a storage capacitor, and first to fourth switches. By inputting a potential in accordance with a video signal into the pixel after the threshold voltage of the transistor is held in the storage capacitor, and holding a voltage of the sum of the threshold voltage and the potential, variations of a current value caused by variations of threshold voltage of a transistor can be suppressed. Consequently, a predetermined current can be supplied to the load such as a light-emitting element. Further, by changing the potential of a power supply line, a display device with a high duty ratio can be provided.
US08872731B2 Multi-screen display control
A dual-screen user device and methods for controlling data displayed thereby are disclosed. Specifically, the data displayed by the multiple screens of the dual-screen user device is conditioned upon the type of user gesture or combination of user gestures detected. The display controls described herein can correlate user inputs received in a gesture capture region to one or more display actions, which may include maximization, minimization, or reformatting instructions.
US08872730B2 Portable device and method for controlling the same
A method for controlling a portable device and which includes detecting one of a first unlock command for switching a state of a first display unit to an active state and maintaining a state of a second display unit in a locked state or a second unlock command for switching the state of the first display unit to the active state and switching the state of the second display unit to a ready-to-activate state; switching the states of the first and second display units to the active state and the ready-to-activate state, respectively, when the second unlock command is detected; detecting an unlock trigger; and switching the second display unit to the active state according to the detected unlock trigger.
US08872728B2 Terminal device and illumination control method
A terminal device is provided that includes screens and solves a problem in that power is consumed more than necessary. When a prescribed operation is performed on operation section 104, controller 105 causes LCD controller 103 to illuminate at least one of LCDs 101 and 102 at a first brightness levels. Subsequently, a selection operation of selecting any one of LCDs 101 and 102 is performed on operation section 104. When the selected LCD is illuminated at the first brightness levels, controller 105 causes LCD controller 103 to illuminate the LCD selected by the selection operation at a second brightness levels higher than the first brightness levels.
US08872727B2 Activating applications in portions of unified desktop
Embodiments provide for a handheld device with a unified desktop for integrating the functionality of the handheld device with a larger computer system. When connected to a peripheral display and/or a display of the larger computer system, the handheld device provides a unified desktop displayed across the screen(s) of the handheld device and the peripheral display. The unified desktop unifies the functionality provided by the larger computer system and the handheld functionality, e.g., communication applications (e.g., phone, SMS, MMS). A user can seamlessly interact with applications, e.g., open, move, close, receive notifications, on the unified desktop whether the applications are displayed on the screens of the handheld device, or the peripheral display of the larger computer system.
US08872726B2 Antenna device
There is provided an antenna that enables easy soldering of an external conductor of a coaxial cable to a ground pattern.An antenna device 10 capable of transmitting and receiving a radio wave includes a coaxial cable 20 having a center conductor 22 and an external conductor 21 and an antenna element 30. The antenna element 30 has an antenna pattern 32 and a ground pattern 34. The center conductor 22 is soldered to a first solder portion 324 of the antenna pattern 32, and the external conductor 21 is soldered to a second solder portion 344 of the ground pattern 34 by means of solder 52. The ground pattern 34 has an opening 34a defining the second solder portion 344. The second solder portion 344 is provided between the first solder portion 324 and the opening 34a.
US08872725B1 Electronically-tunable flexible low profile microwave antenna
A low profile antenna that provides high isolation to back-side radiation, is flexible to allow conformal mounting to a surface, and can be tuned over a wide frequency range is conceived. The design is suitable for applications that involve electromagnetic sensing for biomedical applications that require the antenna to be in contact with the material being monitored, providing the ability to adapt the frequency and input impedance via electronic control. It is also suitable for a range of communication applications that require low profile designs that mount conformably to structures such as helmet-mounted and vehicle-mounted configurations.
US08872720B2 Apparatus for controlling impedance in adaptive tuning antenna circuit
An apparatus for controlling impedance in an adaptive tuning antenna circuit is disclosed, wherein a matching unit is connected to an output terminal where a coupler outputs a coupled power of a transmission signal, a controller adjusts an impedance of the matching unit to cause the reflected power outputted by the coupler to be minimized, and the controller adjusts an impedance of a tuner to allow a combined impedance of the tuner and an antenna to be equal to the impedance of the matching unit but with opposite phases, thereby adjusting the impedance of the antenna in the optimal state.
US08872718B2 Radio antenna
The invention concerns a radio antenna for a space satellite, including a reflector and means of support of this reflector. The reflector includes a front skin able to reflect radio waves, a rigid rear structure supported by the means of support, and a layer of elastic material interposed between said front skin and said rigid rear structure, able to dampen the vibrations of the front skin.
US08872716B2 Wireless receiver
A wireless receiver including a dipole antenna and a circuit board, wherein high directivity characteristics can be acquired for wireless signals is provided. The wireless receiver includes a balanced feed antenna and a circuit board arranged in parallel to the longitudinal direction of the aforementioned balanced feed antenna. A conductive pattern formed on the aforementioned circuit board is composed of two or more partial patterns arranged with a gap interposed therebetween. The gap is formed at a position in between both ends of the aforementioned balanced feed antenna.
US08872710B2 Enclosed back side heating system for satellite dishes
A satellite dish heating system is installed on the rear side of a residential or commercial satellite dish to generate enough heat to keep the front face of a satellite dish reflector and the extension arm leading to the Lnbf warm enough to defrost the dish and arm during winter weather conditions including snow, ice, frost and ice fog, which interfere with satellite dish reception.
US08872708B2 Antennas for handheld electronic devices
Handheld electronic devices are provided that contain wireless communications circuitry having at least one antenna. The antenna may have a planar ground element and a planar resonating element. The planar ground element may have a rectangular shape that matches a rectangular housing shape for a handheld electronic device. A dielectric-filled slot may be formed in one end of the planar ground element. The planar resonating element may be located above the slot. The antenna may be a hybrid antenna that contains both a slot antenna structure formed from the slot and a planar inverted-F structure formed from the planar resonating element and the planar ground element. The antenna may be fed using a single transmission line or two transmission lines. With two transmission lines, one transmission line may be associated with the slot antenna structure and one transmission line may be associated with the planar inverted-F antenna structure.
US08872707B2 Multi-band antenna for tablet computer
A multi-band antenna for tablet computers is revealed. The antenna includes a first path, a second path, a third path, a fourth path, a fifth path, a sixth path, a seventh path, an eighth path and a grounding portion, connected to one another. Thereby the antenna can cover the GSM 850/900/1800/1900/ UMTS and LTE 700/2300/2700 operations.
US08872706B2 Antenna system with receiver diversity and tunable matching circuit
Electronic devices may be provided that contain wireless communications circuitry. The wireless communications circuitry may include radio-frequency transceiver circuitry and antenna structures. An electronic device may include a display mounted within a housing. A peripheral conductive member may run around the edges of the display and housing. Dielectric-filled gaps may divide the peripheral conductive member into individual segments. A ground plane may be formed within the housing from conductive housing structures, printed circuit boards, and other conductive elements. The ground plane and the segments of the peripheral conductive member may form antennas in upper and lower portions of the housing. The radio-frequency transceiver circuitry may implement receiver diversity using both the upper and lower antennas. The lower antenna may be used in transmitting signals. The upper antenna may be tuned using a tunable matching circuit.
US08872704B2 Integrated antenna and method for operating integrated antenna device
An integrated antenna is provided. The integrated antenna includes a first resonant element disposed on a chip, and receiving a first signal having a frequency from the chip; and a second resonant element disposed on a substrate, wherein the chip is disposed on the substrate, and the first signal enables a non-contact resonant coupling to be established between the first resonant element and the second resonant element due to the frequency to cause the second resonant element to generate and radiate a second signal.
US08872702B2 Tuneable PCB antenna
An antenna and antenna manufacturing process for an antenna configured for at least one of transmission or reception of electromagnetic waves with respect to a surrounding environment, the antenna having an antenna element positioned in metal trace on a carrier body, antenna element being isolated from an electrical ground of the antenna. The antenna comprises: at least one predefined removal portion positioned in the carrier body for containing a removal fraction of the antenna element, such that the carrier body located outside of the predefined removal portion is configured to contain the remainder fraction of the antenna element; and a weakness pattern in the carrier body about at least part of the periphery of the at least one predefined removal portion, the weakness pattern configured for predisposing the carrier body to break along the weakness pattern upon application of force, such that the at least one predefined removal portion and corresponding removal fraction would be separated from the antenna upon application; wherein the separation of the predefined removal portion and corresponding removal fraction provides for modification of at least one tuning parameter of the antenna having the remainder fraction as the tuned antenna element.
US08872696B2 Intermittent surface measurement
A method of determining a filling level of a product contained in a tank, the method comprising the steps of: a) transmitting an electromagnetic probing signal towards a target area of a surface of the product; b) receiving a reflected probing signal being a reflection of the electromagnetic probing signal at the surface; c) determining a parameter value indicative of an amplitude of the reflected probing signal; if the parameter value is indicative of an amplitude larger than a predetermined threshold value: d) transmitting an electromagnetic measuring signal towards the target area of the surface; e) receiving a return signal being a reflection of the electromagnetic measuring signal at the surface; and f) determining the filling level based on a time relation between the electromagnetic measuring signal and the return signal.
