| Document | Document Title |
|---|---|
| US08943609B2 |
Apparatus and method for configuring password and for releasing lock
Methods of configuring a different authority for a plurality of users to use at least one application in an electronic device. User inputs are received to set passwords for respective user levels, where each user level is associated with a different authority to access applications. The passwords are registered for the respective user levels. At least one application is associated with one of the user levels. |
| US08943607B2 |
Information processing device with user authentication that restores previous operation condition
An information processing device includes an authenticating part to authenticate a user; an operating part for setting information, an authentication canceling part to cancel an authentication of the user, an operation condition memory part to cause a second memory part to memorize the setting information memorized in a first memory part, and a reproducing part to confirm whether or not the setting information is memorized in the second memory part when the authenticating part authenticates the user. In a case where memorized, the reproducing part reads the setting information from the second memory part, and to reproduce an operation condition based on the read setting information. In a case where not memorized, the reproducing part displays a non-user condition specification screen for the user's selecting one of multiple functions. |
| US08943605B1 |
Proximity based digital rights management
A method, system, and medium are provided for sharing content among network devices. The system includes at least one base station and network devices that are part of a wireless network. The base station is configured to receive a request for content from a network device. The content may be available on a second network device proximate to the first network device. The base station may generate a temporary key that allows the first network device to access the content available on the second network device while proximity between the first network device and the second network device is maintained. The base station, in turn, transmits the temporary key to the first network device. |
| US08943602B2 |
Method for enhancing privacy of internet browser users
A method for enhancing the privacy of individuals who may be tracked while visiting different sites on the Internet using conventional browsers is disclosed. The method is based on randomizing the information collected in cookies that are used for tracking by different websites. |
| US08943597B2 |
Systems and methods for updating content detection devices and systems
Systems, methods, and software for processing received network traffic in view of content detection data and configuration data that defines policies to either block, permit, or to further evaluate network traffic content on the policies when network traffic is entering a network. |
| US08943594B1 |
Cyber attack disruption through multiple detonations of received payloads
Apparatus and method for disrupting cyber attacks. In accordance with some embodiments, the apparatus includes a local computer system and an associated security system. The security system employs a decoy environment operationally isolated from the local computer system. The decoy environment operates to, responsive to receipt of a payload from an outside source, load the received payload into a memory of the decoy environment and detonate the loaded payload a plurality of times. |
| US08943590B2 |
Concurrent and delayed processing of malware with reduced I/O interference
Systems, methods and non-transitory, tangible computer readable storage mediums encoded with processor readable instructions to scan files for malware are disclosed. An exemplary method includes writing, via a communication pathway, a first file to a storage medium that is utilized by the computer, requesting access to the first file so as to enable the first file to be scanned for malware, and delaying, when the first file resides on the storage medium, access to the first file while there is at least one I/O operation relative to the storage medium that has a higher priority level than a priority level of the request to access the first file. In addition, except to enable the first file to be scanned for malware, access to the first file is prevented until the first file has been scanned for malware. |
| US08943583B2 |
System and method for managing sonic token verifiers
A hand-held token can be operated to generate an acoustic signal representing the digital signature generated by a private key of a public key/private key pair. Verifiers that might be located at, e.g., buildings, in vehicles, at bank ATMs, etc. receive the signal and retrieve the corresponding public key to selectively grant access authorization to components served by the verifiers. Methods and systems permit adding and removing a token from the access list of a verifier. Other methods and systems enable the token to be used with several verifiers that are nearby each other, such as might be the case with multiple vehicles owned by the same user and parked nearby each other, without more than one verifier being operated to grant access. |
| US08943582B1 |
Transferring information among devices using cameras
Data on a first computing device can be represented by a graphical object displayed on a screen of the first device. A user can initiate an “attach event” (e.g., a pinching gesture with respect to the object) to enable the object (e.g., the data represented by the object) to be associated and/or virtually attached to him/her. One or more cameras can view/track the user's hand/finger movement(s). Based on the viewed/tracked movement(s), the object representing the data can be moved on a screen of the first device to correspond to the movement of the user's hand/finger. The object can also be moved to a position on a screen of a second computing device when the user moves his/her hand/finger to an area corresponding to the position. A user initiated “release event” (e.g., an unpinching gesture) can end the association and enable the data to be shared with the second device. |
| US08943580B2 |
Embedded authentication systems in an electronic device
This invention is directed to an electronic device with an embedded authentication system for restricting access to device resources. The authentication system may include one or more sensors operative to detect biometric information of a user. The sensors may be positioned in the device such that the sensors may detect appropriate biometric information as the user operates the device, without requiring the user to perform a step for providing the biometric information (e.g., embedding a fingerprint sensor in an input mechanism instead of providing a fingerprint sensor in a separate part of the device housing). In some embodiments, the authentication system may be operative to detect a visual or temporal pattern of inputs to authenticate a user. In response to authenticating, a user may access restricted files, applications (e.g., applications purchased by the user), or settings (e.g., application settings such as contacts or saved game profile). |
| US08943577B1 |
Distributed multi-processing security gateway
A system and method for a distributed multi-processing security gateway establishes a host side session, selects a proxy network address for a server, uses the proxy network address to establish a server side session, receives a data packet, assigns a central processing unit core from a plurality of central processing unit cores in a multi-core processor of the security gateway to process the data packet, processes the data packet according to security policies, and sends the processed data packet. The proxy network address is selected such that a same central processing unit core is assigned to process data packets from the server side session and the host side session. By assigning central processing unit cores in this manner, higher capable security gateways are provided. |
| US08943576B2 |
Optimization of spawning request handling processes in a secured computing environment
Systems and methods for associating a first process with a first state and a first computing environment initialized according to a first set of parameters, wherein a first task is to be performed under a first security context. The method further comprising associating a second process with a second state and a second computing environment initialized according to a second set of parameters; in response to the first process submitting a first request, the second process spawning a third process which has the second state; wherein the third process sets a security context for the third process to the first security context and the third process sets the computing environment for the third process according to a first a set of parameters; executing the third process under the first security context and in association with the second state; and executing the first task in the first computing environment. |
| US08943574B2 |
Tokenizing sensitive data
Included are systems and methods for tokenizing sensitive data. Some of the systems and/or methods are configured to receive sensitive data from a vendor, determine a token key for the vendor, and utilize a proprietary algorithm, based on the token key to generate a vendor-specific token that is associated with the sensitive data. Some systems and/or methods include creating a token identifier that comprises data related to the token key sending the vendor-specific token and the token identifier to the vendor. |
| US08943565B2 |
Recovery of information from commercial web portals
Novel tools and techniques for automated recovery of information from commercial web portals, including commercial web portals requiring credentials for access. In some instances images are captured and pushed to external processes for improving system performance. In some instances access to automated software agent remote control modules is balanced across a system comprising a plurality of processors hosting the automated software agent remote control modules. Some instances provide provisioning of credentials, in particular indicating credentials available for an unlimited or a select limited number of users and monitoring credential use of those credentials usable by a select number of users. Some instances provide cache management optimizes retrieval of data by external processes and ensures reliability of such data to reduce unnecessary web portal inquiries. |
| US08943564B2 |
Virtual computer and service
A virtual computer service includes receiving, at a network server computer over a network, an encrypted image and user credentials for a user of a computer, and storing the encrypted image and the user credentials in an image repository that is communicatively coupled to the network server computer. The virtual computer service also includes receiving a request to initiate a session, the request including the user credentials. Upon successful validation of the user credentials, the virtual computer service includes selecting the encrypted image from the image repository, decrypting the encrypted image, activating a session for a virtual computer associated with the computer, and synchronizing session details of the session, once completed, with the image and storing a synchronized image in the image repository. |
| US08943561B2 |
Text message authentication system
Systems and method for authenticating users are presented. A system can send a passkey to a user interface of a known device. A user can then send a messaging service message with the passkey from a second device to the system. After receiving the message from the user, the system can extract the passkey from the message, and compare the received passkey against the passkey originally sent to the user. The known device and the second device can each have separate and unique device identifiers. |
| US08943560B2 |
Techniques to provision and manage a digital telephone to authenticate with a network
Techniques to manage digital telephones are described. An apparatus may comprise a digital telephone management component having a telephone interface module operative to receive security information in the form of a personal identification number (PIN) for an operator or device. The digital telephone management component may also comprise a telephone security module communicatively coupled to the telephone interface module, the telephone security module operative to receive encrypted security credentials from a computing device, and decrypt the encrypted security credentials with the PIN. The digital telephone management component may further comprise a telephone authentication module communicatively coupled to the telephone security module, the telephone authentication module operative to authenticate the digital telephone using the security credentials. Other embodiments are described and claimed. |
| US08943559B2 |
Access authentication method and system
A method of authenticating access to an electrical device. The method comprises comparing, at an electronic processor, one or more patterns of temporal or physical properties, associated with an access entry string, to a non-transitory electronic profile data base of ranges of the corresponding patterns, from previously approved access entry strings. The method also comprises approving or denying at the electronic processor, the access entry string. The access entry string is approved if the one or more patterns falls within the respective range of the corresponding patterns in the profile data base. The access entry string is denied if the one or more patterns falls outside the respective range of the corresponding patterns in the profile data base. |
| US08943558B2 |
System and method for monitoring a threat
A method and a system for monitoring a threat are described. The system has a gateway, a web server, and a client device. The gateway detects, identifies, and tracks a threat at a location associated with the gateway. The gateway is coupled to a security device. The web server has a management application configured to communicate with the gateway. The client device communicates with the gateway identified by the web server. The gateway aggregates monitoring data from the security device and from other security devices respectively coupled to other gateways correlated with the gateway. The client device receives the aggregated monitoring data and controls the security device coupled to the respective gateway from a web-based user interface at the client device. |
| US08943557B2 |
Enrollment of user in device identification program
Embodiments of the invention are directed to systems, methods and computer program products for enrolling a user in a device identification program. In some embodiments, a system is configured to: receive device identification information from a mobile device, receive user information associated with a user, the user information enabling identification of the user, associate the device identification information with the user information, and create a record based on the device identification information and the user information. |
| US08943544B2 |
Service information provision apparatus and service information acquisition apparatus
A service information provision apparatus is provided with a data service information table configured from a service discovery information table showing association of specific information of a service provider and service discovery information as service content information provided by the service provider, and a service offer information table showing association of the service discovery information of the service discovery information table and data contents corresponding to the service discovery information. |
| US08943542B2 |
Systems and methods for providing predefined category-based channel lists
Various embodiments facilitate generation, distribution, and presentation of category-based predefined channel lists. In one embodiment, an electronic program guide (“EPG”) manager is provided for execution on a receiving device, such as a set-top box. The EPG manager receives from a program distributor a predefined channel list that includes multiple channels that carry related programming. The channel list includes an associated category and indicators of the multiple channels, the multiple channels each carrying at least some programming in the associated category. The EPG manager presents to a user at least some of the multiple channels in an electronic program guide. This abstract is provided to comply with rules requiring an abstract, and it is submitted with the intention that it will not be used to interpret or limit the scope or meaning of the claims. |
| US08943531B2 |
Increasing pay-per-use credit associated with guest room in response to notification message tracking usage of service offered by hospitality establishment
A hospitality establishment includes guest rooms having media devices installed therein. Each guest room has one or more in-room media devices for providing a pay-per-use media function. A media system controller dynamically associates a credit corresponding to a monetary value with a particular guest room in response to an occurrence of a first event, configures an in-room media device of the particular guest room to indicate the credit associated with the particular guest room and allow a guest of the particular guest room to utilize at least an amount of the credit toward an order of the pay-per-use media function, activates the pay-per-use media function on at least one of the in-room media devices of the particular guest room in response to a received order, and decreases the credit associated with the particular guest room according to the amount of the credit utilized toward the received order. |
| US08943528B1 |
Probabilistic matching of television program audio signals
A system for probabilistic matching of audio sample from a television program includes a computer readable storage medium having encoded thereon an audio matching program; and a processor that executes the audio matching program. The processor receives reference audio for time slices corresponding to a broadcast television program for each of a plurality of channels broadcasting television programming; receives a first audio sample from a media device on which is displayed the broadcast television program; selects one or more candidate channels to test to determine a channel to which the media device is tuned; compares the first audio sample to the selected candidate channels to determine a match between the first audio sample and one or more of the selected candidate channels; and when the first audio sample matches a reference audio from a selected candidate channel, identifying, with a specified probability, the selected candidate channel as the tuned to channel. |
| US08943527B2 |
Audience measurement system
An audience measurement system plays and records television program material on a client system's persistent storage device. Program guide objects are stored on the client system and indicate when television programs are broadcast. A client system stores a viewer's television viewing habits and behavior. Information such as what television programs a viewer watches and/or prefers, and when a viewer uses trickplay functions while watching a television program (such as: variable rate fast forward and rewind, frame step, index, pause, variable rate reverse play, variable rate play, and play) are stored on the client system which the client sends to a central server. The central server stores viewer information from all client systems such that the information obtained is anonymous. The aggregated information is used by the central server to compile statistical reports and make predictions. Data are analyzed to create reports covering information that includes, but is not limited to: aggregate viewer behavior in relation to a specific television program; aggregate viewer response to specific commercial pods; and aggregate viewer behavior in relation to tuning out of a specific television program and viewer tune-in destinations. The central server also analyzes aggregate information to predict viewing activity and program ratings. |
| US08943521B2 |
CD player with vibration suppression
A compact disc (CD) player, which comprises playback substrates, a conveying roller, CD sensors, a CD stopper, a first trigger member, frame members, cam members and moving members, wherein the CD stopper has a major axis and abutting portions disposed at both ends of the axis; the first trigger member rotates when a minor-diameter CD stops at a mounting position on a turntable; the frame members receive the movement of the first trigger member; the cam members are coupled to the frame members; the moving members receive the rotation of the CD sensor and move along the outside diameter of a CD; the moving members are provided with clamping portions and abutted portions configured to be clamped with the abutting portions; and the cam members are provided with clamped portions configured to abut against the clamping portions. |
| US08943515B2 |
Methods, systems and computer readable media for pasting data
A method of pasting data from a source application to a destination application, where the source and destination applications are not the same; the method comprising the steps of: identifying a data type for the data and an appropriate input handler for the data type; converting the data using the appropriate input handle to a standard format based on the data type; in an output module determining the context of the data in the standard format to identify an appropriate output handler; obtaining a suggested paste operation from a suggestion engine based on the type and context of the data; and instructing a paste operation on the basis of the suggested paste operation. |
| US08943513B2 |
Systems and methods for load balancing drives and servers by pushing a copy of a frequently accessed file to another disk drive
A file system that balances the loading of filers and the capacity of drives that are associated with the filers is described. The file system includes a first disk drive that includes a first unused capacity and a second disk drive that includes a second unused capacity, wherein the second unused capacity is smaller than the first unused capacity. The file system further includes a first filer that is configured to fill requests from clients through access to at least the first disk drive. The file system further includes a second filer that is configured to fill requests from clients through access to at least the second disk drive. The second filer is configured to select an infrequently accessed file from the second disk drive and to push the infrequently accessed files to the first disk drive, thereby improving a balance of unused capacity between the first and second disk drives without substantially affecting a loading for each of the first and second filers. |
| US08943512B2 |
Systems and methods for facilitating virtualization of a heterogeneous processor pool
A system for facilitating virtualization of a heterogeneous processor pool includes a processor allocation component and a hypervisor, each executing on a host computer. The processor allocation component identifies a plurality of physical processors available for computing and determines a set of flags, each of the set of flags identifying a type of functionality provided by each of a subset of the plurality of physical processors. The hypervisor, in communication with the processor allocation component, allocates, to at least one virtual machine, access to one of the subset of the plurality of physical processors. |
| US08943511B2 |
Parallel allocation optimization device, parallel allocation optimization method, and computer-readable recording medium
A parallel allocation calculating unit calculates a parallel allocation candidate which is an element candidate in target data allocated per processing performed in parallel. A parallel calculation amount estimation processing unit estimates the calculation amount required for parallel processing when a parallel allocation candidate is allocated, based on a nonzero element count in the target data. An optimality decision processing unit decides whether or not the parallel allocation candidate is optimal based on the calculated calculation amount, and allocates the optimal element per processing performed in parallel. |
| US08943510B2 |
Mutual-exclusion algorithms resilient to transient memory faults
Techniques for implementing mutual-exclusion algorithms that are also fault-resistant are described herein. For instance, this document describes systems that implement fault-resistant, mutual-exclusion algorithms that at least prevent simultaneous access of a shared resource by multiple threads when (i) one of the multiple threads is in its critical section, and (ii) the other thread(s) are waiting in a loop to enter their respective critical sections. In some instances, these algorithms are fault-tolerant to prevent simultaneous access of the shared resource regardless of a state of the multiple threads executing on the system. In some instances, these algorithms may resist (e.g., tolerate entirely) transient memory faults (or “soft errors”). |
| US08943509B2 |
Method, apparatus, and computer program product for scheduling work in a stream-oriented computer system with configurable networks
A method, apparatus, and computer program product for scheduling stream-based applications in a distributed computer system with configurable networks are provided. The method includes choosing, at a highest temporal level, jobs that will run, an optimal template alternative for the jobs that will run, network topology, and candidate processing nodes for processing elements of the optimal template alternative for each running job to maximize importance of work performed by the system. The method further includes making, at a medium temporal level, fractional allocations and re-allocations of the candidate processing elements to the processing nodes in the system to react to changing importance of the work. The method also includes revising, at a lowest temporal level, the fractional allocations and re-allocations on a continual basis to react to burstiness of the work, and to differences between projected and real progress of the work. |
| US08943506B2 |
Client-side virtualization architecture using differential bi-directional synchronization and closed computing
The invention discloses the architecture of client-side virtualization, utilizing the techniques of differential bi-directional synchronization of layered data and closed computing, as an extension to virtual desktop infrastructure. Both the client and server run a virtual machine monitor on top of which user application data, system data, personal application, group application, and guest operating system are layered independently. Layer independence is achieved by system data redirection, cache acceleration, and application composing/decomposing method. The client can be securely protected via the push-OS concept, security links, and closed computing services, including virtual machine subscription management control and network resource control services. |
| US08943498B2 |
Method and apparatus for swapping virtual machine memory
A method and system for swapping memory of a virtual machine are described. In one embodiment, virtual machines are hosted by a server and accessed by remote clients over a network. The server assigns first storage and second storage to each virtual machine, where the first storage is designated for swap memory of a respective virtual machine and the second storage is designated for persistent data of a respective virtual machine. The server monitors events pertaining to the virtual machines. Upon detecting a predefined event pertaining to one of the virtual machines, the server causes the contents of the first storage to be wiped out. |
| US08943496B2 |
Providing a hosted appliance and migrating the appliance to an on-premise environment
An appliance support module can be configured to build software appliances for use in a hosted environment. The appliance support module can be configured to build the hosted appliances based on a request by a user for the hosted appliances. The appliance support module can be configured to receive a request to migrate the hosted appliances to an on-premise system. To migrate the hosted appliance, the appliance support module can be configured to convert the hosted appliances into a format capable of being supported by the on-premise systems. |
| US08943493B2 |
Automation of application deployment
Some embodiments of automating application deployment have been presented. In one embodiment, a production repository is created in a federated source code management system to accept software from only a single committer. The production repository is coupled to a set of repositories. Platform management infrastructure monitors the production repository for changes to the software. Further, the platform management infrastructure may automatically push the changes to one or more repositories affected. |
| US08943491B2 |
Systems and methods for maintaining CRTM code
Embodiments comprise systems, methods and media for updating CRTM code in a computing machine. In one embodiment, the CRTM code initially resides in ROM and updated CRTM is stored in a staging area of the ROM. A logical partition of L2 cache may be created to store a heap and a stack and a data store. The data store holds updated CRTM code copied to the L2 cache. When a computing system is started, it first executes CRTM code. The CRTM code checks the staging area of the ROM to determine if there is updated CRTM code. If so, then CRTM code is copied into the L2 cache to be executed from there. The CRTM code loads the updated code into the cache and verifies its signature. The CRTM code then copies the updated code into the cache where the current CRTM code is located. |
| US08943488B2 |
Video game forward compatibility including software patching
Methods for updating video game software or handheld game devices, and systems for performing the methods. In some embodiments a first handheld game device with a later version of a game update software of a second handheld game device with an earlier version of the game. |
| US08943487B2 |
Optimizing libraries for validating C++ programs using symbolic execution
Particular embodiments optimize a C++ function comprising one or more loops for symbolic execution, comprising for each loop, if there is a branching condition within the loop, then rewrite the loop to move the branching condition outside the loop. Particular embodiments may further optimize the C++ function through simplified symbolic expressions and adding constructs forcing delayed interpretation of symbolic expressions during the symbolic execution. |
| US08943486B2 |
Multiple instruction execution mode resource-constrained device
A resource-constrained device comprises a processor configured to execute multiple instruction streams comprising multiple instructions having an opcode and zero or more operands. Each of the multiple instruction streams is associated with one of multiple instruction execution modes having an instruction set comprising multiple instruction implementations. At least one of the multiple instruction implementations is configured to change the processor from a first instruction execution mode to a second instruction execution mode. The processor comprises an instruction fetcher configured to fetch an instruction from one of the multiple instruction streams based at least in part upon a current instruction execution mode. |
| US08943485B2 |
Identification of localizable function calls
Detecting localizable native methods may include statically analyzing a native binary file of a native method. For each function call invoked in the native binary, it is checked whether resources accessed through the function call is locally available or not. If all resources accessed though the native method is locally available, the method is annotated as localizable. |
| US08943481B2 |
Method and apparatus for extensibility of user interface binding definitions
Embodiments create a binding specifications file that is compatible with a user interface application from a grammar rich XML file. The grammar rich XML file uses a complex DTD for transformation. The complex DTD may be prone to error if created by the user, therefore, the complex DTD file is automatically created from a schema definition provided by the user or user's agent. The user or user's agent defines a schema for the desired grammar level. Through a series of XSL transformations, the complex DTD file is created. Also, a stylesheet used for transforming the grammar rich XML file is automatically created. The grammar rich XML file provided by the user conforms to the automatically created complex DTD file. Thus, the grammar used in defining bindings of a user interface application is extensible without any requirement to enrich and recompile the application anytime an extension of the language is desired. |
| US08943478B2 |
Fault detection and localization in dynamic software applications
The present invention provides a system, computer program product and a computer implemented method for prioritizing code fragments based on the use of a software oracle and on a correlation between the executed code fragments and the output they produce. Also described is a computer-implemented method generates additional user inputs based on execution information associated with path constraints and based on information from the oracle. Advantageously, the embodiment is useful in a test generation tool that generated many similar inputs when a failure-inducing input is found, in order to enhance fault localization. Further, described is a computer-implemented flow for extending the existing idea of concolic testing to applications that interact with persistent state. |
| US08943477B2 |
Debugging a graphical user interface code script with non-intrusive overlays
An embodiment of the present invention manages window focus non-intrusive over-lays while debugging a graphical user interface program. In an example, the computer displays in a first graphical user interface, wherein the computer program is designed to manipulate a second graphical user interface of another computer program. The computer receives a command to debug the second graphical interface computer program and converts the first graphical user interface into a focus-less graphical user interface so the focus does not transfer from the second graphical user interface. The computer debugs the computer program and upon completing debugging, the computer restores the first graphical user interface into focus. |
| US08943476B2 |
System and method to in-line script dependencies
Systems, methods and articles of manufacture to in-line script dependencies are discussed herein. An embodiment includes extracting test resources addressed in language defining a test web page, placing markers identifying the location of each extracted test resource within the language defining the test page, iteratively loading external resources associated with a path of each test resource, analyzing each test resource to identify one or more dynamically added dependencies, and replacing each marker with external resources and dependencies that reference their respective marker to generate updated language defining an updated test web page. The embodiment further includes adding each identified dependency after or before a top level parent resource, performing the analyzing and the adding until no new dependencies are identified and providing each new dependency with a reference to a parent marker associated with the top level parent resource. |
| US08943472B1 |
System and method for directly accessing SAS datasets from a JAVA program
A system and method for reading and writing datasets (SAS datasets) written in a proprietary runtime macro language (SAS, owned by the SAS Institute, Inc.) directly, without going through a system that uses the SAS proprietary runtime macro language. The system employs a JAVA Database Connectivity (JDBC) application program interface (API) driver usable by JDBC enabled JAVA applications. The driver extracts from the SAS dataset information from a header page that enables identification of information on metadata pages which in turn are used by the driver to present to the JAVA application a view of the data as a database table, from which the JAVA application can request reading and writing of the SAS dataset. |
| US08943469B2 |
Type generic graphical programming
A system and method for creating and using type generic graphical programs. The method may include storing a first graphical program on a memory medium. The first graphical program may have been created based on user input. The first graphical program may include a plurality of nodes and interconnections between the nodes, and the plurality of nodes and interconnections between the nodes may be type generic. User input may be received specifying one or more data types of at least one input and/or at least one output of the first graphical program. The data types may be associated with the first graphical program in response to said user input specifying the one or more data types. |
| US08943466B2 |
Data elements with selectable signal/parameter behavior control
A method for designing software in a software design includes providing, in a software design tool, a software block including one or more data elements of one of signal-type or parameter-type. At least one of the one or more data elements is designated as one of a port or a property. If the at least one data element is designated as a property, a value associated with the property is established. Alternatively, if the at least one data element is designated as a port, a connection with one or more software blocks associated with the software design environment is established. The method also includes generating at least a portion of software code associated with the software block based on the designation of the at least one data element. |
| US08943464B2 |
Continuous updating of technical debt status
A system and method to automatically and continuously update the urgency rating of a backlog item associated with a technical debt item in a software development project are described. The technical debt represents potential additional work or rework associated with current code. The method includes a user defining a plurality of components that comprise the software development project. The method also includes a processor associating the technical debt with one or more components of the plurality of components, and the processor updating the urgency of the backlog item associated with the technical debt according to a function based on a development event associated with at least one of the one or more components. |
