| Document | Document Title |
|---|---|
| US08898201B1 |
Global data migration between home location registers
Data migration between Home Location Registers (HLR) may be performed because another HLR platform better suits business needs due to its performance, or because the provider chooses to move to another make, model, or manufacturer, or may be the result of a combination of rationales. Data migration is ideally executed with minimal interruption of service to the customers of the telecommunications provider. The systems and methods disclosed herein provide an automated, repeatable manner of migrating data between HLR platforms using a flat source file created for each table from the original HLR platform being transferred. A series of scripts is created and run and if a step in the process or function of the system is not correctly executed, that source file and/or the series of scripts is edited or otherwise reviewed instead of re-downloading new data from the original HLR platform. |
| US08898198B2 |
Graphical user interface (GUI) to associate information with an object
Provided is a graphical user interface (GUI) to associate information with an object. Different views are maintained providing different hierarchical arrangements of a set of objects. Selection is received of one view and one object in the selected view. Information is associated with the selected object, wherein the associated information is accessible in all views in which the object with which the information is associated is accessible. |
| US08898197B2 |
Method and system for creating a relationship structure
A method and apparatus for generating a data structure. A plurality of entity reference relationship structures is accessed. Each entity reference relationship structure establishes a relationship between a different pair of entity structures of a plurality of entity structures. Each path from a first vertex to a second vertex that corresponds to a second entity structure is determined. For each path, all coupled sets of pairs of entity instance identifiers, wherein each coupled set comprises a pair of entity instance identifiers from each entity reference relationship structure corresponding to the path are identified. For each coupled set, a first entity instance identifier in the each coupled set that refers to the first entity structure and a second entity instance identifier in the each coupled set that refers to the second entity structure are stored in association with one another in a new entity reference relationship structure. |
| US08898190B2 |
Method and apparatus for enhancing electronic reading by identifying relationships between sections of electronic text
An apparatus, method and article of manufacture of the present invention detects the presence of references to the same concept in separate sections of text, and, with no input required from the reader, presents the reader with information concerning the detected references to the concept. The information provided may comprise information related to the location of the reference to the concept in other sections of text, and the reader also is provided the ability to move from one reference to a concept directly to another reference to the same concept. |
| US08898189B2 |
Database management method, computer, sensor network system and time-series data management method
In a system manages a plurality of pieces of sensor information in a plant, or the like, it can be reducing an amount of data stored in a database and easily a processing for searching a place of an anomaly and an anomaly cause.A database management method for use in a computer for managing a database, the database management method including: a step of analyzing a query; a step of generating a first inquiry for searching the database for compressed data; a step of generating a second inquiry for executing a search of time-series data; a step of extracting given data from the obtained time-series data, based on a response result of the second inquiry; and a step of generating an output result by extracting data to be output to a client computer from the given data. |
| US08898187B2 |
Default location that may be dynamically changed
Content that is received by an application is delivered to a default location that may be dynamically updated. This default location for content may be updated without interfering with the functionality of a process or application that interacts with the default location. An API allows processes to request the current location of default location and then send and access content at the default location. A user interface allows a user to change the default location within a file system. The default location may be local to a computing device or remote from the computing device. |
| US08898186B2 |
Methods and systems for latency-free contacts search
Systems and methods for performing latency-free contact searches using two-level indexed data structures having decreasing integer sets as identifiers to represent actual contact data. The indexed data structures are stored in distributed memory. Data operations such as intersection and union are performed using the indexed data structures. A binary interval reduction technique is used to quickly move through the data sets looking for common elements for the intersection set, or unique elements to add to the union set. |
| US08898185B2 |
Trajectory retrieval system, method and software for trajectory data retrieval
Surveillance systems are used in general to monitor buildings, public places, traffic and the like. These systems conventionally comprise a plurality of surveillance cameras producing a large amount of video data. The video data is viewed on-line or recorded and searched through off-line. Especially in the latter case there is a strong need to improve the search speed due to the large amount of the video data. A trajectory data retrieval system 1 for retrieving trajectory data of moving objects in a plurality of image sequences is proposed, the trajectory data retrieval system 1 comprising a database 4 realized for storing a set of common routes based on the trajectories of the moving objects, whereby each subset of the set of common routes is generated by a plurality of trajectories and whereby each subset is linked with the trajectory data of its generating trajectories and/or parts thereof and/or of trajectories overlapping at least in part with the subset, querying means 7 realized to formulate a trajectory-based query and retrieval means 8 realized to retrieve trajectory data linked to a matching subset of the set of common routes matching with the trajectory-based query. |
| US08898183B2 |
Enabling users searching for common subject matter on a computer network to communicate with one another
A method and computer system including launching a dialog window for two users to communicate with one another via respective client devices relating to a particular subject. A search query is received from an additional user including a keyword associated with the particular subject. In response to the request, a backlog of a recent discussion between the two users relating to the particular subject is retrieved and provided to the additional user, wherein the backlog includes a suggested link relating to the recent discussion. |
| US08898179B2 |
Method for extracting attribute data from a media file
Embodiments of the present invention recite a method for extracting attribute data from a media file. In one embodiment, an attribute of a geographic feature, which is described in at least one media file, is automatically identified. A configuration file is then accessed which defines how the attribute is to be displayed by an office application. The attribute is then displayed in a manner consistent with the configuration file. |
| US08898176B2 |
Retrieving ratable content based on a geographic location
A computer-implemented method includes receiving (i) a request for ratable content, and (ii) information specifying a geographic location of a computing device; accessing a data repository configured to store items of ratable content, with an item of ratable content associated with a geographic location; obtaining a plurality of items of ratable content related to the geographic location of the computing device; sending, from the obtained items of ratable content, an item of ratable content to the computing device; receiving a request for ratable content associated with a level of granularity relative that is higher than the level of granularity of the sent item of ratable content; sending, to the computing device, another item of ratable content, from the obtained items of ratable content, that is associated with a level of granularity that is higher than the level of granularity of the previously sent item of ratable content. |
| US08898174B2 |
Systems, methods and interfaces for aggregating and providing information regarding legal professionals
A method for determining legal experience including determining a count of times each attorney of a plurality of attorneys is identified as an author of at least one document of a plurality of documents, each document of the plurality of documents has a date associated therewith; applying a weight to the count based on the date of each document used to determine the count to yield a weighted count, a more recent date corresponds to a greater weight; determining a legal experience indicator for each attorney based on the weighted count; and ranking each attorney of the plurality of attorneys according to the legal experience indicator; providing a list of the plurality of attorneys according to the ranking. |
| US08898169B2 |
Automated product attribute selection
Product data for a product is received by an attribute selection module. The product data includes product image data and product text data. This product data is used to generate a plurality of probability distributions for a category. The category includes a plurality of attributes, and the probability distribution includes a plurality of probabilities indicating the likelihoods that attributes of the category are applicable to the product. The plurality of probability distributions for the category are weighted and summed to generate a combined probability distribution for the category. An attribute label is determined by selecting an attribute from the category that is indicated to be most likely applicable to the product based on the combined probability distribution for the category. The attribute label is associated with the product. The attribute label enables other services to search for and retrieve the product based on the attribute. |
| US08898167B2 |
Method of accessing files in electronic devices
In a method for accessing files in an electronic device, a Random Access Memory (RAM) disk is set-up to store the file system root of the electronic device. At least one file system to be mounted is discovered in the electronic device. Mount points are established on the RAM disk for each file system. Drive identifiers are assigned for each file system. A file access request comprising a first file name path comprising a drive identifier is detected. The drive identifier is mapped to a mount point and a second file name path based on the mount point and the first file name path is formed. Thereupon, a file is accessed using the second file name path in the electronic device. |
| US08898165B2 |
Identification of null sets in a context-based electronic document search
A computer hardware-implemented method, system, and/or computer program product identifies a null set of synthetic event containing electronic files in a database of electronic files. A synthetic event, which is a non-executable descriptor of a set of context-related factors, is created. A context-based search of a database of electronic files is performed to identify a synthetic event containing electronic file that includes the synthetic event. In response to determining that there are no electronic files in the database of electronic files that contain the synthetic event, a set of binary data is transmitted/broadcast. The set of binary data includes a notice that there are no synthetic event electronic files in the database of electronic files. |
| US08898164B1 |
Consumption history privacy
An audience selection system for the selection of an entity, based on an entity's consumption history without requiring the storage of a content descriptor for identifying content previously accessed by the entity. By directly and/or indirectly observing the usage of words used to locate content through a search engine over time for a population, a list of depersonalized keywords can be discovered, creating the ability to characterize content based on depersonalized keywords. A protected consumption history can be recorded for an entity using depersonalized keywords instead of recording a content descriptor for identifying the content. Depersonalized keywords do not uniquely identify content. Associating depersonalized keywords with an entity does not mean that the entity has used those depersonalized keywords; it only means that the entity has accessed content which has been accessed in the past by other entities in a population using the depersonalized keywords. |
| US08898162B2 |
Methods, systems, and computer program products for providing customized content over a network
Methods, systems, and computer program products for providing customized content over a network are provided. The method includes associating content with at least one of a domain name, group, and geography for an entity, the content relating to at least one of the domain name, group, and geography. For each entity, the method also includes storing results of the association in a database record that is mapped to a domain name. In response to receiving a request to access a resource by the entity, the method further includes obtaining a domain name of the entity utilizing address information provided in the request, searching a database for the domain name of the entity, retrieving the database record corresponding to the domain name, generating a resource that includes the content, and providing the entity with the resource. |
| US08898161B2 |
Methods and systems for searching, selecting, and displaying content
Methods and systems for identifying and presenting information are described. Search results are received from a search engine. An entity associated with a networked site is selected using a selection criterion. A determination is made as to whether the listing includes a link to the networked site or includes the link to the networked site at a list position that fails to satisfy a first criterion. After determining that the link to the site associated with the entity is not included in the search result listing, or that the link to the site associated with the entity is not at a position in the search result listing that satisfies the first criterion, the search listing is modified by causing the link to the site associated with the entity to appear in a first position in the search listing. The modified search listing is displayed on a user terminal. |
| US08898157B2 |
Systems and methods for providing search relevancy in communication initiation searches
Systems and methods for generating relevant search results for a user are disclosed. In one example, the method comprises receiving a search query from the user performing a communication initiation search, receiving, by the computer system, search results from a search engine based on the search query, linking, by the computer system, the search results to a communications dataset generated based on communication metadata received from a communication system, and ordering, by the computer system, the search results based on the communication dataset in order from most relevant to least relevant to the user performing the communication initiation search. |
| US08898153B1 |
Modifying scoring data based on historical changes
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media, for modifying historical data. One method includes calculating time trend statistics for a document and a query during different time periods. The method further includes modifying a quality of result statistic for the document as a search result for the query by a factor based on the one or more time trend statistics. The method further includes providing the modified quality of result statistic as an input to a document ranking process. Another method includes calculating a difference score for statistics for a group of documents and a query for a first time period and a second time period. The method further includes modifying quality of result statistics for documents responsive to the query based on the difference score. The method further includes providing the modified statistics as an input to a document ranking process. |
| US08898152B1 |
Sharing search engine relevance data
In general, the subject matter described in this specification can be embodied in methods, systems, and program products for providing a query to a search engine for searching a corpus of documents. A plurality of result documents are received from the search engine, each result document associated with a ranking. For a first document in the plurality, the following is performed. First, a second document in a second corpus is identified as containing content that identifies the same physical object as the first document. The second document was included in a plurality of result documents responsive to a second query of the second corpus, similar to the first query. Second, a new ranking is determined for the first document based on its ranking and relevance data associated with the second document. The relevance data is indicative of the second document's popularity as a result for the second query. |
| US08898150B1 |
Collecting image search event information
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for collecting and compiling information regarding search operations. In one aspect, a query log that stores search event data items for identifiers is accessed. A proper subset of the search event data items is identified, the proper subset of search event data items being search event data items for search events related to an image search. A proper subset of the identifiers is identified, the proper subset of identifiers being identifiers associated with a search event data item for a search event related to an image search. For each identifier of the proper subset of identifiers, an image search session data object is generated using the proper subset of search event data items. |
| US08898149B2 |
Biological data structure having multi-lateral, multi-scalar, and multi-dimensional relationships between molecular features and other data
A computer system maintains a biological data structure having molecular feature data. The system receives data elements indicating biological molecular features and knowledge elements that represent biological concepts. The system individually associates unique identifiers with the elements. For individual elements, the system maintains an internal element set of the other unique identifiers for the other elements that are directly associated with that one individual element. For the individual elements, the system maintains an external element set of the other unique identifiers for the other elements that have that one individual element in their own internal element sets. Although not required, the computer system may process a query indicating a search scope and a molecular feature for an individual biological entity, and responsively process the molecular feature and the elements based on the search scope to induce a knowledge sub-graph for the individual biological entity. |
| US08898146B2 |
System and method for comparing database query plans
A method and device may accept a first database query plan including a plurality of rows and a second database query plan including a plurality of rows, compare each row in the first database query plan with a corresponding row in the second database query plan, and based on each comparison, calculate a difference between the compared rows. Each difference may be recorded in an output file. |
| US08898141B1 |
System and method for information management
Embodiments of the present invention are directed to a method for information management. In one embodiment, the method includes providing an organizational directory comprising hierarchical information regarding an organization and receiving relationship data including an association of a first person to a second person. The method also includes querying the organizational directory and the relationship data to identify a third person, wherein the third person is a member of the organization and identifying the third person comprises determining a path including the third person in an association network. |
| US08898138B2 |
Efficiently indexing and searching similar data
Techniques for efficiently indexing and searching similar data are described herein. According to one embodiment, in response to a query for one or more terms received from a client, a query index is accessed to retrieve a list of one or more super files. Each super file is associated with a group of similar files. Each super file includes terms and/or sequences of terms obtained from the associated group of similar files. Thereafter, the super files representing groups of similar files are presented to the client, where each of the super files includes at least one of the queried terms. Other methods and apparatuses are also described. |
| US08898134B2 |
Method for ranking resources using node pool
An improved search engine creates correlations linking terms from inputs provided by a user to selected target terms. The correlation search process receives pre-processed inputs from a user including a wide variety of input formats including keywords, phrases, sentences, concepts, compound queries, complex queries and orthogonal queries. The pre-processing also includes pre-processing of general digital information objects and static or dynamic generation of questions. After a correlation search of the information presented by the pre-processing, the search results are processed in novel ways to provide an improved relevance ranking of results. |
| US08898129B1 |
Prompt for query clarification
Systems, methods, and computer program products are provided for query clarification. In general, one aspect of the subject matter described in this specification can be embodied in computer-implemented methods that include the actions of receiving in a search interface a user input associated with a search query; determining whether the associated search query is a trigger query, the trigger query being a query identified for clarification; when the search query is a trigger query, prompting the user for additional information to form a clarified search query, the clarified search query including the additional information, the prompting occurring prior to submission of the search query to a search system; and submitting the clarified search query to the search system. |
| US08898127B2 |
Device and method for acquiring resource lock
A lock control device receives a lock acquisition request from an application and transmits a lock acquisition request to a DBMS, receives a lock acquisition response from the DBMS, and transmits a lock acquisition response to the application, and each time, acquires statistical time information including the lock request counter, subsequent lock request counter, lock request time, lock acquisition time, initial lock acquisition time, and subsequent lock request time. The statistical processing device calculates the lock request count for each resource, subsequent lock request count for each resource, average lock wait time, and average lock acquisition delay expectation time, based on the statistical time information. Based on these values, the statistical processing device calculates an evaluation value which is the degree of expectation for the time eliminated from the lock wait time when lock acquisition is postponed, and outputs the lock order of the resources arranged in order of smallest evaluation value to a lock order table. |
| US08898125B2 |
Method and apparatus for awarding trophies
A method and apparatus for adding trophy support games that do not have trophies without modifying the original game. The method and apparatus are used to detect particular disk access, use the detected disk access as potential trophy triggers in games, and recognize the triggers while a game is played. Trophies are awarded based on the triggers, and the awarded trophies are stored. |
| US08898124B2 |
Controlling database trigger execution with trigger return data
A database trigger generates a return code having the effect of inhibiting further executions of the trigger within a pre-defined scope of execution. Preferably, the pre-defined scope is a task or process executing on behalf of a particular user. Upon first encountering the applicable trigger condition, the corresponding trigger is fired normally. Internal logic within the trigger determines whether it is necessary to call the same trigger again within the same scope, and if not, generates corresponding return data. A database management system which manages the trigger and causes it to automatically fire intercepts the return data and disables further firing of the trigger for the pre-defined scope. |
| US08898123B2 |
Method and system for interface configuration via device-side scripting
A technique is provided for configuring an interface device. The interface device includes a plurality of device elements, such as objects configured in accordance with object-oriented programming concepts. A query from a general purpose viewer is received by the interface device, such as originating from a configuration station where the general purpose viewer is operative. The query is interpreted by server-side scripting executed in the interface device to identify the device elements and to display visual representations of the device elements in a design-time environment. The design-time environment and the visual representations are then transmitted to a configuration station. The device elements, their properties and functionalities may be altered by means of the design-time environment and the server-side scripting to create interface screens, alter device elements and their properties and functions, and so forth. |
| US08898121B2 |
Merging entries in a deduplication index
Provided are a computer program product, system, and method for merging entries in a deduplication index. An index has chunk signatures calculated from chunks of data in the data objects in the storage, wherein each index entry includes at least one of the chunk signatures and a reference to the chunk of data from which the signature was calculated. Entries in the index are selected to merge and a merge operation is performed on the chunk signatures in the selected entries to generate a merged signature. An entry is added to the index including the merged signature and a reference to the chunks in the storage referenced in the merged selected entries. The index of the signatures is used in deduplication operations when adding data objects to the storage. |
| US08898114B1 |
Multitier deduplication systems and methods
Multitier deduplication can reduce the amount of bandwidth and storage resources used during deduplication. In certain embodiments, the system can determine if a data block is stored in a first archive data storage. If so, the system can skip the data block. If not, the system can determine if the data block is stored or identified in a second archive data storage. In various implementations, the first archive data storage can be local to the system and the second archive data storage can be a global archive that may be remote from the system. The system can create a map of a plurality of backups stored at the first archive enabling the system to quickly check multiple archives. The multitier data deduplication can filter out inactive data blocks during or before performing the deduplication process. |
| US08898108B2 |
System and method for scheduling data storage replication over a network
The replication of a group of data sets is coordinated into a single schedule based on the recovery point objective (RPO) of each data set. The resulting generated schedule satisfies each data set's RPO requirements and minimizes bandwidth use. If necessary bandwidth exceeds available bandwidth, the resulting generated schedule attempts to best satisfy each data set's RPO requirements given the available bandwidth. |
| US08898107B1 |
Managing deduplication of stored data
In one aspect, in general, a method for managing data in a data storage system comprises receiving data to be stored in the data storage system, computing values corresponding to different respective portions of the received data, generating identifiers corresponding to different respective portions of the received data, with an identifier corresponding to a particular portion of data including the computed value corresponding to the particular portion of data and metadata indicating a location where the particular portion of data is being stored in the data storage system, and storing at least some of the identifiers in an index until the index reaches a predetermined size. |
| US08898103B2 |
Method and device for generating an ontology document
A computer-implemented method is provided for generating an ontology document, the method comprising inputting a domain description including information about items in the domain and relationships between the items; accessing a data structure and an operation structure, wherein the data structure is a domain-independent model of items and relationships between items, the data structure comprising at least progenitor items each able to contain only progeny items created by the progenitor item as a consequence of the progenitor item accepting an operation from the operation structure invoked against it, the operation structure also being domain-independent; and applying the data structure and the operation structure to the domain description to generate an ontology document for use in producing a software artifact. |
| US08898100B2 |
Testing for rule-based systems
A non-transitory computer-readable medium tangibly embodied in a storage device encoded with instructions that, when executed on a processor, perform a method in a computer system for testing a rule-driven system, the method comprising detecting a potential read-write error or a potential write-write error in the rule-driven system, generating test results based on the detecting, and reporting the test results. |
| US08898098B1 |
Method, artificially intelligent system and networked complex for facilitating group interactions
An artificially intelligent or rule-based system to assist teams or groups become more effective by improving the communication process between members of the team or group. The system helps members share information, negotiate more effectively and make better group decisions. The system is designed to allow users to provide feedback to the system regarding undetected emotional feelings of any one user to all users of the system. |
| US08898095B2 |
Systems and methods to facilitate local searches via location disambiguation
Systems and methods use machine learning techniques to resolve location ambiguity in search queries. In one aspect, a dataset generator generates a training dataset using query logs of a search engine. A training engine applies a machine learning technique to the training dataset to generate a location disambiguation model. A location disambiguation engine uses the location disambiguation model to resolve location ambiguity in subsequent search queries. |
| US08898088B2 |
In-card access control and monotonic counters for offline payment processing system
Preventing fraud during an offline transaction by encoding a randomly-generated card verification code onto a smart card. The verification code is transmitted to a contactless device during each transaction, wherein it is cross-referenced with the account number to ensure presence of the card. Also, every transaction record is signed by an access key resident on the contactless device and certified by a signing key resident on a remote system. Funds may be deposited onto the card when the contactless device creates a deposit request, signs the request using an access key and transmits it to the remote system, which in turn processes the request and certifies it with a signing key. Funds may be withdrawn when the contactless device creates a withdrawal record and signs it using an access key. The remote system verifies the signatures and certifies the records using a signing key when the records are later transmitted. |
| US08898085B1 |
License management solution for central-management products
A license manager running on a central-management server receives a license request for licensing a managed node as a client of a central-management product running on a central-management server. The license manager proposes a solution involving applying respective licenses for plural distinct central-management products. In response to a unified command, implementing said solution. |
| US08898084B2 |
Image formation apparatus capable of personal authentication, control method of image formation apparatus, and computer readable medium having software program stored therein
A general user given beforehand a proxy right by an administrator is allowed to register a special user having the right to use an apparatus in a range of the function right equal to that of himself by operating a special user setting window. |
| US08898083B2 |
Systems and methods for electronically signing for a delivered package
There is disclosed a method. The method includes identifying, using a mobile device, an encrypted electronic token associated with at least one physical package designated for delivery to a destination. The electronic token having been encrypted by a first key associated with a particular party. The method also includes electronically signing, using the mobile device, for the at least one physical package. This includes initiating a decryption of the encrypted electronic token with a second key associated with the particular party. |
| US08898082B2 |
Network-based consumer transactions with credit accounts
A computer-implemented method and system is operable to: receive a purchase transaction from a purchaser, the purchase transaction including purchase transaction information including a purchaser credit number associated with a purchaser credit account previously established on a payment site, use the purchaser credit number to obtain associated purchaser credit account information maintained at a payment site, receive from the payment site a disposition of the purchase transaction, and receive from the payment site purchaser-specific information to streamline the purchase transaction. |
| US08898081B2 |
Systems and methods for providing extra lines of credit
A system and method for upgrading existing credit cards with additional lines of credit is disclosed. Credit information associated with customers holding credit cards issued by a credit card issuer are analyzed to determine a level of risk associated with each customer. One or more extra line of credit may be established for selected customers based on the determined level of risk associated with each customer. Each extra credit line may be exclusively associated with a selected set of vendors that have a partnership agreement with the credit card issuer. The credit card issuer may allow customers to select vendors to be associated with the extra credit line or may automatically choose vendors for selected customers. Customers with established extra credit lines may purchase goods and/or service directly from vendor sites or at the credit card issuer's web sites. Purchases at selected vendor sites may be automatically applied to a customer's newly established extra credit line. Additionally, a customer may choose to apply purchases to their extra credit lines or their primary line of credit. |
| US08898080B1 |
Counterparty credit in electronic trading systems
There is disclosed an electronic trading system and associated methods adapted to automatically match submitted orders on the basis of price, quantity limitations, and lines of credit defined by potential counterparties. Lines of credit are divided into time based tranches relating to the maturity of an instrument to be traded, and a number of schemes are used to manage the tranches in order to improve control and use of remaining credit, which can be replenished manually or automatically. Traders are grouped into desks, and orders submitted by a trader may be matched on behalf of any of several credit centers defined per trader desk. Lines of credit may be held in various ways such as at the level of counterparty trading organizations, and at the level of counterparty credit centers. A variety of mechanisms are used to numerically interrelate lines of credit and different tradeable instruments, and a permissioned user can select how these mechanisms are used to control display of the market and matching of orders for traders in their trading organization. |
| US08898076B2 |
Systems and methods for integrated, secure point-of-sale transactions having an adjustable base station
A system for processing transactions, having at least one mobile device having a housing having a processor, and a Wi-Fi Communication module disposed therein; a base station having a base station housing, wherein the base station housing houses an embedded system including a processor; and a Wi-Fi communication module configured to communicate with the Wi-Fi communication module of the at least one mobile device; a support stand configured to support the at least one mobile device, wherein the support stand comprises at least one arm having an adjustable position and configured to move to adjust the size of the support stand based on a size of the at least one mobile device; and at least one peripheral device connected to the base station. |
| US08898073B2 |
Advertisement insertion during application launch in handheld, mobile display devices
A time delay that occurs when an application is launched in a mobile handheld display device (MHDD), when the application or content is downloaded, before the MHDD is ready for the user to interact with it, wastes the user's time and, in an embodiment of the invention, this time delay constitutes an interval that is used to display targeted advertisements that are already stored on the MHDD, and that are rendered and displayed to the user on the screen while the user waits for completion of downloading of the application or content to the MHDD. An embodiment of the invention provides a micro-splicer that inserts alternate content for display on an MHDD, and renders and displays pre-stored advertisements during application launch time. |
| US08898072B2 |
Optimizing electronic display of advertising content
In one embodiment, a selection process executing in an optimizing engine is invoked as users are presented with web pages that include ad content. The selection process provides an initial population of sets of characteristics that specify an initial generation of layouts of ads for the pages. The characteristics can include anything that affects an ads appearance on the display. For example, ad type, position within a web page, color, size, text font, animation, etc. can be specified. Statistics are obtained as to each ad or page layout's performance or impact on the user, such as revenue obtained from ads in the layout, how many user's click an ad, how long users view an ad, etc. Once a large enough sample of user impacts is obtained a second population of sets of characteristics is created to improve the overall performance of the initial population. In a preferred embodiment, genetic computational procedures are used to create each population and to create new characteristic sets and remove underperforming sets. |
| US08898071B2 |
System and method for managing and optimizing advertising networks
The system of the present invention is used to execute data consolidation to combine data from Google, MSN and Yahoo, at least. The user does not need anymore to combine by himself data in spreadsheets. The system allows creating consolidated campaigns that span across search providers, letting the user effortlessly build reports that previously took hours to create each month. The system of the present invention is particularly suited for agencies. A tool designed for agencies needs to allow for management at the client level as well as the agency level. The system client center gives each member of the team a summary view of the client accounts that they're responsible for, along with emerging trend indicators for every major metric. |
| US08898066B2 |
Multi-lingual text-to-speech system and method
A multi-lingual text-to-speech system and method processes a text to be synthesized via an acoustic-prosodic model selection module and an acoustic-prosodic model mergence module, and obtains a phonetic unit transformation table. In an online phase, the acoustic-prosodic model selection module, according to the text and a phonetic unit transcription corresponding to the text, uses at least a set controllable accent weighting parameter to select a transformation combination and find a second and a first acoustic-prosodic models. The acoustic-prosodic model mergence module merges the two acoustic-prosodic models into a merged acoustic-prosodic model, according to the at least a controllable accent weighting parameter, processes all transformations in the transformation combination and generates a merged acoustic-prosodic model sequence. A speech synthesizer and the merged acoustic-prosodic model sequence are further applied to synthesize the text into an L1-accent L2 speech. |
| US08898065B2 |
Configurable speech recognition system using multiple recognizers
Techniques for combining the results of multiple recognizers in a distributed speech recognition architecture. Speech data input to a client device is encoded and processed both locally and remotely by different recognizers configured to be proficient at different speech recognition tasks. The client/server architecture is configurable to enable network providers to specify a policy directed to a trade-off between reducing recognition latency perceived by a user and usage of network resources. The results of the local and remote speech recognition engines are combined based, at least in part, on logic stored by one or more components of the client/server architecture. |
| US08898064B1 |
Identifying candidate passwords from captured audio
A computing device configured to request a password from a user, capture audio after issuing the request, and determine a number of alternative candidate passwords most likely represented by the audio. After identifying the number of candidate passwords, the computing device may submit these candidate passwords, one at a time, to an entity until the entity grants the device access to an account associated with the user or until the device has submitted each candidate password. The account may comprise a network account (e.g., a wired or wireless network account), an online account (e.g., an email account, an account an online merchant, etc.), or the like. |
| US08898063B1 |
Method for converting speech to text, performing natural language processing on the text output, extracting data values and matching to an electronic ticket form
A system and method for extracting data values from a conversation to complete an electronic trade ticket over a communications network. The system comprises a plurality of client devices and a processor based server. A digital switchboard routes an incoming call from a first user to a second user to the server over the communications network. The telephone numbers of the users are verified against the stored telephone numbers in a database. A sample representing a predetermined period of the recorded conversation are utilized to identify the users. The conversation between the users are transcribed onto an electronic text file and processed to extract terms to populate data fields of an electronic trade ticket. |
| US08898054B2 |
Determining and conveying contextual information for real time text
Aspects relate to machine recognition of human voices in live or recorded audio content, and delivering text derived from such live or recorded content as real time text, with contextual information derived from characteristics of the audio. For example, volume information can be encoded as larger and smaller font sizes. Speaker changes can be detected and indicated through text additions, or color changes to the font. A variety of other context information can be detected and encoded in graphical rendition commands available through RTT, or by extending the information provided with RTT packets, and processing that extended information accordingly for modifying the display of the RTT text content. |
| US08898048B1 |
Device and method for localization of brain function
A method of simulating brain activity and neural pathways in a user includes providing a networked server for access by a user of the invention, using a general purpose computer. A database is provided in communication with the networked server. The general purpose computer carries out a step of detecting a movement of the user, the movement then being communicated to the networked server, which associates that movement with a certain set of data in the database relating to predetermined simulated neural activity. The simulated neural activity associated with the user's movement is communicated to the user. |
| US08898039B1 |
Physical topology-driven logical design flow
A design system provides data structures to store parameters of physical structures that can be viewed and modified through a graphical design interface. Certain of the structures of the physical system may be partitioned into a subsystem such that the data describing the subsystem includes physical topology data defining relative locations of the structures in the physical system. The physical topology data is back-annotated into a logical topology, such as in accordance with a predefined logical topology template. The logical data abstraction of the circuit design is kept synchronized with the physical data and presented in a logical topology that is kept legible through the prudent selection of logical topologies representing the physical subsystem design. |
| US08898034B2 |
Automatically identifying geographic direction
Automatically identifying a geographic direction (e.g., a heading relative to true north) is disclosed. Responsive to a correction trigger event, geographic position data that identifies a geographic position of the device can be obtained. A magnetic declination based on the geographic position data can be obtained. A magnetic heading of the device can be obtained. A geographic direction based on the magnetic heading and the magnetic declination can be identified without user intervention. |
| US08898032B2 |
Method for estimating an exhaust gas temperature
A Method is provided for estimating a temperature of an exhaust gas in an exhaust line of an internal combustion engine. The exhaust line is provided with a NOx sensor that includes, but is not limited to a heater. The method includes, but is not limited to determining a value of a parameter indicative of a heat released by the heater of the NOx sensor, and of calculating a value of the temperature of the exhaust gas as a function of the determined value of this parameter. |
| US08898029B1 |
Adjustable voltage regulator calibration circuit
An integrated circuit is presented. The integrated circuit includes a selection circuit that selects a reference voltage and an output voltage associated with a number of adjustable voltage regulators connected to the selection circuit. The integrated circuit also has an analog to digital converter, which converts the selected output voltage and the reference voltage to a digital representation. An analog state machine of the integrated circuit receives the digital representation from the analog to digital converter and compares the selected output voltage with the reference voltage. |
| US08898023B2 |
Biological information management system and biological information management method
A measurement result management system suited for storing biological information measured with a measuring equipment in a server is provided. The measurement result management system includes a measuring equipment for measuring and transmitting biological information, and a server for receiving the biological information from the measuring equipment and storing the same, wherein the measuring equipment performs a step of transmitting authentication related information related to authentication of the measuring equipment when transmitting the biological information with a communication unit, and the server performs a step of carrying out authentication based on the authentication related information, and steps of storing the biological information acquired through a communication unit in a storage unit regardless of whether the authentication result of the step of carrying out authentication based on authentication related information is positive or negative. |
| US08898022B2 |
Method, system and device for enhancing flow field data