US08872695B2 Guided wave radar level gauge system with dielectric constant compensation through multi-mode propagation
A guided wave radar level gauge system, comprising a transmission line probe configured to support a first propagation mode such that it travels along the transmission line probe with a first propagation velocity exhibiting a first dependence on a dielectric constant of the surrounding medium, and support a second propagation mode such that it travels along the transmission line probe with a second propagation velocity exhibiting a second dependence, different from the first dependence, on the dielectric constant of the surrounding medium. The guided wave radar level gauge system further comprises processing circuitry connected to the transceiver for determining the filling level based on the reflected electromagnetic signal in the first propagation mode and the second propagation mode, and a known relation between the first dependence and the second dependence on the dielectric constant of the surrounding medium. Hereby, a filling level determination that is independent of the dielectric constant of the medium surrounding the transmission line probe can be achieved.
US08872693B1 Radar signature database validation for automatic target recognition
An information theoretic method for testing and/or validating the suitability of a multi-radar signature database to be used on radar systems having automatic target recognition. The database may include measured data and/or modeled synthetic data. The technique allows measured data to be compared to the synthetic data using modal mutual information. The present invention further includes an information theoretic method for real time calculation of automatic target recognition using modal mutual information calculation.
US08872691B1 Metastability detection and correction in analog to digital converter
A method of operating an analog to digital converter (ADC) comprises comparing an analog input signal to a reference signal, using a comparator, and generating a comparator output according to the comparison, storing the comparator output in at least one memory unit, monitoring the stored comparator output to determine whether a difference between the analog input signal and the reference signal is within a predetermined range, and detecting a metastability error upon determining that the difference between the analog input signal and the reference signal is within a predetermined range.
US08872687B1 Digital to analog converting method and converter insensitive to code-dependent distortions
A digital to analog converting method insensitive to code-dependent distortions is implemented by a digital to analog converter (DAC) having a plurality of unit current sources. A plurality of binary-weighted input codes are received by the DAC and rotated to generate dynamic element matched (DEM) encoded signals. Between the adjacent DEM encoded signals is a purposely added pre-determined return-to-zero (RTZ) code. When the DAC generates analog outputs according to the alternately received DEM encoded signals and the RTZ codes, a zero-voltage phase during the level transition of the analog outputs is obtained by the RTZ codes. With the DEM encoded signals and the RTZ codes, each level transition is independent. Furthermore, code-dependent problems such as mismatch- and transient-related distortion are mitigated by the DEM encoded signals.
US08872686B2 Low glitch current digital-to-analog converter
The present disclosure relates to a method and architecture to minimize a transient glitch within a current digital-to-analog converter (DAC) comprising an array of identical current unit cells. The current DAC is configured with individual column decoders for even and odd rows of current unit cells, thus allowing for independent control of adjacent rows. The even row and odd row column decoders further comprise thermal decoders with coupled timing encoding which establishes synergy between an adjacent pair of rows. As current units cells within an active row are activated across the row by a counting up of a first column decoder, the current units cells within a next row adjacent the active row are returned to an initial state of the active row by counting down in a second column decoder. Other devices and methods are also disclosed.
US08872685B2 Techniques to reduce harmonic distortions of impedance attenuators for low-power wideband high-resolution DACs
A digital-to-analog converter (DAC) includes, in part, a multitude of input stages that supply currents to a pair of current summing nodes in response to a digital signal, and an impedance attenuator coupled between the current summing nodes and the output of the DAC. The impedance attenuator is adapted, among other function, to increase the range of impedances of the output load, to account for changes in the output load impedance due to variations in the process, voltage and temperature, and to decouple the impedances seen by the summing nodes from the load impedance. The impedance attenuator further includes a differential-input, differential-output amplifier with programmable common-mode gain bandwidth to control the harmonic distortion of the amplifier. The impedance attenuator optionally includes a pair of cross-coupled capacitors to control the harmonic distortion of the amplifier.
US08872682B2 Analog-to-digital conversion loop for PS15 and WSS systems
An analog-to-digital conversion loop adapted to generate a digital output signal corresponding to a low-pass filtered replica of an analog input signal, including an analog adder configured to receive the input analog signal and an analog feedback signal, adapted to generate an analog error signal corresponding to the difference between the analog input signal and the analog feedback signal; an analog-to-digital converter having a nonlinear input-output conversion characteristic defining a larger quantization step the more the input to be converted differs from a null value, configured to receive the analog error signal and to generate a corresponding digital error signal a digital integrator configured to receive the digital error signal, configured to generate the digital output signal corresponding to the time integration of the digital error signal; a digital-to-analog converter, configured to receive the digital output signal and to generate the analog feedback signal as analog replica of the digital output signal.
US08872673B2 Vehicle-integrated automatic identification apparatus
An automatic identification apparatus includes a control module configured as an integrated component of a vehicle and an electrical power interface receptive to a power signal from the vehicle. The electrical power interface provides electrical power to the control module. The automatic identification apparatus also includes an antenna electrically connected to the control module. The antenna transmits a radio wave indicative of a unique identification. The antenna is configured as an integrated component of the vehicle and is located to communicate the radio wave external of the vehicle. The automatic identification apparatus further includes a memory interface assembly configured as an integrated component of the vehicle. The memory interface assembly is receptive to a memory device encoded with the unique identification. The memory interface assembly communicates the unique identification to the control module when the memory device is received in the memory interface assembly.
US08872672B2 Traffic signal system with dual light sources
A traffic signal system with dual light sources includes a signal displaying module, an ambient light module and a supplementary light module. The ambient light from environment is assembled by the ambient light module for generating a first light beam. A second light beam is provided by the supplementary light module disposed near the ground for easy maintaining and avoiding danger. The supplementary light module includes a sensor and a control circuit. The sensor senses the brightness of the first light beam passing through the signal displaying module and generates a photosensitive signal. The brightness of the second light beam is regulated by the control circuit according to the photosensitive signal. The brightness of the first light beam is supplied by regulating the brightness of the second light beam, so the signal displaying module has high-brightness light source and achieves the energy conservation.
US08872669B2 Door movement sensors and use thereof by apparatuses
Devices are provided which include a component assembly for detecting inward, outward and sideways door movement. A component of the assembly extending from a structure comprises a distal end for contacting a door face when the structure is arranged in proximity to the door face. Systems are provided which include a portable stand, a door movement sensor attached to the stand, a proximity sensor, and a user interface. The system is configured to transmit signals to the user interface when the proximity sensor has been placed a predetermined distance from a door face and when door movement occurs. Apparatuses are provided which include program instructions for receiving input regarding a number of entryways of a room and inhibiting commencement of a task for which an apparatus arranged in the room is configured to perform until a number of signals received from a door movement sensor equals the number of entryways.
US08872667B2 Fault isolation and service restoration in an electric grid
Fault isolation and service restoration in an electrical grid are provided. An approach for receiving a notification message including a state of an electrical component on an electrical grid, and determining, by a computing system, a command message including at least one action to take in response to the state of the electrical component, is described. The approach further includes sending the command message to at least one of the electrical component and other electrical components on the electrical grid.
US08872666B2 Trap for small animals
A trap for small animals, includes a trigger mechanism (26) to be triggered by an animal that is trapped, and a transmitter (42) actuated by the trigger mechanism for transmitting a detection signal to a monitoring center, the detector including a mechano-electrical transducer (44) that is driven by the trigger mechanism (26) and the energy of which powers the transmitter (42).
US08872664B2 Monitoring activity of an individual
Embodiments of the present invention relate to methods, devices, and systems to monitor activity. One method to monitor activity includes monitoring activity of an individual including detecting a sensor activated by an individual during the individual's daily activities. The embodiment also includes comparing the sensor activation to a predetermined sensor activation timeframe, determining whether to initiate an alert based upon the comparison, and checking for at least one other sensor activation to confirm whether an alert should be initiated.
US08872661B2 Closed loop location detection system
A closed loop location detection system for use in monitoring simultaneously the presence or absence of objects in at least two locations, comprises at least one detectable element per location and adapted to be associated with a respective object to be monitored, and at least one detecting device adapted to detect the detectable elements of the objects and so determine whether objects are present in, or absent from, all of the locations being monitored. Means are provided for causing an object to be fed to a location determined to be devoid of objects by the detecting device. Typically, the closed loop location detection system uses RFID technology, e.g. the detection device comprises at least one antenna and the detectable element comprising at least one RF tag. There may be provided one such antenna for each location to be monitored, whereby for a given location, a respective antenna detects the presence or absence of a respective tag thereby determining whether an object is present in this given location. Alternatively, the antenna can be adapted to monitor more than one location, wherein a position tag is associated with each location and means to deactivate the position tag are provided on each object, whereby when the object is fed to a given location, the means to deactivate that are provided on this given object, cause the position tag associated with the given location to stop being detected by the antenna thereby determining that a specific object has been fed to a specific location.
US08872660B2 Powered item attachment device
A powered item attachment device includes an onboard power supply and alarm system that sounds in the event a protected device is tampered with or removed from a retail display. The powered item attachment device may also track the location of a protected device if it is removed from the display device.