| US08943461B2 |
Stepwise template integration method and system
A method, apparatus and computer program product is provided to create an integration process between a source system and target system. The method includes creating a mapping between one or more source objects and one or more target objects and generating a complete workflow as part of an integration process between a respective source system and target system. A limited subset of operations is selectively included from a sequence of activities in the complete workflow that interact with the one or more source objects and one or more target objects. The limited subset of operations selected from the complete workflow is sequenced in a stepwise template that streamlines the integration process between the source system and target system, by focusing on mappings between and operations performed upon source objects and target objects associated with the limited subset of operations selected from the operations in the complete workflow. |
| US08943456B2 |
Layout determining for wide wire on-chip interconnect lines
A method for determining the layout of an interconnect line is provided including: providing a required width for the interconnect line; determining a layout of the interconnect line including slotting the interconnect line to provide two or more fingers extending along the interconnect line with an elongate slot separating adjacent fingers; and determining a number of elongate apertures to be arranged across the width of the interconnect line by comparing the required width with a maximal width for a solid metal feature, and a minimal elongate aperture width. The two or more fingers and elongate slot may be of constant width and equally spaced across the interconnect line width. The method may include selecting the number of fingers and the width of the slots to optimize the layout for a given layer technology. |
| US08943455B2 |
Methods for layout verification for polysilicon cell edge structures in FinFET standard cells
Methods for standard cells using finFET standard cell structures with polysilicon on OD edges. Standard cells are defined using finFET transistors and having gate structures forming a transistor at an intersection with a semiconductor fin. Polysilicon dummy structures are formed on the edges of the active areas or OD areas of the standard cells. In a design flow, a pre-layout netlist schematic for the standard cells includes a three terminal MOS device corresponding to the polysilicon dummy structure on the edges of the standard cell. After an automated place and route process forms a device layout using the standard cells, a post layout netlist is extracted. Where two standard cells abut one another, a single polysilicon dummy structure is formed on the common boundary. A layout versus schematic comparison is then performed comparing the pre-layout netlist and the post-layout netlist to verify the layout obtained. Additional methods are disclosed. |
| US08943453B2 |
Automatic application-rule checker
A method of checking an integrated circuit design database includes providing the integrated circuit design stored in a storage media; providing application rules; and providing an instance abstract of instances of libraries and IP(s). Instance-level information is extracted from the integrated circuit design database. An application-rule check is performed against the instance-level information using the information provided in an abstract file. |
| US08943449B1 |
Method and apparatus of enabling direct memory access into a target system memory modeled in dual abstractions while ensuring coherency
The present patent document relates to a method and apparatus for enabling direct memory access into a target memory subsystem of an electronic system modeled in dual abstractions while maintaining coherency. The portions of the memory subsystem shared between the first abstraction and the second abstraction are shadowed in both abstractions, allowing either abstraction to coherently access memory written by the other. Flags associated with memory pages of the memory subsystem are set to indicate which abstraction has most recently updated the memory page. Where the first abstraction is SystemC using TLM2, DMI access may be selectively enabled to facilitate faster access from SystemC, and DMI access disabled when an access from the second abstraction is detected in order to invoke coherency procedures. This allows coherency to be maintained and may enable faster software code execution where most access are DMI accesses from SystemC. |
| US08943448B2 |
System, method, and computer program product for providing a debugger using a common hardware database
A hardware model database is identified which stores a graph-based common representation of a hardware design that includes hardware module nodes each representative of a unique module of the hardware design and associated with one or more instances of the unique module. Additionally, a signal dump resulting from a simulation of a logic code model of the hardware design is identified. Each instance of each unique module is identified using the hardware model database, and for each assertion condition included therein, a corresponding value for the assertion condition is determined from the signal dump. Further, a construct of the hardware design corresponding to each instance of each unique module is conditionally displayed by a debugger application, based on the determined values of the corresponding assertion conditions included in the instance of the unique module. |
| US08943444B2 |
Semiconductor device reliability model and methodologies for use thereof
Systems and methods for semiconductor device reliability qualification during semiconductor device design. A method is provided that includes defining performance process window bins for a performance window. The method further includes determining at least one failure mechanism for each bin assignment. The method further includes generating different reliability models when the at least one failure mechanism is a function of the process window, and generating common reliability models when the at least one failure mechanism is not the function of the process window. The method further includes identifying at least one risk factor for each bin assignment, and generating aggregate models using a manufacturing line distribution. The method further includes determining a fail rate by bin and optimizing a line center to minimize product fail rate. The method further includes determining a fail rate by bin and scrapping production as a function of a manufacturing line excursion event. |
| US08943443B1 |
Verification of computer simulation of photolithographic process
A method for calibrating a computer program that simulates a physical process and a photomask are disclosed. A first physical artifact may be exposed to the physical process to produce a second physical artifact. The first physical artifact may include one or more features characterized by traceably measured known dimensions. One or more features of the second physical artifact may be measured to produce one or more measured dimensions. The physical process may be simulated with a computer simulation using the known dimensions of the first physical artifact as inputs to produce an output. The output may be compared to the measured dimensions of the second physical artifact to produce a result. A figure of merit may be assigned to the computer simulation based on the result. The photomask may have one or more features with one or more traceably measured dimensions. |
| US08943442B1 |
Controlling operations for execution
A computer-implemented method of controlling operations for execution includes displaying, in a display device area that controls a process of operations, a current container providing at least a first operation to the process, and a linear sequence representing parent containers of the current container organized in a hierarchy. The method includes receiving, in a system generating the display device area, a partial-performance request identifying a subset of the parent containers defined between the current container and a level in the hierarchy. The method includes performing, in response to the partial-performance request, the first operation and those of the operations that the subset of the parent containers provide to the process. |
| US08943441B1 |
Graphical user interface relationship graph for displaying relationships between image backup files in a backup job
Graphical user interface relationship graph for displaying relationships between image backup files in a backup job. In one example embodiment, one or more non-transitory computer-readable media store a program that causes a processor to generate and visually present, on an electronic display device associated with the processor, a graphical user interface (GUI) relationship graph for displaying relationships between image backup files in a backup job. The GUI relationship graph includes multiple image nodes each representing an image backup file of a source storage and a chain path including multiple links. Each of the links represents a parent-child relationship between one of the image nodes and another of the image nodes. |
| US08943435B2 |
Phone service menus
A method for receiving from a customer, customer subscription data at a menu tree service center prior to receiving a customer request from the customer, wherein the customer subscription data comprises at least one linked customer number linked to a spoken word or phrase. The method sends a service provider request for the linked customer number to the customer via the menu tree service center. The method receives a verbal response from the customer at the menu tree service center, wherein the verbal response comprises the spoken word or phrase. The method retrieves the linked customer number from the menu tree service center server based on the verbal response. The method sends the linked customer number to the service provider. |
| US08943434B2 |
Method and apparatus for showing stored window display
Systems and methods are provided for changing a user interface for a multi-screen device. The user interface can change based on the movement of a window. The system can receive a user interface event that modifies the display of windows in the user interface. Upon receiving the user interface event, the system determines if a window has been covered or uncovered. If a window has been covered, the window is placed in a sleep state. If a window is uncovered, the window is activated from a sleep state. A sleep state is a window state where an application associated with the window does not receive user interface inputs and/or does not render the window. Moreover, in a sleep state an image representing the window is maintained in memory. |
| US08943431B2 |
Text operations in a bitmap-based document
Techniques and structures that facilitate text operations in a bitmap-based document are described. In some embodiments, a bitmap image, as well as one or more data structures that may include text code data and text coordinate data, may be generated from an original document. Text coordinate data may relate a location of the text code data to a location in the bitmap image. In some embodiments, a bitmap representation of text and one or more data structures, that may include a set of coordinates of the bitmap representation of text and text code data corresponding to the set of coordinates and the bitmap image may be received. Text operations may be performed on the bitmap representation of text. |
| US08943430B2 |
Overlay navigation in user interface
A user interface (UI) for a process control system is disclosed. The UI is configured to be displayed on an electronic visual display unit connectable to the process control system. The UI includes a plurality of sub-UIs, each sub-UI being adapted to visually indicate at least a part of a process controlled by the process control system. A selection sub-UI is provided that can be selectively activated and deactivated by the user or operator, which selection sub-UI enables the user to at least temporarily select one or more of a plurality of visual representations corresponding to corresponding ones of the plurality of sub-UIs. When the selection sub-UI is deactivated, sub-UI corresponding to the selected one or more of the plurality of visual representations is displayed on the display unit. |
| US08943427B2 |
Method for providing user interface based on multiple displays and mobile terminal using the same
Disclosed is a user interface, and particularly, to a method for providing a user interface based on multiple displays and a mobile terminal using the same. The method for providing a user interface of a mobile terminal comprises controlling transparency of a first display unit, controlling the first display unit to display a first screen, controlling a second display unit to display a second screen, and controlling the second display unit to display one or more parts of the first screen. |
| US08943424B2 |
Dynamic interface component control support
A system, computer program and method for developing a graphical user interface (GUI) in a computer program. The invention allows developers to control the properties of interface components according to the state of a program during execution. According to the invention, a GUI development environment may be configured to provide a GUI builder for creating the GUI, display an interface component with at least one interface component property to be instantiated in the GUI, display a property interface to input at least one value for the interface component property in response to an event detectable by the computer program during GUI program execution, and automatically generate GUI program code effectuating the value for the interface component property in response to the event detectable by the computer program during GUI program execution. |
| US08943422B2 |
System and method for a messaging interface
Computer-implemented systems and methods for a simplified messaging interface are provided for allowing users to initiate and engage in messaging conversations. In various embodiments, the systems and methods reduce the overhead involved in initiating and/or engaging in messaging conversations. In some embodiments, the messaging interface allows users to initiate and/or engage in conversations without having to open a separate standard messaging window for every conversation. In some embodiments, the simplified messaging interface may be used in conjunction with a standard messaging interface. |
| US08943420B2 |
Augmenting a field of view
The claimed subject matter relates to an architecture that can enhance an experience associated with indicia related to a local environment. In particular, the architecture can receive an image that depicts a view of the local environment including a set of entities represented in the image. One or more of the entities can be matched or correlated to modeled entities included in a geospatial model of the environment, potentially based upon location and direction, in order to scope or frame the view depicted in the image to a modeled view. In addition, the architecture can select additional content that can be presented. The additional content typically relates to services or data associated with modeled entities included in the geospatial model or associated with modeled entities included in an image-based data store. |
| US08943414B2 |
Identifying URL target hostnames
Techniques are provided for displaying a uniform resource locator (URL) to assist a user in determining whether a URL destination is what the user expects. A link is presented for selection to a user, and a URL corresponding to the link is accessed. A portion of the URL that corresponds to a hostname component of the URL may be identified, and the URL may be displayed. The hostname component of the URL is visually distinguished from other components of the URL. In addition to or as an alternative to displaying the URL and visually distinguishing the hostname component, a warning message relating to the hostname portion of the URL may be displayed. The techniques may be implemented as a software plug-in or in any type of software application that is capable of recognizing URLs. |
| US08943410B2 |
Modified media presentation during scrubbing
A computer-implemented method includes displaying, within a user interface in a digital media system, a thumbnail representing at least a portion of a media clip, receiving user input corresponding to a play speed at which a media clip is to be played, determining whether the received user input exceeds one or more predetermined thresholds, and selectively disabling playing of a video portion or an audio portion, or both, based on a result of the determination. |
| US08943408B2 |
Text image review process
Techniques that facilitate review of bitmapped representations of text in a file are described. In some embodiments, one or more signals representative of cursor movements over a bitmapped representation of text in a bitmap image may be received. One or more selected text elements may be determined based on the cursor movements. Determining may include searching a data structure, separate from the bitmap image, which includes information regarding text element locations corresponding to the bitmapped text representation in the bitmap image. A portion of the bitmapped representation of text corresponding to the determined selected text elements may be highlighted. |
| US08943407B2 |
Snooze support for event reminders
Snooze support for event reminders produced on a hand held mobile device is disclosed. Snooze support in at least one example embodiment is characterized by an event reminder rescheduling method. This event reminder rescheduling method includes the step of prompting for a device user to take one of a number of actions in relation to an event reminder released from an event reminders queue. One of the number of actions is requesting, through operation of one or more input components of the mobile device, that the event reminder be generated again after a lapse of a snooze time. |
| US08943399B1 |
System and method for maintaining position information for positioned elements in a document, invoking objects to lay out the elements, and displaying the document
A list indicating positions of positioned elements on a page of a document is maintained by a page object associated with the page. First position information indicating a first position of a first positioned element having a position that conflicts with a location of a first element associated with the page is transmitted by the page object to a first element object associated with the first element, the first element object being subordinate to the page object within a hierarchy. The first element object generates first layout data. The list is updated by the page object based on a position of a second positioned element having a position that conflicts with the first element. A second element object associated with a second element associated with the page, and subordinate to the page object within the hierarchy, is invoked by the page object to generate second layout data. |
| US08943393B1 |
Distributed burst error protection
A method of protecting digital words traversing multiple data paths is presented. The method identifies a number of bits for a header of a digital word and determines a number of protection bits for the header. A bit value for each of the protection bits is computed, and the computed bit values of the protection bits are transmitted through one or more data paths. |
| US08943391B2 |
Cyclic code decoding method and cyclic code decoder
In a cyclic code decoding method, a decoder analyzes a received codeword to identify unreliable symbols in the codeword, and sets candidate syndrome patterns accordingly. Then, a syndrome calculator calculates evaluated syndrome values associated with one of the candidate syndrome patterns, and an error location polynomial (ELP) generator generates an ELP according to the syndrome values. An error correction device corrects the errors in the codeword according to the ELP when a degree of the ELP is not more than a threshold value, and the syndrome calculator adjusts the syndrome values and the ELP generator generates another ELP according to the adjusted syndrome values when otherwise. |
| US08943389B2 |
Signal transmission/reception circuit
A data buffer section stores input words, and outputs them to a first signal line group in order. An error checking and correcting code is generated that has the same number of bits as the words. Some bits are not to be output at the same time within the range of the first and second signal line groups or within the range of a partial signal line group included in the first and second signal line groups. A code transmission section outputs the error checking and correcting code to different signal lines of the second signal line group respectively, such that a plurality of bits in a code word are not output at the same time within the range of the first and second signal line groups or within the range of a partial signal line group included in the first and second signal line groups. |
| US08943388B2 |
Techniques for encoding and decoding using a combinatorial number system
A data storage system includes a memory circuit having memory cells and a control circuit. The control circuit is operable to receive data bits provided for storage in the memory cells. A subset of the memory cells have predetermined stuck-at faults. The control circuit is operable to compute a binomial coefficient for each of the predetermined stuck-at faults based on a bit position of a corresponding one of the predetermined stuck-at faults within the memory cells. The control circuit is operable to add together the binomial coefficients to generate an encoded number using a combinatorial number system. The control circuit is operable to generate a first set of redundant bits that indicate the encoded number. The first set of redundant bits are used to decode bits read from the memory cells to regenerate the data bits. |
| US08943387B2 |
Programming management data for a memory
Methods, apparatus, systems, and data structures may operate to combine block management data with a portion of data, to generate error correction data for the combined portion, and to store the data, the block management data, the error correction data for the combined portion, and error correction data for the data in a memory. Additional embodiments may operate to generate or store error correction data for each of a plurality of sectors of a page except for a particular sector in the page and combine block management data with the particular sector to generate a modified sector. Additional embodiments may operate to generate or store error correction data for the modified sector and combine the plurality of sectors, the error correction data for each of the plurality of sectors other than the particular page, and the block management data and the error correction data for the modified sector. |
| US08943385B2 |
NAND memory management
Apparatus, systems, and methods to manage NAND memory are described. In one embodiment, a memory controller logic is configured to apply a binary parity check code to a binary string and convert the binary string to a ternary string. |
| US08943384B2 |
Using a soft decoder with hard data
A method for re-using a soft decoder involves receiving soft data and hard data from memory cells in a memory device, mapping the soft data to a first set of soft information, mapping the hard data to a second set of soft information, and using the soft decoder to decode both the first set and second set of soft information. |
| US08943383B2 |
Systems and methods for encoding and decoding of check-irregular non-systematic IRA codes
Systems and methods for encoding and decoding check-irregular non-systematic IRA codes of messages in any communication or electronic system where capacity achieving coding is desired. According to these systems and methods, IRA coding strategies, including ones that employ capacity-approaching non-systematic IRA codes that are irregular and that exhibit a low error floor, are employed. These non-systematic IRA codes are particularly advantageous in scenarios in which up to half of coded bits could be lost due to channel impairments and/or where complementary coded bits are desired to transmit over two or more communications sub-channels. An encoder includes information bit repeaters and encoders, one or more interleavers, check node combiners, a check node by-pass and an accumulator. A decoder includes a demapper, one or more check node processors, an accumulator decoder, a bit decoder, and one or more interleavers/deinterleavers. |
| US08943376B2 |
Position independent testing of circuits
Scan distributor, collector, and controller circuitry connect to the functional inputs and outputs of core circuitry on integrated circuits to provide testing through those functional inputs and outputs. Multiplexer and demultiplexer circuits select between the scan circuitry and the functional inputs and outputs. The core circuitry can also be provided with built-in scan distributor, collector, and controller circuitry to avoid having to add it external of the core circuitry. With appropriately placed built-in scan distributor and collector circuits, connecting together the functional inputs and outputs of the core circuitry also connects together the scan distributor and collector circuitry in each core. This can provide a hierarchy of scan circuitry and reduce the need for separate test interconnects and multiplexers. |
| US08943375B2 |
Combo static flop with full test
A SRAM (Static Random Access Memory) macro test flop circuit includes a flip-flop circuit, a scan control circuit, and an output buffer circuit. The flip-flop circuit includes a master latch circuit and a slave latch circuit. The master latch circuit includes a master storage node and a multiplexer. The slave latch circuit includes a slave storage node driven by the master latch. The scan control circuit includes a scan slave feed-forward circuit, a scan latch circuit, and a scan driver circuit driven by the scan feed-back circuit. The scan latch circuit includes a scan feed-back circuit, a scan storage node, and a scan feed-forward circuit driven from the slave latch. The output buffer circuit includes a master driver driven from the master latch circuit and a slave driver driven from the slave latch circuit. |
| US08943374B2 |
Writing scheme for phase change material-content addressable memory
A system for programming a phase change material-content addressable memory (PCM-CAM). The system includes a receiving unit for receiving a word to be written in the PCM-CAM. The word includes low bits represented by a low resistance state in the PCM-CAM and high bits represented by a high resistance state in the PCM-CAM. The system includes a writing unit configured to repeatedly write the low bits in memory cells of the PCM-CAM until the resistance of the memory cells are below a threshold value, and to write high bits in memory cells of the PCM-CAM only once. |
| US08943370B2 |
Trace value correlation with data field declarations
Data fields within a trace data set are interpreted by a processor using a data field declaration of each data field that identifies a data type of the respective data field. An actual data value of the interpreted data field is compared with the data field declaration for each interpreted data field. Based upon each comparison, a determination is made as to whether the actual data value of the interpreted data field contains an erroneous data value based upon the data field declaration. |
| US08943368B2 |
Method for computer-aided detection of errors during the execution of one or more software-based programs in a system of components
A method detects errors during execution of software based programs in a system of motor vehicle components. During execution a component executes its assigned program, and the components call each other interactively. When a component is called, a program identity and an error parameter are transmitted from the other component to the component. If a component identifies an error during execution, it stores an active error entry that contains the program identity, the component identification and an error status. If a component, which has called another component, receives the component identification, it stores a passive error entry that contains the program identity, its component identification and the identification of the other component. A component, which stores one or more active or passive error entries, returns the program identity and the component identification of the component, at least once during program execution, to the component that has called it. |
| US08943366B2 |
Administering checkpoints for incident analysis
Methods, apparatuses, and computer program products for administering checkpoints for incident analysis are provided. Embodiments include a checkpoint manager receiving from each incident analyzer of a plurality of incident analyzers, a checkpoint indicating an incident having the oldest identification number still in analysis by the incident analyzer at the time associated with the checkpoint. The checkpoint manager examines each received checkpoint to identify, as a restore incident, an incident having the oldest identification number indicated in any of the received checkpoints. A monitor sends to the incident analyzers, a stream of incidents beginning with the identified restore incident and continuing with any incidents having a newer identification number than the identified restore incident. Each incident analyzer processes from the stream of incidents only the incident indicated in the last checkpoint of the incident analyzer and any subsequent incidents having a newer identification number than the indicated incident. |
| US08943362B2 |
Control and monitoring for fast millimeter-wave link using out-of-band wireless channel
A method for fast and efficient data downloading in wireless communications. The method includes ways to download file data of a large size from a server (access point) to a user's client (mobile device) at high speed and efficiency by using both mmWave wireless communication and conventional wireless communication (WiFi, 3G, etc.). A server transmits packetized file data to a client. The file data is transmitted as data packets via mmWave. In parallel, the server transmits check packets (roll-call packets) corresponding to the data packets. As a test at the time of establishing links, the latency for each communication line is measured. The receiver side, upon completion of receiving the check packets, checks whether their corresponding mmWave packets have arrived. If any corresponding mmWave packet has not arrived, it is determined that the mmWave packet has been lost and a retransmission request is immediately returned to the server via WiFi. |
| US08943355B2 |
Cloud data storage system
A cloud data storage system is provided for multiple clients to access data of files comprising at least one node connecting to a first storage means; at least one namenode module for processing file operations issued from the clients, namenode module issuing data access instructions to access and maintain the metadata on the first storage means; at least one datanode module respectively executing on at least one node, each datanode module functioning to scan and access a second storage means connected thereto; at least one data import module selectively executing on nodes in which datanode module are executing, the data import module scanning a second storage means newly connected to the cloud data storage system and obtaining a corresponding metadata, and executing data migration operation for the data in second storage means without actual physical uploading operation. |
| US08943353B2 |
Assigning nodes to jobs based on reliability factors
Assigning nodes to jobs based on reliability factors includes calculating the maximum value of a processor utilization efficiency and assigning an optimal number of spare nodes to the job based on the value of the processor utilization efficiency. |
| US08943348B2 |
Method and system for offloading a computation to other computing units in the same device or to a server on a network based upon a computing time and a power consumption of each of the computing units and the server
A decision method considering time and power consumption for offloading computations is provided. The method includes: obtaining a computing mission; obtaining a plurality of static effect factors from an effect factor table; collecting a plurality of dynamic effect factors. The method also includes: generating power consumptions and computing time that each of the computing unit and each of the server consumes according to the dynamic effect factors and the static effect factors; calculating cost values of executing the computing mission according to the power consumptions and the computing time; determining a target unit to execute the computing mission according to the cost values, in which the target unit is a computing unit or a server; executing the computing mission by the target unit. Therefore, the power consumptions and the computing time are simultaneously considered, and computations are adequately allocated to one of the computing unit and the servers. |
| US08943346B2 |
Distributed advanced power management
Power management commands from virtual machines (VMs) in a VM environment may be trapped by a VM monitor. Depending on the current power states of the other VMs in the VM environment, the VMM may emulate increase or decrease in available resources as applied to the VM issuing the power management commands. The VMM may modify the actual hardware resources available in a platform when such modification may not affect the current power states of the VMs in the VM environment. |
| US08943342B2 |
Power supply circuit employed in computer for performing different standby modes
A power supply circuit includes a basic input output system (BIOS), a super input output (SIO), a bivibrator, a logical selector, and a voltage converter. The basic input output system (BIOS) is configured for storing different operation modes of a computer. The super input output (SIO) is configured for generating standby mode signals according to the different operation modes. The bivibrator is configured for generating a reference signal when upon receiving a clock signal from the computer when the computer is turned on. The logical selector is configured for generating a standby control signal in response to the reference signal and one of the standby mode signals. The voltage converter is configured for transforming the first standby voltage into a second standby voltage to drive the SIO. The SIO receives the second standby voltage before the clock signal is delayed and provided to the SIO to start the computer. |
| US08943340B2 |
Controlling a turbo mode frequency of a processor
In one embodiment, the present invention includes a multicore processor with a power controller to control a frequency at which the processor operates. More specifically, the power controller can limit a maximum operating frequency of the processor to less than a configured maximum operating frequency to enable a reduction in a number of frequency transitions occurring responsive to power state events, thus avoiding the overhead of operations performed in handling such transitions. Other embodiments are described and claimed. |
| US08943338B2 |
Server power system
A power server system includes a power transmission interface, a power supply and a battery backup unit (BBU). The power supply converts an AC power into a DC power and outputs the DC power to the power transmission interface. After the AC power is disconnected, the power supply continues outputting the DC power in a holding period having a rising period and a current sharing period. The BBU outputs a redundant power to the power transmission interface before the power supply stops outputting the DC power. The BBU boosts the voltage level of the redundant power in the rising period, and controls the voltage level of the redundant power to be the same with that of the DC power in the current sharing period, so that the battery output inrush current is reduced and the battery life is extended. |
| US08943335B2 |
Battery management and protection system using a module in a sleepwalking mode to monitor operational characteristics of a battery
A battery management and protection system can include various features to improve safety-critical and other functions. Among the features that can be included in some implementations are automatic loading of safety or other parameters during start-up of the system; a centralized timekeeper and an event system that can trigger actions in the system independently of a central processing unit; use of the same modules for both automatically-controlled safety-related measurements and firmware-controlled measurements; enhanced diagnostic features, and a sleepwalking feature that allows certain modules in the system to continue to perform various functions even when the module or the system is in a low-power sleep mode. |
| US08943334B2 |
Providing per core voltage and frequency control
In one embodiment, the present invention includes a processor having a plurality of cores and a control logic to control provision of a voltage/frequency to a first core of the plurality of cores independently of provision of a voltage/frequency to at least a second core of the plurality of cores. In some embodiments, the voltages may be provided from one or more internal voltage regulators of the processor. Other embodiments are described and claimed. |
| US08943333B2 |
Large scale integrated circuit for dynamically changing resonant point
The semiconductor intergrated circuit comprises: a circuit that executes a predetermined process and a switching circuit that selects a power impedance, The switching circuit selects the power impedance, in accordance with a variation in voltage supplied to the circuit, so that a resonant frequency of the semiconductor integrated circuit is different from a operation frequency of the circuit. |
| US08943332B2 |
Audit-log integrity using redactable signatures