A method, system and device are described for generating high-resolution flow-field data from sparse measurement data by interpolating from a reference database of pre-computed, highly-resolved fluid dynamic simulation results, to generate a highly-resolved set of flow field data which correspond to the sparse measurements. In one embodiment, the method, system and device use Principal Component Analysis techniques to interpolate the multidimensional fluid flow data. Applications of the invention are, amongst others, in the field of biomedical diagnosis involving fluid dynamic modeling of biological fluid systems such as blood flow in an artery. |
| US08898021B2 |
Method and system for DNA mixture analysis
The present invention pertains to a process for automatically analyzing mixed DNA samples. Specifically, the process comprises the steps of obtaining a mixed DNA sample; amplifying the DNA sample to produce a product; detecting the product to produce a signal; and analyzing the signal to determine information about the composition of the mixed DNA sample. This DNA mixture analysis is useful for finding criminals and convicting them. This mixture analysis provides high quality estimates, and can determine genotypes, mixture weights, and likelihood ratios. This analysis provides confidence measures in the results it computes, and generates reports and intuitive visualizations. The process automates a tedious manual procedure, thereby reducing the cost, time, and effort involved in DNA forensic analysis. The system can greatly accelerate the rate of DNA crime analysis, and be used to exonerate innocent people. |
| US08898014B2 |
Navigation system with range based notification enhancement delivery mechanism and method of operation thereof
A method of operation of a navigation system includes: setting a delivery range for establishing a boundary; detecting a current location relative to the delivery range to a destination with the current location for locating a device; generating a travel route from the current location to the destination; selecting a delivery mode based on whether the current location is within the delivery range; and generating a local notification based on activating the delivery mode for displaying on the device. |
| US08898012B2 |
Qibla orientation device
The Qibla orientation device is a small, hands-free device enabling a user of the device to determine Qibla, or the proper orientation to face the Kaaba in Mecca. The device contains a GPS receiver, magnetic direction sensor, directional indicator lights, audio directional output, and a longitudinally aligned laser projector. The device determines its position on the surface of the earth by the GPS receiver, and its orientation toward the Kaaba according to the location determined and the magnetic direction sensor. Directional lights are provided to orient the user to the left or right for alignment. Audio output is also provided for the visually handicapped. The laser may be activated to project a laser line aligned with the longitudinal axis of the device for determining orientation during initial construction of a mosque or other structure. |
| US08898011B2 |
Method for maintaining integrity against erroneous ephemeris for a differential GPS based navigation solution supporting fast system startup
Technology for generating a H1 protection level from an N−1 position in a global positioning system (GPS) receiver is disclosed. One approach can include an H1 monitor configured to generate an H1 protection level from an N number of N−1 positions. The N−1 position can be derived by a differential global positioning system (GPS) satellite measurement removed from a plurality of N differential GPS satellites measurements. |
| US08898008B2 |
Navigation system with relative ranking mechanism and method of operation thereof
A method of operation of a navigation system includes: selecting a category of interest; receiving available information for the category of interest; and extrapolating a relative ranking based on the available information for displaying at a device. |
| US08898005B2 |
On-board apparatus
An on-board apparatus includes: a map data storage unit in which map data that include altitude information are stored; a subject vehicle position detection unit that detects a subject vehicle position; and a calculation target geographical point setting unit that sets a calculation target geographical point based upon the subject vehicle position, wherein a road grade at the calculation target geographical point is calculated based upon altitudes of a plurality of geographical points that include at least a geographical point present ahead of the calculation target geographical point and a geographical point present behind the calculation target geographical point. |
| US08898004B2 |
Method for the determination of a receiver for location information
The invention relates to a method for distinguishing between LOCATION_REPORT messages to avoid ambiguities. Therefore, a value of an information element of request type is returned by a radio network controller, depending on an intended receiver of the location information. A control node receiving the information element value analyses said value and determines the receiver depending on the result of said analysis. |
| US08897995B2 |
Method for controlling fuel injection for a dual fuel engine
A fuel injection system including injectors for two different fuels is disclosed. In one example, fuel injection is adjusted to compensate for changes in engine intake air amount. Combustion stability during transient conditions may be improved. |
| US08897993B2 |
Detection system for front-mounted mid-PTO driven implements
A detection system for front-mounted mid-PTO driven implements includes a sensor positioned adjacent a shaft connected between a mid-PTO driveshaft and a front mounted-implement. A controller may be electrically connected to the sensor, to a fuel pump solenoid, and to a reverse sense switch that indicates to the controller if a reverse pedal is actuated. When the controller receives a signal indicating the reverse pedal is actuated, the controller does not shut off the fuel pump solenoid if the controller also receives pulse signals from the sensor within a specified frequency range based on a desired PTO speed, but shuts off the fuel pump solenoid if the controller does not receive pulse signals from the sensor or receives pulse signals from the sensor outside the specified frequency range. |
| US08897991B2 |
Fuel quality monitoring system
A fuel quality monitoring system includes a fuel composition sensor configured to provide an indication of a composition of a liquid fuel within a fuel tank, and a controller. The controller is configured to receive the indication of the monitored fuel composition from the fuel composition sensor; detect an amount of an impurity from the received indication; and compare the amount of the impurity to a threshold. If the amount of the impurity exceeds the threshold, the controller is configured to adjust an operating parameter of an engine to account for the detected impurity. When the amount of the impurity exceeds a threshold which makes engine combustion unmanageable, the fuel is restricted from entering the engine or fuel tank. |
| US08897990B2 |
ISG system and control method thereof
An ISG system may include a shift stage sensing unit that senses a shift stage of a transmission, a parking sensing unit that senses a driver's intension of parking by recognizing at least one of whether a vehicle enters a parking lot and whether a parking assistant system may be operated, and an ISG controller that stops an idle-stop of an engine when the shift stage of the shift stage sensing unit may be at a reverse stage or the parking sensing unit senses the driver's intension of parking. |
| US08897988B2 |
Pre-throttle pressure control systems and methods
A system for a vehicle includes a desired mass air flowrate (MAF) module and a desired effective area module. The desired MAF module generates a desired MAF through a throttle valve of an engine based on an engine torque request. The desired effective area module generates a desired effective area of the throttle valve based on a throttle inlet air pressure (TIAP) and the desired MAF. A throttle actuator module adjusts opening of the throttle valve based on the desired effective area. |
| US08897987B2 |
Traction control system in a vehicle, vehicle including traction control system, and traction control method
A traction control system in vehicle comprises a detector for detecting a monitored value which changes according to a degree of a drive wheel slip; a condition determiner for determining whether or not the monitored value meets a control start condition and whether or not the monitored value meets a control termination condition; and a controller for executing traction control to reduce a driving power of the drive wheel during a period of time from when the condition determiner determines that the monitored value meets the control start condition until the condition determiner determines that the monitored value meets the control termination condition; the condition determiner being configured to set at least the control start condition variably based on a slip determination factor which changes according to a vehicle state and such that the control start condition changes more greatly according to the vehicle state than the control termination condition. |
| US08897983B2 |
System and method for using vehicle parasitic loads to aid with vehicle speed retardation
A system and method for providing additional speed retardation capacity is disclosed that utilizes parasitic loads of the vehicle. A vehicle is disclosed that includes a vehicle control system for sensing overspeed conditions, a powertrain, and a parasitic load. When an overspeed condition is detected, the parasitic load that is normally deactivated to improve efficiency is activated to remove power from the powertrain. Temperature sensors can monitor a load temperature and the parasitic loads can be controlled based on the temperature readings. A method is disclosed that includes detecting overspeed conditions, activating parasitic loads to absorb power when an overspeed condition is detected, and deactivating the loads when the overspeed condition ceases. The parasitic loads can be controlled separately or together. The method can include cumulative actions based on greater overspeed conditions. |
| US08897981B2 |
Method for determining an adjustment parameter for a hydraulic actuator arrangement in a motor vehicle drivetrain
Method for determining an adjustment parameter in a hydraulic actuator arrangement for a motor vehicle drivetrain. The actuator arrangement has a pump and a hydraulic cylinder. A pressure port of the pump is connected to a port of the hydraulic cylinder. The adjustment parameter is a function of the volume of the fluid that must be delivered by the pump in order to realize a predetermined operating point of the actuator arrangement. The operating point is defined by a value pair of an operating point rotational speed value of the pump and an operating point control value of the pump. The method has the steps: regulating the pump to the operating point rotational speed value such that the pump delivers a fluid volume flow rate corresponding to the operating point rotational speed value; and integrating the fluid volume flow rate over the time until a termination operating state of the actuator arrangement, in which the control value of the pump is less than or equal to the operating point control value. |
| US08897980B2 |
Method of estimating transmission torque of dry clutch of vehicle
A method of estimating transmission torque of a dry clutch, may include a) slowly releasing a dry clutch until a slip of the dry clutch occurs, b) acquiring and storing stroke of an actuator and torque of an engine at a starting time point at which the slip of the dry clutch occurs at step a), and c) determining the stroke of the actuator and the transmission torque of the dry clutch at the starting time point at which the slip of the dry clutch occurs, by using the stroke of the actuator and the torque of the engine stored at step b). |
| US08897978B2 |
Method and system for providing a neutral hold mode in a shift-by-wire transmission
A method and system provides a Neutral Hold mode in a vehicle having a shift-by-wire transmission with a return to park feature. The Neutral Hold mode is entered upon detecting when the transmission control mechanism has been used a first time to select Neutral when a driver's door is open or has been used a second time to select Neutral. When in Neutral Hold mode, the transmission will stay in Neutral and not shift to Park upon detecting that a driver has exited the vehicle. |
| US08897972B2 |
Harvester load control system
A method of controlling a multiengine harvester including the steps of operating the harvester in a first mode, operating the harvester in a second mode, and selecting less than all of the power absorbing loads to be driven. In the first mode, the harvester is operated using a first engine and a second engine to drive the plurality of power absorbing loads. In the second mode, the harvester is operated with the second engine being uncoupled from all of the power absorbing loads. In the selecting step, less than all of the power absorbing loads are selected to be driven dependent upon the sensed load on the first engine while operating in the second mode. The first engine is incapable of driving all of the power absorbing loads. |
| US08897970B2 |
Wiper control device and wiper control method
A point value corresponding to a load state of an electric motor is set. The load state of the electric motor is detected so as to calculate a load point value of the electric motor and accumulate the load point values (S3, S4). A wiper-device operation mode is identified (S6). A difference Ptd between the accumulated load point value for forward operations and the accumulated load point value for return operations is compared with a criterion threshold value SVb (S24). When the difference Ptd exceeds the criterion threshold value SVb, it is determined that a vehicle is in a high-speed running state. Then, an angle of rotation of the electric motor is reduced to narrow a wiping angle of the wiper blade (S25). In this manner, an upper reversal position is set closer to a return side than a given position. As a result, overrun caused by the deflection of a blade or the like due to a wind generated by running when the vehicle is running at a high speed is prevented. |
| US08897967B2 |
Electric power steering apparatus
The electric power steering apparatus has a plurality of power systems each including an inverter apparatus provided corresponding to a plurality of wiring sets of a motor thereof. The control section calculates the assist current to be supplied to the motor using a one power system failure-state map when the inverter apparatus or its corresponding wiring set of one of the power systems fails, or using a vehicle speed detection failure-state map when there is a failure in detecting the vehicle speed. The assist current limit value in the one power system failure-state map and the assist current limit value in the vehicle speed detection failure-state map are set to the same value. |
| US08897966B2 |
Methods and apparatus for variable reduced effort steering in electric steering systems
Embodiments of the invention provide methods and apparatus for reducing steering effort in a vehicle. In one embodiment, a method for installing a steering-assist system onto a vehicle having an electrically powered steering system is provided. The method includes placing a controller between a torque sensor and an electronic control unit (ECU) disposed on the vehicle, coupling a primary signal line from the torque sensor to be in electrical communication with the controller, and coupling a secondary signal line to the controller to be in electrical communication with the ECU, wherein, when movement is detected by the torque sensor, the torque sensor provides a primary signal to the controller and the controller provides a secondary signal to the ECU, the secondary signal being different than the primary signal. |
| US08897964B2 |
Motor control device
A motor control device has characteristic information that indicates a correlation between a rotation speed and a current of a motor. The motor control device sets a rotation speed characteristic value that is a reference value of the rotation speed of the motor and a current characteristic value that is a reference value of the current of the motor on the basis of the characteristic information. The motor control device calculates an estimated rotation speed on the basis of a measured value of a voltage that is applied to the motor, a measured value of the current, the current characteristic value, a voltage characteristic value, the rotation speed characteristic value and a counter-electromotive force constant. |
| US08897962B2 |
Reaction force control device
Provided is a reaction force control device for reducing discomfort experienced by the driver operating the accelerator pedal when continuous curves are being traveled, and setting the characteristics of the reaction force on the accelerator pedal in accordance with the curves. In the case that the target reaction force, which has been set prior to entering a subsequently traveled second curve, is greater than the current reaction force acting on the acceleration pedal and being generated during the turn through the first curve, a reaction force controller controls the operation so as to reduce the target reaction force imparted on the second curve until the vehicle leaves the first curve. |
| US08897957B2 |
Control and monitoring device of a vehicle having a tire-monitoring control unit and a brake control unit integrated in a subassembly
A control and monitoring device of a vehicle, including at least one controlled brake system (ABS, EBS), which during braking adjusts the brake slip and/or the brake pressure to a setpoint value, including at least one brake control device (ECU-EBS, ECU-TEBS) as well as a device (TPMS) for monitoring the tire pressure and/or the tire air temperature of at least one tire, including at least one tire sensor, which transmits a signal representing the individual tire pressure and/or the individual tire air temperature of the particular tire, to at least one tire-monitoring control unit (ECU-TPMS). The at least one tire-monitoring control unit (ECU-TPMS) and the at least one brake control unit (ECU-EBS, ECU-TEBS) are integrated in one subassembly and are configured for the exchange of data among each other. |
| US08897955B2 |
Ozone converting catalyst fault identification systems and methods
A system for a vehicle includes a conversion efficiency module, a threshold determination module, and a catalyst fault indication module. The conversion efficiency module generates an ozone conversion efficiency of a catalyst that converts ozone into oxygen based on a first amount of ozone in air measured upstream of the catalyst and a second amount of ozone in air measured downstream of the catalyst. The threshold determination module generates an efficiency threshold based on ambient humidity. The catalyst fault indication module selectively indicates that a fault is present in the catalyst when the ozone conversion efficiency is less than the efficiency threshold. |
| US08897954B2 |
Method for calibrating position sensor on electric motor
A method is provided of calibrating a position sensor of an electric motor of a vehicle. |
| US08897953B2 |
Systems and methods for managing fault codes
Various embodiments of the present invention provide systems and methods for managing fault codes triggered by one or more vehicles during operation. In general, various embodiments of the invention involve recording and analyzing fault codes triggered during a particular time period while a vehicle is in operation. As a result of the analysis, various embodiments of the invention may set a state for each of the identified fault codes, the state indicating a level of action to address the identified fault code. In particular embodiments, the states may be one of a caution state indicating one or more components or sub-systems of the vehicle should be monitored, a critical state indicating one or more components or sub-systems of the vehicle should be repaired, or an environmental state indicating failure or potential failure of one or more components or sub-systems of the vehicle may affect one or more environmental conditions. |
| US08897946B2 |
Control method of hybrid vehicle
A control method of a hybrid vehicle that includes engages a second clutch and in response outputs a torque through an output shaft that is connected to the second carrier via torque supplied from an engine and a first and second motor-generators. Accordingly, the speed of the engine is controlled via the first motor-generator, and a torque of an output shaft is control via the second motor-generator. Accordingly, the second motor-generator is used to control an operating point of the engine so that a base motor torque is effectively set. |
| US08897945B2 |
Electromotive-vehicular motor control apparatus
This electromotive-vehicular motor control apparatus includes: a motor; a power drive unit; a torque control unit that controls an output torque of the motor; an electric current control unit; a number-of-revolutions detection unit; a target number-of-revolutions setting unit; a number-of-revolutions deviation calculation unit; and a removal unit that outputs a signal of a second number-of-revolutions deviation, in which the torque control unit controls the output torque based on the second number-of-revolutions deviation that has been output from the removal unit. |
| US08897944B2 |
Vehicle drive force control device
Provided herein is a vehicle drive force control. When a driver requests to start the vehicle with the brake OFF and depresses the accelerator pedal, a target drive torque exceeds a gradient load. To avoid excess current being supplied to the motor, the upper limit of motor speed, which is the input speed of a second clutch, is set to a value less than a slip detectable limit value at which it becomes possible to detect slip rotation, i.e. the difference over the output side rotation speed. When the target drive torque exceeds the gradient load, the lower limit of the input speed of the second clutch (the motor speed) is set to a value equal to or greater than the slip detectable limit value so that the required driving force can be achieved by the gradient load corresponding driving force control. |
| US08897940B2 |
Battery cell voltage balancing system and method
A vehicle may include an electric machine that generates motive power for the vehicle, a plurality of cells that store energy for the electric machine, and at least one controller. The at least one controller may cause the cells to receive current for a period of time and, during the period of time, cause at least some of the cells to supply cell load current such that at the expiration of the period of time, the amount of energy stored by the cells is at least equal to a predetermined target energy level. |
| US08897939B2 |
Automatic steering device and automatic steering method
There is provided an automatic steering device with which an optimal duty ratio for achieving an optimal rudder turning speed at a cruising speed can be found simply and accurately. An automatic steering device 10 includes a correspondence acquisition component 24 and a duty ratio calculator 25. The correspondence acquisition component 24 finds a correspondence between a duty ratio and a rudder turning speed based on a first rudder turning speed while a steering mechanism 11 is controlled at a first duty ratio, and a second rudder turning speed while the steering mechanism 11 is controlled at a second duty ratio. The duty ratio calculator 25 calculates the duty ratio corresponding to a specific rudder turning speed based on the correspondence found by the correspondence acquisition component 24. |
| US08897937B2 |
Apparatus for controlling railcar and methods for detecting synchronous slide/slip
A railcar control apparatus comprises a synchronous slide/slip detector which determines that the axles are synchronously sliding/slipping if an absolute value of axle's speed difference is less than a synchronous slide/slip speed difference threshold and an absolute value of axle's acceleration is greater than a predetermined synchronous slide/slip acceleration threshold. |
| US08897936B2 |
Device for stabilising the guidance of a vehicle
The invention relates to a device (10) for stabilizing the guidance of a vehicle (1), the vehicle (1) having at least one or two which is arranged in such a way that it can be turned relative to the longitudinal axis of the vehicle (1), and steering means that interact with the at least one wheel (2) and are designed to guide the vehicle (1) by turning the at least one wheel (2). The device (10) has a detecting unit (12), which is designed to detect an at least partial transition from static friction to dynamic friction between the at least one wheel (2) and a ground covering (3), and furthermore has a control unit (11), which, when the detecting unit (12) detects the transition from static friction to dynamic friction, is designed to turn the at least one wheel (2) by means of the steering means in such a way that the dynamic friction between the wheel (2) and the ground covering (3) changes back to static friction. |
| US08897935B2 |
Method and device for aircraft, for avoiding collision with the terrain
This disclosure relates to a system for preventing collisions with a terrain. The system includes a detecting means for detecting risks of collision with the terrain after a predetermined forecasting delay. The system further includes a determining means for determining, based on a trajectory followed by the aircraft, a possible limit point for success of the vertical terrain avoidance maneuver. The system further includes indication means for giving indications on azimuth clearance sections, around the direction in which the aircraft is moving, suitable for success of the vertical terrain avoidance maneuver. The system further includes means for estimating a free-travel distance in each azimuth clearance sector on a straight distancing trajectory with constant gradient and over a distance correspond to more than one minute of flight, the free-travel distance being free of potential conflicts with the terrain. The system further includes means for signaling azimuth clearance sections and free-travel distances. |
| US08897933B1 |
Battery flywheel for a high-altitude balloon
Methods and systems disclosed herein relate to using a rotating flywheel battery in a balloon in a high-altitude balloon network. An example method could include converting, in a balloon, first electrical energy into kinetic mechanical energy. The balloon includes a flywheel battery configured to rotate about a spin axis. The kinetic mechanical energy includes a rotation motion of the flywheel battery. The method could further include storing the kinetic mechanical energy for a finite period of time. Further, the method could include performing, using the flywheel battery, at least one of: i) converting at least a portion of the stored kinetic mechanical energy into second electrical energy; ii) stabilizing at least one motion of the balloon based on the rotational motion of the flywheel battery; and iii) rotating the balloon substantially about a balloon axis substantially perpendicular to the ground surface of the earth. |
| US08897932B2 |
Flight control support device
Disclosed is a flight control support device which sets a flight restricted area W along a terrain, thereby achieving improvement in safety of a small aircraft A and sufficiently securing the degree of freedom of flight course selection of a pilot. The flight control support device includes a terrain information acquirer, an aircraft information acquirer, a flight restricted area setter which sets the flight restricted area W along the terrain on the basis of the terrain information acquired by the terrain information acquirer and the aircraft information acquired by the aircraft information acquirer, and a flight control supporter which supports flight control of a flying object on the basis of the flight restricted area set by the flight restricted area setter. |
| US08897931B2 |
Flight interpreter for captive carry unmanned aircraft systems demonstration
A system for unmanned aircraft system (UAS) testing which incorporates a UAS flight control system and an optionally piloted vehicle (OPV) carrying the UAS flight control system. The OPV has an OPV flight control system and a flight control interpreter (FCI) which receives input from the UAS flight control system representing control parameters for a flight profile of the UAS. The FCI provides status commands as an output to the OPV flight control system to replicate the flight profile. These status commands are selected from the group consisting of data regarding attitude, vertical navigation, lateral navigation, turn rate, velocity and engine operations. The OPV flight control system includes a pilot override for emergency, flight safety or other contingencies allowing an on board pilot to assume control of the OPV. |
| US08897928B2 |
Systems for and methods of engine derating
Systems for, and methods of, derating and locking down a vehicle's engine are described. The systems and methods gradually derate an engine in response to a command sent over the air in a manner that does not cause the engine control module (ECM) of the vehicle to generate an error code. |
| US08897921B2 |
Environmental control for HVAC system
A system for controlling energy consumption in a building having a heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) which includes using an external application to perform HVAC energy consumption optimization algorithms and other external energy control functions and transmit application control data to a building automation system (BAS), which in turn provides hardware level equipment control for the HVAC system. The external application evaluates equipment data received from the HVAC system by way of the BAS and processes these equipment data to provide application control data back to the BAS. The application control data are calculated to achieve a desired operating efficiency for the HVAC system. |
| US08897920B2 |
Tele-presence robot system with software modularity, projector and laser pointer
A remote control station that accesses one of at least two different robots that each have at least one unique robot feature. The remote control station receives information that identifies the robot feature of the accessed robot. The remote station displays a display user interface that includes at least one field that corresponds to the robot feature of the accessed robot. The robot may have a laser pointer and/or a projector. |
| US08897919B2 |
Robot controller which conducts a force control by using a three-axial force sensor
A robot controller (11) which moves either a tool (4) or a workpiece (W) relative to another one with a hand unit, controls the force acting between the tool and the workpiece, comprising a force detector unit (3) for detecting a force in one axial direction and moments about the axes in two axial directions that are at right angles with the one axis and are, further, at right angles with each other; a force-presuming point setting unit (12) for setting a force-presuming point at where a force acting between the tool and the workpiece is presumed; and a force-presuming unit (13) for presuming forces in the two axial directions and a moment about the one axis based upon the force in the one axial direction and the moments about the axes in the two axial directions, and upon the position of the force-presuming point. |
| US08897917B2 |
Autonomous mobile device
An electronic controller defining an autonomous mobile device includes a self-location estimation unit to estimate a self-location based on a local map that is created according to distance/angle information relative to an object in the vicinity and the travel distance of an omni wheel, an environmental map creation unit to create an environmental map of a mobile area based on the self-location and the local map during the guided travel with using a joystick, a registration switch to register the self-location of the autonomous mobile device as the position coordinate of the setting point when the autonomous mobile device reaches a predetermined setting point during the guided travel, a storage unit to store the environmental map and the setting point, a route planning unit to plan the travel route by using the setting point on the environmental map stored in the storage unit, and a travel control unit to control the autonomous mobile device to autonomously travel along the travel route. |
| US08897914B2 |
Conveyance system and method of communication in conveyance system
An automated warehouse is attachable and detachable to a processing equipment without requiring an operation to change wiring of a first controller when attaching and detaching the automated warehouse. The automated warehouse is attachable and detachable in front of the apparatus including a first loading port and a first controller, the automated warehouse including a second loading port to transfer an article between a transfer vehicle and a second controller. A communication terminal disposed within a range allowing communication with the transfer vehicle for an article, and a communication apparatus connected with the communication terminal are provided. The communication apparatus includes a switch that switches a connection destination of the first controller between the second controller and the communication terminal. |
| US08897913B2 |
Automatic stacked storage system for parking or storage
An automatic stacked parking or storage system includes a plurality of stationary docking cells, a plurality of carriages, and a central management system communicating with and controlling operations of the docking cells. Each docking cell has a ground driving device affixed on the bottom of the docking cell to drive a carriage horizontally in different directions of the docking cell, a docking cell control and interface unit (CIU), and one or more carriage position and ID sensor. A loaded carriage is moved horizontally by the ground driving devices of corresponding docking cells from a starting to a destination docking cell according to a route selected by a route optimization module. The location of the loaded carriage in the selected route is dynamically updated according to real time reports from each CIU of the corresponding docking cells. The system transports multiple loaded carriages at the same time for parking/storage and retrieval. |
| US08897908B2 |
Sewing data creation apparatus, sewing data creation method, and computer program product
A sewing data creation apparatus includes an area specification portion that specifies at least one area in which a plurality of stitches are to be formed and a sewing data creation portion that creates sewing data for forming the plurality of stitches in each of the specified at least one area and for forming an overlapping portion in a case where the specified at least one area includes a first area and a second area. The overlapping portion is a region in which at least one of the first area and the second area is enlarged in a direction that extends across a boundary line, such that a portion of the plurality of stitches to be formed in the first area is one of intersected and overlapped by a portion of the plurality of stitches to be formed in the second area. |
| US08897906B2 |
Wafer processing based on sensor detection and system learning
A vacuum processing apparatus includes a robot connected to a vacuum container to carry a wafer on one of its two arms to or from a processing chamber; a unit to detect an amount of deviation of the wafer from a predetermined wafer mounting position on the arm that may occur when the robot carries the wafer into or out of the processing chamber; and an adjusting device to adjust the operation of the robot based on the detected amount of deviation. The adjusting device adjusts the robot operation based on the result of a teaching operation performed in advance. After being subjected to the initial teaching operation, the robot again undergoes a second teaching operation according to the information on the amount of wafer position deviation that is detected by moving the wafer in a predetermined transfer pattern, before the wafer processing is performed. |
| US08897905B2 |
Media volume control system
A system and method for regulating media volume is disclosed. The system comprises a prediction engine and a regulation module. The prediction engine collects sensor data and scene category data. The scene category data includes data describing an environment in which the media volume is regulated. The prediction engine predicts a workload for a user based at least in part on the scene category data and the sensor data and generates a predicted workload value for the predicted workload. The regulation module adjusts the media volume based at least in part on the predicted workload value. |
| US08897904B2 |
Media content playback
Media content playback includes providing a plurality of media contents; providing for each of the media contents information identifying the respective media content; receiving from a user selection instructions that effect selecting or deselecting of a specific media content; providing context data based on measurements of at least one of absolute time, absolute position and of at least one physical quantity at or in the vicinity of the location where the selected media content is to be reproduced; providing or adapting a user profile that assigns for each specific media content user instructions to the context data provided at the time of receipt of the respective instruction; selecting according to the user profile one of the media contents dependent on the context data at the time of selection; and reproducing the selected media content. |
| US08897903B2 |
Location-aware distributed sporting events
Various embodiments facilitate location-aware distributed competitions. In one embodiment, a system facilitates a distributed sporting event that includes multiple players traveling over courses that are remote from one another. The system includes a manager that receives state information, such as location information, from client devices used by each of the players. The manager then transmits location information for each of the players to the client devices, which are each configured to present a graphical representation, such as a map annotated with the locations of each of the players. The manager asserts a course to each of the players, by providing specific instructions to travel along a particular path. The client devices provide the players with the appearance of competing over the same course, even though they are all actually competing over courses remote from one another. |
| US08897900B2 |
Graphical language for optimization and use
The present invention provides novel techniques for graphically modeling, displaying, and interacting with parametric hybrid models used to optimize and control components of industrial plants and enterprises. In particular, a graphical modeling tool of a control/optimization system for controlling a plant or enterprise is configured to transmit a graphical user interface to a user, wherein the graphical user interface enables a plurality of command inputs relating to a plurality of parametric hybrid models based on a security access level of the user. The parametric hybrid models may be displayed by the graphical user interface as nodes of a network with connections connecting the nodes. The user may graphically manipulate the nodes and connections associated with the parametric hybrids models to either modify optimization constraints of the model network, or actually modify the manner in which the parametric hybrid models function (e.g., inputs, outputs, parameters, and so forth, of the parametric hybrid models), depending on the access level of the user. |
| US08897899B2 |
Method and apparatus for programming a decoder-based irrigation controller
A method and programming chart having viewable indicia thereon for programming a decoder-based controller is disclosed. The programming chart comprises a specific portion comprising a station number area for one or more stations being controlled by a decoder-based irrigation controller, a decoder address area adapted to receive an entry indicating an address of a decoder being associated with each of the one or more stations and a plurality of other information areas for each of the one or more stations to receive information pertaining to each of the one or more stations. Furthermore, a method is provided for programming a decoder-based irrigation controller comprising associating a decoder unit with at least a first station, removing a decoder address indicator provided with the decoder unit and recording the decoder address indicator onto a programming chart onto an area designated for a decoder address associated with the first station. |
| US08897897B2 |
Companion control interface for smart devices
A companion remote control system is usable with smart devices for controlling a plurality of controlled components. An overall control system includes: a companion remote configured for remote communication, and providing command options for a user desiring to interact with a controlled component; a software application configured for running on smart devices, which typically includes a graphical interface for the user to select desired controlled component from plurality of controlled components; and a control processor capable of communicating with companion remote, smart device and controlled components. The control processor is programmed to correlate user commands received from companion remote to appropriate instructions for a specific controlled component selection received from smart device. The control processor instructing the controlled component based on those commands, thereby allowing user to interact with selected controlled component using companion remote as if it was dedicated to that controlled component. |
| US08897896B2 |
Controlling system for power distribution
A controlling system has a computer having a controlling interface, a PDU linking to the computer and multiple electric apparatus connected and linking to the PDU and the computer. The PDU has multiple outlets, a turn-off time for each outlet. The controlling interface of the computer presets that the turn-off time for each outlet and has a shut-down option. The shut-down option has outlet numbers, a main time axis, and multiple variable time axes. Each variable time axis has a start time and an end time. A total period of each variable time axis between the start time and the end time is determined according to the shut-down period of the corresponding electric apparatus. The start time and the end time of each variable time axis are adjustable, but the total time thereof is fixed. Once the start times and the end times are determined finally, the turn-off times for the outlet numbers are calculated and further sent to the PDU. |
| US08897886B2 |
Device for electrotherapeutic treatment
The invention relates to an apparatus for electrotherapeutic treatment of the human body, which has electrodes that can be laid against the body and a device for producing a therapy current that flows through the body, by way of the electrodes, whereby the device for generating the therapy current comprises two oscillators having frequencies f1 and f2 that lie close to one another and are suitable for forming a beat, an oscillator having a frequency f3 that is less than the beat frequency fs1=f1−f2, and a mixer device for superimposition of the oscillator signals. According to the invention, the device for producing the therapy current comprises at least two additional oscillators with frequencies f4 and f5, and the mixer device is provided with frequencies f1 to f5 for superimposition of all oscillators. |
| US08897878B2 |
Method and apparatus for gastrointestinal stimulation via the lymphatic system
An implantable gastrointestinal (GI) stimulation system includes an implantable medical device and at least one stimulus delivery device configured to be placed in one or more lymphatic vessels of a patient, such as the patient's thoracic duct and/or vessels branching from the thoracic duct. In one embodiment, the implantable medical device includes a GI stimulation circuit to deliver electrical stimulation pulses to one or more target regions adjacent to a lymphatic vessel through the stimulus delivery device. In one embodiment, to control obesity, the electrical stimulation pulses are delivered to the organs and/or nerves of the GI tract to create a sensation of satiety and/or to expedite food movement through the GI tract. |
| US08897873B2 |
Flow estimation in a blood pump
The flow rate of blood out of a blood pump is determined at least in part based on an acceleration of the pump's rotor and on the blood's viscosity. Considering the rotor acceleration when determining blood flow rate, increases the accuracy of the blood flow measurement thereby permitting the determination of a parameter related to the contractility of a patient's heart. The parameter may include a rate of pressure change of blood across the pump, a ratio of the rate of pressure change and a peak-to-peak value of the blood flow rate, or any other contractility index. |
| US08897870B2 |
Stimulation design for neuromodulation
The present application relates to a new stimulation design which can be utilized to treat neurological conditions. The stimulation system produces a burst mode stimulation which alters the neuronal activity of the predetermined site, thereby treating the neurological condition or disorder. The burst stimulus comprises a plurality of groups of spike pulses having a maximum inter-spike interval of 100 milliseconds. The burst stimulus is separated by a substantially quiescent period of time between the plurality of groups of spike pulses. This inter-group interval may comprise a minimum of 5 seconds. |
| US08897869B2 |
Plaque type determination devices, systems, and methods
Plaque type determination devices, systems, and methods. In at least one exemplary embodiment of a device for assessing composition of a plaque of the present disclosure, the device comprises an elongate body having a longitudinal axis and a distal end, a first excitation electrode and a second excitation electrode located along the longitudinal axis of the body near the distal end of the elongate body, and a first detection electrode and a second detection electrode along the longitudinal axis of the body and in between the first and second excitation electrodes, wherein when a current source in communication with at least one of the first excitation electrode and the second excitation electrode applies current thereto to facilitate measurement of two or more conductance values within a vessel containing at least part of the elongate body at or near a plaque site, a plaque type determination can be made based upon a calculation of tissue conductance using at least one of the two or more conductance values. |
| US08897865B2 |
ECG lead system
An ECG lead system for use with a plurality of unique diverse ECG floor monitors for when a patient is substantially immobile and/or a plurality of unique diverse ECG telemetry monitors, is provided. The ECG lead system includes a plurality of unique adapters, wherein each adapter includes an input receptacle configured for selective electrical connection with a device connector of an ECG lead set assembly; and at least one unique monitor plug electrically connected to the input receptacle. Each monitor plug is configured to selectively electrically connect to a corresponding receptacle of a respective unique diverse ECG floor monitor or unique diverse ECG telemetry monitor. |
| US08897860B2 |
Selection of optimal channel for rate determination
According to at least one example, an ambulatory medical device is provided. The device includes a plurality of electrodes disposed at spaced apart positions about a patient's body and a control unit. The control unit includes a sensor interface, a memory and a processor. The sensor interface is coupled to the plurality of electrodes and configured to receive a first ECG signal from a first pairing of the plurality of electrodes and to receive a second ECG signal from a second pairing of the plurality of electrodes. The memory stores information indicating a preferred pairing, the preferred pairing being either the first pairing or the second pairing. The processor is coupled to the sensor interface and the memory and is configured to resolve conflicts between interpretations of first ECG signal and the second ECG signal in favor of the preferred pairing. |
| US08897859B2 |
Biosensor device
A biosensor that includes a light transmissive electrocardiographic electrode and a light transmissive insulating film that detect an electrical signal relating to an electrocardiographic signal through capacitive coupling that are disposed above light emitting elements and a light receiving element that detect an optical detection signal relating to a photo-plethysmographic signal. When a user brings a finger into contact with a contact surface of the light transmissive insulating film, the electrical signal relating to the electrocardiographic signal is detected by the light transmissive electrocardiographic electrode. At the same time, reflected light emitted from the light emitting elements after being reflected from the user's finger are received by the light receiving element to detect an optical detection signal corresponding to the received reflected lights so that biological information is generated based on both the electrocardiographic signal and a photo-plethysmographic signal. |
