最新美国发明专利第2014-11-04期 - 专利汇|PatentHub专利检索|专利查询网|发明专利查询分析

Document	Document Title
US08879763B2	Method and apparatus for detecting user activities from within a hearing assistance device using a vibration sensor The present subject matter relates to method and apparatus for detecting user activities within a hearing assistance device, and among other things, apparatus including a microphone for reception of sound and to generate a sound signal; an electret vibration sensor adapted to measure mechanical vibration and to produce a vibration signal; a signal processor, connected to the microphone and in communication with the electret vibration sensor, the signal processor adapted to process the sound signal and to process the vibration signal; and a housing adapted to house the signal processor. Variations provide a housing, microphone, and receiver in different configurations. In some variations wireless electronics are included and are used to communicate different signals. In some examples, the design is embodied in a variety of hearing aid configurations.
US08879760B2	Directional sound systems and related methods Entertainment systems are provided including directional sound speakers associated with a media player of the entertainment system; and a directional sound controller associated with the directional sound speakers of the media player. The directional sound controller is configured to direct a sound beam associated with the media player at a defined target region such that the sound beam is only audible within the defined target region and experiences less than about 20 dB of leakage outside the target region during operation of the media player. In-flight entertainment systems and related methods are also provided.
US08879758B2	Loudspeaker, electronic apparatus using same, and mobile apparatus A loudspeaker includes a back panel and a plurality of thin loudspeakers mounted onto the back panel. The back panel has an aspect ratio of 6 or higher, and has a wiring unit formed thereon and wire-connecting the thin loudspeakers. The thin loudspeakers are arranged on the back panel in series in a straight line. Accordingly, a thin-type loudspeaker can be realized.
US08879753B2	Mixer and communication connection setting method therefor Mixer and one or more external devices, related to audio signal processing, are interconnected via a communication network, such as a LAN. For a particular one of the external devices for which communication with the mixer via the communication network is to be established, a network address unique to the particular external device and a communication protocol to be used for data communication with the particular external device are designated by entry operation by a user. Logical connection is established such that data communication is performed, in accordance with the designated communication protocol, between the mixer and the particular external device corresponding to the designated network address. Thus, data communication is performed, via the communication network, between the mixer and the particular external device for which the logical connection has been established.
US08879751B2	Gaming headset with programmable audio paths A headset having game, chat and microphone audio signals is provided with a programmable signal processor for individually modifying the audio signals and a memory configured to store a plurality of user-selectable signal-processing parameter settings that determine the manner in which the audio signals will be altered by the signal processor. The parameter settings collectively form a preset, and one or more user-operable controls can select and activate a preset from the plurality of presets stored in memory. The parameters stored in the selected preset can be loaded into the signal processor such that the sound characteristics of the audio paths are modified in accordance with the parameter settings in the selected preset.
US08879746B2	Method and device for reducing snore annoyances A method and a device for reducing snore annoyances include determining a snore sound pattern of a snoring person to predict an upcoming snore sound level. A faked snore sound is played to flatten the resulting snore sound level.
US08879740B1	System and method for faster response time in stereo/mono detection An audio receiver may include a mono/stereo detector that causes the audio receiver to output either a monophonic or a stereophonic signal based on a difference between a pilot energy signal and a filtered pilot energy signal. The audio receiver includes a filter that filters the pilot energy signal to generate a filtered pilot energy signal, wherein a variable leakage factor associated with the filter is used to minimize a noise level of the filtered pilot energy signal and to reduce a response time of the audio receiver.
US08879738B2	System and method of updating key based on communication cost and security damage cost A system and method of updating a key based on communication and security damage costs are provided. The key updating system for group communication between a plurality of group members, includes a key update cycle determining unit to determine a key update cycle based on a communication cost and a security damage cost, and a key updating unit to perform a key updating with respect to one or more group members of the group communication based on the determined key update cycle.
US08879735B2	Shared secret arrangements and optical data transfer Digital data is optically broadcast through an environment by controllably switching the brightness or chrominance of LED solid state lamps, or of other illumination sources (e.g., television screens and backlit computer displays). This optical data channel is useful to convey cryptographic key data by which devices within the environment can authenticate themselves to a secure network. In some embodiments, the optical modulation is sensed by the camera of a smartphone. The row data output by the smartphone's camera sensor is processed to extract the modulated data signal. In some monochrome embodiments, data communication speeds far in excess of the camera's frame rate (e.g., 30/second), or even the camera's row rate (e.g., 14,400/second) are achieved. Still greater rates can be achieved by conveying different data in different chrominance channels. A great number of other features and arrangements are also detailed.
US08879733B2	Random bit stream generator with guaranteed minimum period A random bit stream generator includes an internal state memory for storing a current internal state of the random bit stream generator and a periodic bit sequence generator configured to provide a periodic bit sequence. An output function receives a bit sequence portion of the periodic bit sequence and a first internal state portion of the current internal state. A new output bit of the random bit stream is determined, by the output function, based on a Boolean combination of the bit sequence portion and the first internal state portion. A feedback arrangement feeds the new output bit back to the internal state memory by performing a Boolean combination involving the new output bit and a second internal state portion of the current internal state to determine a next internal state of the random bit generator.
US08879731B2	Binding of protected video content to video player with block cipher hash A video player sends a video content identifier and a video player identifier through a network to a server. The video content identifier identifies video content. The video player identifier identifies the video player. Further, a first subset of encrypted video content and an initialization vector are received from a server. In addition, a hash of the video player identifier is generated. The first subset of the encrypted video content is decrypted with a decryption key to generate a first result. Further, a first operation on the initialization vector and the hash is performed to generate a second result. In addition, a second operation is performed on the first result and the second result to generate a first subset of plaintext of video content.
US08879729B2	Method and apparatus for supporting broadcast efficiency and security enhancements A method and apparatus for providing conditional access to media programs is described. An exemplary method comprising the steps of transmitting media information encrypted according to a control word (CW) to a receiver station, transmitting entitlement management information (EMI) to the receiver station, the EMI comprising a service bitmap, and transmitting entitlement control information (ECI) to the receiver station, the entitlement control information including the control word (CW) encrypted according to a key (K) and an index to an element of the service bitmap, wherein the control word (CW) is decrypted by the receiver stations according to a value of the indexed element of the service bitmap.
US08879723B2	Battery charging case with changeable panel for an electronic device A charging case or system for an electronic device case, having a protective housing capable of aesthetic alteration, includes a replaceable and customizable shell and a rechargeable battery unit. A plurality of shells may have different images thereon and can be interchanged in a continuous sidewall portion to alter the look of the case. The shell images may include various colors, pictures, designs, logos, or even text.
US08879720B2	Acoustic echo cancellation using a variable length adaptive filter An audio conferencing system having a base station, a loud speaker and one or more microphones generally operates to receive a F.E. audio signal, play the signal, and to receive a N.E. audio signal at the microphone that includes the F.E. audio signal modified by an echo path and a N.E. audio signal. The base station includes an adaptive filter whose length is controlled to be variable depending upon activity detected at each of one or more filter elements comprising the adaptive filter.
US08879719B2	Collaboration system and method A system for enabling collaboration between two or more customer contact campaigns running within a call center environment includes at least one outbound contact server (OCS) resident on a digital medium, the OCS including an automated dialer application resident on a digital medium thereon or accessible thereto for dialing contact numbers from contact records assembled for the running campaigns, a call monitoring and recording system executing from software on a digital medium, for monitoring call dialing progress and business results of completed calls, a central data repository for storing dialing progress and business results data collected by the running outbound campaigns, and a data sharing mechanism executing from software resident on a digital medium, accessible to each campaign running on the OCS for sharing collected data among the running campaigns. Shared data received by individual campaign instances is processed by the receiving campaign against one or more pre-configured business rules to determine whether to modify campaign contact records, campaign dialing patterns and or campaign dialing methods.
US08879718B2	Distributed event delivery A distributed method of delivering events to agent devices. A first software module generates an event, e.g., a screen pop event or a ringing event, for delivery to a second module responsible for an agent device. A third module, which may be the same module as the first module, evaluates a hash function to determine an identifier for the second module from an identifier for the agent device. The first module delivers the event to the second module, which responds to the event, e.g., by causing an agent device to generate a ringing alert or to display a screen pop.
US08879717B2	Systems and methods for customer contact A user of a personal computing device may identify an item of interest displayed in a user interface provided by a network-based service and would like to obtain more information. The user may submit one or more electronic contact requests to a contact service in communication with a contact distribution system in order to obtain more information. The contact distribution system determines accurate, real-time availability of service agents and enables communications between the customer and an agent to be established in accordance with user contact information provided by the user.
US08879715B2	Call mapping systems and methods using variance algorithm (VA) and/or distribution compensation Method, system and program product, comprising obtaining agent performance data; ranking, agents based the agent performance data; dividing agents into agent performance ranges; partitioning callers based on criteria into a set of partitions; determining for each partition an outcome value for a first agent performance range and a second agent performance range; calculating for the partitions a respective outcome value difference indicator based on the outcome value for the first agent performance range and the outcome value for the second agent performance range for the partition; matching a respective agent to a respective caller in one of the partitions, based on the outcome value difference indicators for the partitions.
US08879714B2	System and method of determining call treatment of repeat calls A method is disclosed that includes retrieving first data associated with a call from an action-object table. The method further includes retrieving second data from a resolution table based on the first data. The second data indicates a treatment type to be provided to the call. The method further includes, in response to determining that the treatment type indicates a particular treatment type, servicing the call with the particular treatment type. The particular treatment type includes routing the call to a destination associated with a call center.
US08879711B2	Method and apparatus for network maintenance and supervision of a controlled on-board audio portion A method for network maintenance and supervision of an on-board controlled audio agent, the method constituted of: providing a plurality of audio portions, each of the provided audio portions being selected responsive to user descriptive data associated with a call initiator; providing a reimbursement rule associated with each of the audio portions; selecting, for each call instance, a particular one of the plurality of audio portions responsive to the determined reimbursement rules; and outputting the particular one of the plurality of audio portions at each call instance initiation such that at least a portion of the particular audio portion is heard by the call initiator prior to call connection.
US08879706B2	Methods, systems, and products for providing ring backs Methods, systems, and products are disclosed for providing a ring back to a calling party's communications device. A first call is placed to a called number. An identification sequence is received during the first call. When the first call ends, a second call is placed to a server. The identification sequence is sent to the server during the second call, and the ring back associated with the identification sequence is received. The ring back is stored in memory of the calling party's communications device and retrieved when subsequent calls are made to the called number. The ring back is then presented on the calling party's communications device to indicate the called number is ringing.
US08879698B1	Device and method for providing enhanced telephony Embodiments of the invention provide an enhanced communication device and a method for providing enhanced telephony. The enhanced communication device comprises a processor. The enhanced communication device further comprises a memory. The memory comprises a database. The database comprises one or more destination phone numbers. Further, the database comprises at least one property associated with the one or more destination phone numbers. Further, the memory comprises instructions executable by the processor for identifying a dialed phone number of a destination. The memory also comprises instructions for determining a location code associated with a current location of the communication device. Further, the memory comprises instructions for comparing the dialed phone number to the one or more destination phone numbers. Furthermore, the method comprises instructions for displaying the at least one property associated with the one or more destination phone numbers based on the comparison.
US08879695B2	System and method for selective voicemail transcription Disclosed herein are systems, methods, and non-transitory computer-readable storage media for selectively transcribing messages. Five general approaches are disclosed herein. The first approach is directed to checking for a transcription capable client, which transcribes messages when a client device is capable of receiving transcriptions. The second and third approaches are platform-controlled and user-controlled predefined selective transcription. One aspect of this approach is driven by transcription rules. The fourth approach is user-controlled on-demand selective transcription before the message is stored or deposited for transcription. An example of this is a user transferring an incoming caller to voicemail and indicating that the voicemail be transcribed. The fifth approach is user-controlled on-demand selective transcription after the message is stored. In one embodiment of this approach, a user must specifically request that a stored message be transcribed.
US08879693B2	System and method for voice-activated dialing over implicit and explicit NFA trunks A system and method for voice-activated dialing using implicit and explicit trunks including receiving a call from the user telephone and establishing a first connection. In response to establishing the first connection, a second connection may be established over the implicit trunk. In response to establishing the second connection, a third connection may be initiated. In response to the user telephone sending a keyword, the implicit trunk may be disconnected and the call may be connected via the explicit trunk. If a spoken number is received, then the spoken number may be translated into a computer readable telephone number. Alternatively, if a dialed telephone number is received from the user telephone, the telephone number may be used to route the call. In response to receiving the telephone number, the explicit trunk may be disconnected and the call from the user telephone may be routed to the received telephone number.
US08879692B2	Recording a new voice greeting In one embodiment, a method includes determining whether a user has connected to a voice-message system. The method further includes, automatically and without user input after the connection, prompting the user to create one or more new voice greetings. The method further includes, automatically and without user input after the prompt, beginning to record one or more of the new voice greetings.
US08879690B2	X-ray generator Provided is an X-ray generator for generating X-rays from an X-ray focal point that is a region in which electrons emitted from a filament impinge upon a rotating anode. The X-ray generator has a Wehnelt electrode for surrounding the filament, an attachment part formed integrally with the Wehnelt electrode, a pedestal to which the attachment part is attached, and a casing for housing the pedestal and the anticathode. The width of the space in which the anticathode is housed by the casing is less than the width of the space in which the pedestal is housed by the casing. The Wehnelt electrode extends into the space in which the anticathode is housed by the casing, in a state in which the attachment part is attached to the pedestal.
US08879688B2	Reconfigurable detector system A method and apparatus for inspecting an object using a backscatter inspection system. In one illustrative embodiment, an apparatus comprises a radiation source, a collimator, and a detector system. The radiation source is configured to emit radiation. The collimator is configured to form a beam using a portion of the radiation emitted by the radiation source. The beam is directed towards a surface of an object. The detector system is configured to detect backscatter formed in response to the beam encountering the object. A shape of the detector system is configured to be changed into a selected shape.
US08879686B2	Radiographic image detector, radiographic imaging apparatus, radiographic imaging system The present invention provides a radiographic image detector that may maintain even resolution in 6 directions before and after 3-pixel binning process or 4-pixel binning process. A radiation detector is disposed with plural pixels that have hexagonal shaped pixel regions, arrayed in a honeycomb pattern. Scan lines connected to TFT switches in each of the pixels are disposed one for each of the pixel rows. Grouped scan lines are also disposed one for each of the pixel rows for reading and combining 3 pixels or 4 pixels worth of charges at the same timing for plural pixel groups, each configured from 3 pixels or 4 pixels in a radiation detection element. ON signals are simultaneously sent by the grouped scanned lines to the TFT switches to perform 3-pixel binning or 4-pixel binning.
US08879683B2	Jet pump beam and method for producing the same A jet pump beam is made of improved heat-treated precipitation-hardened nickel base alloy excellent in anti-stress corrosion cracking properties and high-temperature strength, and having high ductility and a high elastic modulus. A jet pump beam 27 made of improved heat-treated nickel base alloy is produced by preparing a precipitation-strengthened nickel base alloy material having a component composition containing by mass %, Ni: 50.0% to 55.0%, Cr: 17.0% to 21.0%, Nb+Ta: 4.75% to 5.50%, Mo: 2.8% to 3.3%, Ti: 0.65% to 1.15%, Al: 0.2% to 0.8%, C: 0.08% or less, Mn: 0.35% or less, Si: 0.35% or less, S: 0.015% or less, P: 0.03% or less, Cu: 0.30% or less, B: 0.006% or less, and Co: 1.0% or less, and Fe and inevitable impurities constituting a remaining part, subjecting the nickel base alloy material to solution heat treatment at a temperature of 1010° C. to 1090° C., and subjecting the nickel base alloy material to age-hardening heat treatment at a temperature of 694° C. to 714° C. for 5 to 7 hours after the solution heat treatment.
US08879679B2	Frequency offset compensation improvement for a long term evolution (LTE) searcher A method and system provide frequency offset compensation in a wireless communication device. A frequency offset compensation module (FOCM) correlates a received reference signal with sub-replica reference sequences to obtain a vector of matched filter output values associated with a time offset identified by a correlation time index value. The FOCM determines a correlation score vector using a combined energy associated with matched filter output values. The FOCM then determines a first phase difference based on matched filter output values corresponding to adjacent sub-replica sequences. The FOCM computes a second phase difference by linearly combining a selected first phase difference and at least one neighbor first phase difference having a second correlation time index value that differs from a first correlation time index value of the selected first phase difference. The FOCM uses the second phase difference to provide compensation for a frequency offset associated with received signals.
US08879676B2	Channel response noise reduction at digital receivers According to various embodiments, apparatus and methods disclosed herein may be implemented in a digital communication (wired or wireless) receiver, and relate to minimizing noise in an estimated channel frequency response at the receiver for the purposes of channel equalization. The disclosed apparatus and methods may include determining a channel impulse response based on an estimated channel frequency response. The estimated channel frequency response, the channel impulse response, or both may include noise. An impulse response mask may be determined based on the channel impulse response, and further applied to the channel impulse response to obtain a noise-reduced channel impulse response, which may be Fourier transformed to obtain a noise-reduced channel frequency response.
US08879673B2	Method for coarse frequency synchronization in OFDM receiver The present invention provides a method for coarse frequency synchronization in an OFDM receiver. Even if the maximum variation of crystal oscillator (X-TAL) frequency disturbance is maximized and most of the variation in crystal oscillator (X-TAL) frequency disturbance is vary small, the estimation or search method of the present invention is capable of rapidly and effectively terminating the estimation of the integral multiple frequency offset (IFO). The integral multiple frequency offset (IFO) candidate is ascendingly increased and descendingly reduced at one value interval. In the estimation IFO, the correlation peak value in the intermediate status is compared to the thresholds, the coarse frequency synchronization (CFS) acquisition directly is ended and ensured when the correlation peak value is greater than the threshold, and a confidence check is not performed when correlation peak value is less than the threshold for considerably reducing the acquisition time of the CFS.
US08879672B2	Signal compression apparatus and method for dynamic compressive sensing using sparsity information of input signal Disclosed are a signal compression apparatus and method for dynamic compressive sensing, including: a signal input unit configured to simultaneously output an input signal, and generate and output a linear measurement reference signal based on the input signal; a linear transform unit configured to receive the linear measurement reference signal and variably generate a linear measurement matrix value according to the linear measurement reference signal; a signal compressor configured to output a compressed signal for the input signal based on the generated linear measurement matrix value; and a signal processor configured to reconstruct the compressed signal and perform spectrum sensing of the input signal. Accordingly, it is possible to increase signal compression efficiency of compressive sensing and improve signal reconstruction performance by using sparsity information of the input signal, and also by performing signal compression by using a compression matrix suitable for the sparsity information of the input signal.
US08879667B2	Layer shifting in open loop multiple-input, multiple-output communications Embodiments of the present disclosure describe methods, apparatuses, and systems related to use of interphase/quadrature component layer shifting in open loop multiple-input, multiple-output communications. Other embodiments may be described and/or claimed.
US08879663B1	Adaptive filtering for canceling distortion in radio frequency signals Adaptive filtering is used to substantially cancel distortion in radio frequency (RF) signals. Such adaptive filtering can be used in an RF transmitting module to pre-compensate an RF signal with compensation (inverse) distortion to cancel inherent transmission path distortion from the RF signal. Adaptive filtering can also be used in a multi-carrier RF receiving module to cancel from a given carrier signal distortion due to cross talk from adjacent carrier signals. Adaptive filtering in an RF transceiver can be used to cancel from a received RF signal distortion arising from leakage of a transmit signal into the receive path.
US08879661B2	Signal processing apparatus, transmitter, receiver and method A signal processing apparatus configured to correct a distortion introduced by a signal processing path into a processed signal comprising a transformer that transforms the processed signal into a transformed signal in frequency domain, a processor that determines a first correction function and a second correction function upon the basis of a transfer function of the signal processing path, a first multiplier that multiplies values of the transformed signal with coefficients of the first correction function to obtain a first corrected signal, a signal reverser that reverses an order of values in a copy of the transformed signal to obtain a reversed transformed signal, a second multiplier that multiplies values of the reversed transformed signal with coefficients of the second correction function to obtain a second corrected signal, and an adder that adds the first corrected signal and the second corrected signal to obtain a corrected output signal.
US08879658B2	Iterative interference suppressor for wireless multiple-access systems with multiple receive antennas This invention teaches to the details of an interference suppressing receiver for suppressing intra-cell and inter-cell interference in coded, multiple-access, spread spectrum transmissions that propagate through frequency selective communication channels to a multiplicity of receive antennas. The receiver is designed or adapted through the repeated use of symbol-estimate weighting, subtractive suppression with a stabilizing step-size, and mixed-decision symbol estimates. Receiver embodiments may be designed, adapted, and implemented explicitly in software or programmed hardware, or implicitly in standard RAKE-based hardware either within the RAKE (i.e., at the finger level) or outside the RAKE (i.e., at the user or subchannel symbol level). Embodiments may be employed in user equipment on the forward link or in a base station on the reverse link. It may be adapted to general signal processing applications where a signal is to be extracted from interference.
US08879656B2	Cooperative MIMO system based on partial zadoff-chu sequence and synchronization method thereof A cooperative multiple-input multiple-output system based on partial Zadoff-Chu sequences and a synchronization method thereof are disclosed, and the system comprises a plurality of transmitters and a receiver. Each transmitter's training signal is disposed in a subband having a length of V, and the training signal is converted into a time domain signal. The receiver receives the time domain signals of the cooperating transmitters. Each transmitter extracts V successive samples from any region of a Zadoff-Chu sequence having a length equal to a multiple of V and the samples are disposed in an exclusive subband as the training signal. When the training signals of cooperating transmitters are converted into time and frequency domain signals, the training signals of all the transmitters are separated from each other to suppress mutual interference in both time and frequency domains and to improve the performance of synchronization.
US08879655B2	Method and apparatus for obtaining channel state information required for beamforming The present invention provides a method for obtaining channel state information required for beamforming, comprising: estimating current channel state information according to a received signal; predicting future channel state information which is expected to be used by a transmitter in the next beamforming based on the current channel state information and historical channel state information; reading previous channel state information used by the transmitter in the current beamforming; determining feedback information based on the future channel state information and the previous channel state information; and sending the feedback information to the transmitter. The present invention further provides a method for performing beamforming, comprising: receiving feedback information from a receiver; reading previous channel state information used in the last beamforming; reconstructing channel state information based on the feedback information and the previous channel state information; and performing beamforming according to the reconstructed channel state information.
US08879645B2	Communication circuit and semiconductor device A communication circuit includes a receiver circuit that provides differential communication by using first and second transmission paths which transmit first and second signals. The receiver circuit includes a compensation circuit that compensates for the attenuation of a current when common mode noise is superimposed on the first signal and on the second signal. The compensation circuit includes a first compensation circuit and a second compensation circuit. The first compensation circuit detects an electric current attenuation of the first signal when the common mode noise is superimposed thereon, and compensates for the attenuation thereof by adding the detected electric current attenuation to the second signal. The second compensation circuit detects an electric current attenuation of the second signal when the common mode noise is superimposed thereon, and compensates for the attenuation thereof by adding the detected electric current attenuation to the first signal.
US08879644B2	Power line communications method and apparatus Method for communication channel coordination between nodes, each node including at least one of a transmitter and a receiver, for transmitting and receiving signals over residential electrical cables. The residential electrical cables include at least one active wire, one neutral wire and one ground wire, at least two of the wires forming wire pairs. The method includes the procedures of, for a given one of the receiver, examining the transmitter in each one of the nodes which communicates with the receiver, selecting one of the examined transmitters as a primary transmitter, determining an optimal receive wire pair for the receiver to receive the signals transmitted between the primary transmitter and the receiver, informing all the examined transmitters of the determined optimal receive wire pair, and tracking at least one communication characteristic over the determined optimal receive wire pair.
US08879641B2	Storage of advanced video coding (AVC) parameter sets in AVC file format There is provided a method for employing Parameter Set information corresponding to an Advanced Video Coding (AVC) file. The method includes the step of embedding the Parameter Set information into a Hint Track of the AVC file.
US08879640B2	Memory efficient implementation of LDPC decoder A computer processor implementable method of decoding low-density parity-check (LDPC) code, comprising: receiving a log-likelihood-ratio (LLR) input bitstream; performing a combined bit-deinterleaving and reordering process on the LLR input bitstream and storing in a physical memory space, comprising: determining a logical memory address for each LLR bit in the LLR input bitstream, determining a physical memory address for each LLR bit in the LLR input bitstream from logical memory address of the LLR bit; decoding the LLR input bitstream stored in the physical memory space; and performing a combined de-reordering and de-mapping process on the decoded LLR input bitstream.
US08879636B2	Adaptive video encoding apparatus and methods Methods and apparatus for adaptive encoding of data such as for example video data. In one exemplary embodiment, a real-time video encoder is disclosed that changes video encoding processes to produce the best quality encoded video while maintaining a target encoding frame rate, according to one or more operating constraints.
US08879635B2	Methods and device for data alignment with time domain boundary Apparatus and methods of using content information for encoding multimedia data are described. A method of processing multimedia data includes obtaining content information of multimedia data, and encoding the multimedia data so as to align a data boundary with a frame boundary in a time domain, wherein said encoding is based on the content information. In another aspect, a method of processing multimedia data includes obtaining a content classification of the multimedia data, and encoding blocks in the multimedia data as intra-coded blocks or inter-coded blocks based on the content classification to increase the error resilience of the encoded multimedia data. Apparatus that can process multimedia data described in these methods are also disclosed.
US08879632B2	Fixed point implementation for geometric motion partitioning In one example, an apparatus includes a video encoder configured to partition a block of video data into a first partition and a second partition using a geometric motion partition line, calculate a slope value and a y-intercept value of the geometric motion partition line, wherein the slope value and the y-intercept value comprise integer values, calculate a mask indicative of pixels of the block in the first partition and pixels of the block in the second partition, encode the first partition and the second partition based on the mask, and output the encoded first partition, the encoded second partition, the slope value, and the y-intercept value. This may allow for a fixed point implementation. A video decoder may receive the slope and y-intercept values to calculate the mask and decode the block based on the mask.
US08879628B2	Floating point video coding Floating point video coding is described. In particular, a video encoder/decoder and methods for floating point video coding are discussed. Floating point video coding can be used in the video encoder and decoder to support video content, such as HDR content. Specifically, a video codec structure such as H.264/AVC can be modified in order to support floating point video coding. Within any component of a codec system, some operations can be performed at floating point precision whereas other operations can be performed at fixed point precision.
US08879626B2	Image encoding method and device, and decoding method and device therefor A video encoding method and apparatus and a video decoding method and apparatus. In the video encoding method, a first predicted coding unit of a current coding unit that is to be encoded is produced, a second predicted coding unit is produced by changing a value of each pixel of the first predicted coding unit by using each pixel of the first predicted coding unit and at least one neighboring pixel of each pixel, and the difference between the current coding unit and the second predicted coding unit is encoded, thereby improving video prediction efficiency.
US08879624B2	Method and apparatus for coding image information, method and apparatus for decoding image information, method and apparatus for coding and decoding image information, and system of coding and transmitting image information A decoding method decodes a bit stream in an image decoding apparatus. The method includes receiving a weight parameter that is added to a luma quantization parameter as the bit stream. The method also includes decoding, in a decoding unit in the image decoding apparatus, the bit stream, and generating a luma component of quantized coefficients and a chroma component of quantized coefficients. Further, the method includes performing, in a dequantization unit in the image decoding apparatus, dequantization on the luma component of quantized coefficients using the luma quantization parameter and the chroma component of quantized coefficients using a chroma quantization parameter calculated on the basis of the luma quantization parameter weighted by an add operation of the weight parameter. In addition, the method includes performing, in a transform unit in the image decoding apparatus, an inverse orthogonal transform.
US08879622B2	Interactive system and method for transmitting key images selected from a video stream over a low bandwidth network A method and interactive system for the on-line transmission of a high-resolution video sequence composed of a succession of T images includes a step of selecting relevant images comprising at least the following steps: split each image to be transmitted at the instant t into a number N of zones, for each zone n determined in the previous step, calculate a value representative of the content of said zone, for each image to be transmitted, generate a vector representative of the content of said image containing the values obtained in the previous step, calculate a normalized coefficient of correlation α between the reference vector determined for a previously selected image and that calculated for the current image, make a decision on the selection (or not) of the current image as a function of the value of the normalized correlation coefficient α.
US08879621B2	Image predictive coding device, image predictive coding method, image predictive coding program, image predictive decoding device, image predictive decoding method, and image predictive decoding program An image predictive encoding device of an embodiment obtains motion information, for acquiring from a previously-reconstructed reference picture, a signal highly correlated with a pixel signal of a target region serving as an encoding target. The motion information contains prediction modes of candidates for selection, the prediction modes being a uni-prediction using one reference picture and a bi-prediction using two reference pictures. When a prediction mode that is selected from the candidates of the two prediction modes is the uni-prediction, the motion information is obtained from one reference picture set in a single reference picture list used for uni-prediction in which frame numbers of a plurality of reference pictures are registered. At least the prediction mode is encoded as the motion information.
US08879620B2	Method for performing localized multihypothesis prediction during video coding of a coding unit, and associated apparatus A method for performing localized multihypothesis prediction during video coding of a coding unit includes: dividing the coding unit into a plurality of sub-coding units; and performing motion vector prediction of each of the sub-coding units. More particularly, the step of performing motion vector prediction of each of the sub-coding units further includes: obtaining a plurality of motion vectors for multihypothesis motion compensation of a specific sub-coding unit of the sub-coding units from a plurality of other sub-coding/coding units. The method further includes performing multihypothesis motion compensation on the specific sub-coding unit according to the plurality of motion vectors, and more particularly, includes utilizing a linear combination of a plurality of pixel values of the plurality of other sub-coding/coding units as a predicted pixel value of the specific sub-coding unit. An associated apparatus is also provided.
US08879618B2	Decision feedback equalizer and transceiver A decision feedback equalizer, transceiver, and method are provided, the equalizer having at least one comparator, the at least one comparator comprising a first stage, comprising a main branch having two track switches with a resistive load, an offset cancellation branch, a plurality of tap branches with transistor sizes smaller than the main branch, in which previous decisions of the equalizer are mixed with the tap weights using current-mode switching, and a cross coupled latch branch; and a second stage, comprising a comparator module for making decisions based on the outputs of the first stage and a clock input, and a plurality of flip-flops for storing the output of the comparator module.
US08879614B2	Overpower detection device and radio communication device The present invention relates to an overpower detection device 51 capable of detecting, with a simple configuration, overpower of a circuit that processes a signal associated with instantaneous variation. The overpower detection device 51 of the present invention includes: a power information acquisition section 61 for acquiring an index value of power, at each timing, of a signal transmitted or received in a target device; a comparison section 62 for comparing the index value acquired by the power information acquisition section 61 with an evaluation threshold; a comparison result accumulation section 63 for accumulating a value indicating a comparison result of the comparison section 62 at the each timing; and an overpower determination section 64 for determining overpower of a circuit in the target device, based on an accumulation result of the comparison result accumulation section 63.
US08879606B2	Systems/methods of transmitting information via baseband waveforms comprising agility in frequency content and an orthogonality therebetween Communications systems and/or methods are disclosed that may be used to convey information by forming, and then using, a plurality of frequency agile baseband waveforms, wherein any two different waveforms of the plurality of frequency agile baseband waveforms comprise an orthogonality therebetween. The systems/methods disclosed can convey information by mapping an information sequence into a baseband waveform sequence that includes waveforms of the plurality of baseband waveforms, and by transmitting the baseband waveform sequence. Such systems and/or methods can provide extreme privacy, cognitive radio capability, robustness to fading and interference, communications performance associated with M-ary orthonormal signaling and/or high multiple-access capacity.
US08879601B1	Multi-wavelength laser diode module Provided is a multi-wavelength laser diode module including a plurality of laser diodes having different consecutive light emission wavelength regions, a plurality of filters respectively corresponding to the plurality of laser diodes, and an optical waveguide path that transmits light emitted from the plurality of laser diodes to the plurality of filters and collects light reflected or transmitted by the plurality of filters to transmit the collected light to the outside.
US08879600B2	Surface emitting laser array element, optical scanning device, and image forming apparatus A surface emitting laser array element is disclosed that includes a lower distributed bragg reflector (DBR) that is formed on a substrate, an active layer that is formed on the lower DBR, and an upper DBR that is formed on the active layer. A mesa and a dummy mesa that is arranged at a periphery of the mesa are created by removing a portion of the upper DBR. The mesa forms a surface emitting laser, and a wiring is connected to an electrode that is formed on an upper face of the mesa. The wiring includes a portion that is arranged over an upper face of the dummy mesa, a side face of the dummy mesa, and a bottom face at a peripheral region of the dummy mesa extending along a longitudinal direction of the wiring.
US08879597B2	Methods for producing optoelectronic semiconductor components, and optoelectronic semiconductor lasers A method for producing an optoelectronic semiconductor component includes: epitaxially growing a semiconductor layer sequence including an active layer on a growth substrate, shaping a front facet at the semiconductor layer sequence and the growth substrate, coating a part of the front facet with a light blocking layer for radiation generated in the finished semiconductor component, wherein the light blocking layer is produced by a directional coating method and the light blocking layer is structured during coating by shading by the growth substrate and/or by at least one dummy bar arranged at and/or alongside the growth substrate.
US08879596B2	Semiconductor laser A semiconductor laser includes a semiconductor body having an active region that generates radiation and a ridge-shaped region, wherein the ridge-shaped region has a longitudinal axis running along an emission direction, a central axis of the semiconductor body runs in the emission direction and the longitudinal axis is arranged in a manner offset with respect to the central axis in a transverse direction.
US08879595B2	Quantum cascade structures on metamorphic buffer layer structures Semiconductor structures, quantum cascade structures and lasers including the structures are provided. The semiconductor structures include a substrate, a metamorphic buffer layer structure over the substrate, and a quantum cascade structure including a superlattice of quantum wells and barriers over the metamorphic buffer layer structure. The substrate may be GaAs and the quantum cascade structure may be an InGaAs/InAlAs superlattice, including one or more barriers of AlAs.