A method of establishing the integrity of an audit record set is described. The method comprises receiving a set of audit records and generating a first set of random values wherein each audit record in the set corresponds to at least one value of the first set. The method further comprises generating a second set of values based on an audit record and a corresponding value of the first set for each audit record in the set and generating a summary value based on the second set of values. The method further comprises certifying the summary value to generate an integrity certificate enabling verification of the integrity of the audit record set and storing the audit record set and at least one of the first set of values and the generated digital signature. |
| US08943331B2 |
Privacy-preserving database system
A database system includes a server, index server and client. In one embodiment the server randomly permutes the order of database records. The server provides to the index server an array of encryption keys by generating a random encryption key corresponding to each permuted database record. The server encrypts each permuted database record with its corresponding encryption key. The index server computes and encrypts a sum of each encryption key and a corresponding random mask and sends a permuted array of masked keys to the server. The index server provides to the client an encrypted database record, and the mask and key corresponding to the encrypted record. The client sends the encrypted sum of the mask and key to the server. The server decrypts the masked key with a public key and sends the decrypted key to the client. The client then recovers the record key and decrypts the record. |
| US08943324B2 |
Green energy generation apparatus, mobile device, electric storage apparatus, and management method of green energy information
A method is provided for authenticating characteristics of electrical energy. The method comprises acquiring a key, acquiring an amount of electrical energy, and generating a digital signature based on the amount and the key. The method further comprises generating a certificate comprising the signature and the amount. |
| US08943323B2 |
System and method for provisioning device certificates
A method is provided for provisioning a device certificate. A device certificate request is transmitted from a communication device to a server in a communication network using an established communications channel between the communication device and the server. The device certificate request comprises at least a user identifier and a device identifier. The server provides to the communication device a device certificate that includes the user identifier and the device identifier and that is signed by a private key of a certificate authority. |
| US08943321B2 |
User identity management for permitting interworking of a bootstrapping architecture and a shared identity service
A method, apparatus and computer program product are provided to facilitate authentication of a request, such as by a mobile terminal, while also supplying information about the user to a service, website, application or the like A method, apparatus and computer program product may provide for interworking a bootstrapping architecture, such as Generic Bootstrapping Architecture, and a shared identity service, such as OpenID architecture In this regard, a method, apparatus and computer program product may provide for a secure session with a service provider through Generic Bootstrapping Architecture while being able to supply the service provider with the user information and/or accessing a user account using OpenID architecture. |
| US08943314B2 |
System and method for manipulating a computer file and/or program
A device for manipulating a computer file or program includes a processor. The device includes a network interface which receives commands. The device includes a receiver which receives the commands from the network interface and provides the commands to the processor. The device includes storage having a computer file or program in a memory. Wherein the processor, based on the commands, makes changes to the computer file or program in the memory and suspends and reestablishes user intervention to the computer file or program. A device for manipulating a computer file or program. |
| US08943307B2 |
System and method for retaining users' anonymity
A method and a system are provided for generating information that relates to services being utilized by a user, by which: at a user device, retrieving usage information that relates to services consumed by the user of the user device; forwarding by the user device the retrieved usage information towards a central processing unit; at the central processing unit, determining based on the received usage information and based on at least one pre-determined criterion associated with the services being consumed by the user, whether a message should be sent to that user; and if in the affirmative, sending a message to the user that relates to the received usage information, without logging any information that relates to the message being sent to the user, at the central processing unit. |
| US08943303B2 |
Monitoring circuit with a window watchdog
A method of monitoring a processing circuit is disclosed. The processing circuit is operable, in a normal operation mode, to generate a sequence of trigger commands, with at least one trigger command of the sequence of trigger commands including time information. At least one window sequence with a closed window period and an open window period is generated such that the duration of the closed window period and/or the open window period is defined, at least in part, by the time information. It is detected if one trigger command is received within the open window period of the at least one sequence. |
| US08943301B2 |
Storing branch information in an address table of a processor
Methods for storing branch information in an address table of a processor are disclosed. A processor of the disclosed embodiments may generally include an instruction fetch unit connected to an instruction cache, a branch execution unit, and an address table being connected to the instruction fetch unit and the branch execution unit. The address table may generally be adapted to store a plurality of entries with each entry of the address table being adapted to store a base address and a base instruction tag. In a further embodiment, the branch execution unit may be adapted to determine the address of a branch instruction having an instruction tag based on the base address and the base instruction tag of an entry of the address table associated with the instruction tag. In some embodiments, the address table may further be adapted to store branch information. |
| US08943299B2 |
Operating a stack of information in an information handling system
A pointer is for pointing to a next-to-read location within a stack of information. For pushing information onto the stack: a value is saved of the pointer, which points to a first location within the stack as being the next-to-read location; the pointer is updated so that it points to a second location within the stack as being the next-to-read location; and the information is written for storage at the second location. For popping the information from the stack: in response to the pointer, the information is read from the second location as the next-to-read location; and the pointer is restored to equal the saved value so that it points to the first location as being the next-to-read location. |
| US08943285B2 |
Methods for migrating data in a server that remains substantially available for use during such migration
Methods and software are provided for “hot migration” of data an original storage unit for a target system to destination storage unit. In one embodiment, a virtual storage device is provided, having a control block mapped to both the original storage unit, as well as to the destination storage unit. The target system is stopped, the virtual storage device is substituted for the original storage unit, and the target system is restarted. The virtual storage device directs requests to the destination storage unit, and fulfills read requests from whichever of the two storage units has a valid copy of data requested (depending, e.g., on whether the data is as yet unchanged, has been re-written, or has been copied, during the migration process). Unchanged data blocks are copies from the original storage unit to the destination storage unit. The target system is stopped, the virtual storage device is disconnected from the target system, and the destination storage unit is connected in its place. Software may also be provided to automate these processes. |
| US08943284B2 |
Systems and methods for integrating compute resources in a storage area network
A data processing and storage system includes a compute module for running at least one virtual machine for processing guest data. State data on the at least one virtual machine is collected. The system also includes a storage module communicating with the compute module and storing the guest data. The storage module accesses the state data for controlling storage operations. A cloud storage/compute system is provided that includes a storage module for storing guest data for a virtual machine and operating based on a clock. The cloud storage/compute system also includes a compute module coupled to the storage module for performing operations on the guest data for the virtual machine and operating based on the clock. A method is provided that includes collecting state data on a virtual machine that processes guest data, and controlling storage operations relating to the guest data based on the state data. |
| US08943283B2 |
Converting a first address mapping function for mapping addresses to storage locations to a second address mapping function
Provided are a computer program product, system, and method for converting a first address mapping function for mapping addresses to storage locations to a second address mapping function. For each of a plurality of addresses allocated in the storage using the first address mapping function, a node is generated in the second address mapping function. Each node in the second address mapping function associates a logical address with a physical location for the logical address. A determination is made of addresses having unused space and storage space is freed for the determined addresses having the unused space. Indication is made in the second address mapping function that the storage space for the determined addresses has been freed. |
| US08943282B1 |
Managing snapshots in cache-based storage systems
A method is used in managing snapshot in cache-based storage systems. A request to create a snapshot of a data object is received. A portion of the data object is cached in a global cache. The data object is associated with a mapping object. The mapping object manages access to the portion of the data object. A snapshot of the data object is created. A snapshot mapping object is associated with the snapshot of the data object. The snapshot mapping object includes a link to the mapping object. The snapshot mapping object is a version of the mapping object and shares the portion of the data object cached in the global cache. |
| US08943276B2 |
Efficient discard scans
A plurality of tracks is examined for meeting criteria for a discard scan. In lieu of waiting for a completion of a track access operation, at least one of the plurality of tracks is marked for demotion. An additional discard scan may be subsequently performed for tracks not previously demoted. The discard and additional discard scans may proceed in two phases. |
| US08943271B2 |
Distributed cache arrangement
Systems and methods that aggregate memory capacity of multiple computers into a single unified cache, via a layering arrangement. Such layering arrangement is scalable to a plurality of machines and includes a data manager component, an object manager component and a distributed object manager component, which can be implemented in a modular fashion. Moreover, the layering arrangement can provide for an explicit cache tier (e.g., cache-aside architecture) that applications are aware about, wherein decision are made explicitly which objects to put/remove in such applications (as opposed to an implicit cache wherein application do not know the existence of the cache). |
| US08943270B2 |
Storage system, storage control method and storage control program
In tiered storage subsystems in which pages are automatically allocated to appropriate storage media based on the access frequency in page units, since the number of storage media is not simply proportional to the performance, it was difficult to design in advance a tier configuration satisfying the required performance. According to the present invention, a cumulative curve of I/O distribution is created based on a result of measurement of I/O accesses performed to the storage subsystem, and RAID groups (RG) are allocated sequentially in order from RGs belonging to tiers having higher performances to the cumulative curve of I/O distribution. When either a performance limitation value or a capacity of the RG exceeds the cumulative curve of I/O distribution, a subsequent RG is allocated, and the process is repeated so as to compute the optimum tier configuration. |
| US08943268B2 |
Ternary content addressable memory (TCAM) storage system
A system for ternary content addressable memory (TCAM) storage may include a TCAM having multiple entries and a processor that is communicatively coupled to the TCAM. The processor may be operative to receive a first numerical range and determine a first ternary representation of a second numerical range that encompasses the first numerical range. The processor may be further operative to determine a second ternary representation corresponding to at least one of a lower bound or an upper bound of the first numerical range. The processor may be further operative to store a combination of the first and second ternary representations in one of the entries of the TCAM. In one or more implementations, the numerical range may be a port range and the combination of the ternary representations may be stored in one of the entries of the TCAM as a portion of a packet classification rule. |
| US08943266B2 |
Storage system and method of control for storage system
The storage system includes a plurality of storage devices and a storage controller. The storage controller stores a data request quantity indicating the data quantity of write data written to the target area in a specific period, and estimates, based on the quantity of request data and relationship information received from storage devices, the estimated data quantity written to the nonvolatile semiconductor memory chips based on the write data written to the target area in the specific period. The storage controller selects a second logical storage area with an estimated data quantity less than an estimated data quantity for the first logical storage area and assigned to a storage device different from a storage device assigned to the first logical storage area, and migrates the first data stored in the first logical storage area to the second logical storage area. |
| US08943265B2 |
Storage array controller
A storage array controller provides a method and system for autonomously issuing trim commands to one or more solid-state storage devices in a storage array. The storage array controller is separate from any operating system running on a host system and separate from any controller in the solid-state storage device(s). The trim commands allow the solid-state storage device to operate more efficiently. |
| US08943261B2 |
Efficient memory management in software caches
The use of heap memory is optimized by extending a cache implementation with a CacheInterface base class. An instance of a ReferenceToCache is attached to the CacheInterface base class. The cache implementation is registered to a garbage collector application. The registration is stored as a reference list in a memory. In response to an unsatisfied cache allocation request, a garbage collection cycle is triggered to check heap occupancy. In response to exceeding a threshold value, the reference list is traversed for caches to be cleaned based upon a defined space constraint value. The caches are cleaned in accordance with the defined space constraint value. |
| US08943258B2 |
Server direct attached storage shared through virtual SAS expanders
A data storage system includes a first server including: a first plurality of storage disks configured to store data, and a first host bus adapter including a first processor configured to provide a first virtual expander and a first logic component; and a second server including: a second plurality of storage disks configured to store data, and a second host bus adapter including a second processor configured to provide a second virtual expander and a second logic component, wherein the first host bus adapter of the first server is coupled to the second host bus adapter of the second server via a SAS connection, and wherein each of the first plurality of storage disks and the second plurality of storage disks are accessible by each of the first server and the second server. |
| US08943256B1 |
Serial data intermediary device, and related systems and methods
An integrated circuit (IC) device can include a serial communication first interface (I/F) circuit electrically coupled to first physical connections of the IC device, and configured to respond to communication signals received at the first physical connections; at least one serial communication second interface (I/F) circuit electrically coupled to second physical connections of the IC device, and configured to enable data transactions over the second physical connections; and a repeater circuit configured to bypass the first I/F circuit and enable serial communication signals to be transmitted from the first physical connections to the second physical connections. Systems including such an IC device and related methods are also disclosed. |
| US08943254B2 |
Conversion of a single-wire bus communication protocol
A method of transmission-reception over a serial bus placed, when idle, in a first state at a first voltage, including: a transmit circuit capable of coding a transmission according to a first protocol in which the respective states of the bits are conditioned by time periods of fixed levels, indifferently in the first state or in a second state at a second voltage smaller than the first one; a receive circuit capable of interpreting a communication according to the first protocol; and a protocol converter, interposed between the bus and the transmit and receive circuits, to convert the signals to be transmitted to a second protocol in which the respective states of the bits are conditioned by respective time periods of fixed levels in the first state, and to convert the received signals from the second protocol to the first protocol. |
| US08943252B2 |
Latency sensitive software interrupt and thread scheduling
Various embodiments provide an ability to schedule latency-sensitive tasks based, at least in part, upon one or more processor cores usage metrics. Some embodiments gather information associated with whether one or more processor cores are in a heavily loaded state. Alternately or additionally, some embodiments gather information identifying latency-sensitive tasks. Task(s) can be (re)assigned to different processor core(s) for execution when it has been determined that an originally assigned processor core has exceeded a usage threshold. |
| US08943249B2 |
System on chip improving data traffic and operating method thereof
A system on chip (SoC) includes a first master, a slave, a bus switch transmitting a first command of the master and a first response of the slave, and a first priority controller connected between the first master and the bus switch The first priority controller measures at least one of first bandwidth and first latency based on the first command and the first response and adjusts the priority of the first command according to at least one of the measurement results. |
| US08943246B2 |
Character input device, character input interface control method, and program
A character input device of the present invention includes a skill estimation unit that estimates the skill of a user in character input operation, based on the history of key operation by the user. In this character input device, a determination period for determining an input character being selected by a character input interface unit is increased or decreased, according to the skill estimated by the skill estimation unit. The character input interface unit selects the character based on the number of times at which a same key has been depressed, and judges whether or not the determination operation of the character has been performed, based on the determination period. |
| US08943240B1 |
Direct memory access and relative addressing
A direct memory access circuit includes a buffer handler configured to store received data within a buffer in a buffer memory coupled to the direct memory access circuit and to generate a descriptor for the buffer. The direct memory access circuit further includes a descriptor handler coupled to the buffer handler. The descriptor handler is configured to determine a descriptor address for the descriptor and to store the descriptor at the determined address within a descriptor memory coupled to the direct memory access circuit. |
| US08943238B2 |
Operations using direct memory access
A system includes a serial interface, a peripheral device coupled to the serial interface, non-volatile memory, and a DMA controller including multiple linked channels. The various channels can be configured in different modes to facilitate the DMA controller performing various operations, such as data transfer, with respect to the non-volatile memory or the peripheral device. |
| US08943237B1 |
Performance improvement for attached multi-storage devices
A data storage device may comprise a controller, first and second host-addressable logical units and a communication interface. The first logical unit may comprise a first data storage, first endpoints associated with the first data storage and a first bus interface coupled between the first data storage and the first endpoints. The second logical unit may comprise a second data storage and second endpoints. The second endpoints may be associated with the second data storage and may be separate and distinct from the first endpoints. A second bus interface may be coupled between the second data storage and the second endpoints. The communication interface may be coupled to the first and second host-addressable logical units and may be configured according to communicate with the host according to a predetermined communication protocol. |
| US08943236B1 |
Packet scheduling using a programmable weighted fair queuing scheduler that employs deficit round robin
The disclosed packet scheduler implements the deficit round robin (DRR) approximation of weighted fair queuing (WFQ), and is capable of achieving complete fairness across several hundred source flows, for example, each of which can be mapped to one of several destination ports. In addition to achieving fairness, the packet scheduler allows the user to map one or more optional strict-priority flows to each port. The packet scheduler keeps these strict-priority flows “outside” of the group of flows for which fairness is enforced. Each destination port can be optionally configured to chop its data packets into sub-packet pieces. The packet scheduler works in two mutually orthogonal dimensions: (1.) it selects destination ports based on a round-robin scheme, or using another method, such as guaranteed rate port scheduling (GRPS), and (2.) it implements optional strict-priority scheduling, and DRR scheduling. |
| US08943229B2 |
Peripheral device detection with short-range communication
In general, embodiments of the present disclosure are directed to techniques for configuring a mobile device according to detection of one or more peripheral devices in an environment using short-range wireless communication. In one example, a method includes, receiving, by a computing device that communicates with a peripheral device using short-range wireless communication, a unique identifier of the peripheral device. If the computing device recognizes the unique identifier of the peripheral device, the computing device may determine a configuration operation based on the unique identifier that changes a current operating state of at least one application executing on the computing device to a different operating state. If the computing device does not recognize the unique identifier of the peripheral device, the computing device may send a lookup request to a network resource external to the computing device that requests data specifying the configuration operation for the computing device. |
| US08943224B2 |
Chip selection in a symmetric interconnection topology
Techniques for distinguishing between symmetrically-connected integrated circuit devices so that each device may be individually selected are disclosed in reference to various embodiments. In one embodiment, a bi-directional data path provided for ongoing data transfer between a master device and multiple nominally identical slave devices is used to receive a merged set of randomly generated values from the slave devices, and then used to return one or more device-select values that enable assignment of a unique chip-identifier (ID) within each slave device. After chip-IDs have been assigned to the slave devices, the master device may issue one or more chip-select signals corresponding to the unique chip ID assigned to a given slave and thereby enable that slave device, exclusively of the others, to participate in a data transfer operation over the bi-directional data path. |
| US08943221B2 |
Methods, systems and devices for pipeline processing
Methods, servers and systems for communicating signaling information in a telecommunications signaling network implement methods that include receiving a first message encoding signaling information from a source component and processing the message using a fixed pipeline having a plurality of modules, each module having at least one procedure for performing a specific set of tasks. Application level routing operations may be performed to identify a suitable destination component. Information contained in the first message may be used to generate a second message encoding signaling information, which is sent to the identified destination component. |
| US08943219B2 |
Congestion management and latency prediction in CSMA media
A facility for congestion management and latency prediction is described. In various embodiments, the facility sums a series of fractional transmission delays wherein each fractional transmission delay is measured as a probability of a failed transmission attempt multiplied by the cost of the failed transmission attempt, and provides the sum. |
| US08943214B2 |
Communication apparatus
A communication apparatus of one embodiment includes a hardware protocol processing unit, a software protocol processing unit, a hardware protocol process information generating unit to generate protocol process information from the result of the processing by the hardware protocol processing unit, a software protocol process resumption unit to perform control of the software protocol processing unit using the protocol process information generated by the hardware protocol process information generating unit, a software protocol process information generating unit to generate protocol process information from the result of the processing by the software protocol processing unit, and a hardware protocol process resumption unit to perform control of the hardware protocol processing unit using the protocol process information generated by the software protocol process information generating unit. |
| US08943212B2 |
System and method for translating application program network service requests into actions and performing those actions through the management and/or control plane responsive to previously defined policies and previous requests by the same or another application program
Application program network service requests are translated into specific actions that are then performed through the management plane and/or control plane. The translations and resulting actions are responsive to previously defined policies for the communication network, and may further reflect processing of previous service requests by the same or another application program. The amount of resources available for use by a given application program may be predefined based on a globally defined network policy. Each service request obtained from an application program may be translated into multiple actions performed using various specific protocols and/or interfaces provided by either the management plane, the control plane, or both the management and control planes. Reports of network activity, status and/or faults for a requesting application program may be tailored to the requesting program's view of the network, and passed directly and exclusively to the requesting program. |
| US08943207B2 |
System and method for providing dynamic roll-back reservations in time
A systems, method and computer-readable media are disclosed for providing a dynamic roll-back reservation mask in a compute environment. The method of managing compute resources within a compute environment includes, based on an agreement between a compute resource provider and a customer, creating a roll-back reservation mask for compute resources which slides ahead of current time by a period of time. Within the roll-back reservation mask, the method specifies a subset of consumers and compute resource requests which can access compute resources associated with the roll-back reservation mask and, based on received data, the method dynamically modifies at least one of (1) the period of time the roll-back reservation mask slides ahead of current time and (2) the compute resources associated with the roll-back reservation mask. |
| US08943201B2 |
Method for establishing encrypted channel
A technique is disclosed for establishing a secure communication link between a first computer and a second computer over a computer network. Initially, a secure communication mode of communication is enabled at a first computer without a user entering any cryptographic information for establishing the secure communication mode of communication. Then, a secure communication link is established between the first computer and a second computer over a computer network based on the enabled secure communication mode of communication. The secure communication link is a virtual private network communication link over the computer network in which one or more data values that vary according to a pseudo-random sequence are inserted into each data packet. |
| US08943197B1 |
Automated content update notification
Features are disclosed for detecting meaningful updates to network accessible content, including but not limited to web pages. The portion or portions of content that are meaningful can be automatically determined based on a previously defined content profile, an analysis of user interactions with the content, algorithms and automated content analysis techniques, some combination thereof, or other techniques. Content can be monitored and determinations can be made regarding whether and to what extent the content has changed. Client devices or users thereof may be notified of detected meaningful content updates. Notifications can include updated portions of the content. The updated content may be displayed to the user on a client device, and visual treatments may be applied to the updated portions to draw the users' attention to the presence and substance of the updates. |
| US08943194B2 |
Apparatus, and associated method, for resubscribing communication device to a push notification service
An apparatus, and an associated method, for a communication device having a SIM card, or other removable storage element, that permits hot-swapping of the storage element. Notification of hot-swapping of the removable storage element is detected. Responsive to the detection, provision is made to resubscribe to push service notifications that are disabled upon removal of the removable storage element. |
| US08943191B2 |
Detection of an unresponsive application in a high availability system
A method, information processing system, and computer program storage product for determining if an application has become unresponsive. Network traffic at a receiver node is monitored. The receiver node is determined to have generated a window probe response indicating a predetermined window size. A threshold associated with the window size of the receiver node is set in response to the receiver node having generated the window probe response. The window size of the receiver is determined to have been at the predetermined size for at least one of a time period greater than the threshold and a count greater than the threshold. An application associated with the receiver node is classified as unresponsive in response to the window size of the receiver node having been the predetermined size for at least one of a timer period greater than the threshold and a count greater than the threshold. |
| US08943189B2 |
Standard based detection and launch of client applications
The claimed subject matter provides a system and/or method that detects, installs and launches applications on client machines. The disclosed system can include a component that receives a request to launch or install a client application. The component detects whether an application is present in a client machine by scrutinizing the received request and extracting an agent string associated with the client application. Based at least in part on the agent string, a server in receipt of the request can distribute a formatted document affiliated with the client application and thereafter initiate the application to execute on the client machine through MIME-type association. |
| US08943188B2 |
Automation network comprising network components that produce status messages
The invention relates to an automation network and to automation equipment, network components and field devices for an automation network of this type. The network components transmit messages concerning their status to the automation equipment by means of a communication mechanism that functions according to field communication automation technology. Said automation equipment receives the status messages, evaluates them, monitors the operation of the network and controls said operation using the status messages. As the automation equipment thus contains the complete picture of the process and the network, it can react directly and rapidly to problems of the network. This eliminates the need, for example, for an additional SNMP/OPC server or a network management station. |
| US08943187B1 |
Managing electronic keys
Users of a social networking platform may provide electronic keys to other users of the social networking platform. Use of an electronic key may be subject to one or more conditions specified by the issuer of the electronic key. Data may be provided that enables the recipient to use the electronic key in accordance with the one or more conditions on use of the electronic key. |
| US08943185B2 |
Networked gaming system having a browser manager
An integrated browser manager and networked gaming system that provides server based dynamic content onto a content display area of one or more gaming machines is disclosed. The system includes: a browser manager, one or more application servers connected to the browser manager by a server-to-server (S2S) server and S2S web service, and one or more gaming machines are connected to the browser manager by a game-to-server (G2S) server and G2S web service. The browser manager includes a user interface application and a core service, wherein the user interface application generates a user interface display on a user control station. Each gaming machine includes a network interface to receive external content from the application server via the browser manager, and a content display area for displaying the external content. |
| US08943184B2 |
Abstract representation and provisioning of network services
A network management device connects to a device on the network, receives a trigger for an operation command, supplies to the device a command line interface command for the operation command, wherein a randomly generated string is included at the end of the command line interface command. The network management device receives the output of the operation command from the device, detects the end of the operation command output and parses the output using an XML-based parser. XML based configuration files are used for configuration of different network devices. XML based report files are used to generate different network reports. |
| US08943181B2 |
Method and system for reducing connections to a database
A system automatically maintains a plurality of client connections associated with a plurality of clients, the plurality of client connections including active and idle connections. A first server receives a request from a client of the plurality of clients to access a second server of a plurality of second servers communicatively coupled to the first server, the plurality of second servers having varying communication protocols. The first server then identifies a first communication protocol associated with the second server and activating a link between the first server and the second server using the first communication protocol. |
| US08943180B1 |
Server-based service configuration system and approach
Network service providers are managed using a server-side configuration approach. According to an example embodiment of the present invention, a host network location includes two or more servers that automatically reconfigure their services in response to controller service settings corresponding to each server. Each server reads configuration information provided at a controller such as a domain name server (DNS), and in response, starts a network-based service corresponding to the configuration information. For instance, each of the two or more servers may be adapted to provide mail service via simple mail transfer protocol (SMTP) and web service via hyper text transfer protocol (HTTP). In this regard, when a DNS associates a first one of the servers with HTTP services and a second one of the servers with SMTP services, each server reconfigures its services accordingly, e.g., at a selected configuration time after startup or in response to an initiating event. |
| US08943177B1 |
Modifying a computer program configuration based on variable-bin histograms