| US08897857B2 |
Method and apparatus for generating proton therapy treatment planning images
A method of producing a patient image indicating proton stopping power of the tissue may employ photon attenuation information converted to proton stopping power. The conversion uses different conversion functions for particular tissue types to account for a strong atomic number dependency in the conversion process. Megavoltage x-rays may be used for improved accuracy. |
| US08897850B2 |
Sensor with integrated living hinge and spring
Embodiments of the present disclosure relate generally to a sensor assembly. In various embodiments the sensor assembly includes a body having a first segment, a second segment, and a living hinge. The living hinge has a pivot axis and mechanically couples the first segment and the second segment. Further, the living hinge facilitates the first segment and the second segment to pivoting relative to one another about the pivot axis. Embodiments may also relate to a method of manufacturing a sensor frame. The method may include forming an integral sensor body having a first frame segment, a second frame segment, and a living hinge. The first frame segment and the second frame segment are configured to pivot relative to one another about a pivot axis of the living hinge. The method may also include coupling one or more biasing mechanisms to the first frame segment and the second frame segment. The biasing mechanism is configured to generate a moment about the pivot axis of the living hinge. The moment biases the first segment and second segment into a closed position. |
| US08897848B2 |
Apparatus and method for non-invasively determining oxygen saturation of venous blood and cardiac output using NIRS
A method and apparatus for determining a venous oxygen saturation value (SvO2) of a subject is provided. The method includes the steps of: a) sensing a plurality of tissue regions on a subject using a NIRS oximeter adapted to determine a tissue oxygen saturation value (StO2) for each region, each region independent of the other regions and each region sensed using a NIRS oximeter sensor specific to that region, and determining a StO2 value for that region; b) assigning a coefficient to each region, each of which coefficients reflects a portion of the StO2 value for the region attributable to a composite venous blood return representative of the tissue regions measured; and c) determining a composite SvO2 value for the subject using the StO2 region values and the respective coefficients. |
| US08897841B2 |
Wireless headphones and data transmission method
There is provided a wireless headphone unit having at least one electroacoustic transducer and a transmitting/receiving unit for wirelessly receiving first signals which contain audio signals to be reproduced on the electroacoustic transducer and a network identification unit for storing the network identification of the wireless headphone unit, wherein the transmitting/receiving unit is adapted for wirelessly transmitting the network identification of the headphone unit. |
| US08897836B2 |
Extending the functionality of a mobile device
Devices, systems, and methods are disclosed for extending the functionality of a mobile device by including a cover for the mobile device with a substantial portion of the exterior overlaid with a touch-sensitive surface. Logic stored on the cover senses a user's touch on the touch-sensitive surface, and transmits the touch input to the coupled mobile device. Logic stored on the coupled mobile device may receive and interpret the touch input as a function or command of an operating system, or a function or command of a program within the operating system of the mobile device. |
| US08897835B2 |
Performance monitoring modules and apparatus
A portable performance monitoring module comprising a signal receiver, a processor for generating and outputting performance data, and a communication interface for facilitating data communication with a portable telecommunications device. The performance monitoring module is arranged to communicate with the portable telecommunications device via the communication interface upon receipt of requests from the portable telecommunications device. This module is adapted for cooperative operation with a general power telecommunications device to expand its processing and display power while maintaining a low cost simple design and compactness. |
| US08897834B2 |
Signaling support for antenna selection using subset lists and subset masks
A communication device is described herein that has control (or at least partial control) over which virtual antenna(s) in one or more base stations to use for transmissions. In one embodiment, the mobile phone performs the following steps: (1) receives an antenna subset list (from the scheduling unit) which identifies a configuration of virtual antennas that is associated with the base station(s); (2) uses the antenna subset list to select which virtual antenna(s) in the configuration of virtual antennas to use for transmissions; and (3) sends an antenna selection signal (to the scheduling unit) which contains information that instructs/requests the base station(s)/scheduling unit to use the selected virtual antenna(s) for transmissions. |
| US08897833B2 |
Wireless image distribution system and method
A system and method for distributing at least one digital photographic image is presented, the system and method comprising at least one capturing device and at least one receiving device disposed in a communicative relation with one another via at least one wireless network. In particular, the capturing device is structured to capture the at least one digital photographic image via, for example, a capture assembly, whereas the receiving device is cooperatively structured to receive the digital photographic image via, for example, the at least one wireless network. In addition, the capturing device(s) and receiving device(s) may be disposed in a selectively paired relationship via one or more common pre-defined pairing criteria. Further, the at least one digital photographic image may be filtered via at least one pre-defined transfer criteria disposed on the capturing device and/or receiving device. |
| US08897832B2 |
Semiconductor device and communication system including the same
Disclosed is a semiconductor device including a semiconductor chip and a semiconductor package. The semiconductor package includes an antenna formed of a lead frame, a first wire that connects the antenna and a first electrode pad of the semiconductor chip, and a second wire that connects the antenna and a second electrode pad of the semiconductor chip. The semiconductor chip is disposed in one of four regions in the semiconductor package sectioned by line segments connecting midpoints of two pairs of opposing sides of the semiconductor package. A centroid of the semiconductor chip is positioned outside a closed curve composed of a straight line segment connecting a first connection point where the antenna and the first wire are connected and a second connection point where the antenna and the second wire are connected, and a line connecting the first and second connection points along the antenna. |
| US08897830B2 |
Method and device for obtaining an X2 interface transmission address of a base station in an LTE system
A method and device for obtaining an X2 interface transmission address of a base station in an LTE system are provided. The method is implemented based on base stations, the base station, using a constructed independent message, obtains through an S1 interface a base station transmission address which is required for establishing an X2 interface connection, thus making the X2 interface connection established between the base stations. The method and device of the present invention can obtain in time transmission address information of a target base station which is to establish an X2 interface with the current base station, so that the X2 interface can be established between the base stations. This will help to implement information interaction between the base stations and embody the integrality of X2 interface attribute management in the automatic optimization of the relations between neighbor cells. |
| US08897827B2 |
Enhanced public safety communication system
A communication system (100) provides collaboration between narrowband communication devices (102) and broadband communication devices (104) operating over different networks. The communication devices (102, 104) are linked to provide peer-to-peer communication that supports the dissemination of public safety information to a public safety personnel user utilizing the devices. Applications within the devices (102, 104) automatically control features amongst the plurality of devices for redundancy of critical information, removal of non-critical information and power management. Context information can also be examined and shared between amongst the devices. |
| US08897825B2 |
Wireless communication device and wireless communication method
A search part sends out a connection request signal and receives a connection response signal. A radio strength acquiring part acquires radio strength of an available device that has sent the connection response signal. A connection determining part determines whether or not the radio strength has increased, then becomes greater than or equal to a threshold value and has been constant for a period of time longer than or equal to a predetermined period of time. If it is determined that the radio strength has increased, then becomes greater than or equal to the threshold value and has been constant for a period of time longer than or equal to the predetermined period of time, an inter-device authentication part performs inter-device authentication with the available device. |
| US08897821B2 |
Method for providing visual effect messages and associated communication system and transmitting end
A method for providing visual effect messages on a receiving end and associated transmitting end configuration is provided. At the transmitting end, visual effect positions and visual effects of messages are determined according to an input message. The visual effect positions and visual effect information are transmitted to the receiving end, and are displayed at the visual effect positions at the receiving end according to the visual information. |
| US08897815B2 |
Method of operating user equipment for providing measurement report in UMTS
In a universal mobile telecommunications system, a radio access network includes multiple base stations for communicating with user equipment. The radio access network is configured to send the user equipment a measurement control message which includes configuration information and a location reporting indicator. The user equipment is configured to perform a minimization of drive test according to the configuration information, and provide location information along with the recorded measurement result according to the location reporting indicator. |
| US08897814B2 |
Method and apparatus for transmitting indoor context information
The subject matter disclosed herein relates to a system and method for determining indoor context information relating to a location of a mobile device. Indoor context information may be utilized by a mobile device or a network element to obtain an estimate of a location of the mobile device within an indoor environment. |
| US08897809B2 |
Method and system to automatically identify unknown identities
The present invention relates to methods, nodes, arrangements and articles of manufacture to automatically identify unknown identities of a target. The method comprises the following steps: positioning indicators indicating presence of a known identity of the target in at least one location are periodically collected; —at least one mobile network is interrogated and lists of identities of users located in defined target areas, each area covering at least one of the collected positioning indicators, are fetched; —a crosscheck between the fetched lists is performed; a single or restricted number of identities that is common to the fetched lists is identified. |
| US08897805B2 |
Geographic redundancy determination for time based location information in a wireless radio network
Determining levels of geographic redundancy among radios of a wireless radio network is described. The level of geographic redundancy for a radio can affect the determination of location information for a user equipment (UE) on the wireless radio network. The disclosed subject matter can be employed in conjunction with timed fingerprint location (TFL) technologies to facilitate selection of radios employed in determining time values for TFL location determination. Levels of geographic redundancy can be employed to rank or order radios of a wireless radio network so as to reduce the likelihood of using geographically redundant radios in location determination. Further, rules can be selected to adjust threshold values and equations employed in determining the levels of geographic redundancy. Moreover, rules can be selected to apply boundary conditions to reduce the number of determinations formed for a set of radios of the wireless radio network. |
| US08897803B2 |
Finding wireless network access points
Methods, computer-readable media, and computer systems for finding wireless network access points. Geographic location information describing a geographic location of a computer system within a geographic area is received. From a storage medium that stores information defining multiple geographic cells and, for each cell, information defining multiple wireless network access points, a particular geographic cell within which the geographic location described by the geographic location information is located is identified. Access points within the particular geographic cell are identified, and provided in response to receiving the geographic location information. |
| US08897801B2 |
Transmission of location information by a transmitter as an aid to location services
Techniques for transmitting location information as an aid to location services are described. In one design, a transmitter may generate a message including coordinate information and uncertainty information for the location of the transmitter. The coordinate information may include latitude and longitude for horizontal location and possibly the height of the transmitter. The uncertainty information may include uncertainty of the horizontal location and possibly uncertainty of the height of the transmitter. The horizontal location uncertainty may be given by a radius of a circle centered at the latitude and longitude of the transmitter. The height uncertainty may be given by a deviation from the height of the transmitter. The transmitter may send the message to at least one receiver in a wireless network. The transmitter may be a base station that may broadcast the message to terminals within its coverage. |
| US08897800B2 |
Network acquisition for wireless clients
In one embodiment, a method for facilitating access to a wireless network. A wireless client is operable to determine its current location, select a wireless network based on the location, and connect to the wireless network utilizing network information associated with the location. |
| US08897798B2 |
Methods and apparatus for radio resource allocation
Systems and techniques for scheduling of use of resources by wireless devices and allocation of resources among devices. Information is received relating to channel efficiency experienced by a user equipment and also to the channel efficiency experienced by other user equipments. The information may include channel gain. Scheduling and resource allocation are performed so as to provide service to each device while minimizing interference penalties imposed by devices on one another. Scheduling and resource allocation may be evaluated and conducted through a number of mechanisms, such as ranking users according to transmit power, ranking user equipments according to target signal to noise ratios, and evaluation of relative advantages to users with the evaluation being performed resource block by resource block. The various metrics take into account both advantages to a particular user equipment under consideration and detrimental effects on other user equipment. |
| US08897795B2 |
Method and apparatus for planning mobile switching centers in a wireless network
A method and apparatus for providing planning of a plurality of mobile switching centers in a wireless network are disclosed. For example, the method obtains input data, and determines a limit for at least one mobile switching center parameter in accordance with the input data. The method determines if the limit for the at least one mobile switching center parameter is exceeded and determines an optimal output for an objective function, wherein the objective function is based on a plurality of penalty factors, if the limit for the at least one mobile switching center parameter is exceeded. |
| US08897784B1 |
Processor for a base station control unit
There is provided a processor for a base station control unit, the base station control unit being associated with a plurality of antennas; the processor comprising a plurality of processing streams, each stream being suitable for generating signals for at least one user in a plurality of users; wherein any of the processing streams can be used to generate the signals for any user in the plurality of users and for transmission by any antenna in the plurality of antennas. |
| US08897783B2 |
Method for providing information in a cellular wireless communication system
The present invention relates to a method for providing information in a cellular wireless communication system, the method comprises: detecting a radio link failure (RLF) for a mobile station while connected to a first cell; re-establishing the connection in a second cell; and providing information about said radio link failure (RLF) only to cells supporting the same radio access technology (RAT) as said first cell and/or a third cell, wherein said third cell is the cell to which said mobile station was connected before said first cell. Furthermore, the invention also relates to a method in a mobile station, a method in a base station, a computer program, a computer program product, a mobile station device and a base station device. |
| US08897780B2 |
Managing energy consumption of base stations
A base station includes an emulation controller (20) configured to receive signals indicating that another base station in an active mode managing a cell, having a predetermined cell identity and coverage area, will go into an idle mode and no longer manage the cell, and to determine terminal activity in the cell. A baseband processing unit (18) is connected to the emulation controller (20) and configured to emulate the active mode of the other base station by taking over management of the cell, in at least part of its coverage area, using the same cell identity. |
| US08897775B2 |
Method and system for searching femtocell access points
A method of searching a femtocell access point includes: transmitting configuration/measurement information an operating frequency and a transmission power strength from multiple femtocell access points located within the macro cell to an OSM)/CPC server; and receiving, at the OSM/CPC server, the configuration/measurement information from the femtocell access points, and generating a femtocell access point list usable in a mobile terminal to provide the generated femtocell access point list to the mobile terminal. The method further includes selecting, at the mobile terminal, one femtocell access point from the femtocell access point list provided from the OSM/CPC server and accessing the selected femtocell access point. |
| US08897767B2 |
Parameter setting apparatus and parameter setting method
A parameter setting apparatus includes a memory, and a processor that executes a procedure in the memory, the procedure including, selecting and executes one of a plurality of optimization operations to optimize a control parameter of a mobile communication network in accordance with a common value function, in response to a state variable in each of a plurality of different areas in the mobile communication network, the common value function determining an action value of each optimization operation responsive to the state variable of the mobile communication network, determining a reward responsive to the state variable in each of the plurality of areas, and performing reinforcement learning to update the common value function in response to the reward determined on each area. |
| US08897766B2 |
System of edge byte caching for cellular networks
The present invention is a method and system that reduces the amount of data traffic across communication links in a cellular network. In this system, the cellular device of a user receives and stores state information about a byte of data. During the implementation of the method of this invention, when a user desires to retrieve data from the Network Core, tokens containing a description of the state information for the requested data are sent to the cellular device. The cellular device can then have these tokens resolved by a Node B cell site that has stored the requested data. This approach reduces the need to resend the data from the Network Core over communications links. Further, the cellular devices can freely move from cell site to cell site with little interruption or loss of information. |
| US08897765B2 |
Method and appratus for controlling signal transmission
A method and apparatus for controlling signal transmission is provided. The method includes determining whether a signal to noise ratio (SNR) between a first base station and a signal receiving node is less than a threshold, and controlling the first base station and a second base station to cooperatively transmit a signal to the signal receiving node in response to the SNR being less than the threshold. Further, the second base station is located in an adjacent cell to a cell containing the first base station. |
| US08897763B2 |
System and method for providing configurations of local network
A system for providing a user terminal with configurations of a local network is provided. The system includes an obtaining unit configured to obtain the configurations of the local network and a telephone number corresponding to the local network, a storage unit configured to store the obtained configurations and the obtained telephone number such that the obtained configurations and the obtained telephone number are associated with each other, a receiving unit configured to receive a request for the configurations from the user terminal, the request comprising the telephone number corresponding to the local network, a retrieving unit configured to retrieve the configurations associated with the received telephone number from the storage unit, and a response unit configured to respond the retrieved configurations to the user terminal. |
| US08897758B2 |
Portable device and method for controlling the same
A portable device includes: a communication unit configured to transmit and receive additional information corresponding to caller ID over a network; a storage unit configured to store the additional information; a sensor unit configured to detect at least one of a face and a gaze of a user; a display unit configured to display the additional information; and a controller configured to: receive an incoming call; detect the face of the user looking at the portable device; and display first additional information on the incoming call when the face is detected, wherein the first additional information is collected according to the caller ID of the incoming call. |
| US08897754B1 |
Ensuring voicemail delivery
Methods and products for ensuring that incoming voicemails are stored on a voicemail server are provided. One embodiment of a method includes receiving an incoming voicemail that is to be stored in connection with a user account, determining that a threshold capacity of storage allocation associated with storing the voicemail has been crossed; identifying a mobile device associated with the user account, and moving a given amount of data from the storage location to the mobile device. |
| US08897752B2 |
Pico-cell extension for cellular network
A pico-cell is located within a facility. The pico-cell has a wireless protocol for carrying calls placed to and from mobile devices in the facility. A call distributor is in communication with the pico-cell and handles calls carried by the pico-cell. The call distributor includes an embedded wireless switch for routing calls to and from mobile devices in the facility using the wireless protocol. |
| US08897751B2 |
Prevention of eavesdropping type of attack in hybrid communication system
Techniques are disclosed for use in securing communications in environments comprising hybrid communication systems. For example, a method comprises, in a hybrid communication system wherein at least one computing device is configured to selectively operate in a first communication mode or a second communication mode, preventing the at least one computing device from completing an attachment process in the first communication mode when it is determined that authentication data being used to authenticate the at least one computing device in the first communication mode was generated for an authentication process in the second communication mode. |
| US08897750B2 |
Recovery from aborted integrity protection change
A method, in a wireless communications device, comprising: receiving a new security mode configuration from a radio access network that is to replace an original security mode configuration as part of a security procedure; detecting, prior to completion of said security procedure, that a cell update message is to be sent to the network; transmitting a first cell update message to the network in accordance with the original security mode configuration; transmitting a second cell update message to the network in accordance with the new security mode configuration; receiving a cell update confirm message, the cell update confirm message sent by the network in accordance with a network determined security mode configuration; ascertaining if the network determined security mode configuration is either the original or new security mode configuration; and completing the cell update procedure in accordance with the ascertained security mode configuration. |
| US08897747B2 |
Long-term evolution (LTE) policy control and charging rules function (PCRF) selection
The PCRF Selection Function selects the PCRF for an IP-CAN session. In embodiments, the PCRF Selection Function is located in the HSS and/or the 3GPP AAA server. The PCRF Selection Function is only required to be located in the HSS if a Bearer Binding and Event Reporting Function (BBERF) is deployed in the serving gateway. In this case, the PCRF selection takes place at the time that the PDN Gateway is selected and returned by the HSS to the serving gateway over the HSS to MME interface (S6a). |
| US08897746B1 |
Method and system for synchronizing pre-paid account balance information between a network based server and a mobile station
Prepaid account balance of a mobile station user on the mobile station is synchronized with a prepaid account balance stored in a prepaid server. The mobile station receives messages indicating the prepaid account balance generated by the prepaid server via a communication link established by a wireless network system. The prepaid server determines elapsed time since the last message regarding the prepaid account and sends a new message indicating the prepaid account balance to the mobile station if a predetermined time has elapsed. The prepaid server's operations may be performed periodically by the prepaid server or performed when the mobile station is powered on from power off state or the mobile station to a service coverage area from a non-service coverage area. The new message showing the prepaid account balance is displayed on the mobile station upon receiving the new message. |
| US08897739B1 |
Distributed antenna system that provides information for a location based on pseudo-network identifiers
A distributed antenna system wirelessly receives an overhead signal having a network identifier. The antenna system replaces the network identifier with a first pseudo-network identifier and with a second pseudo-network identifier. The antenna system wirelessly transmits the network overhead signal having the first pseudo-network identifier from a first coverage antenna at a first location. The first pseudo-network identifier is associated with first information associated with the first location. The antenna system wirelessly transmits the network overhead signal having the second pseudo-network identifier from a second coverage antenna at a second location. The second pseudo-network identifier is associated with second information associated with the second location. User communication devices may receive and translate the pseudo-network identifiers into the information for their respective location. |
| US08897738B2 |
Mobile communication system and network device
A mobile communication system in which a home cell limits access from a first mobile station, and when the first mobile station communicating via a macro cell using the same frequency as the home cell enters a predetermined area near the home cell, the first mobile station is caused to perform handover to a different-frequency macro cell selected from among macro cells covering the predetermined area and using frequencies different from that used in the home cell. |
| US08897732B2 |
Broadcast receiving apparatus and broadcast receiving method
Provided are a broadcast receiving apparatus which simultaneously receives a plurality of channels using a single tuner and tunes to a channel without affecting other channels when changing a channel, and a broadcast receiving method thereof. The broadcast receiving apparatus includes a radio frequency (RF) receiver receiving RF broadcast signals of a plurality of channels; an intermediate frequency (IF) converter converting the RF broadcast signals of the plurality of channels into IF signals, respectively; a plurality of signal processors separately processing and outputting the converted IF signals; a noise generator generating a noise signal corresponding to the IF signals; and a controller performing control to output the noise signal instead of the IF signals when at least one of the plurality of channels is changed according to user's input. |
| US08897715B2 |
Cognitive radio
An apparatus configured to operate under cognitive radio principles. The apparatus includes a processor configured to perform spectrum sensing in the apparatus to produce spectrum sensing data; and first circuitry configured to share the spectrum sensing data with other apparata. |
| US08897712B2 |
Device, system and method of wireless communication via multiple antenna assemblies
Some demonstrative embodiments include devices, systems and/or methods of wireless communication via multiple antenna assemblies. For example, a device may include a wireless communication unit to transmit and receive signals via one or more quasi-omnidirectional antenna assemblies, wherein the wireless communication unit is to transmit, via each quasi-omnidirectional antenna assembly, a plurality of first transmissions, to receive, in response to the first transmissions, a plurality of second transmissions from another device via one or more of the quasi-omnidirectional antenna assemblies, and, based on the second transmissions, to select at least one selected transmit antenna assembly for transmitting to the other device and a selected receive antenna assembly for receiving transmissions from the other device. Other embodiments are described and claimed. |
| US08897706B1 |
Bluetooth wideband scan mode
Different scan modes are provided for Bluetooth devices. In at least some embodiments, a narrowband scanning mode looks for signal energy on individual transmission frequencies at a time. By looking for signal energy rather than decoding transmitted packets, at least some of the components in a Bluetooth device can remain in an idle or rest state. A midband scanning mode looks for signal energy across multiple different frequencies at a time. Again, by looking for signal energy across multiple different frequencies rather than decoding transmitted packets, at least some of the components in a Bluetooth device can remain in an idle or rest state. A wideband scanning mode looks for signal energies across all relevant frequencies at a time. At least some embodiments enable a Bluetooth device to switch between scanning modes. |
| US08897705B2 |
Data transmitting system and data transmitting method
A data transmitting system, comprising: a processor; a first transmitting interface; a first transmitting apparatus; a second transmitting interface; a second transmitting apparatus and a signal transmitting line. The processor enters a power down mode when the first transmitting apparatus does not output data. The first transmitting generates a data transmitting indication signal when the processor is operated in the power down mode and the first transmitting apparatus has data to be output. The second transmitting apparatus generates a recovery signal according to the data transmitting indication signal, and transmits the recovery signal to the processor via the second transmitting interface. Thereby the processor goes back to a normal mode to control the first transmitting apparatus to output data. |
| US08897704B1 |
Method and apparatus to enable use of motion to associate devices
A method and apparatus to provide easier pairing based on motion data is described. The method of associating two devices comprises receiving a signal to enter into pairing mode, and detecting a motion indicating a pairing. The method further comprises establishing a secure connection with another device for pairing, the secure connection established based on the motion, and exchanging data. |
| US08897702B2 |
Mobility measurement using CSI-RS in additional carrier
A system and a method for a mobility measurement in a wireless network comprises determining at a wireless terminal a channel power estimation ES for a carrier signal based on Channel State Information Reference Signals (CSI-RS), and determining at the wireless terminal a noise plus interference I+N for the carrier signal based on a muted CSI-RS. The carrier signal is an additional carrier without the presence of a Cell-specific Reference Signal. In one exemplary embodiment, the periodicity of the CSI-RS is selected to be 1, 2 or 3 subframes. |
| US08897701B2 |
Efficient method to overcome frequency errors within four time slots
A system and a method in which a first frequency correction is determined for a frequency of a local oscillator with respect to a frequency of a first time slot of a received signal. The first frequency correction is applied to adjust the frequency of the local oscillator. A second frequency correction is determined for the frequency of the local oscillator with respect to a frequency of a second time slot of the received signal. The second frequency correction is applied to adjust the frequency of the local oscillator. A third frequency correction is determined for the frequency of the local oscillator with respect to a frequency of a third time slot and a fourth time slot of the received signal, and the third frequency correction is applied to adjust the frequency of the local oscillator. |
| US08897700B2 |
Distance measurement using EHF signals
A system for sensing proximity using EHF signals may include a communication circuit configured to transmit via a transducer an EM signal at an EHF frequency, and a proximity sensing circuit configured to sense a nearby transducer field-modifying object by detecting characteristics of a signal within the communication circuit. A system for determining distance using EHF signals may include a detecting circuit coupled to a transmitting communication circuit and a receiving communication circuit, both communication circuits being mounted on a first surface. The transmitting communication circuit may transmit a signal toward a second surface, and the receiving communication circuit may receive a signal relayed from the second surface. The detecting circuit may determine distance between the first surface and a second surface based on propagation characteristics of the signals. |
| US08897696B2 |
Method and apparatus of using a relay station to assist processing of requests from user ends
A method uses a relay station to assist processing of requests from user ends. The relay station acquires and monitors channel resource information received from a base station. Upon receiving a request from the UEs via the channel resource, the relay station sends the request received to the base station if it detects no response from the base station to the request. An apparatus uses a relay station to assist processing of requests from UEs. A channel resource acquisition unit acquires channel resource information from the base station. A user monitoring unit monitors the channel resource acquired by the channel resource acquisition unit and for receiving requests sent from the UEs. A base station monitoring unit monitors response from the base station to the requests upon receiving the requests sent from the UEs. A transmitting unit sends the request to the base station when no response from the base station to the request is detected. |
| US08897692B2 |
Image forming system which controls image formation on a bundle of sheets to be bound by a ring bookbinding section
An image forming system includes: a ring bookbinding section which perform a ring bookbinding to a bundle of sheets by using a binder provided with a spine portion and a plurality of finger portions; and a judging section, wherein a last page is firstly fed immediately after job initiation and, subsequently after having fed the last page, image formation based on the image data is initiated, when the judging section judges that an image is not formed on the last page, and wherein all of the image data is firstly acquired completely after job initiation, subsequently the last page is fed and formed image thereon, and then image formation of remaining pages is carried out, when the judging section judges that image is formed on the last page. |
| US08897689B2 |
Image forming apparatus and image forming information processing apparatus
An image forming apparatus has an image forming information processor to process image forming information and an image forming unit to form an image on a recording medium by forming a toner image using colored-toner and a toner image using glossy toner based on the image forming information processed by the image forming information processor. The image forming unit forms a glossy image on the recording medium based on glossy toner image forming information, in which the glossy image is formable on the recording medium using the colored-toner toner image alone, or a glossy image is formed on the recording medium by forming a colored-toner toner image using colored-toner based on the colored-toner image forming information, and then forming the glossy toner image on the colored-toner toner image as a top layer of the glossy image based on the glossy toner image forming information. |
| US08897686B2 |
Fixing device and image forming apparatus
A fixing device includes a heat assembly including an endless belt, a heat source, an attachment member having an attachment surface and first and second side surfaces, and a slide sheet having first and second end portions that are respectively fixed to a first fixing portion at the first side surface and a second fixing portion at the second side surface, the slide sheet having a larger length from the first end portion to the second end portion than a length of a path of the attachment member extending from the first fixing portion to the second fixing portion through the first side surface, the attachment surface, and the second side surface; and a pressure roller that presses the outer surface of the endless belt to the attachment surface. |
| US08897680B2 |
Image forming apparatus
An image forming apparatus includes: a toner supply section that supplies toner to a plurality of developing sections; a carrier supply section that supplies carrier to the plurality of developing sections; and a control section that controls an operation of the carrier supply section. The carrier supply section includes: a carrier housing section; a carrier distributing section that receives a predetermined amount of carrier that has freely fallen from the carrier housing section and guides the predetermined amount of carrier to each of the plurality of developing sections; a support frame section that slidably supports the carrier distributing section; and a vibration exciter section that vibrates the carrier distributing section. |
| US08897678B2 |
Toner replenishing device having a coil spring and spherical member at end of coil spring for loosening toner and image forming apparatus provided therewith
A toner replenishing device includes a toner conveying portion, a conveying member, a toner loosening member and a swinging member. The toner conveying portion has a vertical conveying portion for vertically conveying toner, and a horizontal conveying portion for horizontally conveying the toner. The conveying member is disposed in the horizontal conveying portion, and has a shaft member and a projecting portion formed around the shaft member. The toner loosening member is disposed in the vertical conveying portion to be swingable up and down. The swinging member is contactable with the conveying member and the toner loosening member. The swinging member swings up and down by a change in a contact portion with respect to the conveying member between the shaft member and the projecting portion, as the conveying member rotates. The toner loosening member swings up and down as the swinging member swings. |
| US08897677B2 |
Developer transporting device and image forming apparatus
A developer transporting device includes a transporting device body having an inlet, an inlet cover member that opens and closes the inlet, a container having an outlet, an outlet cover member that opens and closes the outlet, a restraining member that restrains an opening movement of the inlet cover member, and a releasing member that is capable of releasing the inlet cover member from the state in which the opening movement is restrained. The restraining member restrains the opening movement of the inlet cover member when the outlet cover member is closed. The releasing member releases the inlet cover member from the state in which the opening movement is restrained when the outlet cover member is open. |
| US08897676B2 |
Image forming apparatus
An image forming apparatus includes an image bearing member, a developing apparatus and a toner container which replenishes the developing apparatus with toner. The developing apparatus includes a first conveyance member having a first rotational shaft and a toner replenishment port. The toner container includes a second conveyance member having a second rotational shaft and a toner discharge port. The developing apparatus and the toner container are assembled in such a manner that the first rotational shaft and the second rotational shaft are in mutually perpendicular directions, and the toner replenishment port and the toner discharge port are mutually overlapping in a vertical direction. The second conveyance member rotates in a direction whereby the toner is discharged from the toner discharge port to the toner replenishment port at a position on an upstream side of the toner replenishment port in terms of the toner conveyance direction. |
| US08897674B2 |
Charge member, charge device and image forming apparatus
A charge member is positioned in contact with an image carrier and charges a surface of the image carrier. The charge member includes a support body, an elastic layer having conductivity, which is formed on the support body; and a first surface treatment layer, which contains isocyanate compound and polycarbonate compound, is formed on the elastic layer. Residual potential of the charge member in 0.1 [seconds] after corona discharge at a voltage of 6.0 [kV] is 12.16 [V] or less. |
| US08897673B2 |
Photosensitive drum assembly and process cartridge having the same
A photosensitive drum assembly and a process cartridge and a process cartridge having an improved structure in which a protrusion for receiving a driving force transmitted from a main body of an image forming apparatus may not be easily worn or damaged. The photosensitive drum assembly that is capable of being combined with a driving shaft including a twisted hole with a non-circular cross-section having a plurality of corners, includes: a support disposed at one side of the photosensitive drum; and an insertion body disposed at one side of the support and including a plurality of protrusions that are capable of being inserted in the twisted hole, wherein at least portions of each of the plurality of protrusions based on a cross-section of each protrusion that is perpendicular to the driving shaft, closely contacts two side surfaces of the twisted hole that constitute one of the plurality of corners of the twisted hole, respectively. |
| US08897672B2 |
Image forming apparatus capable of suppressing belt walk
An image forming apparatus includes a belt stretched and wound around a driving roller and multiple driven rollers; multiple image formation units arranged in a running direction of the belt including photoconductors to form toner images of different colors; multiple transfer rollers opposed to the photoconductors via the belt; an engagement/disengagement device to bring at least one of the multiple transfer rollers in contact with and separate from the belt in accordance with an image formation mode; a steering controller to correct displacement of the belt in a widthwise direction by inclining one of the multiple driven rollers in a prescribed direction as a steering roller not to change a perimeter of the belt at least in a first image formation mode in which all of the multiple transfer rollers contact the belt; at least one position adjustment roller; and a belt position adjuster. |
| US08897671B2 |
Image formation apparatus
An image formation apparatus includes a driving source configured to supply a rotational driving force in a predetermined direction, a particular developing unit having a developing roller and accommodating particular color developer, a first gear configured to receive the driving force of the driving source, a second gear configured to transmit the driving force to the developing roller, a particular intermediate gear configured to be engaged with the first and the second gears. A rotational center of the particular intermediate gear is arranged on an upstream side in a moving direction of teeth of the second gear, and a translation member is configured to linearly move between a first position where the particular intermediate gear engages with the first and second gears, and a second position where the particular intermediate gear disengages from the particular intermediate gear. |
| US08897668B2 |
Cleaning device and image forming apparatus including the same
A cleaning device includes first to third cleaning members that clean a surface of an endless belt that is looped over rollers including a driving roller. The first cleaning member is brought into contact with and separated from the surface at a predetermined timing. The second cleaning member is disposed upstream of the first cleaning member and downstream of the driving roller in a movement direction of the endless belt. The second cleaning member is in contact with the endless belt so as to prevent a tension variation of the endless belt caused by the first cleaning member from affecting the driving roller. The third cleaning member is disposed downstream of the first cleaning member. A contact state in which the third cleaning member is in contact with the endless belt is switched from a first contact state to a second contact state so as to reduce the tension variation. |
| US08897665B2 |
Photosensitive member unit having electrode and image forming apparatus using the same
A photosensitive member unit includes a photosensitive member, first and second side walls, a rotatable body and a unit electrode. The photosensitive member defines an axis extending in an axial direction, and has first and second end portions in the axial direction. The first side wall rotatably supports the first end portion and the second side wall rotatably supports the second end portion. The rotatable body is rotatably disposed between the first and the second side walls. The rotatable body confronts and contacts the photosensitive member in a prescribed direction perpendicular to the axial direction to be movable in the prescribed direction. The unit electrode is provided at the first side wall and supports the rotatable body, the first side wall supporting the unit electrode to permit the unit electrode to be movable in the prescribed direction in conjunction with movement of the rotatable body in the axial direction. |
| US08897661B2 |
Systems and methods for implementing variable speed toner removal in an intermediate transfer element cleaning device