US08879591B2	Apparatus, method, and computer program product for controlling laser wavelength stability An apparatus includes a laser that generates a predetermined wavelength when the laser operates at room temperature, the predetermined wavelength being offset from a specific wavelength. The laser has a controlled wavelength range due to a wavelength drift, the wavelength range having a first wavelength as the upper boundary and a second wavelength as the lower boundary, the first wavelength is generated when the laser operates at a first temperature of an ambient and the second wavelength is generated when the laser operates at a predetermined temperature higher than a second temperature of the ambient. The apparatus includes a heater that heats the laser such that a wavelength in the controlled wavelength range that is generated by the laser when heated by the heater from the second temperature is longer than a short wavelength that is generated by the laser centered on the specific wavelength that operates at the second temperature; and a control circuit configured to turn on the heater.
US08879588B2	Method and device for fast tuning of optical sources A method and device are provided for fast, continuous tuning of an optical source. A first pump signal with a first pump frequency is input into a mixer along with a first seed signal having a first seed frequency. Within the mixer, the first pump signal and the first seed signal generate at least one idler having an idler frequency defined as two times the pump frequency minus the seed frequency. Shifting the pump signal across a frequency range at a sweep rate causes the idler frequency to be shifted by two times the frequency range at two times the sweep rate. The shifted at least one idler is mixed with the shifted pump signal to generate a first mix product that has two times the sweep rate and frequency range of the pump signal.
US08879579B2	Method and system for requester virtual cut through A method for transmitting a message includes a communication adapter receiving, from a transmitting device, a request to send the message. The method further includes modifying a maximum transfer unit (MTU) to obtain a modified MTU, transmitting, from the communication adapter to a receiving system, a first sub-unit of the message using the modified MTU, iteratively increasing the MTU for transmitting intermediate sub-units of the message until an MTU limit is reached, and transmitting, to the receiving system, the intermediate sub-units of the message. The intermediate sub-units are transmitted after the first sub-unit and before a second sub-unit. The method further includes transmitting, from the communication adapter to the receiving system, the second sub-unit to the receiving system using a full path MTU.
US08879575B2	Network transceiver and bandwidth management method thereof A loop method for determining transmission orders of asynchronous packets includes the steps of: classifying the asynchronous packets into a number of groups according to their lengths; and judging whether a length of a packet belonging to a longest-length packet group is smaller than or equal to a remained bandwidth of an asynchronous transmission period. If yes, the packet is transmitted in the asynchronous transmission period and the step is repeated to transmit other packets of the longest-length packet group. If not, it is judged whether a length of a packet belonging to a second-longest-length packet group is smaller than or equal to the remained bandwidth of the asynchronous transmission period to transmit the packets of the second-longest-length packet group. These steps are repeated until a shortest-length packet group is greater than the remained bandwidth.
US08879573B2	Media access control (MAC) protocol for cognitive wireless networks A new media access control (MAC) protocol for cognitive wireless networks is described. The new MAC protocol allows each of multiple nodes, such as cell phones and computers with wireless, to determine utilization of a communication spectrum, such as the television broadcast band. The nodes collaborate to achieve a combined view of spectrum utilization in their local vicinity, in which scheduled users and empty time segments are mapped across a wide range of frequencies. Nodes negotiate with each other to reserve idle segments of the spectrum for packet exchange on negotiated frequencies. Control packet structure allows nodes to become prescient of the local spectrum utilization during handshaking. A cognitive device operating under the new MAC has a first radio that both scans the spectrum and monitors a control channel; and a second reconfigurable radio with adjustable parameters, including frequency and bandwidth, for packet transmission.
US08879571B2	Delays based on packet sizes Techniques for delays based on packet sizes are provided. Request messages may identify the size of a data packet. Delays may be initiated based in part on a portion of the size of the data packet. The delays may also be based in part on target issue intervals. Request messages may be sent after the delays.
US08879570B2	Systems and methods for reconfiguring a network adapter in sleep mode A converged network adapter in sleep mode can allow a management entity to access and alter configuration of the network adapter over the network. Configuration data such as configuration parameters, firmware, and other data related to the network adapter can be stored in a memory, which can be coupled to a portion of the adapter that receives power during sleep mode. The management entity can send configuration messages to the adapter, which messages can include commands or instructions to read or write contents of the memory. The messages can include values of the configuration parameters to be altered, firmware code, etc. The management entity can also send configuration messages to a baseboard management controller (BMC) coupled to the adapter for message validation. The adapter and the BMC can send results of memory operations back to the management entity in response messages.
US08879563B2	Content-based forwarding of network traffic A method includes reading content of network traffic that arrives at a network port of a network switch of a mesh of network switches. A hash algorithm is applied to the read content to indicate a path to a destination network switch of the mesh, the hash algorithm being common to all network switches of the mesh. The network traffic is forwarded via a network port that is associated with the indicated path.
US08879549B2	Clearing forwarding entries dynamically and ensuring consistency of tables across ethernet fabric switch One embodiment of the present invention provides a switch. The switch includes an ownership management mechanism and a notification mechanism. The ownership management mechanism maintains a local ownership association between the switch, and a medium access control (MAC) address learned at the switch and terminates the local ownership association for the MAC address. The notification mechanism generates a first notification indicating the local ownership association and a second notification indicating the termination of the local ownership association.
US08879547B2	Telephony application services Telephony application services are provided through use of a service delivery platform (SDP) and by implementing a service-oriented architecture (SOA)-based approach. Various “widgets” of telephony functionality are selected, each widget providing functionality such as call forwarding, call blocking, conferencing, etc. These widgets provide not only call manipulation, but can provide the logic used to process a call. An application or application service thus can combine and/or compose these widgets as needed to provide telephony functionality.
US08879544B1	Outbound communication session establishment on a telecommunications network Disclosed are techniques for establishing a communication session in a call server between communication devices. A call server receives a communication session establishment message from a communication device that has an associated VoIP telephone number. The message is indicative of the communication device wanting to place a call to a target communication device that has an associated target telephone number. The communication session establishment message includes the VoIP telephone number, the target telephone number and a connection status indicator. The call server establishes a first communication link with the device based on the connection status indicator. The call server then establishes a second communication link with the target communication device. The call server may then join the first and second communication links to establish a communication session between the communication devices.
US08879543B2	Methods and apparatus to form secure cross-virtual private network communication sessions Example methods and apparatus to form secure cross-VPN (virtual private network) communication sessions in multiprotocol label switching (MPLS)-based networks are disclosed. An example method comprises receiving a communication session initiation request from a first device associated with a first MPLS-based VPN, determining whether the communication session initiation request is directed to a second device associated with a second MPLS-based VPN, sending a cross-VPN link setup request to a route reflector to enable a cross-VPN communication path over which the first and second devices are permitted to communicate when the communication session initiation request is directed to the second device associated with the second VPN, and facilitating a communication session between the first and second devices via the communication path enabled by the route reflector.
US08879542B2	Method for providing local and toll services with LNP, and toll-free services to a calling party which originates the call from an IP location connected to a SIP-enabled IP network A method for providing combined local, toll, toll-free services, and number portability, to a calling party originating calls from an IP-based communication devices which are coupled to an IP-based multi-media service provider. The method includes receiving a SIP INVITE message, which includes a multi-media service identifier, at the multi-media provider. The SIP INVITE message represents a call request for a multi-media service. The SIP INVITE message is processed at the multi-media service provider for determining if the call request can be satisfied. If the multi-media service provider includes resources for satisfying the call, the multi-media service identifier of the SIP INVITE message is set to a first predetermined state and the call is processed. If the multi-media service provider does not include resources for satisfying the call, the multi-media service identifier of the SIP INVITE message is set to a second predetermined state and the call is processed elsewhere.
US08879534B2	Method and apparatus for selecting a radio link control protocol data unit size A method and apparatus are used to create RLC PDUs in advance of the E-TFC selection for the MAC PDU that will include this or these RLC PDU(s). The apparatus may be configured to pre-generate RLC PDUs for transmission in a later TTI. This approach avoids the large peak processing requirement due to the tight delay constraint if any RLC PDU to be included into a MAC PDU had to be created after the determination of the size of this MAC PDU, i.e. after E-TFC selection. The method and apparatus maintain an approximate match between the size of an RLC PDU and the size of the MAC PDU it is included into. Maintaining this approximate match ensures that the RLC PDU error rate due to HARQ residual errors remains low. This approach may be designed as “semi-radio aware” or “radio-aware with delay”.
US08879522B2	Method, apparatus and system for mobility management and efficient information retrieval in a communications network A method and apparatus of forming a generic overlay network for efficient information retrieval in a communications network, comprising receiving in a domain router a register request from a mobile communications apparatus, the register request including an identification of said mobile communications apparatus; looking-up an address to a next-hop router associated with the identification; sending the register request to the next-hop router; receiving a reply from the next-hop router; and if the reply includes an address to a home router, sending a reply to the mobile communications apparatus including the address of the home router, said reply initiating the establishment of a connection between the mobile communications apparatus and the home router.
US08879513B2	Uplink transmission apparatus and method for mobile communication system supporting uplink MIMO A base station includes a transmit path circuitry to transmit an uplink grant to a subscriber station. The uplink grant indicating a first MCS value for a first codeword transmission and a second MCS value for a second codeword transmission. The base station also includes a receive path circuitry configured to receive a MIMO uplink subframe from the subscriber station, the MIMO uplink subframe having a first subset of layers used for the first codeword transmission and a second subset of layers used for the second codeword transmission. ACK/NACK information and RI information are repeated on both the first and second subsets of layers, and CQI is spatially multiplexed on either the first subset or the second subset of layers. If the first MCS value is different from the second MCS value, the CQI is spatially multiplexed onto the subset of layers having a higher MCS value.
US08879510B2	Method and device for transmitting midamble signals in wireless communication system Discloses are a method and a device for transmitting midamble signals in a wireless communication system. The method for transmitting the midamble signals comprises the steps of: generating each of midamble signals for eight transmission antennas; and transmitting said midamble signals to a terminal through said eight transmission antennas. Among the midamble signals for said eight transmission antennas, a first midamble group which includes midamble signals for certain four transmission antennas and a second midamble group which includes midamble signals for the rest of four transmission antennas are transmitted through different resources.
US08879507B2	Techniques for establishing a communication handoff threshold using user feedback Examples are disclosed for user feedback to enable a handoff profile for a dual-mode hybrid mobile device. In some examples communication link handoff logic may be executed by the processor component to receive user feedback during a voice call mediated by a call server, the voice call between a hybrid mobile device and another communication device, the user feedback pertaining to one or more Voice-over Internet Protocol (VoIP) communication link parameters for the communication link between the hybrid mobile device and the call server. The communication link parameters are correlated with a call quality threshold based on the user feedback and a handoff profile is established for the hybrid mobile device based on the call quality thresholds, the handoff profile operative to establish criteria for switching the VoIP communication link to a communication link over a different network.
US08879506B1	Method and apparatus for dynamically scheduled tuneaway A method and apparatus to help minimize tuneaway time of a user equipment device (UE), by dynamically scheduling when the UE should tune away to scan for coverage of a particular wireless communication system, such as a time division duplex (TDD) system for instance. The UE may receive downlink transmissions from a TDD system and determining a downlink transmission schedule of the TDD system based on when those downlink transmissions occurred. Further, the UE may then use the determined downlink transmission schedule as a basis to schedule tuneaway of the UE from a serving system to scan for coverage of the TDD system.
US08879505B2	Handoff method and system for mobile terminal Disclosed in the present invention are a handover method and system for a mobile terminal (MT) based on a wireless local area network. The method includes: sending a data frame to a second AP when an MT needs to hand over from a cell covered by a first AP service to a cell covered by a second AP service, with the data frame including an associated number between the MT and the first AP and an MAC access of the first AP; and the second AP looking up locally stored mobile terminal certification and association information about the cell covered by the first AP service and rapidly determining whether to allow the access of the MT according to the stored information.
US08879503B2	Voice service in evolved packet system Methods and apparatus to manage voice service in evolved packet systems are disclosed. An example method in a User Equipment (UE) includes receiving a Non Access Stratum (NAS) protocol response message with a first indicator, the first indicator provided by lower layers of the UE to upper layers of the UE, responsive to the first indicator, initiating an IMS registration if the UE is not already registered with the IMS, and responsive to the UE having registered with the IP Multimedia (IM) Core Network (CN) Subsystem (IMS), determining availability of voice services over the IP Multimedia (IM) Core Network (CN) Subsystem (IMS).
US08879500B2	Handover procedures in a wireless communications system A wireless communications system having a radio access network (RAN). A wireless terminal is connected to a serving node in the RAN. The wireless terminal exchange messages with a serving node to support a handover to a target node in the RAN. The target node receives the hand over and provides to the wireless terminal the identity of one or more messages sent from the serving node to the target node that were not acknowledged by the wireless terminal. The wireless terminal provides information to the target node to prevent the retransmission of one or more stale messages following handover.
US08879496B2	Beamforming codeword exchange between base stations A first base station receives a message from a second base station. The first base station and the second base station communicate to wireless devices employing a downlink carrier comprising downlink resource blocks. The message comprises downlink beamforming information indicating a beamforming codeword of a codebook employed for downlink resource block(s). The first base station selects, for a subset of the downlink resource blocks, beamforming codewords from a codebook based, at least in part, on the downlink beamforming information. The first base station transmits signals on a subset of the downlink resource blocks employing beamforming codewords.
US08879495B2	Base station and communication method of base station Appropriate AAS control is achieved by a base station having a plurality of antennas for performing a radio communication with the mobile station by employing Time Division Duplex including an assignment unit for assigning a radio resource to the mobile station, a request unit for requesting the mobile station to transmit a reference signal using a reference signal area of an uplink radio resource in the same frequency band as a downlink radio resource, when the uplink radio resource for an uplink communication in the same frequency band as the downlink radio resource for a downlink communication is not assigned to the mobile station by the assignment unit, and a calculation unit for receiving the reference signal and, based on the reference signal, for calculating a weight used for transmitting a radio signal on the downlink communication channel.
US08879494B2	Method and system for non-periodic feedback in carrier aggregation scenario The present invention discloses a method and a system for non-periodic feedback in a carrier aggregation scenario. The method comprises: a base station sending a non-periodic trigger signaling to a piece of User Equipment (UE); the UE receiving the non-periodic trigger signaling, and determining a Downlink Component Carrier (DL CC) requiring feedback according to the non-periodic trigger signaling; the UE triggering a non-periodic feedback of the determined DL CC. With the present invention, the problem that it is impossible to determine which downlink component carrier is to be fed back according to the non-periodic trigger signaling in the carrier aggregation scenario is solved, uplink feedback of the DL CC that is unnecessary to be fed back is effectively reduced, the base station can adjust resource allocation according to information fed back by the UE, and the performance of downlink data transmission is ensured.
US08879493B2	Method of reducing transmission power and terminal thereof A method of reducing transmission power is provided. In the method, a signal is transmitted by performing maximum power reduction (MPR) on maximum output power for the signal to be transmitted, when multi-cluster transmission is performed in a single component carrier. Here, the MPR is performed differently depending on a resource allocation ratio A. The resource allocation ratio A is defined as a ratio between NRB—agg and NRB—alloc. The NRB—agg represents the number of resource blocks (RBs) in a channel band, and the NRB—alloc represents the total number of RBs transmitted at the same time.
US08879488B2	Multi-device monitoring and control using intelligent device channel sharing A shared logical device physical network address is assigned to each of a set of wireless physical devices. The set of wireless physical devices forms a logical device group addressable over a single wireless communication channel using the shared logical device physical network address within a wireless network. In response to receipt of a data packet addressed to a physical network address of one of the set of wireless physical devices from an application server, the physical network address is translated to the shared logical device physical network address with which the wireless physical device is logically grouped. The physical network address of the wireless physical device is embedded within the data packet addressed to the shared logical device physical network address. The data packet is sent to the shared logical device physical network address.
US08879486B2	Method and arrangements in a mobile telecommunications system The present invention relates to methods and arrangements for introducing an automatic one-time configuration of the DNS server(s) when a base station gateway, such as an HeNB GW, is deployed, such that the FQDN-to-HeNB GW IP address translation data is proactively configured. This is performed to identify the base station gateway address to which subsequently deployed base stations will be connected. That is, the FQDN-to-HeNB GW IP address translation data for the HeNB IDs of all the HeNBs that may potentially connect to the HeNB GW is proactively configured in the DNS server(s), thereby avoiding frequent and constantly ongoing DNS configuration during normal network operation. This configuration of the DNS allows the eNB to obtain the destination address for an X2 connection without knowing about an eventual HeNB GW, nor the addressing details, such as size/length (or fixed number of bits) of the HeNB GW ID.
US08879470B2	Cooperative beam forming method, apparatus and base station The present invention proposes a method, device and base station for cooperative beam forming based on MBMS fixed grid of beams GoB. The cooperative beam forming method comprises following steps: grouping users into cell central user group and cell edge user group (S701); performing cell central user group multiplexing based on superposition coding (S702); performing cooperative beam forming operation based on fixed grid of beams GoB for cell edge user group (S703).
US08879466B2	Sensor node for using asynchronous MAC Provided is a Media Access Control (MAC) technology that may improve a data transmission performance in an asynchronous sensor network. The MAC technology may increase a waked-up time interval of a reception node to thereby continue to receive traffic from a transmission node, and change a frequency band where data is transmitted and received to thereby reduce occurrence of collision. Also, when the wake-up time interval of the reception node is similar to a wake-up time of a neighboring node, the wake-up time interval of the reception node may be moved to another time interval, thereby improving the data transmission performance.
US08879464B2	System and method for providing a replacement packet The system generates a first data stream which represents a data signal. The first data stream is encoded via a first encoding technique. The first data stream comprises one or more packets with a duration and timestamp. The data signal is encoded into a second data stream using a different encoding technique with a corresponding packet in the second data stream. A packet in the second data stream has the same duration and timestamp as the corresponding packet in the first data stream.The first data stream is sent on a first network. The second data stream is sent on a second network. The first and second data streams are received. A missing/delayed packet in the first data stream is detected. The data signal is regenerated using the first data stream and the packet from the second data stream that corresponds to the missing/delayed packet in the first data stream.
US08879451B2	Vehicle battery power save timer The described method and system provide for processing telematics service-related calls on a telematics-equipped vehicle when the vehicle ignition is off. By utilizing one or more call timers, the described invention is able to prevent excessive drain to the vehicle battery while still providing broad access to telematics services when the vehicle ignition is off. Certain types of calls may be excepted from the call timers, and different types of calls may use different call timers. A call center may also intervene and modify the process by changing the values of the timers.
US08879447B1	Method and apparatus for mitigating physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) interference in long term evolution (LTE) systems Disclosed herein are embodiments of a method and embodiments of an apparatus for mitigating physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) interference in Long Term Evolution (LTE) systems. In an embodiment, a wireless-communication device receives downlink transport blocks and responsively transmits corresponding acknowledgement messages via the PUCCH. The device determines that an excessive number of unsolicited (i.e., already-acknowledged) retransmitted downlink transport blocks has been received, and responsively: transmits a scheduling-request message via a random access channel (RACH) and obtains a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) scheduling grant, accesses pseudo uplink data, annexes uplink-feedback data to the pseudo uplink data, and transmits the pseudo uplink data and annexed uplink-feedback data via the PUSCH in accordance with the obtained PUSCH scheduling grant.
US08879445B2	Mitigating impact of power imbalance on remote data rate in wireless local area network A method for mitigating the impact of a power imbalance on a remote data rate in a wireless local area network (WLAN) includes transmitting a wireless local area network (WLAN) acknowledgement (ACK) packet at a first transmit power level to a remote device. The method further includes transmitting, to the remote device, a WLAN data packet at a second transmit power level that is lower than the first transmit power level of the WLAN ACK packet. Another method for mitigating the impact of a power imbalance on a remote data rate in a wireless local area network (WLAN) may include selecting a wireless local area network (WLAN) acknowledgement (ACK) packet transmit rate independent from a rate at which a WLAN data packet is received. This method further includes transmitting, to a remote device, a WLAN ACK packet at the selected WLAN ACK packet transmit rate.
US08879442B2	Methods and apparatus to enable call completion in internet protocol communication networks Methods and apparatus to enable call completion in Internet protocol communication networks are disclosed. Example methods disclosed herein to process a voice over Internet protocol call include sending a first query to a telephone number mapping server to obtain a session initiation protocol uniform resource identifier associated with a destination device with which the voice over Internet protocol call is to be established. Some such example methods further include, in response to the voice over Internet protocol call failing to be established using the session initiation protocol uniform resource identifier obtained from the first query, sending a second query to the telephone number mapping server to obtain a numeric Internet protocol address associated with the destination device, and using the numeric Internet protocol address obtained from the second query to establish the voice over Internet protocol call with the destination device.
US08879436B2	Multiband wireless apparatus Provided is a multiband wireless apparatus that, even if the number of supported frequency bands increases, suppresses increase in the number of components, and completes cell search within a specified time. In a multiband wireless apparatus (1), a reception channel to which a current reception channel is going to be next switched is set in advance for one of a tunable duplexer (13) and a reception dedicated tunable filter (14) that is not connected to an antenna. An antenna switch (15), in a normal transmission/reception mode, connects the antenna to the tunable duplexer (13), and in a compressed mode, switches the connection of the antenna between the tunable duplexer (13) and the reception dedicated tunable filter (14).
US08879432B2	Splitter and combiner for multiple data rate communication system Complementary band-splitter and band-combiner devices and methods of operation of both are disclosed. Embodiments of the invention may allow wideband and narrowband functions and services to operate seamlessly by band-splitting wideband data into low-band data and high-band data. Narrowband data may include only low-band data. Wideband services may operate on both low-band and high-band data, while narrowband services may operate only on low-band data. Another embodiment may include computer-readable storage having stored thereon a computer program having a plurality of code sections executable by a processor for causing the processor to perform the foregoing.
US08879423B2	Method, media gateway and mobile switching center emulation for realizing switching by coping topology The present invention discloses a method for realizing a handoff by replicating topology, including: a MGW receiving an ADD Command from a MSCe, adding a new Termination to a Context, and establishing a bearer to a target office or a target base station; receiving a MODIFY Command from the MSCe, and modifying properties of the new Termination; and receiving a SUBTRACT Command from the MSCe, removing an original Termination, and according to recorded information about relationship between the new Termination and the original Termination carried by a Handover Package in one Command, playing the Tone of the original Termination to the new Termination continuously and establishing the same topology connection between the new Termination and other Terminations in the Context. The present invention also discloses a system for realizing a handoff by replicating topology, a media gate-way and a mobile switching center emulation. The present invention completes the topology replication.
US08879421B2	Method for personal network service configuration and system for personal network service configuration An invention concerns a method for enabling Service configuration by a plurality of Personal Network Entities connected to a Personal Network comprising a Personal Network Application Server accessible via IP Multimedia Subsystem domain, a primary Personal Network Entity holding a subscription to control the Personal Network and a plurality of secondary Personal Network Entities controlled by the primary Personal Network Entity, the method comprising the following steps: —associating to each PNE configuration rights describing the services to be configured by each of the PNE, —storing the PNE identities, and configuration rights associated to each PNE in a Configuration Element (PNRCE), —sending to the PN Application Server (AS) a configuration request based on the stored configuration rights.
US08879415B2	Method and system for annotating network flow information A scalable flow monitoring solution takes in standard flow records exported from network devices such as routers, switches, firewalls, hubs, etc., and annotates the flow with additional information. This information is derived from a number of sources, including Border Gateway Protocol (BGP), Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP), user configuration, and other, intelligent flow analysis. These annotations add information to the flow data, and can be used to perform value-added flow analysis. The annotated flow is then resent to a configurable set of destinations using standard flow formatting, e.g., Cisco System Inc.'s NetFlow, in one implementation. This allows the annotated flow to be processed and the enhanced information to be used by other flow analysis tools and existing flow analysis infrastructure.
US08879403B2	Link microbenchmarking with idle link correction Measuring the speed of a link is disclosed. An initial packet train having an initial length over the link is sent. A speed result is determined based at least in part on an actual time of reception of individual packets in the packet train. The quality of the speed result for the initial packet train is evaluated according to a constraint. A determination is made as to whether to send a subsequent packet train based at least in part on the quality of the speed result.
US08879402B2	Wireless communication device that is capable of improving data transmission efficiency A wireless communication device includes a data transmission and reception section that wirelessly transmits a plurality of test packets; a signal sensing section that senses a power of a spatial radio wave signal on a frequency channel that is the same as the plurality of test packets and outputs sample data of the sensed spatial radio wave signal; a calculation processing section that converts the sample data into time series sample data; a collision detection section that calculates a packet collision rate based on the number of packet collisions and the number of the plurality of test packets if there is a packet collision due to interference of the plurality of test packets with another communication; and a control section that adjusts a parameter that the data transmission and reception section uses based on a calculation result of the collision detection section.
US08879400B2	Mobile communication system, base station, cell coverage control method There is provided a mobile communication system, a base station, and a method of controlling cell coverage that is capable of operating a mobile communication system such that the cell coverage is maintained approximately and timely at a target level without requiring much labor. In this mobile communication system, a mobile station reports to the base station the position information of the mobile station and the value of reception power of reference signal from the base station. The base station obtains the measured cell coverage as a result of measurement of cell coverage based on the position information and the value of reception power from the mobile stations, and controls at least one of plural parameters including transmission power to the mobile stations, tilt angle of antenna, etc., so as to minimize deviation of the measured cell coverage from the target cell coverage.
US08879397B2	Balancing load in a network, such as a data center network, using flow based routing Load balancing is performed in a network using flow-based routing. For example, upon detection of a big flow, one or more alternative paths from a source host to a destination host in the network may be discovered by probing the network and generating, for each of the one or more alternative paths, an association of the packet header information of the big flow to an alternative path discovered using results of probing the network. Upon congestion in a path currently being used by the big flow, an alternative path that is not congested is selected from the one or more discovered alternative paths. The packet header information of the big flow is altered using the generated association of the packet header information to the selected alternative path such that the big flow will be transmitted using the selected alternative path.
US08879396B2	System and method for using dynamic allocation of virtual lanes to alleviate congestion in a fat-tree topology A system and method can prevent traffic congestion in a middleware machine environment with a plurality of switches in a fat-tree topology. A subnet manager can sweep a subnet in the middleware machine environment to discover changes and maintain the subnet fully connected. A performance manager can retrieve performance and error-related information from one or more performance management agents that are associated with one or more components in the subnet. Then, a host can dynamically reconfigure one or more virtual lanes in order to improve network performances.
US08879393B2	Quality of service (QoS) configuration for network devices with multiple queues A network device implements automatic configuration of Quality of Service (QoS) parameters in response to operator specification of a relatively few and easily understandable “high level” parameters such as, for example, latency requirements or an acceptable rate of packet drops. In one implementation, a network device may receive user preference information that relates to a Quality of Service (QoS) for network traffic passing through the network device and may measure traffic patterns through the network device. The device further generates a configuration template based on the measured traffic patterns and on the user preference information transmit the data in an order of transmission that is prioritized according to a bandwidth allocation policy defined by the configuration template.
US08879391B2	System and method for using network derivations to determine path states A method of determining the state of a path in a network. A rate of throughput is observed at a node of the network over an interval for at least a portion of the path. Derivations associated with a characteristic of the frames or traffic flows communicated over at least the portion of the path are determined at the node. A state of congestion of the path is determined in response to the observed rate of throughput as compared to a bandwidth profile of the path and the derivations.
US08879390B2	Method, communication network and datacenter for traffic management in a communication network Method, communication network and datacenter for data traffic management in a communication network. The invention provides a method for data traffic management in a communication network. The method first includes setting up a first communication path for a first data communication and transmitting data from a source of the first data communication to a destination of the first data communication. Then, features of a saturation tree representing a congestion of data transmission in the first data communication are monitored and a data rate of the first data communication along the first communication path is adapted based on the monitored features. The present invention further provides a datacenter and a communication network.
US08879385B2	Use of sub path maintenance elements (SPMES) for multiprotocol label switching (MPLS) shared mesh protection Embodiments of the invention include a computer-implemented method of shared backup path computation in an multiprotocol label switching (MPLS) network, the shared backup path to be used upon a failure of at least one working path of the MPLS network.
US08879384B2	Fast upstream source failure detection One example embodiment of the method includes receiving first control packets, by a first node, from a source node. The first control packets indicate the status of the source node. Whether the source node is operational and if a connection path between the first node and the source node is operational is determined based on the received first control packets. The method further includes sending a second control packet to a downstream node if the source node is non-operational, or the connection is non-operational. The second control packet includes at least one value indicating the source node is unreliable.
US08879379B1	Transmitter and method for applying multi-tone OFDM based communications within a lower frequency range A method to detect a phase connection of a receiver of a power line communication system includes providing a first connection between a transmitter and one phase of a multi-phase power line. A zero crossing of a first signal provided by the first connection is detected. A first timestamp is generated before a packet is transmitted by the transmitter and added to a header of the packet. A second connection is provided between the receiver and one phase of the multi-phase power line. A zero crossing of a second signal provided by the second connection is detected. A second timestamp is generated when the packet is received by the receiver. The value of the first timestamp is compared to the value of the second timestamp to determine whether the one phase of the first connection is the same as the one phase of the second connection.
US08879378B2	Orthonormal time-frequency shifting and spectral shaping communications method A wireless combination time, frequency and spectral shaping communications method that transmits data in convolution unit matrices (data frames) of N×N (N2), where generally either all N2 data symbols are received over N spreading time intervals (each composed of N time slices), or none are. To transmit, the N2 sized data frame matrix is multiplied by a first N×N time-frequency shifting matrix, permuted, and then multiplied by a second N×N spectral shaping matrix, thereby mixing each data symbol across the entire resulting N×N matrix (TFSSS data matrix). Columns from this N2 TFSSS data matrix are selected, modulated, and transmitted, on a one element per time slice basis. At the receiver, the replica TFSSS matrix is reconstructed and deconvoluted, revealing the data. The method can accommodate multiple users at once, can adapt to changing channel conditions, and is particularly useful for coping with channel impairments such as Doppler shifts.
US08879375B2	Optical pickup and optical disk device The laser light source, the PBS, and the reference light mirror are arranged in such a manner as to simultaneously satisfy Lsig+LBS≠s (Lld/m) (s: positive integer, m: positive integer), Lref+LBS≠t (Lld/m) (t: positive integer), and u(Lld/m)−(ΔL/2)≦Lsig−Lref≦u(Lld/m)+(ΔL/2) (u: integer), where Lld represents an in-vacuum internal resonator length of the laser light source, LBS represents an in-vacuum-converted optical path length of a laser beam between the emission end surface of the laser light source and the PBS, Lsig represents an in-vacuum-converted optical path length of signal light between the PBS and the reflecting unit of the optical disk, Lref represents an in-vacuum-converted optical path length of reference light between the PBS and the reference light mirror, and ΔL represents an interference permissible optical path length of the laser beam.
US08879374B2	Objective lens driving unit that maintains electrical connection between suspension wires and leads Provided are an objective lens driving unit that maintains the electrical connection between suspension wires and winding bosses. The objective lens driving unit includes a plurality of winding bosses disposed at a side of the frame, each having a projection formed at its end and extending in a direction in which a suspension wire extends.
US08879373B1	Systems and methods for optimizing optical recording Systems and methods are provided for reducing jitter in a write strategy for an optical drive. A pattern on an optical medium is recorded according to a first write strategy. Edge timings corresponding to the pattern recorded on the optical medium are measured, and edge timing sensitivities are determined based at least in part on the measured edge timings. A second write strategy is determined based on the edge timing sensitivities, such that the second write strategy is associated with a second jitter amount less than a first jitter amount associated with the first write strategy.
US08879369B2	Timepiece faceplate, and electrical timepiece equipped with solar battery To provide a timepiece faceplate having appropriate light permeability with excellent aesthetic appearance having glittering property, and an electrical timepiece equipped with a solar battery, a timepiece faceplate of the invention includes a faceplate main body that has light permeability, and a glittering layer that is provided on either one of a front surface side and a back surface side of the faceplate main body and is configured by dispersing a glittering powder into a light permeable resin. The glittering powder is configured by laminating a metallic oxide film above one surface side of a plate shaped base material, which has light permeability, and the glittering powder is a lamination powder that an average grain diameter is more than 10 μm and less than 90 μm.
US08879362B2	Ocean bottom seismometer package A marine seismic exploration method and system comprised of continuous recording, self-contained ocean bottom pods characterized by low profile casings. An external bumper is provided to promote ocean bottom coupling and prevent fishing net entrapment. Pods are tethered together with flexible, non-rigid, non-conducting cable used to control pod deployment. Pods are deployed and retrieved from a boat deck configured to have a storage system and a handling system to attach pods to cable on-the-fly. The storage system is a juke box configuration of slots wherein individual pods are randomly stored in the slots to permit data extraction, charging, testing and synchronizing without opening the pods. A pod may include an inertial navigation system to determine ocean floor location and a rubidium clock for timing. The system includes mathematical gimballing. The cable may include shear couplings designed to automatically shear apart if a certain level of cable tension is reached.
US08879350B2	System and method for tuning a supply voltage for data retention A processor and a system are provided for tuning a supply voltage for data retention. The contents of data storage circuitry are read and a data verification indication corresponding to the contents is computed. Then, the supply voltage provided to the data storage circuitry is reduced to a low voltage level that is intended to retain the contents of the data storage circuitry.
US08879349B2	Storage device A storage device according to an embodiment includes first and second non-volatile semiconductor memories. In addition, the storage device includes first controller that controls the first non-volatile memory to cause the first non-volatile memory to perform processes. In addition, the storage device includes second controller that controls the second non-volatile memory to cause the second non-volatile memory to perform processes. The storage device further includes a signal line which is connected to the first controller and the second controller and through which a token is transmitted between the first controller and the second controller. The first controller is capable of controlling the first non-volatile memory while holding the token and the second controller is capable of controlling the second non-volatile memory while holding the token.
US08879345B1	Microprocessor mechanism for decompression of fuse correction data An apparatus includes a semiconductor fuse array and a plurality of cores. The semiconductor fuse array is disposed on a die, into which is programmed configuration data. The array has a first plurality of fuses and a second plurality of fuses. The first plurality of fuses stores the configuration data in an encoded and compressed format. The second plurality of fuses stores first compressed fuse correction data that indicates locations and values corresponding to a first one or more fuses within the first plurality of fuses whose states are to be changed from that which was previously stored. The plurality of cores is disposed on the die, where each of the plurality of cores is coupled to the array and accesses all of the compressed configuration data during power-up/reset, for initialization of elements within the each of the plurality of cores.