A system for modifying a configuration of a computer program includes an encoded data receiver for receiving a plurality of encoded data values from a sample collector on a first computer, the encoded data values generated from operation of the computer program. The system also includes a bin generation value selector, for selecting a bin generation value for each of the bin data values based on a seed value and a histogram reconstructor for reconstructing, for each of the received encoded data values, an associated histogram structure based on the bin generation value associated with each encoded data value. A bin data analyzer generates a result based on the received encoded data values and the reconstructed histogram structure associated with each encoded data value. Finally, a configuration generator generates a configuration setting based on the result, and the configuration is sent to the first computer. |
| US08943176B2 |
System and method for publication of distributed data processing service changes
Methods and systems to improve change description information dissemination are described. When an altered version of a distributed data processing service is deployed, information about the altered service is published in a service information registry. The published information includes a link to a natural-language description of the altered service. |
| US08943173B1 |
System and method for using a computer as a bridge for data synchronization between a cellular device and a computer network
A method for data bridging and synchronization between a mobile device and a computer network, using a computer connected to the mobile device over a short range communication channel. |
| US08943172B2 |
Methods and systems for accessing a computer resource over a network via microphone-captured audio
The disclosure relates to accessing computer resources by sensing audio with a microphone. One claim recites a system comprising: a software module comprising instructions for controlling a wireless device to: i) extract identifying data from microphone-captured audio by applying a hashing algorithm to the microphone-captured audio; ii) obtain device information for a class of devices associated with the wireless device; iii) control communication of the identifying data and the device information; and iv) control a user interface to facilitate access to a third party computer resource based on a service received by said software module in response to communication of the identifying data and the device information, in which the service is configured to facilitate access in response to audio prompting; and a network resource comprising a data registry, the data registry comprising a correlation between identifying data, device information and sponsored links, the network resource configured to provide the service to said software module including providing a sponsored link to the software module, the sponsored link being associated with the identifying data and the device information. Of course, other claims and combinations are provided as well. |
| US08943171B2 |
Location-aware web service-based application skinning for web applications
A mechanism for location-aware web service-based application skinning for web applications is disclosed. A method includes identifying, by a server device, a locale of an originator of a request for a web page of a web application hosted by the server device, obtaining skinning files associated with a combination of the web application and the identified locale; and rendering, in response to the request, the web page comprising the skinning files, wherein the skinning files provide a language and style to a user interface (UI) of the web page based on the identified locale that is separate from a development of the web application. |
| US08943170B2 |
Content delivery network aggregation with selected content delivery
A content delivery network (CDN) aggregation system is disclosed. A user requesting content from a content provider has his or her DNS request forwarded to a CDN selector. The CDN selector intelligently selects an optimal CDN from amongst a number of partner CDNs to provide the requested content. |
| US08943165B2 |
Method for reselecting bearer binding and event report function
The invention provides a method for a Bearer Binding and Event Report Function (BBERF) relocation, which is used in a process of the BBERF relocation after establishing a first Internet Protocol (IP) Connectivity Access Network (IP-CAN) session for User Equipment (UE) and establishing a first gateway control session, a first Gx session, an S9 session and a first subsession of the S9 session which are used to perform policy control to said first IP-CAN session in an Evolved Packet System. In the process of the BBERF relocation, a subsession of the S9 session established before handover of UE is linked to the gateway control session established between the destination BBERF and the visited PCRF and the corresponding Gx session according to the session identity information, thereby achieving deferred linking of policy and charging sessions in roaming scenarios of home routed and local breakout. |
| US08943161B2 |
Time synchronization system
A time synchronization system includes: a master including: a main processor to which a first IP address is assigned; and a time synchronization processor to which a second IP address is assigned; a plurality of slaves configured to send a first packet whose destination is the first IP address and a second packet whose destination is the second IP address to the master; and a relay configured to send the first packet to the main processor and to send the second packet to the time synchronization processor. The main processor receives the first packet from the relay and performs a certain process on the first packet. The time synchronization processor receives the second packet from the relay and performs a time synchronization process between the master and said one of the slaves based on the second packet. |
| US08943155B2 |
Workflow and in-context E-mail recipient handling
Various technologies and techniques are disclosed that improve the workflow process for resolving data elements, such as email addresses. These technologies and techniques allow the user to perform such tasks in the same context as the activity or message. In addition, user can start and stop the resolution process at any point in the process of composing the activity or email. The activity cannot be finalized, such as an email message being sent, until all of the data elements are resolved. |
| US08943151B2 |
Systems and methods for collation, translation, and analysis of passively created digital interaction and relationship data
A computer readable medium containing executable instructions that when executed perform a method of generating relationship data, the method comprising: accessing an interaction database, wherein the interaction database comprises a record of exchanges between two or more users of a digital communication system, and wherein the exchanges occurred on the digital communication system; obtaining one or more characteristics of one or more exchanges of the two or more users, wherein the one or more characteristics are stored in the interaction database and wherein the data is obtained through a direct internet access protocol; and generating relationship data by analyzing the one or more characteristics. |
| US08943150B2 |
Systems and methods for customizing mobile applications based upon user associations with one or more entities
Systems and methods for customizing mobile applications are provided. The systems and methods may include storing one or more computers, an identifier associated with (i) a user and (ii) an entity with whom the user is affiliated; receiving a mobile application request; facilitating delivery of a mobile application to a mobile device associated with the user; receiving the identifier; and directing a delivery of customization information for customizing the mobile application of the mobile device, the customization information associated with one or both of the user or the entity with whom the user is affiliated. |
| US08943147B2 |
Sending a chat context to a recipient
In an embodiment, a plurality of respective context keywords are stored to a plurality of contexts, wherein each of the plurality of respective context keywords is different. In response to sending of a first plurality of instant messages from an electronic device, a first context is selected at the electronic device from among the plurality of contexts. A first context keyword of the plurality of respective context keywords that matches respective first terms in the first plurality of instant messages is stored in the first context. The first plurality of instant messages are stored to a first chat session in the first context that was selected by the selecting. The first context that comprises the first plurality of instant messages and the first context keyword is sent to a recipient device. |
| US08943146B2 |
Method and system and apparatus for mass notification and instructions to computing devices
Systems, methods, and devices for simultaneously distributing mass notifications to multiple users. A mass notification system receives input data and, based on this input data, creates notifications for mass distribution. The notifications are then transmitted to computing devices used by the users who are to be notified. |
| US08943143B2 |
Method and system for the conversion and processing of documents in a hybrid network environment
A method of converting a document for a user. The method includes receiving the document in a first format from a first user device through a telecommunications network. The method also includes automatically producing a new version of the document upon receipt of the document. The new version of the document is in a second format, which is selected from a group including a plurality of formats distinct from the first format. |
| US08943139B2 |
Virtual private meeting room
A different unique identification is assigned to each of a plurality of users for establishing conference sessions. A different dedicated virtual private session room is allocated to each of the plurality of users for use in multiple conference sessions. The different unique identification is assigned to the different dedicated virtual private session room for each user. Conferencing resources of a network over which conference sessions are provided are dynamically allocated to the conference sessions to obtain expected levels of service for the conference sessions, based on the users logging in to the conference sessions. |
| US08943137B2 |
Forming logical group for user based on environmental information from user device
Systems and methods for the forming of user device groups are presented. In one example, a message including location information indicating a geographic location of a first user device is received from the first user device. Values representing logical connection strengths between the first user device and other user devices are calculated using the location information. A first device group is determined for the first user device based on the calculating of the values representing the logical connection strengths, the first device group including a plurality of the other user devices. |
| US08943133B2 |
Friend recommendation system for a computer-implemented game
Social network information of a player of a computer-implemented game is accessed to analyze a social interaction of the player with other players from the social network information to recommend other players of the social network of the player to further communicate with. A recommendation of other players is generated to the player based on a frequency of the social interaction. A selection of players from the recommendation is received from the player. A communication message is generated to the selected players. |
| US08943129B2 |
Document based conferencing
Various embodiments described herein provide one or more of systems, methods, software, and data structures that allow a document, or other file type, to be used to connect to a network-based conference, such as over the Internet. Some embodiments may further allow a local copy of a document, viewed by each conference participant on their local computing devices, to be used as a conferencing tool by synchronizing document views across each local document copy and edits or other modifications and notations made by each participant. As a result, an actual image of the document of a document-based conference need not be shared. Rather, only the edits or other modifications and notations made by each participant are captured, transmitted, and recreated and displayed within the local document copies of the other participants. |
| US08943127B2 |
Techniques for capturing data sets
Techniques, including systems and methods, for capturing data sets include performing a client-side two-phase commit to ensure one or more data consistency conditions. A logical volume may represent a data set that is distributed among a plurality of physical storage devices. One or more client devices are instructed to block at least acknowledgment of write operations. When the one or more client devices have blocked at least acknowledgment of write operations, one or more servers in communication with the physical storage devices are instructed to capture corresponding portions of the data set. When the servers have been instructed to capture corresponding portions of the data set, the client devices are instructed to resume at least acknowledgment of write operations. |
| US08943126B1 |
Rate limiter for push notifications in a location-aware service
A method includes receiving, at a server, a dynamic current geographic location of a mobile computing device and, in response, accumulating individual push notifications that are relevant to the dynamic current geographic location of the mobile computing device. The individual push notifications are accumulated in a buffer over a first accumulation time interval. The method further includes sending a limited number of individual push notifications accumulated in the buffer at a controlled rate to the mobile computing device over a computer network. |
| US08943121B2 |
Communication across an overlay network
An information communication system of an overlay network includes: a first apparatus requesting the content; a second apparatus storing the content; and a third apparatus including: a first reception unit receiving a retrieval message transmitted from the first apparatus, the retrieval message including content identification information and location information; a storage unit storing the apparatus identification information of the second apparatus and the content identification information of the content stored in the second apparatus; and a transmission unit transmitting the apparatus identification information. The second apparatus includes: a second reception unit receiving the apparatus identification information from the third apparatus; and a control unit allowing the first apparatus to acquire the content stored in the second apparatus if the apparatus identification information received by the second reception unit matches the apparatus identification information of the second apparatus. |
| US08943118B2 |
Data processing apparatus and method for reducing the size of a lookup table
A lookup table receives an n-bit input value and returns an output value that would be obtained by performance of a predetermined operation on the input value. The number of entries in the lookup table is less than 2n. An n-bit input data value is received, a modification condition is detected if any of a predetermined number of significant bits of the input data value are logic zeroes, and a shift operation is performed on the input data value if the modification condition is detected, prior to providing the input to the lookup table. If the modification condition is detected, an output value derivation operation is performed on the output value received from the lookup table to modify it prior to returning it to for processing. The derivation operation accounts for the shift operation. This approach can lead to a significant reduction in the lookup table size. |
| US08943117B1 |
Method and apparatus for hybrid digital filtering
New hybrid filters are presented based on time and transform domain structures. The hybrid filters have a combined benefit from the advantages obtained by the time and transform domain structures. The overall efficiencies are drawn from combining the pre- and post-processing of the time domain and block based transform domain structures. Further improvements are obtained by interchanging block construction and transforms with linear operations in the pre- and post-processors. The hybrid structures apply to single input, single output, multiple input, and multiple output structures. For the multi input and multi output structures further improvements are obtained by having common processing blocks for the input(s) and common processing blocks for the output(s). They hybrid filters are also efficient in topologies where filter outputs are combined via linear operation(s) generating combined results. The efficiencies of the new hybrid filter may lead to significant fardware, power, silicon area, or somputational savings. |
| US08943115B1 |
Bitwise comparator for selecting two smallest numbers from a set of numbers
A group of numbers from which the smallest and second-smallest are to be selected are compared in a cascaded tree. Each comparison stage will select the smallest number from two numbers output by the previous stage, into which four numbers are input. The second-smallest number is one of the other three inputs to the previous stage and, as before, all bits of the second-smallest number will not be known until the smallest number is determined. However, because at each stage of the determination, the next stage is reached because the bit values being examined are the same, those bit values of the second-smallest number (and indeed of the smallest number) are known ahead of the final determination of the smallest number. Accordingly, one can begin to output bits of the second-smallest number (as well as of the smallest number) even before that final determination. |
| US08943111B2 |
Managing global cache coherency in a distributed shared caching for clustered file systems
Systems. Methods, and Computer Program Products are provided for managing a global cache coherency in a distributed shared caching for a clustered file systems (CFS). The CFS manages access permissions to an entire space of data segments by using the DSM module. In response to receiving a request to access one of the data segments, a calculation operation is performed for obtaining most recent contents of one of the data segments. The calculation operation performs one of providing the most recent contents via communication with a remote DSM module which obtains the one of the data segments from an associated external cache memory, instructing by the DSM module to read from storage the one of the data segments, and determining that any existing contents of the one of the data segments in the local external cache are the most recent contents. |
| US08943109B2 |
Write barrier elision for reference arrays
A computer-implemented process for write barrier elision during program execution receives a request to overwrite a reference, determines whether garbage collection is active and responsive to a determination that garbage collection is active, determines whether a reference object has been scanned. Responsive to a determination that the reference object has not been scanned set a mark bit for the reference object in a modified mark map, the reference object is scanned and a scan bit is set for the reference object in the modified mark map. |
| US08943095B2 |
Systems and methods for accessing web pages using natural language
Systems and methods for building an interface that receives and responds to varied natural language expressions. In an embodiment, the system receives a natural language expression in text or audio, and translates it by building at least one data structure which reflects the concepts expressed in the natural language expression. The data structure may comprise a symbol representing each concept. In an embodiment, a parser utilizes the data structure to parse language expressions to single concept symbols that represent the meaning of the expressions. Response actions may also be performed in response to the parsed language expressions. In addition, a parser may receive a single concept symbol, and generate one or many natural language expressions of the meaning of the concept symbol. Furthermore, the system may be configured to understand the local meaning of words and phrases. |
| US08943094B2 |
Apparatus, system, and method for natural language processing
Various embodiments are described for searching and retrieving documents based on a natural language input. A computer-implemented natural language processor electronically receives a natural language input phrase from an interface device. The natural language processor attributes a concept to the phrase with the natural language processor. The natural language processor searches a database for a set of documents to identify one or more documents associated with the attributed concept to be included in a response to the natural language input phrase. The natural language processor maintains the concepts during an interactive session with the natural language processor. The natural language processor resolves ambiguous input patterns in the natural language input phrase with the natural language processor. The natural language processor includes a processor, a memory and/or storage component, and an input/output device. |
| US08943092B2 |
Digital ink based contextual search
Disclosed herein are representative embodiments of tools and techniques for performing contextual searches using text determined based on digital-ink data. According to one exemplary technique, digital-ink data is received at a computing device and text is determined based on the digital-ink data. Additionally, by an application of the computing device, a contextual search is performed using the text. |
| US08943091B2 |
System, method, and computer program product for performing a string search
A system, method, and computer program product are provided for performing a string search. In use, a first string and a second string are identified. Additionally, a string search is performed, utilizing the first string and the second string. |
| US08943090B2 |
Content collection search with robust content matching
Systems and approaches for searching a content collection corresponding to query content are provided. In particular, false positive match rates between the query content and the content collection may be reduced with a minimum content region test and/or a minimum features per scale test. For example, by correlating content descriptors of a content piece in the content collection with query descriptors of the query content, the content piece can be determined to match the query content when a particular region of the content piece and/or a particular region of a query descriptor have a proportionate size meeting or exceeding a specified minimum. Alternatively, or in addition, the false positive match rate between query content and a content piece can be reduced by comparing content descriptors and query descriptors of features at a plurality of scales. A content piece can be determined to match the query content according to descriptor proportion quotas for the plurality of scales. |
| US08943089B2 |
Search assistant for digital media assets
Techniques and systems for facilitating searching of digital media assets are disclosed. In one embodiment, a user can be assisted in entering search strings for searching a media repository (e.g., online media store) having a plurality of digital media assets that are available, e.g., available for purchase. When the user enters a search character, a list of possible complete search strings corresponding to digital media assets available in the media repository can be obtained over a network and presented to the user. The list of possible search strings can be filtered based on whether a client device supports a media type associated with a word or based on a location of the client device. |
| US08943087B2 |
Processing data from diverse databases
Method, system and computer usable medium are provided for processing information items from first and second databases, wherein information items in the first database are related in first way, and information items in the second database are related in a second way. The method comprises providing a semantic relationship between the information items in the first database and the information items in the second database, the semantic relationship providing a single point of entry to the first and second databases. That single point of entry is used to enter a query to the databases, and the semantic relationship is used to navigate between the first and second databases to provide a response to the query. |
| US08943085B2 |
Start pointer tracking in NFAs
In a hardware engine, finding rule matches within an input stream by executing a Nondeterministic Finite Automaton (NFA) with active states tracked in parallel cells, a Start Pointer (SP) is captured by the cell beginning a match and passed from cell to cell until the match completes, when it is reported by the cell ending the match. For multiple overlapping matches, different cells may hold different SPs, and a cell representing multiple NFA states may hold multiple SPs. Methods are given to select one SP when multiple SPs collide in the same state. |
| US08943082B2 |
Self-assignment of node identifier in a cluster system
In response to a stimulus indicating configuration of a node into a cluster of a plurality of nodes including the node, the node determines whether or not the node has a universally unique identifier (UUID), and if not, the node provides its own persistent self-assigned UUID. The node searches a cluster configuration database for a temporary identifier associated with the node. In response to the node locating the temporary identifier of the node in the cluster configuration database, the node writes its self-assigned UUID into the cluster configuration database and joins the cluster. |
| US08943081B2 |
User-powered recommendation system
Recommendation systems are widely used in Internet applications. In current recommendation systems, users only play a passive role and have limited control over the recommendation generation process. As a result, there is often considerable mismatch between the recommendations made by these systems and the actual user interests, which are fine-grained and constantly evolving. With a user-powered distributed recommendation architecture, individual users can flexibly define fine-grained communities of interest in a declarative fashion and obtain recommendations accurately tailored to their interests by aggregating opinions of users in such communities. By combining a progressive sampling technique with data perturbation methods, the recommendation system is both scalable and privacy-preserving. |
| US08943077B1 |
Community-modified profile with activity-based authorization
In some embodiments, techniques for modifying a profile may include associating a permissions level with a second user; responsive to detecting activity by the second user, increasing the permissions level; comparing the permissions level to a threshold; determining that the permissions level exceeds the threshold; responsive to determining that the permissions level exceeds the threshold, permitting the second user to modify a first profile data associated with profile associated with a first user; receiving a second profile data from the second user, wherein the second profile data is a result of a modification of the first profile data; associating the second profile data with the profile of the first user; and providing the profile of the first user to a third user, wherein the profile of the first user includes the second profile data. |
| US08943071B2 |
Automatic sort and propagation associated with electronic documents
Techniques for automatic sort and propagation of information relating to electronic documents are presented. With regard to an electronic document, such as an incoming message, an enhanced information management component (EIMC) can analyze the document to identify a file folder associated with a subject to which the document relates. Based on interaction with or tagging of the document in a first user interface (UI) and predefined user preferences, the EIMC can propagate information relating to the subject and/or document to a second UI. The EIMC can archive the document in the identified file folder automatically or in response to as little as one UI control manipulation. The EIMC can analyze audio or video content to facilitate tagging and archiving of such content using the first UI and propagation of information relating to such content and/or related subject to a second UI. |
| US08943067B1 |
Index server architecture using tiered and sharded phrase posting lists
An information retrieval system uses phrases to index, retrieve, organize and describe documents. Phrases are extracted from the document collection. Documents are the indexed according to their included phrases, using phrase posting lists. The phrase posting lists are stored in an cluster of index servers. The phrase posting lists can be tiered into groups, and sharded into partitions. Phrases in a query are identified based on possible phrasifications. A query schedule based on the phrases is created from the phrases, and then optimized to reduce query processing and communication costs. The execution of the query schedule is managed to further reduce or eliminate query processing operations at various ones of the index servers. |
| US08943061B2 |
System for extracting customer feedback from a microblog site
A system for extracting customer feedback from a microblog site includes a retrieval unit coupled to the microblog site to capture microblog updates. A filter unit coupled to the retrieval unit filters the captured microblog updates according to filter criteria that remove non-actionable items from the captured microblog updates. A learning unit coupled to the filter unit prioritizes the filtered microblog updates, and a classification unit coupled to the learning unit classifies the filtered and prioritized microblog updates. An action unit coupled to the classification unit performs appropriate actions based on the classified, filtered and prioritized microblog updates. |
| US08943054B2 |
Social media content management system and method
A social media content management system coupled to a social media network includes database files and execution instructions to assemble, manage and transmit social media content. The database files store a feed content file, a social content management file, and management tables including a schedule file and an export content file. Execution instructions include a feed channel content system for receiving and storing feed content items in the feed content file. A selection subsystem is used for selecting and storing export content as social media posts in the social content management file. A scheduling subsystem enables a user to create and store schedules, to select a schedule and to merge the selected schedule with the stored content in the management file to form the export content file. An export system transmits the stored content as social media content posts to the social media network according to the selected schedule. |
| US08943044B1 |
Analyzing event invitees
In one implementation, a plurality of identifiers is obtained, where each identifier corresponds to an invitee to an event. Then a user profile for each of the plurality of identifiers is obtained, where each user profile comprises a value for each of a plurality of characteristics. Next, aggregate data representing the values from the user profiles for one or more selected characteristics is generated. Finally, a representation of the aggregate data is outputted. |
| US08943042B2 |
Analyzing and representing interpersonal relations
A computer-implemented method for analyzing and representing interpersonal relations includes: receiving, in a computer system, a user input requesting a representation of interpersonal relations regarding a person; executing, based on the user input and in a relational database, a relational-database query that selects relations involving the person, and that selects other persons involved in any of the selected relations, wherein the relational-database query is performed for each of the selected other persons until a maximum number of steps; and providing the representation of interpersonal relations in response to the user input, the representation indicating at least persons selected by the relational-database query. |
| US08943040B1 |
Using a table to track whether a dynamic partitioning condition evaluates to true
A query to perform an ordered analytic function contains a clause specifying creation of dynamic partitions, where the clause contains a partitioning condition to specify the dynamic partitions. During processing of the query, dynamic partitions are identified based on evaluating the partitioning condition. To identify the dynamic partitions, a first table is created that contains a first column to track rows of an input table for indicating whether the partitioning condition evaluates to true. The first column of the first table is used to identify the dynamic partitions. |
| US08943039B1 |
Centralized web-based software solution for search engine optimization
A system and method for modifying a parameter of a website in order to optimize an organic listing of the website at one or more search engines is described. Several embodiments include methods and systems for generating scored representations based upon different portions of data associated with a website, and then combining the scored representations to achieve a result. The result indicates a feature of the website that may be modified in order to optimize the organic ranking of the website at one or more search engines. |
| US08943033B2 |
System and method for avoiding duplication of effort in drafting documents
A system and method is provided for avoiding duplication of effort in drafting documents and, in particular, to a system and method for avoiding duplication of effort in preparing patent related submissions. The method is implemented on a computer infrastructure comprises storing disclosure information related to non-public proprietary innovation and receiving terms associated with an innovation. The method further comprises matching the terms with the stored disclosure information and providing an alert to a user that certain of the terms overlap with the stored disclosure information. |
| US08943029B2 |
On-line transaction processing (OLTP) compression and re-compression of database data
A computer is programmed to compress data of a database in response to database modification language (DML) statements generated by on-line transaction processing (OLTP) systems. In several embodiments, data that is initially added to a database block is left uncompressed until a predetermined condition is satisfied, which happens infrequently (relative to OLTP transactions on the block). When satisfied, the computer automatically compresses all uncompressed data in the block, which increases the amount of unused space in the block. New data is thereafter added uncompressed to the partially compressed block, until satisfaction of a predetermined condition whereby the partially compressed block is again compressed, i.e. re-compressed. Adding of new data to a partially compressed block and its compression are repeated unless another predetermined condition is met, in response to which the block is not further re-compressed, thereby to recognize a limit on the benefit from compression. |
| US08943028B2 |
Database compression analyzer
Apparatus, systems, and methods may operate to receive requests to execute a plurality of compression and/or decompression mechanisms on one or more database objects; to execute each of the compression and/or decompression mechanisms, on a sampled basis, on the database objects; to determine comparative performance characteristics associated with each of the compression and/or decompression mechanisms; and to record at least some of the performance characteristics and/or derivative characteristics derived from the performance characteristics in a performance summary table. The table may be published to a storage medium or a display screen. Other apparatus, systems, and methods are disclosed. |
| US08943026B2 |
Visual representation of a local backup
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for storing data. In one aspect, a method includes receiving a user input to present a visual representation of a first prior state of a file system; generating the first visual representation of a first prior state of the file system at a first time in the past according to a first virtual file system corresponding to that first time; presenting the first visual representation, where the first virtual file system is a reduced representation of the file system at that first time; receiving a user input to present a second visual representation of a second prior state of the file system at a second time in the past according to a second virtual file system corresponding to that second time; and presenting the second visual representation. |
| US08943025B2 |
Data replication among storage systems
A first storage system stores information relating to the updating of data stored in that system as a journal. More specifically, the journal is composed of a copy of data that was used for updating and update information such as a write command used during updating. Furthermore, the second storage system acquires the journal via a communication line between the first storage system and the second storage system. The second storage system holds a duplicate of the data held by the first storage system and updates the data corresponding to the data of the first storage system in the data update order of the first storage system by using the journal. |
| US08943024B1 |
System and method for data de-duplication