A system and method are provided for sensing occasions of operations in image forming devices that result in larger than normal volumes of residual toner needing to be removed from an intermediate transfer element by an intermediate transfer element toner cleaning system. Based on this sensing, an operating speed for an auger component in the intermediate transfer element toner cleaning system may be temporarily increased. This temporary increase in operating speed may address the intermittent increased toner volume conditions without introducing unacceptable physical configuration changes, or undesirable operating characteristic modifications, for the intermediate transfer element toner cleaning system. Upon sensing an actual or anticipated higher-than-normal amount of toner to be removed, a signal is sent to temporarily increase a speed of operation of toner removal components in the intermediate transfer element toner cleaning system to account for the temporary increase. |
| US08897660B2 |
Image forming apparatus and method
In an image forming apparatus, a control circuit rotationally drives a development roller at a predetermined rotation speed during a development process, in which the development roller has depression portions and land portions on a circumferential surface. The depression portions and the land portions are oblique grooves in the surface. While the development roller is rotationally driven, the control circuit controls the predetermined rotation speed such that a crossing angle approximates 90°. The crossing angle is formed by a screen line in the electrostatic latent image on the circumferential surface of the latent image support and an area where the land portion of the development roller substantially passes over the circumferential surface of the latent image support. |
| US08897656B2 |
Synchronizing phases of multiple opitcal channels
A system may include one or more devices that may be used to simultaneously measure and modulate phases of a many-channel optical system relative to a high frequency optical carrier. This device may be constructed using analog-to-digital converters, comparators, and distributed timers. A digital processor may be used to recover phase information from the measurements and to calculate an error compared to desired phase. The processor may then apply feedback to a phase modulator to correct the phase. |
| US08897655B2 |
Adaptive constellations and decision regions for an optical transport system
An optical transport system in which (i) an optical transmitter is configured to adaptively change an operative constellation to use a constellation that provides optimal performance characteristics for the present optical-link conditions and/or (ii) an optical receiver is configured to change shapes of the decision regions corresponding to an operative constellation to adapt them to the type of signal distortions experienced by a transmitted optical signal in the optical link between the transmitter and receiver. Under some optical-link conditions, the optical receiver might use a decision-region configuration in which a decision region corresponding to a first constellation point includes an area that is closer in distance to a different second constellation point than to the first constellation point. |
| US08897654B1 |
System and method for generating a frequency modulated linear laser waveform
A system for generating a frequency modulated linear laser waveform includes a single frequency laser generator to produce a laser output signal. An electro-optical modulator modulates the frequency of the laser output signal to define a linear triangular waveform. An optical circulator passes the linear triangular waveform to a band-pass optical filter to filter out harmonic frequencies created in the waveform during modulation of the laser output signal, to define a pure filtered modulated waveform having a very narrow bandwidth. The optical circulator receives the pure filtered modulated laser waveform and transmits the modulated laser waveform to a target. |
| US08897650B2 |
Sending/receiving system, sending/receiving method, and non-transitory computer-readable medium
A sending/receiving system includes first and second sending/receiving apparatuses. The first sending/receiving apparatus includes a first sending section that sends link establishment information via first transmission channels. The second sending/receiving apparatus includes a second sending section, link establishing sections, and a controller. The second sending section sends link establishment information to the first sending/receiving apparatus via a second transmission channel. Each of the link establishing sections is provided for a corresponding one of the first transmission channels and establishes a link in the corresponding first transmission channel on the basis of the link establishment information. When links have been established in all of the first transmission channels by the link establishing sections, the controller causes the second sending section to send the link establishment information in order to cause the first sending/receiving apparatus to establish a link in the second transmission channel. |
| US08897646B2 |
Optical add/drop multiplexer
An optical add/drop multiplexer including one or more optical drop multiplexers connected in free space or fused by optical fiber pigtails, a wavelength blocker with an input port connected to an output port of the optical drop multiplexer through the fusion of the fiber pigtails, one or more optical add multiplexers connected in free space or fused by fiber pigtails, a digital signal processor, an analog-to-digital signal converter, a digital-to-analog converter, and a plurality of electronic control and feedback loops for tuning and scanning an optical wavelength. |
| US08897643B2 |
Control of token holding in multi-token optical network
A node (260, 50) for a multi-token optical communications network has optical channels between the node and other nodes, each channel having a token (T1, T2, T3), passed between nodes, to indicate that a corresponding optical channel is available for transmission during a token holding time. The node has a transmitter (280) for transmitting packets over the optical channels, a buffer (170, 270) for queuing packets before transmission, and a transmit controller (170, 290) configured to control the buffer to forward an initial packet or packets from the buffer to the transmitter once a token has been received. The transmit controller determines how much of the token holding time remains after the transmission of the initial packet or packets, and then controls the buffer to forward a further packet according to the remaining token holding time. A maximum packet delay can be reduced where there is asymmetric traffic. A token holding time can be different for different nodes. |
| US08897642B2 |
Remote node and network architecture and data transmission method for a fiber-optic network, especially for low bit-rate data transmission
The invention relates to a remote node architecture for a fiber-optic network, especially for low bit-rate data transmission, the fiber-optic network comprising a central node and a plurality of remote nodes serially connected to each other or to the central node, respectively, the central node and the remote node being capable of communicating by means of digital optical signals created by the central node or a respective remote node, each digital optical signal comprising a data frame. |
| US08897640B2 |
Digital subcarrier optical network utilizing digital subcarrier cross-connects with increased energy efficiency
The present invention provides reduced power dissipation and other benefits at the optical transport network layer by utilizing a digital subcarrier optical network comprising multiple digital subcarrier cross-connect switches. This offers several advantages for optical networks, including spectral efficiency and robustness against signal corruption and consumption of less energy than traditional TDM-based electric switches (OTN/SONET/SDH). |
| US08897636B2 |
Optical network terminal
Disclosed herein is an optical network terminal. The Optical Network Terminal (ONT) includes a laser diode for generating an optical signal to be transmitted to the OLT. A laser diode driving unit supplies driving current required for light emission of the laser diode. A driving current detection unit detects the driving current. A light emission time determination unit calculates a light emission time of the laser diode depending on a time for which the driving current is detected, and outputs a power control signal including information about results of a comparison between the light emission time of the laser diode and a preset reference time. A power supply voltage control unit interrupts a power supply voltage of the laser diode driving unit when the power control signal includes information indicating that the light emission time of the laser diode is longer than the reference time. |
| US08897627B2 |
Carburetor, carburetor for MOCVD using same, center rod for use in the carburetor or carburetor for MOCVD, method for dispersing carrier gas, and method for vaporizing carrier gas
Provided is a vaporizer that can efficiently cool a carrier gas, improve the effect of preventing a material from being clogged near the outlet port of a gas passage, contribute to prolonging the timing of maintenance and improving operating efficiency, and exert more uniform dispersing effect. A vaporizer includes: a center rod inserted into a carrier gas introduction hole formed in a disperser to form the gas passage in cooperation with the inner wall of the carrier gas introduction hole; a cooling part disposed on the outer circumferential side of the carrier gas introduction hole in the disperser to cool the inside of the gas passage; a cooling member insertion hole formed across almost the entire length of the center rod along the axial direction of the center rod; and a cooling member disposed in the inside of the cooling member insertion hole to cool the center rod. |
| US08897626B2 |
Non-linear rewind of video programs
A rewind or fast forward operation may be performed in which a series of reduced-in-size images from previous frames in a video program may be presented to the viewer. In one implementation, a device may obtain sampled images corresponding to select frames of the video program and output a series of the sampled images in an order in which a sampling time corresponding to each of the sampled images in the video program monotonically increases or decreases in the output series. Differences in the sample times between successive images in the series of sampled images may not be uniform. The device may receive a selection of one of the images in the output series of sampled images and change a current output location of the video program to a location corresponding to the sampling time of the selected image. |
| US08897616B2 |
Apparatus and method for upconverting content data
A signal processing apparatus includes an upconversion processing unit upconverting content data stored in a data storage unit, and an upconversion control unit determining an upconversion-target component and the upconversion processing order of components based on component attribute information such as a component type or a tag value of each component of the content data such as elementary streams. |
| US08897613B2 |
Flat drop cable
An example fiber optic cable includes an outer jacket having an elongated transverse cross-sectional profile defining a major axis and a minor axis. The transverse cross-sectional profile has a maximum width that extends along the major axis and a maximum thickness that extends along the minor axis. The maximum width of the transverse cross-sectional profile is longer than the maximum thickness of the transverse cross-sectional profile. The outer jacket also defines first and second separate passages that extend through the outer jacket along a lengthwise axis of the outer jacket. The second passage has a transverse cross-sectional profile that is elongated in an orientation extending along the major axis of the outer jacket. The fiber optic cable also includes a plurality of optical fibers positioned within the first passage a tensile strength member positioned within the second passage. |
| US08897608B2 |
High sampling resolution DTS system and method
A method of improving sampling resolution in a distributed temperature measurement system using a fiber optic distributed sensor by means of programmed delayed trigger signals to a laser light source in order to improve the spatial resolution of such systems. |
| US08897607B2 |
Tunable RF filter device using optical waveguides with dispersion slopes of opposite signs and related methods
A tunable Radio Frequency (RF) filter device includes a tunable optical source configured to generate an optical carrier signal, and a modulator coupled to the tunable optical source and configured to modulate the optical carrier signal with an RF input signal. The tunable RF filter device may also include first and second optical waveguides coupled to the modulator and having first and second dispersion slopes of opposite sign, and an optical-to-electrical converter coupled to the first and second optical waveguides and configured to generate an RF output signal with a frequency notch therein based upon the tunable optical source. |
| US08897604B2 |
Image quality analysis for searches
Image analysis includes: determining, using one or more processors, an image quality score associated with an image, including: determining a foreground and a background in the image; calculating a set of one or more characteristic parameters of the image based on the determined foreground and background; calculating the image quality score based at least in part on the set of characteristic parameters, wherein calculating the image quality score comprises using an image quality computation model that has been pre-trained; and in response to a search query, generating a set of search results that includes a set the images, wherein inclusion of the images or ranking of the search results is based at least in part on image quality scores associated with the set of images. |
| US08897600B1 |
Method and system for determining vanishing point candidates for projective correction
Method, system, device and computer program product for determining vanishing point candidates of a text portion in an image document distorted by perspective. The method includes the steps of image binarization, connected component analysis, estimating a number of text lines in a Cartesian coordinate system, transforming the text lines to data points in a homogenous coordinate system, assigning a confidence level to the data points, grouping a number of data points into a priority sample array, clustering the data points in the priority sample array into a number of sample groups and assigning a group confidence value to each sample group. A RANSAC algorithm is applied to determine among the data points a set of inliers, initiated with the sample group having the highest group confidence value. A vanishing point candidate is determined from the text lines corresponding to the set of inliers. |
| US08897595B2 |
Adaptive image acquisition for multiframe reconstruction
Multiframe reconstruction combines a set of acquired images into a reconstructed image. Here, which images to acquire are selected based at least in part on the content of previously acquired images. In one approach, a set of at least three images of an object are acquired at different acquisition settings. For at least one of the images in the set, the acquisition setting for the image is determined based at least in part on the content of previously acquired images. Multiframe image reconstruction is applied to the set of acquired images to synthesize a reconstructed image of the object. |
| US08897591B2 |
Method and apparatus for video coding using adaptive loop filter
Methods for reducing blocking artifacts at the boundary between adjacent blocks reconstructed from a frame of compressed video information are disclosed herein. The frame includes a prediction stage parameter and a residual error attribute with respect to at least one of the blocks. One method includes reconstructing the at least one block based on the prediction stage parameter and the residual error attribute, categorizing the at least one reconstructed block into one of a plurality of categories based on the prediction stage parameter and the residual error attribute, identifying a filter strength value for the category in which the at least one reconstructed block is categorized based on at least one of the prediction stage parameter or the residual error attribute associated with that category, and filtering the boundary adjacent to the at least one reconstructed block using the identified filter strength value. |
| US08897585B2 |
Prediction of pixels in image coding
A method and arrangement for prediction of pixel values in an image decoder. In an image decoder, a reference vector which is provided by an image encoder is provided 500. An initiation region of pixels is determined 502, which corresponds to a reference region of pixels at the image encoder. The initiation region is spatially displaced in relation to the prediction region according to the reference vector, and a part of the initiation region overlaps a part of the prediction region. Pixel values are assigned 504 to pixels of the prediction region, whose corresponding pixel values in the initiation region are known. Pixel values of the overlapping region of the initiation region are assigned 506 to the corresponding pixels in the prediction region, the pixel values being assigned 504. By determining an overlapping initiation region based on a dynamic reference vector, characteristic variations close to the prediction region are possible to utilise when predicting images, which increases the accuracy of the prediction. |
| US08897583B2 |
Image decoding apparatus for decoding a target block by referencing information of an already decoded block in a neighborhood of the target block
To provide an image decoding apparatus that suppresses overhead of parallel processing to improve parallelization efficiency and reduce circuit costs, while solving neighboring macroblock dependencies. The image decoding apparatus (100) includes first and second decoding circuits (101, 102) having a transfer unit that transfers right neighborhood information or left neighborhood information, and first and second transfer completion detection units (104, 105) that respectively detect whether or not the left neighborhood information or the right neighborhood information has been transferred to the first and second decoding circuits (101, 102). Each of the first and second decoding circuits (101, 102) decodes a decoding target macroblock positioned at an edge of a region, when the transfer of the left neighborhood information or the right neighborhood information is detected. A boundary line between regions is orthogonal to a decoding direction corresponding to an order in which macroblocks adjacent to each other are sequentially decoded. |
| US08897578B2 |
Image recognition device, image recognition method, and integrated circuit
An image recognition device that improves the accuracy of generic object recognition compared with conventional technologies by reducing the influence of the position, size, background clutter and the like of an object that is targeted to be recognized in the input image by the generic object recognition. The image recognition device performs a generic object recognition and includes: a segmenting unit configured to segment an input image into a plurality of regions in accordance with meanings extracted from content of the input image; a generating unit configured to compute feature data for each of the plurality of regions and generate feature data of the input image reflecting the computed feature data; and a checking unit configured to check whether or not a recognition-target object is present in the input image in accordance with the feature data of the input image. |
| US08897577B2 |
Image recognition device and method of recognizing image thereof
An image recognition device in accordance with the inventive concept may include an input vector extraction part extracting an input vector from an input image; a compression vector conversion part converting the input vector into a compression vector using a projection vector; a training parameter generation part receiving a training vector to generate a training parameter using a projection vector obtained through a folding operation of the training vector; and an image classification part classifying the compression vector using the training vector to output image recognition data. |
| US08897576B2 |
Image processing device, method and program
Candidate points belonging to a predetermined structure are extracted from image data DV. A shape model which represents a known shape of the predetermined structure and is formed by model labels having a predetermined connection relationship is obtained. Corresponding points corresponding to the model labels are selected from the extracted candidate points under the following constraints: (a) each model label is mapped with only one of the candidate points or none of the candidate points; (b) each candidate point is mapped with only one of the model labels or none of the model labels; and (c) when a path between two candidate points which are mapped with each pair of the model labels connected with each other is determined, each candidate point which is mapped with none of the model labels is included in only one of the determined paths or none of the determined paths. |
| US08897575B2 |
Multi-scale, perspective context, and cascade features for object detection
Systems and methods for object detection are presented herein. Embodiments of the present invention utilizing a cascade feature, one or more features at different scales, one or more multi-scale features in combination with a perspective feature, or combinations thereof to detect an object of interest in an input image. In embodiments, the various features are used to train classifiers. In embodiments, the trained classifiers are used in detecting an object of interest in one or more input images. |
| US08897569B2 |
Image enlargement device, image enlargement program, memory medium on which an image enlargement program is stored, and display device
The disclosed image enlargement device is provided with: an image enlargement filter (1) that enlarges an input image, generating a first enlarged image; a first wavelet transformation unit (2) that performs a wavelet transformation on the first enlarged image; a second wavelet transformation unit (3) that performs a wavelet transformation on the first enlarged image; and an accentuation processing unit (6, 7, 8, 10) that performs an accentuation process using a first edge signal (EDGE_CDF9/7), generated from the output of the first wavelet transformation unit, and a second edge signal (EDGE_Harr), generated from the output of the second wavelet transformation unit. The first wavelet transformation unit and the second wavelet transformation unit perform different wavelet transformations. |
| US08897567B2 |
Information processor, device, and information processing system
A color determination unit determines color information of a light-emitting body of an input device. A transmitter unit communicates the determined color information to the input device. A recording unit records a history of the color information determined by the color determination unit. A color candidate determination unit determines one or more candidates of emitted color of the light-emitting body, using the color information recorded in the recording unit. An acknowledging unit acknowledges from the user a command to determine a candidate of emitted light, and the color determination unit determines the color information of the light-emitting body accordingly. |
| US08897566B2 |
Image identity scale calculation stystem
This image identity scale calculation system can calculate an identity scale representing a degree of identity of two images in consideration of identification capability and robustness. An image feature comparison unit is supplied with hierarchical quantization index codes, which are encodings allowing unique specification of quantization indexes of a plurality of hierarchies calculated by hierarchical quantization for each quantization target region of the two images, and selects a quantization index set used for comparison as a comparing quantization index set based on additionally supplied information in accordance with a previously defined hierarchical quantization method. Then, the image feature comparison unit compares the hierarchical quantization index codes of the two images by using the comparing quantization index set, and calculates an identity scale of the two images. |
| US08897562B2 |
Adaptive trimap propagation for video matting
Methods and apparatus for adaptive trimap propagation. Methods are described that allow a trimap to be propagated from one frame to the next in a temporally coherent way. A radius-based method propagates automatically computed local trimap radii from frame to frame. A mesh-based method employs pins on the binary segmentation boundary and a mesh generated for the unknown region; the pins are tracked from one frame to the next according to an optical flow technique, the mesh is deformed from one frame to the next according to the movement of the pins, and the adaptive trimap is then warped according to the deformed mesh. These methods can be used separately, or the first method can be used to propagate some regions of the adaptive trimap, and the second method can be used to propagate other regions of the adaptive trimap. |
| US08897557B2 |
Method of auto-determination a three-dimensional image format
A method of auto-determination a three-dimensional image format includes a processor receiving an image signal; the processor capturing a plurality of frames from the image signal; the processor determining whether a red sub-pixel gray-level, a green sub-pixel gray-level, and a blue sub-pixel gray-level of each pixel of a right half side of each frame of the plurality of frames are the same; and the processor determining that the image signal has a two-dimensional image plus depth information three-dimensional image format when the red sub-pixel gray-level, the green sub-pixel gray-level, and the blue sub-pixel gray-level of the pixel are the same. |
| US08897556B2 |
Photo chapters organization
In embodiments of photo chapters organization, a photo analyzer is implemented to receive a set of digital photos, and generate a photo sequence of the digital photos based on a respective timestamp of each photo. The photo sequence includes a first photo based on an earliest timestamp and a last photo based on a latest timestamp. The photo analyzer creates a photo chapter that includes the first photo. To organize the digital photos into photo chapters, the photo analyzer can determine whether a next photo in the photo sequence is to be added to a current photo chapter, and then either adds the next photo to the current photo chapter, or creates a next photo chapter that includes the next photo. The photo analyzer can repeat to organize each next photo in the photo sequence into the photo chapters until the last photo is included in a last photo chapter. |
| US08897553B2 |
Image comparison using color histograms
Methods, apparatus and articles of manufacture for image comparison using color histograms are disclosed. An example method disclosed herein to compare a first image and a second image comprises obtaining a first color histogram for a first set of pixels sampled from the first image, obtaining a second color histogram for a second set of pixels sampled from the second image, determining a comparison metric based on differences between bin values of the first color histogram and adjusted bin values of the second color histogram, and determining whether the first image and the second image match based on the comparison metric. |
| US08897546B2 |
Semi-global stereo correspondence processing with lossless image decomposition
A method for disparity cost computation for a stereoscopic image is provided that includes computing path matching costs for external paths of at least some boundary pixels of a tile of a base image of the stereoscopic image, wherein a boundary pixel is a pixel at a boundary between the tile and a neighboring tile in the base image, storing the path matching costs for the external paths, computing path matching costs for pixels in the tile, wherein the stored path matching costs for the external paths of the boundary pixels are used in computing some of the path matching costs of some of the pixels in the tile, and computing aggregated disparity costs for the pixels in the tile, wherein the path matching costs computed for each pixel are used to compute the aggregated disparity costs for the pixel. |
| US08897543B1 |
Bundle adjustment based on image capture intervals
Methods, systems, and computer program products are provided for determining camera parameters and three dimensional locations of features from a plurality of images of a geographic area. These include, determining a correlation between a pose of a first camera and a pose of a second camera, generating one or more constraints incorporating the correlation, and determining at least one of camera parameters and three dimensional locations of features using a plurality of constraints including the generated one or more constraints. The first camera and the second camera have substantially rigid positions and poses relative to each other. A strength of the correlation is based at least upon a time interval between respective image captures by the first camera and the second camera. |
| US08897536B2 |
Molecular block-matching method for gel image analysis
A method for analysis of 2-D gel images obtained using electrophoresis. More particularly, a molecular block-matching method for establishing the correspondence between protein spots in a diagnostic-test image and protein spots in a reference image. Individual protein spot matching is performed, thereby removing the need for alignment of the entire reference and test images and permitting automatic labeling of individual protein spots. The method for analysis of 2-D gel images is fully automated, thus making it ideally suited for protein information retrieval systems. |
| US08897535B2 |
System and method for generating a 2D image from a tomosynthesis data set
A 2D mammogram image is synthesized from at least one of tomosynthesis projection images and/or the tomosynthesis reconstructed image data. In a simplest form, the mammogram may be synthesized by selecting one of the tomosynthesis projection images for display as a synthesized mammogram. Other methods of synthesizing a mammogram include re-projecting and filtering projection data and/or reconstructed data. The synthesized mammogram is advantageously displayed together with at least a portion of the reconstructed data to aid in review of the reconstructed data. The present invention thus provides a familiar image which may be used to facilitate review of a tomosynthesis data set. |
| US08897533B2 |
Medical image processing apparatus
According to one embodiment, a medical image processing apparatus includes an image acquiring unit, a detection algorithm storage, an abnormal area detecting unit and an outputting unit. The image acquiring unit acquires image data of a corpse. The detection algorithm storage stores an abnormal area detection algorithm. The abnormal area detecting unit uses the abnormal area detection algorithm to the image data of the corpse and analyzes the image data to detect an abnormal area. The outputting unit outputs information of the abnormal area detected by the abnormal area detecting unit. |
| US08897530B2 |
Method, image processing device and computed tomography system for determining a proportion of necrotic tissue as well as computer program product with program sections for determining a proportion of necrotic tissue
An image processing device and method are disclosed for determining a proportion of necrotic tissue in a defined tissue area of an object under examination based on a high-energy image dataset and a low-energy image dataset, each recorded by way of x-ray measurements with different x-ray energies after a contrast medium has been applied to the object under examination. In at least one embodiment of the method, a virtual contrast medium image is determined from the high-energy image dataset and the low-energy image dataset and a segmentation image dataset is created, by the area of tissue being segmented. The segmentation result is transferred into the virtual contrast medium image for segmenting the tissue area in the virtual contrast medium image. Finally an analysis of values of the pixels lying in the segmented area is undertaken for identifying pixels which are to be assigned to necrotic tissue. |
| US08897529B2 |
Apparatus, system, and method for non-convex prior image constrained compressed sensing
Methods, systems, and apparatuses for non-convex prior image constrained compressed sensing are disclosed. In one embodiment, a method is provided for iterative image reconstruction for medical imaging applications which employ a prior image to constrain the reconstruction process allowing the use of fewer high SNR samples or complete but lower SNR samples. The objective function made use of non-convex compressed sensing methods during the iterative reconstruction process. Applications include, but are not limited to radiation dose reduction and fast image acquisition. |
| US08897526B2 |
Method, system, and computer-readable medium for uncovering and planning an accurate dental preparation
A procedure for creating a dental prosthetic includes registering three-dimensional (3D) dental impression image data of a tooth restoration site and 3D x-ray image data of the tooth restoration site, and removing image data corresponding to soft tissue in the tooth restoration site from the 3D dental impression image data. A system for producing a dental prosthetic includes at least one processor operable to register 3D dental impression image data of a tooth restoration site and 3D x-ray image data of the tooth restoration site and remove image data corresponding to soft tissue in the tooth restoration site from the 3D dental impression image data. |
| US08897523B2 |
System and method for counting surgical samples
One method for counting surgical samples comprises: identifying a physical sample in a field of view of an optical sensor; indexing a sample counter for the identified physical sample; extracting a feature from a portion of the field of the view of the optical sensor; and estimating the extracorporeal blood volume in a portion of the physical sample based upon the extracted feature. |
| US08897522B2 |
Processing a video for vascular pattern detection and cardiac function analysis
What is disclosed is a non-contact system and method for determining cardiac function parameters from a vascular pattern identified from RGB and IR video signals captured simultaneously of a region of exposed skin of a subject of interest. In one embodiment, a video of a region of exposed skin is captured using a video camera that captures color values for pixels over visible channels and an IR camera that measures pixel intensity values in wavelength ranges of interest. Pixel intensity values are processed to generate a vascular binary mask that indicates pixel locations corresponding to the vascular pathways. The IR images are registered with corresponding data from the camera's visible channels such that pixels that correspond to the vascular pattern can be isolated in each frame of the video of visible color data. Once processed, pixels associated with the isolated vascular patterns are analyzed to determine desired cardiac function parameters. |
| US08897521B2 |
Ultrasound image registration apparatus and method thereof
The disclosure provides an ultrasound image registration apparatus and a method thereof suitable for registering two ultrasound images partially overlapped with each other. The apparatus comprises: a first-stage image-developing processing module, a second-stage image-developing processing module and a registration module. The first-stage image-developing processing module performs beam-forming processing on two ultrasound images so as to generate two raw images. The second-stage image-developing processing module connects the first-stage module for performing envelope detection processing and compression processing on the raw images so as to generate two developed ultrasound images. The registration module connects the two image-developing processing modules for respectively obtaining coordinate information of at least one feature point of the raw images as the initial values of an image registration procedure, and for performing speckles-reducing processing on the developed ultrasound images and using the speckles-reduced ultrasound images to perform the image registration procedure. |
| US08897520B2 |
Image processing apparatus, image processing method, and computer-readable recording medium
An image processing apparatus includes an approximate value calculating unit that calculates an approximate value that becomes consecutive inside an examination area for a pixel value of each pixel of the examination area based on the pixel value inside an image, a validity evaluating unit that evaluates whether the approximate value is valid on the pixel value, an area dividing unit that divides the examination area with the approximate value that is evaluated as being invalid, an examination area re-setting unit that sets each divided area obtained by the area dividing unit as a new examination area and controls a repetition of processing, and an abnormal portion detecting unit that detects an abnormal portion based on the pixel value inside the image and the approximate value that has been evaluated as being valid by the validity evaluating unit. |
| US08897519B2 |
System and method for background phase correction for phase contrast flow images
A method for correcting the background phase in magnetic resonance phase contrast flow images includes providing a time series of velocity encoded magnetic resonance images of a patient, where the time series of velocity encoded images comprises for each time point a phase contrast image where a pixel intensity is proportional to a flow velocity, measuring a change of intensity for each pixel over the time series of phase contrast images, identifying pixels with a low measure of temporal change as stationary pixels, and calculating a correction field for the stationary pixels, where the correction field represents a background phase to be subtracted from the phase contrast image. |
| US08897515B2 |
Method for compressed sensing image reconstruction using a priori knowledge of spatial support
A method for image reconstruction that utilizes the benefits of compressed sensing (“CS”) while incorporating a priori knowledge of object spatial support into the image reconstruction is provided. Image data is acquired from a subject, for example, with a medical imaging system, such as a magnetic resonance imaging (“MRI”) system or a computed tomography (“CT”) system. An estimate of the spatial support of the subject is produced, for example, using a low resolution image of the subject, or an image reconstructed from undersampled image data in a traditional sense. An estimate image of the subject is also produced by using traditional image reconstruction methods on the acquired image data. An image of the subject is then reconstructed using the produced estimate image and produced spatial support estimate. This method allows for the reconstruction of quality images from undersampled image data in a computationally efficient manner. |
| US08897513B2 |
Method of selecting a stent based on stress of a blood vessel
A method of selecting a stent for placing in an occluded segment of a blood vessel is presented. The method uses a diastolic and a systolic image of the blood vessel. In the method a first area is selected in a region on the diastolic image. The first area includes at least the occluded segment. Subsequently, a first length of the blood vessel in the first area is determined. A second area is selected in a corresponding region on the systolic image of the blood vessel. The second area includes at least the occluded segment. The first area is congruent to the second area. Subsequently, a second length of the blood vessel in the second area is determined. A stress in the occluded segment is determined by comparing the first length and the second length. Finally, the stent based on the stress in the occluded segment is selected. |
| US08897510B2 |
Enhanced face recognition in video
The computational resources needed to perform processes such as image recognition can be reduced by determining appropriate frames of image information to use for the processing. In some embodiments, infrared imaging can be used to determine when a person is looking substantially towards a device, such that an image frame captured at that time will likely be adequate for facial recognition. In other embodiments, sound triangulation or motion sensing can be used to assist in determining which captured image frames to discard and which to select for processing based on any of a number of factors indicative of a proper frame for processing. |
| US08897505B2 |
System and method for enabling the use of captured images through recognition
An embodiment provides for enabling retrieval of a collection of captured images that form at least a portion of a library of images. For each image in the collection, a captured image may be analyzed to recognize information from image data contained in the captured image, and an index may be generated, where the index data is based on the recognized information. Using the index, functionality such as search and retrieval is enabled. Various recognition techniques, including those that use the face, clothing, apparel, and combinations of characteristics may be utilized. Recognition may be performed on, among other things, persons and text carried on objects. |
| US08897502B2 |
Calibration for stereoscopic capture system
Apparatus and a method for generating a rectified image. First pixel information corresponding to a first image is received from a first imager. Second pixel information corresponding to a second image is received from a second imager. A plurality of facial feature points of a portrait in each of the first and second images are identified. A fundamental matrix is generated based on the detected facial features. An essential matrix is generated based on the fundamental matrix. Rotational and translational information corresponding to the first and second imagers are generated based on the essential matrix. The rotational and translational information are applied to at least one of the first and second images to generate at least one rectified image. |
| US08897500B2 |
System and method for dynamic facial features for speaker recognition
Disclosed herein are systems, methods, and non-transitory computer-readable storage media for performing speaker verification. A system configured to practice the method receives a request to verify a speaker, generates a text challenge that is unique to the request, and, in response to the request, prompts the speaker to utter the text challenge. Then the system records a dynamic image feature of the speaker as the speaker utters the text challenge, and performs speaker verification based on the dynamic image feature and the text challenge. Recording the dynamic image feature of the speaker can include recording video of the speaker while speaking the text challenge. The dynamic feature can include a movement pattern of head, lips, mouth, eyes, and/or eyebrows of the speaker. The dynamic image feature can relate to phonetic content of the speaker speaking the challenge, speech prosody, and the speaker's facial expression responding to content of the challenge. |
| US08897494B2 |
Computer interface employing a manipulated object with absolute pose detection component and a display
A system with a remote control or wand equipped with a relative motion sensor that outputs data indicative of a change in position. The system has one or more light sources and a photodetector that detects their light and outputs data indicative of the detected light. One or more controllers are used to determine the absolute position of the wand based on the data output by the relative motion sensor and by the photodetector. The wand's absolute pose is determined from the data and includes the absolute position of a reference point on the wand and the wand's absolute orientation. A display is used to show an image defined by two orthogonal axes, e.g., those of world coordinates (Xo,Yo,Zo). The display is rendered as a function of absolute position of the wand in or along a third orthogonal axis. |
| US08897493B2 |
Body scan
A depth image of a scene may be received, observed, or captured by a device. The depth image may then be analyzed to determine whether the depth image includes a human target. For example, the depth image may include one or more targets including a human target and non-human targets. Each of the targets may be flood filled and compared to a pattern to determine whether the target may be a human target. If one or more of the targets in the depth image includes a human target, the human target may be scanned. A skeletal model of the human target may then be generated based on the scan. |
| US08897492B2 |
People counter including setting interface and method for setting the same
Disclosed is a people counter including a setting interface and a setting method thereof. Since a reference width used to count of a moving object within an image is visibly arranged and displayed on a screen so that a detected width of the moving object can be compared with the reference width, setting and verification for count is very easy. In addition, since the interface can be freely moved for adjustment and comparison of a reference width using a pointing device such as a mouse, thereby providing verification and resetting which are intuitive and practical over conventional manual adjustment schemes, count accuracy can be easily increased in different environments depending on conditions or type of moving objects within an image. |
| US08897490B2 |
Vision-based user interface and related method
A vision-based user interface includes an image input unit for capturing frame images, an image processor for recognizing a posture in at least one of the captured frame images, and generating a recognized gesture according to the posture, and a control unit for generating a control command corresponding to the recognized gesture. |
| US08897489B2 |
Methods for object-based identification, sorting and ranking of target detections and apparatuses thereof
A method, non-transitory computer readable medium, and apparatus that provides object-based identification, sorting and ranking of target detections includes determining a target detection score for each pixel in each of one or more images for each of one or more targets. A region around one or more of the pixels with the determined detection scores which are higher than the determined detection scores for the remaining pixels in each of the one or more of images is identified. An object based score for each of the identified regions in each of the one or more images is determined. The one or more identified regions with the determined object based score for each region is provided. |
| US08897487B1 |
Systems and methods for facilitating combined multiple fingerprinters for media
Systems and methods for facilitating combining media fingerprinters are provided. In one implementation, a system can include a memory and a microprocessor. The system can also include: a communication component that receives media; a wavelet-based hash generation component that generates a plurality of hashes based on wavelet descriptors associated with the media; a local features information generation component that generates local descriptors associated with the media; a grouping component that groups the plurality of hashes into two or more subgroups, and generates a combined group of descriptors. The combined group of descriptors can include quantized local descriptors and groups of hashes. The system can also include a hash generation component that hashes the combined group of descriptors. |
| US08897485B2 |
Determining an interest level for an image
A method for determining an interest level of a digital image to a particular person. The digital image, or metadata associated with the digital image, is analyzed to designate one or more image elements in the digital image. Familiarity levels of the designated image elements to the particular person are determined. The interest level of the digital image to the particular person is then determined responsive to the determined familiarity levels. In some embodiments the image elements include persons and scene contexts, where digital images containing more familiar persons and less familiar scene contexts correspond to higher interest levels. |
| US08897478B2 |
Earphone