US08879342B2	Memory devices, systems and methods employing command/address calibration During a command/address calibration mode, a memory controller may transmit multiple cycles of test patterns as signals to a memory device. Each cycle of test pattern signals may be transmitted at an adjusted relative phase with respect to a clock also transmitted to the memory device. The memory device may input the test pattern signals at a timing determined by the clock, such as rising and/or falling edges of the clock. The test pattern as input by the memory device may be sent to the memory controller to determine if the test pattern was successfully transmitted to the memory device during the cycle. Multiple cycles of test pattern transmissions are evaluated to determine a relative phase of command/address signals with respect to the clock for transmission during operation of the system.
US08879340B2	Memory device having data paths with multiple speeds A memory device has multiple bi-directional data paths. One of the multiple bi-directional data paths is configured to transfer data at one speed. Another one of the multiple bi-directional data paths is configured to transfer data at another speed.
US08879339B2	Write control device A write control device includes a switching unit configured to selectively supply a write current in response to a driving control signal, a driving unit configured to supply a driving current to a memory cell corresponding to the write current applied through the switching unit, and an over-driving control unit coupled to an output node of the driving unit and configured to over-drive the output node in response to the driving control signal.
US08879338B2	Semiconductor integrated circuit and nonvolatile semiconductor storage device A semiconductor integrated circuit according to an embodiment includes an oscillator that generates and outputs an oscillation signal in an active state and generates no oscillation signal in an inactive state. The semiconductor integrated circuit includes a negative charge pump that generates an output voltage that is a negative voltage in response to the oscillation signal and outputs the output voltage to an output pad. The semiconductor integrated circuit includes a negative voltage detecting circuit that detects the output voltage and controls the oscillator to be in the active state or inactive state so as to bring the output voltage close to a target voltage.
US08879337B1	Dynamic burst length output control in a memory A memory, a system and a method for controlling dynamic burst length control data can generate clocks for both an upstream counter and a downstream counter by using substantially the same latency delayed received command indications. A downstream clock generation circuit generates a clock signal from a received command indication delayed by both a delay locked loop and latency delays stored in latency control circuits. An upstream clock generation circuit generates a clock signal from the received command indication delayed by the delay locked loop and capture indications from the latency control circuits.
US08879336B2	Semiconductor memory device and operation method thereof A semiconductor memory device includes a memory cell block including memory cells, a random value generation circuit configured to generate random value data using a page address and a column address, a page buffer section connected to bit lines of the memory cell block and configured to store input data inputted in response to the column address and the random value data, and a controller configured to control the page buffer section to generate random data by performing a logic operation on the input data and the random value data stored in the page buffer section.
US08879333B2	Soft erase operation for 3D non-volatile memory with selective inhibiting of passed bits An erase operation for a 3D stacked memory device selectively inhibits subsets of memory cells which meet a verify condition as the erase operation progresses. As a result, the faster-erasing memory cells are less likely to be over-erased and degradation is reduced. Each subset of memory cells can be independently erased by controlling a select gate, drain (SGD) transistor line, a bit line or a word line, according to the type of subset. For a SGD line subset or a bit line subset, the SGD line or bit line, respectively, is set at a level which inhibits erase. For a word line subset, the word line voltage is floated to inhibit erase. An inhibit or uninhibit status can be maintained for each subset, and each type of subset can have a different maximum allowable number of fail bits.
US08879332B2	Flash memory with read tracking clock and method thereof The configurations of a flash memory having a read tracking clock and method thereof are provided. The proposed flash memory includes a first and a second storage capacitors, a first current source providing a first current flowing through the first storage capacitor, a second current source providing a second current flowing through the second storage capacitor, and a comparator electrically connected to the first and the second current sources, and sending out a signal indicating a developing time being accomplished when the second current is larger than the first current.
US08879329B2	Program verify operation in a memory device Methods for program verifying, program verify circuits, and memory devices are disclosed. One such method for program verifying includes generating a ramped voltage for a plurality of count values. The ramped voltage is applied to a control gate of a memory cell being program verified. At least a portion of each count value is compared to an indication of a target threshold voltage for the memory cell. When the at least a portion of the count value is equal to the indication of the target threshold voltage indication, sense circuitry is used to check if the memory cell has been activated by the voltage generated by the count. If the memory cell has been activated, an inhibit latch is set to inhibit further programming of the memory cell. If the memory cell has not been activated by the voltage, the memory cell is biased with another programming pulse.
US08879325B1	System, method and computer program product for processing read threshold information and for reading a flash memory module A flash memory controller, a non-transitory computer readable medium and a method for reading flash memory cells of a flash memory module. The method may include calculating a group of read thresholds to be applied during a reading operation of a set of flash memory cells that belong to a certain row of the flash memory module based upon a compressed representation of reference read thresholds associated with multiple reference rows of the flash memory module; and reading the set of flash memory cells by applying the group of reference read thresholds to provide read results.
US08879324B2	Compensation loop for read voltage adaptation The disclosure is directed to a system and method for nominal read voltage variations of a flash device. N reads are performed, each at a selected voltage offset from an initial read voltage. An N bit digital pattern associated with the selected voltage offsets is generated for the N reads. The N bit digital pattern generated by the N reads is mapped to a signed representation. A voltage adjustment based upon the signed representation is applied to at least partially compensate for a variation of the nominal read voltage to reduce bit error rate of the flash device.
US08879321B2	Vertical non-volatile memory device and electric-electronic system having the same device Provided is a vertical non-volatile memory device having a metal source line. The vertical non-volatile memory device includes cell string units that are formed on first portions of a semiconductor substrate and are vertically arranged with respect to a surface of the semiconductor substrate, impurity regions formed on second portions of the semiconductor substrate between the cell string units, conductive lines formed on the impurity regions, and spacers that are formed on the sidewalls of the cell string units and insulate the conductive lines from the cells string units.
US08879320B2	Method of programming multi-level cells in non-volatile memory device A method of programming a multi-level cells (MLC) commonly coupled to a word line in a non-volatile memory device includes shadow-programming first MLC to a first shadow state, shadow-programming second MLC to a second shadow state less than the first shadow state, and then main-programming the first MLC from the first shadow state to a first final state and main-programming the second MLC from the second shadow state to the second final state less than the first final state.
US08879319B1	Re-writing scheme for solid-state storage devices A multi-level cell flash memory storage device has cells wherein different charge levels represent different information. The storage device can read stored charge from one or more cells, store a rewrite generation value for a group of a plurality of cells in a block of cells, and write to cells, wherein writing to one or more cells without an erase includes an increment of the rewrite generation value, and includes circuitry for reading from cells, including circuitry for reading the rewrite generation value. The storage device can include circuitry for reading from cells includes within the multi-level cell flash memory storage device logic for calculating a stored value of the cells using the rewrite generation value and relative levels of charge on a plurality of cells. The storage device can track hot addresses and cold addresses and perform static or dynamic wear leveling based on accumulated rewrite generation values.
US08879318B2	Method of storing data in nonvolatile memory device and method of operating nonvolatile memory device In a method of storing data in a nonvolatile memory device, a program operation is performed on target memory cells among a plurality of memory cells based on a program voltage. A verification operation is performed on the target memory cells based on a verification voltage to determine whether all of the target memory cells are completely programmed. The verification voltage is changed depending on the program operation.
US08879317B2	System and method of decoding data from memory based on sensing information and decoded data of neighboring storage elements Systems and methods to decode data stored in a data storage device are disclosed. Data bits stored in a first group of storage elements are decoded using data in a second group of storage elements together with physical characteristics of the second group of storage elements to aid in the decoding of the first group of storage elements.
US08879312B2	Supply voltage generating circuit and semiconductor device having the same A supply voltage generating circuit includes a first charge pump circuit that generates a first internal supply voltage, and second charge pump circuit that generates a second internal supply voltage. The absolute value of the second internal supply voltage is greater than that of the first internal supply voltage. The output terminal of the first charge pump circuit is connected to a secondary-side charging terminal of the second charge pump circuit. The secondary-side is an output-side of the corresponding charge pump circuit, and the charging terminal is an auxiliary charging terminal that supplies an auxiliary charge to a secondary-side output terminal of the corresponding charge pump circuit. The output terminal of the second charge pump circuit outputs a voltage value that is the result of adding a prescribed voltage value to the value of the first internal supply voltage applied to the charging terminal.
US08879309B2	Method and apparatus for programming a spin-transfer torque magnetic random access memory (STTMRAM) array A spin-transfer torque memory random access memory (STTMRAM) cell is disclosed comprising a selected magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) identified to be programmed; a first transistor having a first port, a second port and a gate, the first port of the first transistor coupled to the selected MTJ; a first neighboring MTJ coupled to the selected MTJ through the second port of the first transistor; a second transistor having a first port, a second port, and a gate, the first port of the second transistor coupled to the selected MTJ; a second neighboring MTJ coupled to the selected MTJ through the second port of the second transistor; a first bit/source line coupled to the second end of the selected MTJ; and a second bit/source line coupled to the second end of the first neighboring MTJ and the second end of the second neighboring MTJ.
US08879307B2	Magnetoresistive device and nonvolatile memory with the same A magnetoresistive device of an embodiment includes: first and second devices each including, a first magnetic layer having a changeable magnetization perpendicular to a film plane, a second magnetic layer having a fixed and perpendicular magnetization, and a nonmagnetic layer interposed between the first and second magnetic layers, the first and second devices being disposed in parallel on a first face of an interconnect layer; and a TMR device including a third magnetic layer having perpendicular magnetic anisotropy and having a changeable magnetization, a fourth magnetic layer having a fixed magnetization parallel to a film plane, and a tunnel barrier layer interposed between the third and fourth magnetic layers, the TMR device being disposed on a second face of the interconnect layer, and the third magnetic layer being magnetostatically coupled to the first magnetic layers of the first and second devices.
US08879303B2	Pre-charge tracking of global read lines in high speed SRAM In embodiments of the invention, a memory circuit includes a static random access memory (SRAM), rows of M sense amplifiers, a global read precharge tracking control circuit controlling a precharge of global read lines, a sense amplifier output tracking circuit generating a reset sense amplifier signal for the sense amplifier control circuits, and a read delay circuit generating a trigger signal for the global read precharge tracking control circuit and the sense amplifier output tracking circuit and performing a fixed delay tracking of a read operation in a read cycle. A dummy global read line is coupled to the global read precharge tracking control circuit and returns from a half way to the top of the SRAM forming a tracking dummy global read line that determines a completion of the precharge of the global read lines before the sense amplifiers start discharging the global read lines in the read cycle.
US08879302B2	Management of variable resistance data storage device Various embodiments may generally be directed to a variable resistance data storage device and a method of managing the device. A data storage device may have at least a controller configured to re-characterize at least one variable resistance memory cell in response to an identified variance from a predetermined resistance threshold.
US08879300B2	Switchable two-terminal devices with diffusion/drift species Various embodiments of the present invention are directed to nanoscale electronic devices that provide nonvolatile memristive switching. In one aspect, a two-terminal device (600) comprises a first electrode (602), a second electrode (604), and an active region (606) disposed between the first electrode and the second electrode. The active region includes a mobile dopant (608), and a fast drift ionic species (610). The fast drift ionic species drifts into a diode-like electrode/active region interface temporarily increasing conductance across the interface when a write voltage is applied to the two-terminal device to switch the device conductance.
US08879299B2	Non-volatile memory cell containing an in-cell resistor A non-volatile memory cell includes a first electrode, a steering element, a metal oxide storage element located in series with the steering element, a dielectric resistor located in series with the steering element and the metal oxide storage element, and a second electrode.
US08879298B2	E-fuse array circuit An e-fuse array circuit includes a high voltage pumping unit configured to generate a high voltage by pumping a power source voltage, a negative voltage pumping unit configured to generate a negative voltage by pumping a ground voltage, a program/read line supplied with the high voltage when a program operation is activated, a read voltage, which is lower than the high voltage, when a read operation is activated, or the negative voltage when deactivated, a row line supplied with the ground voltage when the row line is activated or the negative voltage when the row line is deactivated, an e-fuse device supplied with voltage of the program/read line, a switch device controlled by the row line and configured to electrically connect the e-fuse device with a column line, and a column circuit configured to supply the negative voltage to the column line when the column line is activated.
US08879293B2	Cooling system of server with AC and DC power sources and method of operating the same A cooling system of a server with an AC power source and a DC power source includes an AC input subsystem, a DC input subsystem, and a driving control subsystem. The AC input subsystem receives an external AC power source and provides a first DC voltage and a second DC voltage. The DC input subsystem receives an external DC power source and provides a third DC voltage and a fourth DC voltage. When the external AC power source normally works, the driving control subsystem controls the first DC voltage and the second DC voltage to supply a high-voltage cooling apparatus and a low-voltage cooling apparatus, respectively. When the external DC power source normally works, the driving control subsystem controls the fourth DC voltage and the third DC voltage to supply the high-voltage cooling apparatus and the low-voltage cooling apparatus, respectively.
US08879292B2	Multipoint converters with brake chopper An electrical circuit for a power converter is described. The circuit has been provided with several semiconductor switches and capacitors used for operating the power converter. A brake resistance for lowering energy is provided and is connected to the semiconductor switches provided without the need for an additional switch. The operation of the power converter and the current flowing through the brake resistance can be controlled by means of the existing semiconductor switches.
US08879290B2	Unified control of single and three-phase power converters Provided herein are unified control methods and implementations for controlling single and three-phase power converters. In an exemplary embodiment, a unified controller is provided that can be used to control a three-phase three-wire Voltage Source Inverter (VSI), a three-phase four-wire VSI, a three-phase grid-connected power converter for current shaping, and a single-phase full bridge VSI.
US08879288B2	AC/DC converter device A command value is a current command value with a triangular-like waveform having a cycle that is ⅓ of a cycle of a three-phase voltage. A carrier has a triangular-like waveform having a cycle shorter than the cycle of the command value. Comparison result signals are pulse signals indicating a result of the comparison between the carrier and the command value. In a region of a phase of 30 to 90 degrees, a portion of the comparison result signal present in this region is employed as a gate signal. In a region of a phase of 270 to 330 degrees, a portion of the comparison result signal present in this region is employed as the gate signal.
US08879287B2	Apparatus and methods for feedback sensing in multi-cell power supplies Apparatus and methods in accordance with this invention provide a multi-cell power supply for receiving power from a source and delivering power at an output terminal to a load. The multi-cell power supply includes a first power cell coupled to the source, and a first current sensor circuit. The first power cell provides a first output current, and includes a first output terminal coupled to a reference node of the multi-cell power supply, and a second output terminal coupled to the output terminal. The first current sensor circuit includes a first current sensor and a power supply. The first current sensor is coupled to the first output terminal of the first power cell, and measures the first output current. The power supply is coupled to either the reference node or a floating ground node of the first power cell, and provides power to the first current sensor.
US08879285B2	Power converter for outputting power to a system A power converter includes a booster circuit, an inverter circuit, a hysteresis control circuit, and a proportional-integral control circuit. The booster circuit boosts DC power of a DC power source. The inverter circuit converts the DC power outputted from the booster circuit into AC power and outputs the AC power to a system. The hysteresis control circuit controls the inverter circuit by hysteresis control so that the AC power can be outputted to the system when an AC voltage of the system is less than a DC voltage of the power source. The proportional-integral control circuit controls the booster circuit by proportional-integral control so that the AC power can be outputted to the system when the AC voltage of the system is larger than the DC voltage of the power source.
US08879284B2	Filter for switched mode power supply There is provided a filter for receiving a rectangular or stepped source voltage to be filtered and for providing an output voltage, the filter including means arranged to determine the output voltage in dependence on the frequency components of the source voltage within the filter passband, and independent of output current drawn.
US08879283B2	System and method providing protection in the event of current sensing failure for power converter System and method for protecting a power converter. The system includes a first comparator configured to receive a first threshold signal and a first signal and to generate a first comparison signal. The first signal is associated with an input current for a power converter. Additionally, the system includes a second comparator configured to receive a second threshold signal and the first signal and to generate a second comparison signal. The second threshold signal is different from the first threshold signal in magnitude. Moreover, the system includes a first detection component configured to receive at least the second comparison signal, detect the second comparison signal only if one or more predetermined conditions are satisfied, and generate a first detection signal based on at least information associated with the detected second comparison signal.
US08879282B2	Control methods for switching power supplies An embodiment provides a control method capable of controlling a switching-mode power supply to provide an output power source. The switching-mode power supply has a winding coupled to an input power source and controlled by a switch to be energized or de-energized. The maximum current peak through the winding is set to be a predetermined value. A discharge time of the winding in a switching cycle period is detected. The switching cycle period of the switch is controlled to keep the ratio of the discharge time to the switching cycle period as a constant.
US08879281B2	Switching power source device A switching power source device IS capable of guaranteeing a normal switching operation even when the input of a coil voltage used for adjusting a dead time is eliminated. The switching power source device includes a dead time adjustment circuit that generates an ON trigger signal that regulates an ON timing of one of the first and second switching elements after elapse of a predetermined dead time from an OFF timing of the other switching element and that adjusts the dead time according to a temporal change of a terminal voltage detected from an auxiliary coil of an inductor; and a disable control circuit that detects a temporal change of the coil voltage during activation and disables a function of the dead time adjustment circuit adjusting the dead time when the coil voltage does not temporally change.
US08879280B2	Techniques to reduce audible noise in a power supply transformer This disclosure relates to a switching power supply with regulated voltage suppression to reduce transformer audio noise. A switched mode power supply (SMPS) may supply power at different levels according to output loads. A switching frequency of the SMPS may be adjusted according to the output load. The switching may be subject to a ringing suppression time, a maximum on time, and a maximum switching period. By controlling the switching frequency subject to these quantities, the audible noise of an SMPS may be reduced or eliminated.
US08879271B2	Slide assembly A slide assembly for mounting an electronic device includes an inner slide, a fastening member mounted on the electronic device and a locking member with a distal end slidably mounted on the inner slide. A receiving slot is defined in the locking member. A mounting slice extends horizontally from the receiving slot toward the distal end of the locking member. The fastening member abuts the mounting slice to make the locking member elastically deform. The fastening member slides into the receiving slot. When the locking member elastically returns, the fastening member is restricted in the receiving slot by the mounting slice.
US08879269B2	Systems and method for providing a graphite layer in an electronic device Systems and methods are provided for a sheet of graphite material on an electromagnetic interference shield for enhanced heat transfer. An electronic device component may be enclosed by an EMI shield, which may retain heat generated by the component. To help dissipate heat, a sheet of material selected for its heat transfer properties may be disposed over the EMI shield. A portion of the sheet may be folded over an edge of the EMI shield such that the sheet may cover a top surface of the sheet as well as tabs extending perpendicular to the top surface of the EMI shield. To facilitate the adhesion of the sheet to a smaller surface area of tabs, the sheet may include features forming a discontinuity in regions of the sheet aligned with the edge of the shield to facilitate folding the sheet. The discontinuity can include, for example, one or more holes or windows.
US08879265B2	Electronic circuit storage case and manufacturing method thereof An electronic circuit storage case includes a housing made of resin and having a case portion storing an electronic circuit board and a connector portion extending in a direction perpendicular to a board attachment surface of the case portion and incorporating a connector. Interior and exterior opening holes communicate at bottoms via a communication hole. A ventilating hole continuing from the interior of the case portion to the exterior of the connector portion is provided in a solid portion of the housing. The interior opening hole and the communication hole are bent in an L shape and provided to a primary resin mold part forming the housing. The exterior opening hole is provided to a secondary resin mold part of the housing enclosing the primary resin mold part and forming the connector and case portions so as to communicate with one end of the L-shaped communication hole substantially perpendicularly.
US08879264B2	Stacked heat dissipating module of an electronic device A stacked heat dissipating module of an electronic device has a holding frame, and at least one first heat conducting medium layer, a heat dissipating medium layer, a first heat sink layer, at least one second heat conducting medium layer and at least one second heat sink layer stacked with each other. The at least one first heat conducting medium layer is mounted on at least one heating component of the electronic device to dissipate heat generated from the at least one heating component. Moreover, the holding frame, the heat conducting medium layers and the heat sink layers have corresponding housing holes for exposing an exposed component of the electronic device to bring the exposed component's function into full play.
US08879263B2	Conducting heat away from a printed circuit board assembly in an enclosure A printed circuit board assembly (PCBA) is connected to a frame within a passage. The PCBA includes a circuitry package attached to a printed circuit board. The circuitry package has a peripheral edge extending from the printed circuit board to a distal end joined to a cap. A cover is attached to the frame to enclose the PCBA. A thermal interface material (TIM) is disposed between the cover and the PCBA, the TIM defining an opening sized to receivingly engage the circuitry package in a close mating engagement contacting the TIM simultaneously against the cap and the peripheral edge to conduct heat away from the circuitry package. A heat conductor attached to the other side of the printed circuit board in an overlapping opposition to the circuitry package conducts heat away from the printed circuit board that is generated by the circuitry package.
US08879261B2	Heat-dissipating device for electronic apparatus A heat-dissipating device for an electronic apparatus can include: a thermal base coupled to a first electronic component in such a manner that enables heat-transfer therebetween so that heat generated by the first electronic component mounted on a substrate is absorbed thereby; and a vibrating capillary-shaped heat-pipe loop comprising a first heat-absorption portion coupled with the thermal base in such a manner that enables heat-transfer therebetween and a heat-dissipating portion configured to dissipate heat absorbed by the first heat-absorption portion, the heat-pipe loop having working fluid injected thereinto. The heat-pipe loop can be radially disposed with a central area thereof hollowed out, and an assembly area of a coupling member can be exposed in the central area so that the coupling member for coupling the thermal base to the substrate is coupled through the central area.
US08879260B2	Heat transfer system The memory module comprises a circuit board with a first and a second side, wherein memory chips are arranged at least on the first side. A longitudinally extending module heat conductor is arranged on the first side. The module heat conductor comprises a contact surface configured to contact a heat transfer system.
US08879256B2	Electric power conversion apparatus An electric power conversion apparatus includes a plurality of semiconductor modules, a frame, a control circuit board, and a reinforcing and fixing member. Each of the semiconductor modules has a plurality of control terminals. The frame receives the semiconductor modules therein. The frame has, at least, a pair of side walls that face each other with the semiconductor modules interposed therebetween. The control circuit board is located outside of the frame and has the control terminals of the semiconductor modules connected thereto. The reinforcing and fixing member extends to connect the side walls of the frame, thereby reinforcing the frame. The reinforcing and fixing member also has the control circuit board fixed thereto so that the reinforcing and fixing member is positioned between the control circuit board and the semiconductor modules.
US08879254B2	Methods and apparatus for compact active cooling Methods and apparatus for compact active cooling for missile applications generally comprise a circuit card assembly level closed loop fluid filled cooling system for cooling high power components such as microprocessors. The present invention utilizes a cooling system constrained to a single circuit card assembly providing for a drop in replacement for current passively cooled circuit card assemblies.
US08879251B2	Portable electronic device A portable electronic device includes a housing body having a bottom wall and a pair of grooves formed in the bottom wall, a cover body, a pair of hinges interconnecting the housing and cover bodies, a pair of foot modules respectively corresponding to positions of the grooves, and a pair of cam mechanisms each connected to one hinge and an adjacent foot module. Each foot module includes a foot pad movable between retracted and protruding position. When the cover body is pivoted from a closed position to an open position, each hinge actuates a respective cam mechanism which in turn actuates the foot pad to move the latter from the retracted to the protruding position.
US08879249B1	Reinforced enclosure In accordance with aspects of the disclosure, a device may include a base member formed as a receptacle with a recess defining an interior region configured for receiving internal circuitry. The base member may include first and second sides intersecting orthogonally to define a corner. The device may include a rail member having a first portion coupled to the first side of the base member and a second portion coupled to the second side of the base member. The rail member may be positioned to contact the corner of the base member. The device may include an enclosing member coupled to the first and second portions of the rail member with a plurality of fasteners to thereby enclose the internal circuitry disposed in the recess of the base member between the enclosing member and the base member.
US08879243B2	Multi-display device A multi-display device includes a plurality of display devices. A display device of the plurality of display devices includes: a display panel including a front side, a rear side, first and second sides which face each other, and third and fourth sides which face each other; a first chassis which is fixed to the first side; a second chassis which is fixed to the second side; a third chassis which is fixed to the third side; a fourth chassis which is fixed to the fourth side; and a fixing member between one or more of the first to fourth chassis, and the display panel. The fixing member fixes the one or more of the first to fourth chassis, to the display panel. The fixing member is provided at a boundary between adjacent display devices of the plurality of display devices.
US08879236B2	Laminated ceramic electronic component Provided is a laminated ceramic electronic component having excellent mechanical characteristics, internal electrode corrosion resistance, high degree of freedom in ceramic material design, low cost, low defective rate, and various properties. The laminated ceramic electronic component includes: a laminate which has a plurality of laminated ceramic layers and internal electrodes at a plurality of specific interfaces between the ceramic layers and having an Al/Ni alloy as a component; and an external electrode formed on the outer surface of the laminate, wherein the Al/Ni ratio of the Al/Ni alloy is 85/15 or more.
US08879235B2	Multilayered ceramic capacitor and mounting structure of circuit board having multilayered ceramic capacitor mounted thereon There is provided a multilayered ceramic capacitor, including a ceramic body, an active layer including a plurality of first and second internal electrodes alternately exposed through both end surfaces of the ceramic body while having the dielectric layer therebetween, to form capacitance; upper and lower cover layers formed above and below the active layer; first and second external electrodes covering both end surfaces of the ceramic body; a plurality of first and second dummy electrodes extended from the first and second external electrodes; and a plurality of piezoelectric members connecting the first internal electrode and the first dummy electrode or the second internal electrode and the second dummy electrode, inside the active layer, the piezoelectric members having a higher dielectric constant than the dielectric layer.
US08879231B2	Method and arrangement for the sensorless operation of magnetic bearings A sensor system for a magnetic bearing, which has two actuator coils, two clocked power output stages, a current sensor for detecting those currents in the actuator coils which are encumbered with a ripple current, and a sensor interface. The clocked power output stages provide a pulse-width-modulated output voltage, the pulse width of which is narrowed or widened by small amounts in a predefined order, and the pulse widths of the clocked power output stages are modulated in a fixed phase relationship with respect to one another. The sensor system specifies a sensor system for a magnetic bearing with a clocked power output stage. A magnetic bearing, a control device for a magnetic bearing and a method for detecting the position in a magnetic bearing are also disclosed.
US08879222B2	Trigger circuit and method of using same A circuit includes a discharge arrangement configured to discharge an electrostatic charge. The discharge arrangement has a discharge state. A first circuit is configured to provide a pulse to the discharge arrangement when the electrostatic charge is sensed. The pulse causes the discharge arrangement to enter the discharge state. A second circuit is configured to maintain the discharge arrangement in the discharge state after the pulse has ended. A third circuit is configured to receive the pulse and to provide a delayed output to the discharge arrangement. The delayed output causes the discharge arrangement to exit the discharge state.
US08879220B2	Electrostatic discharge protection circuit The present invention provides an electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection circuit including an ESD detection circuit and a plurality of power clamp circuits. The ESD detection circuit is electrically connected to a first high power line, a second high power line and at least one low power line, and is used to detect an ESD event occurring in the first high power line and another ESD event occurring in the second high power line. The ESD detection circuit includes a first trigger unit and a second trigger unit, electrically connected to the first high power line and the second high power line respectively. Each power clamp circuit has a trigger node, and the trigger nodes are electrically connected to the first trigger unit and the second trigger unit.
US08879215B2	Magnetoresistance effect element, magnetic head, magnetic head assembly, and magnetic recording and reproducing device According to one embodiment, a magnetoresistance effect element includes a first shield, a second shield, a stacked unit, and a hard bias unit. The stacked unit includes a first magnetic layer provided between the first shield and the second shield, a second magnetic layer provided between the first magnetic layer and the second shield, and an intermediate layer provided between the and second magnetic layers. The hard bias unit is provided between the first shield and the second shield to be arranged with the stacked unit. A crystal orientation plane of the first magnetic layer in a film surface perpendicular direction is a cubic (110) plane. The first magnetic layer includes a first stacked body including a first Fe layer and a first Co layer stacked along the first direction, and a first Heusler alloy layer stacked with the first stacked body along the first direction.
US08879213B2	Magneto-resistance effect element, magnetic head, magnetic head assembly, magnetic recording and reproducing apparatus, and method for manufacturing magneto-resistance effect element According to one embodiment, a magneto-resistance effect element includes: a first shield; a second shield; a first side shield layer; a second side shield layer; a stacked body; a first shield guide layer; and a second shield guide layer. The first shield guide layer includes a fifth magnetic layer provided between the first side shield layer and the stacked body. The second shield guide layer includes a sixth magnetic layer provided between the second side shield layer and the stacked body. A distance between the first side shield layer and the first shield guide layer is shorter than a distance between the stacked body and the first shield guide layer. A distance between the second side shield layer and the second shield guide layer is shorter than a distance between the stacked body and the second shield guide layer.
US08879204B2	Motor and disk drive apparatus A motor includes a stationary unit and a rotary unit. The stationary unit includes a stator, a base portion having at least one hole, and a flexible wiring substrate. The flexible wiring substrate reaches a position higher than a lower surface of the base portion through at least one hole and is arranged to supply electric power to the stator. The flexible wiring substrate includes a connection portion arranged higher than the lower surface of the base portion and connected to the stator. The connection portion includes a solder portion arranged on a lower surface thereof to cover a portion of a lead wire extending from a coil of the stator. At least a portion of the solder portion is positioned within the hole.
US08879194B2	Calibration of ramp location in a disk drive employing spiral-based self servo writing The location of a load/unload ramp in a disk drive is calibrated by monitoring servo spirals that are crossed by a magnetic read/write head during an unload process. Monitoring the number servo spirals crossed allows an accurate velocity of the read/write head to be determined. Based on this unload velocity and the time elapsed during the unload operation, a distance between an ID crash stop position and the load/unload ramp can be calculated quickly and accurately.
US08879188B1	Disk drive employing fly height calibration tracks to account for magnetic entropy and thermal decay A disk drive is disclosed comprising a head actuated over a disk comprising a plurality of tracks including a first fly height calibration track and a second fly height calibration track. The disk drive further comprises a fly height actuator operable to control a fly height of the head in response to a fly height control signal. When a refresh event is detected, calibration data is written to the second fly height calibration track. After writing calibration data to the second fly height calibration track, the first fly height calibration track is read in order to calibrate the fly height control signal applied to the fly height actuator. After calibrating the fly height control signal, the second fly height calibration track is read in order to recalibrate the fly height control signal applied to the fly height actuator.
US08879186B1	Fast flaw scan for multiple sensor systems A method for performing parallel flaw scans of a plurality of tracks of a storage device. The storage device includes at least one disk, at least two read sensors, at least two analog front ends, and at least two independent timing loops. Each disk includes at least one surface, wherein each surface includes a plurality of tracks. The method includes writing flaw patterns to tracks of one or more surfaces of one or more disks. The method also includes positioning a first read sensor to read a first track. The method further includes positioning a second read sensor to read a second track. The method additionally includes simultaneously reading signals from the first track and the second track. The method also includes simultaneously performing flaw scans on read back signals from the first track and the second track. The method further includes outputting flaw scan results.
US08879181B2	Read/write apparatus and read/write method According to one embodiment, a read/write apparatus includes a receiver and a refresh module. The receiver receives a write command requesting a write to a magnetic disk. The refresh module refreshes, when a first area of the magnetic disk includes a second area corresponding to the write command, data written in a third area, the third area being an area obtained by excluding the second area from the first area.
US08879178B2	Lens barrel and imaging device The lens barrel includes a first lens unit, a second lens unit, and a drive unit. The first lens unit includes a first lens element and a first lens support frame supporting the first lens element. The second lens unit includes a second lens element and a second lens support frame supporting the second lens element. The second lens unit is supported by the first lens unit to be movable in the optical axis direction of the first lens element with respect to the first lens unit. The drive unit is arranged to be used to drive the second lens unit with respect to the first lens unit, and is fixed to the first lens unit. When viewed in the optical axis direction, the drive unit is fixed to the first lens unit so that a first profile line formed by the first lens unit and the drive unit is substantially circular.
US08879176B2	Lens device A lens device according to an embodiment of the presently disclosed subject matter includes a first frame body where a first screw is formed, a second frame body where a second screw that can be screwed to the first screw is formed, the second frame body having a predetermined area of an outer perimeter where asperities are formed, an extender lens including a front optical system supported by the first frame body and a rear optical system supported by the second frame body, and a cylinder accommodating the first and second frame bodies and having formed thereon an opening for engaging a stick-shaped member inserted from the opening with the asperities from a diagonal direction when the first frame body is inserted in an optical axis.
US08879169B2	Image capturing lens system This invention provides an image capturing lens system comprising three non-cemented lens elements with refractive power: a first lens element with positive refractive power having a convex object-side surface, and both the object-side and image-side surfaces being aspheric; a plastic second lens element with negative refractive power having a concave object-side surface and a convex image-side surface, and both the object-side and image-side surfaces being aspheric; and a plastic third lens element having a convex object-side surface and a concave image-side surface, and both the object-side and image-side surfaces being aspheric. By such arrangement, the space of the image capturing lens system can be allocated much more properly and thereby an image capturing lens system with shorter total track length can be obtained while retaining superior image quality.
US08879168B1	Image capturing lens system, imaging device and mobile terminal An image capturing lens system includes, in order from an object side to an image side, a first lens element, a second lens element, a third lens element and a fourth lens element. The first lens element with positive refractive power has a convex image-side surface in a paraxial region thereof. The second lens element has negative refractive power. The third lens element with positive refractive power has a concave object-side surface in a paraxial region thereof and a convex image-side surface in a paraxial region thereof. The fourth lens element with refractive power has a concave image-side surface in a paraxial region thereof, wherein an object-side surface and the image-side surface of the fourth lens element are aspheric, and the image-side surface thereof has at least one convex shape in an off-axis region thereof. The image capturing lens system has a total of four lens elements with refractive power.