A method and system can be used to read and obtain data from a variety of media, regardless of the application used to generate the backup media. The component parts of a file may be read from a medium, including content and metadata pertaining to a file. These pieces of content and metadata may then be stored and associated. To avoid duplication of data, pieces of content and metadata may be compared to previously stored content and metadata. Furthermore, using these same methods and systems the content and metadata of a file may be associated with a location where the file resided. A database which stores these components and allows linking between the various stored components may be particularly useful in implementing embodiments of these methods and systems. |
| US08943013B2 |
Real-time equipment behavior selection
At creation, a state machine of an industrial control configuration can be hard-coded with a number of states in a hierarchical manner. Once implemented into the configuration, it can be desirable for the states, interpretations of the states, and the like to be modified in accordance with particular desires and processes. Therefore, a user can select a change to a hierarchical rule set of the state machine while the state machine is part of the configuration and the change can be implemented. |
| US08943010B2 |
Adaptive information technology solution design and deployment
An automated incremental solution deployment strategy created for an enterprise organization based upon evaluation of a set of possible information technology solution alternatives within an automated architectural framework is received. An information technology solution is incrementally deployed and incrementally selected from the set of possible information technology solution alternatives during the incremental deployment using the automated incremental solution deployment strategy. |
| US08943004B2 |
Tools and methods for determining relationship values
Systems, apparatus, and methods for correlating two items of interest, based on a plurality of data items and characteristics. The data items may include objective and quantitative data, as well as subjective and qualitative data. In one implementation, the relationship of an individual to a metric is determined. The system, apparatus, and methods may store characteristics describing individuals generally, along with metrics relevant to an organization; receive a plurality of data items; extract information associated with the individual from the data items; determine a number of relationships between the data items, individuals, metric, and characteristics; and use the relationships to determine an overall relationship between the individual and the metric, based on the data and characteristics. In addition, related groups of characteristics may be identified. Similarly, the relationships between any individual, metric, sub-metric, group of characteristics, data item, data source, characteristic, or groups thereof may also be determined. |
| US08943002B2 |
Analytics driven engagement
Various embodiments relate to an engagement server and a related method of initiating an engagement between an agent device and a user device based on formed and modified engagement rules. In one embodiment, the engagement server can receive one or more third-party analytic reports and use them to form engagement rules that determine when the engagement server initiates an engagement between the agent device and user device. In some embodiments, the engagement server can also receive user interaction data from the user device to modify engagement rules to fit a particular user. In some embodiments, the engagement server can use the third-party analytic reports and/or user interaction data from a plurality of users to form a statistical model. The engagement server may then use the statistical model to form and/or modify the engagement rules. |
| US08942989B2 |
Speech coding of principal-component channels for deleting redundant inter-channel parameters
Disclosed is an audio encoding device which removes unnecessary inter-channel parameters from the subject to be encoded, improving the encoding efficiency thereby. In this audio encoding device, a principal component analysis unit (301) converts an inputted left signal {Lsb(f)} and an inputted right signal {Rsb(f)} into a principal component signal {PCsb(f)} and an ambient signal {Asb(f)} and calculates for each sub-band, a rotation angle which indicates the degree of conversion; a monophonic encoding unit (303) encodes the principal component signal {Pcsb(f)}; a rotation angle encoding unit (302) encodes the angle of rotation {θb}; a local monophonic decoding unit (603) creates a decoded principal component signal; and a redundant parameter elimination unit (604) identifies the redundant parameters by analyzing the encoding quality of the decoded principal component signal and eliminates the redundant parameters from the signal to be encoded. |
| US08942988B2 |
Efficient temporal envelope coding approach by prediction between low band signal and high band signal
This invention provides a more efficient way to quantize temporal envelope shaping of high band signal by benefiting from energy relationship between low band signal and high band signal; if low band signal is well coded or it is coded with time domain codec such as CELP, temporal envelope shaping information of low band signal can be used to predict temporal envelope shaping of high band signal; the temporal envelope shaping prediction can bring significant saving of bits to precisely quantize temporal envelope shaping of high band signal. This prediction approach can be combined with other specific approach to further increase the efficiency and save mores bits. |
| US08942987B1 |
Identifying qualified audio of a plurality of audio streams for display in a user interface
A clear picture of who is speaking in a setting where there are multiple input sources (e.g., a conference room with multiple microphones) can be obtained by comparing input channels against each other. The data from each channel can not only be compared, but can also be organized into portions which logically correspond to statements by a user. These statements, along with information regarding who is speaking, can be presented in a user friendly format via an interactive timeline which can be updated in real time as new audio input data is received. |
| US08942986B2 |
Determining user intent based on ontologies of domains
Methods, systems, and computer readable storage medium related to operating an intelligent digital assistant are disclosed. A plurality of predefined domains each representing a respective area of service offered by an intelligent automated assistant are stored. A text string derived from a user request is obtained, the text string including at least one or more words derived from a speech input received from a user. From the plurality of predefined domains, a relevant domain for the user request is identified based at least on respective degrees of match between the text string derived from the user request and a respective plurality of words associated with each predefined domain. A task is executed in accordance with steps specified in a task flow associated with the relevant domain, and in accordance with one or more task parameters derived from the user request. |
| US08942985B2 |
Centralized method and system for clarifying voice commands
A method and system for facilitating centralized interaction with a user includes providing a recognized voice command to a plurality of application modules. A plurality of interpretations of the voice command are generated by at least one of the plurality of application modules. A centralized interface module visually renders the plurality of interpretations of the voice command on a centralized display. An indication of selection of an interpretation is received from the user. |
| US08942983B2 |
Method of speech synthesis
The present invention relates to a method of text-based speech synthesis, wherein at least one portion of a text is specified; the intonation of each portion is determined; target speech sounds are associated with each portion; physical parameters of the target speech sounds are determined; speech sounds most similar in terms of the physical parameters to the target speech sounds are found in a speech database; and speech is synthesized as a sequence of the found speech sounds. The physical parameters of said target speech sounds are determined in accordance with the determined intonation. The present method, when used in a speech synthesizer, allows improved quality of synthesized speech due to precise reproduction of intonation. |
| US08942982B2 |
Semiconductor integrated circuit device and electronic instrument
A semiconductor integrated circuit device including: a storage section which temporarily stores a command and text data input from the outside; a speech synthesis section which synthesizes a speech signal corresponding to the text data based on the command and the text data stored in the storage section, and outputs the synthesized speech signal to the outside; and a control section which controls a timing at which the command and the text data stored in the storage section are transferred to the speech synthesis section based on a speech synthesis start control signal. The control section controls an output of a speech output start notification signal which notifies in advance a start of outputting the synthesized speech signal to the outside based on occurrence of a speech synthesis start event, and then controls a start of outputting the synthesized speech signal to the outside at a given timing. |
| US08942978B2 |
Parameter learning in a hidden trajectory model
Parameters for distributions of a hidden trajectory model including means and variances are estimated using an acoustic likelihood function for observation vectors as an objection function for optimization. The estimation includes only acoustic data and not any intermediate estimate on hidden dynamic variables. Gradient ascent methods can be developed for optimizing the acoustic likelihood function. |
| US08942977B2 |
System and method for speech recognition using pitch-synchronous spectral parameters
The present invention defines a pitch-synchronous parametrical representation of speech signals as the basis of speech recognition, and discloses methods of generating the said pitch-synchronous parametrical representation from speech signals. The speech signal is first going through a pitch-marks picking program to identify the pitch periods. The speech signal is then segmented into pitch-synchronous frames. An ends-matching program equalizes the values at the two ends of the waveform in each frame. Using Fourier analysis, the speech signal in each frame is converted into a pitch-synchronous amplitude spectrum. Using Laguerre functions, the said amplitude spectrum is converted into a unit vector, referred to as the timbre vector. By using a database of correlated phonemes and timbre vectors, the most likely phoneme sequence of an input speech signal can be decoded in the acoustic stage of a speech recognition system. |
| US08942974B1 |
Method and system for determining device settings at device initialization
A device searches for an available network. The device automatically sends a request message to an identified available network. After the device receives a response message from the identified available network, the device selects a language and/or other device setting based on contents of the response message. |
| US08942973B2 |
Content page URL translation
The present technology may translate a content of a web page such as content locator (e.g., a uniform resource locator (URL)) from a source language to a target language. The content locator may be associated with a content page. The translation may involve dividing the content locator into segment tokens in a first language, followed by translating, transliterating or not changing a segment token. The processed tokens are then reassembled in a second language. The translation may be provided by a translation module through a content page provided by a network browser. |
| US08942968B2 |
Analysis support computer product, apparatus, and method
A computer-readable, non-transitory medium stores a program that causes a computer to execute a process including acquiring a unique coefficient that is unique to a device in a circuit under test and is included in a function expressing fluctuation of leak current of the device; detecting as a group and based on the unique coefficient, devices having an identical or similar characteristic; converting first random variables into a single second random variable, the first random variables expressing fluctuation of leak current unique to each of the detected devices; yielding a function that expresses fluctuation of leak current of the detected devices, using the second random variable; and outputting the yielded function. |
| US08942967B2 |
Method for real-time reservoir model updating from dynamic data while keeping the coherence thereof with static observations
The invention is a method for real-time updating of a geological model using dynamic data while maintaining the coherence thereof with static observations. An initial set of reservoir property maps, obtained from stochastic simulations of a random function, are available. Parameters providing new realizations of the random function when applied to the set are selected. New maps are created using initial values of the parameters. As soon as new dynamic data are available, the parameters are modified to reduce a difference between the simulated data for perturbed models and the measured data. Finally, the reservoir is developed using a modified development scheme to account for the deformed maps. |
| US08942963B1 |
Directed design updates in engineering methods for systems
A system or method includes a simulated model that has a plurality of simulated components, the plurality of components are arranged in a component hierarchical graph such that the combination of the simulated components forms the simulated model. The system includes an inference engine configured to generate one or more redesign recommendations for a component in the simulated model based on redesign recommendation rules. The system may include a display generator for displaying the redesign recommendations to a first user. |
| US08942960B2 |
Scenario analyzer plug-in framework
A system can include a framework for scenario-based assessment of a physical environment; and an integrator that includes an analyzer component for identifying an analyzer as one of a plurality of identifiable analyzers, a scenario component for framework and analyzer interactions for a scenario, and a results component for framework and analyzer interactions with respect to analyzer results for the scenario. Various other apparatuses, systems, methods, etc., are also disclosed. |
| US08942959B2 |
Method for predicting outputs of photovoltaic devices based on two-dimensional fourier analysis and seasonal auto-regression
An output of a photovoltaic (PV) device is predicted by applying Fourier analysis to historical data to obtain frequencies and a mean of the frequencies in the data. Regression analysis is applied to the data to obtain a regression coefficient. Then, the prediction is a sum of the mean at the time step and a deviation from the mean at a previous time step, wherein the means are represented and approximated by selected frequencies, and the deviation for the previous time step is weighted by the regression coefficient. |
| US08942956B1 |
Method and apparatus for building and presenting network designs
A method and apparatus is provided for presenting a design of a fiber-optic network. In one aspect, a server receives from a client device a request for a diagram of the design. The server accesses a data-structure representing the design, generates a representation of a cable run, and transmits the representation to the client device for display. In another aspect, the server transmits to the client device an indication that the cable run is illegal and receives from the client device an indication of a user-specified cable run. Subsequently, the server modifies the data structure to replace the illegal cable run with the user-specified cable run. |
| US08942955B2 |
Operationalizing a power usage monitoring system
A monitoring system capable of being operationalized. Power consumption in electrical devices is monitored by the use of new and innovative consumption power monitoring device in accordance with the present invention. Power consumption information is collected by an intelligent power hub that is communicatively coupled to a remote server that presents overall power usage displays. A method of operationalizing a power usage monitoring system comprises powering up an energy pump device when the energy pump device is plugged into a first power socket, setting the energy pump device automatically to a SET mode to acquire new monitoring devices, and discovering the presence of a power consumption monitoring device. |
| US08942950B2 |
Motion detection device, electronic device, motion detection method, and program storage medium
A motion detection device includes: an acceleration detection unit, a separating unit, a gravity axis determination unit, and a motion detection unit. The acceleration detection unit detects acceleration components of each axis of a three-dimensional rectangular coordinate system of acceleration acting on the acceleration detection unit and outputs sets of acceleration component data. The separating unit separates the outputted sets of acceleration component data into stationary components and motion components. The gravity axis determination unit determines an axis whose separated stationary component is the largest to be a gravity axis. The motion detection unit detects, if an axis corresponding to a largest motion component showing a largest value of the separated motion components is an axis other than the determined gravity axis, a motion axis of the acceleration detection unit on the basis of the largest motion component. |
| US08942947B1 |
Flow testing systems for fluid networks
An apparatus, system, method and kit for testing fluid flow and pressure is provided. The apparatus, system, method and kit include or include the use of a flow unit which is configured to measure flow rate and/or flow velocity when interfaced with a flow valve or hydrant and a pressure unit configured to measure at least residual pressure when interfaced with a test valve or hydrant. At least one of the units is configured to wirelessly send data transmissions to the other unit which is configured to receive such transmissions. |
| US08942944B2 |
System and method for dynamically measuring oxygen levels
An oxygen sensing system including an oxygen sensor, a microprocessor and one or more additional sensors for sensing parameters associated with the environment or with the oxygen sensor, accounts for one or more sensed conditions when calculating oxygen levels. The one or more sensors may sense conditions associated with environmental effects or effects of use that may cause the oxygen sensor to degrade over usage or over time. A baseline amplification and measurement circuit coupled to the oxygen sensor may enable the sensor to operate less frequently or for shorter periods of time, thereby increasing the life span, calibration hold time of the sensor, and reducing power requirements. |
| US08942936B2 |
Identifying a current drawn by a load
A system includes, in at least one aspect, a first circuit configured to be coupled to a load, and a second circuit configured to perform operations including receiving a digital voltage signal representing a voltage supplied to a first circuit, identifying a first time stamp associated with a voltage value representing an extrema in the digital voltage signal, receiving a digital current signal representing a current drawn by the load in response to the supplied voltage, identifying a second time stamp associated with the digital current signal, the second time stamp being within a threshold time of the first time stamp, and identifying a current value associated with the second time stamp as the current drawn by the load. |
| US08942934B2 |
Energy monitoring device and control method therefor, and energy monitoring program
A processing machine processes a work and repeats processes on the work, thereby consuming energy. Within the consumed energy, room for improvement is computed by an energy monitoring device and is referred to as an amount of energy that can be improved. An energy monitoring device includes a power data acquirer that acquires a time-series power data measured by a power meter, a cycle detector that detects a single-cycle power data from the power data acquired by the acquirer, a divider that divides the single-cycle power data detected by the detector into an added-value creating portion and an unproductive portion, and a computing unit that computes an amount of energy consumed in the unproductive portion divided by the divider and defines it as the amount of energy to be improved. |
| US08942931B2 |
System and method for determining electrical properties using magnetic resonance imaging
A system and method for determining electrical properties using Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) are provided. One method includes determining a magnitude of an MRI B1+ field applied to an object, determining a phase of the MRI B1+ field applied to the object and combining the determined magnitude and phase to determine a complex B1+ field estimate. The method further includes estimating one or more electrical properties of the object using the complex B1+ field estimate by directly solving at least one difference equation. |
| US08942929B2 |
Method for field-measuring fluid flow meters
A method for taking field measurements of a cone type fluid flow meter including a meter body and a cone-type fluid displacement member to determine when to calibrate or replace the fluid flow meter. The method includes taking measurements of dimensions of the fluid displacement member and the meter body, evaluating the dimension measurements and ascertaining whether the dimension measurements are within designated dimension limits. The present method saves significant time and costs by taking measurements in the field determining whether to calibrate or replace the fluid flow meter. |
| US08942928B2 |
Ultrasonic method of monitoring particle size distribution of a medium
Methods and are provided for determining, monitoring or detecting particle size distribution of a medium. An example method includes comparing a measured ultrasound attenuation spectrum of the medium with a calculated attenuation spectrum, where the calculated attenuation spectrum is obtained by accounting for the scattering of ultrasound waves into the receiver. The methods of the present invention can be used to determine particle size distribution in a dense suspension of particles in the intermediate wavelength regime. In other aspects, methods of the present invention may also be used to monitor changes in particle size distribution, infer the shape of particles, provide feedback to a process involving a change in particle size, and determine the completion of a dissolution process. |
| US08942915B2 |
Method for identifying an airplane in connection with parking of the airplane at a stand
Method for identifying an airplane in connection to parking of the airplane at a gate or a stand, for possible connection of a passenger bridge (1) or a loading bridge to a door of an airplane, where the airplane is positioned and stopped at a predetermined position using a touchless measurement of the distance between the airplane and a fixed point, where the distance is indicated on a display (6) mounted in front of the pilot of the airplane on for instance an airport building (7), which display (6) shows the position of the airplane (5) in relation to a stop point for the airplane and shows the current airplane type, where the distance measurement and display are caused to be activated by a computer system (20) belonging to the airport or manually, and wherein an antenna (16) is caused to receive information (17) transmitted by an airplane. |
| US08942914B2 |
Methods and systems for managing air traffic
Methods and system are provided for scheduling and negotiating air traffic within an airspace surrounding an airport and scheduled to land at the airport. An air traffic control (ATC) system is used to monitor the altitudes, speeds and lateral routes of aircraft. The ATC system generates a scheduled time-of-arrival (STA) at one or more meter fix points associated with the airport, the STA is stored, and data is received or inferred with the ATC system for at least a first of the aircraft, including a minimum fuel-cost speed and predicted trajectory parameters of the first aircraft based on current values of its existing trajectory parameters. Auxiliary data, including earliest and latest estimated time-of-arrival (ETAmin) and (ETAmax) at the meter fix point, STA being within/ outside ETAmin, ETAmax are generated, instructions are transmitted to the first aircraft, and the STA is updated for each aircraft stored in a queue. |
| US08942911B2 |
System and method for detecting a stuck vehicle accelerator and remedial control
A control system for a vehicle includes an error detection module and a remedial control module. The error detection module detects whether an accelerator of the vehicle is stuck is based on vehicle speed, a position of the accelerator, and one of a pressure applied to a brake of the vehicle and a status of a parking brake of the vehicle. The remedial control module, when the accelerator is stuck, at least one of resets the position of the accelerator and decreases torque output of a powertrain system. |
| US08942896B2 |
Seed meter control system
A seed meter control system is provided that allows for controlling seed meters of a row crop planter in a manner that reduces frequency of skip occurrences in which no seeds are delivered during a delivery event and double occurrences in which more than one seed is delivered during a delivery event. A target seeding session performance may be compared with an observed seeding session performance value and a delivery anomaly value to determine whether to make a corrective action by controlling at least one of the seed meters. |
| US08942894B2 |
Seeding machine for planting multiple seed varieties and prescription for multiple varieties seeding machine
A seeding machine, such as a row crop planter, is described which is adapted to switch between two or more seed varieties as the machine traverses a field. The control system uses a programmed quantity of seed representing a number of seeds in the seed meter that need to be substantially consumed once the flow of a first seed variety is stopped before introducing a second seed variety to minimize seed mixing. The seed quantity can be determined by a calibration process or published from the manufacturer or third parties. The seed quantity can also be part of a seeding prescription that includes assignment of where each seed variety is to be planted in a field. The seed quantity and the distance traveled to empty the meter can be used to optimize the planting operation including the machine direction which can also be part of the prescription. |
| US08942890B2 |
Torque detecting device and electric power steering system
A torque detecting device and an electric power steering system are provided. A torque sensor includes a first rotor that is fixed to an input shaft and that has a predetermined shaft angle multiplier, and a second rotor that is fixed to an output shaft and that has a shaft angle multiplier different from that of the first rotor. In first to fourth output coils arranged on a stator that is arranged around outer peripheries of the first and second rotors, electric signals having different phases are generated on the basis of a variation of a gap between the stator and the first and second rotors. A twist angle of a torsion bar is calculated on the basis of the electric signals, and a torque that acts between the input shaft and the output shaft is calculated on the basis of the twist angle. |
| US08942888B2 |
Extensible scheme for operating vehicle head unit as extended interface for mobile device
In an example, a processing device sends, to a remote network device, a request for an application of a mobile device to utilize a resource of a vehicle head unit, the request including a first profile of the vehicle head unit and a second profile of the mobile device. Responsive to sending the request, the processing device receives an instruction from the remote network device, the instruction to be executed by embedded software of the vehicle head unit so as to enable the application to utilize a resource of the vehicle head unit. |
| US08942886B2 |
System for detecting an impact on an aircraft engine impeller wheel
A method and a system for detecting an impact on an impeller wheel of an aircraft engine. A device acquires a revolutions per minute of the engine and a series of deflection signals representative of the deflections on the blades of the impeller wheel at the revolutions per minute. A device constructs signals for detecting impact on the impeller wheel by correlating each of the deflection signals with a predetermined signature of a shock on a blade at the revolutions per minute. |
| US08942885B2 |
Vehicle information transmission apparatus
Disclosed herein is a vehicle information transmission apparatus. The vehicle information transmission apparatus includes a storage unit for storing pieces of collected vehicle information, transmission grades of the pieces of vehicle information, and grades of user terminals. A control unit performs control such that relevant collected vehicle information is transmitted to a user terminal having a grade corresponding to a transmission grade of the collected vehicle information. A transmission unit transmits the vehicle information to the user terminal in compliance with a control command output from the control unit. |
| US08942880B2 |
Method and device for operating a driver assistance system of a vehicle
A method for operating a driver assistance system of a vehicle is described, together with a corresponding device, a corresponding vehicle, and a corresponding computer program. The driver assistance system is configured to autonomously safely park the vehicle when activated. While the vehicle is traveling, an activation intent for the driver assistance system is detected, whereupon the driver assistance system is activated and the vehicle is autonomously safely parked with the aid of the activated driver assistance system. |
| US08942877B2 |
Hybrid vehicle and method for controlling the same
A motor generator and a power converter are driven by an engine, to supply electric power to a power storage device. ECU causes the engine to start if SOC of the power storage device falls below a first threshold value, and causes the engine to stop if SOC exceeds a second threshold value which is larger than the first threshold value. In the case where a running range has been selected when the vehicle stops, ECU causes the engine to stop if SOC exceeds a third threshold value which is larger than the first threshold value and smaller than the second threshold value. In the case where a non-running range has been selected, ECU causes the engine to stop if SOC exceeds the second threshold value. |
| US08942876B2 |
Method and system for controlling a user requested shift in a hybrid vehicle
A hybrid vehicle has an engine, an electric machine connected to the engine by an upstream clutch, a transmission gearbox connected to the electric machine by a downstream clutch, and a controller. The controller is configured to, in response to a user commanded shift of the transmission, control the electric machine speed to a designated speed based on gearbox output speed and the transmission gear ratio after the shift, thereby synchronizing speeds across the gearbox for the shift. A method for controlling a hybrid vehicle provides, in response to a user commanded shift of an automatic transmission gearbox, controlling an electric machine speed to a target speed based on the transmission gear ratio after the shift where the target speed is synchronized with the transmission gearbox output speed. |
| US08942874B2 |
Self initiated prone progressive crawler
A self initiated prone progressive crawler facilitates crawling in infants by sensing the infant's intent and assisting movement. The device is designed as a mobility aid to assist an infant in prone locomotion. The infant can be placed in a prone position on a platform and secured with hook and loop straps. The arms and legs are unconstrained and are able to reach the floor comfortably. The self initiated prone progressive crawler is a motorized wheeled platform which has three points of contact with the ground. One point is an industrial trackball, mounted upside down to provide positional and positional derivative data to a controller. It is located roughly under the chest of the infant and is highly sensitive to movement. The other points of contact are two DC torque motors which are controlled by the controller. In addition to the positional and positional derivative data provided to the controller, the controller also receives data from four equally spaced load cells on a force plate and tn-axial accelerometer gyros attached to the upper and lower extremities of the child. The load cells provide force information between the infant and the device to allow weight shifts to be assessed and used as a control parameter. The accelerometer gyros generate data that provides patterns that can be correlated with crawling movements. |
| US08942873B2 |
Safety control system and method for hydrogen charging of fuel-cell vehicle
Disclosed is charging safety control system for a fuel-cell vehicle. In particular, a charging switch is provided in a fuel-cell vehicle to be manipulated in hydrogen charging as well as a vehicle speed detector for detecting a current vehicle speed. A controller within the vehicle is configured to receiving a signal corresponding to on/off-manipulation of the charging switch and a detected current vehicle speed and control the ignition of the vehicle based thereon. Particularly, the controller is configured to switch off the ignition of the vehicle upon receiving the on-manipulation signal of the charging switch, and upon determining that the vehicle is stopped based on the current vehicle speed. |
| US08942871B2 |
Moving body with fuel cells mounted thereon
Water contained in exhaust gas discharged from a fuel cell stack is separated by a gas-liquid separator and is accumulated in a recovery tank. The procedure of the invention sets a release amount of water and selects one or multiple positions for water release, based on the driving conditions including the vehicle speed and the acceleration, the turning state, activation or non-activation of skid reduction control, the distance from any object detected by clearance sonars, a distance from a subsequent vehicle measured by an extremely high frequency radar, and the presence of raindrops detected by a raindrop detection sensor, and releases the water accumulated in the recovery tank from water outlets at the selected one or multiple positions among water outlets at multiple different locations. This arrangement ensures adequate release of the water produced by the fuel cell stack to the atmosphere. |
| US08942870B2 |
Control system for a electrical vehicle
A control system for controlling the functionality of an electrically powered vehicle is described. The control system comprises a plurality of control modules in electronic communication with each of the control modules being programmed to implement a specific control function for the vehicle. The control modules comprise a first memory for storing data for implementing the control function, and the system further comprises at least one second memory for storing data for implementing each control function of the separate modules, wherein the data can be recorded to the second memory from the control modules. |
| US08942865B2 |
Methods and systems for aircraft data communications over heterogeneous connectivity
Methods and systems for communicating data between an aircraft and an off-board network are provided. The method includes pre-loading data for the aircraft onto a secure power unit, communicatively coupling the aircraft to the secure power unit, validating the aircraft at the secure power unit based on air traffic management information, absolute (GMT) time, and aircraft location data, and transferring data between the aircraft and the secure power unit based on the validation. |
| US08942861B2 |
Road surface condition estimation method, and road surface condition estimation apparatus
The invention provides a method and apparatus capable of accurately estimating a road surface condition under a traveling vehicle using unsprung acceleration and wheel speed data. The unsprung fore-aft acceleration (Gx) is detected by an acceleration sensor (11) attached to a knuckle (31) which is an unsprung component of a vehicle. At the same time, the wheel speed (Vw) is detected and the variation (ΔVw) in wheel speed is calculated. Then the fluctuation range (σ(ΔVw)) of the variation in wheel speed and the fluctuation range (σ(Gx)) of the unsprung fore-aft acceleration are calculated. And whether the road surface is a rough road surface with some bumpiness or a flat (smooth) road surface is estimated from a relationship between the fluctuation range (σ(ΔVw)) of the variation in wheel speed and the fluctuation range (σ(Gx)) of the unsprung fore-aft acceleration. |
| US08942859B2 |
Guidance and security system for complex transport systems
The present invention provides a guidance and security system for transport means, in particular complex mass transport systems, in which automatic passenger counting, security monitoring, for example, against fire, crime and terrorism, control of the use of individual elements of the transport system, such as vehicles, trains etc., automatic monitoring of the track and passenger information are connected with each other by an electronic “backbone”. The system comprises at least one guidance means for at least one transport means an/or for people, several recording units and a central unit. The central unit is connected to the recording units and the guidance means. The recording units are for determining the number of people located at a particular time and in a particular spatial area such that the central unit can control the guidance means depending thereon, in order that the appropriate number of vehicles is automatically provided with the necessary frequency and to guide passengers to the vehicle entrances. |
| US08942858B2 |
Controlling device and method