An earphone including a housing, a speaker, a tuning mechanism and an acoustic damper is provided. The housing has a sound-output opening. The speaker is disposed at the sound-output opening. The speaker and the housing together define a compartment. The speaker has an inner chamber and a through hole for communicating the inner chamber and the compartment. The tuning mechanism is movably disposed at the housing and extended into the compartment. The acoustic damper is disposed between the tuning mechanism and the speaker, and located at the through hole. The tuning mechanism is configured to move to compress or release the acoustic damper for adjusting the air permeability of the acoustic damper. |
| US08897475B2 |
Magnet arrangement for bone conduction hearing implant
An implantable magnet arrangement is described for a hearing implant in a recipient patient. A pair of implant magnets are fixable in a common plane beneath the skin of the patient to underlying skull bone. At least one of the magnets is adapted to transform a magnetic drive signal from an external signal drive coil into a corresponding mechanical stimulation signal for delivery by bone conduction of the skull bone as an audio signal to the cochlea. Each implant magnet includes a pair of internal magnets lying in parallel planes which meet along a common junction with repelling like magnetic polarities facing towards each other, and the magnetic polarities of each implant magnet are reversed from each other. |
| US08897474B2 |
Synchronization system and method for transmission and reception in audible frequency range-based sound communication, and apparatus applied thereto
Provided is a synchronization system and method for acoustic communication in audible frequency range, and an apparatus applied thereto. The synchronization system for acoustic communication in audible frequency range is configured to prevent deterioration of a synchronization performance and to reduce an amount of calculation by calculating a correlation based on a few samples as opposed to calculating a correlation for each sample when a receiver of the acoustic communication performs synchronization while the acoustic communication is performed in the audible frequency range through modification of an audio signal or adding of a predetermined signal to an audio signal. |
| US08897473B2 |
Acoustic generator
Provided is an acoustic generator which has a high sound pressure at ultrahigh frequencies and which can suppress occurrence of large peak dips. An acoustic generator includes a film, a frame member disposed on an outer peripheral edge of the film, a piezoelectric element disposed on the film and inside the frame member, and a resin layer filled inside the frame member so as to cover the piezoelectric element. |
| US08897471B2 |
Mobile terminal with at least two transducers
The invention concerns a mobile terminal with at least two transducers (LSm, LSs1, LSS2) used simultaneously as loudspeakers for stereophonic effect. According to the invention, one of said transducers is a main transducer (LSm) with a main working frequency band (Bm) corresponding to at least the phone frequency band, while the other transducer is a secondary transducer (LSs1; LSs2) with a secondary working frequency band (Bs1; Bs2) band different from said main frequency band, the lowest frequencies of said secondary working frequency band (Bs1; Bs2) being greater than the lowest frequencies of said main working frequency band. |
| US08897470B2 |
Method of fabricating integrated semiconductor device with MOS, NPN BJT, LDMOS, pre-amplifier and MEMS unit
A method of fabricating an integrated semiconductor device, comprising: providing a substrate having a first region and a second region; and forming a semiconductor unit on the first region and forming a micro electro mechanical system (MEMS) unit on the second region in one process. |
| US08897463B2 |
Dual high frequency driver canalphone system
A canalphone system may include a canalphone housing, and a first high frequency driver carried within the canalphone housing. The system may also include a second high frequency driver carried within the canalphone housing where the second high frequency driver is tuned with the first high frequency driver to deliver lower distortion than a standard canalphone high frequency driver and/or lower distortion than two standard canalphone high frequency drivers that are not tuned with each other. |
| US08897462B2 |
Audio processing apparatus, sound pickup apparatus and imaging apparatus
A sound processing apparatus includes a sound input unit configured to input a sound signal, a signal processor having a band-limiting filter for limiting a passing band of the sound signal, and being configured to apply a predetermined signal processing on a sound signal output from the band-limiting filter, and a controller configured to control a band width of the passing band of the band-limiting filter. The controller changes the band width of the passing band according to a level of the sound signal, and makes a speed at the time of expanding the band width faster than a speed at the time of narrowing the band width. |
| US08897460B2 |
Microphone amplifier
A microphone amplifier comprises an input terminal (E100) for applying an input signal (IN), an output terminal (A100a) for outputting an output signal (OUT), and an additional output terminal (A100b) for outputting an additional output signal (VBIAS). The microphone amplifier also contains an amplifying circuit (10) for generating the output signal (OUT) by amplifying the input signal (IN), wherein the amplifying circuit (10) is connected between the input terminal (E100) and the output terminal (A100a), and a voltage generator (30) for generating the additional output signal (VBIAS). A supply voltage terminal (V30) of the voltage generator (30) is connected to the output terminal (A100a) of the microphone amplifier. Since the amplifying circuit (10) makes available a supply voltage (V) for the voltage generator (30), the microphone amplifier can be operated without a separate supply voltage terminal. |
| US08897459B2 |
Two-way audio communication system with reduced ground noise
An audio communication system includes a headset with a microphone having two electrical outputs and a first electro-acoustic driver. The system includes first and second differential amplifiers, and a first electrical conductor for electrically connecting an output of the first differential amplifier with a first audio source device. A second electrical conductor is provided for electrically connecting an input of the driver with the first audio source device. A third electrical conductor is provided for electrically connecting an output of the second differential amplifier with a second audio source device. A fourth electrical conductor is provided for electrically connecting an input of the driver with the second audio source device. One electrical output from the microphone is electrically connected to a positive input of each of the differential amplifiers. The other electrical output from the microphone is electrically connected to a negative input of each of the differential amplifiers. |
| US08897457B2 |
Method and device for acoustic management control of multiple microphones
An earpiece (100) and a method (640) for acoustic management of multiple microphones is provided. The method can include capturing an ambient acoustic signal from an Ambient Sound Microphone (ASM) to produce an electronic ambient signal, capturing in an ear canal an internal sound from an Ear Canal Microphone (ECM) to produce an electronic internal signal, measuring a background noise signal, and mixing the electronic ambient signal with the electronic internal signal in a ratio dependent on the background noise signal to produce a mixed signal. The mixing can adjust an internal gain of the electronic internal signal and an external gain of the electronic ambient signal based on the background noise characteristics. The mixing can account for an acoustic attenuation level and an audio content level of the earpiece. |
| US08897456B2 |
Method and apparatus for estimating spectrum density of diffused noise
Provided are a method for estimating a spectrum density of diffused noises. Also provided is a processor for implementing the method. The processor includes at least two sound receiving units and a spectrum density estimating unit for estimating spectrum density. |
| US08897454B2 |
Sound zooming apparatus and method synchronized with moving picture zooming function
A sound zooming technique synchronized with a moving picture zooming function is disclosed. A signal to control ambient noise and a signal to control a long distance sound are extracted from an audio signal input through a plurality of microphones. A front directivity-emphasized signal is masked using the two signals and a weighted value to control volume. |
| US08897449B1 |
Quantum computing on encrypted data
Quantum computing methods and systems are described. A computing device receives an encrypted state from another device. The encrypted state is stored on a quantum register, and a sequence of operations is applied to the encrypted state in the quantum register. The sequence of operations includes an operation parameterized by a control message from the other device. Applying the sequence of operations manipulates the state of the quantum register and an auxiliary quantum system. The auxiliary quantum system can be, for example, a qubit selected from four specified quantum states. Applying the sequence of operations produces encryption-key-update information. The computing device may send an encrypted output state and the encryption-key-update message to the other device. |
| US08897447B1 |
Burst tethering for mobile communication devices
A mobile communication device enables data synchronization between a tethered computing device and another computing device over a telecommunications network. The communication device includes a network interface configured for connection to the network to establish a network connection and another network interface configured for connection to the tethered device to establish a series of tethered connections and permit the tethered device to use the network connection. The communication device includes a processor configured to receive information from the tethered device during a first tethered connection and to determine, in response, a parameter associated with a synchronization period during which the tethered device may use the network connection to synchronize data between the tethered device and the another computing device. The processor is configured to establish a synchronization wireless access point responsive to the parameter through which the tethered device can establish a second tethered connection to access the network connection. |
| US08897446B2 |
Methods for the generation of identical symmetrical cryptographic keys
Methods and algorithms for generating identical symmetrical cryptographic keys. In a method for generating a symmetrical cryptographic key, a first profile is generated, the first profile comprising a series of data points collected over a first period of time. A start time of the first profile is identified and the first profile divided into a sequence of time-based segments, each time-based segment comprising at least one data point. A first symmetrical cryptographic key is calculated from the sequence of time-based segments, and the first symmetrical cryptographic key is stored for at least one of encrypting and decrypting data in cooperation with a second symmetrical cryptographic key substantially identical to the first symmetrical cryptographic key. |
| US08897445B2 |
Combination-based broadcast encryption method
A combination-based broadcast encryption method includes: assigning by a server a base group of different combinations to each user; producing and sending secret information for each user by using as a base the base group allocated to each user; producing and sending an inverse-base parameter value through calculations with integers used to produce the base group and key value information of one or more privileged users; and deriving a group key by using the key value information of the privileged users, encrypting a session key by using the derived group key, and sending the encrypted session key to each user. Accordingly, each user is assigned a different base through a combination, thereby having security against collusion attacks. |
| US08897441B2 |
Packet transmitting and receiving apparatus and packet transmitting and receiving method
When being triggered by a call setting request that has been made, dummy information that is different from information to be transmitted and is information used for creating a path on which encrypted communication is to be performed is generated. The path on which the encrypted communication is to be performed is established by using the generated dummy information. A responding process of responding to the call setting request is performed after the path on which the encrypted communication is to be performed has been established. Thus, in the case where information that is obtained after the responding process of responding to the call setting request is encrypted and transmitted, it is possible to transmit the information while maintaining the real-time characteristics of the information to be transmitted. |
| US08897438B2 |
Message forwarding based on sender and recipient relationship
Techniques for message forwarding based on a relationship between a sender and a recipient are described herein. In one embodiment, a process includes, but is not limited to, in response to a message from a sender over a network, identifying a list of candidate recipients to handle the message based on roles of the candidate recipients within an organization in view of the sender, and forwarding the message to a recipient selected from the list of the candidate recipient to enable the selected recipient to handle the message. Other methods and apparatuses are also described. |
| US08897436B2 |
Method and apparatus for providing emergency ring tones for urgent calls
A method and apparatus for enabling calling parties to request the VoIP network to provide a special ring tone to be signaled as the occurrence of an urgent call to called parties are disclosed. Alternatively, a high frequency intercept tone or call waiting tone is also provided when the called parties are already engaged in conversation when an urgent call is incoming. |
| US08897434B2 |
Appointment-related communications
A method may include identifying information stored in an application on a user device. The information may be associated with an appointment-related call. The method may also include forwarding a link to the user device via which a communication session with another party can be established, or automatically dialing a telephone number associated with the appointment-related call. |
| US08897433B2 |
Security system with two-way communication and video
A security system has a camera; a sensor generating a signal in response to a triggering event, and a management module. The triggering event is one of an actuation of a doorbell button, an actuation of a bell connected to and operated by a doorbell button, door opening detection, motion detection, proximity detection and infrared (IR) beam interruption. The management module is adapted to send data to be received by a remote communication device upon generation by the sensor of the signal generated in response to the triggering event. The management module is also adapted to initiate a connection between the remote communication device and the camera, the connection permitting data exchange between the remote communication device and the camera. The security system allows a person located in a vicinity of the camera installed at a building or a house to communicate with a user of a remote communication device. |
| US08897432B2 |
System and method of remote fax interconnect technology
The present invention provides systems and methods for the virtualization, aggregation, and distributed processing of facsimile communications. The Remote FAX Interconnect known as etherFAX® is a system and method that allows for the reception and delivery of information based on cloud computing infrastructure to or from one or more facsimile systems using Internet/web based communication protocols such as HTTP(S) as the transport between a facsimile capable application or hardware and the remotely accessible etherFAX® services. |
| US08897431B2 |
Method and apparatus for providing electrical power to a broadband digital subscriber line access
Power is supplied to telecom equipment in DSLAM outdoor/remote cabinets with relatively short distances between the subscriber and the cabinet. All of the subscriber Customer Premises Equipment connected to the DSLAM each provide a portion of the required power to the remote cabinet via the telephone line connecting the DSLAM and the subscriber CPE. The CPE at the subscriber premises is already connected to power mains in the subscriber premises so, providing power, via the telephone line to the outdoor cabinet is relatively simple. The remote cabinet includes a circuit for receiving the power input from each subscriber and then distributing the power, required by the DSLAM load, equally among the subscribers. |
| US08897430B2 |
Missed instant message notification
A method and system for capturing missed communications is provided. An enhanced real-time communication system receives a communication from an initiating participant for a receiving participant that is not available. The enhanced real-time communication system detects that the receiving participant missed the received communication from the initiating participant. Upon detecting that the receiving participant missed the communication, the enhanced real-time communication system stores the missed communication for later retrieval by the receiving participant. |
| US08897427B2 |
Method and apparatus for enabling a calling party to leave a voice message for a called party
A method for execution by a network entity to allow a calling party to leave a message for a called party, the calling party using a communication device to call the called party, the network entity being connected to the communication device via a communications network. The method may comprise: consulting at least one source of information in an attempt to obtain message destination information associated with the called party; if the attempt is successful, providing an opportunity for the calling party to leave a message for the called party; receiving a voice message provided by the calling party via the communication device; generating an electronic message representative of the voice message provided by the calling party; and causing transmission of the electronic message based on the message destination information. An apparatus for implementing the method is also provided. |
| US08897423B2 |
Calling party's language selection based on called party's phone number
In one embodiment, a method includes identifying a geographic location of a called party based on a phone number of the called party, entered by a calling party, and prompting the calling party with at least one spoken language based on the geographic location of the called party. |
| US08897421B2 |
System and method for providing telephone assignment information to telephone service technicians
A system and method for telephone service technicians to retrieve telephone line assignment information, including receiving a telephone call from a telephone service technician. A telephone number assigned to a customer of a communications carrier may be received, where the telephone number is associated with a telephone operating on a wired communications network, such as the public switched telephone network (PSTN). Telephone line assignment information may be requested, where the telephone line assignment information includes cable and line pair information. The telephone line assignment information may be converted into speech synthesized audible signals and communicated to the telephone service technician during the telephone call. The conversion of the telephone line assignment information may be performed by an interactive voice response system. |
| US08897417B2 |
Method and device for planning a treatment
A device for planning an irradiation is provided. The device includes an evaluation module with an input for receiving input data, a memory and an output for outputting determined output data. The evaluation module is designed for using the input data that includes the type and number of the imaging units present, variables characterizing the tumor and/or variables characterizing the patient, in order to determine the output data that includes the type of the imaging unit, the frequency of use of the imaging unit and/or the parameters for setting the imaging unit to be used in the form of an imaging plan with the aid of a functional relationship, which is based on experience, stored in the memory. |
| US08897412B2 |
Method and apparatus for phase noise mitigation
An approach is provided to mitigate phase noise by correcting common phase error and inter-carrier-interference in a received signal. The approach involves determining a received signal includes phase noise comprising at least a common phase error component and an inter-carrier-interference component. The approach also involves causing the common phase error to be corrected based on one or more pilot carriers. The approach further involves causing an estimate of a main signal component to be subtracted from the one or more pilot carriers. The approach additionally involves determining a sequence of estimated coefficients of a multiplicative phase noise sequence. The approach also involves causing the inter-carrier-inference to be corrected by processing the multiplicative phase noise sequence using the sequence of estimated coefficients. The approach further involves causing an equalized data signal to be output based on the corrected common phase error and the corrected inter-carrier-interference. |
| US08897409B2 |
Symbol timing acquisition using early-late interpolation
Symbol timing acquisition is described for a wireless broadband signal received at a user terminal from a gateway via a satellite. In-phase and quadrature channels of the wireless signal may each be sampled at a rate of one sample per symbol. The samples may be interpolated to generate an early interpolation and a late interpolation for each of the samples. A difference measurement is obtained between the early interpolation and the late interpolation for a set of the samples. A number of the difference measurements may be averaged, and symbol timing may be modified based on the average. This process may be continued on an iterative basis to acquire symbol timing. |
| US08897408B2 |
Method for operating an automation system
A method for operating an automation system with a plurality of communication users linked for communication purposes via a serial connection, of which at least one functions as sender and at least one as a receiver, includes determining at a sender an offset value between an occurrence of a synchronous signal and a communication clock cycle, transmitting the determined offset value in a data transmission to the at least one receiver, waiting at the at least one receiver until a time period commensurate with the offset value has elapsed, and generating at the at least one receiver an output signal after the time period has elapsed. |
| US08897406B2 |
Communication system with iterative detector and decoder and method of operation thereof
A method of operation of a communication system includes: receiving an input signal having an input primary codeword and an input parallel codeword; calculating a primary codeword signal by removing a parallel soft information average of the input parallel codeword from the input signal; filtering a residual parallel interference of the input parallel codeword from the primary codeword signal with a primary whitening filter to generate a primary codeword estimation of the input primary codeword; and calculating a primary detected soft information for the primary codeword estimation for communicating with a device. |
| US08897404B2 |
Canceling interference between a plurality of signals in a communication system
The present solution relates to a method in a communication node (201, 204, 210, 213) for canceling interference between a plurality of signals in a communication system (200). The communication node receives (501), at each of a plurality of receiver antennas (407), a respective signal. The communication node (201, 204, 210, 213) cancels (502) a first part of interference between the plurality of received signals. Then, the interference cancelled signals and the received signals are filtered (504) before a second part of interference between the filtered signals is cancelled (505). |
| US08897399B2 |
Communication system with signal-to-noise ratio adjustment mechanism and method of operation thereof
A communication system includes: a module configured to decode a remainder portion of a receiver message using a mechanism with a compensation channel value calculated from decoding an evaluation portion of the receiver message with a different mechanism, or using a mechanism-controller generated using a mismatch characterization based on determining a partial-sensitive output and a partial-insensitive output, or a combination thereof for communicating with a device. |
| US08897395B2 |
Clock generating apparatus, test apparatus and clock generating method
There is provided a clock generating apparatus for generating a recovered clock by recovering a clock from an edge of a received signal, including a recovered clock generating section that generates the recovered clock, a multi-strobe generating section that generates a plurality of strobes with different phases, in accordance with a pulse of the recovered clock, a detecting section that detects a position of an edge of the received signal relative to the strobes, by referring to values of the received signal obtained at respective timings of the strobes, and an adjusting section that adjusts a phase of the recovered clock, in accordance with the position of the edge of the received signal. |
| US08897394B1 |
Methods and apparatus for adaptively selecting a communications mode in high frequency systems
Methods and apparatus are provided for adaptively selecting a communications mode in high frequency systems. A first dual-mode device having capabilities of using two or more high frequency communications modes, such as OFDM and SC modulation, may transmit a signal to a second dual-mode device with the same capabilities. The second dual-mode device may compute a channel characteristic associated with a high frequency communications channel and select an optimal high frequency communications mode. The second dual-mode device may transmit information indicative of the channel characteristic or the selected communications mode to the first dual-mode device. The first dual-mode device may select and operate using the optimal high frequency communications mode based on the information received from the second dual-mode device. The first and second dual-mode devices may communicate using the selected high frequency communications mode. |
| US08897391B2 |
Distortion compensator and distortion compensation method
A distortion compensator compensates for distortion of a signal caused by an amplifier. A storage section stores a plurality of compensation coefficients used for distortion compensation. A selection section selects a compensation coefficient corresponding to an index value indicative of a power level of the signal from among the plurality of compensation coefficients. The selection section determines whether or not the power level is higher than a threshold, and uses, based on a determination result, a first index value calculated without using a logarithmic operation or a second index value calculated by using a logarithmic operation. |
| US08897390B2 |
Apparatus for transmitting and receiving a signal and method of transmitting and receiving a signal
The present invention relates to a method of transmitting and a method of receiving signals and corresponding apparatus. One aspect of the present invention relates to an efficient L1 signaling method for an efficient transmitter and an efficient receiver using the efficient L1 signaling method for an efficient cable broadcasting. |
| US08897388B2 |
Crest factor reduction (CFR) using asymmetrical pulses
Crest factor reduction (CFR) techniques are provided using asymmetrical pulses. A crest factor reduction method comprises obtaining one or more data samples; detecting at least one peak in the one or more data samples; performing peak cancellation on the at least one detected peak by applying an asymmetric cancellation pulse to the at least one detected peak; and providing processed versions of the one or more data samples. The asymmetric cancellation pulse is generated, for example, by a minimum phase filter and has a substantially minimum group delay. New peaks associated with peak re-growth are introduced substantially only to the one side of the asymmetric cancellation pulse. The process can optionally rewind by an amount greater than or substantially equal to a group delay of the asymmetric cancellation pulse to address the limited number of pre-cursors that may be present in the asymmetric cancellation pulse. |
| US08897386B2 |
Multiple-input multiple-output systems and methods for wireless communication thereof for reducing the quantization effect of precoding operations utilizing finite codebooks
A method for reducing the quantization effect of precoding operations utilizing a finite codebook in MIMO systems is provided. First, at the receiver side, downlink channel state information is obtained and a set of indices of precoding matrices within a plurality of finite codebooks are selected accordingly. The selected indices of precoding matrices for each of the finite codebooks and a set of scalar coefficients are transmitted from the receiver to the transmitter. Thereafter, at the transmitter side, at least a first and a second refined precoding matrices are generated based on the selected set of indices of precoding matrices for all of the finite codebooks, and the one or more scalar coefficients and a final precoding matrix is generated at least based on the first refined precoding matrix and the second refined precoding matrix. The final precoding matrix is applied for transmission between the transmitter and the receiver. |
| US08897385B2 |
Doppler estimator for OFDM systems
A method of estimating the Doppler spread of a communication channel includes computing a first sum defined by a difference between the pilot tones of a first group of N symbols and a corresponding pilot tones of a second group of N symbols preceding the first group of N symbols, computing a second sum defined by the pilot tones of the second group of N symbols, and computing a ratio of the first sum and the second sum for each of the N symbols of the first and second group of symbols to generate N ratios representative of the Doppler spread of the channel. The first sum is further defined by the square of the difference between the pilot tones of the first group of N symbols and the corresponding pilot tones of the second group of N symbols. |
| US08897384B2 |
Wireless feedback system and method
A codebook C is provided in a MIMO transmitter as well as a MIMO receiver. The codebook C will include M codewords ci, where i is a unique codeword index for each codeword ci. Each codeword defines weighting factors to apply to the MIMO signals, and may correspond to channel matrices or vectors to apply to the MIMO signals prior to transmission from the respective antennas of the MIMO transmitter. The present invention creates codeword subsets Si for each codeword ci of the codebook C. Each codeword subset Si defines L codewords cj, which are selected from all the codewords ci in the codebook C. The codewords cj in a codeword subset Si are the L codewords in the entire codebook that best correlate with the corresponding codeword ci. |
| US08897379B2 |
Digital communication system
A digital communication system comprising a host and a client, the host calls the client via two transmission lines. The host includes a processor, a first control unit, a second control unit, a high frequency transformer and an interface unit. The digital communication system utilizes the first control unit and the high frequency transformer to modulate outgoing signals. The digital communication system utilizes the second unit and the high frequency transformer to demodulate incoming signals. |
| US08897378B2 |
Selective perceptual masking via scale separation in the spatial and temporal domains using intrinsic images for use in data compression
An automated, computerized method for processing a video is provided. The method includes providing a video file depicting a video, in a computer memory; providing a video file depicting a video, in a computer memory; scale separating the video file by applying an edge-preserving blurring filter to generate a detail scale-separated video and a level scale-separated video corresponding to the video; temporally blurring the detail scale-separated video and spatially blurring the level scale-separated video; combining the filtered detailed scale-separated video and the filtered level scale-separated video to provide an output video; and outputting the output video for use in a data compression operation. |
| US08897375B2 |
Wireless video monitoring on a mobile device
A mobile device management system including a method for monitoring a remote video camera and event scheduling, synchronization and modification using location information. Video from a remote camera is encoded by a computer and streamed in real time over a network to a mobile device for decoding and display. The computer encoder and mobile device decoder are software-based. Event calendar and schedule information is incorporated, shared and automatically updated among multiple mobile devices. Location information, such as from a locator network or a satellite-based global positioning system, is used to provide real time updates to a mobile device calendar or event schedule. A map or other indicia of the location of other mobile devices may be provided. |
| US08897369B2 |
Method and apparatus for encoding video and method and apparatus for decoding video, based on hierarchical structure of coding unit
An apparatus and method for encoding video data and an apparatus and method for decoding video data are provided. The encoding method includes: splitting a current picture into at least one maximum coding unit; determining a coded depth to output an encoding result by encoding at least one split region of the at least one maximum coding unit according to operating mode of coding tool, respectively, based on a relationship among a depth of at least one coding unit of the at least one maximum coding unit, a coding tool, and an operating mode, wherein the at least one split region is generated by hierarchically splitting the at least one maximum coding unit according to depths; and outputting a bitstream including encoded video data of the coded depth, information regarding a coded depth of at least one maximum coding unit, information regarding an encoding mode, and information regarding the relationship. |
| US08897363B2 |
Method and apparatus for encoding video in consideration of scanning order of coding units having hierarchical structure, and method and apparatus for decoding video in consideration of scanning order of coding units having hierarchical structure
A method and apparatus for decoding a video and a method and apparatus for encoding a video are provided. The method for decoding the video includes: receiving and parsing a bitstream of an encoded video; extracting, from the bitstream, encoded image data of a current picture of the encoded video assigned to a maximum coding unit, and information about a coded depth and an encoding mode according to the maximum coding unit; and decoding the encoded image data for the maximum coding unit based on the information about the coded depth and the encoding mode for the maximum coding unit, in consideration of a raster scanning order for the maximum coding unit and a zigzag scanning order for coding units of the maximum coding unit according to depths. |
| US08897360B2 |
Method and apparatus for encoding and decoding images by adaptively using an interpolation filter
The present invention relates to a method and to an apparatus for encoding and decoding images by adaptively using an interpolation filter in consideration of the characteristics of input images. The apparatus of the present invention comprises a prediction block-generating unit including a selector for adaptively selecting an interpolation filter for generating a prediction block in consideration of the context information of an input image block, a filter bank in which groups of interpolation filters are stored in correspondence with the context information, and a specific interpolation filter which is selected from the filter bank in accordance with the control of the selector, and which interpolates a reference image block associated with the input image block. |
| US08897358B2 |
3:2 pull down detection in video
Methods for processing of video sequences that may contain telecined (3:2 pull down) frame sequences are provided. A method for detecting 3:2 pull down is provided that measures vertical detail in frames of a video sequence and uses the variation in vertical detail over time to decide whether the video sequence contains normal interlace content or 3:2 pull down content. A method for improving the compression of detected 3:2 pull down content is also provided that controls the selection of field or frame coding mode for frames of 3:2 pull down content and the selection of reference fields for encoding duplicated fields in the 3:2 pull down content. |
| US08897356B2 |
Systems and methods for video and audio data storage and distribution
Data compression and decompression methods for compressing and decompressing data based on an actual or expected throughput (bandwidth) of a system. In one embodiment, a controller tracks and monitors the throughput (data storage and retrieval) of a data compression system and generates control signals to enable/disable different compression algorithms when, e.g., a bottleneck occurs so as to increase the throughput and eliminate the bottleneck. |
| US08897353B2 |
Block time domain channel estimation in OFDM system
An OFDM receiver receives OFDM symbols in the frequency domain and comb filters and then punctures the OFDM symbols to leave symbols with actual pilot information and with null values at the data symbols. The receiver provides the punctured OFDM symbols to an OFDM symbol queue. A virtual pilot interpolator is coupled to the punctured OFDM symbol storage to generate virtual pilot information introduced to OFDM symbols. The interpolator may be a two dimensional Wiener filter. The receiver also includes a time domain channel estimator that processes a first OFDM symbol including virtual pilot information to generate a channel impulse response for the first OFDM symbol. A frequency equalizer equalizes the OFDM symbol in response to the channel impulse response for the first OFDM symbol. |
| US08897350B2 |
Orthogonal transform error corrector
A phase adjuster arranges phases of waveforms of a complex signal after orthogonal transform. An edge detector detects an edge of the complex signal after phase adjustment. A phase shift detector detects phase shift of an output signal of the edge detector between the in-phase signal and the quadrature signal after the orthogonal transform, and outputs a phase error signal (PE). The oscillator connected to mixers and a shifter to perform the orthogonal transform includes a phase adjustment section adjusting an edge of a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) clock based on the phase error signal (PE) and correcting the phase shift of an original signal. |
| US08897348B2 |
Narrowband diagnostics for twisted pair wiring
A test system for diagnosing twisted pair wiring includes a system processor in communication with a subscriber line interface module, which includes a codec and a SLIC (Subscriber Line Interface Circuit). The SLIC transmits a waveform having a frequency used for voice or baseband modem transmissions onto the twisted pair wiring. The system processor transmits a digital PCM (Pulse Code Modulation) stream to the codec, and the codec converts the digital PCM stream into the waveform transmitted onto the twisted pair wiring. In response to the transmitted waveform, the SLIC senses current on the twisted pair wiring. The codec generates an output waveform corresponding to the sensed current. The system processor receives the output waveform from the codec as a digital PCM stream, synchronizes the transmitted waveform and the output waveform at a single sample, and determines electrical properties of the twisted pair wiring from the output waveform. |
| US08897338B2 |
Method and system for single antenna receiver system for WCDMA
A receiver receives multipath signals in a W-CDMA system. Channel estimates and timing reference signals are generated utilizing the received multipath signals. Timing correction signals indicating a location of the received multipath signals may be generated and the received multipath signals may be combined based on the computed channel estimates and/or the generated timing reference signals. The multipath signals may be combined as a signal cluster. Circuitry may be provided that computes channel estimates based on at least one of a plurality of received multipath signals, and generates timing reference signals indicating a location of at least one of the plurality of received multipath signals. Circuitry may also be provided that combines at least a portion of the plurality of received multipath signals based on at least a portion of the computed channel estimates and/or the generated timing reference signals. |
| US08897334B2 |
Light emitting device
A light emitting device includes first and second electrodes, a semiconductor laser element, a bonding wire, a transparent frame section, and a lid section. The first electrode includes a convex section, a bottom surface surrounding the convex section, and a first surface. The second electrode includes a first surface opposed to the bottom surface of the first electrode and a second surface. The second electrode includes an opening section and a step section receding toward the first surface from the second surface. The semiconductor laser element is provided on the convex section and includes a light-emitting layer. The bonding wire is capable of electrically connecting the semiconductor laser element and the step section. The transparent frame section surrounds the convex section and is bonded to the bottom surface and the first surface of the second electrode. The lid section is bonded to the second surface of the second electrode. |
| US08897333B2 |
CO2 laser
Efficient laser diode excited Thulium (Tm) doped solid state systems, directly matched to a combination band pump transition of Carbon Dioxide (CO2), have matured to the point that utilization of such in combination with CO2 admits effectively a laser diode pumped CO2 laser. The laser diode excited Tm solid state pump permits Continuous Wave (CW) or pulsed energy application. Appropriate optical pumping admits catalyzer free near indefinite gas lifetime courtesy of the absence of significant discharge driven dissociation and contamination. As a direct consequence of the preceding arbitrary multi isotopologue CO2, symmetric and asymmetric, gas mixes may be utilized without significant degradation or departure from initial mix specifications. This would admit, at raised pressure, a system continuously tunable from approximately 9 μm to approximately 11.5 μm, or sub picosecond amplification. This methodology offers advantages in regards scalability, pulse energy and power over alternative non linear conversion techniques in access to this spectral region. |
| US08897330B2 |
Surface emitting laser, surface-emitting-laser array, and image forming apparatus
The present invention provides a surface emitting laser that provides a sufficient optical output and is suitable as a light source intended for electrophotographic apparatuses, and a surface-emitting-laser array and an image forming apparatus each including the surface emitting laser.The surface emitting laser includes a first stepped structure on a front surface of a front mirror. In the first stepped structure, a difference L between an optical path length in a first area and an optical path length in a second area satisfies the following expression: (¼+N)λ<|L|<(¾+N)λ where N is an integer. |
| US08897328B2 |
Semiconductor laser apparatus and method for manufacturing same
The semiconductor laser device of the present invention has a conductive first heatsink member, a conductive first adhesive, and a semiconductor laser element. The first adhesive is disposed on the first heatsink member, and the semiconductor laser element is disposed on the first adhesive. The first adhesive reaches an upper part of the side surface of the first heatsink member under the laser emission surface for laser emission of the semiconductor laser element. The structure further improves heat dissipation of the semiconductor laser element; at the same time, it is effective in obtaining laser light from the semiconductor laser element. |
| US08897327B2 |
Laser diode devices
A laser diode device including a housing having a mounting area in a cavity of the housing, at least one laser diode chip that emits electromagnetic radiation through a radiation exit area during operation, at least one covering element which is transmissive, at least in places, to the electromagnetic radiation generated by the laser diode chip during operation, and a deflection element, that directs at least part of the electromagnetic radiation generated by the laser diode chip during operation in a direction of the covering element, wherein the radiation exit area of the laser diode chip runs substantially transversely or substantially perpendicularly with respect to the mounting area and/or with respect to the covering element, the covering element connects to the housing, and the covering element tightly closes the housing. |
| US08897324B2 |
Timebase peripheral
A microcontroller has a timebase driven by a clock signal, wherein the timebase has a reset input and an output coupled with a comparator. The comparator is further coupled with a register and is operable to generate a synchronization output signal if the timebase matches the register value. The microcontroller further has a first multiplexer receiving the synchronization output signal from the comparator and further receiving at least one event signal generated by a unit other than the timebase, wherein the first multiplexer is operable to select either the synchronization output signal or the at least one event signal as a timebase synchronization output signal. |
| US08897316B2 |
On-chip packet cut-through
Embodiments of the invention include a method for avoiding memory bandwidth utilization during packet processing. The packet processing core receives a plurality of packets. The packet processing core identifies the packet's quality of service (QoS) descriptor. The packet processing core determines that at least one packet should be moved to an off-chip packet stored prior to the packet being transmitted to the egress port. The packet processing core bases that determination, at least in part, on the packet's QoS descriptor. The packet processing core moves the determined packets to the off-chip packet store. The packet processing core determines that at least one packet should not be moved to the off-chip packet store prior to the packet being transmitted to the egress port. This determination is also made, at least in part, based on the packet's QoS descriptor. |
| US08897314B1 |
Method and apparatus for power reduction in network
Aspects of the disclosure can provide a network switch having reduced power consumption. The network switch can include a plurality of ports that are configured to receive and transmit network traffic. The plurality of ports can be configured in a power-on mode and a power-off mode. Further, at least a first port among the plurality of ports can be configured to remain in the power-on mode and to receive power control instructions. In addition, the network switch can include a power controller. The power controller can change the power modes of selected ports among the plurality of ports in response to the power control instructions received through the first port. |
| US08897312B2 |
Radio system co-existence improvement by data throttling
The coexistence of multiple radio systems may depend on the ability of a terminal device to limit interference among competing systems. In a method, a system may detect a potential for interference between a transmitting subsystem of a terminal and a receiving subsystem of a terminal. The method may also include buffering transmission by the transmitting subsystem of the terminal so as to lower a duty cycle of the transmitting subsystem. |
| US08897310B2 |
Method and apparatus for managing domain
A method and an apparatus for managing domains are provided. The method of managing one or more domains performed by a domain manager located in a home network includes determining whether to register a first device located in the home network to a domain, and providing data required to share content between the first device and a second device registered to the domain according to the determination. In the method and apparatus, content can be shared by connecting the devices with one another including a user, and the burden of content providers for management can be reduced. |