US08872656B2 System and method for performing chemical analysis of fingerprints for providing at least one response
An electronic device is presented including a fingerprint collecting module for collecting fingerprint information and a chemical analysis module for performing a chemical analysis of the fingerprint information to create a chemical profile for identifying at least a select number of molecules and/or organic compounds for deriving distinguishing characteristics from the fingerprint information. The electronic device may also include an evaluating module for evaluating the distinguishing characteristics of the fingerprint information to provide at least one response formulated from the distinguishing characteristics derived from the select number of molecules and/or organic compounds.
US08872654B2 Method and apparatus for wireless communication in test, measurement, control, and communication systems
A system for wireless multiple user access to a sensor comprises a sensor unit having a sensor element (e.g. a leak detector), a sensor user interface, and a sensor wireless transceiver that transmits information corresponding to the sensor output. One or more receiving units each receive the sensor information corresponding to the output of the sensor user interface, and provide that output to a receiver user interface. Multiple receiving units may be used, for example, by students receiving training on the use of a sensor unit. An instructor unit can provided to allow an instructor to review the sensor information and create instructional commentary that is transmitted to each of the student receiver units along with the sensor information.
US08872649B2 Alarm system
An alarm system control center has subscribers connected to it by a two-wire line. The subscribers receive via the two-wire line both a power supply voltage and communication messages in the form of pulse trains impressed on the power supply voltage as voltage modulation. Each subscriber includes a constant current circuit which is connected to the two-wire line and which is used to charge a storage capacitor with a voltage regulator coupled to it. In order to reduce communication errors, a transformer is provided to reduce power supply voltage to an internal value which is lower than the than the power supply voltage at least by the voltage swing of the pulses of the communication messages on the two-wire line.
US08872646B2 Method and system for waking up a device due to motion
A method comprises determining an idle sample value for a dominant axis of a device in an idle state. The method further comprises registering a motion of the device, and evaluating the motion. The method further comprises waking up the device when the analysis of the motion indicates a change in the dominant axis of the device and/or a level of acceleration beyond a threshold.
US08872645B2 Method for road grade estimation for enhancing the fuel economy index calculation
A method is provided of estimating a road grade of a current driven road. A nominal value of a vehicle operating parameter is measured during a nominal vehicle operating condition. The vehicle operating parameter is related to a vehicle thrust power. The nominal value of the vehicle operating condition is comprised of a nominal acceleration corresponding to the nominal value when the vehicle is driven on a substantially non-inclined road. The nominal value and nominal acceleration is stored in a memory. An actual value of the vehicle operating parameter is determined during a current vehicle operating condition. A vehicle acceleration corresponding to the actual value of the vehicle operating parameter is measured. The road grade of the current driven road is estimated as a function of a comparison between the measured acceleration value and the nominal acceleration that would be expected for the actual value of the vehicle operating parameter.
US08872644B2 Driving diagnosis information providing apparatus and system
A driving diagnosis information providing apparatus for a vehicle is disclosed. The driving diagnosis information providing apparatus acquires vehicle information indicative of a vehicle state, and makes a diagnosis of a driving state of the vehicle based on the vehicle information. The driving diagnosis information providing apparatus acquires, as useful information, one of announce information and helpful information. The announce information includes information to be reported to a driver of the vehicle. The helpful information includes information helpful for driving. The driving diagnosis information providing apparatus notifies the driver of diagnosis information indicative of a result of the diagnosis, and notifies the useful information in place of the diagnosis information under a predetermined condition.
US08872643B2 Enhanced heavy equipment proximity sensor
A safety system for an ore processing facility using a mobile mechanisms such as dozer-type wheeled vehicles operating in proximity with an excavator providing ore to a remote milling site. The excavator or earth moving mechanism has a positioning sensor (such as GPS) generating data indicative of the location of the earth moving mechanism and each of the mobile mechanisms also include positioning sensors. An analysis mechanism receives the positioning sensor data from the earth moving mechanism and the positioning sensor data from said mobile mechanisms and creates a distance calculation which is used alert the alarm in the earth moving mechanism and the alarm in the mobile mechanism if said distance calculation is less than a prescribed value.
US08872641B2 Premises-based wireless alert system for automotive tall cargo
This disclosure describes systems, methods, and apparatuses for providing visual and audio warnings to a vehicle driver warning of cargo on the vehicle roof when the vehicle approaches a structure. A low-power wireless transmitter can be coupled to each cargo item and is small enough to be left on the cargo when the cargo is used such that the wireless transmitter need not be removed from and reattached to the cargo. The wireless transmitter emits a wireless signal that a visual warning device coupled to the structure detects along with detection of a wireless signal from an audio warning device mounted within the vehicle. When both signals are detected, the visual warning device can provide a visual warning to the driver and also instruct the audio warning device inside the vehicle to audibly warn the driver.
US08872639B2 In-vehicle system
An in-vehicle system includes a instrument cluster display arranged in an instrument cluster and a heads-up display that projects an image in an area on a front window above the instrument cluster. When a user continues viewing a display screen of the instrument cluster display for a predetermined period of time or longer, the display of the instrument cluster display is stopped, and content displayed on the display of the instrument cluster display is displayed on the heads-up display.
US08872637B2 Method for selecting a controllable device
The present invention relates to a method for selecting at least one of a plurality of controllable devices (121-123), wherein each of the controllable devices (121-123) is adapted to transmit a distinguishable signal. The method comprising the steps of receiving (301) the signals from the plurality of controllable devices by means of a plurality of receiver modules comprised in a control device (110), wherein each receiver module separately detects a contribution of the signals; determining (302), using a correlation between the different signal contributions, a width and an angle of incidence for each of the signals; comparing (303-304) the width and the angle of incidence for each of the signals with a set of predetermined criteria; and selecting (305) at least one of the plurality of controllable devices best matching the set of predetermined criteria.
US08872631B2 Enhanced identification system
A method and an identification system used for communicating between a reader and a plurality of transponders are disclosed. The reader has a transmitter for transmitting a signal and each transponder includes a receiver for receiving the reader signal and a transmitter for generating a transponder signal. When the reader recognizes a transponder signal from one of the transponders it immediately issues a mute instruction, muting all other active transponders and passing control to the said transponder, without the need for a specifically timed acknowledgement to the said controlling transponder. The reader may issue a single disable/wakeup instruction which disables the controlling transponder returning control to the reader and reactivated all muted (but not disabled) transponders.
US08872630B2 Method and apparatus for cabinet asset management, and cabinet system
Embodiments of the present invention provide an apparatus and a method for cabinet asset management and a cabinet system. The apparatus for cabinet asset management includes a management unit and at least one antenna board unit. The management unit sends a read signal to the antenna board unit. After receiving the read signal, the antenna board unit sends the read signal in a form of an electromagnetic wave, so that after sensing a magnetic field signal, a label within a radiation range of the electromagnetic wave sends, using an induction current, configuration information of a physical component stored in the label to the antenna board unit. After receiving the configuration information, the antenna board unit reports the configuration information to the management unit. After receiving the configuration information reported by the antenna board unit, the management unit performs data analysis processing.
US08872625B2 Bridge between security system and appliances
A method and apparatus for controlling an appliance. The method includes the steps of a security system within a secured area, said security system having a wireless transmitter transmitting status messages including at least a first encrypted message that the security system in armed and a second encrypted message that the security system is disarmed, an appliance control device having a wireless receiver and a decryption unit, the wireless receiver receiving the first and second encrypted messages, the decryption unit decrypting the first encrypted message to recover the armed status message and decrypting the second encrypted message to recover the disarmed status message and an appliance associated with the secured area and controlled by the appliance control device, the appliance entering a relatively low energy consuming mode in response to the appliance control device receiving the armed message and the appliance entering a relatively high energy consuming mode in response to the appliance control device receiving the disarmed message.
US08872620B2 Wireless key system and key location determination method
A wireless key system and location detection method determine whether a wireless key is located inside or outside a main body. A communication device in the main body transmits a wireless signal using an inner antenna and an outer antenna outside the main body having a different directivity. A wireless key measures direction of movement of the wireless key when the wireless signal is received by one of antennas having different directivities, detects one of the antennas receiving the highest signal level of the wireless signal as a first antenna, selects one of the antennas having the same directivity as the inner antenna as a second antenna according to the measured direction of movement and detected directivity of the antenna, and decides that the wireless key is inside the main body based on the signal levels of the wireless signals received by the first and second antennas.
US08872619B2 Securing a transaction between a transponder and a reader
A transponder-reader payment system includes a fob including a transponder, and a RFID reader for interrogating the transponder. The system may further include a personalization system for populating onto the fob and RFID reader identifying information and security and authentication keys which may be used during mutual authentication of the fob and the reader and for completing a transaction. In exemplary operation, the fob and RFID reader may be personalized, the fob may be presented to the RFID reader for interrogation, the fob and reader may engage in mutual authentication, and fob identifying information may be provided to the reader for transaction completion. In another exemplary embodiment, operation of the transponder-reader payment system may be controlled by an activation circuit. Further, the fob may be responsive to multiple interrogation signals.