A controlling device comprises: a temperature ramp-up time estimating portion for estimating a required temperature ramp-up time for the controlled quantity in each individual control loop to reach a set point when the operating quantity output upper limit value of each individual control loop has been sent to a specified output upper limit value; a required output estimating portion for estimating, for each individual control loop, a required operating quantity output for the controlled quantity to reach the set point within the temperature ramp-up time; an output upper limit value setting portion for setting, temporarily, the operating quantity output as the operating quantity output upper limit value of the individual control loop; and a controlling portion that is provided for each individual control loop. |
| US08942857B2 |
Method and system for thermal load management in a portable computing device
Methods and systems for leveraging temperature sensors in a portable computing device (“PCD”) are disclosed. The sensors may be placed within the PCD near known thermal energy producing components such as a central processing unit (“CPU”) core, graphical processing unit (“GPU”) core, power management integrated circuit (“PMIC”), power amplifier, etc. The signals generated by the sensors may be monitored and used to trigger drivers running on the processing units. The drivers are operable to cause the reallocation of processing loads associated with a given component's generation of thermal energy, as measured by the sensors. In some embodiments, the processing load reallocation is mapped according to parameters associated with pre-identified thermal load scenarios. In other embodiments, the reallocation occurs in real time, or near real time, according to thermal management solutions generated by a thermal management algorithm that may consider CPU and/or GPU performance specifications along with monitored sensor data. |
| US08942850B2 |
Method and system for assisting in the handling of robotized machines in a congested environment
A method for handling of a first robotized mobile machine moving in a congested working environment under the control of a second robotized mobile machine, providing the operator, in real time, with a relevant view of the working scene, even if an object intrudes into the field of view of the camera and thereby obscures the operator's view. This method is based on use of properties of a physics engine of the constraint resolution type. For each object in the scene, the physics engine has a physical representation of said object in the form of a mesh. The engine calculates a wrench on the basis of the respective positions and velocities of two objects. In case of a collision between the manipulator and a fixed object in the scene, the engine determines the wrench to be applied to the manipulator in order to make it avoid the object. |
| US08942848B2 |
Humanoid robot that can dynamically walk with limited available footholds in the presence of disturbances
A control system for a bipedal humanoid robot that utilizes certain fundamental characteristics of bipedal motion to provide a robust and relatively simple balancing and walking mechanism. The system primarily utilizes the concept of “capturability,” which is defined as the ability of the robot to come to a stop without falling by taking N or fewer steps. This ability is considered crucial to legged locomotion and is a useful, yet not overly restrictive criterion for stability. In the preferred embodiment, the bipedal robot is maintained in a 1-step capturable state. This means that future step-locating and driving decisions are made so that the robot may always be brought to a balanced halt with the taking of one step. Other embodiments maintain the bipedal robot in an N-step capturable state, in which the robot may always be brought to a balanced halt by taking N or fewer steps. |
| US08942847B2 |
Mobile apparatus and robot, and control system thereof
Provided is a system and the like capable of appropriately searching a desired trajectory for a controlled subject in a time-space coordinate system in view of a state of the controlled subject. An initial positional relationship (k=1) between a first reference point q1(k) and a second reference point q2(k) in the time-space coordinate system is set to satisfy a first condition defined according to a motion performance of an actuator 2. When a previous trajectory candidate tr(k−1) is determined to have a contact with an object trajectory tro, a current positional relationship (k>1) between the first reference point q1(k) and the second reference point q2(k) in the time-space coordinate system is set to satisfy a second condition that a current time interval between the first reference point q1(k) and the second reference point q2(k) is longer than a previous time interval or the like. |
| US08942844B2 |
Article storage facility and article storage method
An article storage facility includes a transport device for transporting the transporting containers to the plurality of storage units, a controller, and a supply state detecting device for detecting a supply state of the inactive gas to the plurality of storage units. The controller makes a determination based on detected information from the supply state detecting device as to whether the inactive gas is properly supplied, and manages the plurality of storage units by distinguishing the disallowed storage units for which it is determined that the inactive gas is not properly supplied from the allowed storage units that are the storage units that are not the disallowed storage units. The controller performs a retreating transport operation in which a transporting container, that is stored in the storage unit that is changed from the allowed storage unit to the disallowed storage unit, is transported to an allowed storage unit. |
| US08942840B2 |
Auto device skew manufacturing
A system and method for manufacturing semiconductor devices is disclosed. An embodiment comprises using desired device parameters to choose an initial manufacturing recipe. Once chosen, the initial manufacturing recipe may be modified by determining and applying an offset adjustment based on previous manufacturing to tune the recipes for the particular equipment to be utilized in the manufacturing process. |
| US08942836B2 |
Sound effect generating device
A control signal generating means of a sound effect generating device sets the reference volume that is the reference value of the volume of a sound effect when a vehicle is in a predetermined travel state, compares the measured volume of the sound effect detected by a sound effect detecting means when the vehicle is in the predetermined travel state and the reference volume, and corrects the gain of a control signal on the basis of the result of the comparison. |
| US08942835B2 |
System and method of operating household appliances
A household appliance configured to communicate with a second household appliance, a network of household appliances that can communication with each other, and method of controlling an operation of a primary function unit of a first household appliance based on one of a priority scheme and synchronized duty cycles of the first household appliance and the second household appliance, wherein the first household appliance is configured to communicate with the second household appliance. The household appliance includes a primary function unit, a controller that controls an operation of the primary function unit, a two-way communication module that transmits and receives signals between the controller and the second household appliance. |
| US08942834B2 |
Method and apparatus for communicating transactions between an industrial controller and a programming interface
An industrial control system includes an industrial controller and a programming interface. The programming interface is operable to communicate a plurality of operations for modifying a control program maintained by the industrial controller followed by a commit transaction command. The industrial controller is configured to designate the plurality of operations with a pending status and preprocess the plurality of operations. The industrial controller is further configured to commit the operations and clear the pending status responsive to receiving the commit transaction command. |
| US08942830B2 |
Electrode delivery system
An automatic external defibrillator configured to deliver electrical pulses and/or shocks to a heart of a patient during a cardiac emergency includes a housing supporting an electrical connector; a defibrillator electrode delivery system supported on the housing and a pair of defibrillation electrode pads supported by the defibrillator electrode delivery system. Each of the pair of defibrillation electrode pads is pre-connected to the electrical connector of the housing. A hydrogel layer of each defibrillation electrode pad is retained by the defibrillator electrode delivery system in such a manner so as to reduce a moisture vapor transmission rate thereof. |
| US08942829B2 |
Trans-septal lead anchoring
Methods, devices and assemblies for anchoring implanted medical electrical leads employed in the stimulating and/or sensing of signals in tissue are disclosed. The devices include a lead anchoring clip having a central hub portion, an anchoring portion for coupling to tissue and a lead engagement mechanism that couples the clip to a medical electrical lead. |
| US08942826B2 |
Implantable device with extended electrical conductor
Implantable medical device with at least one long extended electrical conductor that is insulated from the surrounding material by a dielectric. The implantable medical device includes an electrode pole that emits therapy signals or detects diagnostic signals, at least one first longitudinal section of a first characteristic impedance between a proximal end and the electrode pole; and at least one second longitudinal section adjacent to the at least one first longitudinal section. The at least one second longitudinal section includes a second characteristic impedance and is shorter than the first longitudinal section. The second characteristic impedance is either larger or smaller than a load characteristic impedance. |
| US08942825B2 |
Implantable device with elongated electrical conductor
A temporarily or permanently implantable medical device having at least one elongated electrical function conductor for transmitting therapeutic signals or diagnostic signals or both. At least one additional conductor is provided which together with the function conductor forms, at least in places, a double line which is separated from the function conductor by a dielectric and which is coupled to the function conductor via a coupling impedance. The coupling impedance is dimensioned so that the value of the line wave impedance of the function conductor for frequency ranges far above a frequency range of the therapeutic or diagnostic signals is much greater than the in the frequency range of the therapeutic or diagnostic signals, so that currents in a frequency range above the frequency range of the therapeutic or diagnostic signals are damped more intensely than the currents which form therapeutic or diagnostic signals. |
| US08942821B2 |
Electrode paddle for neurostimulation
An implantable electrode paddle for use in a neurostimulation system may include a dorsally-projecting lead that allows all of the edges of the electrode paddle to be situated near a vertebral body for stimulation of neural structures. Embodiments may include one or more flanges for cooperating with a vertebral body and thereby stabilizing the electrode paddle. Embodiments of the present invention may also include features to allow an electrode paddle to be divided during surgery. Embodiments of the present invention may also include an electrode paddle having a plurality of paddle sections, wherein at least one of the paddle sections comprises a plurality of asymmetrically configured contacts. Embodiments of the invention include a method of assembling a neurostimulation system and a method of implanting an implantable system in a body, wherein the implantable system includes an electrode paddle that may be divided into a plurality of paddle sections. |
| US08942819B2 |
Automatic neural stimulation titration sweep
Various neural stimulator embodiments comprise controller circuitry, neural stimulation output circuitry, sensor circuitry and a memory. The neural stimulation output circuitry is configured to deliver the neural stimulation. The controller circuitry is configured to control stimulation parameters of the neural stimulation delivered by the neural stimulation output circuitry. The sensor circuitry, including at least one sensor, is configured to sense a response to the neural stimulation. The controller is configured to communicate with the sensor circuitry. The memory has instructions stored therein, operable on by the controller circuitry. The instructions include instructions for delivering neural stimulation using the neural stimulation output circuitry, instructions for controlling a titration sweep wherein the titration sweep varies stimulation parameter values, and instructions for monitoring a response to the titration sweep and automatically selecting stimulation parameters that provide an efficacious neural stimulation and provide a desirable safety margin to prevent injury to neural tissue. |
| US08942817B2 |
Broadcasting a signal indicative of a disease, disorder, or symptom determined in response to contactlessly acquired information
In an embodiment, a system includes a sensor device operable to detect a property of a mammal without a direct physical contact with the mammal. The system also includes a patient assessment device operable to evaluate the detected property of the mammal for an indicator of a disease. The system further includes a patient information device including a computer-readable medium, and configured to maintain and to provide access to information corresponding to the indication of the disease. The system further includes a transmitter device operable to broadcast a signal indicative of the disease. |
| US08942811B2 |
Transcranial current stimulation device and method
A device for transcranial stimulation. The device for transcranial stimulation comprises an adjustable current source for providing a stimulation current; a first electrode connected to the current source for electrical connection to a patient; a second electrode connected to the current source for electrical connection to the patient; a first current interruptor for interrupting current flow between the current source and the electrode, the first current interruptor connected between the adjustable current source and the first electrode; and an output monitor connected between the current source and the first electrode for monitoring current to the patient. The output monitor detects an abnormal current it signals the first interruptor, which interrupts the current to the patient. A method of operating a device for transcranial stimulation is also provided. |
| US08942800B2 |
Corrective prompting system for appropriate chest compressions
An automated external defibrillator (AED) and methods for a corrective CPR prompting system. The AED includes a sensor that obtains compression measurement data of CPR chest compressions and a control system including a microprocessor programmed to run a non-parametric, Information-Theoretic analysis of the compression measurement data. The analysis includes ranking provided compression measurement data, determining a prompt time TN for review, locating the compression measurement data at TN in an initial expected histogram of depth and rate aspects of the compression data measurements with upper and lower limits, that divides the intervals of the histogram into a plurality of sections, weighting the compression measurement data based on a plurality of factors, deriving information content of the compression measurement data by mapping a probability density function into an information content function, and determining if a particular corrective prompt is necessary. The AED also includes a prompting device that provides corrective CPR. |
| US08942794B2 |
System and method for prioritizing medical conditions
The technology disclosed herein generally relates to a method for providing an index disorder in automated patient care. A set of device measures is stored in a database. Quantitative health care data indicators in the database are provided, where the indicators were regularly recorded by a medical device for a patient under automated patient care. Collected device measures are retrieved with a processor. An index disorder is identified through derived measure determination and statistical calculation with a processor. |
| US08942791B2 |
Off-line sensing method and its applications in detecting undersensing, oversensing, and noise
A system and method for performing independent, off-line evaluation of event sensing for collected electrograms, comprising: sensing an electrogram using an implantable medical device (IMD); determining locations of heart beats on at least one channel of the electrogram using a multi-pass process, resulting in a group of multi-pass beat locations; storing the electrogram and device-identified beat locations in a memory location; and retrieving the electrogram and device-identified beat locations from the memory location. The multi-pass process determines locations of heart beats on at least a first channel of the electrogram. The device-identified group of beat locations are then compared to the multi-pass group of beat locations identified using the multi-pass method. Based on the comparing step, oversensing of beats, undersensing of beats, or noise from the device can be detected. |
| US08942789B2 |
2D3D overlay on a CPR basis for aneurysm repair
In a method for fluoroscopy controlled insertion of a stent into a curved aorta for aneurysm repair, a 3D volume image is obtained of a patient's aorta at the aneurysm. By knowing a registration of the 3D volume image to a C-arm of an angiographic system and projection geometry of the angiography system, the 3D volume images are projected to a 2D fluoroscopy image of the angiography system. For the 2D3D overlay, the 3D volume image is displayed as a curved planar reconstruction in which the 2D fluoroscopy image and the 3D volume image are warped around a curved center line of the curved aorta or around a curved guide instrument center line to correct for the curvature of the aorta so that the previously curved aorta center line or curved center line of the guide instrument turns into a straight line to visualize insertion of the stent. |
| US08942788B2 |
Image guided surgery
A bone marker device for use in surgery. The device has attachment means which is/are attachable to bone that will ultimately be resected during the surgery. A guiding device that is removably securable to the bone of a patient adjacent to the joint and on which the bone marker device may be mounted. A guide member of the guiding device has a slot for receiving a bone resector and enabling accurate resection of bone around the joint. |
| US08942787B2 |
Soft field tomography system and method
An iteration method for computing a distribution of one or more properties within an object comprises defining a first mesh of the object, applying an excitation to the object, computing a response of the object to the applied excitation, obtaining a reference response of the object corresponding to the applied excitation, computing a distribution of one or more properties of the object, and updating at least a subset of the nodes of the first mesh to form an updated mesh of the object. The distribution of one or more properties of the object is computed using the computed response, the reference response, and the first mesh. The first mesh includes a plurality of nodes and elements. A connectivity relationship of the subset of the nodes in the updated mesh remains the same as in the first mesh. |
| US08942780B2 |
DC magnetic-based position and orientation monitoring system for tracking medical instruments
Miniaturized, five and six degrees-of-freedom magnetic sensors, responsive to pulsed DC magnetic fields waveforms generated by multiple transmitter options, provide an improved and cost-effective means of guiding medical instruments to targets inside the human body. The end result is achieved by integrating DC tracking, 3D reconstructions of pre-acquired patient scans and imaging software into a system enabling a physician to internally guide an instrument with real-time 3D vision for diagnostic and interventional purposes. The integration allows physicians to navigate within the human body by following 3D sensor tip locations superimposed on anatomical images reconstructed into 3D volumetric computer models. Sensor data can also be integrated with real-time imaging modalities, such as endoscopes, for intrabody navigation of instruments with instantaneous feedback through critical anatomy to locate and remove tissue. To meet stringent medical requirements, the system generates and senses pulsed DC magnetic fields embodied in an assemblage of miniaturized, disposable and reposable sensors functional with both dipole and co-planar transmitters. |
| US08942771B1 |
Dynamic data refresh for mobile device applications
The frequency with which data is refreshed for an application executed by a mobile device may be dynamically set based on one or more of the state of the battery or the network access of the device, or the frequency with which the application is used. The data refresh frequency may also be dynamically set based on additional parameters, including, e.g., the strength of the signal of the network over which the mobile device is communicating. |
| US08942768B2 |
Method and system for determining and displaying a text title
A method and system may receive a communication message and determine a text title to associate with the communication message. The text title associated with the communication message may be displayed. |
| US08942767B2 |
Communications convergence and user interface systems, apparatuses, and methods
In an exemplary method, communications data representative of communication instances of distinct types is converged and a graphical user interface (“GUI”) including a set of listings representative of a grouping of the communication instances of distinct types is displayed. In certain embodiments, at least one of the communication instances represented in the set of listings includes a voice type communication instance. In certain embodiments, a user selection of one of the listings displayed in the GUI is detected, the selected listing associated with a contact, and another set of listings representative of another grouping of converged communication instances of distinct types is displayed in response to the user selection. In certain embodiments, each of the communication instances in the other grouping is associated with the contact. In certain embodiments, the other set of listings is displayed as a subset within the set of listings in the GUI. |
| US08942760B2 |
Integrated bluetooth and wireless LAN transceivers having merged low noise and power amplifier
A group of transistors operate as a combined power amplifier, to amplify signals to be transmitted, and as a low noise amplifier, to amplify signals which are received. In a first mode, the group of transistors is configured to amplify the signals to be transmitted by turning all of the transistors in both a first subset and a second subset on. In a second mode, the group of transistors is configured to amplify the signals which have been received by turning on the first subset of transistors and turning off the second subset of transistors. |
| US08942755B1 |
Dynamic gain adjustment via mechanical transducers involving active combiners in wireless networks
A method and system are provided for dynamically adjusting gain in a cell site. Network devices, such as an eNodeB, NodeB, base transceiver station, base station server, radio network controller, and base station controller can provide instructions directly or through remote radio heads to an amplification system to change the power distribution levels. The instructions are received over an AISG protocol and cause a mechanical motor in an amplification system to move a magnetic core in a solenoid causing a change in the electromagnetic field resulting in a change in an electrical current. The change in the electrical current causes a change in gain, thus, resulting in a change in the power distribution level in a cell. |
| US08942751B2 |
Apparatus and method for reporting transmission power, and apparatus and method for determining transmission power
Disclosed is an apparatus for reporting transmission power. The apparatus for reporting transmission power includes a transmission power normalization unit, a message generation unit, and a transmission unit. The transmission power normalization unit normalizes a first transmission power at a current Modulation and Coding Scheme (MCS) level into a second transmission power at a reference MCS level, the current MCS level being an MCS level of a burst which is intended to comprise a transmission power report of a terminal. The message generation unit generates a message comprising the transmission power report of the terminal with the second transmission power defined therein. The transmission unit transmits the generated message to a base station. |
| US08942749B2 |
Method and device for user scheduling and managing transmit power in a communication system
A user scheduling and transmission power controlling method in a hierarchical-cell communication system or a multi-cell communication system, and a device to perform the methods, are provided. Interference may occur between various cells in the hierarchical-cell communication system or the multi-cell communication system, and the interference may be controlled by adjusting transmission power of various cells. The various cells may determine an optimal transmission power based on a cost of a corresponding transmission power. Also, the various cells may serve various users and may propose an optimal user scheduling method. |
| US08942745B2 |
Methods and apparatus for dynamic carrier selection for cell base stations
Apparatus and methods are disclosed for mitigating interference to radio base stations. A first base station provides a served cell that at least partially overlaps a served cell of a second base station. The first and second base stations are part of a telecommunications system. The method includes identifying at least one carrier that is preferable for the second base station to utilize for communications with at least one UE to avoid interference. The method further includes communicating an instruction message from the first base station to the second base station that instructs the second base station to use the at least one carrier for communications. |
| US08942744B2 |
White space use system with connecting cognitive signal
Provided is a white space use system using a connection recognition signal, which is associated with technology that enables white space devices to search for and to use an available frequency band in a digital broadcasting system. In particular, provided is a white space use system using a connection recognition signal that enables even devices incapable of autonomously searching for an available channel to safely use a white space in interaction with white space devices. |
| US08942741B2 |
Text alternative to established voice call session
Methods and systems are described wherein an initiating device sends a communication requesting a voice call session with a recipient device. In response, the initiating device receives a communication indicating that the initiating device can provide a text message instead of establishing the voice call session. In some cases, the communication may refuse the request voice call session, while in other cases the communication may simply indicate that the recipient device supports text messaging as an alternative to voice mail. As a result of the received communication, the initiating device outputs a text input prompt. After receiving text input in response to the prompt, the initiating device sends a text message containing the received text input. |
| US08942739B2 |
Methods and apparatus for communication of notifications
Methods and apparatus for communication of notifications are disclosed. A disclosed method for communicating notifications from a server to a device includes sending a primary message including data indicating notification status information; and sending notification messages apart from the primary message addressed to specific groups of devices. Similarly, another disclosed method for obtaining notifications in a device from a server includes monitoring the primary message including current notification status information, comparing the current notification information status information with a previous notification status information to determine if a change in notification status information has occurred, and obtaining addressed notification information when a change in the notification status information has been determined. By using a primary message with abbreviated information to communicate whether changes to notification information have occurred without the need for further processing and/or addressed notification messages, system resources can be conserved. Corresponding apparatus are also disclosed. |
| US08942737B2 |
Location measuring method and apparatus using access point and lamp
Measuring a location of a communication terminal using a wireless local area access point based on location coordinates of the access points and location information of a nearby lamp. |
| US08942728B2 |
Methods and apparatus for blackout, retune and subscription enforcement in a cellular network multimedia distribution system
A method for blackout, retune and roaming enforcement in a cellular network multimedia distribution system is disclosed. The method includes the acts of receiving a plurality of service regions in the cellular network multimedia distribution system; determining an affiliation of the client with one of the service regions in the plurality of service regions; and processing a service region specific message based on the affiliation. An apparatus, as well as a computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon, the stored instructions, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform the method are also disclosed. |
| US08942727B1 |
User Location Tracking
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for receiving information from a remote system comprising one or more time periods during which a location of the client device can be tracked and monitoring the location of the client device during each of the time periods by obtaining a plurality of location coordinates from the client device during the time period and persistently storing the location coordinates on the client device. |
| US08942721B1 |
Multipath-aware wireless device location identifier systems, devices and methods
A non-transitory processor-readable medium storing code representing instructions to be executed by a processor includes code to cause the processor to receive from a wireless access point (WAP) device frequency-domain data associated with signals received at the WAP device from a wireless device during a time period. The code includes code to determine multiple frequency-domain magnitudes associated with the frequency-domain data for the time period to define a spectral magnitude signature associated with the frequency-domain data. Each frequency-domain magnitude from the multiple frequency-domain magnitudes is uniquely associated with a frequency bin from multiple mutually-exclusive frequency bins associated with the frequency domain data. The code also includes code to identify a spectral response deviation associated with the spectral magnitude signature and send a location identifier associated with a location of the wireless device based on the spectral response deviation. |
| US08942720B2 |
Positioning node, user equipment and methods therein
Methods in a user equipment (UE) for enabling positioning of the UE in a radio communication network having a radio network node and a positioning node. The UE is served in a first cell controlled by the radio network node, and the UE knows or can obtain a system frame number of at least one cell. The UE receives, from the positioning node, a message having positioning assistance data, which includes information associated with the at least one cell for which the system frame number is known or can be obtained by the UE. The UE also performs a positioning measurement using the positioning assistance data and the system frame number of the at least one cell to enable positioning of the UE. |
| US08942717B2 |
Load balancing techniques in wireless networks
Techniques are described that provide load balancing in wireless networks. For instance, a device (e.g., a first access point) may receive one or more current operational characteristics for each of one or more neighbor APs. Also, the first AP may determine a received signal strength for each of these neighbor AP(s). In turn, the first AP selects one or more reportable neighbor APs from these neighbor APs. Further, the first AP transmits a beacon. This beacon includes, for each reportable neighbor AP, the corresponding one or more current operational characteristics and the corresponding received signal strength. |
| US08942716B2 |
Radio resource control method, radio base station, and radio network controller
A radio resource control method of controlling a radio resource for transmitting user data by a mobile station via an uplink, including: sending, from a radio base station, a signal indicative of a reduction of a maximum allowable transmission rate of the user data signaled to the mobile station connected to the radio base station, to a radio network controller; and controlling, at the radio network controller, the radio resource based on the reported signal indicative of the reduction of the maximum allowable transmission rate. |
| US08942711B2 |
Local point of presence
Systems and techniques for providing a telecommunications service by receiving a request for a telecommunications service from a wireless client, providing a local exchange point of presence to the wireless client in response to the request, and providing the telecommunications service to the wireless client through the local exchange point of presence. The local exchange point of presence may be based on the geographic location of the wireless client. |
| US08942699B2 |
Base station, mobile station, communication system, and communication method
A base station communicates with a mobile station that receives downlink data from the base station and that transmits uplink data to a second base station. The base station includes a data transmitter configured to transmit the downlink data to the mobile station; and a control information receiver configured to receive from the mobile station through a path passing through the second base station, feedback information concerning the downlink data transmitted by the data transmitter. |
| US08942695B2 |
Method and apparatus for reducing call setup delay by adjusting SIB7 and SIB14 scheduling frequency
An apparatus and method for reducing call setup time of a wireless communication device including measuring paging intensity, and adjusting SIB7 or SIB14 repetition period based on the measured paging intensity to reduce call setup time. In one aspect, a paging intensity threshold is determined based on the measured paging intensity, and the paging intensity threshold is used to adjust the SIB7 or SIB14 repetition period. |
| US08942691B2 |
Aftermarket telematics unit and method for detecting a target mounting angle thereof
An aftermarket telematics unit is disclosed herein. The aftermarket telematics unit includes, but is not limited to a housing that is configured to be mounted to an internal surface of a vehicle. The aftermarket telematics unit further includes an angle detection unit that is associated with the housing and that is configured to detect a mounting angle of the housing. The aftermarket telematics unit still further includes a processor that is associated with the housing. The processor is configured to perform an initial configuration procedure and is further configured to discontinue the initial configuration procedure when the mounting angle is out of a target range. |
| US08942690B2 |
Access control based on receipt of defined information from access terminal
Access control techniques enable an access terminal to obtain service through an access point. In some aspects, access control techniques may be used to enable a user (e.g., an owner) of an access point to control whether an access terminal obtains service through the access point. For example, a user may temporarily disable access control at an access point to enable access points that register with the access point while access control is disabled to thereafter be allowed to obtain service through the access point. As another example, a shared secret may be provided to an access terminal whereby, upon presenting the shared secret to an access point, the access terminal is allowed to obtain service through the access point. |
| US08942689B2 |
Method and technology for remote administration of wireless devices
A remote administrator to allow a caregiver to configure a user's wireless device includes a master software client in the remote administrator and a controllable software client in the wireless device. Commands transmitted to the wireless device from the remote administrator allow the caregiver to configure the user's wireless device based on user initiated configuration requested. |
| US08942687B2 |
Selective call forwarding based on the location of a mobile device
Communication networks and methods are disclosed for selectively applying call forwarding between a mobile device and a fixed line device based on the location of the mobile device. A communication network includes a call control function that receives a call attempt to a mobile directory number. Responsive to the call attempt, the call control function identifies a location of the mobile device, and determines whether to apply call forwarding based on the location of the mobile device. If call forwarding is applied, then the call control function forwards the call attempt to the fixed line device instead of the mobile device. A similar process is performed for a call attempt to the fixed line device for forwarding the call to the mobile device. |
| US08942686B2 |
Providing and managing bypass of enhanced services