| US08897309B2 |
Telecommunication system for controlling media gateways
A telecommunication system and method for controlling the establishment of payload connections through media gateways. The system receives and aggregates control orders from a plurality of telecommunication nodes such as media gateway controllers. The system uses knowledge of resources in the network to optimize the path of the payload connection. The system also sends control orders to a given media gateway in order to establish the payload connection. The system may be connected to a plurality of other instances of the same type of system in a hierarchical manner. |
| US08897304B2 |
Packet generating method in wireless HDMI CEC
A packet generating method in a wireless High Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) environment includes generating a packet which includes either AV data or control data in a payload and a field indicative of a packet type in a header according to a HDMI environment; and transmitting the generated packet. Accordingly, the AV data and the control data can be transceived over the single channel in the HDMI. |
| US08897303B2 |
Delegate gateways and proxy for target hosts in large layer 2 and address resolution with duplicated internet protocol addresses
An apparatus comprising a plurality of district boundary bridges (DBBs) in a plurality of second network districts configured to couple to a plurality of core bridges in a core network district and to a plurality of end-stations in the second network districts via a plurality of intermediate switches in the second network districts; wherein the core bridges and the DBBs are aware of a plurality of Media Access Control (MAC) addresses of the DBBs but are not aware of Internet Protocol (IP) addresses and MAC addresses of the end-stations, and wherein the IP addresses of the end-stations are mapped in a directory service (DS) in the core network district to the MAC addresses of the corresponding DBBs in the corresponding second network districts of the end-stations. |
| US08897300B2 |
Transmitting apparatus, transmitting method, receiving apparatus, and receiving method
The present invention relates to a transmitting apparatus and transmitting method as well as a receiving apparatus and receiving method configured to be able to recognize only channel selection information for viewable digital broadcasting at the receiving end.A community broadcasting station 32 transmits community broadcasting which includes an additional information descriptor and the content of the community broadcasting. The additional information descriptor is for identifying channel selection information, which is information related to channel selection of community broadcasting that is reception-restricted, and which includes tuning information, a service ID, a service name, and a service type, etc. The present invention may be applied to a server that communicates with a receiving terminal which receives digital broadcasting, for example. |
| US08897295B2 |
Method and system for providing traffic engineering interworking
An approach is provided for interworking traffic onto a composite transport group (CTG). An attribute associated with a composite transport group is determined based on a characteristic of a traffic flow associated with a label-switched network. The traffic flow is mapped to one or more component connections of the composite transport group based on the attribute. |
| US08897292B2 |
Low pass filter for hierarchical pipelined distributed scheduling traffic manager
A method is implemented by a network element to provide scalable hierarchical traffic management (HTM) over a plurality of network layers for a network and eliminate priority leaking caused by quick loopback batch scheduling that analyzes a subset of network layers to shorten processing time and resource requirements when the scalable HTM selects data packets to be forwarded. The method and system function as a low pass filter over the selected data packets to prevent low priority data packets being forwarded where higher priority data packets are available to be forwarded. |
| US08897288B2 |
Mobile station apparatus, reception method and integrated circuit
A base station apparatus is provided, which includes a generator configured to generate a synchronization signal and a transmitter configured to transmit the generated synchronization signal. The generator is configured to generate a synchronization signal to be mapped on a subcarrier included in one of a plurality of frequency resource candidates that are separated by an interval, which is a common multiple of a determined frequency spacing and a subcarrier spacing between contiguous subcarriers, wherein the subcarrier spacing does not have a value that is a divisor of the determined frequency spacing. |
| US08897284B2 |
Radio base station
A radio base station (eNB) according to the present invention includes: an RI acquisition unit (11) configured to acquire, from a mobile station (UE), an “RI” indicating number of streams determined by the mobile station (UE); an adjustment unit (12) configured to adjust the “RI” acquired by the RI acquisition unit (11), by using an offset value “RI offset” unique to the mobile station (UE); and a stream-number determination unit (13) configured to determine the number of streams to be simultaneously transmitted to the mobile station (UE), based on the “RI” adjusted by the adjustment unit (12). |
| US08897283B2 |
Method and device for allocating resources in multiple frequency band system
A method and device for allocating resources in a multiple frequency band system are disclosed. In a method for detecting a resource indication value (RIV) indicating not only a start index (S) of consecutive virtual resource blocks (VRBs) allocated to a first UE capable of simultaneously receiving information from a plurality of frequency bands, but also a length (L) of the consecutive VRBs, in a wireless mobile communication system capable of using the plurality of frequency bands, the method includes receiving, by the first UE, the RIV, and detecting the RIV, wherein the detected is greater than a maximum value usable as an RIV allocated to a second UE capable of receiving information from only one frequency band. |
| US08897276B2 |
Collision detection for random access procedure
A method, an apparatus and a communication system for collision detection for a random access procedure for an uplink data channel. In one embodiment, the apparatus includes a module configured to transmit a data transmission on the uplink data channel, and an uplink scheduling and signal generating module configured to select random access parameters for a random access procedure and schedule the data transmission using the random access parameters for the random access procedure. The uplink scheduling and signal generating module is also configured to interrupt the data transmission after a predetermined time interval if the apparatus does not receive a permission signal from a network element during the predetermined time interval. |
| US08897273B2 |
Method and apparatus for transmitting and receiving periodic channel information in wireless communication system
A method and apparatus in which a terminal transmits channel information for at least one serving cell to a base station in a wireless communication system is provided. The method for receiving periodic channel information by a base station in a wireless communication system includes determining whether to set a Physical Uplink Shared CHannel (PUSCH) mode for allowing a terminal to periodically transmit a plurality of channel information to the base station in one sub-frame, transmitting PUSCH mode information including a result of the determination to the terminal, and receiving the plurality of channel information from the terminal using a PUSCH in the one sub-frame, according to the result of the determination. |
| US08897270B2 |
Medium time allocation and scheduling using ISO-zone structured superframe for QoS provisioning in wireless networks
Allocation of contiguous blocks of airtime for data or airtime transmission can lead to large maximum service intervals for an application stream. This may result in a large delay bound where large blocks of contiguous MAS blocks other applications from meeting their low-latency requirements. A method and network that overcomes at least the shortcomings of known methods includes transmitting information over a wireless network. This includes the steps of: organizing the superframe into allocation zones; organizing the allocation zones into iso-zones; generating an allocation map; determining a periodic service interval and medium time based on a TSPEC, a delay requirement, and local resource of an application stream; searching for transmission opportunity that accommodates the periodic service interval and the medium time required based on the allocation map; transmitting information in the superframe upon finding transmission opportunity in the searching step. |
| US08897269B2 |
Method and apparatus for mitigating pilot pollution in a wireless network
Techniques for mitigating pilot pollution in a wireless network are described. In an aspect, pilot pollution may be mitigated by reducing density and/or transmit power of common pilots whenever possible. A cell may send a common pilot at a first density and a first transmit power level during a first time period and may send the common pilot at a second density and a second transmit power level during a second time period. The second density may be lower than the first density and/or the second transmit power level may be lower than the first transmit power level. Lower density may be achieved by sending the common pilot less frequently, on fewer subcarriers, and/or from fewer antennas. The cell may determine whether to reduce the density and/or transmit power of the common pilot based on network loading, SINRs of terminals, etc. In another aspect, pilot pollution may be mitigated by performing pilot cancellation at a terminal. |
| US08897265B2 |
Call handoff between different networks for hybrid mobile device
Disclosed are techniques for hosting a communication session in a call server between communication devices. The call server functions as a bridge service between the communication devices joining an original communication link between the first communication device and the call server with a second communication link between the second communication device and the call server. The first communication device includes at least two RF transceivers each capable of communicating with the call server over a separate network using separate telephone numbers. The call server establishes an alternate communication link with the first communication device on an alternate network and joins it with the second communication link before disabling the original communication link to maintain the communication session between the communication devices. |
| US08897264B2 |
Method and apparatus for performing relay node configuration re-configuration in relay enhanced networks
A method for performing relay node configuration and re-configuration in relay enhanced networks, in particular in a 3GPP LTE-Advanced architecture, wherein the network includes a plurality of eNBs that function as donor eNBs providing wireless access to associated relay nodes, wherein the relay nodes function as eNBs from a UE perspective, is characterized in that the network is divided into clusters such that each cluster includes exactly one donor eNB and that each relay node is associated to at least one donor eNB any point in time, wherein the load of donor eNBs and the handover rates among relay nodes as well as between donor eNBs and relay nodes are monitored and/or estimated, wherein the association of relay nodes to donor eNBs is performed on the basis of the results of the monitoring and/or estimation. Furthermore, an apparatus for performing centralized relay node configuration in relay enhanced networks is disclosed. |
| US08897263B2 |
Interactions among mobile devices in a wireless network
One embodiment of the disclosure sets for a method for synchronizing multiple mobile devices in a wireless network, which includes the steps of calculating a time interval for a first mobile device to respond to a request, receiving timing information of the first mobile device, determining a first offset associated with the first mobile device based on the time interval and the timing information, receiving a first data stream including the timing information of the first mobile device, and inserting a first dataset into the first data stream based on the first offset before transmitting the first data stream. |
| US08897262B2 |
Relaying in a communication system
A method and apparatus for relaying communications between a mobile device and a network access node is disclosed. In the method a connection is established between a first relay node of a group of relay nodes and the network access node to serve the mobile device. The mobile device is served by the first relay node and at least one second relay node of the group in wireless connection with the mobile device such that the mobile device remains connected to the network access node via at least one of the first and second relay nodes when one of the first and second relay nodes changes. To maintain the relayed communications for the mobile device after the change in the relay nodes control information is communicated by at least one of said relay nodes on an interface between relevant relay nodes in the group. |
| US08897258B2 |
Method of transmitting data for reducing interference in hierarchical cell structure
A method of transmitting data for reducing interference in a hierarchical cell structure including a macro base station (BS) providing multi carriers and a femto BS providing a single carrier includes performing a channel scan within an interfered carrier to acquire channel state information and neighbor femto BS information if interference with the femto BS occurs; transmitting a channel measurement report including the channel state information and the neighbor femto BS information to the macro BS; and transmitting data through a carrier changed by receiving carrier change information from the macro BS. |
| US08897257B2 |
Context transfer in a communication network comprising plural heterogeneous access networks
The present invention relates to a method for a context transfer in a communication network including a plurality of heterogeneous access networks, wherein a mobile terminal is attached to one of the access networks. Further, the present invention relates to a context transfer manager performing the method. Moreover, the present invention relates to a mobile terminal specially adapted to perform the provided method for a context transfer. To facilitate a context transfer between heterogeneous access networks, the present invention introduces a context transfer manager generating at least one context based on capabilities and parameters associated to the mobile terminal and capabilities and parameters of the neighboring access networks taking into account the respective access technology. Further the context transfer manager is common to the heterogeneous access networks in the communication network and performs the context transfers related to a particular mobile terminal. |
| US08897256B2 |
Methods and apparatus for providing broadcast content over a unicast channel
A method and apparatus providing broadcast content over a unicast channel. The method and apparatus may be configured to determine whether content received using a broadcast type format is to be transmitted using a unicast type format, and to map the content to a unicast reservation upon a determination that the content is to be transmitted using the unicast type format. |
| US08897252B2 |
Method for transmitting data in a wireless communication system and system thereof
A method for transmitting data in a wireless communication system including a User Equipment (UE) and a radio access network (RAN) includes the following steps. Firstly, the RAN transmits a MAC protocol data unit (PDU) to the UE. Afterwards, the UE returns an acknowledgement signal in response to the MAC PDU. When the RAN receives the acknowledgement signal, it allocates an uplink resource for the UE to transmit data. |
| US08897248B2 |
Multicarrier signal transmission in wireless communications
A wireless device receives a control command for transmission of a random access preamble on a first cell in the plurality of cells. A fourth packet is scheduled for parallel uplink transmission with the random access preamble transmission. The fourth packet is one of a first control packet, a second packet and a third packet. The wireless device transmits the random access preamble. The wireless device transmits the fourth packet in parallel with the random access preamble, unless the random access preamble and the fourth packet are scheduled for transmission in the same cell group. |
| US08897246B2 |
Terminal apparatus and response signal transmitting method
This invention is related to a terminal apparatus that can normally transmit an upstream response signal. A response signal generating unit (212); generates response signals on the basis of a setting rule in which pattern candidates of success or failure in the reception of downstream allocation control information and downstream data are associated with the phase points of response signals and further in which the phase point of one response signal associated with an arbitrary pattern of success or failure in the reception during the second communication has been set to be identical with the phase points of two response signals associated with pattern candidates for which the pattern of success or failure in the reception at PCC during the first communication is identical with the arbitrary pattern and for which all of the receptions of downstream allocation control information have been failed at SCC. |
| US08897245B2 |
Method for efficiently performing initial access in a multi-carrier broadband wireless access system
A method for efficiently performing an initial access in an MS in a multi-carrier broadband wireless access system is disclosed. The method includes scanning a plurality of carriers supported by a BS, and selecting one of the scanned carriers as a first carrier and receiving an SFH of the first carrier. The SFH of the first carrier includes at least one of a field indicating load status of the first carrier and recommended network entry carrier information including information about a second carrier in good load status. |
| US08897244B2 |
Viral quality of service upgrade
Methods, devices, and/or systems related to viral quality of service upgrade are disclosed. Viral quality of service upgrade allows upgrade of communications that are responsive to a priority communication, using an architecture in which the priority communication “infects” devices forwarding the priority communication, so that the forwarding devices may subsequently upgrade priority levels of communications responsive to the priority communication. |
| US08897243B2 |
Method for scheduling user equipment in a radio communications system and apparatus thereof
Method and Apparatus for scheduling transmissions of a plurality of user equipments in a radio communications system including the steps of: transmitting by at least two user equipments of said plurality, of channel information to an access node, said access node serving said at least two user equipments, wherein said channel information includes of a channel matrix; said access node upon reception of said channel information, determining a correlation between said at least two user equipments; said access node comparing said determined correlation to a threshold, and said access node scheduling radio resources for said at least two user equipments based on said comparison. |
| US08897237B2 |
Granting scheduling requests in a wireless communication system
Embodiments include methods and apparatus for granting scheduling requests in a wireless communications system that includes an eNB, a plurality of UEs, and a public safety system. The eNB receives multiple scheduling requests from multiple UEs, where each of the scheduling requests indicates that a corresponding UE is requesting uplink data transmission resources. The eNB determines a priority value for each of the scheduling requests based on multiple scoring criteria, resulting in a plurality of priority values associated with the scheduling requests. The eNB transmits one or more scheduling request grants to a subset of the UEs, where the subset includes one or more UEs that are associated with one or more scheduling requests having relatively high priority values. In an embodiment, the multiple scoring criteria include information associated with a public safety activity (e.g., a user role, a jurisdictional coverage area, an incident type, and/or an application type). |
| US08897235B2 |
Protection of broadcast signals in heterogeneous networks
Certain aspects of the disclosure provide for the protection of broadcast signals in heterogeneous networks. As described herein, a first set of resources used for downlink transmission in a first cell may overlap with a second set of resources used for broadcast signals in a second cell. The broadcast signals may be protected by allocating a third set of resources for the downlink transmission in the first cell, wherein the third set of resources is based, at least in part, on the overlapping set of resources. |
| US08897232B2 |
Apparatus and method for supporting frequency overlay in broadband wireless communication system
A broadband wireless communication system is provided. A sending apparatus in the broadband wireless communication system includes a controller for distributing packets to a plurality of processors to transmit the packets in a multi-Frequency Allocation (FA) access mode; the plurality of the processors for processing the packet provided from the controller in a Media Access Control (MAC) layer; and a plurality of senders for encoding the packets provided from the corresponding processors in a physical layer and transmitting a signal generated through the physical layer encoding. |
| US08897227B2 |
Method and system for managing terminal states or terminal events in machine-to-machine or machine-to-man or man-to-machine (M2M) service
The disclosure discloses a method for managing terminal states or terminal events in a Machine-to-Machine, Machine-to-Man or Man-to-Machine (M2M) service, including: a terminal or a terminal gateway transmits state or event information of itself to a state or event management unit through a gateway device; an M2M service platform determines a service interaction operation with the terminal or the terminal gateway according to the state or event information of the terminal or the terminal gateway in the state or event management unit. The disclosure also discloses a system for managing terminal states or terminal events in an M2M service. With the method and the system, a network side can know the state or event of a terminal in time, and process services according to the state or event of the terminal, thus the success rate of the service is improved. |
| US08897226B2 |
Method and device for reporting maximum power of carrier in carrier aggregation scenario
A method and apparatus for reporting a maximum carrier power in a carrier aggregation scenario are disclosed. The method includes: a user equipment (UE) encapsulating a particular power headroom (PH) of an activated uplink component carrier (UL CC) and a particular maximum output power of a physical channel of the activated UL CC into a same power headroom report (PHR) and reporting the PHR to a base station (eNB). The method enables the eNB to acquire the power situation of the UE in time so as to perform scheduling more accurately. |
| US08897225B2 |
Apparatus and method for controlling communication path between multiple digital units and multiple radio frequency units in wireless communication system
The present invention relates to a communication path control apparatus for controlling a communication path between a plurality of DUs and a plurality of RFUs, and a plurality of antennas included in the plurality of RFUs and a wireless communication system including the communication path control apparatus. Each of the plurality of DUs, the plurality of RFUs, and the plurality of antennas has a unique identifier, and the path control apparatus controls paths between the plurality of DUs and the plurality of RFUs based on identifiers. Accordingly, the wireless communication system can transmit and receive a signal through a specific RFU and a specific antenna included in a specific RFU and performs the next-generation wireless BS operation method, such as CoMP and multi-BS MIMO. |
| US08897218B2 |
Femtocell location encoding
A device associated with a Voice over IP (VoIP) network receives a call from a mobile device. The device determines whether a sector identifier (ID) associated with the call includes a femtocell identifier. The device further determines a location identifier included in the sector ID when the sector ID includes the femtocell identifier. The device also identifies a recipient of the call based on the location identifier and forwards the call to the recipient. |
| US08897211B2 |
System and methods for providing service-specific support for multimedia traffic in wireless networks
A system for providing service-specific support for multimedia traffic in a telecommunications system comprises a subscriber terminal, a base station operatively coupled to the subscriber terminal, a mobile switching center (MSC) operatively coupled to the base station, a media gateway control function (MGCF) and a media gateway (MGW), each coupled to the MSC. The subscriber terminal is adapted to generate multimedia traffic of at least one service category, wherein the multimedia traffic may be any of several distinct types defined within the service category. The subscriber terminal is further adapted to identify, when establishing a connection to the MSC to carry multimedia traffic, the type of that traffic in a connection request message. The MSC is adapted to further identify, when establishing a connection between the MSC and the MGCF/MGW to carry multimedia traffic, the type of that traffic in a message, responsive to the identification of the traffic type in the connection request message. The MGCF/MGW are adapted to identify, when converting, reformatting, or encapsulating multimedia traffic into a form to be carried over a packet network (for example, in TCP segments), the type of traffic being carried. The MGCF, MGW, or MSC may optionally perform service-specific processing on the multimedia traffic responsive to the traffic type indicator. When multimedia traffic is delivered to a destination network for ultimate delivery to a destination endpoint, an MGCF/MGW may reverse the effects of prior service-specific processing. |
| US08897209B2 |
Systems and methods for parallel communication with legacy WLAN receivers
A method for parallel communication with wireless local area network (WLAN) receivers is described. A parallel transmission is started. A first MAC protocol data unit (MPDU) is sent to a first WLAN receiver. An acknowledgment (ACK) request is sent to the first WLAN receiver. An ACK is received from the first WLAN receiver. |
| US08897206B2 |
Frame timing synchronization in a geostationary satellite system
Aspects of the invention provide a system and method to allow inroute frame timing synchronization without the aid of hub signal loopback or satellite ephemeris data. Furthermore, it allows tracking and compensating of the satellite motion to allow multiple remotes to use TDMA on the inroute frequencies, while minimizing the aperture. Two main techniques proposed are CLT and polling based approaches, which are used in combination for an optimum solution. In CLT based approach, hub transmits remote specific timing correction feedback messages on the outroute on as needed basis. In polling based approach, the remotes derive their timing based on a per-beam average delay estimate broadcast by the hub and a measured local delay specific to each outroute stream from a remote. An aspect of the invention uses triangulation method to determine satellite position. Furthermore, an aspect of the invention uses hub burst arrival method instead of polling approach. |
| US08897202B2 |
Relay node for transmitting data by using scheduling information of multiple subframes scheduling and method for the relay node transmitting data by scheduling information of multiple subframes scheduling
A relay node and a method thereof for transmitting data are provided in the present invention, which relates to the field of wireless communication technology. The method in the present invention includes: the relay node receiving data on multiple corresponding continuous or discontinuous downlink backhaul subframes according to the obtained scheduling information of downlink multiple subframes scheduling, and sending data on multiple corresponding continuous or discontinuous uplink backhaul subframes according to the obtained scheduling information of uplink multiple subframes scheduling. The technical solution of the present invention solves a problem of scheduling resources of multiple subframes for the relay node. Compared to a dynamic scheduling and semi-persistent scheduling method in the prior art, the technical solution of the present invention can more flexibly configure and use resources to ensure transmission of the backhaul link between a base station and the relay node. |
| US08897200B2 |
Relay system, relay device and synchronization method
When no synchronization signal is transmitted over a system bus (115), a master repeater is arbitrarily selected from a plurality of repeaters (1112 to 111n), starts transmitting a synchronization signal over the system bus (115), and transmits information to the system bus (115) in synchronization with the synchronization signal. Other slave repeaters transmit information to the system bus (115) in synchronization with the synchronization signal transmitted by the master repeater. |
| US08897199B2 |
Relay transmission method and network node
A relay transmission method and a network node are disclosed. The method includes: receiving configuration information about a relay link subframe, the relay link subframe is configured in subframes in a period equivalent to an integer multiple of one frame, where the relay link subframe takes on a specific HARQ timeline; and performing relay link transmission according to the relay link subframe. The relay transmission method put forward herein meets various constraint conditions of the LTE FDD system in the relay transmission performed according to the selected relay link subframe, and is backward-compatible with the UE in the existing LTE system. |
| US08897196B2 |
Method and apparatus for transmitting and receiving control information in wireless communication system
A method and apparatus for transmitting and receiving control information in a wireless communication system are provided. In a method for receiving control information of a plurality of multiplexed channels by a User Equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system, the UE receives first control information including a first field indicating a specific identifier from a base station, wherein the plurality of multiplexed channels are not transmitted during a specific time interval based on the specific identifier. |
| US08897195B2 |
Multicast data communication method and communication system
An MBMS-GW delivers multicast data from a contents management server respectively to base stations, partitions and codes the multicast data into a plurality of pieces of multiple description code data, and delivers the plurality of pieces of MD-code data respectively to the base stations. Each of the base stations arbitrarily sets a plurality of transmission carrier frequencies for respectively transmitting the plurality of pieces of MD code data, and concurrently transmits the plurality of pieces of MD code data delivered from the MBMS-GW by respectively using the plurality of transmission carrier frequencies set by the transmission frequency setting unit. An LTE terminal or an LTE-A terminal receives, from a corresponding base station, any one or more of the plurality of pieces of MD code data transmitted by using the plurality of transmission carrier frequencies, and decodes and reproduces the multicast data from the received MD-code data. |
| US08897194B2 |
Method and device for determining single frequency network area
A method for determining a single frequency network area, applied to a broadcasting and multicasting technology field, includes: determining a cell or a cell cluster with a terminal subscribing to the broadcast multicast service; determining a cell or a cell cluster without a terminal subscribing to the broadcast and multicast service that is neighboring to the cell or the cell cluster with a terminal subscribing to the broadcast multicast service, as an auxiliary cell or an auxiliary cell cluster; selecting the auxiliary cell or the auxiliary cell cluster that satisfies the predetermined conditions, and determining both the selected auxiliary cell or the auxiliary cell cluster and the cell or the cell cluster with a terminal subscribing to the broadcast and multicast service as a single frequency network area. Also, a device for determining the single frequency network area is provided. |
| US08897192B2 |
System and method for discontinuous reception control start time
Methods of combining semi-persistent resource allocation and dynamic resource allocation are provided. Packets, such as VoIP packets, are transmitted on the uplink and downlink using respective semi-persistent resources. For each mobile device, awake periods and sleep periods are defined. The semi-persistent resources are aligned with the awake periods so that most of the time the mobile device can turn off its wireless access radio during the sleep periods. In addition, signalling to request, and to allocate, resources for additional packets are transmitted during the awake periods, and the resources allocated for the additional packets are within the awake periods. Methods of extending the awake periods in various embodiments are also provided. Methods of determining the first on period are also provided. |
| US08897191B2 |
Updating method and apparatus of sleep mode operation
Disclosed herein relates to a sleep mode operation method, and the method of updating a sleep mode operation according to the present invention may include receiving a service flow configuration request (DSx-REQ) message including a service flow parameter for service flow configuration and a sleep cycle ID (SCID) for changing a sleep mode according to the service flow configuration from a base station during a sleep mode listening window; transmitting a service flow configuration response (DSx-RSP) message including the SCID; configuring the service flow according to the service flow identifier; and changing an SCID to the SCID for updating the sleep mode operation. |
| US08897186B2 |
RLAN wireless telecommunications with radio access network (RAN) gateway and methods
Methods and apparatus for communicating with the Internet via a gateway are disclosed. The gateway may be a Radio Access Network (RAN) gateway. The gateway may communicate data with at least one user equipment (UE). The gateway may route the data via one or more interfaces. The data may be routed by bypassing a core network. |
| US08897182B2 |
Apparatus and method for transmitting muting information, and apparatus and method for acquiring channel state using same
The present disclosure relates to an apparatus and a method for transmitting muting information in a wireless communication system, and to an apparatus and a method for acquiring channel state using same. In an exemplary embodiment, muting information includes: a first data field, having a serving cell for receiving from peripheral cells in a multi-cell environment, at least one of a CSI-RS pattern, the number of CSI-RS antenna ports, a CSI-RS duty cycle, and CSI-RS transmission subframe offset information, and using same for expressing the cycle and the offset of muting subframes, which pertain to information on a resource block that can generate interference between the peripheral cells and CSI-RS; and a second data field for expressing a specific muting pattern, which must be muted within the muting subframes, having either 12 bits or 28 bits that display muting application in a bitmap format. |
| US08897178B2 |
Asymmetric full duplex communication including device power communication
An active transceiver circuit for transmission of a low bitrate data signal over and reception of a high bitrate data signal from a single ended transmission medium is provided. The active transceiver circuit includes an input port for receiving a low bitrate input data signal, an output port for delivering a high bitrate output data signal, a differential input/output port for launching a low bitrate data signal into the single ended transmission medium and for receiving a high bitrate data signal from the single ended transmission medium, a first and second single ended output driver adapted for each delivering, on their respective output nodes, the shaped low bitrate input data signal, and a high bitrate receiver for receiving the signals at output nodes of the first and second single ended output drivers, and for generating a high bitrate output data signal on the output port. |
| US08897177B2 |
Systems and methods of conducting conference calls
Systems and methods performed by an IP telephony system allow a user to request that his IP telephony device be set into a conference calling mode for an indefinite period of time. When the user's IP telephony device is in the conference calling mode, all parties that attempt to call the user's IP telephony device are added to a conference bridge tied to the user's IP telephony device. All incoming calls are treated in this fashion until the user cancels the conference calling mode and returns to a normal calling mode. |
| US08897173B2 |
Microwave backhaul arrangements
Described herein are techniques related to wireless communication systems that may implement microwave backhaul for connectivity between network elements deployed by the wireless communication systems. This Abstract is submitted with the understanding that it will not be used to interpret or limit the scope or meaning of the claims. |
| US08897172B1 |
IP telephony network using a configuration map for organizing sites in a tree-like hierarchy
A system and method for managing an IP telephony network that uses a configuration map for organizing sites in a tree-like hierarchy. The system is capable of managing the addition, removal and movement of IP telephony elements within an IP telephony network and locating services and IP telephony elements within the IP telephony network in an efficient manner. |
| US08897171B2 |
IPv4 addressing over non-IPv4 systems
A system includes an access node having an associated identifier. The access node is configured to insert the identifier into a network connection request. The system includes an IP edge service node connected to the access node and configured to receive the network connection request. The IP edge service node is further configured to store the inserted identifier and to insert the identifier into an Internet protocol version 6 (IPv6) address request transmitted according to dynamic host configuration protocol version 6 (DHCPv6) through an established network connection based on the network connection request. The system further includes a server configured to receive the IPv6 address request and assign an IPv6 address based on the IPv6 address request. |
| US08897167B2 |
Diversity monitoring for communication network circuits
Methods, systems, and computer-readable media are provided for monitoring circuit diversity within a communications network. Information is gathered regarding circuits within the communications network. Diversity rules for the circuits are received. The diversity rules may limit the sharing of network resource between primary and secondary circuit pairs. The information regarding the circuits is analyzed to identify violations of the diversity rules. A report on the violations of the diversity rules is generated. |
| US08897155B2 |
Information providing apparatus, information providing method, and communication system
An information providing apparatus includes: a map information storage unit which maintains map information with which at least one of position information, address information, and names of buildings or shops is associated; a communication parameter obtaining unit which obtains communication parameters associated with the position information; an image information creating unit which creates image information in which the communication parameters associated with the position information are described on the map information; and a display unit which displays the image information created by the image information creating unit. |
| US08897154B2 |
Combining stateless and stateful server load balancing
Exemplary embodiments for processing, by a service gateway, data packets sent over a communication session between a host and a server are disclosed. The service gateway processes data packets using a hybrid-stateful or hybrid-stateless processing method, depending on whether a hybrid-stateless or hybrid-stateful condition is satisfied. When the condition is satisfied, the service gateway allows for the changing from a hybrid-stateful to a hybrid-stateless processing method, or vice versa, for a subsequently received data packet. Otherwise, the service gateway continues processing the subsequently received data packets using the current hybrid processing method. |
| US08897153B2 |
Method and base station for combined adjusting downlink AMC and MIMO mode
A method and base station for jointly adjusting downlink AMC and MIMO modes. The base station comprises an AMC module, a fast feedback module and a joint adjustment module. The method comprises: a base station determining the current maximum available Downlink Interval Usage Code (DIUC) using a downlink Carrier to Interference plus Noise ratio (CINR) fed back by a terminal, using a MIMO mode fed back by the terminal to determine the current channel condition, and jointly adjusting the current MIMO mode and the DIUC of the terminal within the maximum available DIUC range according to the current channel condition. The method and base station overcome the shortcoming of adjusting MIMO modes or DIUCs separately, and provide more combinations of the MIMO modes and DIUCs to maximize spectral utilization and data transmission rate, thereby achieving ultimately the purpose of improving link reliability and system throughput. |
| US08897147B2 |
Spectrum analysis capability in network and/or system communication devices
Spectrum analysis (SA) capability is included in various communication devices within a communication network. One or more of the devices use the SA information from other devices in the system to determine status of various communication links were devices in the system. One or more processors within one or more devices can identify any actual/existing or expected failure or degradation of the various components within the system. Such components may include communication devices, communication channels or links, interfaces, interconnections, etc. When an actual/existing or expected failure or degradation is identified, the affected components may be serviced or devices within the system may operate to mitigate any reduction in performance caused by such problems. Such SA functionality/capability may be implemented in one communication device or in a distributed manner across a number of devices in a communication system. |
| US08897140B1 |
Congestion managed traffic engineering services in multiprotocol label switching and generalized multiprotocol label switching networks
Methods and apparatus for mitigating congestion by using advanced traffic engineering services in a multiprotocol label switching (MPLS) network and/or a generalized multiprotocol label switching (GMPLS) network are provided. In an example, provided is a method for mitigating congestion in an MPLS network. The method includes monitoring, at a network element, a traffic drop count due to traffic queue overflow on at least one of a traffic queue coupled to a link and a network interface coupled to the link. Then the traffic drop count is converted to a normalized congestion indicator for the at least one of the traffic queue and the network interface. Further, based on the normalized congestion indicator, optimize a route of a label switched path in the MPLS network so the route avoids the link. The provided methods and apparatus advantageously improve throughput, reliability, and availability of traffic engineered MPLS and GMPLS transport services. |
| US08897139B2 |
Packet processing indication
A network, network devices, and methods are described for packet processing indication. A method includes tunneling a packet from a first network device to a second network device associated with a first checking functionality. The second network device has an address different than an original destination address of the packet. The method also includes return-tunneling the packet from the second network device to the first network device with an indication of whether the packet was processed by the first checking functionality. The method includes tunneling the packet from the first network device to a third network device associated with a second checking functionality in response to the indication being that the packet was not processed by the first checking functionality. The third network device has an address different from the original destination address of the packet. |
| US08897130B2 |
Network traffic management
Various example embodiments are disclosed. According to an example embodiment, an apparatus may include a switch fabric. The switch fabric may be configured to assign packets to either a first flow set or a second flow set based on fields included in the packets. The switch fabric may also be configured to send a first packet from the first flow set to a first flow set destination via a first path. The switch fabric may also be configured to determine, based at least in part on delays of the first path and a second path, whether sending a second packet from the first flow set to the first flow set destination via a second path will result in the second packet reaching the first flow set destination after the first packet reaches the first flow set destination, the second packet having been received by the router after the first packet. The switch fabric may also be configured to send the second packet to the first flow set destination via the second path based at least in part on the determining that sending the second packet from the first flow set to the first flow set destination via a second path will result in the second packet reaching the first flow set destination after the first packet reaches the first flow set destination. |
| US08897129B1 |
Method and apparatus for implementing flow control in a network via a physical layer (PHY)
Various embodiments provide a way to adjust transmission rates of a medium access controller (MAC) to a physical layer (PHY) to accommodate for packet expansions due to encryption that takes place in the PHY. In at least some embodiments, a communication interface between different MACs in a system is re-purposed to allow the PHY to communicate to a system MAC to notify the system MAC to pause and then resume, at an appropriate time, its packet transmissions. |
| US08897126B2 |
Communication apparatus, apparatus activation control method, communication control method, and communication control program
Apparatus, method and program for restoring path information to its original status when a trouble occurs on a network. An apparatus control part generates, based on a switch information list and an I/F information list stored in a nonvolatile storing part, link information that is prior to the reactivation and used for determining adjacent communication apparatuses. The apparatus control part acquires, via a control network from the adjacent communication apparatuses described in the generated link information, held path information. Thereafter, the apparatus control part (11) decides, based on a stored definition information list, a path sequence such that the path of a lower order layer is placed before the path of an upper order layer. Thereafter, the apparatus control part generates the path information based on the path sequence and further based on the previously acquired held path information. |
| US08897122B2 |
Communication system, transmitter and receiver
Disclosed is a transmission device including a plurality of antennas for transmitting signals in the same channel at the same time point to a plurality of reception devices, characterized by including: a DRS generator configured to generate DRSs (dedicated reference signals) for the respective reception devices; a nonlinear spatial multiplexer configured to generate a nonorthogonal DRS by use of a first group of DRSs including at least one of the DRSs; and a transmitter configured to transmit a signal containing at least the nonorthogonal DRS. |
| US08897120B2 |
Frame and training pattern structure for multi-carrier systems