US08872613B2 Apparatus and method for generating electric energy in an electric power transmission system
Apparatus and method for generating electric energy in an electric power transmission system includes an AC cable including a core, wherein a portion of the core is partially surrounded by an apparatus including a ferromagnetic body and an electrically conducting winding. The ferromagnetic body extends along a longitudinal axis and has, in a cross section taken along said longitudinal axis, a shape defined by an arc. The electrically conducting winding is wound around the ferromagnetic body to form turns in planes substantially perpendicular to the arc.
US08872607B2 Safety switch
A method and apparatus for controlling operation of a safety switch assembly having a number of fixed and movable contacts, a control mechanism that alters the conducting state of the contacts, and a magnetizable member that extends between alternate portions of the safety switch assembly. The safety switch assembly includes a magnetically operable electrical switch that is positioned proximate the magnetizable material such that changes in the magnetic condition of the magnetizable material alter the conducting state of the magnetically operable electrical switch.
US08872600B2 High frequency circuit module with a filter disposed in a core layer of a circuit substrate
The high frequency circuit module includes an RFIC configured to transmit and receive a high frequency signal, a power amplifier IC configured to amplify a transmission signal outputted from the RFIC, and a duplexers configured to separate the transmission signal outputted from the power amplifier IC and inputted to an antenna and a reception signal from the antenna and inputted to the RFIC from each other, in which at least one of the RFIC and power amplifier IC is embedded in the circuit substrate, and the duplexers are disposed between the RFIC and the power amplifier IC.
US08872599B2 Power synthesis circuit for radio frequency power amplifier
A power synthesis circuit for a radio frequency (RF) power amplifier comprises a first matching network and a second matching network, which are connected with two-band signal output ports of the RF power amplifier respectively, and signal coupling circuits which are connected with two-band signal receiving ports respectively. The first matching network and the second matching network are connected with an antenna circuit via a duplexer, and are grounded via an inductor and a switch element which is connected in parallel to the inductor respectively. The leakage of signal among different channels is prevented. The transmission quality of the RF signal is improved. The cost of the power amplifier is reduced and the structure of the power amplifier is simplified.
US08872596B2 Polar signal generator
The present invention relates to a polar signal generator and method of deriving phase and amplitude components from in-phase (I) and quadrature-phase (Q) components of an input signal, wherein the I and Q components are generated at a first sampling frequency based on the input signal, and are then up-sampled in accordance with a predetermined first interpolation factor (N), to generate up-sampled I and Q components at a second sampling frequency higher than the first sampling frequency. The up-sampled I and Q components are converted into the phase and amplitude components, wherein the converting step is operated at the second sampling frequency. Moreover, the phase and amplitude components can be further up-sampled, optionally by different sampling frequencies, to a third and a fourth sampling frequency. Thereby, I-Q generation and cartesian-to-polar transformation can be performed at lower frequencies, which reduces power consumption.
US08872595B2 Binary bi-phase shift modulator
A binary bi-phase shift modulator having an input piezoelectric transducer and an output piezoelectric transducer connected in series between a radio frequency input and a radio frequency output. A fixed DC pole voltage having a first polarity is connected to one of the transducers. A DC switched pole voltage is connected to the other transducer which switches between the pole voltage of the first polarity and a pole voltage of the opposite polarity in accordance with a binary data signal. The polarity of the radio frequency input relative to the radio frequency output varies as a function of the polarity of the DC switched pole voltage.
US08872594B2 Comparator-less pulse-width modulation
A pulse width modulation device includes a switching transistor for defining modulation phases, a capacitor, and switches arranged to: a) in a first phase, charge the capacitor to a voltage corresponding to the on/off threshold of the switching transistor, and b) in a second phase, connect the capacitor between a terminal for applying a setpoint voltage and the gate of the switching transistor. A constant current source is connected to apply a current in the capacitor tending to bring the gate of the switching transistor toward the on/off threshold.
US08872592B2 High-speed transimpedance amplifier
A transimpedance amplifier includes a first inverter having a first input node and a first output node. The first input node is configured to be coupled to an input signal. A second inverter has a second input node and a second output node. The second input node is configured to receive a reference voltage terminal. The first inverter and the second inverter are configured to provide a differential output voltage signal between the first output node and the second output node.
US08872591B2 Temperature compensation circuit and electronic device with temperature compensation
A temperature compensation circuit is adapted to be used in an electronic device including a processing circuit. The temperature compensation circuit includes a thermistor, a compensation capacitor and a compensation diode. The thermistor has two ends, one of which is adapted to be electrically connected to the processing circuit. The compensation capacitor has two ends, one of which is electrically connected to the other one of the two ends of the thermistor. The compensation diode has an anode electrically connected to the other one of the two ends of the compensation capacitor, and a cathode to be grounded. The impedance of the thermistor varies with temperature so as to compensate and stabilize an output of the electronic device.
US08872590B2 Low-noise signal amplifying circuit and method thereof
A signal amplifying circuit includes: a first transistor having a first connecting terminal coupled to an input signal, and a controlling terminal coupled to a first reference voltage; an adjustable resistive circuit having a first terminal coupled to a second connecting terminal of the first transistor; and a second transistor having a first connecting terminal coupled to a second terminal of the adjustable resistive circuit, a controlling terminal coupled to a second reference voltage, and a second connecting terminal for outputting an output signal corresponding to the input signal; wherein a resistance of the adjustable resistive circuit is adjusted to make an input impedance looking into the first transistor from the first connecting terminal equal a predetermined impedance.
US08872587B2 Generating negative impedance compensation
Apparatuses for generating negative impedance compensation are provided. Embodiments include a differential amplifier having a first output and a second output; a capacitor coupled between the first output and the second output of the differential amplifier; a first negative impedance cross-coupled circuit having a first output and a second output; and a resistance control circuit coupled in series between the first output and the second output of the differential amplifier and the first output and the second output of the first negative impedance cross-coupled circuit.
US08872576B2 Recharging of the gate charge of a transistor
Power switches operate with reduced power consumption. A circuit controls a power switch via its gate having a gate capacitor. The circuit comprises an on-control switch coupling the gate of the power switch with a charge supply to provide a gate charge to the gate capacitor of the power switch, thereby putting the power switch to the on-state; a transformer and an off-control switch coupling the gate of the power switch with ground via a primary winding of the transformer to discharge the gate capacitor of the power switch, thereby causing a discharge current through the primary winding and thereby putting the power switch to the off-state; wherein a secondary winding is coupled to the charge supply, such that a current, which is induced in the secondary winding, recharges the charge supply.
US08872574B2 Interpolation circuit and reception system
An interpolation circuit includes: a first node to receive a first current; a second node to receive a second current; a third node to receive a third current; a first capacitor circuit including: first capacitors; a first switch to couple one end of each of first capacitors to one of first and second nodes; and a first output coupled to the other end of each of first capacitors; a second capacitor circuit including: second capacitors; a second switch to couple one end of each of second capacitors to one of second and third nodes; and a second output node coupled to the other end of each of second capacitors; and a third capacitor circuit including: a third capacitor whose one end is coupled to the second node; and a third switch to couple the other end of the third capacitor to one of first and second output nodes.
US08872569B2 Automatic quadrature network with phase and amplitude detection
An automatic quadrature network with amplitude and phase detection produces quadrature signals for an input oscillator signal, the quadrature signals being equal in amplitude and having ideal quadrature phase between them. An RC circuit provides one quadrature path, and a CR circuit provides another quadrature path. The outputs from the RC/CR circuits are amplitude detected to produce an amplitude control signal. The outputs also are amplitude limited, and the phase between the limiter outputs is detected to produce a phase control signal. The amplitude and phase control signals are combined to generate respective control signals for the RC/CR circuits to automatically align them so that the quadrature signals are of equal amplitude and ideal quadrature phase.
US08872565B2 Signal processing apparatus and signal processing method
Digital signals with higher resolution are generated from dual-phase encode signals indicating phase changes of a position or an angle of a target. A signal processing apparatus for processing dual-phase encode signals indicating changes in position of a target, comprises: a first noise reduction unit configured to remove high frequency noise from each of the dual-phase encode signals before interpolation processing; an interpolating unit configured to apply interpolation processing to the dual-phase encode signals output from the first noise reduction unit to generate dual-phase encode signals with higher resolution; and a second noise reduction unit configured to remove noise from the dual-phase encode signals output from the interpolating unit.
US08872563B2 System, method and apparatus for communication with occupants of a vehicle
A vehicle communication system for communicating with a person who is within a vehicle includes a device for hearing audible noises that emanate within the vehicle at locations external to the vehicle without making physical contact with the vehicle. Communication from the person in the vehicle to a person external to the vehicle is performed by aiming a light beam from the vehicle and receiving reflections of the light beam. The light beam is modulated by vibration of the vehicle caused the audible noises from within the vehicle. The received light beam is then processed to reproduce the audible noises so that the audible noises can be heard from a location outside of the vehicle, even when the vehicle is sealed (windows closed, etc.).