US08879167B2	Imaging lens An imaging lens includes a first lens having positive refractive power; a second lens having negative refractive power; a third lens having positive refractive power; and a fourth and a fifth lens having negative refractive power. The first lens is formed so that a curvature radius of an object-side surface is positive and the second lens is formed so that a curvature radius of an object-side surface and a curvature radius of an image plane-side surface are positive. The third lens is formed so that a curvature radius of an object-side surface is positive, and the fifth lens is formed so that a curvature radius of an object-side surface and a curvature radius of an image plane-side surface are both positive. An Abbe's number from the first and the third to the fifth lens is greater than 45, and an Abbe's number of the second lens is less than 35.
US08879166B2	Image capturing optical lens assembly An image capturing optical lens assembly includes, in order from an object side to an image side, a first lens element, a second lens element, a third lens element, a fourth lens element, a fifth lens element, and a sixth lens element. The first lens element with positive refractive power has a convex object-side surface. The second lens element with negative refractive power has a concave object-side surface. The third lens element has negative refractive power. The fourth lens element has refractive power. The fifth lens element with positive refractive power has a convex image-side surface. The sixth lens element with refractive power has a concave image-side surface, wherein an object-side surface and the image-side surface of the sixth lens element are aspheric, and the sixth lens element has at least one inflection point on the image-side surface thereof.
US08879154B2	Surface light source device for recording/reproducing holograms A surface light source device is provided. The surface light source device includes a light source, a beam splitter configured to split a light irradiated from the light source into a plurality of light beams each having a different path, a diffusion unit configured to diffuse the plurality of light beams split by the beam splitter into a surface light, and a collimating unit configured to arrange the plurality of light beams diffused from the diffusion unit in one direction.
US08879148B2	Pulse combiner for the various spectral colors of a supercontinuum laser pulse An illumination device (20) for a microscope (40) has a laser unit (24) that generates at least one broadband laser light pulse (30); light components (71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76) of different wavelengths of said broadband laser light pulse (30) being offset in time from one another. A compensation unit (36) disposed in the path of the broadband laser light pulse (30) temporally offsets the light components (71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76) of the broadband laser light pulse (30) in such a way that they exit the compensation unit (36) simultaneously or nearly simultaneously.
US08879145B2	Raman amplifier Raman amplifier includes: a pump-light generator configured to supply pump light to a transmission fiber; a measurement circuit configured to measure a relationship between power of the pump light and power of noise output from the transmission fiber with respect to a range from first pump-light power to second pump-light power; a signal detector configured to monitor a supervisory signal in output light of the transmission optical; and a decision unit configured to decide a state of the transmission fiber according to the monitoring result. When the supervisory signal is detected without the pump light, the measurement circuit measures the relationship while increasing the power of the pump light from the first pump-light power. When the supervisory signal is not detected without the pump light, the measurement circuit measures the relationship while decreasing the power of the pump light from the second pump-light power.
US08879143B2	Optical element, screen, and display device A screen includes a light diffusion layer in which microcapsules, each having therein a light diffusion liquid that scatters light for displaying a video image, are planarly arranged. The light diffusion layer is fixed to a supporting sheet by a binder material. On a surface of the supporting sheet, a Fresnel lens is formed. A light diffusion plate is made up of the light diffusion layer and the supporting sheet. The screen is made up of the light diffusion plate and a light diffusion plate. Scattering distribution of a scattered wave of light that passes through the light diffusion layer temporally changes.
US08879141B2	Analog interferometric modulator Methods and devices for calibrating and controlling the actuation of an analog interferometric modulator configured to have a plurality of actuation states. Devices and methods for calibrating an analog interferometric modulator to respond in linear relation to an applied voltage.
US08879137B2	Ultrafast transient grating radiation to optical image converter A high sensitivity transient grating ultrafast radiation to optical image converter is based on a fixed transmission grating adjacent to a semiconductor substrate. X-rays or optical radiation passing through the fixed transmission grating is thereby modulated and produces a small periodic variation of refractive index or transient grating in the semiconductor through carrier induced refractive index shifts. An optical or infrared probe beam tuned just below the semiconductor band gap is reflected off a high reflectivity mirror on the semiconductor so that it double passes therethrough and interacts with the radiation induced phase grating therein. A small portion of the optical beam is diffracted out of the probe beam by the radiation induced transient grating to become the converted signal that is imaged onto a detector.
US08879132B2	Mirror driving apparatus, method of driving same and method of manufacturing same An aspect of the present invention provides a mirror driving apparatus, including: a mirror section having a reflecting surface which reflects light; a pair of piezoelectric actuator sections arranged on either side of the mirror section; coupling sections which respectively connect one end of each of the piezoelectric actuator sections to an end portion of the mirror section which is distant from an axis of rotation of the mirror section in a direction along the reflecting surface and perpendicular to the axis of rotation; a fixing section which supports another end of each of the piezoelectric actuator sections; and a perpendicular movement suppressing structure which suppresses translational motion of the axis of rotation of the mirror section in a direction perpendicular to the reflecting surface, one end of the perpendicular movement suppressing structure being connected to the fixing section and another end thereof being connected to the mirror section.
US08879130B2	System for capturing an image of a document A system for capturing an image of a document includes an input tray (30) for holding documents (20); an input imaging device (40) that captures an image of a first document in the input tray; wherein the input tray image of the first document is captured as an area image; transmitting the captured input tray image of the first document to an image processor (100); and transporting the first document to an output tray.
US08879129B2	Method of capturing an image of a document A document scanner (10) includes an input tray (30) for holding documents (20) and an input image capture device (40) for capturing images of the documents (20)in the input tray (30) prior to transporting the document for imaging; an output tray (150) for holding documents (20) after the documents (20) exit the scanner; an output image capture device (140) for capturing images of the output tray; an image processor for determining characteristics of the output tray or characteristic of the documents (20) before imaging and after the documents (20) exit the scanner; and scanner functions are modified based on the output tray characteristics or the document characteristics.
US08879124B2	Image revising method, image forming apparatus and method for revising image spreading An image revising method, an image forming apparatus, and a method for revising image spreading are provided. The image revising method includes regulating a black color level in a black area of an input image; adjusting a color level of at least one other color excluding the black color in the black area; and revising the image by applying the regulated black color level and the adjusted color level of the at least one other color. Thus, in copying a document, the black color with the enhanced legibility can be serviced.
US08879123B2	Image processing apparatus, color conversion method and computer readable medium An image processing apparatus that performs a color conversion of a image expressed by coordinates of a multidimensional color space, including, a storage unit for storing lattice point data in the multidimensional color space, an address generating unit for generating addresses for reading from the storage unit the lattice point data in a first region and a second region in accordance with input values of a color signal, the first region being a region where values of all color components are equal to or larger than a first threshold, the second region being different from the first region, and an interpolating unit for generating a converted color signal by an interpolating process based on the read lattice point data. A lattice-point interval in the first region is narrower than a lattice-point interval in the second region.
US08879121B2	Fuzzy match interpolated caching utilized in image-processsing applications Methods and systems for color conversion used in image-processing. In one approach, a caching strategy can be employed rather than a direct computation or a precomputed table. To improve the hit frequency and reduce storage requirements, a hash calculation in addition to comparison operations can be processed as a “near match” rather than an exact match. In another approach, “fuzzy match” caching can be implemented to reach the proper vicinity in the n-dimensional space, and then interpolation (or extrapolation) can refine the result.
US08879120B2	Systems and methods for mobile image capture and processing In various embodiments, methods, systems, and computer program products for processing digital images captured by a mobile device are disclosed. Myriad features enable and/or facilitate processing of such digital images using a mobile device that would otherwise be technically impossible or impractical, and furthermore address unique challenges presented by images captured using a camera rather than a traditional flat-bed scanner, paper-feed scanner or multifunction peripheral.
US08879109B2	Image processing device An image processing device comprises an image data input means 2, an image data storage means 12 for storing the image data being input, an image data processing means 6 having multiple processing modes for outputting the stored image data, and a image data erasing means for erasing the image data stored in the storage means 12. The device further comprises erase count control means 8, 14 for controlling the number of times for erasing image data capable of having the number of times of erase set arbitrarily according to the security level required for each mode, and capable of having the set number of times of erase changed in mid-flow. Confidentiality is protected by performing erase operations repeatedly to the region storing the unnecessary image data according to the security level.
US08879107B2	Information processing apparatus and method for controlling same The request management server receives a print data acquisition request received from the client device located at an external access-limited site, and specifies the print server disposed in the site to which the user device belongs as a device that prints the print data. Then, the request management server provides an instruction to the specified print server about the acquisition of the print data via the client device which has made the print data acquisition request.
US08879099B2	Printing system and method including authentication and owner name acquisition A print server comprises: unit configured to acquire an owner name of a user for specifying the user in an output apparatus, the owner name being set in advance in correspondence with user information of the user who issues the print instruction in the print server and being to be set in a print job to be processed by the output apparatus; and unit configured to, when the acquisition unit has acquired the owner name, generate a print job in which the acquired owner name is set as an owner name of the print job, and when the owner name has been neither set nor acquired, generate a print job in which a user name designated in the user information of the user in the print server is set as the owner name of the print job.
US08879098B2	Distributed printing system and image forming apparatus, method, and software program for switching between a collaborative processing mode and a centralized processing mode A distributed printing system, in which a parent device divides image data into first and second image data, the first image data edited by the parent device itself, and the second image data requested of a child device to edit. The parent device sends the second image data to the child device and requests the child device to edit the second data, and generates first edited image data and sends the first edited image data to the child device. The child device generates second edited image data by editing the second image data received from the parent device, sends the second edited image data to the parent device, and prints out the first edited image data received from the parent device and the second edited image data sequentially. The parent device prints out the first edited image data and the second edited image data received from the child device sequentially.
US08879097B2	Printing device for printing a document to be passed to one or more recipients, printing system, control method, and computer-readable storage medium for control program A printing device is provided which prints a document, to be passed to one or more recipients, in an output format according to a personal preference of each of the recipients. The printing device includes a receiving portion configured to accept a print job indicating the document and the recipients; a determination portion configured to determine an output format according to a personal preference of each of the recipients indicated in the accepted print job based on a history of print jobs that were executed for each of the recipients, and a print job execution portion configured to, when printing the document indicated in the accepted print job by a plurality of sets corresponding to the number of the recipients, perform the printing in the output format according to the personal preference of each of the recipients determined by the determination portion.
US08879096B2	Information processing device, image output system, non-transitory computer-readable recording medium, and image output assisting device for image output system An information processing device includes: a data generating section for generating compatible format data of data that is generated on the basis of an application program; a searching section for searching, when the data generating section is instructed to generate the compatible format data, for at least one image output device connected to a network and capable of printing out the compatible format data; a disclosing section for disclosing to the user the at least one image output device, which has been searched; a receiving section for receiving (i) a selection of an image output device to which the compatible format data is transmitted, (ii) input of a condition for printing, and (iii) an instruction for execution; and a command generating section for generating a command for causing the printing to be executed in accordance with a received condition for the printing.
US08879089B2	Image output apparatus, method for outputting image, and storage medium An image output apparatus includes a display unit configured to display on an operation unit a screen including an object indicating that printing is to be performed from a portable terminal apparatus, a generation unit configured to, when the object included in the screen is selected, generate an information code indicating address information and function information of the image output apparatus or an information code indicating the address information and status information of the image output apparatus, a reception unit configured to receive a print job from the portable terminal apparatus having read the information code, and an output unit configured to output the print job received by the reception unit, wherein the display unit displays the information code on the screen.
US08879088B2	Printing apparatus, control method thereof, and storage medium for requiring authentication information to discharge printed sheets In an environment under which there are mixedly an output destination that requires authentication for extracting a printed product and an output destination that does not require the authentication for extracting the printed product, a printed product is subjected to post-processing.
US08879084B1	Printing system and printing method A printing system includes a first module, a second module, a third module, a system configuration controller, and a display controller. The first module receives job data and controls a printing processing process. The second module converts the job data into image data. The third module converts the image data into data in an appropriate format. The printer receives the data from the third module and performs printing. The system configuration controller is used to share system configuration information among the first, second, and third modules. The display controller displays a state of the printing system and receives an instruction for adding or an instruction for removing at least one of the second and third modules from a user. The system configuration controller executes addition or removal of a certain module in accordance with the addition or removal instruction received by the display controller.
US08879080B2	Electronic device comprising display sections configured to face in different directions An electronic device comprises a main body, a printing section which is arranged in the main body and prints various information onto a continuous-feed paper, a first display section which is arranged rotatably between a first position where the upper part of the printing section is covered and a second position where the upper part of the printing section is opened at the position adjacent to the printing section of the main body and a second display section which faces to a direction different from the first display section and is connected to the first display section, and abuts against the printing section or the main body in a state of the first display section being located in the first position, and controls the rotation of the first display section towards the printing section side is controlled.
US08879079B2	Information processing apparatus that displays web page, method of controlling information processing apparatus, and storage medium An information processing apparatus which can be operated very easily by users when the users display web pages in different display languages. An MFP is connected to a web server via a network. When registering a view button in which a URL for identify contents is specified, a window manager registers a display language in which the contents are displayed in association with the URL, and displays the view button on a display. When a view button is selected, a web browser transmits URL associated with the selected view button to thereby designate contents associated with URL and send the display language to thereby specify the display language in which the contents are displayed.
US08879076B2	Receipt printer, receipt printer control method, and recording medium A receipt printer can print continuously without creating a top margin even when the presence or content of the header changes. The receipt printer has a preprint data storage unit that stores preprint data, a print data acquisition unit that acquires print data, a header evaluation unit that determines if the header data in the acquired print data and the preprint data are the same, and a print control unit that controls a print unit and a paper cutter unit. When the evaluation result is that the data are identical, the print control unit drives the print unit to print the preprint data after printing the portion of the acquired print data not including the header data. If the result is that the data are not-identical, the print unit prints the preprint data after printing the acquired print data.
US08879072B2	Laser scanning microscope and method for operation thereof Laser scanning microscope and method for the operation thereof having at least two detection channels which has at least one beamsplitter with a splitting of the sample light deviating from the 50:50 split and/or, with 50:50 split in the detection channels, has detectors with differently adjusted gain, or in at least one detection channel with equal light splitting has an additional light attenuator.
US08879070B2	Two beams formed by Wollaston prism in sample arm in an optical coherence tomography apparatus The scanning speed of a sample in Doppler OCT, etc., is increased to enable quick measurement of blood flow rate, blood flow volume, etc. Wideband light from a light source 2 is linearly polarized by a polarization controller 3 and this linearly polarized beam is split into vertically polarized light and horizontally polarized light using a Wollaston prism 14 at a sample arm, which are then irradiated simultaneously onto two different locations of the sample in the scanning direction using a galvanometer mirror 18, and reference light from a reference arm 5 and object light from a sample arm 6 are merged and caused to interfere with each other, with the resulting interference signal light passed through a diffraction grating 26 for spectroscopy, while the horizontal component and vertical component are separated by a polarized beam splitter 28, to simultaneously measure the components with two polarization-sensitive optical detectors 29, 30 and thereby obtain two tomography images of the same location at different times by one mechanical scan, thus allowing the amount of temporal change in phase to be measured using the two tomography images.
US08879065B1	Systems and methods for localized surface plasmon resonance sensing Embodiments of the present disclosure generally pertain to systems and methods for localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) sensing. A system in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure comprises an optical fiber having a metallic dot array on a tip of the optical fiber, a light source coupled to the optical fiber via a light coupler, and a spectrometer coupled to the optical fiber via the coupler. The light source is configured to transmit light within a range of wavelengths along the optical fiber. When the light reaches the dot array, the light excites surface plasmons of the dot array and causes the surface plasmons of the dots to resonate. The dots are chemically functionalized to have a specific affinity for a particular substance, and the resonance frequency of the dots changes when the substance is present thereby changing an absorption peak of the light. The light is reflected back through the optical fiber to the spectrometer, and the spectrometer detects a parameter indicative of a change in the absorption peak. Presence of the particular substance is determined based upon the change in the absorption peak.
US08879062B2	Analysis apparatus and analysis method An analysis apparatus includes a plasma generation unit and an optical analysis unit. The plasma generation unit generates initial plasma by momentarily energizing a target substance to be turned into a plasma state, and maintains the target substance in the plasma state by irradiating the initial plasma with an electromagnetic wave for a predetermined period of time. The optical analysis unit identifies the target substance based on information with respect to emission intensity during a period from when the emission intensity reaches a peak due to the initial plasma until when the emission intensity increases and reaches approximately a constant value due to electromagnetic wave plasma maintained by the electromagnetic wave, or information with respect to emission intensity after the electromagnetic wave irradiation is terminated.
US08879057B2	Spectral characteristic acquiring apparatus, spectral characteristic acquiring method and image evaluating apparatus A spectral characteristic acquiring apparatus is provided which includes: an area dividing part; a spectrum separating part; a light receiving part; and a calculating part, wherein the calculating part includes a transformation matrix storing part that stores a transformation matrix used for calculating the spectral characteristic corresponding to electrical signals of a first diffraction pattern group including two or more adjacent diffraction patterns, and a spectral characteristic calculating part that calculates, based on the electrical signals of the first diffraction pattern group and the corresponding transformation matrix, the spectral characteristic at the locations of the image carrying medium corresponding to the apertures of the first diffraction pattern group.
US08879054B2	High resolution wavelength measurement system using a coarse, stable timing signal A source generates an optical test signal sweeping a bandwidth of wavelengths over time. The test signal is applied to a device under test (DUT) to generate a response signal. A timing signal generator connected to the source generates a timing signal having triggers at time instances corresponding to known wavelengths of the test signal. A DUT detector samples the DUT response signal generating sampled DUT data using a sampling period that is shorter than a shortest time between timing signal triggers. A correlator receives the timing signal, the known wavelengths associated with the timing signal triggers, the sampled DUT data and the DUT detector sampling period then correlates each sampled DUT datum to a wavelength of the test signal that was applied to the DUT when the DUT datum was sampled by interpolating the known wavelengths using the trigger time instances and the DUT detector sampling period.
US08879053B2	Devices having an integrated computational element and a proximal interferent monitor and methods for determining a characteristic of a sample therewith The output of optical computing devices containing an integrated computational element can be corrected when an interferent substance or condition is present. The devices may comprise an optional electromagnetic radiation source; a sample detection unit comprising an integrated computational element and a detector configured to receive electromagnetic radiation that has optically interacted with the integrated computational element and produce a sample signal associated therewith; an interferent monitor located proximal to the sample detection unit, the interferent monitor being configured to produce an interferent signal associated with an interferent substance; and a signal processing unit operable to convert the interferent signal into an interferent input form suitable for being computationally combined with the sample signal, the signal processing unit being further operable to computationally combine the sample signal and the interferent input form to determine a characteristic of a sample in real-time or near real-time.
US08879052B2	Floating-element shear-stress sensor A shear-stress sensing system can include a floating element whose displacement can be detected through use of optical measurements. The system can utilize high temperature materials to deliver the optical signal to the structure to be measured, which can also utilize high temperature materials. In one embodiment, an intensity modulation or phase modulation of a reflected signal can be measured to determine the shear stress. In another embodiment, a Moire fringe pattern can be used to determine the shear stress.
US08879050B2	Method for dynamically adjusting the operating parameters of a TOF camera according to vehicle speed A method for adjusting the modulating frequency and the intensity of the IR illumination of a Time of Flight measurement system proportionally to the speed of movement and the ambient light level of the TOF system, thus adjusting the range of vision of the system dependent on speed. In an alternate embodiment the modulating frequency of a TOF measurement system is periodically adjusted to cover a larger range of vision of the TOF.
US08879043B2	Exposure apparatus and method for manufacturing device A liquid immersion exposure apparatus and method expose a substrate through a liquid. The liquid is supplied to a space between a projection system of the exposure apparatus and an object, the object being different from the substrate, in a non-exposure operation. The object is moved relative to the projection system while supplying the liquid in the non-exposure operation, such that substantially no gas portion remains in the liquid filled in the space between the projection system and the object after the non-exposure operation.
US08879042B2	Isolated cooling system having an insulator gap and front polarizer An exemplary embodiment relates to a cooling system and a method for cooling an electronic display. A preferred embodiment includes a transparent gas cooling chamber. The transparent gas cooling chamber may have a linear polarizer. The components in the system are preferably housed within the electronic display housing. The cooling chamber defines a gas compartment that is anterior to and coextensive with the electronic display surface. Fans may be used to propel the isolated gas through the cooling chamber. The circulating gas removes heat directly from the electronic display surface by convection. The isolated gas is transparent or at least semi-transparent. The image quality of an exemplary embodiment remains essentially unchanged, even though the gas is flowing through a narrow channel over the visible face of the electronic display surface.
US08879041B2	Liquid crystal display device According to one embodiment, a liquid crystal display device includes a first substrate including an insulative substrate, a first electrically conductive layer, a second electrically conductive layer, a third electrically conductive layer, a fourth electrically conductive layer. The first electrically conductive layer includes a gate line located on the insulative substrate, a common potential line and a first pad portion. The second electrically conductive layer includes a common electrode which is located on the insulative substrate and is put in contact with the common potential line, and a second pad portion stacked on the first pad portion. The fourth electrically conductive layer includes a pixel electrode in which a slit facing the common electrode is formed, and a third pad portion which is put in contact with the second pad portion.
US08879037B2	Liquid crystal display device According to one embodiment, a liquid crystal display device includes a main pixel electrode having a first width in a first direction and a first edge extending in a second direction, and a sub-pixel electrode. The sub-pixel electrode has a second width, which is greater than the first width in the first direction, has a third width, which is a maximum width in the first direction at a central portion of the sub-pixel electrode, has a fourth width in the second direction at a position with a first distance from the first edge in the first direction, and has a fifth width, which is less than the fourth width at a position with a second distance, which is greater than the first distance, from the first edge in the first direction.
US08879032B2	Alignment layer for display device, liquid crystal display device including the same and method and apparatus for treating the same An alignment layer for a display device may include a plurality of rubbed patterns formed on its surface, wherein each of the rubbed patterns includes a first pattern intersecting a center axis at a first angle, and a second pattern connected to the first pattern and intersecting the center axis at a second angle, and the first pattern and the second pattern are alternately repeated. A liquid crystal display device includes the alignment layer, and a method and apparatus for treating the alignment layer are provided.
US08879027B2	Liquid crystal display device On a liquid crystal panel, plural areas whose number is larger than that of temperature sensors are defined. In a memory, temperature relation information representing a relation between an output value of a temperature sensor and a temperature of each of the plural areas is stored. A controller acquires the output value of the temperature sensor and estimates, based on the temperature relation information and the acquired output value, the temperature of each of the plural areas. According to this configuration, the temperature of each of the plural areas defined on the liquid crystal panel can be obtained with a small number of temperature sensors.
US08879022B2	Liquid crystal display device for minimizing inferiority by external and method of making thereof Disclosed is a liquid crystal display (LCD) device capable of stable support of components. The LCD device comprises an LCD panel; a main support for supporting edges of the LCD panel; a light guide plate disposed at a rear side of the LCD panel; and at least one first pad for preventing the movement of the light guide plate through contact with the light guide plate between the main support and the light guide plate, wherein at least one first pad supporting portion is formed at one surface of the main support being faced with the light guide plate. Accordingly, defects of the LCD device resulting from an external force such as impact or heat are minimized, and the LCD device has a firm and stable structure.
US08879017B2	Flat panel display device and stereoscopic display device A flat panel display device includes a backlight system and a display panel. The backlight system includes a reflector plate and a back frame that carries the reflector plate, wherein the back frame includes at least two primary assembling pieces, which are joined to form a main frame structure of the back frame; and the reflector plate includes a substrate layer and a reflection layer formed on the substrate layer, wherein the substrate layer is of a corrugated configuration, a wavy configuration, or a square wave configuration, so as to increase the stiffness of the reflector plate and thus reduce the potential risk of easy collapse of the reflector plate occurring after the assembling of the backlight system.
US08879014B2	TFT-LCD array substrate manufacturing method A method of manufacturing a thin film transistor liquid crystal display (TFT-LCD) array substrate including a gate line and a data line that define a pixel region, wherein the pixel region is provided with a thin film transistor, a pixel electrode formed on the array substrate, and a storage electrode of transparent structure that overlaps with the pixel electrode and, together with the pixel electrode, constitutes a storage capacitor.
US08879012B2	Array substrate having a shielding pattern, and a liquid crystal display device having the same An array substrate for a liquid crystal display device and a fabrication method thereof, and a liquid crystal display device having the same are disclosed. The array substrate for a liquid crystal display device and a fabrication method thereof, and a liquid crystal display device having the same according to the present disclosure eliminate optical loss by use of a shielding film that can decrease the optic leakage current to minimize the optic leakage loss, thus it is possible to improve the picture quality.
US08879007B2	Projector comprising an expanding and contracting member configured to move a holding device when a temperature is changed A projector includes: a display device which modulates illumination light; a projection lens which projects modulation light produced by the display device; and a holding device which has a holder member supporting the display device, a frame member supporting the projection lens and functions as a base capable of supporting the holder member, and an expanding and contracting member disposed between the frame member and the display device, wherein a temperature coefficient for the expansion and contraction of the expanding and contracting member in the direction of the optical axis of the projection lens corresponds to a temperature coefficient for the increase and decrease of the focal distance of the projection lens.
US08879001B2	Detecting block artifacts in coded images and video A method is provided for block artifact detection and block artifact determination using multiple features in coded images and video. A method includes identifying a plurality of overlapping blocks in a picture with respect to a current block. Each of the plurality of overlapping blocks covers a portion of the current block and a portion of an adjacent block. The method further includes transforming at least one of the plurality of overlapping blocks into respective coefficients corresponding to at least one of a luminance component and a chrominance component. The method also includes identifying a block artifact for the at least one of the plurality of overlapping blocks when coefficients corresponding to the at least one of the plurality of overlapping blocks are larger than a predefined value.
US08878998B2	Video decoder block A video decoder block provides a common pathway for processing video signals encoded using different video formats. The video decoder block passes the video signals through the same processing components in order convert the signals to a common format for display or storage. Each processing component cat be disabled or by-passed to enable or disable the function performed by the component. This reduces the number of components and signal processors required in devices that need to accommodate signals of different formats.
US08878997B2	Electronic displays having paired canvases A visual display includes at least a first canvas configured to display a first session on the display and a second canvas configured to display a second session on the display. The first session includes first content received from a first content source and the second session includes second content having subject matter associated with the first content. The display includes a user agent configured to determine that the first content of the first session is associated with the second content of the second session and to pair the first and second canvases such that the first content and the second content are synchronized to each other.
US08878996B2	Selective decoding of an input stream A method of selectively decoding an input stream is provided. In the method, an encoded input stream for display as a plurality of frames in a display window is received. In addition, a location of an overlay on the plurality of frames is determined and the encoded input stream is selective decoded to selectively generate the plurality of frames based upon the location of the overlay on the plurality of frames.
US08878995B2	Display driver, operating method thereof, host for controlling the display driver, and system having the display driver and the host An operation method of a display driver includes generating a count value by counting a period of a synchronization signal related to a synchronization packet received from a host, receiving a mode change command from the host, the mode change command indicating a change from a video mode transmitting first image data to a display by bypassing a frame memory to a command mode transmitting second image data to the display through the frame memory, and generating an internal synchronization signal having a period substantially equal to the period of the synchronization signal by using the count value based on the mode change command after a last pulse of the synchronization signal is generated. A time interval between the last pulse and a first pulse of the internal synchronization signal is equal to the period of the synchronization signal.
US08878993B2	Image data processing apparatus An image data processing apparatus of the present invention includes: a base clock output circuit for outputting a base clock; a plurality of image processors; and a plurality of external PLL circuits provided for each one of the plurality of image processors. The plurality of external PLL circuits each synchronize an output clock given from a corresponding one of the plurality of image processors with the base clock.
US08878983B2	Automatic exposure time selection for imaging tissue The invention relates to a system for automatically adjusting an exposure time to improve or otherwise optimize a dynamic range of a digital image. The system includes a camera configured to capture an image of a subject within the field of view at a first exposure time. The captured image is composed of multiple pixels, with each pixel having a respective intensity value. The system further includes a shutter or suitable control configured to control an exposure time of the camera. A controller configured to carryout the following steps including: (a) querying a frequency distribution of pixel intensity values; (b) determining an effective “center of mass” of such a distribution, or histogram, to determine an adjusted exposure time; and (c) capturing a second image of the subject at the adjusted exposure time thereby obtaining an image with an improved or optimal dynamic range.
US08878982B2	Zoom lens and image pickup apparatus equipped with the same A zoom lens includes, in order from an object side to an image side, a positive first lens unit, a negative second lens unit, an aperture stop, a positive third lens unit, and a positive fourth lens unit. The third lens unit includes, in that order, a positive first lens sub-unit, and a negative second lens sub-unit. The second lens sub-unit is movable in a direction having a component perpendicular to an optical axis to change an image forming position in a direction perpendicular to the optical axis. A distance on the optical axis between the aperture stop and the third lens unit at a wide-angle end, a composite focal length of the first lens unit and the second lens unit at the wide-angle end, a focal length of the first lens sub-unit, and a focal length of the second lens sub-unit are appropriately set.
US08878977B2	Image processing apparatus having a candidate focus position extracting portion and corresponding focus adjusting method Provided is an image processing apparatus which is capable of easily selecting an optimum focus position for an inspection object even when a plurality of candidate focus positions are present. The image processing apparatus according to the invention includes: an imaging unit for imaging a region including an inspection object; a display unit for displaying an image; a focus adjusting unit for adjusting a focus position with respect to the inspection object; and an image processing unit for executing image processing on image data. A plurality of positions where part of the imaged region comes into a focused state are extracted as candidate focus positions, while the focus position with respect to the inspection object is changed, and candidate focus position information is displayed in the display unit. Selection of a focus position is accepted among the plurality of displayed candidate focus positions.
US08878975B2	Image optical lens system An image optical lens system includes, in order from an object side to an image side, a first lens element, a second lens element, a third lens element and a fourth lens element. The first lens element with positive refractive power has a convex object-side surface. The second lens element has negative refractive power. The third lens element with positive refractive power is made of plastic material and has a convex image-side surface, wherein an object-side surface and the image-side surface of the third lens element are aspheric. The fourth lens element with negative refractive power is made of plastic material, and has a concave object-side surface and a concave image-side surface, wherein the object-side surface and the image-side surface of the fourth lens element are aspheric, and the image-side surface of the fourth lens element changes from concave at the paraxial region to convex at the peripheral region.
US08878974B2	Imaging device with lens barrell information communications An imaging device is provided that includes a camera body, a lens barrel, a lens barrel information transmitter, and an image sensor driver. The image sensor is housed in the camera body. The lens barrel is attachable to and detachable from the camera body. The lens barrel information transmitter regularly transmits information of the lens barrel to the camera body. The image sensor driver drives the image sensor at one of at least two different frame rates where a second frame rate is higher than a first frame rate. The amount of data being transmitted is reduced by the lens barrel information transmitter when the image sensor is driven at the second frame rate, compared to the amount transmitted when the image sensor is driven at the first frame rate.
US08878970B2	Color imaging apparatus having color imaging element A color imaging apparatus comprising: a color imaging element comprising a plurality of pixels and color filters of a color filter array arranged on the plurality of pixels, the color filter array including first filters corresponding to a first color that most contributes to obtaining luminance signals and second filters corresponding to two or more second colors, and the first filters including two or more sections adjacent each other in horizontal, vertical, and oblique directions; a direction determination unit acquiring pixel values of pixels of the two or more sections of the first filters near a target pixel of demosaicking processing and determining a correlation direction of luminance; a demosaicking processing unit that calculates a pixel value of another color at a pixel position of the target pixel and that uses one or more pixels of another color in the correlation direction to calculate the pixel value.
US08878966B2	Image pickup apparatus having focus detecting function An image pickup apparatus having an image pickup element with a plurality of image pickup pixels and a plurality of focus detection pixels, a focus detector performing a focus detection based on the output from the focus detection pixels corresponding to a focus detection area, and a setter configured to set a usable F-number based on stored information of a defective pixel that exists in the focus detection pixels. When the defective pixel exists in the focus detection pixels corresponding to the focus detection area, if an F-number is within the usable F-number, the focus detector performs focus detection by using the output from the defective pixel, and if the F-number is out of the usable F-number, the focus detector performs focus detection without using such output.
US08878957B2	Method, system and computer program product for enhancing white balance of an image In response to an image, a likelihood of flicker within the image is estimated. In response to the estimated likelihood, references are selected from among first and second sets of references. The first set of references are responsive to a first set of reference images captured under particular illumination. The second set of references are responsive to a second set of reference images captured under fluorescent illumination. In response to the selected references, one or more gains are generated for enhancing white balance of the image.
US08878956B2	Digital camera and storage medium for image signal processing for white balance control A CCD captures a subject image passed through a taking lens and an image processing circuit performs various types of image pre-treatment including gamma correction and white balance on image data corresponding to n lines×m rows output by the CCD. The image processing circuit performs format processing on the data which are then compressed at a compression circuit. The white balance adjustment is implemented in line sequence at a line processing circuit which engages in signal processing in pixel sequence in units of individual lines in the output from the CCD. The image data having undergone the pre-treatment are subjected to format processing prior to JPEG compression, at a block processing circuit that engages in signal processing in units of individual blocks each ranging over an n×m (N>n, M>m) block. The signal processing is performed in block sequence.
US08878951B2	Image processing apparatus and method of controlling the same The present invention provides an image processing apparatus which records Raw moving image data constituted by a plurality of Raw image frames, the apparatus including a designation unit configured to designate a specific Raw image frame from the plurality of Raw image frames in accordance with an instruction from a user, and a control unit configured to control operation of the image processing apparatus, wherein the control unit controls the image processing apparatus to record, on a recording medium, development parameters corresponding to Raw image frames extracted from the plurality of Raw image frames at predetermined frame intervals, together with the Raw moving image data, and controls the image processing apparatus to record, on the recording medium, a development parameter corresponding to the specific Raw image frame designated by the designation unit, together with the Raw moving image data.