A transmitting apparatus for transmitting signals in a multi carrier system on the basis of a frame structure, each frame comprising at least two preamble patterns adjacent to each other in the frequency direction and at least two data patterns, said transmitting apparatus comprising a pilot mapper configured to map the same sequence of pilot signals on frequency carriers of each of said at least two preamble patterns in a frame, each preamble pattern having the same length, a data mapper configured to map data on frequency carriers of said at least two data patterns in a frame a transformer configured to transform said preamble patterns and said data patterns from the frequency domain into the time domain in order to generate a time domain transmission signal, and a transmitter configured transmit said transmission signal. |
| US08897117B2 |
Method and apparatus for managing resources in OFDMA cellular system
A resource management method and apparatus in an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) cellular system supporting a first system communication mode and a second system communication mode in an uplink using Frequency Division Multiplexing (FDM) are provided. A resource management apparatus provided in a Base Station (BS) or a Mobile Station (MS) subchannelizes physical resource units constituting a system bandwidth into a plurality of subchannels according a scheme defined in the first system communication mode, and renumbers the plurality of subchannels with indexes in reverse order to be used for an MS operating in the second system communication mode. The plurality of subchannels having the renumbered indexes are used for resource allocation and data exchange between the BS and the MS operating in the second system communication mode. |
| US08897115B2 |
Topographic feedforward system
A control mechanism may control the height and/or position of a read/write head configured to interact with a rotating information storage surface. A computation unit may compute a detected topography from gap measurements using a dynamic filter including a model of read/write head dynamics. A sensor may detect gap measurements of a side read/write track while the read/write head is interacting with a current read/write track. A memory may store the detected topography. The control mechanism may adjust the height of the read/write head based on the detected and/or stored topography. The control mechanism may be a reactionless control mechanism configured to apply a counterforce to offset movements of the read/write head and/or a slider. |
| US08897114B2 |
Topographic feedforward system
A topography detection mechanism may measure surface height of a side read/write track while the read/write head is interacting with a current read/write track. A memory may store the measured surface height. |
| US08897113B2 |
Rotary head data storage and retrieval system and method for data verification
A data storage and retrieval system includes a head carriage unit adapted for rotational motion and having multiple heads disposed at a working surface. The system also includes a tape drive unit configured to move a tape media past the working surface of the head carriage unit, the tape media having a width approximately equal to a width of the working surface. As the head carriage unit rotates and the tape moves past the working surface, a first head is configured to write a data track to the tape and a second head is configured to thereafter read the data track, where data read by the second head is for use in verifying data integrity and performing error correction. |
| US08897107B2 |
Playback device and playback method
There is provided a playback device including a light source, an objective lens that radiates light emitted onto an optical recording medium, and onto which is incident reflected light obtained from a recording surface of the optical recording medium, a condenser lens that condenses the reflected light, a photodetecting section configured to, provided that a confocal position is a focal position of the condenser lens, λ is a wavelength of light radiated onto the optical recording medium, and NA is a numerical aperture of the objective lens, extract and detect light within a range of a diameter less than 1.5λ/NA centered on an optical axis at the confocal position, and a phase difference imparting section that imparts a designated phase difference between a reflected light component from a readout track and a reflected light component from a track neighboring the readout track. |
| US08897103B2 |
Disk drive calibrating a laser write power for heat assisted magnetic recording
A disk drive is disclosed comprising a head actuated over a disk, wherein the head comprises a laser for heating the disk while writing data to the disk. The disk drive receives write commands, and increases a power of the laser to a write power for heating the disk while writing data to the disk. A calibration interval is adjusted based on the power applied to the laser over time, and the write power is calibrated at the calibration interval. |
| US08897102B1 |
Method and system for measuring light delivery offsets in a heat assisted magnetic recording head
A heat assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) transducer resides on a slider, has an air-bearing surface (ABS) and has a back side. The HAMR transducer includes a target waveguide, a plurality of assistant cores and a plurality of output devices. The target waveguide has an entrance at the back side and directs energy provided by a laser from the entrance at the back side toward the ABS. The assistant cores have a plurality of assistant core entrances at the back side. The assistant cores direct energy from the assistant core entrances to the output devices. In some aspects, the assistant cores and output devices may be used in aligning the laser and the target waveguide or checking the alignment of the laser and the target waveguide. |
| US08897100B2 |
Electronic timer/sensor to protect skin from overexposure to UV radiation
A portable device that alerts a user when she should reapply her sunscreen product. The device is activated by a start/stop button and a count down timer counts down from a fixed amount of time to zero. Once the timer has counted down to zero, an indicator such as an alarm is activated to notify the user it is time for her to reapply her sunscreen product. Preferably the fixed amount of time can range from about one to about four hours and, most preferably, the fixed amount of time is about two hours. |
| US08897097B2 |
Satellite signal receiving device, satellite signal receiving method, and electronic device
A satellite signal reception device that can desirably receive satellite signals has a charge state detection circuit 43 and a voltage detection circuit 44 that detect if the satellite signal reception device is outdoors, and a control circuit 40. If the satellite signal reception device is determined to be outdoors based on the detection result from the charge state detection circuit 43 and voltage detection circuit 44, the control circuit 40 operates a GPS reception circuit 30. If an indoor state in which the satellite signal reception device is determined to not be outdoors continues for at least a predetermined specific time, the control circuit 40 operates the GPS reception circuit 30 at a preset scheduled reception time. |
| US08897095B2 |
Object probing device, object probing program, and object probing method
An object probing device includes: a sound source which projects a sound pulse within a propagation environment; a transducer array disposed in a region for receiving the forward scattered wave scattered forward from the object existing in the propagation environment; an addition processing unit which extracts only a signal of the forward scattered wave by applying vector addition processing on a reference signal in a reference sound field received by the transducer array when the object does not exist in the propagation environment and a mixed signal in a probe sound field received when the object exists; a time reversal processing unit which generates a time-reversed sound pulse by applying time reversal processing on the extracted forward scattered wave; and a phase conjugation determination unit which checks whether or not a phase conjugacy is established in the propagation environment by employing a passive phase conjugation to the time-reversed sound pulse. |
| US08897093B2 |
Controlling method of connector, connector, and memory storage device
A controlling method of a connector, the connector, and a memory storage device are provided. The controlling method includes following steps. A first clock signal generated by a first oscillator in the connector is obtained. A second clock signal generated by a second oscillator in the connector is obtained. A frequency shift of the first oscillator is smaller than a frequency shift of the second oscillator. A detection window information corresponding to the second clock signal is corrected according to the first clock signal and the second clock signal. The first oscillator is turned off. A signal stream including a first signal is received. A detection window is generated according to the corrected detection window information and the second clock signal, and whether the first signal is a burst signal is determined according to the detection window. Thereby, the power consumption of the connector is reduced. |
| US08897091B1 |
High speed digital signal termination circuit
A clock driver integrated circuit device and method is provided. The device can include a VTT regulator provided on a single integrated circuit (IC) chip. A first termination at an internal VDD/2 can be coupled to the VTT regulator. A VTT bus can be coupled to the first termination. A plurality of command control inputs can be coupled to the VTT bus. The plurality of command inputs can include A, BA, RAS, CAS, WE, CS, CKE, ODT, PARIN, and the like. A VDD termination can be coupled to a first end of the VTT bus and a ground can be coupled to a second end of the VTT bus. The method can include regulating or removing signal noise from a host controller via the clock driver IC device. |
| US08897086B2 |
Method and apparatus for memory fault tolerance
One or more circuits may comprise an array of memory cells corresponding to a particular memory address, and a memory fault mitigation module. The one or more circuits may be operable to write a data block to the array of memory cells. The write operation may comprises a swap of a first portion of the data block with a second portion of the data block in response to a detection that one or more memory cells of the array is faulty, and storing the data block to the array of memory cells after the swap. |
| US08897085B2 |
Immunity against temporary and short power drops in non-volatile memory: pausing techniques
A mechanism is presented memory circuits, such a NAND-type flash memories, to autonomously protect themselves from temporary and short power drops. A detection mechanism looks for the supply voltage to drop below a function voltage for a period of time. When such an event occurs, a suspend mechanism is activated, and after completing the last micro-operation (such as a program pulse) the memory freezes. When power is again stable at an operational level, the suspended operation is resumed. The memory controller can then be notified upon occurrence of such voltage drop by polling a special status bit. Examples of how the pausing can be implemented include altering of clock signals and suspending sub-phases of larger operations. |
| US08897084B2 |
Dynamic data strobe detection
Techniques are disclosed relating to determining when a data strobe signal is valid for capturing data. In one embodiment, an apparatus is disclosed that includes a memory interface circuit configured to determine an initial time value for capturing data from a memory based on a data strobe signal. In some embodiments, the memory interface circuit may determine this initial time value by reading a known value from memory. In one embodiment, the memory interface circuit further configured to determine an adjusted time value for capturing the data, where the memory interface circuit is configured to determine the adjusted time value by using the initial time value to sample the data strobe signal. |
| US08897080B2 |
Variable rate serial to parallel shift register
A shift register structure is presented that can be used in fixed or variable rate serial to parallel data conversions. In an 1 to N conversion, data is received off an m-bit serial data bus and loaded into a N by m wide latch, before being transfer out onto an (N×m)-wide parallel data bus. Based on information on how of the N m-bit wide data units are to be ignored, the data will be clocked out at a variable rate. When loading data off the serial bus into the latch, upon refresh the current data is loaded into all N units of the latch, with one less latch being loaded at each subsequent clock. When the content of a unit of latch is to be ignored on the parallel bus, that unit is closed at the same time as the preceding unit so that it is left with redundant data. |
| US08897074B2 |
Writing data to a thermally sensitive memory device
Writing data to a thermally sensitive memory device, including: receiving a physical layout of the thermally sensitive memory device; receiving the direction of airflow across the thermally sensitive memory device; selecting an address for writing data to the thermally sensitive memory device in dependence upon the physical layout of the thermally sensitive memory device and the direction of airflow across the thermally sensitive memory device; and writing data to the selected address of the thermally sensitive memory device. |
| US08897070B2 |
Selective word line erase in 3D non-volatile memory
An erase process for a 3D stacked memory device allows a portion of a block of memory cells to be erased. In one approach, in a U-shaped NAND string configuration, memory cells in the drain- or source-side columns are erased. In another approach, such as in a U-shaped or a straight NAND string configuration, memory cells in a portion of a column of memory cells are erased, and a dummy memory cell is provided between the erased and non-erased memory cells. A dummy memory cell can be on either side (e.g., above and below) of an erase memory cell, or on either side of a non-erased memory cell. A dummy memory cell is ineligible to store user data, but prevents a downshift in the threshold voltage of an erased memory cell from changing the threshold voltage of a non-erased memory cell, due to capacitive coupling. |
| US08897069B2 |
Semiconductor memory device and operating method thereof
A semiconductor memory device of the present invention includes a memory cell array configured to include a sensing circuit configured to perform program verifying of the page buffer group selected by the select signal, and configured to output a pass/fail signal corresponding to the page buffer group, a verifying result signal generation section configured to output one or more of a first verifying signal and a second verifying signal in accordance with pass or fail of the program for total page buffer groups by using the pass/fail signal, and a control circuit configured to output the select signals to verify the program after the program is performed, and control operation of the program in response to an output signal of the verifying result signal generation section. |
| US08897068B2 |
Semiconductor memory device
A semiconductor memory device includes a memory cell array configured to include a plurality of memory blocks, a voltage generator configured to output operating voltages for data input and output to global lines, and a row decoder configured to transfer the operating voltages to local lines of a memory block, selected from among the plurality of memory blocks, and supply a ground voltage to local lines of unselected memory blocks in response to address signals. |
| US08897063B2 |
Multilevel differential sensing in phase change memory
Methods and systems for multi-bit phase change memories. Using differential sensing for memory reads provides advantages including improved temperature and drift resilience, improved state discrimination and increased storage density. |
| US08897057B2 |
Quantum memory
A quantum memory component including a quantum dot molecule having first and second quantum dots provided in respective first and second layers separated by a barrier layer; an exciton comprising an electron and hole bound state in said quantum dot molecule, the spin state of said exciton forming a qubit; first and second electrical contacts respectively provided below the first quantum dot and above the second quantum dot; a voltage source to apply an electric field across said quantum dot molecule; a controller to modulate the electric field across the quantum dot molecule, including an information acquiring circuit to acquire information concerning the relationship between fine structure splitting of the exciton and the applied electric field and a timing circuit to allow switching of the exciton from an indirect configuration to a direct configuration at predetermined times derived from the fine structure splitting. |
| US08897055B2 |
Memory device, method of operating the same, and electronic device having the memory device
A memory device includes a memory cell array and a fuse device. The fuse device includes a fuse cell array and a fuse control circuit. The fuse cell array includes a first fuse cell sub-array which stores first data associated with operation of the fuse control circuit, and a second fuse cell sub-array which stores second data associated with operation of the memory device. The fuse control circuit is electrically coupled to the first and second fuse cell sub-arrays, and is configured to read the first and second data from the first and second fuse cell sub-arrays, respectively. |
| US08897047B2 |
Associative memory oscillator array
An analog associative memory, which includes an array of coupled voltage or current controlled oscillators, matches patterns based on shifting frequencies away from a center frequency of the oscillators. Test and memorized patterns are programmed into the oscillators by varying the voltage or current that controls the oscillators. Matching patterns result in smaller shifts of frequencies and enable synchronization of oscillators. Non-matching patterns result in larger shifts and preclude synchronization of oscillators. The patterns may each include binary data and the pattern matching may be based on discrete shifts. The patterns may each include grayscale data and the pattern matching may be based on continuously-varied shifts. Other embodiments are described herein. |
| US08897043B2 |
Power conversion apparatus and method
According to one embodiment, power conversion apparatus includes a converter and a controller. A converter receives an AC power as an input, and outputs a DC voltage by turning on and off a first switching element which operates when the AC power is positive, and a second switching element which operates when the AC power is negative. A controller receives an AC input voltage and alternating input current to the converter, and a DC output voltage from the converter, as an input, determines a pulse width of a first pulse signal to turn on the first switching element and a pulse width of a second pulse signal to turn on the second switching element, and outputs the first pulse signal and second pulse signal to the converter. |
| US08897041B2 |
Universal power conversion methods and systems
Universal electrical power conversion methods and systems which may provide the combined capabilities of symmetrical and asymmetrical conversion, bidirectionality, and simplicity are provided. In some cases, the converter charges an inductor connected in parallel between a regulated port and an unregulated port using energy stored by a capacitor positioned in parallel between the inductor and one of the ports until the inductor has a level of current stored that corresponds to the change in voltage desired at the regulated port, then discharges stored energy into the other port until a current cutoff threshold level is reached in the inductor. Creating an LC tank circuit during conversion allows conversion processes to traverse sinusoidal discharge patterns. In some embodiments, the inductor is precharged with current to affect the discharge of the inductor. Multiple ports can be connected and disconnected from the same inductor with these methods and systems. |
| US08897037B2 |
Systems and methods for reducing standby power consumption of switch-mode power converters
Power conversion system and method. The system includes a first capacitor, a second capacitor, and a plurality of diodes including a first diode, a second diode, a third diode, and a fourth diode. Additionally, the system includes a fifth diode including a first anode and a first cathode and a sixth diode including a second anode and a second cathode. Moreover, the system includes a primary winding, and a secondary winding coupled to the primary winding. The first anode is connected to a first input terminal, and the second anode is connected to a second input terminal. The first input terminal and the second input terminal are configured to receive an input voltage. The secondary winding is configured to generate an output voltage based on at least information associated with the input voltage. |
| US08897036B2 |
Switching regulator, including dead time adjusting circuit, and control device thereof
A switching regulator related to aspects of the invention can include an auxiliary winding for monitoring the voltage across the primary winding of a transformer, a differentiation detecting circuit that detects the timing of reversal start or reversal end of the signal detected by the auxiliary winding and a dead time adjusting circuit that receives a signal to trigger turn OFF of a first switch or a second switch and, after passing a predetermined delay time from the detection of the signal, generates a signal to trigger turn ON of the first switch or the second switch. The differentiation detecting circuit can confirm current transfer between body diodes. The dead time adjusting circuit can adjust a dead time to deliver the signal after a predetermined time from the confirmation of the current transfer. In some aspects of the invention, occurrence of hard switching and short-circuit current can be suppressed. |
| US08897034B2 |
Splitter plate and electronic apparatus
The present invention discloses a splitter plate and an electronic apparatus. The splitter plate includes a splitter plate main body, and further includes a turnover positioning apparatus, and the turnover positioning apparatus is hinged on a side of the splitter plate main body; the turnover positioning apparatus is configured to, after a half-height board is assembled to a subrack, abut against the half-height board and connect to the subrack to fasten the half-height board to the subrack. |
| US08897032B2 |
Surface mount antenna contacts
A method and system for connecting a vertical printed circuit board with a horizontal printed circuit board where a contact device is biased in a first position when not contacting a vertical printed circuit board and is biased in a second position when the vertical printed circuit is coupled to the horizontal printed circuit board. |
| US08897029B2 |
Compact isolated switching power converters
An isolated switching power converter includes a power isolation transformer having at least one primary winding, at least one secondary winding and a plurality of sides, a first power board mechanically coupled to a first side of the transformer, and a second power board mechanically coupled to a second side of the transformer. The first power board includes a primary side circuit electrically coupled to the at least one primary winding, and the second power board includes a secondary side circuit electrically coupled to the at least one secondary winding. |
| US08897027B2 |
Bonding pad structure
A bonding pad structure is disclosed, which is composed of two bonding pad units that are symmetrically disposed with respect to an axial line. Each bonding pad units is further composed of at least two bonding pads, i.e. each bonding pad unit is composed of at least one first bonding pad and at least one second bonding pad. In an embodiment, the first bonding pad is arranged next to the axial line and the second bonding pad is arranged at a side of the corresponding first bonding pad away from the axial line while enabling the first bonding pad and the corresponding second bonding pad to be interconnected to each other by a first neck portion. Thereby, a plurality of solder areas of different sizes can be formed by the interconnecting of the at least two bonding pad units that can be used for soldering electronic components of different sizes. |
| US08897024B2 |
Method for manufacturing a suspension board assembly sheet with circuits
An assembly sheet includes a plurality of suspension boards and a frame member that integrally supports the suspension boards. On a surface of the frame member, a plurality of identification marks for identifying respective positions of the suspension boards in automatic optical inspection are provided corresponding to the suspension boards. |
| US08897018B2 |
Display device and television receiver
Provided is a display device in which a panel module can be fixed to a front cabinet without using screws, and when performing maintenance, the panel module can be easily removed from the front cabinet.The display device including a panel module having a display surface on the front side thereof, a front cabinet surrounding a peripheral edge part of the panel module, and a back cabinet covering a back side of the panel module includes a flexible hook part protruded toward the back cabinet from the inner surface of the front cabinet, and an L-shaped fixing member which has an L shape and includes a latch plate having a hole part in which the flexible hook part is latched and a contact plate which contacts with a back surface of the panel module so as to fix the front cabinet to the panel module. |
| US08897017B2 |
Serviceable hard disk drive trays for a server rack
A sliding mechanism and a swivel mechanism allow a user to quickly and safely access components of a computing system, such as hard disk drives, included in a chassis. A housing affixed to the chassis includes a tray, which is coupled to the housing by the sliding mechanism. The swivel mechanism also couples the tray to the housing and allows the tray to be pivoted about the swivel mechanism. For example, the tray may be extended out of the housing via the sliding mechanism, and the portion of the tray extending from the housing may be pivoted using the swivel mechanism to simplify access to components coupled to the tray. |
| US08897011B2 |
Heat dissipation system for power module
Disclosed herein is a heat dissipation system for a power module, the heat dissipation system including: first and second heat dissipation plates spaced apart from each other while facing each other, to form a cooling medium flow passage; first and second inflow lines extended to the cooling medium flow passage of the first and second heat dissipation plates, to transfer cooling media flowing therein at different flow rates or different fluxes to the cooling medium flow passage; and first and second inlets respectively connected with the first and second inflow lines to allow the cooling media to flow therein. |
| US08897007B2 |
Grounding features of a portable computing device
A portable computing device can include one or more clutch assemblies that can include a conductive elastomer configured to contact at least a portion of the clutch assembly of the portable computing device. The conductive elastomer can be configured to also contact at least one region of the base portion of the portable computing device and can include highly conductive regions. A USB grounding plate can be attached to a portion of a case for the portable computing device and can be configured to provide a ground pathway between the case and a ground sheath of a USB connector inserted into an opening in a side wall of the case. |
| US08897003B2 |
Information processing apparatus
An information processing apparatus 10 connected to a peripheral device through a cable includes a main body unit 20 having a connector on a bottom portion 20a of the main body unit 20, a base unit 40 that is set on the main body unit 20 in a tiltable manner, a tilting unit 60 that turns the main body unit about a vicinity of the bottom portion of the main body unit with respect to the base unit when tilting is performed, and a cable holder 80 that defines a position of the cable in a vicinity of the connector and suppresses movement of the cable accompanying the tilting operation between the defined position and the connector, wherein the cable holder is attached to the tilting unit. |
| US08896995B2 |
Shock mounting cover glass in consumer electronic devices
Apparatus, systems and methods for shock mounting glass for an electronic device are disclosed. The glass for the electronic device can provide an outer surface for at least a portion of a housing for the electronic device. In one embodiment, the shock mounting can provide a compliant interface between the glass and the electronic device housing. In another embodiment, the shock mounting can provide a mechanically actuated retractable. For example, an outer glass member for an electronic device housing can be referred to as cover glass, which is often provided at a front surface of the electronic device housing. |
| US08896994B2 |
Electronic device with securing mechanism for securing a display of the electronic device
An electronic device includes: a chassis; an input device and a display panel that are arranged within the chassis; an elastic member that is arranged between the chassis and the display panel; and a holding member that holds the input device, that is secured to the chassis, and that pushes the display panel toward the elastic member to deform the elastic member. |
| US08896992B2 |
Wearable computer system
A wearable computer system that provides for convenient and efficient use of all fingers while the user is standing, reclining or using hands intermittently for other tasks. The central unit hangs from a neck strap and communicates with a head mounted display. The central unit's front surface has keys, accessible from opposite edges by each hand. Typing is similar to the traditional, but rotated 90 degrees on each side. Keys are individually assignable to any letter, symbol, musical note, color, action, or macro. Back panels have thumb keys and controls, and can be modified to accept alternate thumb controls and additional hardware, such as sensors, circuits, cameras, and auxiliary connectors for specific tasks such as musical instrument performance or augmented reality game play. Smartphones, can be incorporated within or connected to the central unit. Desktop use can be accomplished by unfolding the panels of one embodiment. |
| US08896990B2 |
Electronic device cover
An electronic device cover includes a protection member and a support. The protection member includes a protection plate. The support member is rotatably mounted to the protection member and includes a support plate. The support member is rotatable between a protection position and a support position relative to the protection member; when the support member is in the support position, the support member supports the protection plate in a stand position, and the protection plate and the support plate define a corner therebetween; when the support member is in the protection position, the protection plate and the support plate are unfolded and define a receiving space. |
| US08896986B2 |
Method of improving electromechanical integrity of cathode coating to cathode termination interfaces in solid electrolytic capacitors
A solid electrolytic capacitor with an anode and a dielectric on the anode. A cathode is on the dielectric and a conductive coating on the dielectric. A cathode lead is electrically connected to the conductive coating by an adhesive selected from the group consisting of a transient liquid phase sinterable material and polymer solder. |
| US08896982B2 |
Electrodes for electronic weaponry and methods of manufacture
A deployment unit for an electronic control device (ECD) used as a weapon provides a current from a signal generator of the ECD through tissue of a human or animal target. The deployment unit includes a housing, an interface, a filament, and an electrode. The interface couples the housing to the signal generator. The filament includes a first end coupled to the interface for receiving the current and comprises a second end. The filament conducts the current for inhibiting voluntary movement by the target. The electrode, stored in the housing prior to deployment, mechanically couples the filament to the target when deployed. The electrode includes an assembly of a first part and a second part that after assembly cooperate to bind the second end of the filament to the electrode. |
| US08896981B2 |
Relay drive unit
A relay drive unit drives a relay by supplying a power source voltage from a battery. The relay drive unit includes a power source voltage detector, a drive signal generator, and a relay drive circuit. The power source voltage detector detects the power source voltage. The drive signal generator generates a PWM signal as a drive signal for maintaining the relay in an ON state. The PWM signal has a preset duty ratio according to a magnitude of the power source voltage detected by the power source voltage detector. The relay drive circuit turns a supply of the power source voltage from the battery on/off based on a duty ratio of the drive signal generated by the drive signal generator. |
| US08896977B2 |
Method for operating an electrical power supply network
A method for operating an electrical power supply network is described. The power supply network has several levels of different voltages. The levels are interconnected by switches. A first switch is made so that the maximum interruptible short-circuit current of the first switch is smaller than the maximum flowing short-circuit current. In the event of failure, a test is made as to whether the short-circuit current presently flowing through the first switch is smaller than the maximum interruptible short-circuit current. The first switch will remain closed if this is not the case, and the first switch will be opened if this is the case. |
| US08896975B2 |
Voltage regulator over-voltage detection system, method and apparatus
Monitoring of a core logic internal voltage regulator output is performed to detect, alarm and put an integrated circuit device into a safe mode when the voltage on the core logic exceeds a safe operating voltage value. This allows putting the integrated circuit devise into a predictable, detectable and safe mode, and to alarm the over-voltage condition to a system monitor to alert on a fault and subsequent fault disposition. |
| US08896973B2 |
Magnetic head with a spin torque oscillator, magnetic sensor, and magnetic recording/reproducing apparatus
A magnetic head according to an embodiment includes: a spin-torque oscillator comprising a first ferromagnetic layer, a second ferromagnetic layer, a third ferromagnetic layer provided on the opposite side of the second ferromagnetic layer from the first ferromagnetic layer, a first nonmagnetic layer provided between the first ferromagnetic layer and the second ferromagnetic layer, a second nonmagnetic layer provided between the second ferromagnetic layer and the third ferromagnetic layer, a first electrode provided on a surface on the opposite side of the first ferromagnetic layer from the first nonmagnetic layer, and a second electrode provided on a surface on the opposite side of the third ferromagnetic layer from the second nonmagnetic layer. Magnetization precession is induced in each of the first through third ferromagnetic layers when current is applied between the first and second electrodes. |
| US08896967B2 |
Magnetic head for perpendicular magnetic recording having a main pole and a shield
A magnetic head includes a coil, a main pole, a write shield, and first and second yoke layers. The first and second yoke layers are magnetically connected to the write shield and aligned along the direction of travel of a recording medium such that the main pole is interposed therebetween. The coil includes a winding portion of planar spiral shape that is formed in one or more layers. The magnetic head further includes: a first coupling part located away from the medium facing surface and magnetically coupling the main pole and the second yoke layer to each other; and a second coupling part located away from the medium facing surface and magnetically coupling the first yoke layer and the second yoke layer to each other without touching the main pole. The winding portion is wound around the first coupling part, and a part of the winding portion passes between the first and second coupling parts. |
| US08896966B2 |
Magnetic write head having a coil adjacent to the main pole
Approaches for a magnetic write head having an adjacent coil architecture, wherein a coil turn is fabricated immediately adjacent to the writer main pole. The adjacent coil portion essentially lies on the main pole, except for a very thin layer of insulation atomically layered in between. The adjacent coil portion is also substantially closer to the wrap-around shield in comparison with conventional coil configurations. Further, the other upper coil portions may be fabricated to essentially lie on the stitch pole, again except for a very thin atomic layer deposited layer of insulation layered between. This adjacent coil configuration provides a writer coil configuration that concentrates the coil structure significantly closer to the main pole surface, as well as concentrates more of the coil structure closer to the main pole tip, providing for a more efficient and faster write head. |
| US08896965B2 |
Non-uniform write gap perpendicular writer for shingle writing
A PMR writer is disclosed that includes at least one of a recessed center section in the write pole trailing edge and a center recessed trailing shield to improve the field gradient at track edge. In all embodiments, there is a non-uniform write gap between the trailing edge and the trailing shield. The recessed portion of the write pole trailing edge and/or center recess of the trailing shield has a thickness from 10 to 40 nm in a down-track direction and a width in a cross-track direction of 20 to 200 nm. The distance between the center recess and a corner of the trailing edge is from 20 to 80 nm. A sequence of steps is provided to fabricate the two embodiments of the present invention. |
| US08896961B1 |
Reader positioning in shingled magnetic recording
Systems and methods are disclosed for positioning of a reader element in a data storage device employing shingled recording. In an embodiment, a system may comprise a data storage medium configured to store data in a shingled manner where at least one track is partially overlapped by an adjacent track, a read element to read data from the data storage medium, and a processor. The processor may be configured to receive a read command to retrieve data from the data storage medium, and when the data is stored to a shingled portion of the data storage medium, adjust a position of the read element according to a squeeze offset value based on an amount of overwrite of a shingled data track by an adjacent data track. |
| US08896960B2 |
Timing-based servo for determining lateral head velocity
A servo track has servo pattern frames including two pairs of parallel transitions, the transitions of each pair spaced apart an equal distance, the first pair at an azimuth angle, the second pair at the opposite azimuth angle. A servo channel receives signals at first times corresponding to a servo read head detecting the transitions of the first pair of parallel transitions of a servo pattern frame, and second times corresponding to the servo read head detecting the transitions of the second pair of parallel transitions. The servo channel determines a relative lateral movement and velocity between the tape and the tape head based on respective functions of the ratio (TD−TC)/(TB−TA), distance d, and constants proportional to the azimuth angle and the trajectory angle. |
| US08896959B1 |
Magnetic disk apparatus and data recording method
According to one embodiment, a magnetic disk apparatus includes a magnetic disk having a plurality of tracks, each of the plurality of tracks having a plurality of servo areas and a plurality of data areas, the plurality of servo areas and the plurality of data areas being alternately arranged respectively, a magnetic head, and a processor. When a plurality of positioning errors related to one servo area are present in the first track, the processor updates the positioning error of the one servo area with a positioning error closest to a second track that is next to the first track. The processor writes data in the second track by a shingled write recording system by using the updated positioning error. |
| US08896957B1 |
Disk drive performing spiral scan of disk surface to detect residual data
A disk drive is disclosed comprising a disk surface comprising a radius, a head operable to generate a read signal, and a voice coil motor (VCM) operable to actuate the head over the disk surface. A back electromotive force (BEMF) voltage generated by the VCM is measured. The VCM is controlled to move the head over substantially the entire radius of the disk surface in response to the BEMF voltage, and while moving the head the read signal from the head is processed to detect residual data recorded on the disk surface after erasing the disk surface. |
| US08896956B1 |
Method and system for reading closely-spaced data tracks
A method for reading a track of data may include positioning a read head at an initial position relative to the track of data and obtaining initial track signals, filtering the initial track signals, positioning the read head at an initial subsequent position relative to the track of data and obtaining initial subsequent track signals, and filtering the initial subsequent track signals. In an initial equalization, the filtered initial track signals and the filtered initial subsequent track signals are equalized to obtain equalized track signals. The read head is positioned at a further subsequent position relative to the track of data and further subsequent track signals are obtained The further subsequent track signals are filtered. In a subsequent equalization, previously obtained equalized track signals and the filtered further subsequent track signals are equalized. A storage device operating according to the method may have an equalizer in hardware or firmware. |
| US08896955B1 |
Adaptive track follow control
A disk drive comprises a track follow control system having a plurality of selectable frequency modes, the track follow control system configured to receive a position error signal and to output a control signal based on the position error signal, wherein the control signal is used by a head assembly to position a head over a disk. The disk drive also comprises a state estimator configured to receive the control signal and a position signal indicating a position of the head, to estimate a disturbance based on the control signal and the position signal, and to output an estimated disturbance signal based on the estimated disturbance. The disk drive further comprises a disturbance evaluator configured to receive the estimated disturbance signal, and to select one of the frequency modes of the track follow control system based on the estimated disturbance signal. |
| US08896945B2 |
Barrel driving mechanism and image pickup device thereof
A barrel driving mechanism and an image pickup device thereof. The barrel driving mechanism comprises a fixing-barrel, a driving-barrel and a moving-barrel. The fixing-barrel has a first groove with a first stop-position and a first position. The driving-barrel disposed in the fixing-barrel has a second groove with a second stop-position and a second position. The driving-barrel has a first guiding protrusion inserted into the first groove. The moving-barrel disposed in the driving-barrel having a second guiding protrusion is inserted into the second groove. Wherein, the first stop-position to the first position and the second stop-position to the second position are slanted grooves. When the driving-barrel is rotated, the driving-barrel shifts a first axial distance and the moving-barrel shifts a second axial distance. The sum of the first axial distance and the second axial distance equals the total displacement of the moving barrel. |
| US08896944B2 |
Lens barrel
A lens barrel includes: a lens frame including at least one lens; a lens adjusting frame to which the lens frame is attached; and a fixed frame to which the lens adjusting frame is attached. The lens adjusting frame is attached to the fixed frame such that a position or a tilt angle of the lens adjusting frame is adjustable. The lens frame is attached to the lens adjusting frame such that the lens frame is detachable from the lens adjusting frame. |
| US08896943B2 |
Lens assembly and method for assembling the same
A lens assembly is disclosed, which includes a base and a lens barrel. The base has a front edge, a back edge opposite to the front edge and a passage penetrating the front edge and the back edge. The lens barrel is disposed in the passage and includes a lens and a lens holding member holding the lens, wherein an outer surface of the lens holding member is in contact with an inner wall of the passage, and at least one of the inner wall of the passage and the outer surface of the lens holding member includes a smooth surface, arranged such that a thrust force applied on the lens barrel while assembling the lens assembly causes a sliding movement between the base and the lens barrel on the smooth surface. |
| US08896941B2 |
Image capturing lens, optical apparatus having same, and method for manufacturing image-capturing lens
An image-capturing lens has, in order from an object, an object side lens group G1 and an image side lens group G2 which is disposed next to the object side lens group G1 with an air space, and focusing is performed from a distant object to a close object by moving at least a part of the image side lens group G2 along an optical axis as a focusing lens group, and image stabilization is performed by moving at least a part of the image side lens group G2 as a shift lens group so as to have components roughly orthogonal to the optical axis. |
| US08896940B2 |
Objective optical system and endoscope using same
The angle of view of an objective optical system is widened, while suppressing generation of lateral chromatic aberration. An objective optical system includes: a first lens group having a negative power; an aperture stop; and a second lens group having a positive power, in this order from an object side. The first lens group includes a negative single first lens, and a cemented lens formed by cementing a positive lens and a negative lens together, provided in this order from the object side. The second lens group includes a positive single fourth lens, and a cemented lens formed by cementing a positive lens and a negative lens together, provided in this order from the object side. The objective optical system satisfies Conditional Formula (1): 15.0<νd(RN)<18.6, wherein νd(RN) is the Abbe's number of the negative lens in the cemented lens within the second lens group with respect to the d line. |
| US08896938B2 |
Catadioptric lens system and imaging apparatus
A catadioptric lens system includes, in order of light travel: a first lens group that includes a concave mirror and a convex mirror and has a positive refractive power; a second lens group that is positioned on the image side of the concave mirror and has a negative refractive power; and a third lens group that has a positive refractive power, wherein the first lens group has a plurality of lenses on the image side of the concave mirror, and some lenses of the plurality of lenses are formed as a vibration-proof group so as to be movable in a direction perpendicular to an optical axis. |
| US08896937B1 |
Image capturing lens assembly and image capturing device
An image capturing 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 and a fourth lens element. The first lens element with positive refractive power has a convex object-side surface in a paraxial region thereof and a convex image-side surface in a paraxial region thereof. The second lens element with negative 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 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. The image capturing lens assembly has a total of four lens elements with refractive power. |
| US08896936B2 |
Image capturing lens assembly
An image capturing 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 and a fifth 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 has refractive power. The fourth lens element has refractive power, wherein both of an object-side surface and an image-side surface thereof are aspheric. The fifth lens element with positive refractive power has a concave object-side surface and a convex image-side surface, wherein both of the object-side surface and the image-side surface thereof are aspheric. Each of the first through fifth lens elements with refractive power is single and non-cemented. The image capturing lens assembly has a total of five lens elements with refractive power. |