US08872558B1 Hybrid phase-locked loops
A method of controlling a hybrid phase-locked loop may include generating a first control signal based on an offset signal and a second control signal and determining a difference between the first and the second control signals. The method may further include adjusting a value of the offset signal based on the difference between the first and the second control signals to drive a level of the first control signal to a level of the second control signal. The method may further include determining when the level of the first control signal crosses the level of the second control signal. After the level of the first control signal crosses the level of the second control signal, the method may include adjusting the value of the offset signal based on a number of occurrences of the level of the first control signal crossing the level of the second control signal.
US08872550B2 Signal processing apparatus and method
An apparatus and a method for processing a signal, and for estimating a point corresponding to a maximum slope from an envelope of an input signal, are provided. A signal processing apparatus includes an envelope detecting unit configured to detect an envelope of an input signal. The signal processing apparatus further includes a correcting unit configured to correct slopes, each of the slopes being between respective points of the envelope, based on information on a clipping interval of the envelope. The signal processing apparatus further includes an estimating unit configured to estimate a point, of the envelope, in which a corrected slope, among the corrected slopes, includes a maximum value.
US08872544B2 Systems, pipeline stages, and computer readable media for advanced asynchronous pipeline circuits
Systems, pipeline stages, and computer readable media for advanced asynchronous pipeline circuits are disclosed. According to one aspect, the subject matter described herein includes a configurable system for constructing asynchronous application specific integrated data pipeline circuits. The system includes multiple modular circuit stages that are connectable with each other using transitional signaling and with other circuit elements to form multi-stage asynchronous application-specific integrated data pipeline circuits for asynchronously passing data through a series of stages based on a behavior implemented by each stage. The modular circuit stages each include sets of logic gates connected to each other for implementing the behaviors, the behaviors including at least one of conditional split, conditional select, conditional join, merge without arbitration, and stage arbitration.
US08872543B2 Configurable logic block and operation method thereof
A configurable logic block (CLB) and an operation method of the CLB are provided. The CLB includes memory units and a selecting circuit. The memory unit includes a first resistive non-volatile memory (RNVM) element and a second RNVM element. Top electrodes (TEs) of the first and second RNVM elements are coupled to an output terminal of the memory unit. Bottom electrodes (BEs) of the first and second RNVM elements are respectively coupled to a first bias terminal and a second bias terminal of the memory unit. The selecting circuit selects one of the memory units according to an input logic value and determines an output logic value of the CLB according to an output logic value of the selected memory unit.
US08872542B2 Semiconductor device and semiconductor device control method
A semiconductor device comprises: reconfigurable logic circuit that includes plurality of resistance change elements; logical configuration of the reconfigurable logic circuit being decided depending on whether each of plurality of resistance change elements is in first resistance state or in second resistance state whose resistance value is lower than resistance value of first resistance state; resistance value monitor circuit that includes resistance change element pre-programmed to the first resistance state; the resistance value monitor circuit detecting whether or not pre-programmed resistance change element retains the first resistance state; and controller that, in case it is detected that resistance change element provided in resistance value monitor circuit doe not retain first resistance state, applies voltage used in programming from second resistance state to first resistance state to resistance change element retaining first resistance states, out of plurality of resistance change elements provided in reconfigurable logic circuit.
US08872536B1 Characterizing dies
An embodiment of a method to characterize a die is disclosed. The embodiment of the method includes measuring a quality metric of the die, and determining, prior to a final test stage, whether the quality metric of the die satisfies a first constraint, where the first constraint is more stringent than a second constraint at the final test stage for the quality metric of the die.
US08872532B2 Wafer test cassette system
Wafer cassette systems and methods of using wafer cassette systems. A wafer cassette system can include a base and a probe card assembly. The base and the probe card assembly can each include complementary interlocking alignment elements. The alignment elements can constrain relative movement of the base and probe card assembly in directions parallel to a wafer receiving surface of the base, while permitting relative movement in a direction perpendicular to the receiving surface.
US08872531B2 Semiconductor device and test apparatus including the same
A semiconductor device and a test apparatus including the same, the semiconductor device including a command distributor receiving a serial command that is synchronized with a first clock signal and converting the serial command into a parallel command, a command decoder receiving the parallel command and generating a pattern sequence based on the parallel command, and a signal generator receiving the pattern sequence and generating operating signals synchronized with a second clock signal, wherein a frequency of the first clock signal is less than a frequency of the second clock signal.
US08872529B2 Component detection device and component detection method
Provided is a component detection device, which is installable on component processing means which performs a predetermined operation to a conductive component interposed between one conductive member and another conductive member, the component detection device comprising a detection circuit (41) for distinguishing between the conductive component and a conductive foreign matter interposed between the one conductive member and the another conductive member, the detection circuit (41) being electrically connected between the one conductive member and the another conductive member, wherein the detection circuit (41) comprises: a reference voltage generating circuit section (43) for generating a reference voltage based on an input voltage; a voltage comparing circuit section (44) for comparing between the reference voltage and a detection voltage input from a detection terminal; and a sensitivity adjusting circuit section (45) for adjusting the detection voltage so that, when the conductive component is interposed between the one conductive member and the another conductive member, the detection voltage is equal to or smaller than the reference voltage, and when the conductive foreign matter is interposed between the one conductive member and the another conductive member, the detection voltage is larger than the reference voltage.
US08872527B2 Capacitance detection in a droplet actuator
A method, circuit and apparatus for detecting capacitance on a droplet actuator, inter alia, for determining the presence, partial presence or absence of a droplet at an electrode on a droplet actuator by: (a) providing a droplet actuator comprising: (i) a substrate comprising electrodes arranged on the substrate for conducting droplet operations on a surface of the substrate; (ii) a capacitance detection circuit for detecting capacitance at the droplet operations surface at one or more of the electrodes; (b) detecting capacitance at the droplet operations surface at one or more of the electrodes; and (c) determining from the capacitance the presence, partial presence or absence of a droplet at the droplet operations surface at the electrode.
US08872521B2 Electrical parameter detection device for peripheral component interconnect devices
An electrical parameter detection device is configured for detecting electrical parameters of a peripheral component interconnect (PCI) connector including a plurality of power pins. The electrical parameter detection device includes a processor module, a first detection module, and a second detection module. The processor module continuously detects voltage values of electric potentials provided by each of the power pins of the PCI connector using the first detection module, and determines time sequences of the electric potentials according to the voltage values of the electric potentials. Furthermore, the processor module detects the amount of power provided by each of the power pins of the PCI connector using the second detection module.
US08872516B2 Electronic battery tester mounted in a vehicle
A cable for connecting to an electronic battery tester, includes a first end configured to couple to a databus of a vehicle and a second end configured to couple to the electronic battery tester. An electrical connection extends between the first end and the second end and is configured to couple the electronic battery tester to the databus of the vehicle.
US08872510B2 Device for detecting a rotational angle of a rotatable part
An apparatus for sensing a rotation angle of a rotatable part, preferably a steering wheel or steering column of a vehicle includes at least one magnet, at least one sensor that senses the magnetic field of the magnet, at least one housing in which the sensor and/or magnet are disposed movably relative to one another, wherein a hub is provided which is connected to the magnet to yield an integrated component, and which is connectable to the rotatable part.
US08872509B2 Reducing angular clearance between a motor shaft and an angular position sensor
An electric motor assembly includes a motor shaft rotatable about a longitudinal axis, an angular position sensor rotor, and a deformable pin. The motor shaft has an axial keyway formed therein, and the axial keyway has a nominal keyway dimension. The angular position sensor rotor is coupled to the motor shaft to rotate with the motor shaft. The angular position sensor rotor has an axial key to fit within the axial keyway of the motor shaft, and the axial key has a nominal key dimension that is less than the nominal keyway dimension. The deformable pin is located in the axial keyway under compression between the axial key and the motor shaft to inhibit rotational shifting of the angular position sensor rotor relative to the motor shaft.
US08872504B2 Method for automatically setting frequency span in a spectrum analyzer
Embodiments of this invention include a test and measurement instrument and associated methods for automatically setting frequency span in a spectrum analyzer. For example, starting with a high reference level, the power level can be automatically measured for each band. If a suitable minimum power is not found in one of the bands, the reference level can be automatically and iteratively decreased until the suitable minimum power is found, or until the most sensitive power level is reached. This assures enough sensitivity to correctly determine the signal power level and not make decisions based on noise. When power on any band is greater than the predefined noise criteria, then the band having the highest power level can be selected, and the center frequency and span for the band measuring the most power can be automatically set.
US08872502B2 Voltage regulator with low and high power modes
A voltage regulator including first and second regulator elements connected between an output node and a supply rail for supplying load current to a load connected to the output node. The voltage regulator includes first and second control modules for controlling the first and second regulator elements respectively to maintain the output node at a regulated voltage in the presence of a variable impedance presented by the load to the output node, the second regulator element and the second control module having a smaller load current capacity and smaller leakage current than the first regulator element and the first control module. The voltage regulator includes a mode selector for de-activating the first regulator element and the first control module in a first operational mode, for activating the first regulator element and the first control module in a second operational mode.