US08878948B2	Vibration correcting device A vibration correcting device includes a vibration detecting unit, a vibration correcting unit, a storage unit, and a controlling unit. The vibration detecting unit is configured to detect vibration of an image pickup apparatus. The vibration correcting unit is configured to correct blur of an image caused by the vibration. A storage unit is configured to store correction information used for correcting the blur at a predetermined frequency. The controlling unit is configured to, on the basis of the correction information, send a control signal to the vibration correcting unit.
US08878945B2	Phasor-based pulse detection A phasor-based pulse detection system includes a first multiplier stage configured to apply a first delayed conjugate multiplication operation to an input signal. The system can also include a second multiplier stage coupled to the first multiplier stage and configured to apply a second delayed conjugate multiplication operation to an output of the first multiplier stage, and an absolute value unit coupled to the second multiplier stage and configured to perform an absolute value operation on an output of the second multiplier stage. The system can further include video filter stage coupled to the absolute value unit and configured to perform a video filtering operation on an output of the absolute value unit. The system can also include a hysteresis detector coupled to the video filter stage, the hysteresis detector configured for detecting a signal in a filtered video signal received from the video filter stage, the detecting including determining a signal start when the filtered video signal exceeds a predetermined detection threshold for a first predetermined number of consecutive samples, and determining a signal end when the filtered video signal falls below a predetermined rejection threshold for a second predetermined number of consecutive samples.
US08878942B1	Calibration device applied to an image capture system and related calibration method thereof A calibration device applied to an image capture system includes a support unit and a plurality of display pattern generation units. The plurality of display pattern generation units are pivoted to the support unit. Each display pattern generation unit of the plurality of display pattern generation units includes a plurality of marks, the plurality of marks are used for generating a display pattern corresponding to the display pattern generation unit, the plurality of marks are not overlapped each other in the display pattern, and a plurality of display patterns of the plurality of display pattern generation units are also not overlapped each other. The plurality of display patterns are used for forming a calibration pattern applied to geometric calibration of the image capture system.
US08878941B2	Method and apparatus for testing a video processing system A method of testing an aircraft video system using a handheld video testing apparatus is described. The aircraft video system includes a video processing system and at least one display. The method includes generating a digital test image utilizing the video testing apparatus, receiving the digital test image at the video processing system, forwarding the digital test image to at least one of the displays through operation of the video processing system, and verifying the digital test image is correctly produced by the displays to which the digital test image was forwarded.
US08878940B2	Tracking apparatus for tracking target subject in input image The tracking target subject specifying unit specifies a tracking target subject in image data. The first tracking position detection unit detects first characteristic information from the image data and set a first candidate tracking position based on the first characteristic information. The second tracking position detection unit detects second characteristic information from the image data and detect a second candidate tracking position based on the second characteristic information. The reference information acquisition unit acquires reference information. The control unit decides a true tracking position based on two determinations.
US08878939B2	Apparatus and method for subject tracking, and recording medium storing program thereof A subject tracking apparatus, including: a storage section that stores image data of a subject; a division section that divides the image data of the subject into a plurality of first areas; an imaging section that sequentially generates image frames; a specification section that specifies a second area similar to one of the first areas, the second area being included in each of the image frames sequentially generated, based on a characteristic value of one of the first areas into which the image data of the subject is divided by the division section; and a tracking section that tracks an image area as the subject in each of the image frames sequentially generated, wherein the image area is determined based on the second area specified by the specification section.
US08878936B2	Tracking and counting wheeled transportation apparatuses Tracking and counting wheeled transportation apparatuses is disclosed. Initially, three or more first images are received from a first camera having a first field of view, where the three or more first images show multiple wheeled transportation apparatuses traversing a portion of a roadway. Next, first and second static characteristics and first and second dynamic characteristics of a first of the multiple wheeled transportation apparatuses are determined. It is then determined that the second static characteristic is approximately equal to the first static characteristic and that the second dynamic characteristic is approximately equal to the first dynamic characteristic. Next, it is determined that the first wheeled transportation apparatus is traversing the portion of the roadway based on the comparisons. A count of the number of wheeled transportation apparatuses traversing the portion of the roadway is then incremented. Finally, the count is indicated.
US08878935B2	In-vehicle camera and in-vehicle camera system In the present invention, images at a front side or a rear side of a vehicle are obtained from a plurality of image capturing devices and a disparity and a distance to the captured object are calculated from the images, if the disparity is not sufficiently obtained, pattern light is irradiated onto a capturing object and an image of the object onto which the pattern light is irradiated is obtained again from the plurality of image capturing devices and the disparity and the distance to the captured object are calculated. Therefore, it is possible to provide an in-vehicle camera and system that recognizes an obstacle even in a situation where it is difficult to obtain the disparity of the obstacle around the vehicle.
US08878934B2	Image display device Disclosed is an image display device that allows intuitive guidance of a vehicle body based on an assisting image displaced in a screen. The image display device includes an image processing section for displaying a captured image of a rear camera on a monitor. This image processing section includes a synthesis processing unit for displaying a perspective image providing a perspective in superposition over the captured image being displayed on the monitor and a display mode setting unit that realizes selection between a viewing field-fixed mode for displaying the perspective image in superposition with the perspective image being fixed within a viewing field of the monitor and a road surface-fixed mode for displaying the perspective image in superposition with allowing scrolling thereof in unison with a road surface.
US08878933B2	Method and apparatus for providing and determining integrity of video A method and apparatus for providing and determining integrity of video is provided herein. During operation, a trusted unit such as a computer housed within a securable trunk of a vehicle generates or receives data on stimuli applied to a camera and receives video purportedly taken by that camera, as means for the trusted unit or an independent entity to determine if time periods of the stimuli correspond to responses seen or heard within the video.
US08878932B2	System and method for detecting the surrounding environment of a motor vehicle using as adjustable infrared night vision system In a night vision system with which an image recording unit records the image of the surroundings of a motor vehicle, the recorded image is displayed by means of a display, wherein the position of the image recording device (2) is changed according to the driving situation.
US08878931B2	Systems and methods for managing video data Described herein are systems and methods for managing video data. In overview, various embodiments provide software, hardware and methodologies associated with the management of video data. In overview, a distributed DVM system includes a plurality of discrete DVM systems, which may be geographically or notionally distributed. Each discrete DVM system includes a respective central DVM database server thereby to provide autonomy to the discrete system. This server supports one or more camera servers, these camera servers in turn each being configured to make available live video data from one or more cameras. Each system additionally includes one or more clients, which provide a user interface for displaying video data (such as video data from one of the cameras). The discrete DVM systems are primarily linked by way of a centralized database server/database server communications interface. However, the clients are configured to connect directly to camera servers belonging to their local DVM system or a remote DVM system in the distributed architecture.
US08878930B2	Image-capturing device mounting mechanism and image-capturing device An image-capturing device mounting mechanism, which includes: an anchoring unit fixed to a building; a body unit with a capturing lens, the body unit mounted to and demounted from the anchoring unit; a first engaging portion provided in the body unit for an engagement between the body unit and the anchoring unit when the body unit is mounted to the anchoring unit; and a second engaging portion provided in the body unit for an engagement between the body unit and the anchoring unit when the first engaging portion engages the anchoring unit.
US08878924B2	Disposable microscope and portable display Various embodiments for providing removable, pluggable and disposable opto-electronic modules for illumination and microscopic imaging are provided, for use with portable display devices. Generally, various medical or industrial miniature microscopes can include one or more solid state or other compact electro-optic illuminating elements, electronic vision systems and means of scanning located thereon. Additionally, such opto-electronic modules may include illuminating optics, imaging optics, and/or image manipulation and processing elements. The illuminating elements may have different wavelengths and can be time-synchronized with an image sensor to illuminate an object for imaging or detecting purpose or other conditioning purpose. All control and power functions of such disposable microscope units can be made in the control unit that the disposable microscopes are plugged into.
US08878923B2	System and method for enhanced predictive autofocusing In an imaging device having an objective and a stage for holding a sample to be imaged, a method for autofocusing is presented. The method includes determining a measured focus value corresponding to at least a first of a plurality of logical image segments. Further, the method includes imaging the first logical image segment using the measured focus value. The method also includes determining a predicted focus value for a second of the plurality of logical image segments using the measured focus value and a stored focus variation parameter. In addition, the method includes imaging the second logical image segment using the predicted focus value.
US08878919B2	Endoscope system An endoscope system includes an endoscope objective optical system that acquires two optical images with different focus positions, an image pickup device that picks up the two optical images to acquire two image signals, an image synthesis processing section that makes a comparison in contrast between the two image signals for each spatially identical pixel region and selects a pixel region having relatively higher contrast to thereby synthesize the two image signals into one image, and a focus switchover mechanism that moves a position of a focus switchover lens provided for the endoscope objective optical system and selectively switches a focus of the endoscope objective optical system to one of two observation regions of proximity observation and remote observation, in which the image synthesis processing section synthesizes two images in each of the respective observation regions of the proximity observation and the remote observation.
US08878911B2	Three-dimensional image pickup optical system and three-dimensional image pickup apparatus A three-dimensional image pickup optical system for forming two different images having a parallax alternately in time sequence on a single image pickup element, includes, in order from object side: a front system including a pair of negative 1f-lens units, a pair of an optical path deflecting units, and a combining unit for combining two optical paths on the same optical axis; and a rear system including a positive 1b-lens unit which does not move for magnification-varying, a lens unit moving for magnification-varying, and a stop, in which: the front system includes a pair of light quantity control units disposed in optical paths for the eyes on the object side of the combining unit, for switching left and right subject images alternately in a time sharing manner; and power arrangement of the 1f-lens units and the 1b-lens unit is set appropriately.
US08878910B2	Stereoscopic image partial area enlargement and compound-eye imaging apparatus and recording medium A stereoscopic image display apparatus includes: a display device; an acquisition device for acquiring a left eye image and a right eye image; a first display control device for displaying a stereoscopic image on the display device based on the left and right eye image; an instruction reception device for receiving an instruction indicating enlargement and display of a partial area deviated in a horizontal direction from a center of the stereoscopic image; a cut-out device for cutting out areas necessary for the enlargement and display from the left and right eye image in response to the instruction; a deviation amount calculation unit for calculating a deviation amount in a vertical direction between a center of the left eye image and a center of the right eye image; an image movement device for moving the left eye image and/or the right eye image in the vertical direction by the calculated deviation amount; and a second display control device for enlarging and displaying the partial area on the display device based on the image after the movement.
US08878907B2	Monocular stereoscopic imaging device The monocular stereoscopic imaging device according to one aspect of the presently disclosed subject matter includes: an imaging optical system including a zoom lens and a diaphragm; a pupil dividing unit configured to divide a light flux having passed through a imaging optical system into multiple light fluxes; an imaging unit configured to receive the multiple light fluxes, so as to continuously acquire a left-eye image and a right-eye image; and a controlling unit configured to control a zoom lens driving unit to move the zoom lens in accordance with an instruction of changing the focus distance, and configured to control the diaphragm driving unit to maintain at a substantially constant level a stereoscopic effect of the left-eye image and the right-eye image three-dimensionally displayed on a display unit before and after the zoom lens is moved.
US08878905B2	Focus scanning apparatus Disclosed is a handheld scanner for obtaining and/or measuring the 3D geometry of at least a part of the surface of an object using confocal pattern projection techniques. Specific embodiments are given for intraoral scanning and scanning of the interior part of a human ear.
US08878900B2	Non photorealistic rendering of augmented reality A method and system for rendering a captured image of a scene is disclosed which provide see-through vision through the rendered image, for example of an augmented reality object rendered behind the scene, by assigning pixel transparency values in dependence upon captured image pixels. The method and system preserve some structure of the scene in the rendered image without requiring a model of the scene.
US08878880B2	Method of driving electrophoretic display device capable of displaying image data approximated to original image data, electrophoretic display device, and electronic apparatus A method of driving an electrophoretic display device includes changing the gradation level of image data on the basis of correction data corresponding to the gradation level, converting image data with the changed gradation level to a dithering pattern, in which the first color and the second color are combined, corresponding to the changed gradation level for each predetermined region of image data, and driving the electrophoretic particles of the first color and the electrophoretic particles of the second color on the basis of image data converted to the dithering pattern for the plurality of pixels in the display section.
US08878879B2	Apparatus, method and computer readable recording medium for displaying content A method and apparatus for displaying content and a computer-readable recording medium thereof are disclosed. The method for displaying content includes: generating a page corresponding to a content file included in a folder; generating a folder display portion corresponding to the folder and an information display layer including the page; outputting the information display layer on a content display apparatus; sensing touch of the content display apparatus; and changing an output format of the information display layer based on the sensed touch.
US08878877B2	Rescaling for interoperability in virtual environments Exemplary embodiments include a method for transferring objects from a first virtual environment residing on a first computer system to a second virtual environment residing on a second computer system, the method including determining whether dimensions of the second virtual environment are compatible with dimensions of the first virtual environment, in response to a determination that the dimensions of the second virtual environment are not compatible with the dimensions of the first virtual environment, performing an interoperability rescaling between the first virtual environment and the second virtual environment and transferring the object from the first virtual environment to the second virtual environment.
US08878876B2	Systems and methods for managing the positioning and sizing of objects in electronic content One exemplary embodiment involves receiving, in an electronic content creation application, provided on a computer device, input for an object of electronic content being edited in the electronic content creation application. The input modifies a position attribute or a size attribute of the object in at least one state of the multiple states relative to bounds that is the same for multiple states of the object. The electronic content creation application determines whether to update the bounds associated with the object based on the input and, if updating the bounds is necessary, it updates the bounds associated with the object and, based on the update of the bounds, updates the position attribute or the size attribute.
US08878875B2	Absolute image orientation displacement monitoring and manipulation apparatus An image manipulation apparatus for displaying a three-dimensional image of an object displayed on a display apparatus in correspondence with orientation of a mobile apparatus includes: an orientation information processor configured to generate orientation displacement information corresponding to orientation of the mobile apparatus; a renderer configured to generate a rendering image of the three-dimensional image using the three-dimensional image of the object and the orientation displacement information; and a transmitter configured to transmit the rendering image to the display apparatus. An image manipulation method of displaying a three-dimensional image of an object displayed on a display apparatus in correspondence with orientation of a mobile apparatus includes: generating orientation displacement information corresponding to orientation of the mobile apparatus; generating a rendering image of the three-dimensional image using the three-dimensional image and the orientation displacement information; and transmitting the rendering image to the display apparatus.
US08878873B2	Enhanced visibility of avatars satisfying a profile Disclosed is a computer implemented method, computer program product, and apparatus to decorate visible attributes of a rendered avatar. A server may collect a first user profile of a first avatar, the first user profile having at least one interest of a user. Next, the server may receive a location of the first avatar, wherein the location is associated with a view to at least a second avatar. The server can identify the second avatar among a group of avatars visible with respect to the first avatar. Further, the server may read a target profile of the second avatar then determine whether the second user profile satisfies a criterion based on the first user profile and the target profile. In addition, the server may render a modified rendered avatar to a client, responsive to the determination that the target profile satisfies the criterion.
US08878872B1	System, device and method for generating an overlay of navigation chart information Present novel and non-trivial system, device, and method for generating an overlay of navigation chart information. A chart generator establishes an image data set comprised of chart information data. The chart information is visual navigation information appearing on a chart and drawn to a scale. The chart information, as it visually appears on the navigation chart, is reproduced in a first image. Then, an input shape selected or created by a pilot and placed over the first image is received, from which a geographical region is defined from the input shape. Then, the image data set is updated with overlay data comprised of second chart information data. The second chart information is visual navigation information appearing on a second navigation chart within the geographical region and drawn to a second scale. The second chart information is reproduced as an overlay sized as a proportion of scales.
US08878863B2	Portable terminal The portable terminal includes a display unit configured to display a screen; a first buffer and a second buffer configured to sequentially store display data for the displayed screen; a first determination unit configured to determine whether to perform single-buffer control or double-buffer control based on update data for the displayed screen; and a setting unit configured to set, if single-buffer control is appropriate, a display control method of the display unit to a display control method using the first buffer and to set, if double-buffer control is appropriate, a display control method of the display unit to a display control method using the first buffer and the second buffer.
US08878861B2	Conversion between z-scanning indices, raster-scanning indices and 2-D coordinates using simple bit-operations in HEVC Conversion between z-scanning indices, raster-scanning indices and two-dimensional coordinates uses simple bit-operations in high efficiency video coding. Depending on the conversion, certain bits are extracted from one representation to obtain positions of another representation, or bits are interleaved to generate another representation. Conversion is able to be between any of z-scanning indices, raster-scanning indices and (x,y) representations.
US08878854B2	Heating, ventilation and air conditioning system user interface having adjustable fonts and method of operation thereof A user interface for use with an HVAC system, a method of providing service reminders on a single screen of a user interface of an HVAC system and an HVAC system incorporating the user interface or the method. The user interface includes a display configured to provide information to a user, a touchpad configured to accept input from the user, and a processor and memory coupled to the display and the touchpad and configured to drive the display, wherein the display further configured to provide a button that allows a user to adjust an attribute of text displayed on the display.
US08878850B2	Product modeling system and method A product modeling system and method are provided. On one embodiment, the product modeling system is used to model a piece of apparel, such as a shirt, with a design wherein the model with the design is used to display the piece of apparel with the design to a consumer.
US08878849B2	Horizon split ambient occlusion The method includes receiving a plurality of graphics primitives for rendering at a GPU of a computer system and rendering graphics primitives into pixel parameters of the pixels of a display, wherein the parameters include pixel depth values and pixel normal values. For each pixel of the display, an ambient occlusion process is performed. The algorithm takes as input a ND-buffer containing pixel depth values and pixel normals. Based on the pixel 3-D position and the pixel normal vector, horizon heights are computed by sampling the ND-buffer and an occlusion term is computed for each pixel based on the horizon heights. Based on the pixel 3-D position, the pixel normal vector, a normal occlusion term is computed by sampling the ND-buffer above the horizon in multiple directions. An ambient occlusion illumination value is computed by combining the horizon occlusion term and the normal occlusion term.
US08878847B2	Method for estimation of an item of information representative of height The invention relates to a method for estimation of information representative of a height. In order to minimize the required calculation time, the method comprises steps for: selection of a first point from among a plurality of points of a normal map, a normal being associated with each of the points of said plurality, a reference height being associated with said first point, estimation of a height difference between the first point and a second point of the normal map different from the first point according to the normal associated with the second point and the distance separating the first point from the second point in the normal map.
US08878846B1	Superimposing virtual views of 3D objects with live images Methods and systems for superimposing virtual views of 3D objects with live images are provided. An example method may include determining 3D geometry information associated with an environment using one or more sensors of a mobile device, and recognizing 3D objects in the environment based on a database of 3D objects and the 3D geometry information. The method may also include determining a field of view of the environment based on a position of the mobile device in the environment and rendering an image of one or more of the 3D objects that are within the field of view. The rendered image may have a given perspective that is based on a viewpoint position from which the mobile device is viewed. The rendered image may also be combined with a live image of the field of view that is presented by the mobile device.
US08878845B2	Expandable graphical affordances A method, apparatus, system, article of manufacture, and computer readable storage medium provide the ability to create and edit a surface object in a computer implemented surface modeler. A surface object creation process is commenced and a surface object type is selected. During the surface object creation process, visual affordances are presented. The visual affordances are grips that can be used to inject modification into the surface object creation process. Subsequent to creation of the surface object, the same visual affordances are displayed and used to edit the surface object.
US08878843B2	Image position adjustment device In order to achieve reduction in size, an image position adjustment device (1) includes a light source unit (3) which emits visible light and infrared light, a movable cold mirror (12) which reflects visible light and transmits infrared light, a second scanner mirror (13) which reflects infrared light transmitted through the movable cold mirror (12), a windshield glass (F) which displays an image with visible light reflected by the movable cold mirror (12), and a first image processing unit (5) which images the driver (D) using reflected light of infrared light reflected by the second scanner mirror (13) on the driver (D) to detect a line-of-sight position of the driver (D). The position of an image is adjusted in accordance with the line-of-sight position detected by the first image processing unit (5).
US08878836B2	Method and apparatus for encoding datastream including additional information on multiview image and method and apparatus for decoding datastream by using the same Provided are a method and apparatus for encoding and decoding a datastream into which multiview image information is inserted. The method of decoding a multiview image datastream includes extracting multiview image information including information on at least one view image of a multiview image, from at least one elementary stream of the multiview image datastream; extracting a multiview image parameter regarding the multiview image based on the number of elementary streams and a correlation between view images of the multiview image; and restoring the multiview image by using the extracted multiview image parameter and the extracted multiview image information.
US08878834B2	Image display device with mobile communication device detection and identification The digital photo frame (1) of the present invention includes: an image data storage section (21) which stores image data associated with identification information of a mobile communication device; a device identifying section (11) which detects the mobile communication device and identifies the identification information of the mobile communication device; and an image display control section (14) which controls, when the mobile communication device is detected, a display section to display image data which is associated with the identification information identified by the device identifying section (11) among image data stored in the image data storage section (21), by carrying out a display control which is different from that for other data. This configuration makes it possible to change a way to display plural pieces of data in accordance with whether or not a detectable mobile communication device is in the device detectable area.
US08878832B2	Pixel circuit, display device, and method for driving display device Provided is a pixel circuit which includes a plurality of subpixel circuits and which makes it possible to suppress overshooting of electric potentials of the subpixel circuits to a small level. A pixel circuit (PIX1) includes a first subpixel circuit (PIXA) and a second subpixel circuit (PIXB). The first subpixel circuit (PIXA) includes a first display element (ClcA), a first node (nA), a first external connection terminal (P1), and a first switching element (T1). The second subpixel circuit (PIXB) includes a second display element (ClcB), a second node (nB), a second external connection terminal (P2), a third external connection terminal (P3), a second switching element (T2), and a third switching element (T3). The first node (nA) and the second node (nB) are connected to each other via a first capacitor (C2).
US08878830B2	Ambient light detection Ambient light is detected by a photodiode circuit by measuring the time taken for a digital output of the photodiode circuit to change state in response to exposure of a photodiode of the photodiode circuit to that ambient light. A nominal time for state change is calculated based on photodiode circuit characteristics. Furthermore, an effective time for the photodiode circuit digital output to change state is determined in a calibration mode where the photodiode has been disconnected and a reference current is applied to the circuit. An illumination value of the detected ambient light is then calculated as a function of: the measured time, the effective time and the nominal time.
US08878828B2	Display driver circuits having multi-function shared back channel and methods of operating same Display driver circuits include a multi-function driver, which is configured to support first and second modes of operation. The multi-function driver supports the first mode of operation in response to a first control signal by driving a bus with an output signal, which has a value that indicates a locked or unlocked status of a clock signal therein. The multi-function driver also supports the second mode of operation in response to a second control signal by driving the bus with multi-bit data that is unrelated to the locked or unlocked status of the clock signal.
US08878823B1	Dynamic shield electrode of a stylus An apparatus comprising a stylus with a dynamically switch tip shield is provided. The apparatus includes an elongated stylus housing having an end, a conductive tip disposed at least partially inside the stylus housing and extending from the end, a force sensor coupled to the conductive tip and configured to detect contact between the conductive tip and an object, a tip shield coupled with the stylus housing and extending from the end, and a switch coupled to the tip shield and the conductive tip.
US08878822B2	Mobile terminal and method of controlling operation of the mobile terminal According to an embodiment of the present invention, a method of controlling the operation of a mobile terminal includes displaying, on a display module of the mobile terminal, a stereoscopic three-dimensional (3D) image using a disparity between left-eye and right-eye images, receiving a touch input within the stereoscopic 3D image, determining whether a position of the touch input is received within a first area, a second area or a third area, wherein the right-eye image is displayed in the first area, the left-eye image is displayed in the second area, and the third area is the overlapping area of the left-eye and right-eye images, and correcting a touch-sensing area on the display module according to the position of the received touch input, wherein the touch-sensing area receives a touch for selecting the stereoscopic 3D image.
US08878819B2	Portable optical touch system and operating method thereof A portable optical touch system is disclosed in the present invention. The portable optical touch system includes two camera devices movably connected with each other and respectively disposed on two corners of a plane. Each camera device includes an imaging module for capturing an image of an object on the screen, an adjusting module connected to the imaging module for determining whether the two imaging modules are positioned on the same plane, and a measuring module connected to the imaging module for calculating a distance between the two imaging modules. The portable optical touch system further includes a controlling unit electrically connected to the camera device for calculating a coordinates of the object on the plane by analyzing the distance between the imaging modules and the images captured by the imaging modules.
US08878816B2	Active pixel sensor and method for making same A touch panel includes a plurality of active pixel sensors arranged in an array to sense a touch event. Each sensor element includes a photo-sensing element coupled to a single amplifier. The sensor element is arranged to provide a sensing voltage indicative of a light level received by the photo-sensor in a sensing period. The sensing voltage is amplified by the amplifier into an output voltage in the sensing period. Following the sensing period, the output voltage and the sensing voltage are reset to a predetermined voltage level. Following the reset period, the photo-sensor as well as the amplifier is disabled for a period so that the sensing level is caused to drop below the predetermined voltage level.
US08878815B2	Display device A display device includes pixel electrodes formed in an image display area of a substrate, a common electrode formed in the image display area, inside signal lines formed inside the image display area, and electrically connected to the pixel electrodes, outside signal lines formed outside the image display area, and electrically connected to the inside signal lines, and a common line formed inside and outside the image display area, and electrically connected to the common electrode. An image is displayed under a control of a light using an electric field developed between the pixel electrodes and the common electrode. A coupling capacitance is formed between the inside signal lines and the common electrode. The outside signal lines each include a first portion, and a second portion higher in electric resistance than the first portion and the inside signal lines.
US08878814B2	Liquid crystal display device provided with a sensing electrode for sensing a touch of a user A liquid crystal display device is disclosed, which comprises first and second substrates; gate and data lines arranged to cross each other on the first substrate to define a pixel region; a pixel electrode formed in the pixel region; a common electrode forming an electric field together with the pixel electrode and sensing a touch of a user; a light shielding layer formed on the second substrate to shield light leakage to a region other than the pixel region; column spacers formed on the light shielding layer to maintain a cell gap; and a sensing line formed on the column spacers and electrically connected with the common electrode.
US08878811B1	Integrated normal sensing and proximity sensing on a multi-dimensional sensor array Apparatuses and methods for coupling a group of sensor elements together in one mode to collectively measure a capacitance on the group of sensor elements, in addition to individually measuring a capacitance on each of the sensor elements in another mode. The apparatus may include a processing device, and a plurality of sensor elements that are individually coupled in a first mode for normal sensing and collectively coupled in a second mode for proximity sensing.
US08878806B2	Haptic feedback using composite piezoelectric actuator An input/output device includes a touch sensitive layer configured to sense if an object touches the touch sensitive layer and to sense where the touch sensitive layer is contacted, a first electrode layer and second electrode layer, at least a portion of one of the first electrode layer and second electrode layer connected to at least a portion of the touch sensitive layer, and a composite piezoelectric layer connected between the first electrode layer and second electrode layer. The composite piezoelectric layer has a plurality of piezoelectric rods arranged in a polymer matrix. The polymer matrix provides the composite piezoelectric layer with a predetermined property. A drive circuit is configured to apply an alternating voltage to the first electrode layer and second electrode layer in response to the sensed object.
US08878804B2	Touch panel vibrator with reduced visibility An electronic device includes a touch panel having a first principal surface and a second principal surface positioned opposite to the first principal surface; a light shielding film formed on the first principal surface of the touch panel corresponding to a non-operation area; and a vibrator provided on the second principal surface of the touch panel corresponding to the non-operation area. When a critical angle where light is totally reflected by the second principal surface of the touch panel is represented by θ and sum of a thickness T1 of the touch panel and a thickness T2 of the vibrator is represented by T, the vibrator is provided, on the second principal surface of the touch panel corresponding to the non-operation area, at a position apart by T×tan θ or more from an end of the light shielding film which end is positioned on the operation area side, in sectional view.
US08878802B2	Display unit, display method, and electronic system A display unit includes: a display section; a memory temporarily holding less than one frame of image information; a drive section driving the display section based on the image information which is stored in the memory; and a processing section performing a predetermined process in conjunction with the drive section.
US08878801B2	Display device, projector, and display method A display device include a display unit that displays a display image on a display surface based on image data, a location detection unit that detects a pointed location with respect to the display image on the display surface, a coordinate calculation unit that calculates first coordinates as coordinates of the pointed location in a displayable area within the display surface, a coordinate conversion unit that converts the first coordinates calculated by the coordinate calculation unit into second coordinates as coordinates in the image data, and an output unit that outputs the second coordinates obtained by the coordinate conversion unit.
US08878799B2	Method for finely controlling contents and portable terminal supporting the same A method for coarsely and finely controlling contents via respective main and auxiliary sliders, and a portable terminal supporting the same are provided. The portable terminal includes: a display unit displaying a main slider including a slidable path of a predetermined length for designating a predetermined region of contents and an auxiliary slider extending at least a part of a slidable path of the main slider; a touch screen detecting a signal for selectively displaying the auxiliary slider; and a controller for performing a control operation to display the auxiliary slider according to generation of the signal.
US08878796B2	Finger motion virtual object indicator with dual image sensor for electronic device The virtual object indicator having dual image sensors for an electronic device comprises a housing to receive component therein. A user finger motion detecting device having the dual image sensors is attached on an upper surface of the housing for detection the motion of user finger. A controller is received in the housing for generating a control signal in responsive to the user finger motion detection, wherein the images captured by at least one of the dual image sensors is analyzed to drive a virtual object on a display of the electronic device, a communication interface is coupled to the controller for communication with the electronic device.
US08878795B2	Touch sensing apparatus and operating method thereof There are provided a touch sensing apparatus and an operating method thereof. The touch sensing apparatus includes: a panel unit including a plurality of first electrodes and a plurality of second electrodes, the first and second electrodes intersecting each other; a circuit unit applying first driving signals to the first electrodes and detecting sensed signals from the second electrodes; and a control unit controlling an operation of the circuit unit, wherein the control unit controls the circuit unit to simultaneously apply the first driving signals to the first electrodes during a first duration corresponding to a sleep mode and detect first sensed signals from the second electrodes, and determines whether a valid touch has occurred during the first duration to determine whether to cancel the sleep mode.
US08878794B2	State of screen info: easel A multi-display device is adapted to turn on and off certain device functionality based on one or more of device state and triggers. These triggers include a transition trigger, an open trigger and a closed trigger. Furthermore, and based on one or more of these triggers and device state, the device can provide feedback to a user, such as visual feedback, audio feedback and vibration feedback to assist a user with determining when the device is changing state. The operation of the primary screen, secondary screen, system and feedback options are also described relative to the beginning and endpoint of the device transition. Furthermore, the trigger corresponding to a transitional trigger where primary and secondary screens have a certain angle orientation and the trigger corresponding to a trigger point where the primary and secondary screens have a second angle orientation relative to one another are described.
US08878791B2	Event generation based on print portion identification An optical scanner is configured to scan multiple print portions of a body part such as a finger. The optical scanner identifies a first one of the print portions in an area of an optical surface. An event such as launching an application is generated based on identifying the first print portion in the area of the optical surface. In addition, various events can be generated based on different combinations of print portions in different areas of the optical surface.In a second embodiment, a property detector is configured to identify different properties of a sleeve in different areas of a surface. An event is generated based on the detection of a property of the sleeve in an area of the surface.
US08878790B2	Microelectronic pressure sensor A microelectronic pressure sensor comprises a MOSFET transistor adapted with a mobile gate and a cavity between the mobile gate and a substrate. The sensor includes a gate actuator configured to move mobile gate in response to a pressure being exercised. A fingerprint recognition system includes a matrix of such sensors.
US08878788B2	Touch screen device with surface switch A portable electronic device comprising an external surface of a user interface, a piezoelectric transducer coupled to the external surface, and a controller. The piezoelectric transducer generates an electrical output originating at the piezoelectric transducer in response to mechanical actuation applied at the external surface. The controller performs an electronic function of the portable electronic device in response to the piezoelectric transducer generating the electrical output.
US08878787B2	Multi-touch user input based on multiple quick-point controllers In one embodiment, a method includes receiving first input from a first quick-point controller in a keypad that comprises a plurality of keys; receiving second input from a second quick-point controller in the keypad; and rendering a multi-touch gesture on a display associated with the keypad based on the first and second input.
US08878786B2	Image processing apparatus, image processing method, and storage medium There is provided an image processing apparatus comprising: an input unit configured to input object data including reflection characteristics of an object; an acquisition unit configured to acquire observation position data indicating the observation position of an observer and light source data indicating a surrounding light source around the image capture unit, on the basis of image data captured by the image capture unit; and a generation unit configured to generate image data, which image includes the object placed on the display unit, on the basis of the object data, the observation position data, and the light source data, wherein the image data indicate the image which is observed at the observation position when light from the light source is reflected by the object.
US08878784B2	On-screen diagonal cursor navigation on a handheld communication device Method and arrangement for affecting diagonal movement of a cursor 171 on a display screen 322 of a handheld communication device 300. The method includes sensing movement at an auxiliary user input 328 of the handheld communication device 300 indicative of a user's desire to affect diagonal movement of the cursor 171 on the display screen 322 of the handheld communication device 300. X-direction signals and Y-direction signals are produced based on the sensed movement at the auxiliary user input 328. During that time while necessary signals are being collected and processed, the cursor 171 is held steady on the display screen 322 until a predetermined criterion is met for discriminating whether the user has indicated x-direction cursor movement, y-direction cursor movement or diagonal cursor movement.
US08878778B2	Information processing apparatus, and control method and program therefor One of the aspects of the disclosure is directed to displaying an image according to attribute information thereof in a display area having a time axis based on an item of predetermined attribute information, and when changing a display range on the time axis, allowing a user to easily designate a point to be a reference thereof. An information processing apparatus according to the present invention displays an image in the display area having the time axis according to date and time information of the image. The information processing apparatus moves a mouse cursor on the display area according to a user's operation, and sets a reference after the display range is changed.
US08878777B2	Corner control Methods, program products, and systems for corner control are described. Each of the four corners of a rectangular display field can be individually configured to be a rounded corner or an angled corner. In some implementations, a method can include providing a user interface item for display. The user interface item can include four control elements. Each of the control elements can correspond to a corner of a display field. Each of the control elements can individually and independently control a shape of the corresponding corner of the display field. The display field can have one or more corners in rounded shape and one or more corners in angled shape, according to user input received through the user interface item.