A communication environment includes of one or more subscriber terminals capable of initiating emergency voice calls over a telephony network. The subscriber terminal further send messages over either a data network or a telephony signaling network to a communication management system. The communication management system receives messages from a subscriber terminal, either via a data network or a telephony signaling network. It also consists of one or more telephony switching nodes capable of querying the emergency context node for a called party emergency context. It also consists of one or more servers that provide advanced call control services. |
| US08942684B2 |
Adaptive scaffolding of levels of connectivity during a conference
Systems, methods, and computer program products for adaptively scaffolding of levels of connectivity between one or more customer devices during customer service conference are provided. The system includes various applications and features executable on a computing and/or mobile computing device. The system includes a user interface configured to present tools and features that allows a customer, during a digital conference with a bank representative, to manipulate the channels of communication, levels of connectivity or other features of the digital conference. In some instances, a scaffolding application on the bank's server may be provided to dynamically adjust the levels of connectivity and/or channels of communication of an ongoing digital conference session between a customer and a bank representative based on prior conferences involving the customer and/or a bank representative. As such, the system allows for self-directed and/or computer-aided adjustment of levels of connectivity during a conference. |
| US08942682B2 |
Network element, telecommunication system, integrated circuit and a method for providing a telephony connection
A network element comprises a radio frequency (RF) transceiver module and a signal processing module operably coupled to the RF transceiver module and arranged to enable at least one telephony connection to be established over a first communication network between the network element and a plurality of local wireless communication units. The signal processing module is further arranged to enable a piconet to be established where the piconet comprises the network element and the plurality of wireless communication units. The signal processing module is further arranged to establish a common telephony connection between the piconet and at least one remote device over a second communication network. |
| US08942678B2 |
Content distributing system, content distributing apparatus, terminal device and content distributing method
In a MBMS system, a base station generates a data control task and a first header control task and second header control task corresponding to each terminal device for a MBMS function module. Each header control task synchronizes a compression state with an associated terminal device and transmits only header information to the terminal device, and the data control task distributes content information to the terminal device separately from header information. |
| US08942671B2 |
Methods, systems, and apparatus for handling secure-voice-communication sessions
An exemplary computing system may receive a first request from a first voice-communication device to establish a secure-voice-communication session with a second voice-communication device. The computing system may also receive a second request from the second voice-communication device to establish the secure-voice-communication session with the first voice-communication device. The computing system may establish the secure-voice-communication session between the first and second voice-communication devices. Corresponding methods, apparatus, and computer-readable media are also disclosed. |
| US08942664B2 |
System, method, and apparatus for using alternative numbers for routing voice calls and short messages in a communications network
A system, method and computer-readable medium for allowing the use of an alternative numbering plan for delivering short messages to mobile subscribers using the public mobile telephone network is provided. Users of an enterprise or other closed networks as well as users that are not part of a closed network may send short messages destined to members of an enterprise or closed network from their mobile or other devices associated with their subscription using an alternative enterprise directory number, such as the office number, instead of the mobile number, such that the alternative number will be presented at the destination device as the originating number. The recipient may respond to the message by addressing the response to the enterprise or closed network number, and the response may be delivered to the originator's mobile or other device associated with their subscription. |
| US08942659B2 |
Method for selecting state of a reconfigurable antenna in a communication system via machine learning
A method for selecting the state of a reconfigurable antenna installed at either the receiver or transmitter of a communication system is provided. The proposed method uses online learning algorithm based on the theory of multi-armed bandit to perform antenna state selection. The selection technique utilizes the Post-Processing Signal-to-Noise Ratio (PPSNR) as a reward metric and maximizes the long-term average reward over time. The performance of the learning based selection technique is empirically evaluated using wireless channel data. The data is collected in an indoor environment using a 2×2 MIMO OFDM system employing highly directional metamaterial Reconfigurable Leaky Wave Antennas. the learning based selection technique shows performance improvements in terms of average PPSNR and regret over conventional heuristic policies. |
| US08942658B2 |
Directional notch filter for simultaneous transmit and receive of wideband signals
A directional notch filter for simultaneous transmit and receive of wideband signals comprises an antenna, an antenna match, a receiver, a power combiner, a first directional coupler, a second directional coupler and a shaping filter accepting a signal and producing a compensation signal as a replica of an antenna reflection transfer function, wherein the first and second directional couplers produce signals and portions of signals received by the antenna and sent to the receiver via the power combiner. The receiver can produce a receiver signal and the first directional coupler can produce a first signal as a portion of an overall signal received by the antenna, the first signal comprising at least reflection of a signal from the power amplifier and the second directional coupler samples a small portion of the receiver signal, said second directional coupler producing a second signal. |
| US08942655B2 |
Integrated circuit, wireless communication unit and method for determining quadrature imbalance
An integrated circuit comprising processing logic for operably coupling to radio frequency (RF) receiver circuitry arranged to receive a wireless network signal. The receiver circuitry generates in-phase and quadrature digital baseband representations of the wireless network signal. The processing logic determines quadrature (I/Q) imbalance of the RF receiver circuitry based on the in-phase and quadrature digital baseband representations of the wireless network signal. |
| US08942654B2 |
System and method for controlling antenna tuning using an auxiliary channel of an embedded display port interface
An information handling system includes a capacitor, an antenna, a wireless wide area network card, an embedded display port interface, and a digital-to-analog converter. The capacitor has a variable capacitance that varies based on a voltage applied to the capacitor. The antenna is coupled to the capacitor, and has a variable resonance frequency that is based on the variable capacitance. The wireless wide area network card is in communication with the antenna, and is configured to set the variable resonance frequency to a specific frequency based on a control signal. The embedded display port interface is configured to transmit the control signal from the wireless wide area network card to a display control circuit via an auxiliary channel of the embedded display port interface. The digital-to-analog converter is in communication with the display control circuit, and is configured to provide the voltage to the capacitor in response to a signal from the display control circuit. |
| US08942648B2 |
Data transmission method in a radio communication system
The present invention relates to a data transmission method in a radio communication system, comprising the steps of selecting a first reference transmission antenna of a first base station and a second reference transmission antenna of a second base station from among a plurality of base stations, transmitting a first transmission data stream via the first reference transmission antenna, transmitting a second transmission data stream via the second reference transmission antenna to a terminal, time-delaying the first transmission data stream and retransmitting the delayed first transmission data stream to the terminal via a transmission antenna of a first transmission group, and time-delaying the second transmission data stream and retransmitting the delayed second transmission data stream to the terminal via a transmission antenna of a second transmission group. Thus, co-channel interferences can be minimized, and the efficiency in using an antenna and the receiving performance thereof in a radio communication system adopting a multi-antenna technique and a multi-base station system can be improved at the same time. |
| US08942638B2 |
Wireless device detection
The present invention relates to the detection at least one wireless communication device associated with an entity on an image. The invention further relates to transmitting information enabling detection of a wireless communication device associated with an entity on an image. The detection is performed before, during, or after capture of the image. |
| US08942635B2 |
Method and system for compensating for estimated distortion in a transmitter by utilizing a digital predistortion scheme with a single feedback mixer
Aspects of a method and system for compensating for estimated distortion in a transmitter by utilizing a digital predistortion scheme with a single feedback mixer are presented. Aspects of the system may include at least one circuit that enables generation of an output signal in response to one or more generated input signals. A feedback signal may be generated within a single feedback mixer circuit that may perform a frequency mix-down operation on the generated output signal. The generated feedback signal may be inserted at one or more insertion points in a receiver. Each of the insertion points may be located between a mixer stage of the receiver, and one or more circuits that generate a baseband signal based on the generated feedback signal. |
| US08942632B2 |
Processor-independent communication of network availability
In some embodiments, an electronic device includes a host processor and a module, coupled to the host processor, to communicate over a wireless network using a first wireless communications protocol. The electronic device also includes a controller, coupled to the host processor and the module, to communicate wirelessly with a remote device using a second wireless communications protocol, to obtain a status of the wireless network from the module independently of the host processor, and to transmit the status of the wireless network to the remote device. |
| US08942624B2 |
Apparatus, system, and method for back-channel communication in an inductive wireless power transfer system
An inductive wireless power transfer device comprises a transmitter that comprises a transmit coil configured to generate a wireless power signal to a coupling region in response to an input voltage, and a modulator configured to modulate the wireless power signal and encode data with the wireless power signal to establish a back-channel communication link from the transmitter to a receiver. An inductive wireless power receiving device comprises a receiver that comprises a receive coil configured to generate a time varying signal in response to receiving a modulated wireless power signal from a transmitter in a coupling region, and a demodulator configured to demodulate the modulated wireless power signal from an established back-channel communication link from the transmitter to a receiver. Related inductive wireless power transfer systems and methods for back-channel communication from the transmitter to the receiver of an inductive wireless power transfer system are disclosed. |
| US08942619B2 |
Relay device
A relay device includes a receiver, an information obtaining unit, a parameter storage unit, and a parameter setting unit, and relays a packet which is transmitted from a first network to a second network. The receiver receives the packet from the first network. The information obtaining unit obtains data type information for identifying a type of data which is transmitted and received by the packet. The parameter storage unit stores a control parameter which is used for controlling communication quality in the second network, so as to be associated with a type of transfer data indicating data transferred to the second network. The parameter setting unit sets to the packet the control parameter which is associated with transfer data of a same type as data identified by the data type information, and outputs the packet to which the control parameter is set to the second network. |
| US08942616B2 |
Cleaning member, cleaning device and process cartridge
A cleaning member for removing a developer from a surface of a member to be cleaned is provided. The cleaning member includes a blade portion contactable to the member to be cleaned and a flexible supporting member for supporting the blade portion. The supporting member includes a blade supporting portion for supporting the blade portion, a portion to be fixed to a fixing portion, and a bent portion provided at a longitudinal end portion of the blade supporting portion. |
| US08942614B2 |
Film cartridge having first roller configured so film can be wound thereon and second roller configured to wind up the film and gloss processing apparatus having such film cartridge
A cartridge detachably mountable to a heating apparatus includes: a film; a supporting member for unwindably supporting the film; a winding-up member for winding up the film; a first container accommodating the supporting member and having a first opening; and a second container accommodating the winding-up member and having a second opening. The film is unwindable from the supporting member to the winding-up member through the first opening and the second opening. The first container and the second container are connected with each other so that the first container and the second container cover at least one side of the film, and the first container and the second container are disconnectable from each other to expose the film between the first opening and the second opening. |
| US08942609B2 |
Mounting structure for bearing member, fixing device, and image forming apparatus
A mounting structure for a bearing member comprises the bearing member, bearing a rotary shaft; a frame body that includes a mounting hole; and a plurality of projections, each of the projections being formed at one of three or more positions on at least one of an outer circumferential surface of the bearing member and an inner circumferential surface of the mounting hole, the positions extending radially from a center of the rotary shaft, the bearing member being press fitted into the mounting hole via the projections, each of the projections being formed at a circumferential position having no other projection formed at a position 180° therefrom with respect to the center of the rotary shaft. |
| US08942607B2 |
Guide device with mechanism capable of minimizing damage to toner image by water droplet and image forming apparatus incorporating same
A guide device for guiding a recording medium discharged from a fixing device includes a first conveyance wall plate and at least one rib assembly mounted on the first conveyance wall plate. The at least one rib assembly includes a plurality of primary ribs contacting the first conveyance wall plate, each having a first thickness in a recording medium conveyance direction; and a plurality of secondary ribs mounted on selected ones of the plurality of primary ribs. Each secondary rib includes a bottom contacting the primary rib and having a second thickness in the recording medium conveyance direction that is smaller than the first thickness of the primary rib; and a top contacting the recording medium and having a third thickness in the recording medium conveyance direction that is smaller than the second thickness of the bottom of the secondary rib. |
| US08942606B2 |
Image forming apparatus using a developer image carrier moving in a predetermined direction
An image forming apparatus that transfers a developer image onto a sheet and forms the developer image on the sheet includes a developer image carrier, a first pressing member, a transfer member, a first voltage supply, and an adherence part. The developer image carrier holds the developer image and moves in a predetermined direction in which the sheet is being carried. The first pressing member presses against the developer image carrier from a side opposite to a side on which a developer image is held. The transfer member is arranged against the first pressing member through the developer image carrier, the first pressing member and the transfer member being responsive to a first voltage applied therebetween to transfer the developer image from the developer image carrier toward the transfer member. The adherence part adheres the sheet to the developer image carrier upstream the first pressing member in the predetermined direction. |
| US08942603B2 |
Developing device and image forming apparatus
A developing device includes a static latent image supporting member having a photosensitive layer and being arranged to be rotatable; a developer supporting member arranged to be rotatable for developing a static latent image formed on the static latent image supporting member using developer to form an image; a developer supplying member arranged to contact with the developer supporting member and be rotatable for supplying developer; and a drive transmission unit disposed on a side of same end portions of the developer supporting member and the developer supplying member for rotating the developer supporting member and the developer supplying member in a same rotational direction. The developer supplying member is formed so that an outer diameter thereof on a side of the drive transmission unit becomes smaller than an outer diameter thereof on an opposite side. |
| US08942601B2 |
Developer storage container, image forming unit and image forming apparatus
A developer storage container includes a developer storage portion in which a developer is stored, the developer storage portion having a wall, a rotating body rotatably provided in the developer storage portion, and an agitating plate that engages the rotating body and agitates the developer at least in the vicinity of the wall. |
| US08942600B2 |
Developing apparatus and image forming apparatus
A developing apparatus according to one aspect of the present disclosure includes a developing roller, a development housing, a first agitating screw, a toner supply inlet, a downstream-side reduction wall, and an upstream-side reduction wall. The developing roller is driven to rotate in the development housing, and carries toner on the circumferential surface thereof. Toner is circulated and conveyed in a first conveying path and a second conveying path in the development housing. The first agitating screw is disposed in the first conveying path, and conveys toner in a first direction. The downstream-side reduction wall is disposed downstream of the toner supply inlet. Further, the upstream-side reduction wall is disposed upstream of the toner supply inlet. An accumulation portion for toner is formed downstream and upstream of the toner supply inlet due to the downstream-side reduction wall and the upstream-side reduction wall. |
| US08942594B2 |
Developing cartridge
A developing cartridge is provided for use with an image forming apparatus and may include a housing, a developing roller rotatably provided in the housing, and a developing roller gear configured to rotate integrally with the developing roller. Further, the developing cartridge can include a driving input gear configured to receive an external driving force and apply the received driving force to the developing roller gear. The driving input gear can be meshed with the developing roller gear or an intermediate gear can be provided to mesh with the developing roller gear and the driving input gear. Such an intermediate gear can be configured to apply the received driving force to the developing roller gear. Also, the developing cartridge can include a receiving member which is disposed between the housing and the developing roller gear and between the housing and the driving input gear. |
| US08942582B2 |
Image forming apparatus
An image forming apparatus includes a photoconductor; an intermediate transfer belt to which a toner image formed on the photoconductor is transferred, the intermediate transfer belt holding the toner image transferred thereto; a first transfer roller that nips the intermediate transfer belt between the first transfer roller and the photoconductor to transfer the toner image formed on the photoconductor to the intermediate transfer belt; a second transfer roller that transfers the toner image held by the intermediate transfer belt to a recording medium; a detection unit that detects an environmental condition; and a separation position changing unit that changes a first separation position in accordance with the environmental condition, the first separation position being a position at which the intermediate transfer belt becomes separated from the first transfer roller. |
| US08942576B2 |
Image forming apparatus and image forming method
An image forming apparatus for forming an image based on an electrophotographic process applied to image data that represents the image includes a device configured to perform a periodic movement for image formation, a storage unit configured to store a table for correcting density variation caused by the device, the table initially generated when a physical property of the device is in a reference state, a prediction unit configured to predict an amplitude of the variation caused when the physical property is in a state different from the reference state, and an adjustment unit configured to adjust the table based on the amplitude predicted by the prediction unit. |
| US08942572B2 |
Methods and systems for encoding and decoding visible light with data and illumination capability
A lighting system includes light fixtures not in communications with and not synchronized with one another, and one or more light sensors. Each light fixture separately emits data encoded visible light including light fixture information encoded therein in a manner that avoids visually perceptible flicker and enables light fixture information emitted by one light fixture to be distinguished from light fixture information emitted by other light fixtures. The light fixture information is encoded into data encoded visible light such that a difference between different levels of the data encoded visible light is indicative of an illumination capability of the light fixture and such that visually perceptible flicker is avoided. Each light sensor separately receives portions of data encoded light visible light emitted by multiple light fixtures and separately determines the identity of and the maximum and present illumination contributions for each light fixture. |
| US08942567B2 |
Optical receiving device and communication system
An optical receiving device includes multiple input ports to which light is input; multiple amplifiers that are arrayed and provided corresponding to the input ports, respectively, each of the amplifiers amplifying and outputting light input from a corresponding input port among of the input ports; a photo diode that converts light into an electrical signal; and a lens that inputs to the photo diode light output from the amplifiers. |
| US08942564B2 |
Methods and apparatus for communicating information using visible light signals and/or radio signals
A user equipment (UE) device includes a VLC receiver including a photodiode and a radio receiver. The UE device supports a plurality of alternative technologies, communications protocols, and/or frequencies. During a first mode of operation, e.g., a discovery mode, a low reverse bias voltage value is applied to the photodiode. The low reverse bias voltage is adequate to support the recovery of small amounts of communicated information, and the power consumed by the battery of the UE device is relatively low. During discovery, information communicated includes, e.g., a light transmitter ID, an access point ID, services available at the access point, configuration information for a light receiver and/or for an auxiliary radio receiver. During a second mode of operation, e.g., a data traffic mode, the reverse bias voltage applied to the photodiode is set to a high reverse bias voltage to support higher data rate using VLC. |
| US08942563B2 |
Wavelength real time display on the equipment for WDM optical networking systems with wavelength tunable capability
A wavelength tunable device for use in a wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) system comprising a display device for displaying at least one operating wavelength of the wavelength tunable device. The display device is electrically coupled to a control unit in the wavelength tunable device so as to display the tuned wavelength in real time. The wavelength tunable device may be, in exemplary embodiments, an optical transponder, wavelength division demultiplexer, or wavelength division multiplexer. In embodiments where the optical equipment has a plurality of tunable ports, the display device is adapted to display the operating wavelength of each tunable port. |
| US08942560B2 |
Ethernet passive optical network with report threshold calculations
The present disclosure is directed to a method and apparatus for maintaining sub-queues at an ONU and for maintaining a count of an amount of data stored in each sub-queue or a count of an amount of data associated with elements stored in each sub-queue. The sub-queues represent partitions in a first in, first out (FIFO) queue used by the ONU to buffer packets, or elements that are associated with packets, to be sent upstream. The sub-queues are coupled in series such that the output of a first sub-queue feeds the input of a second sub-queue, the output of the second sub-queue feeds the input of a third sub-queue, etc. Each sub-queue has a defined threshold that sets a maximum amount of packet data it can buffer or the elements in which it buffers can be associated with. |
| US08942558B2 |
Method and apparatus for displaying a three dimensional representation of available wavelength paths across a network
Due to demand for more network bandwidth, a need for multi-user optical network topologies has, and will continue to, increase. A method or corresponding apparatus in embodiments of the present invention provide for an availability determination tool for determining and displaying wavelength and subrate availabilities within a network. Benefits of embodiments of a tool include allowing a user to identify the availability and capacity of any wavelength on any network, via an interactive graphical user interface, such as by using three-dimensional representations. In one embodiment, the disclosed availability determination tool allows users to locate and view any combination of available wavelengths between nodes in an optical network topology, and generate graphical and tabular reports of the availability in order to maintain an efficient and organized method or apparatus for determining and controlling wavelengths in a network. Consequently, service providers using the tool can keep performance rates high and costs low. |
| US08942556B2 |
Optical transceiver integrated with optical time domain reflectometer monitoring
An optical transceiver having an integrated optical time domain reflectometer monitoring unit and methods for using the same are disclosed. The disclosure relates to an optical transceiver comprising an optical device comprising a wavelength division multiplexing system (WDM), a data signal driver, a data signal limiting amplifier, and an optical time domain reflectometer (OTDR) data processing module. Furthermore, the optical transceiver is particularly advantageous in an optical line terminal (OLT) and/or a passive optical network (PON). The integrated OTDR data processing module can protect the optical transceiver, ensure successful monitoring data, simplify network wiring and decrease system and network costs by decreasing the number of OTDR modules and WDM units. |
| US08942550B1 |
Variable speed heat air gun and cooperating kit
A kit for supporting and multi-directionally aiming a heat source. The kit includes a heat air gun, a tripod, and an extension arm. The tripod and/or the extension arm support(s) the heat air gun so as to allow the heat air gun to be supported while having multi-directional aiming. |
| US08942548B2 |
Chunk header incorporating binary flags and correlated variable-length fields
Playback and distribution systems and methods for multimedia files are provided. The multimedia files are encoded with flags associated with the content data of the multimedia files. Through the use of the flags, playback of the content is enhanced without significantly increasing the file size of the multimedia file. |
| US08942547B2 |
Video signal converting apparatus and video signal converting method
The recorder apparatus includes the controller that sets conversion mode used when input stream is processed and converted into recording stream to any of two-dimensional mode that converts the input stream into two-dimensional recording stream and three-dimensional mode that converts the input stream into three-dimensional recording stream, the controller that sets one recording mode that can be used when the video signal is converted and processed in the two-dimensional mode and the three-dimensional mode and specifies recording rate, and the signal processor that processes the video signal based on the set conversion mode and the set recording mode to convert the video signal into recording video signal. The controller sets the recording modes such that combination of the recording modes that can be set when the two-dimensional mode is set is different from combination of recording modes that can be set when the three-dimensional mode is set. |
| US08942541B2 |
Recording medium and recording method reducing processing load in realization of TS packet level copyright protection, and playback device and playback method for playback of such recording medium
A recording medium enables special playback processing although part of the AV stream recorded therein is transformed. An AV stream, a first EP map, and a second EP map are recorded on the recording medium. In the AV stream, a part of the multiplexed stream including a first video stream and a second video stream is transformed. The first EP map indicates one or more entry points of the first video stream and the second EP map indicates one or more entry points of the second video stream. TS packets constituting I-pictures of the first video stream are indicated by every 4N-th entry point in the first EP map, and TS packets constituting I-pictures of the second video stream are indicated by the entry points whose presentation time is closest to the presentation time of any one of the every 4N-th entry point in the first EP map. |
| US08942537B2 |
Content reproduction apparatus and content processing method therefor
A content reproduction apparatus that adopts a content processing method includes a video processor, a video analyzer, and an audio processor for processing audio data and video data input thereto. The video analyzer analyzes video characteristics of video data such as resolutions, compressive distortions, and real frame rates. The video processor processes video data in accordance with video processing, which is determined based on analyzed video characteristics of video data. The audio processor processes audio data in accordance with audio processing, such as dynamic range compression and/or frequency component extension/enhancement, which is determined based on analyzed video characteristics of video data. Thus, it is possible to reproduce sound in an articulate manner depending on the video quality, which is either professional-level video shooting or nonprofessional-level video shooting. |
| US08942533B2 |
Recorder with retrospective capture
A system and method allows a user to enter a command capture audio, video, and/or still pictures that commence at a moment in time earlier than entering the command. |
| US08942532B2 |
Plug-in device for an optical cable
The invention relates to a cable gland (1) having a flange (3) and a plug-in part (2) suited for an operational connection to the flange (3). The plug-in part (2) comprises a locking sleeve (4), and a fastener (7) for a connector (8), said fastener being operatively connected to said locking sleeve by way of a control slide (10). The control slide (10) is configured such that a rotation of the locking sleeve (4) around the longitudinal axis (x) of the plug-in part (2) results in an axial displacement of the fastener (7) in a longitudinal direction. |
| US08942531B2 |
Optical fuse devices, optical fiber lines, and methods of manufacturing same
An optical fuse device adapted to be placed in between ends of lead-in fibers of an optical fiber line. The optical fuse device has a destructible region having a core, the destructible region including a light absorbing material adapted to heat and destroy the core upon application of a light intensity greater than a predetermined threshold. Optical fiber lines including the optical fuse device and methods of manufacturing the optical fuse device are provided. Numerous other aspects are provided. |
| US08942530B2 |
Endoscope connector method and apparatus
An exemplary embodiment providing one or more improvements includes an endoscope connector for connecting any given one of a plurality of working assemblies to an imaging assembly. |
| US08942526B2 |
Miniaturized optical fiber drop cable
A fiber optic cable includes first and second optical fibers. A fiber section surrounds the fibers and is formed of a first material. First and second strength members are adjacent to the fiber section on opposite sides thereof. A jacket surrounds the first and second strength members and fiber section. The jacket is formed of a second material, stronger than the first material and which does not adhere to the first material. The jacket may be manually torn open to access the fiber section. The fiber section may be manually pinched and stripped cleanly from the fibers. The fiber section acts as a cocoon to protect the fibers when the jacket is opened and cleanly pulls off of the fibers by manual force. |
| US08942525B2 |
Photoelectric conversion device and optical fiber coupling connector
A photoelectric conversion device includes a circuit board, light-emitting modules arranged on the circuit board in a first straight line, light-receiving modules arranged on the circuit board in a second straight line, and an optical coupling module. The optical coupling module includes a first optical surface, a second optical surface perpendicular to the first optical surface, a reflecting surface obliquely relative to the first and second optical surfaces, first converging lenses arranged on the first optical surface in a third straight line, second converging lenses arranged on the first optical surface in a fourth straight line, third converging lenses arranged on the second optical surface in a fifth straight line, and fourth converging lenses arranged on the second optical surface in a sixth straight line. The first to six straight lines are substantially parallel to each other. |
| US08942522B2 |
Optical stack and lightguides
Optical stack is disclosed. The optical stack includes a first optical stack that includes, a first optical adhesive layer, and a reflective polarizer layer that is disposed on the first optical adhesive layer. The reflective polarizer layer substantially reflects light of a first polarization state and substantially transmits light of a second polarization state orthogonal to the first polarization state. The optical stack also includes a second optical stack that includes a second optical adhesive layer, a low index layer that is disposed on the second optical adhesive layer and includes a plurality of voids dispersed in a binder, and a light directing film that is disposed on the low index layer and includes a plurality of unitary discrete structures. Portions of each unitary discrete structure penetrate into the first optical adhesive layer. Portions of each unitary discrete structure do not penetrate into the first optical adhesive layer. Each unitary discrete structure defines a penetration depth and a penetration base at the interface between the penetrating and non-penetrating portions of the unitary discrete structure. The penetration base has a minimum penetration base dimension. The plurality of unitary discrete structures has an average penetration depth and an average minimum penetration base dimension. The ratio of the average penetration depth to the average minimum penetration base dimension is at least 1.5. The peel strength between the first and second optical stacks is greater than about 30 grams/inch. |
| US08942521B2 |
Planar waveguide element
Disclosed is a planar waveguide element including a first cylindrical lens disposed based on an z-axis and configured to collimate beams emitted from a plurality of emitters of a laser diode bar; a lens array configured to gather the beam emitted from each emitter via the first cylindrical lens; a plurality of first waveguides existing on an x-y plane by a number of the plurality of emitters and configured to gather at one place via a bending section; a taper configured to connect the lens array and each first waveguide, a width of the taper being narrower from the lens array to the plurality of first waveguide; and a combined waveguide configured to combine the plurality of first waveguides into one. |