US08872498B2 DC converter for a motor vehicle
A step-up converter converts a battery voltage to an intermediate voltage. The intermediate voltage is greater than or equal to the battery voltage. A step-down converter receives the intermediate voltage supplied by the step-up converter and controls an output voltage which is less than or equal to the intermediate voltage. The step-up converter controls the intermediate voltage in an open loop depending on the battery voltage, at least if the battery voltage is lower than a first predetermined value, and at least if at the same time the load on the output of the step-up converter exceeds a minimum load.
US08872497B2 Switched-mode power supply
Disclosed is a switched-mode power supply including an inductor which is connected between a voltage input terminal to which a DC voltage is input and an output terminal to which a load is connected, a driver switching element which intermittently feeds a current to the inductor and a control circuit which generates a control pulse according to a feedback voltage from output side and controls on/off of the driver switching element. The control circuit includes a voltage comparison circuit which compares the feedback voltage to a predetermined voltage and a pseudo ripple generator circuit which generates a pseudo ripple voltage having a predetermined amplitude, and the control circuit injects a ripple component in a transmission path of the feedback voltage based on the pseudo ripple voltage generated by the pseudo ripple generator circuit.
US08872490B2 Voltage regulator
Provided is a voltage regulator which includes an inrush current prevention circuit so that no current is consumed after the start-up of the voltage regulator. A start-up circuit of the voltage regulator includes: a constant current circuit; a first transistor connected between the constant current circuit and a constant voltage generation circuit; a second transistor including a drain connected to a gate of the first transistor, and a gate to which a voltage based on an output voltage is input; a first depletion transistor including a gate connected to the drain of the second transistor, and a source connected to a source of the second transistor; and a third transistor including a gate connected to the gate of the second transistor, and a drain connected to the drain of the second transistor.
US08872489B2 Regulator and high voltage generator including the same
A regulator includes a current path unit coupled between an input terminal and a ground terminal and including a first current determination unit coupled between the input terminal and a control node and configured to supply the high voltage to the control node so that a first or second current path is selected depending on a voltage of the control node, and a second current determination unit coupled between the control node and the ground terminal and configured to control the voltage of the control node depending on an input voltage, a voltage supply unit configured to supply the high voltage to an output terminal depending on the voltage of the control node, a voltage division unit configured to create a division voltage, and an amplification unit configured to amplify a difference between the division voltage and a first reference voltage.
US08872488B2 Voltage regulator including compensation circuit and memory device including voltage regulator
A voltage regulator and a memory device including same are provided. The voltage provider includes a resistive circuit configured to output at least one divided voltage; at least one driver circuit configured to be connected to the resistive circuit and to set the at least one divided voltage; and a compensation circuit configured to be connected to the at least one driver circuit, to receive a predetermined voltage, and to apply a power supply voltage to the at least one driver circuit. The at least one driver circuit may set the at least one divided voltage based on the power supply voltage received from the compensation circuit.
US08872487B2 Scalable buck-boost DC-DC converter
A DC-DC converter is disclosed having an input configured to receive an input signal and an output configured to present an output signal at a different voltage than the input signal. The converter also includes at least one inductor and at least one capacitor. Two or more transistors fingers are provided such that at least one of the two or more transistor fingers comprises two or more switching transistors, each of which has an input, an output, a control input. An activation controller connect to at least one of the two or more switching transistors, the activation controller configured to control whether the at least one of the two or more switching transistors is active or non-active. Also disclosed is a buck-boost converter with numerous controlled switches that establish the converter in either buck-boost mode, buck mode or boost mode.
US08872483B2 Drive controlling apparatus and power generation controlling method
In a power generation controlling method, if a first peak of the inverse of the rotation number measured in a first cycle following a plurality of successive cycles is not equal to or lower than a second threshold, it is judged whether or not the first peak is equal to or higher than a third threshold, which is higher than the first threshold. Furthermore, if a second peak of the inverse of the rotation number measured in a second cycle following the first cycle is equal to or lower than a fourth threshold, a target voltage of power generation by a generator a rotating shaft of which is connected to a crank shaft of the four-stroke engine is changed from a normal state voltage to an in-acceleration voltage, which is lower than the normal state voltage.
US08872479B2 System for actively managing energy banks during energy transfer and related method
According to one embodiment, a system for actively managing energy banks during an energy transfer process comprises a plurality of energy banks configured for use as a group of energy banks and characterized by a desired state-of-charge (SOC), and a power management system coupled across each of the energy banks. The power management system is configured to selectively drive at least one of the energy banks to a modified SOC different from the desired SOC without interrupting the energy transfer process. In one embodiment, the power management system is further configured to return the energy bank or banks driven to the modified SOC to the desired SOC of the group of energy banks.
US08872478B2 Circuit and method for balancing battery cells
Embodiments of the invention provided circuits and methods for balancing battery cells. According to a first embodiment, a cell balancing circuit includes an auxiliary current path for controlling a conductance status of a shunt path. According to a second embodiment, a cell balancing circuit utilizes a total voltage of multiple neighboring cells in a battery pack to generate a current. Based on the current, a voltage drop is generated to conduct a shunt path corresponding to one cell of the neighboring cells. According to a third embodiment, a cell balancing circuit utilizes a total voltage of multiple neighboring cells in a battery pack to generate a current. Based on the current, a voltage drop is generated to conduct a shunt path corresponding to one cell of the neighboring cells. The cell balancing circuit can turn on multiple internal switches at the same time to balance multiple neighboring cells simultaneously.
US08872477B2 Battery pack and line open detecting method thereof
A battery pack and a method of operating the battery pack are disclosed. The battery pack includes a plurality of battery cells and is configured to open a terminal of the battery if an open circuit is detected in a line connecting battery cells.
US08872475B2 Rechargeable wireless mouse
A mouse charging device is applying to an electronic device which comprises a power supply and a first connecting port. The mouse charging device comprises a mouse and a receiver. A charging module of the mouse is disposed in a shell of the mouse, and a first conductive piece of the mouse is disposed on the shell. The first conductive piece is electrically connected to the charging module. The receiver comprises a second connecting port and a second conductive piece. The second connecting port is electrically plugged in the first connecting port and electrically connected to the power supply. The second conductive piece is selectively coupled to the first conductive piece of the mouse. As the second conductive piece and the first conductive piece are coupled together, the power supply of the electronic device is available to charge the charging module of the mouse.
US08872473B2 System for recharging plug-in hybrid vehicle by controlling pre-charge of a DC link
A system for recharging a battery in a hybrid vehicle provided with two motor is provided. If connection of a recharging connector (recharging stand) is detected, an initial activation of a controller is performed, and a DC link is pre-recharged. If the DC link is pre-recharged to a voltage higher than or equal to a predetermined voltage, an exterior AC or DC electricity is supplied to the battery so as to recharge the battery according to the present invention.
US08872471B2 Variable output current battery charger and method of operating same
A vehicle includes a battery charger system arranged to charge a traction battery. The battery charger system receives current from a power distribution system remote from the vehicle and outputs the current to the traction battery at a series of magnitudes to characterize a charge efficiency profile of the battery charger and power distribution systems. The battery charger system then charges the traction battery according to the charge efficiency profile.
US08872469B2 Method and apparatus for providing standby power for visual display device
Provided are an apparatus and method thereof for providing standby power to a visual display, the apparatus including: a light collection unit which is operable to receive light and output a charging current; a battery which is operable to receive the charging current and providing the standby power to the visual display; and a controller which determines whether the battery has a voltage below a predetermined value, wherein if the voltage is below the predetermined value, the controller controls the battery to receive the charging current from the light collection unit, and wherein if the voltage is not below the predetermined value, the controller controls the battery to provide the standby power to the visual display.
US08872466B2 Synchronous-machine starting device
A synchronous-machine starting device includes an electric power conversion unit for converting supplied electric power into AC power for supply to the armature of the synchronous machine, a rotor position detection unit for detecting a position of the rotor of the synchronous machine based on an AC voltage in the armature of the synchronous machine detected by an AC voltage detection unit, an electric power conversion control unit for controlling the electric power conversion unit based on the position of the rotor detected by the rotor position detection unit, and an abnormality detection unit detecting a rotation abnormality of the synchronous machine based on the AC voltage detected by the AC voltage detection unit after supply of the field current to the rotor of the synchronous machine is started.
US08872462B2 Motor control device
A motor control device includes a vibration-damping-control setting unit to designate one of a plurality of candidate frequencies of a vibration-damping frequency, a signal-for-estimation computing unit to output, based on an operation signal related to a controlled object, a signal for estimation in which signal components of the other candidate frequencies excluding the designated one candidate frequency are reduced from a vibration component of a control system, and a resonance-characteristic estimating unit to estimate one resonance frequency from the output signal for estimation. The vibration-damping-control setting unit designates each of the candidate frequencies individually as one candidate frequency and sets, in a feedforward control unit, each of resonance frequencies estimated by the resonance-characteristic estimating unit related to the individually designated each one candidate frequency.
US08872460B2 Integrated drive motor power interface
An integrated drive motor (IDM) power distribution architecture utilizes an IDM power interface module (IPIM) to create a control voltage that is distributed to all the IDMs in a network. This power distribution may be accomplished along a hybrid cable, for example, that includes both signal conductors and power conductors. The IPIM is capable of detecting short circuits and/or overload conditions and disabling the power supply to the IDMs. Additionally, a second power supply may be utilized in the IPIM such that when the power supply to the IDMs is deactivated, the IPIM may remain functional, for example, to report one or more fault conditions to the user. Additionally, this reporting of fault status may be accomplished via a user display integrated with or coupled to the IPIM.