| US08896933B2 |
Lens barrel
A lens barrel includes a first frame and a second frame. The first frame includes a plurality of cam grooves. The second frame includes a plurality of cam followers that engage with each of the plurality of cam grooves, and a gear portion. In this case, if rotational force is transmitted to the gear portion, the second frame moves in the optical axis direction while rotating with respect to the first frame. At least one of the plurality of cam followers is disposed on the image plane side of the gear portion. |
| US08896932B2 |
Zoom lens and imaging apparatus
A zoom lens comprises, in order from the object side: a first lens group that has a positive refractive power; a second lens group that has a negative refractive power; and a third lens group that has a positive refractive power. Zooming is performed by changing spaces between the first to third lens groups during zooming from a wide-angle end to a telephoto end. The third lens group includes, in order from the object side, a positive lens group, having a positive refractive power, and a negative lens group, disposed to be close to the image side thereof and having a negative refractive power, with an air gap, which is widest in the third lens group, interposed therebetween. The third lens group satisfies the condition −0.45 |
| US08896930B2 |
Zoom lens and image pickup apparatus equipped with zoom lens
A zoom lens includes, in order from an object side to an image side, a first lens unit of a positive refractive power, a second lens unit of a negative refractive power, a third lens unit of a positive refractive power, a fourth lens unit of a positive refractive power, and a fifth lens unit, the second and fourth lens units being moved during zooming, a distance between the first and second lens units increasing at a telephoto end in comparison with a wide-angle end, wherein the fifth lens unit includes a first lens subunit of a negative refractive power, and a second lens subunit of a positive refractive power, the first lens subunit is moved to have a component perpendicular to an optical axis to change an image-forming position, and a condition 0.5<|(1−β5n)×β5p|<2.0 is satisfied. |
| US08896928B2 |
Electrowetting display
Provided is an electrowetting device capable of performing bright and high-contrast color display. In addition, provided is an electrowetting device capable of performing high-quality display without unevenness.The electrowetting device is an electrowetting display in which each of a pair of substrate constituting one cell has a driving unit. A first substrate that stores a first hydrophobic liquid material in regions surrounded by a first pixel wall, and a second substrate that stores a second hydrophobic liquid material in regions surrounded by a second pixel wall are adhered to each other through a hydrophilic material. |
| US08896924B2 |
Tubular daylighting system
An improved tubular daylighting system comprises a plurality of tubular shaft sections connected to a skylight lens for transmitting light through the shaft sections to the interior of a building. Adjoining top and bottom shaft sections have different diameters to enable one to be inserted into the other, the top shaft section having a plurality of tabs, the bottom section having a plurality of slots which register with the tabs of the top shaft section, such that selectively bending the tabs outwardly or inwardly from the shaft wall of the top shaft section through the slots of the bottom shaft section interconnects the top and bottom shaft sections in coaxial alignment. In one embodiment an inverted dome diffuser is mounted below the skylight lens atop the shaft sections to diffuse light entering the shaft sections. |
| US08896920B2 |
Reflective polarizer including grids with nanoparticles and resin material
A reflective polarizer, a method of manufacturing a reflective polarizer, an optical element, and a display device are provided. The reflective polarizer may have excellent thermal and physical durability even when exposed to a light source and external friction. In addition, the method for manufacturing a reflective polarizer may provide a large-sized reflective polarizer without using expensive equipment. |
| US08896907B2 |
Plasmonic reflective display fabricated using anodized aluminum oxide
A method is provided for forming a reflective plasmonic display. The method provides a substrate and deposits a bottom dielectric layer. A conductive film is deposited overlying the bottom dielectric layer. A hard mask is formed with nano-size openings overlying the conductive film. The conductive film is plasma etched via nano-size openings in the hard mask, stopping at the dielectric layer. After removing the hard mask, a conductive film is left with nano-size openings to the dielectric layer. Metal is deposited in the nano-size openings, creating a pattern of metallic nanoparticles overlying the dielectric layer. Then, the conductive film is removed. The hard mask may be formed by conformally depositing an Al film overlying the conductive film and anodizing the Al film, creating a hard mask of porous anodized Al oxide (AAO) film. The porous AAO film may form a short-range hexagonal, and long-range random order hole patterns. |
| US08896899B1 |
Laser marker
A laser marker/pointer for projecting circular or elliptical laser beam patterns onto a target surface such as a portion of a presentation screen or to assist in the aiming of a firearm, comprises a handheld shell body in which is mounted a laser light source, a rotating optical mirror driven by a motor, and an electronic drive circuit, whereby the aspect ratio of the marking pattern is determined by the geometric relationship of the motor shaft axis, the laser beam, and the mirror surface. The motor drive circuit when initially powered (along with the laser diode), applies full power (a continuous DC voltage to the motor to overcome inertia), followed by a pulsed voltage to lower the duty cycle of the motor, increase battery life, and reduce rotational noise. |
| US08896895B2 |
Image reading apparatus and image forming apparatus
An image reading apparatus includes: a light amount adjustment portion which performs light amount adjustment on a light source such that the maximum value of the analog output of an image sensor does not exceed the upper limit value of an input voltage range of an A/D conversion portion but approaches the upper limit value; a temperature sensor which measures a temperature; and a storage portion which stores a temperature at the time of the light amount adjustment. When an absolute value of a temperature difference between a temperature stored in the storage portion and the current temperature is less than a threshold value, the light amount adjustment portion does not perform the light amount adjustment whereas when the absolute value is equal to or more than the threshold value, the light amount adjustment portion performs the light amount adjustment. |
| US08896893B2 |
Light scanning apparatus and image forming apparatus using the same
The object of the present invention is to provide a light scanning apparatus of a simple arrangement which can reduce print misregistration of respective beams in a main scanning direction in an image region even when an inexpensive imaging optical unit which forms a spot image on the image region of a surface to be scanned, and can form a high-resolution image, and an image forming apparatus using the same. |
| US08896890B2 |
Image capture system having a folded optical path
An image capture system including a platen for receiving a media sheet bearing an image to be captured; an illumination system for illuminating the media sheet; a mirror disposed in optical communication with the platen, for reflecting light from the illumination system reflected from the media sheet; and an optical sensor for receiving the light reflected by the mirror. The interrelationship between the platen, mirror and optical sensor is such that a location of a top edge of the mirror's primary reflection projected onto the platen is lower than a location of a bottom edge of the image's secondary reflection projected onto the platen. In this way, the image captured by the optical sensor is free of secondary reflections. |
| US08896888B2 |
Serviceable sensor assembly and method
A sensor assembly for a printer arranged to displace printed material along a path, including a sensor housing and a platen assembly. The sensor housing includes top surfaces and resilient elements fixed to the top surfaces, and houses light emitting elements. The platen assembly includes transparent material and a platen housing with a plurality of steps, and is arranged to engage the sensor housing and displace in a first direction along the sensor housing toward an end of the sensor housing such that the transparent material is aligned with the light emitting elements in a direction orthogonal to the axis. As the platen assembly displaces in the first direction, the plurality of resilient elements is arranged to engage the plurality of steps to urge the piece of transparent material into contact with the sensor housing with progressively greater force such that the transparent material is sealed against the sensor housing. |
| US08896885B2 |
Creating authenticatable printed articles and subsequently verifying them based on scattered light caused by surface structure
A printer with integral scanner for obtaining a digital signature from a sheet of paper or other article as it is printed. The integral scanner has a coherent source which directs a light beam to illuminate the article and a detector arrangement to collect data points from light scattered from many different parts of the article to collect a large number of independent data points, typically 500 or more. The digital signature derived from the data points is stored in a database with an image of what was printed on the article. At a later time, the authenticity of an article purported to be the originally printed article can be verified by scanning the purported genuine article to obtain its digital signature. The database is then searched, to establish whether there is a match. If a match is found, the image stored in the database with the matched digital signature is displayed to the user to allow a further visual check that the article is genuine. The image is displayed together with other relevant bibliographic data relevant to the article. |
| US08896884B2 |
Image processing apparatus, printing apparatus, and image processing method
As viewed for each processing unit in head shading (HS) processing, a processing unit width is more than one pixel, so that a threshold arrangement corresponding to a target quality of an image intended by a dither matrix is kept while a possibility of avoiding zero dots from being generated can be enhanced. Moreover, the threshold arrangement is kept while a possibility of generating the same number of dots in processing units can be enhanced. Consequently, the threshold arrangement corresponding to a predetermined target quality of an image intended by a dither matrix is kept while it is possible to reduce occurrence of uneven density caused by the HS processing. Thus, it is possible to prevent the threshold arrangement from being limited by the HS processing according to the degree of the reduction. |
| US08896881B2 |
Imaging forming system comprised of image forming apparatuses arranged in series, and which prevents an excessive rise in either of an inside temperature or a fixing section temperature of a downstream image forming apparatus
An image forming system includes a first image forming apparatus and a second image forming apparatus, the first image forming apparatus including: a first image forming section which performs image formation on a sheet; a first fixing section which performs image fixation on the sheet on which the first image forming section performs the image formation; and a first control section which makes, when the first image forming apparatus and the second image forming apparatus perform the image formation and the image fixation on different sides of a sheet to perform double-sided printing, thereby performing tandem outputting, a tandem-outputting target fixing temperature of the first fixing section lower than a first fiducial temperature which is a non-tandem-outputting target fixing temperature of the first fixing section for when the first image forming performs the image formation and the image fixation alone. |
| US08896877B2 |
Print data generating apparatus, print data generating method, and computer readable storage medium storing print data generating program
The print data generating apparatus capable of generating print data for VDP in a plurality of formats, classifies an object layout of the print data (steps from S107 to S109, or steps from S112 to S114), selects a predetermined format for the classification result in the steps from S107 to S109 or in the steps from S112 to S114, from the plurality of formats (S111, S116, or S117), and generates the print data in the selected format in S111, S116, or S117 (S118). |
| US08896876B2 |
Information processing apparatus and control method
In the case of disposing regions of various sizes within a page, many blank areas appear and a layout result that is visually attractive could not be obtained. Therefore the present invention determines the starting position of a new row or column, using the difference in sizes of the multiple regions disposed in each row or column. |
| US08896872B2 |
Print control apparatus, printing system, and non-transitory computer readable medium
A print control apparatus includes a determination unit and a controller. The determination unit determines, from among plural virtual print controllers each of which controls printing at a printing apparatus associated with the virtual print controller, whether or not any of the virtual print controllers has started operating in the print control apparatus. The controller performs control, in a case where it is determined that none of the virtual print controllers have started operating, such that a state of reception of print command information is set to be a state in which the print command information is not received, and thereafter performs control, in a case where it is determined that any of the virtual print controllers has started operating, such that the state of reception is set to be a state in which print command information is received. |
| US08896871B2 |
Batch confirmation of distributed scan job submission in a business processing system
Methods and systems execute a first scan job using a scanner device to produce a first electronic scan item, and automatically transmit the first electronic scan item from the scanner device to a computerized device over a network. Exemplary methods herein start execution of a second scan job immediately after executing the first scan job (without waiting for confirmation that the computerized device received the first scan job) using the scanner device to produce a second electronic scan item. Further, such methods automatically generate a first scan receipt confirmation using the computerized device and automatically transmit the first scan receipt confirmation from the computerized device to at least one receiving device (e.g., the scanner device) over the network. Such exemplary methods can therefore automatically display the first scan receipt confirmation (on a graphic user interface of the at least one receiving device) after starting execution of the second scan job. |
| US08896869B2 |
Systems and methods for communicating documents
A system includes telephone and packet-switched network interfaces and a translator. The translator receives messages. Outgoing messages originate from a multiple-function peripheral (MFP) and are received via a transfer agent (TA). Outgoing e-mail messages include an attached file in an image file format. The translator removes and delivers the attachment in facsimile format. Incoming fax messages are attached to an e-mail message. The TA receives and relays the e-mail message to an identified MFP, which discards the e-mail message and prints the attachment. A method for processing fax messages includes associating an identifier with a MFP, receiving a fax intended for the MFP, generating an e-mail message with an attachment representing the fax and communicating the e-mail message to a transfer agent that relays the e-mail to the MFP, which discards the e-mail body and prints the attachment. |
| US08896868B2 |
Mobile device implementing near field communication to print with multifunction peripheral device
There is disclosed a method of, mobile device for and apparatus for using a mobile device to actuate a multifunction peripheral device using near field communication. The mobile device includes a user interface for receiving a selection of an electronic document and instructions regarding a selected document processing operation to be performed by the multifunction peripheral and for receiving a selection of an electronic address to which the electronic document is to be directed by the multifunction peripheral. The mobile device also includes a first near field communications transceiver for receiving input indicating that the mobile device is within range of a second near field communication transceiver, for receiving communication, at the first near field transceiver from the second near field communication transceiver, indicating that the first near field communication transceiver is ready to accept the electronic document, instructions pertaining to the selected document processing operation, and the electronic address. |
| US08896867B2 |
Methods and systems for assigning jobs to production devices
A method of assigning a job to a production device may include identifying a queue comprising a plurality of print jobs, identifying a plurality of print production devices capable of processing the plurality of print jobs, determining that one of the identified print production devices is an idle print production device, identifying a top priority print job from the queue, determining a completion time associated with processing the top priority print job by each of the identified print production devices, identifying a fastest print production device, assigning the top priority print job to the fastest print production device, determining whether the fastest print production device is the idle print production device, and in response to determining that the fastest print production device is the idle print production device, sending the top priority print job to the fastest print production device and removing the top priority print job from the queue. |
| US08896862B2 |
Image processing apparatus, control method, and storage medium for print control using metadata
An information processing apparatus includes a specification unit configured to specify a layer of a record level from print data of a hierarchical structure having metadata, a display control unit configured to display the metadata contained in the layer specified by the specification unit, a receiving unit configured to receive selection of specific metadata for filter printing from the metadata displayed by the display control unit, and a determination unit configured to determine a record in which the specific metadata received by the receiving unit is set to be a print target. |
| US08896859B2 |
Printer and scanner utilizing a file sharing protocol
A printer includes a print setting folder storage area, a data sending device, a data receiving device, and a print device. The print setting folder storage area may store print setting folders. Each print setting folder may associate print setting data and a print setting folder address. The data sending device may send the print setting folder address of each print setting folder to an information processing device. The data receiving device may receive combination data from the information processing device. The combination data may include a data file and a data file storage command that may include a print setting folder address. Where the data receiving device receives the combination data, the print device may print the data file included in the combination data in accordance with the print setting data associated with the print setting folder address. A scanner may have a similar configuration to the printer. |
| US08896858B2 |
Method for enforcing document privacy through third party systems
The application discloses systems and methods for securing a document while routing through native or third party infrastructure. A process resident on the user's platform generates a three-part secure document from the user's original document. The first part is public and contains document metadata such as a public key. The public key is used to encrypt the second part of the document's metadata which includes a user supplied password. The third part contains the original document that has been symmetrically encrypted using the user supplied password. The result is that only the first part of the new document is visible to unsecured transmission channels or third party infrastructure. |
| US08896855B2 |
Image processing apparatus, method of controlling the same and storage medium storing program to perform processing of the same
An image processing apparatus having an operation panel and capable of accessing a network by operation of the operation panel, comprises a determination unit that determines whether or not an operation performed on the operation panel is a control operation relating to the image processing apparatus; a print job receiving unit that receives a print job from the network; and a job control unit that executes the print job received by the print job receiving unit if the determination unit determines, when the print job is received by the print job receiving unit, that the operation panel is being operated and that the operation performed on the operation panel is a control operation relating to the image processing apparatus. |
| US08896853B2 |
Image forming apparatus, accelerator and image forming method
Disclosed is an image forming apparatus that makes it possible to suppress the scale enlargement of the electric circuit, so as to make the apparatus highly flexible. The apparatus forms an image based on image data acquired by applying a rendering operation to depiction commands and includes: a converting section to convert input data to the depiction commands; a first rendering section to apply the rendering operation to a first depiction command; a second rendering section to apply the rendering operation to a second depiction command; a reading section to read out first information from the storage section; a determining section to determine whether the first rendering section or the second rendering section should apply the rendering operation to each of the depiction commands; and a control, section to make either the first rendering section or the second rendering section apply the rendering operation to each of the depiction commands. |
| US08896852B2 |
Document creating apparatus, output apparatus, printed material, document output system, and non-transitory computer readable medium
A document creating apparatus includes a partial region setting unit, an output control information generating unit, and a printing unit. The partial region setting unit sets partial regions for document data. The output control information generating unit generates output control information regarding the partial regions set by the partial region setting unit. The printing unit prints, onto a printing medium, the document data, position information regarding the partial regions set by the partial region setting unit, and the output control information generated by the output control information generating unit. |
| US08896851B2 |
Apparatus for dealing with a code and a control method of the apparatus
One aspect of the present invention relates to copying a paper document including no information in the original user information area and also no information in the latest user information area. Another aspect of the present invention relates to copying document including no information in the original user information area but some information in the latest user information area. |
| US08896846B2 |
Reflective optical sensor and image forming apparatus
A reflective optical sensor includes at least three light-emitting elements; a lighting optical system that guides light emitted from the light-emitting elements to a toner pattern; and at least three light-receiving elements that receive the beams of light reflected by the toner pattern. The lighting optical system has a lateral magnification m that satisfies m≦P/S, where S is the size of the light-emitting elements and P is the arrangement pitch of the light-emitting elements. |
| US08896844B2 |
High-speed, 3-D method and system for optically measuring a geometric dimension of manufactured parts
A high-speed, 3-D method and system for optically measuring a geometric dimension of manufactured parts such as cartridge cases are provided. The method includes consecutively transferring the parts so that the parts travel along a path which extends to a vision station at which each part has a predetermined position and orientation for optical measuring. A line of radiation having a predetermined orientation is projected onto spaced apart end surfaces of the part to obtain reflected line segments of radiation from the end surfaces of the part. The reflected line segments of radiation are detected at one or more image planes to obtain electrical signals and the electrical signals are processed to determine the geometric dimension such as primer pocket depth. |
| US08896841B2 |
Optical imaging method and optical imaging apparatus using optical coherence tomography
An optical imaging method in an embodiment includes: a scanning step to scan each of a plurality of A-lines of an object with a signal light while alternately changing the phase difference between the signal light and a reference light to two preset phase differences; a detection step to detect the interference light of the signal light passing through the A-line and the reference light; and an imaging step to generate a complex interference spectrum based on the detection results of the interference lights corresponding to the plurality of A-lines sequentially obtained in the detection step according to the scanning, and form, based on the complex interference spectrum, the tomographic image along the arrangement of the plurality of A-lines in which a complex conjugate artifact is substantially removed. |
| US08896836B1 |
Fluid properties measurements using wavelength modulation spectroscopy with first harmonic detection
An apparatus and method for monitoring gas velocity, temperature, and pressure in combustion systems and flow devices, in particular at inlets and isolators of scramjet engines. The invention employs wavelength modulation spectroscopy with first harmonic detection and without the need to scan the full absorption spectra. |
| US08896832B2 |
Discrete polarization scatterometry
Systems and methods for discrete polarization scatterometry are provided. |
| US08896827B2 |
Diode laser based broad band light sources for wafer inspection tools
Disclosed are methods and apparatus for performing inspection or metrology of a semiconductor device. The apparatus includes a plurality of laser diode arrays that are configurable to provide an incident beam having different wavelength ranges. The apparatus also includes optics for directing the incident beam towards the sample, a detector for generating an output signal or image based on an output beam emanating from the sample in response to the incident beam, and optics for directing the output beam towards the detector. The apparatus further includes a controller for configuring the laser diode arrays to provide the incident beam at the different wavelength ranges and detecting defects or characterizing a feature of the sample based on the output signal or image. |
| US08896821B2 |
Encoder
To realize an encoder having highly reliable detection accuracy and capable of reducing a device cost. A light detection unit of an encoder receives light irradiated by a light source and transmitted through light-transmitting portions of Gray code optical patterns of a rotating disk and a light-transmitting/shielding member, and detects the light as digital data. A magnetic detection unit detects a magnetic pattern of a magnet provided on a rotation center portion of the rotating disk as digital data. A processing unit compares the digital data of the magnetic detection unit and the digital data of the light detection unit, and corrects a detection error. |
| US08896817B2 |
Lithographic projection apparatus, device manufacturing methods and mask with sensor and diffuser for use in a device manufacturing method
During an alignment calibration process in a lithographic apparatus using a sensor to detect a property of a projected image at substrate level, a diffuser is inserted into the illumination beam to increase the range of angles of radiation incident on the substrate. Thereby it can be ensured that sufficient radiation enters the sensor even when there is a mismatch between the illumination mode used and the acceptance NA of the sensor. |
| US08896816B2 |
Projection exposure method, projection exposure apparatus, laser radiation source and bandwidth narrowing module for a laser radiation source
In a projection exposure method for the exposure of a radiation-sensitive substrate arranged in the region of an image surface of a projection objective with at least one image of a pattern of a mask arranged in the region of an object surface of the projection objective, laser radiation having a spectral intensity distribution I(ω) dependent on the angular frequency ω is used. The laser radiation is characterized by an aberration parameter α in accordance with: α := ∫ I ( ω ) ω 2 ⅆ ω ∫ I ( ω ) ⅆ ω and a coherence time τ in accordance with: τ = ∫ I ( ω ) 2 ⅆ ω [ ∫ I ( ω ) ⅆ ω ] 2 The laser radiation is introduced into an illumination system for generating an illumination radiation directed onto the mask, and the pattern is imaged onto the substrate with the aid of a projection objective. The spectral intensity distribution is set so that ατ2≦0.3. The influence of temporally varying speckles on image generation can be reduced by comparison with conventional methods, without simultaneously increasing the influence of chromatic aberrations on image generation. |
| US08896815B2 |
Lithographic apparatus and device manufacturing method
A apparatus having a projection system to project a plurality of radiation beams onto a substrate, wherein the plurality of radiation beams includes a first group of one or more radiation beams formed from radiation within a first wavelength range and a second group of one or more radiation beams formed from radiation within a second wavelength range, different from the first wavelength range. The apparatus also has a dispersion element configured such that one or more radiation beams of the first group are incident on the dispersion element at a different angle from the one or more radiation beams of the second group and such that the one or more radiation beams of the first and second group output from the dispersion element are substantially parallel. |
| US08896807B2 |
Apparatus and method for providing fluid for immersion lithography
A liquid immersion lithography apparatus includes a projection system having a final optical element via which a substrate is exposed to an exposure beam through an immersion liquid located between the final optical element and the substrate, and a nozzle member. The nozzle member has a first opening on one side of the final optical element and from which the immersion liquid is supplied, a second opening on a second side of the final optical element and from which the immersion liquid is collected, and a liquid recovery portion that surrounds a path of the exposure beam and from which the immersion liquid is collected. During exposure, an upper surface of the substrate faces the liquid recovery portion, and the immersion liquid is supplied from the first opening while the immersion liquid supplied from the first opening is recovered from the second opening and the liquid recovery portion. |
| US08896806B2 |
Exposure apparatus, exposure method, and device manufacturing method
An exposure apparatus that exposes a substrate includes: an optical system that includes an emission surface from which an exposure light is emitted; a first surface that is disposed in at least a part of a surrounding of an optical path of the exposure light emitted from the emission surface; a second surface that is disposed in at least a part of a surrounding of the first surface and at a position lower than the first surface; a space portion into which a liquid can flow via a first aperture between the first surface and the second surface and which is opened to the atmosphere via a second aperture different from the first aperture; and a first recovery portion that recovers at least a part of the liquid flowing into the space portion. Here, the emission surface, the first surface, and the second surface are opposed to the surface of the substrate in at least a part of the exposure of the substrate, and the substrate is exposed with the exposure light from the emission surface via the liquid between the emission surface and the surface of the substrate. |
| US08896805B2 |
Repairing line system and repair method thereof
The present invention discloses a repairing line system, which includes a plurality of packages, a substrate having a plurality of data lines awaiting for repair, two repairing lines, and two connecting lines. The repairing line includes outgoing lines led from the packages and a wire disposed on three sides of the substrate without the packages disposed and coupled to the outgoing lines. The wires insulatively intersect second terminals of the data lines awaiting for repair. The connecting line insulatively intersects the outgoing lines and first terminals of the data lines. The present invention further discloses a repair method of the repairing line system. The repairing line system and the repair method of the present invention utilize the same repairing lines led from different packages to connect with each other for forming whole connected wires, thereby increasing flexibility of the repairing line system in repairing data lines. |
| US08896800B2 |
Liquid crystal panel and liquid crystal display device using the same
A liquid crystal panel and a liquid crystal display device using the same are disclosed, in which among common lines formed to overlap a seal formed between a non-display area and a display area, a common line formed between a light-transmitting portion where a through hole is formed and the display area is formed in a plate structure. The liquid crystal panel comprises a first common line formed between a light-transmitting portion of a non-display area of a driving device array substrate and a display area of the driving device array substrate, a second common line formed between a first non-display area of the non-display area and the display area, a seal formed on the second common line to overlap the second common line without overlapping the first common line, and a liquid crystal injected into the display area and the light-transmitting portion. |
| US08896799B2 |
Liquid crystal display including circuitry between sealants
A liquid crystal display includes a first substrate, a second substrate, a first sealant, a second sealant, and a gate driving circuit portion. The second substrate faces the first substrate. The first substrate and the second substrate have a display area and a peripheral area peripherally about the display area. The second sealant is spaced apart from the first sealant. The second sealant is disposed in the peripheral area. The gate driving circuit portion is disposed on the first substrate and between the first sealant and the second sealant. |
| US08896797B2 |
Liquid crystal display panel comprising first and second sub-pixel electrodes and including a contact electrode and a connection electrode that couples the second sub-pixel and contact electrodes
A liquid crystal display panel having improved lateral visibility. The liquid crystal display panel includes a first substrate including a pixel electrode formed on a pixel area including a first sub-pixel area and a second sub-pixel area; and a second substrate coupled to the first substrate with a liquid crystal layer accommodated between the first substrate and the second substrate, and including a common electrode formed on an area corresponding to the pixel area, wherein the pixel electrode includes a first sub-pixel electrode formed on the first sub-pixel area; a second sub-pixel electrode formed on the second sub-pixel area; and a contact electrode formed between the first sub-pixel area and the second sub-pixel area, and wherein the first sub-pixel electrode and the contact electrode are spaced apart from each other by a predetermined distance. |
| US08896795B2 |
Liquid crystal display device
In one embodiment, a liquid crystal display device includes a first substrate and a second substrate. The first substrate includes a first gate line and a second gate line respectively extending in a first direction. A main pixel electrode is arranged between the first gate line and the second gate line and extending in a second direction orthogonally crossing the first direction. A pair of sub-common electrodes respectively faces the first gate line and the second gate line through an insulating layer and extends in the first direction. The second substrate includes a main common electrode electrically connected with the sub-common electrode and arranged on both sides sandwiching the main pixel electrode. A liquid crystal layer is held between the first substrate and the second substrate. |
| US08896794B2 |
Liquid crystal display device and method for fabricating the same
A liquid crystal display device and a fabrication method thereof, are discussed. According to an embodiment, the liquid crystal display device includes gate lines on a substrate; data lines on the substrate; common lines disposed substantially in parallel to the gate lines; TFTs formed at intersections between the gate and data lines, each of the TFTs including a gate electrode extending from the corresponding gate line, a gate insulation layer, an active layer, an ohmic contact layer, a source electrode extending from the corresponding data line and a drain electrode spaced apart from the source electrode; passivation layers, each formed on the TFT and having a contact hole for exposing a part of the corresponding drain electrode; and pixel electrodes, each composed of a conductive layer and an insulation layer formed on the corresponding passivation layer and electrically connected to the corresponding drain electrode via the corresponding contact hole. |
| US08896793B2 |
Electro-optical device and electronic equipment
In a display region, pixel electrodes are arranged with a predetermined pitch in a matrix. Dummy pixel electrodes provided in a dummy display region surrounding the display region are formed from the same layer as the pixel electrodes, and are arranged in an island shape so as to have the same size and pitch as the pixel electrodes. The dummy pixel electrodes are connected to each other via a wire positioned under the pixel electrodes. |
| US08896791B2 |
Liquid crystal display
A liquid crystal display includes: a first substrate; a pixel electrode on the first substrate; a second substrate which faces the first substrate; a common electrode on the second substrate; a liquid crystal layer between the first substrate and the second substrate; and a cross-shaped organic layer protrusion on the first substrate or the second substrate and overlapping the pixel electrode. The edge of the organic layer protrusion is protruded from the edge of the pixel electrode. |
| US08896790B2 |
Liquid crystal display with opposing protrusions in a pixel
A liquid crystal display according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention includes: a substrate; a partition formed on the substrate and defining a pixel; a plurality of protrusion members formed with the same material as the partition on the substrate, and disposed with a linear plane shape inside the pixel defined by the partition; and a color filter filled inside the pixel defined by the partition. Accordingly, in the liquid crystal display according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, a plurality of transparent protrusion members are formed in the pixel defined by the partition such that movement of color filter ink dripped through an Inkjet method is controlled such that a color filter may be planarized on the whole surface of the pixel. |
| US08896787B2 |
Light-emitting assembly and interactive display device having the same
A light-emitting assembly includes a light guide plate (LGP), a first infrared light-emitting part, a second infrared light-emitting part and a visible light-emitting part. The LGP has printed circuit patterns formed on a lower surface thereof. The first infrared light-emitting part includes a plurality of first infrared light-emitting diodes (LEDs) disposed at a first side of the LGP and spaced apart by intervals having different sizes. The second infrared light-emitting part includes a plurality of second infrared LEDs disposed at a second side of the LGP and spaced apart by intervals having different sizes. The visible light-emitting part includes a plurality of visible LEDs disposed at a third side of the LGP and spaced apart by intervals having different sizes, so that infrared light and visible light that is emitted from the two different kinds of light sources may be uniformly provided to a touch screen panel. |
| US08896786B2 |
Liquid crystal display device having uniform brightness
A liquid crystal display device has brightness uniformity at its front and lateral sides. The liquid crystal display device includes a reflection sheet reflecting light; an optical plate including a substrate for guiding light, a height-varying portion formed on one surface of the substrate, not facing the reflection sheet, and a prism pattern formed on the height-varying portion; and a plurality of light sources arranged on one lateral surface of the optical plate in a first direction so as to correspond to a position of the height-varying portion having a height not greater than an average height from the one surface of the substrate to the height-varying portion. The prism pattern extends in a second direction substantially perpendicular to the first direction. The average height is in a range of about 0.1% to about 10% of the thickness of the substrate. |
| US08896785B2 |
Flat panel display device, stereoscopic display device, and plasma display device
The present invention provides a flat panel display device, which includes a backlight system and a display panel. The backlight system includes a light source, a light homogenization mechanism, and a back frame. The back frame carries the light source and the light homogenization mechanism, and the light homogenization mechanism guides light from the light source into the display panel. The back frame includes primary assembling pieces, secondary assembling pieces, and a bracing piece for fixing a circuit board. The primary assembling pieces are connected through joining and use different thermally conductive materials. Further, a circuit board is mountable and position adjustable through a bracing piece. The present invention also provides a stereoscopic display device and a plasma display device. The back frame and the backlight system of the present invention have a back frame of simple structure, reduce the expenditure of a back frame mold, facilitate heat dissipation, facility fixing of circuit board, and save the material used for back frame so as to lower down the cost of flat panel display device. |
| US08896775B2 |
Electro-optical device and electronic apparatus
An electro-optical device includes a pixel electrode provided on a substrate, a transistor provided between the substrate and the pixel electrode, a first capacitor electrode provided between the pixel electrode and the transistor, and be electrically connected to the pixel electrode and the transistor, a second capacitor electrode provided between the pixel electrode and the first capacitor electrode, be located so as to be opposite the first capacitor electrode via a capacitor insulating film, and be supplied with a predetermined electric potential, and a light-shielding film provided between the pixel electrode and the second capacitor electrode, be located so as to be at least partially overlapped by the transistor, and be electrically connected to the second capacitor electrode via a contact hole formed in an insulating film disposed between the second capacitor electrode and the light-shielding film. |
| US08896771B2 |
Touching display panel and display device using the same
A touching display panel and a display device using the same are provided. The touching display panel includes a liquid crystal layer, a first substrate having a hard surface structure, a second substrate, a touch sensor layer, a thin-film transistor layer, and a color filter layer. The first and second substrates are respectively disposed at two sides of the liquid crystal layer. The touch sensor layer is disposed between the first substrate and the liquid crystal layer, and is formed on the first substrate. The thin-film transistor layer and the color filter layer are both disposed between the first substrate and the second substrate. At least one of the thin-film transistor layer and the color filter layer is formed on the first substrate. |
| US08896770B2 |
Mobile terminal
A mobile terminal is provided. The mobile terminal has a main body with a window; a display area having a first substrate configured to couple the window on a first face and couple a touch detection unit on a second face, a second substrate configured to face the first substrate, and a liquid crystal layer arranged between the second substrate and the touch detection unit; an exposed area configured to have at least one end extend in a lateral direction beyond the display area and electrically connect to a circuit board; and a first contact point and a second contact point each arranged between the display area and the exposed area. |
| US08896764B2 |
System and method for effectively performing a remote control configuration procedure
A system and method for effectively performing a remote control configuration procedure includes a settop box that receives electronic programming from a program source and a television that is configured to reproduce the electronic programming. A remote control device controls various functionalities of the television over an RC-TV communications link. The remote control configuration procedure is coordinated by the television and a configuration server to allow the remote control device to also control various functionalities of the settop box over an RC-STB communication link. The television and the configuration server support a user-friendly interactive procedure to automatically determine and provide certain settop-box control information for adding appropriate settop-box control functions to the remote control device during the remote control configuration procedure. |
| US08896762B2 |
Method and apparatus for accessing multimedia resource of smart television and smart television
A method for accessing a multimedia resource of a smart television, includes: receiving a channel selection signal to determine a target channel index number; querying pre-bound correspondence between a channel index number and a multimedia resource; when one multimedia resource corresponding to the target channel index number exists, starting the multimedia resource; and when multiple multimedia resources corresponding to the target channel index number exist, presenting all identifiers of the multimedia resources corresponding to the target index number, and determining a target multimedia resource according to a selection instruction of a user and starting the target multimedia resource, where the multimedia resource is a television channel or an application program. |
| US08896760B2 |
Signal processing device and signal processing method
A signal processing device and signal processing method. A plurality of tuner circuits includes at least one that selectively provides a signal from among a plurality of signal bands potentially in an input signal in response to a control signal having a transition between a first state and a second state. A correction circuit corresponds to at least one of the plurality of tuner circuits, and is configured to receive the control signal and provide a corrected control signal for the tuner circuit. The corrected control signal has a gradual transition between the first state and the second state as compared to the transition between the first state and the second state in the control signal. |
| US08896754B2 |
Information handling system integrated camera lens cover
Inadvertent or malicious viewing of an information handling system end user by an integrated camera is prevented with a mechanical shutter that actuates to selectively impede transmission of light to the camera. Mechanical blocking of the camera lens prevents malicious code from hijacking the operation of the camera and provides a visual indicator that capturing images is impeded with the lens physically blocked. In one embodiment, actuating the mechanical shutter also powers down the camera. |