US08878775B2	Display device and control method thereof A display device and a control method thereof are discussed. A display device and a control method thereof according to an embodiment of the present invention comprise a display unit displaying an object; a receiver receiving a wireless signal from a three dimensional (3D) pointing device recognizing a three dimensional motion; and a controller calculating a trajectory of the 3D pointing device corresponding to at least one of an absolute coordinate area and a relative coordinate area based on the received wireless signal and determining a position of the displayed object according to a property of an area to which the trajectory belongs and displaying the determined position.
US08878774B2	Electronic apparatus for proximity sensing An electronic apparatus controls to sense a particular direction motion in directions detectable by a proximity sensor, which senses proximity and motion directions of a subject. Thus, a user can utilize the proximity sensor with decreased recognition error and a high recognition rate as a user interface of the electronic apparatus.
US08878772B2	Method and system for displaying images on moveable display devices A display system includes a display device having multiple possible poses, including a neutral pose. A physical constraint maintains the display device in the neutral pose absent an application of an external force. A sensor measures a magnitude and direction of a displacement of the display device to a displaced pose due to the application of the external force. Then, the rendering engine renders an image on the display device according to the magnitude and direction of the displacement even while the display device remains constant in the displaced pose.
US08878760B2	Liquid crystal display device, method for driving liquid crystal display device, and television receiver At least one embodiment of a liquid crystal display device including: scanning signal lines provided in a display area; and a dummy scanning signal line provided in a non-display area, the scanning signal lines being divided into groups each of which includes a plurality of scanning signal lines, the groups being sequentially selected, signal electric potentials of an identical polarity being sequentially supplied to a data signal line while scanning signal lines belonging to a selected group are sequentially scanned horizontally, the polarity of the signal electric potentials being inverted when the selected group is changed from a preceding group to a succeeding group which is selected immediately after the preceding group, a dummy scanning period being inserted between a horizontal scanning period corresponding to last horizontal scanning in the preceding group and a horizontal scanning period corresponding to first horizontal scanning in the succeeding group, and the dummy scanning signal line being subjected to dummy scanning during the dummy scanning period. With the arrangement, it is possible to suppress horizontal-shaped unevenness that occurs in a case where block inversion driving is carried out.
US08878758B2	Charge-sharing path control device for a scan driver of an LCD panel A bidirectional switch includes a pair of transistors, with each transistor including a source connected via a degeneration resistance to a common source control node, a gate connected to a common gate control node, a drain connected to a respective channel or gate line and to a charge storage node, respectively, and a clamp diode connected between the source and the gate. This forms a single charge transfer path between gate lines sequentially activated by a scan driver of an LCD panel, and implements a charge sharing technique for reducing power dissipation.
US08878755B2	Organic light-emitting diode display and method of driving same In one aspect of the invention, a method of driving an OLED display includes providing scan signals and data signals and applying the scan signals to scan lines and the data signals to the data lines, respectively. Each scan signal is characterized with a waveform having a compensation duration and a scan duration immediately following the compensation duration. The waveform has a first voltage and a second voltage periodically and alternately varied from one another defining a period in the compensation duration, and has the first voltage in the scan duration. The period is equal to the scan duration but shorter than the compensation duration. As such, during the compensation duration of a scan signal, pixels of a corresponding pixel row are charged for compensation, and during the scan duration, the data signals are written into the pixels of the corresponding pixel row for driving the OLEDs thereof.
US08878754B2	Display device The inventors found out that in the case of performing a low gray scale display in which a very small amount of current is supplied to a light emitting element, variations in threshold voltages of driving transistors become notable since the gate-source voltage is low. In view of this, the invention provides a display device in which variations in the threshold voltages of the driving transistors are reduced even in the low gray scale display, and a driving method thereof. According to the invention, a gate-source voltage of the driving transistor is set higher in the low gray scale display than that in the high gray scale display. As one mode to achieve this, different power source lines are provided for the low gray scale display and the high gray scale display and their potentials are set to be different.
US08878753B2	Display apparatus A display apparatus includes: a display panel that includes display elements having a current-driven light-emitting portion and that displays an image on the basis of a video signal; and a luminance correcting unit that corrects the luminance of the display elements when the display panel displays an image by correcting a gradation value of an input signal and outputting the corrected input signal as the video signal. The luminance correcting unit includes an operating time conversion factor holder, a reference operating time calculator, an accumulated reference operating time storage, a reference curve storage, a gradation correction value holder, and a video signal generator.
US08878750B1	Head mount display device and method for controlling the same A head mount display (HMD) device according to one embodiment comprises a camera unit configured to capture an image at a front of the HMD device, a distance obtaining unit configured to obtain a distance between the HMD device and an object in the front of the HMD device, a communication unit configured to transmit and receive data, a display unit configured to display visual information, and a processor configured to control the camera unit, the distance obtaining unit, the communication unit and the display unit, wherein the processor is further configured: to recognize a face from the image, to receive personal data corresponding to the recognized face, to obtain, from the received personal data, personal information and period from a latest date when the face was lastly recognized to a current date when the face is currently recognized, to display the personal information when the period is longer than a first threshold period, and control a quantity of the personal information to be displayed based on a distance between the recognized face and the HMD device, and the period, and not to display the personal information when the period is shorter than the first threshold period.
US08878742B1	Dipole with an unbalanced microstrip feed Embodiments in accordance with the invention include a linearly polarized dipole antenna with an unbalanced microstrip feed line. More specifically, embodiments in accordance with the invention utilize a fed dipole connected to a microstrip feed line, and separated a gap distance from a parasitic dipole not connected to the microstrip feed line. When an electrical signal is input to the microstrip feed line, the microstrip feed line creates a current flow in the fed dipole which induces a nearly equal current on the parasitic dipole that is out of phase. The result is a current flow, I, in the same direction in both fed and parasitic dipoles allowing for efficient radiation of the linearly polarized dipole antenna. Embodiments in accordance with the invention eliminate the need for a balun circuit thereby reducing the size, complexity and feed loss of the feed circuit. Embodiments in accordance with the invention are effective for dipoles with relatively small ground planes.
US08878741B2	Tunable negative permeability based devices Negative permeability metamaterials and devices based on negative permeability metamaterials are described. The invention presents a new paradigm for realizing electromagnetic devices utilizing naturally available magnetic materials operating in their negative permeability spectrum. The superior advantages of negative permeability materials are utilized for providing unique electromagnetic devices including, for example, small antennas, array sensors and imaging devices. Since the property of the magnetic materials can be tuned by applying a DC magnetic field, the materials and devices of the present invention can be tunable.
US08878739B2	Wireless communication device A wireless communication device includes a wireless IC device, a multilayer substrate including a stack of a plurality of dielectric layers, a resonant circuit that is connected to the wireless IC device and that includes a capacitance element provided in the multilayer substrate and an inductance element provided outside the multilayer substrate, and a radiation conductor connected to the resonant circuit.
US08878738B2	Tunable antenna integrated system and module thereof The tunable antenna integrated system may include a tunable antenna module, a bias module, a direct current control module, and a RF module. The tunable antenna module may include a tunable capacitor and an antenna. The tunable capacitor may have the capacitance thereof adjusted according to an adjusting voltage. A resonant frequency of the antenna is controlled by the tunable capacitor. The bias module has a digital/analog converter for receiving a control voltage to generate the adjusting voltage, and the adjusting voltage may be outputted to the tunable capacitor with the value thereof larger than that of the control voltage. The direct current control module is connected to the bias module for outputting the control voltage to the digital/analog converter. The RF module is connected to the bias module, and a RF signal is transmitted between the tunable antenna module and the RF module through the bias module.
US08878737B2	Single feed planar dual-polarization multi-loop element antenna Dual polarization in an antenna structure that results from a number of radiating elements arranged in a loop configuration. The antenna structure is excited by a single coaxial feedline in an interior portion of the antenna structure. The antenna structure may include a ground plane that enables a directional radiation pattern. The antenna structure may also be operational without a ground plane to enable an omnidirectional radiation pattern. The antenna structure may be configured in a number of loop configurations electrically connected to each other by a number of microstrip loops extending in a horizontal and vertical planar direction.
US08878735B2	Antenna system for a wearable computing device An antenna system includes: an antenna; and a transceiver for wireless data communication interconnected with the antenna for electromagnetic field emission and electromagnetic field reception; wherein the antenna comprises: an electrically conductive material, and a slot in the electrically conductive material, the slot extending in a plane that is substantially parallel with a body of a user when the antenna system is worn in its operational position by the user, the slot being configured to cause emission of an electromagnetic field upon excitation.
US08878734B2	Antenna support structures An antenna support structure for a remote vehicle comprises a tubular mast configured to demonstrate a non-linear response to radial force. The mast is rigid and configured to hold an antenna approximately perpendicular to a base of the mast at equilibrium during operation of the remote vehicle and elastically buckle in response to a predetermined radial force on the antenna. The support structure is also configured to return to equilibrium once the predetermined radial force is removed.
US08878733B2	Antenna holding device for electromagnetic measurements A holding device for holding test antennas includes a base, a sliding plate, a holding pole, and a support block. The sliding plate is slidably mounted on the base. The holding pole is fixed on the sliding plate, and a length of the holding pole is adjustable. The support block is fixed on the holding pole and configured for receiving the test antennas. The holding pole and the sliding plate change a position of the support block along a first axis and a second axis, respectively.
US08878732B1	Antenna device of mobile terminal Various mobile communication terminals and methods having antenna improvements are discussed. One mobile communication terminal is described which includes an outer front side with a display, an outer rear side having conductive and non-conductive parts, a battery, and an antenna including a radiation unit, part of which is located between the outer front side and the non-conductive part of the outer rear side, a feeding unit which electrically connects the radiation unit to a circuit board, and a ground part which is connected to the conductive part of the outer rear side, electrically connects the radiation unit to the conductive part of the outer rear side, and is separated from the feeding unit by a space.
US08878730B2	Antenna module and electronic apparatus An antenna module and an electronic apparatus are provided. The electronic apparatus includes a housing and the antenna module. The housing has an inner surface. The antenna module includes a circuit board, a proximity sensor and a sensing antenna patch. The circuit board is disposed in the housing, and has a top surface and a bottom surface opposite to the top surface. The circuit board has a communication antenna pattern on the top surface. The proximity sensor is mounted on the bottom surface. The sensing antenna patch is assembled on the inner surface of the housing and electrically connected to the proximity sensor. An orthogonal projection of the communication antenna pattern on the inner surface overlaps the sensing antenna patch on the inner surface.
US08878725B2	System and method for geolocation of multiple unknown radio frequency signal sources According to an embodiment of the present invention, geolocations of multiple unknown radio frequency (RF) signal sources are determined using three-dimensional (3-D) geolocation techniques. The three-dimensional (3-D) geolocation techniques obtain reliable geolocation estimates of radio frequency (RF) emitters based on energy or received signal strength (RSS) of emitter transmitted signals and based on their time differences of arrival (TDOAs) at various sensor locations. The energy based geolocations and the time difference of arrival (TDOA) geolocations are combined to determine an overall set of geolocations for multiple unknown radio frequency (RF) signal sources. The geolocation information is used to track and monitor the locations of the multiple emitters.
US08878724B1	Steering matrix feedback for beamforming A first network device including a calibration module, a steering module, and a control module. The calibration module is configured to determine whether a second network device is capable of generating steering data for the first network device, wherein the steering data corresponds to data for steering signals in a desired direction. The steering module is configured to, if the second network device is not capable of generating the steering data for the first network device, receive channel state information from the second network device and determine the steering data based on the channel state information. The control module is configured to receive the steering data from the second network device if the second network device is capable of generating the steering data for the first network device.
US08878723B2	Supporting an assisted satellite based positioning For supporting a satellite based positioning of a mobile arrangement (30, 40) with assistance data, a communication network converts parameters of a dedicated orbit model describing a movement of a satellite (50, 60), which dedicated orbit model is defined for a particular satellite based positioning system, into parameters of a common orbit model describing a movement of a satellite (50, 60). Alternatively or in addition, the network replaces a reference value that is based on a satellite based positioning system time in available parameters of an orbit model by a reference value that is based on a communication system time. After the parameter conversion and/or the reference value replacement, the parameters are provided as a part of assistance data for the satellite based positioning.
US08878722B2	Method and system for determining navigation parameters of an aircraft Method for determining navigation parameters of an aircraft, characterized in that it consists at least in determining the geographic speed {right arrow over (V)}, expressed in a given local fixed coordinate system {{right arrow over (i)}, {right arrow over (j)}, {right arrow over (k)}}, based on the measurements m, of carrier phase increments Δφi of the radio navigation signals originating from a plurality of radio navigation satellites in sight of said aircraft, each of said measurements mi constituting an estimate of the relative speed of said aircraft relative to said satellite projected onto the sight axis linking the aircraft to the satellite, each of said measurements m, being compensated by the apparent radial speed of the satellite.
US08878721B2	Hybrid positioning using timing reference information Methods and apparatuses for a mobile station to obtain a position fix using synchronous hybrid positioning and asynchronous hybrid positioning techniques are described. In one embodiment, a wireless communication apparatus may transmit a request to a mobile station for timing reference information. The apparatus may be configured to receive the timing reference information, first timing measurements from a first positioning technology, and second timing measurements from a second positioning technology. The apparatus may identify whether the mobile station is capable of supporting synchronous hybrid positioning based on the timing reference information. If it is synchronous hybrid capable, then the apparatus may then establish a position fix for the mobile station using a synchronous hybrid positioning technique that involves relating the first and second timing measurements to a common time scale based on the timing reference information. If it is not synchronous hybrid capable, then the apparatus may establish a position fix for the mobile station using an asynchronous hybrid positioning technique wherein the time scales of the first and second timing measurements are not interrelated.
US08878720B2	Abnormal value detection apparatus for satellite positioning system, abnormal value detection method, and abnormal value detection program To detect an abnormal value in a satellite positioning system with high precision even when the observation environment changes or there is the time series correlation between data. An abnormal value index calculation unit 11 calculates an abnormal value index at each time of time-series data such as a pseudo distance between each artificial satellite and a receiver in the satellite positioning system or the like. A dynamic model forming unit 12 dynamically forms a model from the abnormal value index in a predetermined period and calculates a change point index from the time-series abnormal value index based on the dynamic model. The change point index is an index for determining whether the time-series is a one-shot outlier from a dynamic model or the dynamic model itself of input data changes when the time-series value which suddenly increases and decreases exists. The abnormal value detection unit 13 compares the change point index with a threshold value set in advance and detects the abnormal value index corresponding to the change point index at that time as an abnormal value when the value of the change point index is greater than the threshold value.
US08878708B1	Systems and methods for processing and recording audio Improved systems and methods for processing and recording audio received from one or more wired or wireless devices. In one aspect, the dynamic range of an analog-to-digital conversion system is extended. In another aspect, processes for generating a timecode, displaying and/or freezing a timecode display, and displaying an electronic timecode slate. Displaying a timecode slate may include rotating the orientation of the timecode display one hundred and eighty degrees to allow the timecode display to appear upright to individuals and/or equipment viewing and/or recording same. Displaying a timecode slate may also include an audible tone for synchronization of audio and video recordings.
US08878706B2	Serial-parallel conversion circuit, method for driving the same, display device, and semiconductor device A serial-parallel conversion circuit for converting a high-speed serial signal to a parallel signal is provided. Further, a display device with high image quality and fewer external connection terminals is provided. Furthermore, a method for driving a serial-parallel conversion circuit for converting a high-speed serial signal to a parallel signal is provided. A serial-parallel conversion circuit includes a plurality of units in each of which a sampling switch and an amplifier are connected to each other. In the serial-parallel conversion circuit, each sampling switch is configured to output part of a serial signal to its respective amplifier only through one transistor.
US08878700B2	Aircraft monitoring system A method and apparatus for monitoring an aircraft. A pilot control input signal is received. A response of a control surface system controlled by a flight control model is identified using the pilot control input signal. An alert is generated when the control surface system reaches a threshold with respect to the control surface system becoming saturated.
US08878699B2	Method for providing a pilot warning signal for a pilot of an aircraft, computer program product and warning device A method and device for providing a pilot warning signal is provided, where such method can include providing a first signal to indicate a pedal angle of a pedal, providing a second signal which is directly dynamically dependent on the pedal angle, pairing up values of the first signal and the second signal at specific times, determining an angle change of the pairs of values and an increment of the pairs of values at two successive times, and generating the pilot warning signal when actuation of the pedal and a stimulated tumbling movement of the aircraft are ascertained and if the determined angle change of the pairs of values is greater than a first threshold value or the determined angle change of the increment of the pairs of values is greater than a second threshold value. A computer program product and a warning device are also provided.
US08878697B2	Directional speed and distance sensor A method of using a directional sensor for the purposes of detecting the presence of a vehicle or an object within a zone of interest on a roadway or in a parking space. The method comprises the following steps: transmitting a microwave transmit pulse of less than 5 feet; radiating the transmitted pulse by a directional antenna system; receiving received pulses by an adjustable receive window; integrating or combining signals from multiple received pulses; amplifying and filtering the integrated receive signal; digitizing the combined signal; comparing the digitized signal to at least one preset or dynamically computed threshold values to determine the presence or absence of an object in the field of view of the sensor; and providing at least one pulse generator with rise and fall times of less than 3 ns each and capable of generating pulses less than 10 ns in duration.
US08878691B2	Method for providing visualization of a data age Medical monitor readings (150) are displayed along with an indication of along with the age of the reading. The reading display is changed by altering the intensity of the reading value (210-240), color of the reading value (310-330), a subscript next to the reading (400), a shape of the background (600-700), or icon (FIGS. 6-11) to indicate the age of a presented reading.
US08878686B2	Maintainer spotlighting A system and method for responding to an event is disclosed. A skill level requirement for a worker to respond to the event is determined using a processor. The processor selects a worker to respond to the event based on a skill level and a location of the worker with respect to the event. The processor sends a notification to the selected worker to respond to the event.
US08878683B2	Light receiver device having a shielding device extending on a back side of a substrate A light receiver device, which is particularly suited for a smoke detector, has a flat substrate, a light receiver mounted on a front side of the substrate, and a shielding device present on at least a back side of the substrate opposite the front side. The shielding device is configured to at least partially shield against electromagnetic interference radiation impinging on the light receiver through the substrate. False alarms are thereby reduced, while the sensitivity of the light receiver is simultaneously increased. The shielding device is formed with a metal strip inserted through the substrate from the front side to the back side, and bent over a recess on the back side provided therefor, so that the light receiver is protected against interference radiation even on the back side. There is also provided an assembly method for producing a light receiver device.
US08878682B2	Method and apparatus for detection of phase separation in storage tanks using a float sensor A system and method for detecting phase separation in storage tanks is provided. At least one float has a density calibrated to detect a density differential among surrounding fluids. The float is buoyant on a relatively more dense lower layer of fluid such as phase separated fuel or pure water, while remaining submerged in a relatively less dense upper layer of fluid such as a gasoline/ethanol blend. A detection device sends a signal when the float rises or falls above or below a preset acceptable level.
US08878680B2	Litter box cleanup monitor A litter box cleanup monitor, comprising a sensor module that is triggered when an animal uses the litter box, a transmitter that transmits a signal, and a notification device that alerts the user when the litter box has been used. The notification device can be a dedicated device, a smartphone, or an Internet-connected computer. A plurality of notification devices may also be used.
US08878678B2	Method and apparatus for providing an intelligent mute status reminder for an active speaker in a conference In one embodiment, a method includes capturing samples of sound associated with an environment, and processing the samples of sound to determine whether the samples of sound likely include voice activity. The samples of sound are captured while a microphone is muted. When it is determined that the samples of sound likely include the voice activity, the method also includes providing a first notification arranged to indicate that voice activity is detected and that the microphone is muted.
US08878677B2	System and method for automatic capture and archive of clinically meaningful vitals Medical vital signs (110) are captured, recorded, processed, and a signal quality assessment (160) is computed based on signal waveform components such as slope, amplitude, time to rise, time at peak, and degree to which signal peaks (420) and valleys (430). The signal assessment (160) may be used as a basis for rating the quality (130) of the underlying vital signal, to increase the quality of the signal by removing noisy segments and physiologically impossible peaks (42) and valleys (434), to detect a parameter value (120), to label a waveform (140), or to prompt an alarm (550) to indicate the signal has reached a critical level and issue a warning to the user of the vital data. The signal and the assessment are stored in an indexed, searchable data storage memory (590) from which the signals may be retrieved and displayed (300).
US08878671B2	Locator beacon and radar application for mobile device A locator device and system including (a) a beacon, configured to be located via a wireless means; and (b) an adhesive means, adapted to adhere the beacon to a substantially flat surface, wherein the beacon is configured to be tracked by a mobile device running a mobile application adapted to locate the beacon via the wireless means.
US08878670B2	Method and apparatus for improving the battery life of a tracker attached to an asset while outside a base safe-zone Methods, devices, and systems for saving battery service life by preventing false alarms when a tracked asset is intentionally removed from a base safe-zone. A portable safe-zone beacon may create a portable safe-zone by broadcasting signals similar to a transmitter within a base safe-zone. A tracking device may employ a relatively low-power short-range radio transceiver to receive safe-zone broadcasts. If the tracking device does not detect safe-zone broadcasts before a timing counter expires, the tracking device may activate a high-power, long-range transceiver and transmit an alarm message via a wireless network. The tracking device may distinguish between transmissions of the portable safe-zone beacon and a transmitter of the base safe-zone and may operate differently based on being within different safe-zones. In response to receiving broadcasts, the tracking device may transmit response messages to the portable safe-zone beacon. In an embodiment, devices may relay data to and from the tracking device.
US08878669B2	Method and system for monitoring intoxication A method and system for monitoring a user's intoxication including receiving a set of signals, derived from a set of samples collected from the user at a set of time points; providing a sobriety task to the user proximal to a time point of the set of time points; generating a performance dataset characterizing performance of the sobriety task by the user; receiving a supplementary dataset characterizing a demographic profile of the user and/or a physiological state of the user; determining a set of values of an intoxication metric, derived from the set of signals; generating a predicted temporal profile of the intoxication metric for the user based upon the set of values, the set of time points, and the supplementary dataset; generating an analysis of the user's sobriety based upon the performance dataset and the predicted temporal profile; and providing a notification to the user based upon the analysis.
US08878667B2	Wireless biosensor network for point of care preparedness for critical patients A biodegradable, bio-compatible material is described for use in wireless biosensors for point-of-care applications. The biosensor made from this biomaterial is capable of sensing environmental effects and as well as presence of bio-logical entities in the environment of concern simultaneously. Such a sensor can be used for evaluating point-of-care environmental preparedness for a specific patient through continuous monitoring of patient health performance due to environmental exposure. A two-tier network architecture is established for real-time monitoring (static case) that also provides warning of accumulated exposure. Wavelet analysis can be used to identify anomalies in the sensed data to initiate a warning.
US08878665B2	Fire alarm power line carrier com-system A fire alarm system 4 for a structure, has a two-wire interconnected transceiver 4J that uses power line carrier technology to inject a radio signal onto two power conductors, 6B & 6W. The transceiver 4J includes a transmitter circuit 7 and a receiver circuit 9. The transmitter circuit 7 includes a trigger circuit 10, attachable to an output line of a local fire alarm 5. The trigger circuit 10, can monitor the output line (6 Yellow) for an alarm condition output signal, for the purpose of sensing an alarm condition. The transmitter circuit 7 responds to the alarm condition output signal by injecting the radio signal onto the two power conductors. The radio signal would activate a second fire alarm system 4B attached to power lines in the structure.
US08878664B1	Tire status receiving system A tire status receiving system includes a first signal converter module including a first microcontroller unit, a wireless receiver unit for receiving a wireless signal from a tire status sensor and providing the wireless signal to the first microcontroller unit for enabling the first microcontroller unit to convert the wireless signal into a code for information interchange for output through an output unit being electrically coupled to the first microcontroller unit, and a second signal converter module including a second microcontroller unit, a memory unit for storing tire status sensor ID codes and predetermined alarm threshold values, an interface unit for communication with the output unit to receive data, a power supply unit to provide the necessary working electricity, and a communication port electrically coupled to the second microcontroller unit and having installed therein signal transmission circuit and a charging circuit.
US08878663B2	Automatic sensor detection Frames of data are received. Each frame includes at least a sensor identifier and a changeable data field and is sent from one of a plurality of sensors. Each of the plurality of sensors is associated with a respective one of a plurality of sensor identifiers. The changeable data field includes, in some of the frames, data representing a sensed condition and, in others of the frames, counter data. The counter data is analyzed to determine whether any of the sensor identifiers can be associated with one of a plurality of sensor locations.
US08878660B2	Vehicle meter cluster A vehicle meter cluster basically includes a meter cluster housing, an instrument display, a lens and a light source. The lens is disposed in front of the instrument display and includes a reflective area. The light source is mounted on the meter cluster housing or proximate to the meter cluster housing. The light source is configured to selectively emit light toward the reflective area of the lens to selectively provide warning information on the reflective area.
US08878659B2	Vehicle proximity annunciator device and method for notifying proximity of vehicle A control unit generates an annunciation sound signal including multiple frequency components. A sound emission device emits an annunciation sound to an outside of a vehicle according to the annunciation sound signal. The control unit changes a pitch of the annunciation sound signal according to a vehicle speed and changes an output level of the annunciation sound signal according to the pitch of the annunciation sound signal.
US08878656B2	Providing directional force feedback in free space Technology is presented for generating directional force feedback in free space to a user using a mass rotatable about a movable axis. The mass and movable axis are responsive to a control signal to generate a force vector having a direction and a magnitude in three-dimensional space to provide feedback to the user. The force vector is created in response to an event in application executing in a processing device. The force vector represents feedback regarding an event in the application.
US08878655B2	Vibration mechanism for user interface module An apparatus including: a user interface module, a vibration mechanism configured to move the user interface module to provide a tactile effect through the user interface module, and a counterbalancing element configured to provide a counterbalancing effect for movements of the user interface module.
US08878652B2	Encoding module, associated encoding element, connector, printer-encoder and access control system An encoding module and related systems and components are provided. The encoding module includes a plurality of encoding elements arranged in an array of columns and rows and one or more switching elements configured to selectively connect the encoding elements to a reader. The connection of the encoding elements may be based on the location of a targeted transponder disposed among multiple adjacent transponders to ensure the selective communication with the targeted transponder only. The module is configured for various types and locations transponders to be used within a system, such as a printer-encoder. Each encoding element may include a loaded conductive strip comprising a loop shape portion and a shield that corresponds to the loop shape portion. In another embodiment, an access control system having an encoding module with the plurality of couplers and an access card having a plurality of transponders corresponding to the couplers is provided.
US08878650B2	RFID security reader In a radio frequency identification (RFID) security reader, by integrating an encryption module that encrypts transmission data and a decryption module that decrypts reception data from an RFID security tag to restore the reception data to original data to a modem, an input/output time period of a processor module that processes a communication protocol in an RFID security system is minimized.
US08878643B2	Resistor with temperature coefficient of resistance (TCR) compensation A current sense resistor and a method of manufacturing a current sensing resistor with temperature coefficient of resistance (TCR) compensation are disclosed. The resistor has a resistive strip disposed between two conductive strips. A pair of main terminals and a pair of voltage sense terminals are formed in the conductive strips. A pair of rough TCR calibration slots is located between the main terminals and the voltage sense terminals, each of the rough TCR calibration slots have a depth selected to obtain a negative starting TCR value observed at the voltage sense terminals. A fine TCR calibration slot is formed between the pair of voltage sense terminals.
US08878639B2	Magnet arrays Method and device for self-regulated flux transfer from a source of magnetic energy into one or more ferromagnetic work pieces is provided. A plurality of magnets are disposed in a medium wherein gaps of predetermined distance are maintained between neighboring magnets. And the magnets we arranged such that magnetic flux exchange may take place between the magnets across the gaps and a ferromagnetic body in close vicinity or contact with the magnets.
US08878638B2	Manipulation of magnetic particles in conduits for the propagation of domain walls A system and a method for the controlled manipulation of any number of magnetic particles in solution are shown. The system and the method of the present invention are based on the employment of magnetic conduits properly structured in order to inject, move and annihilate with high precision magnetic domain walls and on the fact that said magnetic domain walls exert a high attraction force on magnetic particles. The injection, movement and annihilation of domain walls along said magnetic conduit result, therefore, in the trapping, movement and release, respectively, of single magnetic particles placed in solution in proximity of said magnetic conduits. The devices of the present invention guarantee the possibility of a digital transfer of magnetic particles along conduits formed by linear segments as well as high control and nanometric precision in the manipulation of said magnetic particles on curved conduits.
US08878637B2	Accessory device A cover is described that is magnetically attached to a tablet device. The cover includes at least as flap. In the described embodiment, the flap includes a plurality of segments where the first segment includes a first plurality of edge attach magnets arrayed along a first edge of the flap and where a second segment includes a second plurality of edge attach magnets arrayed along a second edge of the flap opposite the first edge.
US08878630B2	Common-mode noise suppression filter This invention provides a digital electronic device comprising: a grounded metal portion comprising a first metal plate electrically connected to ground and a first substrate disposed on the first metal plate; at least one layer of differential-mode reference metal portion comprising a second substrate and a second metal plate electrically connected to the first metal plate by at least one conductive structure; a pair of differential signal lines at least partially disposed on the second substrate of the at least one layer of differential-mode reference metal portion and electromagnetically coupled to the second metal plate of the at least one layer of differential-mode reference metal portion; and an equalizer electrically connected to the pair of differential signal lines.
US08878628B2	Network signal coupling circuit A network signal coupling circuit installed in a circuit board and electrically coupled between a network-on-chip and a network connector is disclosed to include a coupling module installed each channel thereof, each coupling module including two capacitors respectively electrically connected in series to the two circuits of the respective channel, two sets of equivalent resistors respectively electrically connected in parallel to opposing ends of the capacitors, and two signal equivalent grounding terminals respectively electrically connected to the two sets of equivalent resistors; by means of the characteristic of the capacitors that the strength increases when the frequency rises, the signal coupling performance of the signal coupling circuit is relatively enhanced when the applied network frequency is increased.
US08878624B2	Microstrip to airstrip transition with low passive inter-modulation A microstrip to airstrip transition is provided. The microstrip to airstrip transition includes a ground plane, a printed circuit board, a microstrip, a solder mask, and an airstrip. The ground plane has first and second sides. The printed circuit board has first and second sides and is disposed on the first side of the ground plane. The microstrip is disposed on a portion of the first side of the printed circuit board, and the solder mask is disposed over at least a portion of the microstrip. The airstrip is disposed over the at least portion of the solder mask, and the solder mask prevents direct contact between the microstrip and the airstrip.
US08878623B2	Switching ferrite circulator with an electronically selectable operating frequency band A ferrite element for a switchable circulator comprises a first segment extending in a first direction from a center portion of the ferrite element; a second segment extending in a second direction from the center portion of the ferrite element; and a third segment extending in a third direction from the center portion of the ferrite element. Each of the first segment, the second segment, and the third segment include a first channel located at a first distance from a center point of the ferrite element. The first distance defines a first resonant section of the ferrite element. Each of the first segment, the second segment, and the third segment also include a second channel located at a second distance from the center point. The second distance defines a second resonant section of the ferrite element.
US08878622B2	System and method for generating a pulse-width modulated signal In an embodiment, a method of generating a pulse-width modulated signal from an input signal includes calculating a finite number of basis functions of a first pulse-width modulated signal based on the input signal, and forming an electronic output based on the calculated finite number of basis functions.
US08878618B2	Spin transfer oscillator A spin transfer oscillator including a magnetic stack including at least two magnetic layers, at least one of the two magnetic layers is an oscillating layer that has variable direction magnetization and a current supply device configured to cause the flow of a current of electrons perpendicularly to the plane of the magnetic stack. The magnetic stack includes a device to generate inhomogeneities of current at the level of the surface of the oscillating layer and the intensity of the current supplied by the supply device is selected such that the magnetization of the oscillating layer has a consistent magnetic configuration, the magnetic configuration oscillating as a whole at the same fundamental frequency.
US08878617B2	Optical module for atomic oscillator and atomic oscillator An optical module for an atomic oscillator using a quantum interference effect includes a light source part to emit resonant light having two different wavelengths, a gas cell in which an alkali metal atom gas is enclosed and to which the resonant light is irradiated, a light detection part to detect an intensity of the resonant light transmitted through the gas cell, and a gas-flow generation part to generate a flow of the alkali metal atom gas.
US08878613B2	Time-to-digital converter (TDC) with improved resolution A time-to-digital converter (TDC) with fine resolution of less than one inverter delay is described. In an exemplary design, the TDC includes first and second delay paths, a delay unit, and a phase computation unit. The first delay path receives a first input signal and a first reference signal and provides a first output. The second delay path receives a second input signal and a second reference signal and provides a second output. The delay unit delays the second input signal relative to the first input signal or delays the second reference signal relative to the first reference signal, e.g., by one half inverter delay. The phase computation unit receives the first and second outputs and provides a phase difference between the input signal and the reference signal. Calibration may be performed to obtain accurate timing for the first and second delay paths.
US08878611B2	High-frequency amplifier According to one embodiment, a high-frequency amplifier is provided with a field effect transistor for performing amplification, and a stabilizing circuit. The field effect transistor has a source which is configured to be grounded. The stabilizing circuit is connected to a gate of the field effect transistor. The stabilizing circuit has impedance which changes so as to increase as the voltage of a drain of the field effect transistor increases.
US08878608B2	Comparator and amplifier A comparator has a differential pair circuit, a current control circuit, and a latch. The differential pair circuit has first and second comparator transistors, and is arranged to compare a first input and a second input according to a clock signal to generate a result indicating whether a difference of the first and second inputs exceeds an internal offset. The current control circuit is coupled in series with the differential pair circuit, and configured to provide unequal abilities of drawing currents for the first and second comparator transistors.
US08878604B2	Switching circuit and envelope signal amplifier A switching circuit according to one embodiment has: N switching elements; a connection circuit including N−1 first inductance elements that are connected in series; a second inductance element; and N third inductance elements. Control terminals of the N switching elements are connected to ends of the connection circuit and connection contacts, respectively. One end of the second inductance element is connected to a power supply. The N third inductance elements electrically connects one ends of the N switching elements and the other end of the second inductance element with each other, respectively.