US08872458B2 Motor control device
A motor control device has a drive circuit that drives an electric motor with a battery as a power supply, a switch element that is provided between the battery and the drive circuit, the switch element supplying a current from the battery to the drive circuit when being put into an on state, the switch element cutting off the current from the battery to the drive circuit when being put into an off state, a voltage detector that detects a voltage at the drive circuit, and a controller that operates the drive circuit to control the electric motor. The controller turns on the switch element when the voltage at the drive circuit, which is detected by the voltage detector, is greater than or equal to a first predetermined value during stopping of the control of the electric motor.
US08872454B2 Control unit of rotary device
In a control unit that controls a control amount of a rotary device by controlling on and off states of switching elements of a power converting circuit, a relative rate predicting section temporally sets operation states of the power converting circuit and predicts a relative rate of a control amount according to each of the temporally set operation states relative to a command value thereof. Each of the operation states is indicated by a voltage vector defined by the on and off states of the switching elements. A determining section determines an operation state of the power converting circuit based on the relative rate predicted by the relative rate predicting section. An operating section operates the power converting circuit to the operation state determined by the determining section.
US08872453B2 Motor drive controller and control method
A motor drive controller to control a motor via multiple sensors includes a first phase detector to compare respective differential pairs of the sensor signals from the same sensor to detect phases of the rotor, and output a first phase information signal; a second phase detector to compare a respective one of the multiple sensor signals with another sensor signal from the different sensor to detect the phases and output a second phase information signal; a phase divider to divide the phases, detected by the first and second phase detectors, into multiple predetermined phase intervals; a signal selector to select one of the multiple sensor signals in the multiple predetermined phase intervals; and a third phase detector to detect whether the signal selected by the signal selector reaches a predetermined threshold level corresponding to a predetermined phase of the rotor, and output a third phase information signal.
US08872448B2 Apparatus and method for reorientation during sensed drop
An apparatus including at least one vibrator motor for vibrating the apparatus; a controller connected to the at least one vibrator motor; and at least one sensor connected to the controller. The at least one sensor is configured to sense drop motion of the apparatus. The controller is configured to control the at least one vibrator motor to change orientation of the apparatus during a portion of the drop motion.
US08872446B2 Welding method and superconducting accelerator
A welding method of welding a cylindrical stiffening member to an outer circumference of a superconducting accelerator tube body uses a laser beam in a process of manufacturing a superconducting accelerator tube. The laser beam is configured such that a distribution profile of energy density on an irradiated face to which the laser beam is irradiated is a Gaussian distribution profile having a peak section, and the energy density of the peak section is 5.8×105 W/cm2 or more.
US08872444B2 Lighting device for solid-state light source and illumination apparatus including same
A lighting device for a solid-state light source includes a DC power source circuit section which flows a current in a solid-state light source by using a charging/discharging current or either one of charging and discharging currents of a inductor connected in series to a switching element, and a current control section having a first switching control unit for changing an ON width of the switching element depending on a dimming level and a second switching control unit for controlling an ON timing of the switching element. The second switching control unit changes a time until the switching element is turned on from a zero-crossing of the discharging current of the inductor such that the time becomes substantially the same when the dimming level is equal to or greater than a predetermined level, and the time becomes longer when the dimming level is less than the predetermined level.
US08872443B2 Lighting apparatus and control circuit
A lighting apparatus includes a first LED unit and a second LED unit configured to provide different color temperatures. A pulse/voltage conversion circuit is connected between a power supply line and a low-potential side reference line, and configured to convert the pulses of input electric power into a voltage. A voltage dividing circuit is connected between the output terminal of the pulse/voltage conversion circuit and the low-potential side reference line, and configured to divide the voltage converted by the pulse/voltage conversion circuit. The dividing node of the voltage dividing circuit and the low-potential side terminal of the second LED unit are connected.
US08872442B2 Illumination system
An illumination system includes: a plurality of lighting devices; a control device for controlling the lighting devices; and a remote controller for remotely setting a control content to be performed by the control device. The remote controller includes: a light property setting unit for setting a light property of a control target lighting device; a pointer for emitting visible light to point the target lighting device; a projection position acquiring unit acquiring a projection position of the visible light; and a remote controller transmitting unit for wirelessly transmitting the property information indicative of the light property and the projection position information.
US08872441B2 Controller and LED driving circuit with protection function
A controller with protection function, for controlling a transistor having a control terminal, a first terminal coupled to a load, a second terminal, is disclosed. The controller comprises a judgment unit and a current control unit. The judgment unit is coupled to the transistor and generates a current reducing signal when a potential of the first terminal of the transistor or a voltage difference between the first terminal and the second terminal of the transistor is higher than a preset value. The current control unit is coupled to the control terminal of the transistor for substantially stabilizing the current flowing through the transistor at a preset current value, and reduces the current flowing from the preset current value when receiving the current reducing signal.
US08872439B2 System and methods for providing equal currents to current driven loads
Systems and methods are provided for providing a substantially constant and equal current to a plurality of current driven loads. In one embodiment, a system is provided that comprises a plurality of current regulated outputs and a plurality of current driven loads. The plurality of current regulated outputs and the plurality of current driven loads are arranged in a single current loop configuration with a respective current regulated output providing an output voltage to a respective current driven load of the plurality of current driven loads.
US08872435B2 LED light for examinations and procedures
A light is provided having a base unit, an arm extending from the base unit, and a lamp head coupled to the arm. The lamp head includes an LED configured to provide light based on an input drive current, an optical mixing element configured to collect the light produced by the LED and a zoom lens configured to adjust an output size of a spot generated by the light collected in the mixing element. A controller receives DC power from the base unit through the arm. The controller is configured to set the input drive current for the LED to control an output light density of the spot in response to an operator selected input and configured to adjust the output light density of the spot in response to a change in the size of the spot.
US08872434B2 Constant-current-drive LED module device
A constant-current-drive LED module device includes a rectifier configured to receive and rectify an alternating current power source; a unidirectional LED module unit configured to connect to one end of the rectifier; and a constant current unit configured to connect between the unidirectional LED module unit and the other end of the rectifier to control constant current.
US08872433B2 Electronic control system for operating a street lamp
An electronic control system for operating lighting is rated and operable from normal AC mains supply voltages. A street light controller is adapted to activate a luminaire when ambient light levels are considered too dark and, conversely, when ambient light levels are sufficient, the luminaire is turned off.
US08872431B2 Dual light sensors on a portable electronic device
A portable electronic device capable of assuming an open configuration and a closed configuration comprises a primary light sensor and a secondary light sensor. When the portable electronic device is in the open configuration, a light sensor signal is selected from the primary light sensor, and when the portable electronic device is in the closed configuration, a light sensor signal is selected from the secondary light sensor.
US08872429B2 Pulsed plasma generator
A pulsed electrostatic/electric field generator apparatus providing a source of large quantity, free slow-speed high energy free electrons, or high energy positive ions, contained in an electrostatic/electric field capacity exceeding 1 Joule. The pulsed electrostatic/electric field generator apparatus encapsulates an enclosed non-equilibrium, non-thermal pulsed power plasma. A key subcomponent of this apparatus incorporates an innovative unipolar piezoelectric capacitor creating high voltage nanosecond rise time pulses in a multistage high energy step-up pulsed plasma generation sequence of steps. The resulting multi-Joule electrostatic/electric field is then tapped to provide a source of current and/or potential for use by external loads.
US08872427B2 Plasma generating apparatus
A plasma generating apparatus includes: a power supply one of whose electrodes is connected to vacuum chamber walls of N vacuum chambers; an oscillator which outputs a pulse signal at every predetermined period; N pulse amplifying circuits which are connected in parallel to the oscillator as well as to the other electrode of the power supply, and each of which amplifies the pulse signal and supplies the amplified pulse signal to a corresponding one of N electrodes disposed in the N vacuum chambers; and at least (N-1) timing generating circuits which are connected between the oscillator and at least (N-1) pulse amplifying circuits, and which delay the pulse signal by respectively different delay times so that at any specific time, the pulse signal is supplied to only one of the pulse amplifying circuits.
US08872423B2 Organic electroluminescent device and display device
An electroluminescent device is provided with an anode, a cathode, and an organic layer having at least a light-emitting layer and held between the anode and the cathode. A layer with a nitrogen-containing heterocycle derivative therein is arranged between the anode and the light-emitting layer. The layer with the nitrogen-containing heterocycle derivative contained therein has a thickness greater than a hole supply layer arranged between the anode and the light-emitting layer.
US08872421B2 White LED, backlight using the same, and liquid crystal display device
Certain embodiments provide a white LED for a backlight of a liquid crystal display device, which comprises an ultraviolet (or violet) light emitting element and a phosphor layer that contains a green phosphor selected from trivalent cerium- and terbium-activated rare earth borate phosphors, a blue phosphor selected from divalent europium-activated halophosphate phosphors and divalent europium-activated aluminate phosphors, and a red phosphor selected from europium-activated lanthanum oxysulfide phosphors and europium-activated yttrium oxysulfide phosphors as the contained amounts of the respective phosphors relative to the total amount of the phosphors as follows: 35-50% by weight of the green phosphor content; 50-70% by weight of the blue phosphor content; and 1-10% by weight of the red phosphor content.
US08872419B2 Light emitting device
The disclosed light emitting device comprises at least one first light emitting element including at least one light emitting chip for emitting light having a wavelength of 400 to 500 nm and a phosphor; and at least one second light emitting element disposed adjacent to the first light emitting element to emit light having a wavelength of 560 to 880 nm.
US08872417B2 Socket adaptor having AC-DC convertor for LED lamp
A socket adaptor for an LED lamp includes an adaptor body and an AC-DC converter disposed in the adaptor body. The adaptor body includes a holder for receiving an LED lamp, the holder being configured according to industrial standards. The adaptor body also includes an external base for attaching the socket adaptor to a lamp holder, the external base being configured according to the industrial standards.
US08872412B2 Ultrasound transducer, ultrasound probe, and a method for manufacturing ultrasound transducers
An ultrasound transducer according to an embodiment has two-dimensionally arranged ultrasound vibrators. A wiring board block is a laminate of wiring boards which are arranged along the row direction in the arrangement. The wiring board has a first surface facing a rear surface of the ultrasound vibrators and a second surface on its opposite side. First connection parts are provided on the first surface corresponding to the arrangement, and are conducted with back electrodes of the vibrators. Second connection parts are provided on the second surface, and are provided corresponding to the first connection parts. Connecting leads establish conductivity between the first and second connection parts through a fourth surface which is perpendicular to the second and third surfaces. Electronic circuits are connected to the second surface of the wiring board block, and are conducted with the second connection parts.
US08872408B2 Betavoltaic power sources for mobile device applications
A betavoltaic power source for mobile devices and mobile applications includes a stacked configuration of isotope layers and energy conversion layers. The isotope layers have a half-life of between about 0.5 years and about 5 years and generate radiation with energy in the range from about 15 keV to about 200 keV. The betavoltaic power source is configured to provide sufficient power to operate the mobile device over its useful lifetime.
US08872406B2 Slip-ring arrangement for a rotating electrical machine
A slip-ring arrangement of a rotating electrical machine includes a plurality of slip-rings disposed concentrically about an axis of the electrical machine one behind the other in an axial direction, the plurality of slip-rings configured to be self-supporting.
US08872405B2 High voltage stator coil with reduced power tip-up
An insulated stator coil (16) is provided comprising a plurality of coil strands (18) having a top surface (24) and a bottom surface (26). A filler material (30) is disposed on the top surface (24) and the bottom surface (26) of the plurality of coil strands (18) to smooth discontinuities at the top and bottom surfaces (24, 26). A conductive cap (32, 34) disposed over each of the top and bottom surfaces (24, 26) of the plurality of coil strands (18). A conductive strip (46) is disposed between the filler material (30) and each respective conductive cap (32, 34). The conductive strip (46) is effective to lower a resistivity of the conductive caps (32, 34) such that partial discharges do not occur in the insulated stator coil (16).
US08872398B2 Electric power tool
There is disclosed an electric power tool in which magnetic saturation seldom occurs in a tooth of a stator without increasing the size of a motor. The electric power tool includes a motor having a stator with a plurality of teeth formed circumferentially at equal intervals and axially extending groove-like slots between each tooth, with winding wires being wound around each tooth by use of the slots, and having a tubular rotor coaxially surrounding the stator with a permanent magnet of a plurality of poles on an inner peripheral surface facing distal end surfaces of the teeth of the stator. Further, the ratio of the number of poles of the permanent magnet of the rotor to the number of slots of the stator is set to be 4 to 3.
US08872391B2 Electronic device and method of controlling the same
An electronic device and a method of controlling the electronic device are provided. Based on smart grid information received from a smart grid network, contents are played by an electronic device that consumes less power at a time slot during which a high electricity rate applies, thus minimizing electricity fees.
US08872388B2 Discharge apparatus for auxiliary power
A discharge apparatus for auxiliary power is applied to an alternating current power apparatus and a switching power supply. The switching power supply includes an auxiliary power unit. The auxiliary power unit will not discharge to the discharge apparatus for auxiliary power when the alternating current power apparatus supplies power to the discharge apparatus for auxiliary power and the auxiliary power unit. The auxiliary power unit will discharge to the discharge apparatus for auxiliary power when the alternating current power apparatus stops supplying power to the discharge apparatus for auxiliary power and the auxiliary power unit.
US08872386B2 Inductive power transmission system and method for concurrently transmitting digital messages
An inductive power receiver including a resonant circuit, a rectifier, a rectified current sense, and a communication and control unit includes a communications modulator and at least one signal generator operable to generate a set of communication signals including a series of pulses generated at characteristic frequencies. Communication signals provide instructions for an inductive power outlet to regulate power transfer to the inductive power receiver.
US08872380B2 Energy storage system
An energy storage system includes a plurality of battery units; a plurality of thermistors detecting a temperature of the plurality of battery units; a multiplexer performing multiplexing on the plurality of thermistors, and connecting a thermistor selected from among the plurality of thermistors to a reference resistor; a power switch unit arranged between the reference resistor and a power voltage terminal; and a control signal input unit receiving a control signal applied to the multiplexer and the power switch unit, and receiving two or more control bits contained in the control signal. In the energy storage system, a temperature measurement operation is performed at a plurality of measurement positions, whereby a current state of a battery may be accurately detected, an entire circuit may be reduced and simplified, and low power consumption may be realized.
US08872379B2 Efficient usage, storage, and sharing of energy in buildings, vehicles, and equipment
The present disclosure relates generally to energy demand and supply for buildings, vehicles, and equipment. In exemplary embodiments, energy may be stored in one or more battery packs (e.g., stationary batteries or vehicle batteries) for use in buildings, appliances, and equipment typically relying on energy from a power grid. The exemplary embodiments may store the energy during periods of low demand and/or low cost of energy. Thus, the exemplary embodiments may reduce costs associated with energy usage. The exemplary embodiments may use the stored energy to reduce demand on the power utility during periods of high demand and/or provide energy back to the power utility to meet demands.
US08872376B2 Method for generating electric energy in a tire
A method and system for generating electric energy in a tire includes a device including a housing that extends according to a longitudinal axis X, at least one electrical winding, a magnet movable within the housing along the longitudinal axis, and a force providing element positioned at at least one of two opposite ends of the housing, which is adapted to exert on the magnet a force along said longitudinal axis. The device is fixed on a crown portion of the tire; the tire is rotated on a rolling surface so as to determine variations of forces that act on the device every time the device passes, due to the rolling of the tire, at a footprint of the tire; the force exerted by the force providing element and the variations of forces along the longitudinal axis are exploited so as to cause variations of the magnet position with respect to the at least one electrical winding; and the electric energy generated across the at least one electrical winding as a consequence of the variations of the position of the magnet with respect to the electrical winding is collected.
US08872375B2 Wind turbine apparatus, systems and methods
A wind turbine is disclosed. The wind turbine includes comprising an inflatable portion comprising one or more blades and a device for rotatably driving the inflatable portion at a predetermined rate for a predetermined time.
US08872368B1 Power generating system using wasting energy from moving objects
Provided is a power generating system that includes at least one power generator connected to a first rotating shaft having at least one of a first gear, a first pulley, a first crankshaft, or a first eccentric shaft, the first rotating shaft connected to a second rotating shaft of at least one of a moving object or a rotating machine producing wasting mechanical energy and having at least one rotating wheel, the second rotating shaft having a second gear, a second pulley, a second crankshaft, or a second eccentric shaft.
US08872366B2 Scalable portable modular power plant
A scalable portable modular power plant that includes an electrical substation module containing a substation container with a first transformer and a second transformer positioned at the first and second ends of the substation container, and a plurality of containerized electric generator modules each positioned relative to a corner of the substation module, where each electric generator module is connected to one of the two transformers.
US08872360B2 Multiple-qubit wave-activated controlled gate
A device includes a housing, at least two qubits disposed in the housing and a resonator disposed in the housing and coupled to the at least two qubits, wherein the at least two qubits are maintained at a fixed frequency and are statically coupled to one another via the resonator, wherein energy levels |03> and |12> are closely aligned, wherein a tuned microwave signal applied to the qubit activates a two-qubit phase interaction.
US08872356B2 Semiconductor structures comprising a dielectric material having a curvilinear profile
Methods of forming a Ni material on a bond pad are disclosed. The methods include forming a dielectric material over an at least one bond pad, forming an opening within the dielectric material to expose the at least one bond pad, curing the dielectric material to form a surface of the dielectric material having a steep curvilinear profile, and forming a nickel material over the at least one bond pad. The dielectric material having a steep curvilinear profile may be formed by altering at least one of a curing process of the dielectric material and a thickness of the dielectric material. The dielectric material may be used to form a relatively thick Ni material on bond pads smaller than about 50 μm. Semiconductor structures formed by such methods are also disclosed.