US08878603B2	Method and device for detecting PWM wave A device for detecting a PWM wave, comprising: a PWM wave generating module, configured to generate the PWM wave; a detecting module coupled to the PWM wave generating module, configured to receive the PWM wave and to determine an electric level of the PWM wave; a timer coupled to the detecting module, configured to start a counting when the detecting module receives the PWM wave, and to interrupt the counting when the counting reaches a predetermined value, the detecting module determining whether the electric level of the PWM wave is a high electric level or a low electric level when the counting is interrupted; and a calculating module coupled to the detecting module, configured to calculate a duty ratio of the PWM wave based on a number of high electric level and a number of low electric level of the PWM wave determined within one period of the PWM wave.
US08878602B1	Reducing noise effects in an electronic computing device Approaches are described for managing effects such as interference, crosstalk, and other types of noise in an electronic environment using a physical and/or electronic switch to improve antenna performance. For example, in the situation where the connector is connected to the device and no data and/or power is being transferred through the connector, the switch is caused to be open. In this situation, because the connector will be an electrically floating metal instead of a grounded metal due to the open switch, at least a portion of the radiated and/or received antenna signals will not couple to the connector. In the situation where the connector is connected to the device and is being used to transfer data and/or power, the switch is caused to be closed, which will result in the connector being grounded. In such a situation, at least a portion of the noise generated by the connector due to transferring data and/or power will be grounded instead of being coupled to the antenna.
US08878594B2	IGBT device with buried emitter regions An embodiment of an IGBT device is integrated in a chip of semiconductor material including a substrate of a first type of conductivity, an active layer of a second type of conductivity formed on an inner surface of the substrate, a body region of the first type of conductivity extending within the active layer from a front surface thereof opposite the inner surface, a source region of the second type of conductivity extending within the body region from the front surface, a channel region being defined within the body region between the source region and the active layer, a gate element insulated from the front surface extending over the channel region, a collector terminal contacting the substrate on a rear surface thereof opposite the inner surface, an emitter terminal contacting the source region and the body region on the front surface, and a gate terminal contacting the gate element.
US08878592B2	Simultaneous switching noise cancellation by adjusting reference voltage and sampling clock phase A data signal is transmitted from a first circuit to a second circuit, with noise and/or jitter added to the data signal by supply noise in the power distribution network in the first circuit and/or a second circuit being effectively canceled out by adjustment of the reference voltage and/or the phase of the sampling clock used for sampling of the data signal in a manner that effectively mimics such noise and/or jitter added to the data signal. The second circuit uses a filter that has the impedance profile and/or the jitter profile of such power distribution network. The bus weight and/or the number of switching bits in the data pattern transmitted from the first circuit to the second circuit is applied to the filter to determine the adjustment to be made to the reference voltage or the phase of the sampling clock.
US08878591B2	Level shifter utilizing bidirectional signaling through a capacitive isolation barrier According to an exemplary implementation, a level shifter includes a low voltage circuit and a high voltage circuit. The low voltage circuit is configured to provide a differential signal to the high voltage circuit through a capacitive isolation barrier. The high voltage circuit is configured to receive the differential signal from the low voltage circuit through the capacitive isolation barrier so as to level shift the differential signal from a first ground of the low voltage circuit to a second ground of the high voltage circuit. The high voltage circuit is further configured to provide a feedback signal to the low voltage circuit through the capacitive isolation barrier. The low voltage circuit can be configured to receive the feedback signal from the low voltage circuit between edges of the differential signal.
US08878589B2	Semiconductor device and driving method thereof To reduce adverse effect of variations in threshold voltage. A semiconductor device includes a transistor including a gate connected to one electrode of a capacitor and one terminal of a SW1, a source and a drain one of which is connected to one terminal of a SW2 and one terminal of a SW3 and the other of which is connected to the other terminal of the SW1 and one terminal of a SW4; a first wiring electrically connected to the other terminal of the SW2; a second wiring electrically connected to the other terminal of the SW4; a load including electrodes one of which is connected to one electrode of the capacitor and the other terminal of the SW3; and a third wiring connected to the other electrode of the load.
US08878588B2	Low distortion MOS attenuator An attenuation circuit uses a voltage controlled variable resistance transistor as a signal attenuator for receivers operating in the zero Hz to about 30 MHz range. The transistor functions in the linear region to linearize the transistor resistance characteristics used for signal attenuation. In an exemplary application, the attenuation circuit is used as an RF attenuator for AM radio broadcast receivers and amplifiers with automatic gain control. Multiple attenuation circuits can be coupled in parallel, each attenuation circuit having a different sized variable resistance transistor, to form sequentially activated stages that increase the range of attenuation while minimizing distortion.
US08878587B1	Interface circuit for driving fully-differential circuits An interface circuit for driving a fully-differential circuit has a first circuit configured to decrease the voltage at its output in response to an increase in an average value of first and second input voltages. A first network receives the first input voltage and the output voltage of the first circuit to provide a first output voltage for driving the fully-differential circuit. A second network receives the second input voltage and the output voltage of the first circuit to provide a second output voltage for driving the fully-differential circuit. An impedance ratio of the first network is substantially matched to an impedance ratio of the second network.
US08878578B2	Jitter monitor A jitter monitor includes: a voltage generating circuit configured to generate a first voltage that is varied with time at a predetermined inclination; a voltage reducing circuit configured to reduce the first voltage by a predetermined voltage in synchronization with a first clock signal so as to generate a second voltage that is varied with time at the predetermined inclination in synchronization with the first clock signal; and a sampling circuit configured to sample a portion having the predetermined inclination of the second voltage.
US08878577B2	System and method for frequency multiplier jitter correction A system and method are provided for frequency multiplication jitter correction. The method accepts an analog reference signal having a first frequency, and using the analog reference signal, derives a system clock signal having a second frequency, greater than the first frequency. A PLL using a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) is one example of a frequency multiplier. The method samples the amplitude of the analog reference signal using the system clock signal and converts the sampled analog reference signal into a digitized reference signal. In response to comparing the digitized reference signal to an ideal digitized reference signal, the phase error correction for the system clock signal is derived. The phase error correction at a first instance of time can be applied to the digitized data signal, previously converted from an analog data signal sampled at a first instance of time with the system clock signal.
US08878575B1	Noise reduction for non-linear transmission line (NLTL) frequency multiplier A noise reduction filter is inserted between the source and non-linear transmission line (NLTL) in a frequency multiplier to improve phase noise performance. The noise reduction filter is suitably coupled directly to the input of the NLTL. The noise reduction filter and the output BPF are suitably low complexity filters.
US08878573B2	Voltage controlled switching element gate drive circuit A voltage controlled switching element gate drive circuit makes it possible to suppress an occurrence of a malfunction, while suppressing surge voltage, surge current, and switching noise, when switching in a voltage controlled switching element. A gate drive circuit that supplies a gate voltage to the gate of a voltage controlled switching element, thus driving the voltage controlled switching element, includes a high potential side switching element and low potential side switching element connected in series, first variable resistors interposed between at least the high potential side switching element and a high potential power supply or the low potential side switching element and a low potential power supply, and a control circuit that adjusts the resistance values of the first variable resistors.
US08878560B2	High frequency probing structure The present disclosure provide a probe card for wafer level testing. The probe card includes a space transformer having a power line, a ground line, and signal lines embedded therein, wherein the space transformer includes various conductive lines having a first pitch on a first surface and a second pitch on a second surface, the second pitch being substantially less than the first pitch; a printed circuit board configured approximate the first surface of the space transformer; and a power plane disposed on the first surface of the space transformer and patterned to couple the power line and the ground line of the space transformer to the printed circuit board.
US08878557B2	Electrode arrangement for monitoring a bed Equipment for indicating a bed-wetting in a bed comprising a bed-wetter sheet and a measuring- and control system. A measuring circuit is furnished to test whether the electrode in the bed-wetter sheet are intact, and afterwards to measure the conductivity in the normal state between the two from each other electrically isolated electrodes whereby the conductivity between the two electrodes will fall drastically by a bed-wetting, human fluids containing salt being spread on the sheet, and indicate the bed-wetting. The measuring circuit is furnished to as a part of a routine to enter into a resting state whereby the measurement is performed with a prearranged fixed time interval.
US08878548B2	Method for treating and sealing piezoelectric tuning forks Disclosed is an apparatus for estimating a property of a fluid. The apparatus includes: a piezoelectric resonator configured to be disposed in the fluid; an electrode embedded in the piezoelectric resonator and included in a resonator circuit configured to output an electrical signal related to the property; a discontinuity defined by a surface of the piezoelectric resonator, the discontinuity altering an impedance of the resonator circuit if a high-dielectric fluid or a conductive fluid is disposed in the discontinuity; and an insulating material disposed in the discontinuity.
US08878547B2	Insulation resistance monitoring for vehicles with high-voltage power net A monitor for monitoring isolation resistance, impedance, or other isolation reflective conditions between vehicle systems as contemplated. The monitor may be useful in assessing insulation resistance between a high-voltage power net and a low-voltage power net. The monitor may be configured to assess a sufficiency of the insulation resistance based on a frequency response of the high-voltage power net.
US08878546B2	Apparatus and method for quickly determining fault in electric power system An apparatus for quickly determining a fault in an electric power system includes a current transformer, a current determination unit and a fault determination unit. The current transformer detects current supplied to the electric power system and outputs a current detection voltage. The current determination unit respectively compares the current detection voltage, the first-order differential voltage of the current detection voltage and the second-order differential voltage of the current detection voltage with predetermined first, second and third reference voltages. The fault determination unit determines whether a fault occurs based on the compared result of the current determination unit and generates a trip signal when it is determined that the fault has occurred.
US08878545B2	Test apparatus with physical separation feature A test apparatus with physical separation feature is disclosed. The test apparatus includes probes (210), a peripheral circuit (220), a circuit of special function (230), wherein the peripheral circuit and the circuit of special function are separately arranged on different circuit boards (240, 250). The peripheral circuit and the circuit of special function are both electrically connected to the probes. In the test apparatus with physical separation feature, the peripheral circuit and the circuit of special function are separated in physical spaces, so that interference between the components is prevented and the testing cost is reduced.
US08878537B1	Method and apparatus to minimize gradient errors in buried utility depth measurements A buried utility locator uses the “gradient method” to determine the depth of a buried, current-carrying utility. The method and corresponding apparatus used in said locator, to minimize field gradient measurement errors, includes first and second antennas. Both the first and second antennas are mounted along a common vertical axis inside the locator's housing. The first antenna is a gradiometer formed by two vertically spaced-apart magnetic field sensors connected in a differential configuration. The second antenna provides a secondary field measurement along the direction of the gradient sensor axes.
US08878534B2	Method and device to determine a magnetic resonance system activation sequence In a method and a control sequence determination device and a magnetic resonance system for the determination of a magnetic resonance system activation sequence as a multichannel pulse train with multiple individual RF pulse trains to be emitted in parallel by the magnetic resonance system respectively via multiple independent radio-frequency transmission channels of a transmission device, the multichannel pulse train is calculated in order to achieve a defined local target magnetization distribution upon emission of the calculated multichannel pulse train. The local target magnetization distribution is obtained as a parameter map determined from image data obtained with preceding measurement.
US08878527B2	Magnetic field simulator for testing singulated or multi-site strip semiconductor device and method therefor A system for testing a magnetic sensor has a plurality of coils, wherein the coils are positioned along perpendicular planes. A magnetic field is generated along each of the perpendicular planes when a current is sent to each of the plurality of coils.
US08878525B2	Position detector A permanent magnet is fixed to a stationary portion. A yoke made of magnetic material is provided to a rotating portion. The yoke is tube-shaped to surround the permanent magnet and has a chord portion into which a magnetic flux generated by the permanent magnet preferentially flows. The chord portion is arranged in such a manner as to be close to the permanent magnet. A Hall element is arranged at a specified position of the stationary portion relative to the permanent magnet 20. The Hall element outputs a signal which corresponds to a density and an angle of a magnetic flux generated between the chord portion and the permanent magnet.
US08878524B2	Method for determining a distance and an integrated magnetic field measuring device An integrated magnetic field measuring device is provided that includes a semiconductor body arranged on a metal substrate and having a first surface, and a plurality of metal surfaces formed on the surface, a first magnetic field sensor, formed in the semiconductor body and having a first sensor signal, and second magnetic field sensor having a second sensor signal, and a current-carrying first conductor. A third magnetic field sensor with a third sensor signal is formed in the semiconductor body. The first magnetic field sensor, the second magnetic field sensor, and the third magnetic field sensor have a substantially identical orientation to Earth's magnetic field and a different distance to the first conductor and the magnetic field of the first conductor simultaneously penetrates the first magnetic field sensor, the second magnetic field sensor, and the third magnetic field sensor.
US08878522B2	Magnetic linear position sensor A magnetic linear position sensor includes an array of N number of magnets. The array of magnets is distributed along a line to form a magnetic field relay along the line. The sizes and positions of the magnets in the array of magnets are symmetric along the line, and the size of the magnets decreases from the sides of the array of magnets towards the center of the array of magnets. The magnetic linear position sensor further includes a magnetic field sensor spaced apart and positioned above the array of magnets. The magnetic field sensor moves back and forth over the array of magnets to sense the magnetic field of the array of magnets.
US08878518B2	Sensor device and sensor interface A mode detector in a sensor interface is configured to detect a mode specified by a mode signal when an input signal received from a side of a first terminal is the mode signal. A communication portion in the interface transmits an electric signal, obtained from a sensor circuit, to a side of a second terminal when a mode detected with the detector is a sensor output mode. The communication portion receives an input signal from the side of the first terminal while transmitting an output signal to the side of the second terminal, when a mode detected with the detector is a communication mode.
US08878512B2	Reference current output device with improved temperature characteristics, and a corresponding reference current output method A reference current output device and reference current output method that may adjust a reference current while maintaining a temperature gradient. In the reference current output device and reference current output method of the present invention, a reference current is outputted by a reference voltage and current output circuit, a reference voltage outputted from the reference voltage and current output circuit is converted to an adjustment current and outputted by a conversion and output circuit, the adjustment current is superimposed with the reference current and a superimposed current is outputted by a superimposition and output section.
US08878508B2	DC-DC converter control circuit and control method A control circuit of a DC-DC converter that has a switching element, including an error amplifier that amplifies a difference between a reference voltage and a feedback voltage corresponding to an output voltage of the DC-DC converter, a voltage reduction comparator that outputs an interrupt signal when the feedback voltage is lower than a voltage reduction threshold that has a value lower than that of the reference voltage, and a pulse-width modulation (PWM) signal generator circuit. The PWM signal generator circuit generates a PWM signal of a predetermined frequency based on the voltage difference when no interrupt signal is generated, or otherwise generates a switch drive signal to activate the switching element for a first period of time corresponding to the difference output by the error amplifier, and to deactivate the switching element for a second period of time after the first period of time has elapsed.
US08878504B2	Switching regulator A switching regulator has an output circuit having first and second transistors and a connection node thereof as an output terminal; a switching control unit generating a first and second switching pulses for alternately switching the first and second transistors according to the load; and a first comparator monitoring an output voltage, and generating a pulse stopping control signal for stopping the generation of the switching pulses when the output voltage rises, and for generating the switching pulses when the output voltage drops. And the switching control unit performs a stopping operation for stopping the switching pulse generation and a switching operation for generating the switching pulse in response to the pulse stopping control signal, and outputs, to the first comparator, a timing control signal for quickening a switching timing from the stopping operation to the switching operation as the load of the load circuit increases.
US08878499B2	Power factor correction boost converter and frequency switching modulation method thereof The instant disclosure provides a Power Factor Correction (PFC) boost converter including a PFC converter unit and a control unit and a frequency switching modulation method thereof. The control unit outputs a pulse width modulation (PWM) signal to the PFC converter unit for adjusting an electronic power output to a voltage converter. As the output load of the PFC converter unit increases, the control unit increases the frequency of the PWM signal. Conversely, as the output load of the PFC converter unit decreases, the control unit reduces the frequency of the PWM signal. Consequently, the switching loss of the PFC converter unit is reduced.
US08878498B2	Method for reducing a voltage ripple due to rotational nonuniformity of a generator driven by an internal combustion engine A method for reducing a ripple, caused by rotational nonuniformity of an internal combustion engine, in the output voltage of a generator which is driven by the internal combustion engine is provided. The generator has a stator winding, a rotor winding, a field controller, associated with the rotor winding, for regulating the output voltage of the generator, and a downstream power converter having controllable switching elements. To reduce the voltage ripple, the output voltage of the generator is regulated on the stator side by appropriately controlling the switching elements of the power converter.
US08878493B2	Apparatus for monitoring operation state of battery pack composed of plurality of cells mutually connected in series An apparatus is provided, which monitors an operation state of a battery composed of a plurality of cells mutually connected in series. In this apparatus, a cell voltage of each of the plurality of cells is detected as information indicating an operation state of the battery. Based on the detected cell voltages, an operation state is monitored for a cell having a highest cell voltage and a cell having a lowest cell voltage among the plurality of cells.
US08878491B2	Battery voltage monitoring apparatus Each monitor IC in the apparatus obtains operation power from a block including cells that are the objects to be monitored. The monitor IC includes a consumption-current adjusting circuit that adjusts a consumption current used from the operation power to a target value. In each monitor IC, the consumption current is adjusted to have the target value by the consumption-current adjusting circuit, and thus the consumption currents of the monitor ICs can be equalized, even if a different number of cells are connected to each monitor IC. Accordingly, it is possible to prevent the variation in the consumption currents among the monitor ICs.
US08878487B2	Apparatus, method and article for providing to a user device information regarding availability of portable electrical energy storage devices at a portable electrical energy storage device collection, charging and distribution machine A network of collection, charging and distribution machines collect, charge and distribute portable electrical energy storage devices (e.g., batteries, supercapacitors or ultracapacitors). Availability of charged portable electrical energy storage devices available at a collection, charging and distribution machine are communicated to or acquired by a mobile device of a user or a user's vehicle. Once the mobile device of a user or a user's vehicle comes within close proximity of the collection, charging and distribution machine or within a particular area surrounding the collection, charging and distribution machine, the collection, charging and distribution machine or a collection, charging and distribution machine management system communicates an alert (e.g., over a cellular network, short range wireless signal or wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) network) to the mobile device or vehicle indicating how many portable electrical energy storage devices are available at the distribution machine.
US08878485B2	Rechargeable flameless candle systems and methods According to an embodiment of the present invention, a recharging device includes a recharging port that receives a flameless candle and recharges a battery in the candle. The recharging device includes a first stacking structure that has a top portion and a bottom portion. There is a top stacking contact on the top portion. An electrical power bus is connected with the top stacking contact. The electrical power bus is also configured to provide electrical power to the flameless candle through the recharging port. The top portion of the first stacking structure is configured to mate with a bottom portion of a first stacking structure of another recharging device.
US08878476B2	Method for discharging charges remaining in capacitor in apparatus A PCU drives a motor generator using electric power from a power storage device. The PCU includes a power conversion device, a capacitor and a control unit. When detecting a crash, the control unit drives the power conversion device and discharges charges remaining in the capacitor. Each of a plurality of reverse conducting-type semiconductor elements included in the power conversion device is integrally formed of a first semiconductor element operating as a switching element and a second semiconductor element operating as a free wheeling diode. In response to detection of the crash of a vehicle, the control unit changes a voltage applied to a gate terminal of the first semiconductor element and increases an electric power loss during a current-circulating operation by the second semiconductor element. As a result, the remaining charges stored in the capacitor in the drive apparatus is discharged as soon as possible.
US08878474B2	Motor control device, current control method applied to motor control device, and electric power steering device using motor control device Provided is a motor control device (10) for controlling a motor (5) provided with a plurality of sets of windings, in which, when a current control unit (23) detects a short-circuit failure as a primary failure, the current control unit (23) continues the control, and, further, when the current control unit (23) detects a secondary failure, the current control unit (23) provides control of opening a power supply relay (3). Accordingly, in a case where a failure of a winding of a motor or an inverter occurs, a torque pulsation is restrained and a sufficient output torque is provided, and further, in a case where a secondary failure occurs, excessive heat generation and current consumption are prevented and the cost of the device is reduced.
US08878471B2	Control apparatus for electric rotary machine In a control apparatus for an AC electric motor, a dq axis current feedback control unit 44 and a qn axis current feedback control unit 46 execute a feedback control of higher harmonic components of actual currents id and iq flowing in an AC electric machine 10 to higher harmonic current instruction values Σidkr and Σiqkr. A d axis current instruction value adjusting unit 24 and a q axis current instruction value adjusting unit 26 add the higher harmonic current instruction values Σidkr and Σiqkr to fundamental current instruction values idr and iqr. Ad axis current feedback control unit 32 and a q axis current feedback control unit 34 execute a feedback control of a difference between the actual currents id and iq and the sum of the higher harmonic current instruction values Σidkr, Σiqkr and the fundamental current instruction values idr and iqr into zero.
US08878470B2	Methods and apparatus for reducing size and costs of motor controllers for electric motors An electric motor that includes an electronic motor controller is described. The electronic motor controller includes a motor management circuit and a power supply circuit physically separate from the motor management circuit. The motor management circuit includes an insulated metal substrate, driver components operably attached to the insulated metal substrate and operable to provide output signals for application to windings of the electric motor, at least one current sensor operable for sensing an amount of current applied to the windings of and electric motor, and at least one control device operably attached to the insulated metal substrate for controlling operation of the driver components. The power supply circuit includes a composite circuit card and power processing components operably attached to the circuit card and operable to convert an input voltage into at least one output voltage to be supplied to the motor management circuit.
US08878466B2	Electromechanical linear actuator An electro-mechanical linear actuator unit comprising an actuator housing that accommodates at least two electric drives, each of which, when actuated by a control device, sets an associated drive of a respective spindle drive into rotation for adjusting linear movement of the associated spindle drive in order to produce relative linear adjustment of a control rod. The two electric drives are located in the actuator housing in such manner that relative adjustment can be produced by simultaneous actuation of the two electric drives, as the sum of the adjustment movements of the associated spindle drives, or by actuating a single electric drive, as the adjustment movement of the associated spindle drive. A respective brake is provided, in an area of each of the two electric drives, which can be selectively actuated by the control device to then prevent the adjustment movement of the respective associated spindle drive.
US08878464B2	Laser accelerator driven particle brachytherapy devices, systems, and methods A laser accelerator driven electronic brachytherapy system, device, and method for particle based treatment of a tumor or other human diseases and conditions.
US08878463B2	LED lamp control circuit An LED lamp control circuit comprises a rectifier circuit, an LED light source load, a constant current circuit, and a first temperature detect switch circuit. The LED light source load comprises at least one group of LEDs. The constant current circuit comprises at least one group of constant current source components, each of which is connected to at least one group of LEDs in the LED light source load and comprises a depletion mode field effect transistor. The first temperature detect switch circuit is connected to an input end of a power source, and comprises a first normally closed temperature detect switch mounted on a radiator. When the temperature of the radiator exceeds the disconnection temperature of the first normally closed temperature detect switch, the first normally closed temperature detect switch is disconnected, so as to cut off the power supply of the LED light source load.
US08878460B2	DC-DC converter protection circuit and protection method thereof A protection circuit of a DC-DC converter is disclosed. An input terminal of the DC-DC converter receives an input voltage and an output terminal of the DC-DC converter provides an output voltage. The DC-DC converter includes an output stage between the input terminal and the output terminal. The protection circuit includes a current sensor, a comparator, a determining circuit, and a protection control circuit. The current sensor provides a sensing signal. The comparator compares a default over-voltage with the sensing signal to provide an over-current control signal. The determining circuit provides a determining control signal. The protection control circuit determines whether to enable a short protection according to the over-current control signal and the determining control signal.
US08878457B2	Adaptable lighting system The present invention relates to a control unit (108) for a lighting system (100) comprising at least two individually controllable light sources (102, 104), wherein the control unit (108) is connectable to the at least two individually controllable light sources (102, 104) and configured to control the at least two individually controllable light sources (102, 104), wherein the control unit (108) is further configured to control a first lighting system configuration comprising the at least two individually controllable light sources (102, 104) so as to cause it to emit a first illumination pattern (120) provided jointly by the at least two light sources (102, 104) of the first lighting system configuration, detect and store an initial set of illumination parameters being indicative of the first illumination pattern (120), determine a subsequent set of illumination parameters being indicative of a second illumination pattern (122) provided by a second lighting system configuration comprising individually controllable light sources (102, 106), the second lighting system configuration being different from the first lighting system configuration, and control, in dependence on the initial set and the subsequent set of illumination parameters, the second lighting system configuration so as to cause it to emit a third illumination pattern (124), the third illumination pattern (124) being an approximation of the first illumination pattern (120). The present invention provides advantages in respect of e.g. automatic “healing” of the lighting system (100), for example in the case where a light source (102, 104) of the lighting system (100) fails or is only capable of providing less than the normal rated light output.
US08878455B2	Systems and methods of controlling the output of a light fixture Systems and methods of controlling the output of an LED light fixture. The LED light fixture includes a plurality of light sources and a controller. The controller is configured to receive a first set of input data and determine a difference between the first set of input data and a second set of data stored in memory. The controller is also configured to set a slew time based on the determined difference and control the output of the light fixture based on the slew time. The slew time is inversely related to the determined difference between the first set of input data and the second set of data, and the slew time corresponds to the amount of time that the output of the light fixture is to take to transition from a present output of the light fixture to a new output of the light fixture.
US08878453B1	Switch circuit for a ballast A ballast comprises an inverter circuit for connecting to a lamp and providing power thereto. The ballast includes a current feedback circuit connected to the inverter circuit and the lamp for controlling the frequency of the inverter circuit based on current feedback from the lamp. The ballast includes a switch circuit connected to the current feedback circuit and the lamp for enabling the current feedback circuit when the lamp is in a normal operating state and disabling the current feedback circuit when the lamp is in a low current operating state.
US08878451B2	Lighting system and method for controlling the same A lighting system as disclosed herein may include a lighting device, a switch to control the lighting device, and a controller to assign an address to the lighting device and the switch. The controller may be connected to the lighting device and the switch over a ZigBee network. The lighting device and the switch may have a first address and a first network identifier. The lighting device or the switch transmits a request for address assignment to the controller based on the first address, the request including the first network identifier, and the controller compares the first network identifier to a second network identifier stored at the controller, and may assign a second address based on the request if the first network identifier is the same as the second network identifier.
US08878450B2	Light emission systems having non-monochromatic emitters and associated systems and methods Emission systems having solid-state transducers (SSTs) for producing a target chromaticity of light are disclosed herein. An emission system or SST device in accordance with a particular embodiment can include a first emitter having a first plurality of SSTs positioned to emit light having a first chromaticity, and a second emitter having a second plurality of SSTs positioned to emit light having a second chromaticity different than the first chromaticity. The SST device can further include a controller having a first channel with a variable output, coupled to the first emitter to adjust the brightness level of the first emitter, and a second channel with a variable output, coupled to the second emitter to adjust the brightness level of the second emitter.
US08878449B2	LED drive circuit and LED illumination unit There is provided an LED drive circuit that can be connected to an alternating-current power supply through a phase control dimmer and that drives an LED load, the LED drive circuit including: an LED current control circuit; a capacitance component and a resistance component that are connected in series between an input of the LED current control circuit and a reference potential; a switch element that is connected to both ends of the resistance component; and a switch control portion that turns off the switch element for a given period of time after a timing when the phase control dimmer is turned on and that turns on the switch element after the given period of time elapses.
US08878448B2	Circuit and method for driving LED lamp with a dimmer A system for driving an LED (light-emitting diode) lamp includes a dimmer circuit coupled to a line input voltage for varying a magnitude of an input voltage and a transformer having a primary winding, a secondary winding, and one or more auxiliary windings, the primary winding coupled to the dimmer circuit. The system also includes an output rectifying circuit coupled to the secondary winding for providing an output current to the LED lamp and a power switch coupled to the primary winding for controlling a current flow in the primary winding. The system further includes a controller having a comparator and a capacitor for providing a control signal to control the power switch for regulating the output current. The controller coupled to the dimmer circuit for receiving an average input voltage signal from the dimmer circuit, wherein the control signal is characterized by a duty cycle that is determined by a ratio of a charging current to a discharging current of the capacitor, and the ratio is related to the average input voltage signal from the dimmer circuit.
US08878446B2	Light module for a motor vehicle headlamp and method and electrical circuit for operating same A method operates a light source of a motor-vehicle headlight with direct current. The light source is actually designed for operation with alternating current. The light source comprises an inductive load and is arranged between bridge sections of an electrical H-bridge circuit having four semiconductor switches. During “alternating current” operation, the light source is supplied with the alternating current via the H-bridge circuit. Two of the semiconductor switches are arranged at a top and actuated via a respective bootstrap circuit.
US08878445B2	Light-emitting element driving device Short circuit failures and open circuit failures of light-emitting elements used for the backlight in an LCD panel can be reliably and easily detected. The voltage at the node between each series-connected light-emitting element array and a drive circuit is detected as a monitored voltage. A maximum detector detects the highest and a minimum detector detects the lowest of these monitored voltages. Short circuit or open circuit failure of a light-emitting element is detected by comparing the voltage difference between the maximum detector output and the minimum detector output with a specific reference voltage.
US08878444B2	Controller, a driver circuit and a method for controlling a dimmable LED lighting circuit, and a dimmable LED lighting circuit A controller for a dimmable LED lighting circuit is disclosed, the controller comprising: an LED current controller configured to set a current of a constant current source in dependence on a conduction angle of the phase-cut dimmer; a first feedback circuit configured to control the circuit's power converter in dependence on the constant current source by adjusting an output of the power converter; and a second feedback circuit configured to control a supplementary output load arranged in parallel with the series arrangement of the constant current source and plurality of LEDs, wherein the second feedback circuit is operable to adjust the supplementary output load faster than the first feedback circuit adjusts the output of the power convertor.A driver and lighting circuit also disclosed, as is a method for controlling a dimmable lighting circuit.
US08878443B2	Color correlated temperature correction for LED strings An array of LEDs having output light in different wavelength ranges. A control circuit connected to the array includes a temperature variable resistance component and a switch selectively connecting the component to the array. The control circuit limits the current applied to at least some of the LEDs during initial energization of the LEDs prior to steady-state operation of the LEDs. Variations over time of a color correlated temperature (CCT) of output light of the energized array are reduced.
US08878438B2	Lamp and proximity switch assembly and method A lamp and proximity assembly is provided that includes a lens having a transparent window and a light source disposed to illuminate light through the transparent window of the lens. The lamp and proximity assembly further includes a proximity switch having one or more proximity sensors disposed near a perimeter of the transparent window of the lens and generating an activation field proximate to the transparent field of the lens to sense activation of the proximity switch to control activation of the light source.
US08878435B2	Remote thermal compensation assembly A thermal compensating circuit board (TCB) assembly comprising a substrate, the substrate comprising at least one thermal compensating circuit deposited thereon, the substrate devoid of a solid state emitter, and at least one electrical connector coupled to the at least one thermal compensating circuit, the connector configured to couple with a solid state emitter assembly and/or power supply. Lighting devices comprising the TCB assembly are provided.
US08878434B2	Inductively-coupled plasma device A plasma device configured to receive ionizable media is disclosed. The plasma device includes a first pair of dielectric substrates each having an inner surface and an outer surface. The first pair of dielectric substrates is disposed in spaced, parallel relation relative to one another with the inner surfaces thereof facing one another. The device also includes a first pair of spiral coils each disposed on the inner surface of the dielectric substrates. The first pair of spiral coils is configured to couple to a power source and configured to inductively couple to an ionizable media passed therebetween to ignite the ionizable media to form a plasma effluent.
US08878430B2	TL retrofit LED module outside sealed glass tube This invention relates to a lighting device comprising a light generation unit (102), which comprises a light emitting diode element (105) having at least one light emitting diode (103), and a light conversion unit (104). The light conversion unit comprises an integral enclosure (110), which encloses a cavity (130), and an organic phosphor element (112) arranged within the cavity. The light generation unit further comprises a base part (114), which includes a thermally conductive material (114) thermally connected with the light emitting diode element. Light generated by the light emitting diode element of the light generation unit is output through the light conversion unit and thereby converted by the organic phosphor element.
US08878427B2	Spark plug for internal combustion engine and method for manufacturing same The spark plug has a configuration satisfying the relationships of B≧0.7A and 0.3 mm≦A≦0.6 mm, where B is an axial thickness along the central axis line Q of the weld portion formed between the base material electrode and the noble-metal chip, and A is an axial distance along the central axis line Q between the intersection points P3 and X. The intersection point P3 is a point at which a phantom axis line radially distant from the central axis line Q by D/2 (D being a diameter of the noble-metal chip) intersects with the boundary line between the weld portion and the noble-metal chip. The intersection point X is a point at which an extension of the contour line of the base material electrode in the vicinity of the weld portion intersects with a boundary line between the weld portion and the base material electrode.
US08878424B2	Spark plug A spark plug having an insulator that can be restrained from cracking in an environment of heating and cooling cycles. The spark plug includes an insulator having an axial bore extending in the direction of the axis, and a center electrode held in one end portion of the axial bore. The center electrode has an outer layer, and a core provided within the outer layer and formed from a material higher in thermal conductivity than the outer layer. After a heat treatment, the outer layer has a high-hardness region having a hardness of 190 Hv or higher and a thickness of 30 μm to 200 μm, and an element supply region having a thickness of 50 μm or more.
US08878422B2	Device for producing an electron beam Device for producing an electron beam includes a housing, which delimits a space that is evacuatable and has an electron beam outlet opening; an inlet structured and arranged for feeding process gas into the space; and a planar cathode and an anode, which are arranged in the space, and between which, a glow discharge plasma is producible by an applied electrical voltage. Ions are accelerateable from the glow discharge plasma onto a surface of the cathode and electrons emitted by the cathode are accelerateable into the glow discharge plasma. The cathode includes a first part made of a first material at least on an emission side, which forms a centrally arranged first surface region of the cathode, and a second part made of a second material, which forms a second surface region of the cathode that encloses the first surface region.
US08878421B2	Energy harvesting/tire pressure, temperature and tire data transmitter The invention embodies a harvester (12) to convert energy from mechanical domain to electrical domain. The harvester comprises at least one inertial body (6), at least one beam (7, 9), a support (8) to said at least one beam (7, 9) and transducer means (10, 16), wherein said at least one beam (7, 9) configures the inertial body (6) into a pendulum structure being suspended from said support (8) so that the beam (7, 9) is allowed to bend according to the kinetic state changes of the inertial body (6), and is configured to interact with at least one transducer means (10) that is/are configured to produce change in the electrical state of said transducer means (10, 16) responsively to the kinetic state of the beam (7, 9). The invention also shows harvester module, matrix and a harvester system comprising at least one embodied harvester. The invention also shows a tire and a foot wear that comprises at least one harvester embodied.
US08878420B2	Haptic feedback apparatus Disclosed is an apparatus used in an electronic device for providing haptic feedback. The apparatus includes a main board defining a mounting surface, a vibration unit mounted on the mounting surface of the main board, the vibration unit being capable of vibrating along a direction parallel to the mounting surface. At least two screws are provided to fix the vibration unit on the main board, and a pair of stop block is provided to restricting the position of the vibration unit.
US08878417B2	Commutator A carbon commutator, for an electric motor, has a plurality of segments forming a brush contact surface and a hub supporting the segments. Each segment has a connector having a terminal for connection of a lead wire, a carbon layer forming the brush contact surface, and a connecting layer fixed to the carbon layer and electrically connecting the carbon layer to the connector. A plurality of micro structures is formed at the interface between the connecting layer and the carbon layer.
US08878416B2	Stator core and motor device including the same Disclosed is a stator core including a core back fixedly inserted onto an outer surface of a stationary member, a plurality of teeth protruding from the core back in an outer diameter direction, wherein a coil is wound around the plurality of teeth so as to allow magnetic flux from a magnet to flow to the teeth, front end portions defining outer edges of the teeth, respectively, and body portions defining a length of the teeth and having a width increasing from the core back toward the front end portions, respectively.
US08878414B2	Stator weld joints and methods of forming same A method of forming a weld joint includes removing a portion of an insulator from a first core of a first magnet wire and a second core of a second magnet wire so that the first wire has a first heat affectable zone and a first insulator portion adjacent the first zone, and the second wire has a second heat affectable zone and a second insulator portion adjacent the second zone. The first and second insulator portions include the insulator disposed on the first and second cores, respectively. The first and second zones have a first and second distal end spaced apart from the first and second insulator portions, respectively. The method includes welding together only the first end and the second end to form the weld joint, wherein welding does not transfer heat to the first and second insulator portions sufficient to burn the insulator.
US08878405B2	Spindle motor A spindle motor is provided, the motor including a bearing assembly including an upper surface-opened cylindrical bearing housing and a bearing accommodated in the bearing housing and formed with a rotation shaft hole; a stator including a core coupled to a periphery of the bearing housing and a coil wound on the core; a rotation shaft inserted into the rotation shaft hole; a rotor including a disk-shaped yoke coupled to the rotation shaft and a magnet coupled to the yoke to face the core; and a suction magnet arranged at the yoke facing the core, wherein the bearing housing includes a body coupled to the core and a core fixture bent from the body to face the core, and the suction magnet is so arranged as to face the core fixture corresponding to an external side of a bent unit bent from the body for forming the core fixture.
US08878401B2	Linear vibrator having a trembler with a magnet and a weight Disclosed is a linear vibrator, the linear vibrator including: a bottom case including a floor plate and first and second elastic units integrally formed with the floor plate, and mutually and oppositely bent from both distal ends facing the floor plate; a stator including a circuit substrate arranged on the floor plate and a coil block electrically connected to the circuit substrate; a trembler including a magnet discretely facing the coil block and a weight securing the magnet; and an upper case coupled to the bottom case to accommodate the stator and the trembler, wherein both lateral surfaces of the trembler facing the first and second elastic units are elastically supported by the first and second elastic units.
US08878400B2	Voice coil motor A VCM is disclosed, the VCM including a base formed with an opening; a bobbin arranged on an upper surface of the base and mounted with a lens therein; a plurality of magnets secured on the base to face a periphery of the bobbin; a coil block encompassing each magnet and the bobbin, and secured to a part of the bobbin exposed between the magnets; and a cover can encompassing the magnets and the coil block.
US08878399B2	Multi-shaft linear motor and component transfer apparatus A multi-shaft linear motor formed by a plurality of single-shaft linear motors is disclosed. Each of the single-shaft linear motors is provided with a magnetic body and an armature. Each of the single-shaft linear motors includes a base plate. The base plate has a base surface defining the moving direction, wherein the stator is fixed onto the base surface along the moving direction, and the mover is attached onto the base surface in a movable manner reciprocating along the moving direction and in opposed relation to the stator. The single-shaft linear motors are stacked in a stacking direction perpendicular to the base surface in such a way that the single-shaft linear motors are individually detachable as a unit, the base plate thereof contains the stator and the mover.
US08878391B2	System, apparatus, and method for reducing inrush current in a three-phase transformer A system for reducing inrush current in a three phase utility transformer upon energization of the transformer by an applied three phase voltage utilizes a pre-flux circuit for establishing residual flux levels in the core segments of the primary windings of the transformer which are near the prospective flux levels established in the core segments by the applied voltage. The pre-flux circuit includes a pre-fluxing capacitor which, after being charged to a predetermined voltage level, is discharged serially through two of the primary windings to establish the predetermined flux levels in the core segments of the two windings, and a reduced flux level in the core segment of the remaining primary winding. The transformer is energized at the instant of positively-referenced peak phase voltage to the third primary winding such that prospective and residual flux approach a near-equal level in all three core segments and inrush current is reduced. The method may be applied to the secondary or tertiary windings instead of the primary windings. Additionally, an alternative method allows application of the pre-fluxing circuit to a delta-connected set of transformer windings.
US08878389B2	Method and apparatus for providing uninterruptible power At least one aspect of the invention is directed to an uninterruptible power supply. The uninterruptible power supply includes a first input having an input line connection and an input neutral connection to receive a first input voltage from a first voltage source, a second input having a positive input connection and a negative input connection to receive a second input voltage from a second voltage source, a boost circuit configured to provide a positive output DC voltage with respect to the input neutral connection and a negative output DC voltage with respect to the input neutral connection in both a line mode of operation and a backup mode of operation, a first connection circuit configured to couple the first input to the boost circuit in the line mode of operation, and configured to couple the second input to the boost circuit in the backup mode of operation, and a second connection circuit configured to couple a midpoint of the boost circuit to the input neutral connection in the line mode of operation and to couple the midpoint of the boost circuit to the positive input connection in battery mode of operation.
US08878385B2	Apparatus for controlling power supplied to discharge lamp in response to command supplied from outside the apparatus There is provided a discharge lamp controlling apparatus mounted on vehicles or others. The apparatus includes a discharge lamp, a power control section, a signal inputting section, and a storage which are united with each other. The signal inputting section allows a power command signal to be inputted from the outside of the apparatus, the power command signal being for commanding the value of power supplied to the discharge lamp, and extracts from the inputted power command signal commanded power values which command the value of the power. The storage section stores therein, at least, the newest commanded power value among the extracted commanded power values. The power control section controls the power supplied to the discharge lamp based on the newest command values stored in the storage section.
US08878384B2	Central wind turbine power generation A wind power conversion apparatus for efficiently generating electric power is disclosed. The apparatus includes at least one blade, the at least one blade being configured to rotate when exposed to wind, a fluid pump mechanically coupled to the at least one blade and configured to pressurize fluid from a low pressure fluid to a high pressure fluid, a fluid motor fluidly coupled to the fluid pump and configured to rotate an output shaft in response to the high pressure fluid and thereby providing the low pressure fluid, and an electric generator mechanically coupled to the fluid motor and configured to generate electric power in response to the rotation of the output shaft of the fluid motor.
US08878381B2	System for conversion of wave energy into electrical energy The disclosure provides a device for converting wave motion into electricity, and methods of using the devices for generating electricity. The disclosure also provides a power generation device that includes a water blanket having a plurality of pods arranged in a grid for floating on the surface of a body of water. In one example, ball joints and hydraulic cylinders couple each of the pods to adjacent pods. Motors are coupled to the hydraulic cylinders such that a flow of hydraulic fluid created by expansion and compression of the cylinders due to movement of the pods causes rotational motion in the motor. Generators are coupled to respective motors to generate electricity from the rotational motion of the motors. Power from the ocean blanket can be supplemental with wind turbines, water paddles, water turbines, and solar cells.
US08878377B2	Wind turbine, a method for reducing noise emission from a wind turbine tower and use of a wind turbine The invention relates to a wind turbine having a wind turbine tower having a tower wall, a wind turbine nacelle positioned on top of the tower and noise reducer for reducing noise emission from the tower. The noise reducer including a beam formed as an elongated strengthening member and one or more dampers, where the dampers are arranged between the tower wall and the beam, the dampers being arranged so that relative movement between the tower wall and the beam results in dissipation of energy via the dampers in order to reduce noise emission. The invention further relates to a method for reducing noise emission from a wind turbine tower.
US08878372B2	Integral compressor-expander An integral compressor-expander assembly, including a cryogenic expander positioned in an overhung configuration on a central shaft; a multi-stage centrifugal compressor supported on the central shaft between at least two bearings; and a device coupled to the central shaft and configured to either supply rotational power to the central shaft or generate power from rotation of the central shaft, depending upon a current operational mode of the multi-stage compressor.
US08878371B2	Semiconductor device A semiconductor device has a semiconductor substrate which has a plurality of pad electrodes provided on a top surface thereof and has an approximately rectangular shape; a rewiring layer which is provided with a plurality of contact wiring lines connected to the plurality of pad electrodes, is disposed on the semiconductor substrate through an insulating film, and has an approximately rectangular shape; and a plurality of ball electrodes which are provided on the rewiring layer.
US08878367B2	Substrate structure with through vias A substrate structure with through vias is provided. The substrate structure with through vias includes a semiconductor substrate having a back surface and a via penetrating the back surface, a metal layer, a first insulating layer and a second insulating layer. The first insulating layer is formed on the back surface of the semiconductor substrate and has an opening connected to the through via. The second insulating layer is formed on the first insulating layer and has a portion extending into the opening and the via to form a trench insulating layer. The bottom of the trench insulating layer is etched back to form a footing portion at the corner of the via. The footing portion has a height less than a total height of the first and second insulating layers.
US08878366B2	Contact pad A contact pad for an electronic device integrated in a semiconductor material chip is formed from a succession of protruding elements. Each protruding element extends transversally to a main surface of the chip and has a rounded terminal portion. Adjacent pairs protruding elements define an opening which is partially filled with a first conductive material to form a contact structure that is in electrical contact with an integrated electronic device formed in the chip. A layer of a second conductive material is deposited to cover said protruding elements and the contact structures so as to form the contact pad.
US08878363B2	Fermi-level unpinning structures for semiconductive devices, processes of forming same, and systems containing same An interlayer is used to reduce Fermi-level pinning phenomena in a semiconductive device with a semiconductive substrate. The interlayer may be a rare-earth oxide. The interlayer may be an ionic semiconductor. A metallic barrier film may be disposed between the interlayer and a metallic coupling. The interlayer may be a thermal-process combination of the metallic barrier film and the semiconductive substrate. A process of forming the interlayer may include grading the interlayer. A computing system includes the interlayer.
US08878362B2	Copper interconnects having a titanium—titanium nitride assembly between copper and compound semiconductor Disclosed are devices and methods related to metallization of semiconductors. A metalized structure can include a first titanium (Ti) layer disposed over a compound semiconductor, a first titanium nitride (TiN) layer disposed over the first Ti layer, and a copper (Cu) layer disposed over the first TiN layer. The first Ti layer and the first TiN layer can be configured as a barrier between the Cu layer and the compound semiconductor. The metalized structure can further include a second TiN layer disposed over the Cu layer and a first platinum (Pt) layer disposed over the second TiN layer.
US08878360B2	Stacked fan-out semiconductor chip A stacked semiconductor device and method of manufacturing a stacked semiconductor device are described. The semiconductor device may include a reconstituted base layer having a plurality of embedded semiconductor chips. A first redistribution layer may contact the electrically conductive contacts of the embedded chips and extend beyond the boundary of one or more of the embedded chips, forming a fan-out area. Another chip may be stacked above the chips embedded in the base layer and be electrically connected to the embedded chips by a second redistribution layer. Additional layers of chips may be included in the semiconductor device.
US08878358B2	Semiconductor device Between a logic LSI (4) arranged on one side of a DRAM (1) and jointed to the DRAM and a radiating member (6) arranged on the other side of the DRAM (1) for irradiating the heats of the DRAM (1) and the logic LSI (4), there is disposed a heat bypass passage (5), which extends inbetween while bypassing the DRAM (1). Thus, it is possible to provide a semiconductor device, which can irradiate the heat generated from the logic LSI such as CPU or GPU thereby to reduce the temperature rise and the temperature distribution.
US08878355B2	Semiconductor bonding structure and process A system and method for bonding semiconductor devices is provided. An embodiment comprises halting the flow of a eutectic bonding material by providing additional material of one of the reactants in a grid pattern, such that, as the eutectic material flows into the additional material, the additional material will change the composition of the flowing eutectic material and solidify the material, thereby stopping the flow. Other embodiments provide for additional layouts to put the additional material into the path of the flowing eutectic material.
US08878353B2	Structure for microelectronic packaging with bond elements to encapsulation surface A structure may include bond elements having bases joined to conductive elements at a first portion of a first surface and end surfaces remote from the substrate. A dielectric encapsulation element may overlie and extend from the first portion and fill spaces between the bond elements to separate the bond elements from one another. The encapsulation element has a third surface facing away from the first surface. Unencapsulated portions of the bond elements are defined by at least portions of the end surfaces uncovered by the encapsulation element at the third surface. The encapsulation element at least partially defines a second portion of the first surface that is other than the first portion and has an area sized to accommodate an entire area of a microelectronic element. Some conductive elements are at the second portion and configured for connection with such microelectronic element.
US08878351B2	Semiconductor device A semiconductor device having a chip-on-chip structure is constituted of a first semiconductor chip and even-numbered pairs of second semiconductor chips, all of which are laminated together on the surface of an interposer. The first semiconductor chip controls each pair of the second semiconductor chips so as to activate one second semiconductor chip while inactivating another second semiconductor chip. The second semiconductor chips are paired together in such a way that through-vias and electrodes thereof are positioned opposite to each other via bumps. Since drive voltage electrodes supplied with a drive voltage (VDD) and reference potential electrodes supplied with a reference potential (VSS) are mutually connected together between the paired second semiconductor chips, it is possible to increase the overall electrostatic capacitance of each second semiconductor chip so as to substantially reduce feed noise without increasing the overall layout area of the semiconductor device.
US08878350B1	Semiconductor device having a buffer material and stiffener Semiconductor devices are described that include a semiconductor device having multiple, stacked die on a substrate (e.g., a semiconductor wafer). In one or more implementations, wafer-level package devices that employ example techniques in accordance with the present disclosure include an ultra-thin semiconductor wafer with metallization and vias formed in the wafer and an oxide layer on the surface of the wafer, an integrated circuit chip placed on the semiconductor wafer, an underfill layer between the integrated circuit chip and the semiconductor wafer, a buffer material formed on the semiconductor wafer, the underfill layer, and at least one side of the integrated circuit chip, an adhesive layer placed on the buffer layer and the integrated circuit chip, and a stiffener layer placed on the adhesive layer. The semiconductor device may then be segmented into individual semiconductor chip packages.
US08878347B2	Power module A power module configured to arrange a first electrode on a surface of which a first switching device is bonded, a second electrode on a surface of which a second switching device is bonded, and a third electrode by stacking the first electrode, the first switching device, the second electrode, the second switching device, and the third electrode in this order from the bottom in a stacking direction, characterized by first through third electrode pieces each connected to the first through third electrodes, first and second signal lines each connected to the first and second switching devices, wherein the first through third electrode pieces and the first and second signal lines are provided extending outward in the same plane as the second electrode.
US08878346B2	Molded SiP package with reinforced solder columns An integrated circuit, and a semiconductor die package formed therefrom, are disclosed including solder columns for adding structural support to the package during the fabrication process.
US08878342B2	Using alloy electrodes to dope memristors Various embodiments of the present invention are direct to nanoscale, reconfigurable, memristor devices. In one aspect, a memristor device comprises an electrode (301,303) and an alloy electrode (502,602). The device also includes an active region (510,610) sandwiched between the electrode and the alloy electrode. The alloy electrode forms dopants in a sub-region of the active region adjacent to the alloy electrode. The active region can be operated by selectively positioning the dopants within the active region to control the flow of charge carriers between the electrode and the alloy electrode.
US08878338B2	Capacitor for interposers and methods of manufacture thereof Capacitor designs for substrates, such as interposers, and methods of manufacture thereof are disclosed. A through via is formed in the interposer, and a capacitor is formed between a lower level metallization layer and a higher level metallization layer. The capacitor may be, for example, a planar capacitor with dual capacitor dielectric layers.
US08878337B1	Integrated circuit structure having a capacitor structured to reduce dishing of metal layers A method and integrated circuit structure for mitigating metal gate dishing resulting from chemical mechanical polishing. The integrated circuit structure comprises a first area comprising at least one first type device; a second area comprising at least one second type device; a third area comprising at least one capacitor having an uppermost layer of polysilicon, where the capacitor area is greater than a sum of the first and second areas. The method utilizes the polysilicon of the capacitor to mitigate metal gate dishing of a metal gate of at least one device.
US08878327B2	Schottky barrier device having a plurality of double-recessed trenches A Schottky barrier device includes a semiconductor substrate, a first contact metal layer, a second contact metal layer and an insulating layer. The semiconductor substrate has a first surface, and plural trenches are formed on the first surface. Each trench includes a first recess having a first depth and a second recess having a second depth. The second recess extends down from the first surface while the first recess extends down from the second recess. The first contact metal layer is formed on the second recess. The second contact metal layer is formed on the first surface between two adjacent trenches. The insulating layer is formed on the first recess. A first Schottky barrier formed between the first contact metal layer and the semiconductor substrate is larger than a second Schottky barrier formed between the second contact metal layer and the semiconductor substrate.
US08878326B2	Imager microlens structure having interfacial region for adhesion of protective layer Structures and design structures for improved adhesion of protective layers of imager microlens structures are disclosed. A method of fabricating a semiconductor structure includes forming an interfacial region between a microlens and a protective oxide layer. The interfacial region has a lower concentration of oxygen than the protective oxide layer.
US08878317B2	Magnetoresistive element and magnetic memory A magnetoresistive element according to an embodiment includes: a first to third ferromagnetic layers, and a first nonmagnetic layer, the first and second ferromagnetic layers each having an axis of easy magnetization in a direction perpendicular to a film plane, the third ferromagnetic layer including a plurality of ferromagnetic oscillators generating rotating magnetic fields of different oscillation frequencies from one another. Spin-polarized electrons are injected into the first ferromagnetic layer and induce precession movements in the plurality of ferromagnetic oscillators of the third ferromagnetic layer by flowing a current between the first and third ferromagnetic layers, the rotating magnetic fields are generated by the precession movements and are applied to the first ferromagnetic layer, and at least one of the rotating magnetic fields assists a magnetization switching in the first ferromagnetic layer.
US08878314B2	MEMS package or sensor package with intra-cap electrical via and method thereof A MEMS device structure including a lateral electrical via encased in a cap layer and a method for manufacturing the same. The MEMS device structure includes a cap layer positioned on a MEMS device layer. The cap layer covers a MEMS device and one or more MEMS device layer electrodes in the MEMS device layer. The cap layer includes at least one cap layer electrode accessible from the surface of the cap layer. An electrical via is encased in the cap layer extending across a lateral distance from the cap layer electrode to the one or more MEMS device layer electrodes. An isolating layer is positioned around the electrical via to electrically isolate the electrical via from the cap layer.
US08878312B2	Electrical bypass structure for MEMS device An apparatus including a bypass structure for complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) and/or microelectromechanical system (MEMS) devices, and method for fabricating such apparatus, is disclosed. An exemplary apparatus includes a first substrate; a second substrate that includes a MEMS device; an insulator disposed between the first substrate and the second substrate; and an electrical bypass structure disposed in the insulator layer that contacts a portion of the first substrate, wherein the electrical bypass structure is electrically isolated from the MEMS device in the second substrate and any device included in the first substrate.
US08878306B2	Semiconductor device A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device involves process for forming gate insulating films of different thickness on a semiconductor substrate, depositing films that constitute a gate electrode, removing the gate insulating films having different thickness formed on an impurity diffusion region surface of a transistor including the gate electrode, and doping impurities into a portion where the gate insulating film is removed.
US08878305B2	Integrated power module for multi-device parallel operation An integrated power module having a dielectric substrate, a source conductor trace formed on the dielectric substrate, a drain conductor trace formed on the dielectric substrate, a gate conductor trace formed on the dielectric substrate, a transistor chip having a top surface and a bottom surface connected to the drain conductor trace, a back-contact resistor having a flat planar structure with a top surface and a bottom surface connected to the gate conductor trace, and a first wire bond connecting the top surface of the transistor chip to the top surface of the back-contact resistor.
US08878304B2	Fuse circuit for final test trimming of integrated circuit chip The present invention discloses a fuse circuit for final test trimming of an integrated circuit (IC) chip. The fuse circuit includes at least one electrical fuse, at least one control switch corresponding to the electrical fuse, and a resistant device. The electrical fuse is connected with the control switch in series between a predetermined pin and a grounding pin. The control switch receives a control signal to determine whether a predetermined current flows through the corresponding electrical fuse and breaks the electrical fuse. The resistant device is coupled between a bulk terminal and a source terminal to increase a resistance of a parasitic channel, such that an electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection is enhanced, and errors of final test trimming of an IC chip are avoided.
US08878302B2	Semiconductor device having SiGe substrate, interfacial layer and high K dielectric layer The invention relates to integrated circuit fabrication, and more particularly to a semiconductor device with an interfacial layer. An exemplary structure for a semiconductor device comprises a Si1-xGex substrate, wherein the x is greater than 0.4; a Si layer over the Si1-xGex substrate; and a gate structure disposed over the Si layer, wherein the gate structure comprises a dielectric portion and an electrode portion that is disposed over the dielectric portion; wherein the dielectric portion comprises a layer of III-V material on the Si layer and a high-k dielectric layer adjacent to the electrode portion.
US08878296B1	Electrostatic discharge protection circuitry Integrated circuits with electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection circuitry are provided. The ESD protection circuitry does not include polysilicon resistors. The ESD protection circuitry may include n-channel transistors coupled in parallel between an output node that is connected to an input/output pin and a ground terminal. The n-channel transistors may each have a drain terminal that is coupled to the output node through first metal paths and a source terminal that is coupled to the ground terminal through second metal paths. The first and second metal paths may be routed over gate terminals of the respective n-channel transistors to provide sufficient resistance. The first and second metal paths may provide desired pull-down resistance in the ESD protection circuitry so that the ESD protection circuitry can sink sufficient current through each of the n-channel transistors to protect internal circuitry from damage in an ESD event.
US08878289B2	Semiconductor device and method for manufacturing the same In the semiconductor device, a line-type buried gate is formed by burying a non-operating gate (isolation gate) with a polysilicon material to reduce a work function and a Gate Induced Drain Leakage (GIDL) caused by the non-operating gate, resulting in improvement of refresh characteristics of the semiconductor device. Operating gates including a metal conductive material may be formed in a separate step.
US08878288B2	Semiconductor device To provide a highly reliable semiconductor device. To provide a semiconductor device which prevents a defect and achieves miniaturization. An oxide semiconductor layer in which the thickness of a region serving as a source region or a drain region is larger than the thickness of a region serving as a channel formation region is formed in contact with an insulating layer including a trench. In a transistor including the oxide semiconductor layer, variation in threshold voltage, degradation of electric characteristics, and shift to normally on can be suppressed and source resistance or drain resistance can be reduced, so that the transistor can have high reliability.
US08878281B2	Methods and apparatus for non-volatile memory cells Methods and apparatus for non-volatile memory cells. A memory cell includes a floating gate formed over a substrate with a tunneling dielectric over an upper surface of the floating gate and an erase gate over the tunneling dielectric. Sidewall dielectrics enclose the tunneling dielectric. Assist gates and coupling gates are formed on either side of the memory cell and are spaced from the floating gate of the memory cell by the sidewall dielectrics. Methods for forming memory cells include depositing a floating gate over a dielectric layer over a semiconductor substrate, depositing a tunneling dielectric over the floating gate, depositing an erase gate over the tunneling dielectric, patterning the erase gate, tunneling dielectric and floating gate to form memory cells having vertical sides, and depositing sidewall dielectrics on the vertical sides of the memory cells to seal the tunneling dielectrics. Additional steps are performed to complete the cells.
US08878278B2	Compact three dimensional vertical NAND and method of making thereof A NAND device has at least a 3×3 array of vertical NAND strings in which the control gate electrodes are continuous in the array and do not have an air gap or a dielectric filled trench in the array. The NAND device is formed by first forming a lower select gate level having separated lower select gates, then forming plural memory device levels containing a plurality of NAND string portions, and then forming an upper select gate level over the memory device levels having separated upper select gates.
US08878277B2	3D non-volatile memory device and method of manufacturing the same A 3D non-volatile memory device includes a pipe gate, at least one first channel layer including a first pipe channel layer formed in the pipe gate and a pair of first source side channel layer and first drain side channel layer connected to the first pipe channel layer, and at least one second channel layer including a second pipe channel layer formed in the pipe gate and positioned over the first pipe channel layer and a pair of second source side channel layer and second drain side channel layer connected to the second pipe channel layer.
US08878276B2	Diode for variable-resistance material memories, processes of forming same, and methods of using same A variable-resistance material memory (VRMM) device includes a container conductor disposed over an epitaxial semiconductive prominence that is coupled to a VRMM. A VRMM device may also include a conductive plug in a recess that is coupled to a VRMM. A VRMM array may also include a conductive plug in a surrounding recess that is coupled to a VRMM. Apparatuses include the VRMM with one of the diode constructions.
US08878268B2	Solid-state image sensor and imaging system At least one exemplary embodiment is directed to a solid state image sensor including at least one antireflective layer and/or non rectangular shaped wiring layer cross section to reduce dark currents and 1/f noise.
US08878266B2	CMOS image sensor and method for fabricating the same A CMOS image sensor includes a substrate, a gate electrode formed over the substrate, a photodiode formed over the substrate to be substantially aligned with one side of the gate electrode, a floating diffusion region formed over the substrate to be substantially aligned with the other side of the gate electrode, and a blooming pass region formed below the photodiode.
US08878252B2	III-V compound semiconductor epitaxy from a non-III-V substrate A structure comprises a substrate, a mask, a buffer/nucleation layer, and a group III-V compound semiconductor material. The substrate has a top surface and has a recess from the top surface. The recess includes a sidewall. The first mask is the top surface of the substrate. The buffer/nucleation layer is along the sidewall, and has a different material composition than a material composition of the sidewall. The III-V compound semiconductor material continuously extends from inside the recess on the buffer/nucleation layer to over the first mask.
US08878250B2	Electronic device and method for producing electronic device Electronic device is provided, including: a base wafer whose surface is made of silicon crystal; a Group 3-5 compound semiconductor crystal formed directly or indirectly on partial region of the silicon crystal; an electronic element including a portion of the Group 3-5 compound semiconductor crystal as active layer; an insulating film formed directly or indirectly on the base wafer and covering the electronic element; an electrode formed directly or indirectly on the insulating film; a first coupling wiring extending through the insulating film, having at least a portion thereof formed directly or indirectly on the insulating film, and electrically coupling the electronic element with the electrode; a passive element formed directly or indirectly on the insulating film; a second coupling wiring extending through the insulating film, having at least a portion thereof formed directly or indirectly on the insulating film, and electrically coupling the electronic element with the passive element.
US08878233B2	Compound semiconductor devices and methods of fabricating the same Provided are a compound semiconductor device and a manufacturing method thereof. A substrate and a graphene oxide layer are provided on the substrate. A first compound semiconductor layer is provided on the graphene oxide layer. The first compound semiconductor layer is selectively grown from the substrate exposed by the graphene oxide.
US08878224B2	Semiconductor element There is provided a semiconductor element including a semiconductor layer, a translucent electrode which is formed on the semiconductor layer, and a pad electrode which is formed on the translucent electrode, wherein the translucent electrode includes a recessed part on which the pad electrode is mounted, and wherein a thickness of a bottom surface of the recessed part of the translucent electrode is more than 0% of and equal to or less than 70% of a thickness of a part of the translucent electrode other than the recessed part.
US08878222B2	Light emitting diode with a temperature detecting pattern and manufacturing method thereof A light emitting diode (LED) includes a substrate, a temperature detecting pattern, and a semiconductor structure. The temperature detecting pattern is formed on the substrate. Then the semiconductor structure is formed on the temperature detecting pattern and the substrate. The semiconductor structure includes an n-type semiconductor layer, a p-type semiconductor layer, and an active layer. Per above-mentioned structural design, the temperature detecting pattern directly integrated into the LED can measure the actual temperature of PN junction with high precision.
US08878215B2	Light emitting device module Disclosed is a light emitting device module. The light emitting device module includes a first lead frame and a second lead frame electrically separated from each other, a light emitting device electrically connected to the first lead frame and the second lead frame, the light emitting device includes a light emitting structure having a first conduction type semiconductor layer, an active layer, and a second conduction type semiconductor layer, a dam disposed at the peripheral area of the light emitting device, a resin layer surrounding the light emitting device and disposed at the inner area of the dam, and a reflective member disposed at the peripheral area of the dam and including an inclined plane formed on at least one side surface thereof.
US08878214B2	Semiconductor light emitting device A semiconductor light emitting device comprises a semiconductor light emitting element comprising a semiconductor laminate including a p-type semiconductor layer, an active layer and an n-type semiconductor layer which are sequentially laminated, and a conductive support substrate joined to the p-type semiconductor layer side of the semiconductor laminate. The semiconductor laminate is divided into at least two semiconductor regions by a trench. The semiconductor light emitting device further comprises a first transparent sealing resin covering at least a portion of the semiconductor light emitting element, the first transparent sealing resin comprising a plurality of first fluorescent particles, each of the first fluorescent particles having an individual average particle diameter. A width of the trench is smaller than an overall average of the individual average particle diameters of the first fluorescent particles.
US08878213B2	Semiconductor light emitting device According to one embodiment, a semiconductor light emitting device includes an n-type layer, a light emitting layer, a p-type layer, and a transparent electrode. The n-type layer includes a nitride semiconductor and has a thickness not more than 500 nm. The light emitting layer is provided on the n-type layer. The p-type layer is provided on the light emitting layer and includes a nitride semiconductor. The transparent electrode contacts the n-type layer. The n-type layer is disposed between the transparent electrode and the light emitting layer.
US08878212B2	Light emitting device, method of manufacturing the light emitting device, light emitting device package, and lighting system A light emitting device includes a substrate, at least one electrode, a first contact layer, a second contact layer, a light emitting structure layer, and an electrode layer. The electrode is disposed through the substrate. The first contact layer is disposed on a top surface of the substrate and electrically connected to the electrode. The second contact layer is disposed on a bottom surface of the substrate and electrically connected to the electrode. The light emitting structure layer is disposed above the substrate at a distance from the substrate and electrically connected to the first contact layer. The light emitting structure layer includes a first conductive type semiconductor layer, an active layer, and a second conductive type semiconductor layer. The electrode layer is disposed on the light emitting structure layer.
US08878210B2	Light-emitting device A light emitting device comprising: a substrate, wherein the substrate comprises a first major surface, a second major surface opposite to the first major surface, and a sidewall wherein the entire sidewall is a substantially textured surface with a depth of 10˜150 μm; and a light emitting stack layer formed on the substrate.
US08878208B2	Illuminating device An illuminating device that may include a substrate; a first light emitting chip which is disposed on the substrate; a second light emitting chip which is spaced apart from the first light emitting chip and is disposed on the substrate; a first lens which includes a first cylindrical side having a height greater than the thickness of the first light emitting chip and includes a first spherical or hemispherical curved surface formed on the first side, and which surrounds the first light emitting chip; and a second lens which includes a second cylindrical side having a height greater than the thickness of the second light emitting chip and includes a second spherical or hemispherical curved surface formed on the second side, and which surrounds the second light emitting chip, wherein at least a portion of the first side contacts with at least a portion of the second side.
US08878201B2	Organic light-emitting display apparatus An organic light-emitting display apparatus is disclosed. In one embodiment, the display apparatus includes i) a substrate and ii) an organic light-emitting device formed on the substrate, the organic light-emitting device including a stack structure including a first electrode, an organic light-emitting layer, and a second electrode. The apparatus may further include a sealing layer formed on the substrate so as to cover the organic light-emitting device, the sealing layer including an inorganic layer and a porous layer interposed between the sealing layer and the organic light-emitting device. One embodiment can reduce a stress due to a sealing inorganic layer so as to maintain characteristics for a long time in a severe environment and not affect an organic light-emitting device.
US08878197B2	Light emitting device, light emitting device package and lighting system Disclosed are a light emitting device, a light emitting device package, and a lighting system. The light emitting device includes a substrate; a light emitting structure including a first conductive semiconductor layer, an active layer and a second conductive semiconductor layer, which are formed on the substrate such that a part of the first conductive semiconductor layer is exposed; a dielectric layer formed from a top surface of the second conductive semiconductor layer to an exposed top surface of the first conductive semiconductor layer; a second electrode on the second conductive semiconductor layer; and a first electrode on the exposed top surface of the first conductive semiconductor layer while making contact with a part of the dielectric layer on the second conductive semiconductor layer.
US08878196B2	Light-emitting device comprising semiconductor nanocrystal layer free of voids and method for producing the same A light-emitting device including a semiconductor nanocrystal layer and a method for producing the light-emitting device are provided. The light-emitting device includes a semiconductor nanocrystal layer whose voids are filled with a filling material. According to the light-emitting device, since voids formed between nanocrystal particles of the semiconductor nanocrystal layer are filled with a filling material, the occurrence of a current leakage through the voids is minimized, which enables the device to have extended service life, high luminescence efficiency, and improved stability.

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