| US08942520B2 |
Optical waveguide board having guided structure and method of manufacturing the same, and method of manufacturing optical-electrical hybrid board
In the optical waveguide board, simultaneously with pattern formation of mirror members at arbitrary positions on a clad layer 11, guiding patterns 14 having convex shapes are formed respectively at arbitrary positions on peripheral parts of mirror patterns 13, and the mirror patterns 13 are worked into tapered shapes. Next, in a state that a mask member 100 having through holes at desired positions, and the guiding patterns 14 are guided by mating, a metal film is formed on surfaces of slope parts 22 of the mirror patterns and the guiding patterns 14. Furthermore, in a state that the guiding patterns 14 and the photomask 16 are guided, wiring core patterns 20 are formed on the clad layer 11 adjacent to the mirror patterns 13. |
| US08942519B2 |
Material structures for front-end of the line integration of optical polarization splitters and rotators
A polarization splitter and rotator of a wafer chip, an opto-electronic device and method of use is disclosed. The first waveguide of the wafer chip is configured to receive an optical signal from an optical device and propagate a transverse electric eigenstate of the received optical signal. The second waveguide is configured to receive a transverse magnetic eigenstate of the received optical signal from the first waveguide. The second waveguide includes a splitter end, a middle section and a rotator end, wherein the splitter end includes a layer of polycrystalline silicon, a layer of silicon oxide and a layer of silicon nitride, the rotated end includes a layer single crystal silicon, a layer silicon oxide and a layer of silicon nitride, and the middle section includes layers of single crystal silicon, silicon oxide polycrystalline silicon and silicon nitride. |
| US08942518B2 |
Flexible optical modulator for advanced modulation formats
An apparatus comprising a cascaded set of deinterleavers. A first optical deinterleaver is configured to receive a first optical signal and a second optical signal. A second optical deinterleaver is configured to receive the second optical signal and a first optical output of the first optical deinterleaver. A third optical deinterleaver is configured to receive a second optical output of the first optical deinterleaver. The apparatus comprises an optical power splitter configured to provide the second optical signal received by the first optical deinterleaver and by the second optical deinterleaver. |
| US08942517B2 |
Multi-mode interference manipulator
A multi-mode interference includes a core portion suitable, at any point, for propagating an optical signal having multiple spatial modes. The core portion includes a shifting section for shifting phases of the spatial modes of the optical signal. |
| US08942514B2 |
Image storage and retrieval based on eye movements
Various embodiments are generally directed to creating and using an index based on eye movements of the human eye to store and retrieve images in an image database. An apparatus comprises a processor circuit and a storage communicatively coupled to the processor circuit and storing instructions operative on the processor circuit to receive a first eye movement data associated with a first image provided by the apparatus from an image database stored in the storage; determine a first identity of a first object at a first focus region in the first image indicated by the first eye movement data; search the image database for an image depicting the first object; and provide a second image depicting the first object from the image database. Other embodiments are described and claimed herein. |
| US08942513B2 |
De-warping processing method for digital images
A de-warping processing method for digital images includes the following steps. A first image window is segmented into a plurality of first blocks. A second image window is segmented into a plurality of second blocks according to locations and an amount of the first blocks. A coordinate transformation parameter is calculated by a group of first vertex coordinate values of the first block and a group of second vertex coordinate values of the corresponding second block. Each of coordinate values of the first block is transformed into an estimated coordinate value of the corresponding second block according to the coordinate transformation parameter. A pixel content value is obtained from the second image window according to each of the estimated coordinate values, and is written into a pixel with the corresponding coordinate value in the first block. All the first blocks are processed for outputting a first image. |
| US08942511B2 |
Apparatus and method for detecting object from image, and program
An image processing apparatus includes an input unit configured to input an image, a determining unit configured to determine a foreground area and a background area in the image input by the input unit, an expansion unit configured to expand the foreground area determined by the determining unit, a calculating unit configured to calculate a feature amount of the foreground area expanded by the expansion unit, and a detecting unit configured to detect an object from the image using the feature amount. |
| US08942509B2 |
Apparatus and method creating ghost-free high dynamic range image using filtering
An apparatus and method creating a ghost-free High Dynamic Range Image (HDRI) based on filtering are provided. It is possible to effectively prevent a ghost phenomenon from occurring when a single HDRI is created from a plurality of LDRIs, by defining a ghost area using a probability based on a global transfer function indicating a relationship for intensities of several frames, rather than searching for or identifying a ghost area in a single or each image. |
| US08942503B1 |
Global motion vector calculation using phase plane correlation
A method of performing motion compensation includes dividing at least one frame of image data into blocks, performing phase plane correlation to determine a correlation surface for each block between a first frame and a second frame, using the correlation surfaces for each block in the first frame to produce a global correlation surface for a first frame, using the global correlation surface to produce a refined correlation surface, selecting peaks in the refined correlation surface, and perform sub-pixel motion vector calculations to produce global motion vectors using the peaks. |
| US08942499B2 |
Recording medium having recorded thereon coded information using plus and/or minus rounding of images
Medium with image decoding program effecting: extracting motion vector information, quantized DCT coefficients, and rounding method information from input information; dequantizing quantized DCT coefficients to DCT coefficients; performing inverse DCT conversion to an error image; synthesizing a prediction image of a currently decoded image by performing motion compensation using motion vector information, rounding method information, and a previously decoded reference image; and adding prediction and error images to obtain a decoded image; wherein motion compensation is performed with half-pixel accuracy and uses bilinear interpolation to calculate intensity values of chrominance or luminance at points where no pixels exist in the reference image, the interpolation using a positive or negative rounding method, using rounding specified by rounding method information included in coded information of the currently decoded image; wherein the rounding method specifies one of two values specifying a positive or negative rounding method, via rounding method information of one bit. |
| US08942494B2 |
Image processing apparatus and method
An image processing apparatus including a decoding unit configured to decode encoded stereoscopic dynamic image data containing a consecutive picture pair having a disparity, for each block into which the picture has been divided, and to detect a decoding error, an estimation unit configured to perform first estimation processing of estimating, as a disparity of an error block between an error picture including an error block in which the decoding error has been detected and a paired picture thereof, a disparity of a corresponding-location corresponding to the error block between an approximate picture and a paired picture thereof, and a correction unit configured to correct the decoding error by applying, to the error block, a block located at a position shifted by an amount of the estimated disparity from the corresponding-location in the paired picture of the error picture. |
| US08942485B2 |
Electronic device and method for recognizing features of objects
An electronic device stores haar-like features and geometrical features of an object. A reference image of the object is created according to the geometrical features of the object. An outline image is obtained from each image of the object. The electronic device calculates derivatives of each two adjacent points on the reference image and each outline image. A derivative matrix of the reference image and a derivative matrix of each outline image are generated. The electronic device generates a first derivative curve corresponding to the derivative matrix of the reference image and a second derivative curve corresponding to each derivative matrix of the outline image. When all the second derivative curves are the same as the first derivative curve, the electronic device determines whether each outline image is corresponding to the object by using the haar-like features of the object. |
| US08942483B2 |
Image-based georeferencing
An image-based georeferencing system comprises an image receiver, an image identification processor, a reference feature determiner, and a feature locator. The image receiver is configured for receiving a first image for use in georeferencing. The image comprises digital image information. The system includes a communicative coupling to a georeferenced images database of images. The image identification processor is configured for identifying a second image from the georeferenced images database that correlates to the first image. The system includes a communicative coupling to a geographic location information system. The reference feature determiner is configured for determining a reference feature common to both the second image and the first image. The feature locator is configured for accessing the geographic information system to identify and obtain geographic location information related to the common reference feature. |
| US08942482B2 |
Image quality assessment
Methods and systems for image quality assessment are disclosed. A method includes accessing an image, identifying features of the image, assessing the features and generating subjective scores for the features based upon a mapping of the features to the subjective scores and based on the subjective scores, generating an image quality score. Access is provided to the image quality score. |
| US08942481B2 |
Three dimensional CMOS image processor for feature detection
Disclose embodiments include an image processor for feature detection comprising a single non-planar chip containing a plurality of integrated sensing and processing resources across two or more layers adapted to capture image frames and extract image features. In a particular embodiment, the non-planar chip is a three dimensional CMOS integrated circuit (3D CMOS IC) with vertical distribution of sensing and processing resources across two or more vertical integrated circuit layers. The 3D CMOS IC implements two or more feature detectors in a single chip by reusing a plurality of circuits employed for gradient and keypoint detection. Feature detectors include a scale invariant feature transform detector (SIFT), a Harris-based feature detector, and a Hessian-based feature detector. |
| US08942480B2 |
Optical imager and method for correlating a medication package with a patient
A system is provided to correlate a medication package with a prescribed medication for a patient. The medication package accommodates an intended patient medication. The system includes an optical imager adapted to read an encoded symbol character comprising encoded patient information and further adapted to image an attribute of the medication package. The optical imager comprises a two-dimensional image sensor array and an imaging lens for focusing an image on the two-dimensional image sensor array. The two-dimensional image sensor array has a plurality of pixels formed in a plurality of rows and columns of pixels. The optical imager further includes a digital link to transmit a segment of data. The segment of data includes the patient information encoded in the encoded symbol character and the attribute of the medication package. |
| US08942479B2 |
Method and apparatus for pictorial identification of a communication event
The specification and drawings present a new method, apparatus and software product for pictorial identification of a communication event using speech or text recognition in an electronic device. The communication can be (but is not limited to) a telephone call, an electronic mail message, MMS, SMS, an instant message, etc. Words from the communication event are identified using the speech or text recognition by the electronic device and at least one picture out of a library of reference pictures is identified by comparing the identified words with the key picture words using a predetermined criterion. Color background of the identified standard picture can be also identified using the identified words and a further predetermined criterion. The identified picture can be displayed during the communications event or can be stored so the user can identify the topic of the communication event later on. |
| US08942478B2 |
Information processing apparatus, processing method therefor, and non-transitory computer-readable storage medium
An image processing apparatus acquires an image; sets a plurality of partial regions for the acquired image, and acquiring an image feature amount including a plurality of frequency components from each of the partial regions; compares the acquired image feature amount with an image feature amount of a background model which holds, for each of the partial regions, an image feature amount of an image as a background; updates, based on the comparison result, each of a plurality of frequency components included in the image feature amount held in the background model using the acquired image feature amount by a degree according to each of the frequency components; and detects, using the background model updated in the updating, for each of the partial regions, a region where a target object to be detected exists. |
| US08942477B2 |
Image processing apparatus, image processing method, and program
An image processing method includes inputting input image data captured by an imaging unit, generating an input histogram of the input image data based on the input image data, and correcting the input image data based on noise characteristics data and the input histogram, wherein the noise characteristics data includes data indicating probability of a first characteristic value becoming a second characteristic value due to noise. |
| US08942469B2 |
Method for classification of videos
A method for classifying a video regarding a subjective characteristic, the method comprising: measuring a plurality of basic features (11) per frame thus obtaining a plurality of basic features measurements; creating a plurality of second-level features by pooling (12) said basic features (11) measurements using a plurality of statistics of said basic features measurements in a determined period of time of footage; creating a plurality of video features by pooling (13) said plurality of second-level features using a plurality of statistics of said second level features along the duration of the video; choosing at least one video feature of said plurality of video features for classifying a video regarding a subjective characteristic. |
| US08942468B1 |
Object recognition
Techniques for a shape descriptor used for object recognition are described. Tokens of an object in digital image data are captured, where tokens can be edges, interest points or even parts. Geometric configurations of the tokens are captured by describing portions of the shape of the object. The shape of such configurations is finely quantized and each configuration from the image is assigned to a quantization bin. Objects are recognized by utilizing a number of quantization bins as features. This Abstract is submitted with the understanding that it will not be used to interpret or limit the scope or meaning of the claims. |
| US08942467B2 |
Method for reducing blocking artifacts in images
Blocking artifacts are reduced by projecting each patch obtained from an input image onto a set of bases vectors to determine multiple representations for each patch. The set of bases vectors are learned from a training image, and the bases vectors include a full basis vector, and one or two subspace bases vectors. An optimal basis vector is determined in the set of bases vectors for each patch according to the projection. A threshold is applied to coefficients of the optimal basis vector to determine a filtered representation for each patch, and a reconstructed patch is generated using the filtered representation. Then, the aggregating the reconstructed patches are aggregated to produce an output image. |
| US08942466B2 |
Sensory input processing apparatus and methods
Sensory input processing apparatus and methods useful for adaptive encoding and decoding of features. In one embodiment, the apparatus receives an input frame having a representation of the object feature, generates a sequence of sub-frames that are displaced from one another (and correspond to different areas within the frame), and encodes the sub-frame sequence into groups of pulses. The patterns of pulses are directed via transmission channels to detection apparatus configured to generate an output pulse upon detecting a predetermined pattern within received groups of pulses that is associated with the feature. Upon detecting a particular pattern, the detection apparatus provides feedback to the displacement module in order to optimize sub-frame displacement for detecting the feature of interest. In another embodiment, the detections apparatus elevates its sensitivity (and/or channel characteristics) to that particular pulse pattern when processing subsequent pulse group inputs, thereby increasing the likelihood of feature detection. |
| US08942462B2 |
Method for automatic quantification of dendrite arm spacing in dendritic microstructures
A method to automatically quantify dendrite arm spacing in dendritic microstructures. Once a location of interest in a cast material specimen has been identified, the information contained in it is automatically analyzed to quantify dendrite cell size information that is subsequently converted into a quantified dendrite arm spacing through an empirical relationship or a theoretical relationship. In one form, the relationship between DCS and DAS is such that the DAS in dendritic structure of cast aluminum alloys may be automatically determined from the measurement of one or more of dendrite cell size and the actual volume fraction of the eutectic phases in the local casting microstructure. Non-equilibrium conditions may be accounted for in situations where a theoretical volume fraction of a eutectic phase of the alloy in equilibrium condition is appropriately modified. Thus, in situations where equilibrium conditions—such as those where the casting is cooled very slowly during solidification—does not apply (such as during rapid cooling and consequent solidification), the eutectic measured in the non-equilibrium condition, which can be smaller than the theoretical value in equilibrium, can be accounted for. |
| US08942460B2 |
Medical image processing apparatus that normalizes a distance between an inner wall and outer wall of the myocardial region
According to one embodiment, storage unit stores three-dimensional function image data concerning a function index of the heart. The extraction unit extracts a myocardial region from the three-dimensional function image data. The normalization unit normalizes the distance between the inner wall and outer wall of the myocardial region with a predetermined numerical value range. The generation unit generates a bull's eye map expressing a spatial distribution of pixel values at positions on the myocardial region by two-dimensional polar coordinates. The positions correspond to predetermined values in the predetermined numerical value range. The display unit displays the bull's eye map. |
| US08942458B2 |
Method for distinguishing and sorting of cells and device therefor
A method for distinguishing and sorting cells characterized by comprising distinguishing and sorting a specific cell mass or a part of the cells in the cell mass with the use of transmitted light data reflecting the morphological characteristics of the cells such as size and shape optionally together with side-scattering light data reflecting the characteristics of the internal structure of the cells. The part of the cells in the specific cell mass as described above are at the G1 stage or at a part of the M stage in the cell cycle. A part of the cells at the G1 stage are referred to as the left bottom line in an analytical dispersion diagram of the cells wherein the abscissa indicates the transmitted light data, while a part of the cells at the M stage are referred to as the right bottom line in the analytical dispersion diagram of the cells wherein the abscissa indicates the transmitted light data. |
| US08942457B2 |
Navigating an interventional device
The present invention relates to navigating an interventional device. In particular, the invention relates to a system for navigating an interventional device within a tubular structure of an object, a method for navigating an interventional device within a tubular structure of an object as well as a computer program element and a computer-readable medium. In order to provide enhanced information to the user in an easily comprehensible manner while keeping the X-ray dose to a minimum, a system and a method for navigating an interventional device within a tubular structure of an object are provided, wherein the method comprised the following steps: a) Acquiring 2D X-ray fluoroscopy image data in one projection geometry of a region of interest of the tubular structure; b) detecting the interventional device in the 2D X-ray image; c) determining the 2D position of the interventional device in the 2D X-ray image; d) registering the at least one 2D X-ray image with a previously acquired 3D dataset of the region of interest of the tubular structure; e) mapping the determined 2D position of the interventional device to a position in the 3D dataset; f) extracting local 3D parameters of the tubular structure at the position of the interventional device; g) generating navigational information on behalf of the determined 3D position of the interventional device and the extracted local 3D parameters; and h) providing the navigational information to the user. |
| US08942455B2 |
2D/3D image registration method
A method (100) that registers a 3D heart volume (112, 114) obtained from either a pre-operative MR image or CT image (102) to an intra-operative fluoroscopic image using a mesh of the heart structure (106) as the basis for the registration. |
| US08942452B2 |
Apparatus and method for smoothing random event data obtained from a Positron Emission Tomography scanner
A method and apparatus for smoothing random event data obtained from a Positron Emission Tomography (PET) scanner. The method includes obtaining initial random event data u(s, φ, t=0)=u0(s, φ), corresponding to t=0, calculating second-order central differences uss, uφφ with respect to s, φ, calculating a gradient ut, using ut=2(uss+uφφ)−λ(u−u0), where λ is a constant parameter, and updating the random event data using u(s, φ, t2)=u(s, φ, t1)+Δt ut, where Δt=t2−t1, t1=0 in a first iteration, and Δt is greater than 0. The method repeats the steps of calculating the second-order central differences, calculating the gradient, and updating the random event data until a change in u(s, φ, t) from a previous iteration is less than a predetermined threshold value. |
| US08942450B2 |
Method to process images obtained by tomography or few view tomosynthesis
The invention concerns the reconstruction of a two-dimensional (2D) or three-dimensional (3D) image of an object, for example part of a region of interest in a patient, on the basis of a set of a one-dimensional or two-dimensional views respectively of the region of interest, taken from different positions by an imagining system around the region of interest. The invention finds particular application in medical imaging by tomography reconstruction of Few-View Tomography. |
| US08942449B2 |
Calibration of a probe in ptychography
A method of providing image data for constructing an image of a region of a target object, comprising providing a reference diffraction pattern of a reference target object; determining an initial guess for a probe function based upon the reference diffraction pattern; and determining, by an iterative process based on the initial guess for the probe function and an initial guess for an object function, image data for a target object responsive to an intensity of radiation detected by at least one detector. |
| US08942447B2 |
Method and apparatus for tissue region identification
Certain aspects of an apparatus and method for method and apparatus for tissue region identification may include segmenting the image into a plurality of regions, filtering out regions in the plurality of regions which are curvilinear, and isolating a target area where the tissue sample is identified as the plurality of regions not filtered. |
| US08942437B2 |
Ultrasonic area-array sensor with area-image merging
A method and device for using a small area-array sensor to produce a larger image of a biological object is disclosed. In a method according to the invention, the presence of a biological object is detected, and images of the biological object are collected using the area-array sensor. Pixels from at least some of the collected area-images are discarded to produce a set having modified area-images, and the area-images of the set are combined to form an extended image using an image merging algorithm. |
| US08942436B2 |
Image processing device, imaging device, image processing method
An image including a face is input (S201), a plurality of local features are detected from the input image, a region of a face in the image is specified using the plurality of detected local features (S202), and an expression of the face is determined on the basis of differences between the detection results of the local features in the region of the face and detection results which are calculated in advance as references for respective local features in the region of the face (S204). |
| US08942434B1 |
Conflict resolution for pupil detection
The pupil locations of a user with respect to a computing device can be determined by capturing one or more images of the user and analyzing those images using a set of pupil detection algorithms. Each algorithm can produce at least one estimated position with an associated confidence value, and this information from each algorithm can be used to determine a probable location of each pupil. In some embodiments, one or more environmental factors can be used to adjust the confidence values or select algorithms based on how the corresponding algorithms perform under those conditions. Similarly, an independence of the various algorithms can be utilized in some embodiments to adjust the confidence levels or weight results based on a level of dependence between those algorithms. |
| US08942432B2 |
System and method for comparing documents
The present invention relates to a system and a method for comparing information contained on at least two documents belonging to an entity. The present invention includes at least one device configured to receive information from at least one first document and at least one second document; then, compare at least one first document information and at least one second document information; and determine whether at least one second document contains at least one first document information. The present invention then outputs a result of whether the at least one second document contains at least one first document information. |
| US08942425B2 |
Airport target tracking system
A system for tracking objects using an Intelligent Video processing system in the context of airport surface monitoring. The system addresses airport surface monitoring operational issues such as all weather conditions, high robustness, and low false report rate. The output can be used to complement existing airport surface monitoring systems. By combining the use of multi-sensors and an adverse weather optimized system, the system is capable of producing an improved stream of information for the target object over traditional computer vision based airport surface monitoring systems. |
| US08942423B2 |
Methods for automatic segmentation and temporal tracking
In one embodiment, a method of detecting centerline of a vessel is provided. The method comprises steps of acquiring a 3D image volume, initializing a centerline, initializing a Kalman filter, predicting a next center point using the Kalman filter, checking validity of the prediction made using the Kalman filter, performing template matching, updating the Kalman filter based on the template matching and repeating the steps of predicting, checking, performing, and updating for a predetermined number of times. Methods of automatic vessel segmentation and temporal tracking of the segmented vessel is further described with reference to the method of detecting centerline. |
| US08942420B2 |
Detecting embossed characters on form factor
A portable computing device reads information embossed on a form factor utilizing a built-in digital camera and determines dissimilarity between each pair of embossed characters to confirm consistency. Techniques comprise capturing an image of a form factor having information embossed thereupon, and detecting embossed characters. The detecting utilizes a gradient image and one or more edge images with a mask corresponding to the regions for which specific information is expected to be found on the form factor. The embossed form factor may be a credit card, and the captured image may comprise an account number and an expiration date embossed upon the credit card. Detecting embossed characters may comprise detecting the account number and the expiration date of the credit card, and/or the detecting may utilize a gradient image and one or more edge images with a mask corresponding to the regions for the account number and expiration date. |
| US08942412B2 |
Method and apparatus for controlling multi-experience translation of media content
A method or apparatus for controlling a media device using gestures may include, for example, modifying media content to generate first updated media content according to a comparison of first information descriptive of a first environment of the source device to second information descriptive of a second environment of the recipient device, capturing images of a gesture, identifying a command from the gesture, and modifying the first updated media content to generate second updated media content according to the command. Other embodiments are disclosed. |
| US08942411B2 |
Image combining
One or more techniques and/or systems for combining images of objects are disclosed where an image of a first object is to be inserted into an image of a second object in such a manner as to make the insertion substantially undetectable by a human observer of the combined image. An object generator generates a substantially artifact free image of a first object. An object locator orients the first object image according to a desired insertion point in a second object image. A forward projector converts the first object image into projection space data of the first object, and a combiner combines the first object projection space data with the second object projection space data. The combined projection space data is converted to image space data by a reconstructor, and the resulting combined image space data can be displayed on a monitor for human observation. |
| US08942407B2 |
Loudspeaker and diaphragm therefor
A loudspeaker radiating diaphragm can be stiffened to help increase the breakup frequency to above the working frequency range of the driver concerned, by forming it of a molded part and an attached formed part. The molded part is a radiating surface with stiffening ribs. The formed part is a thin surface of high modulus material, attached to the rear of the ribs. The overall structure can have significantly higher stiffness than either of the two parts. This helps in designing a loudspeaker driver that does not breakup within its working frequency range. |
| US08942405B2 |
Earphone device
An earphone device comprises an inner casing enclosing one or more miniature drive units, and a movable cap or outer casing that moves relative to the inner casing. The inner casing has an extension member, such as a hollow post, terminating in an acoustic output port. A compressible foam bulb at least partially surrounds the extension member, and is decompressed and compressed by actuation of an adjustable member. The adjustable member may take the form, for example, of a pivoting lever, a helical cam, or a push-rod mechanism, among other things. A flange may be disposed around the periphery of the movable cap, in order to provide a seal surrounding the ear canal region. The compressible material may be gripped by the hollow extension member, and abut the movable cap or flange. Through actuation of the adjustable member, the compressible material may be decompressed and thus elongated for insertion into the wearer's ear, and may be compressed and thus widened or expanded to form an adequate seal with the wearer's ear canal region. |
| US08942403B2 |
Wiring harness for clothing, electronic devices including such a wiring harness, and garments incorporating such a wiring harness and electronic device
A wiring harness for clothing, and garments so equipped. The wiring harness is of asymmetrical configuration, and may extend through channels positioned substantially along reinforced portions of the garment. The wiring harness includes a T-junction from which extend a male media connector and two media cables, a first media cable extending along seams of one side of the garment, and a second media cable extending along a neck portion of the garment from the T-junction at one side to another side, both media cables terminating in male media connectors. The male media connector of the T-junction and the male media connector of the second media cable connect to female media connectors of earphone cables, while the male media connector of the first media cable connects to a female media connector of a portable media device, which may be disposed within a pocket of the garment. |
| US08942401B2 |
Electro-acoustic converters, electronic devices, waterproof covers, and air leakage test methods for electro-acoustic converters
It is an object to provide an electro-acoustic converter which can be subjected to air leakage test allowing a gas to pass through a waterproof film in such a condition that the waterproof film is attached to the electro-acoustic converter. An electro-acoustic converter is produced, which includes: a casing having a sound hole; and a diaphragm provided in the casing, wherein the sound hole is covered with the waterproof film to form a closed space, and the closed space is in communication with the outside of the casing through a vent for air leakage test. |
| US08942398B2 |
Methods and apparatus for early audio feedback cancellation for hearing assistance devices
Disclosed herein, among other things, are methods and apparatus for improved feedback cancellation for hearing assistance devices. In various embodiments the present acoustic feedback cancellation system is configured to identify the onset of acoustic feedback. This early detection is accomplished in a variety of ways, including detection of an exponential rise in a periodic signal which is associated with early acoustic feedback. The present system is very rapid and so it can operate when the conditions surrounding the hearing aid change quickly. It also is useful to not impose feedback cancellation to longer notes that will “fool” less sophisticated acoustic feedback cancellers into thinking the sound is feedback. |
| US08942397B2 |
Method and apparatus for adding audible noise with time varying volume to audio devices
A method and apparatus for adding audible noise with time varying volume to audio devices are disclosed which makes the time varying volume envelope of the added audible noise proportional to the time varying volume envelope of sound for frequencies where an individual has a restricted range of perception. The method and apparatus are used to improve the audibility, speech intelligibility, and word recognition characteristics in audio devices. |
| US08942396B2 |
Wireless binaural hearing system
A wireless binaural hearing system comprises a left-ear hearing device, a right-ear hearing device and auxiliary devices. The devices communicate via radio signals. Each device comprises a radio transmitter transmitting messages, each hearing device comprises a radio receiver receiving messages, the auxiliary device is adapted to transmit application messages, and the hearing devices are adapted to receive application messages. The quality of wireless communication varies when the user moves his head, which may lead to temporal gaps in communication. Such gaps may cause annoying pauses and/or delays in audio signals presented to the user, and the hearing devices may become temporarily unsynchronised. To avoid such gaps and improve reliability of the communication, without increasing the radio signal power, a first hearing device relays received application messages to a second hearing device in dependence on network messages received from the second hearing device indicating whether application messages were correctly received. |
| US08942394B2 |
Integrated acoustic transducer obtained using MEMS technology, and corresponding manufacturing process
A MEMS acoustic transducer provided with a substrate having cavity, and a membrane suspended above the cavity and fixed peripherally to the substrate, with the possibility of oscillation, through at least one membrane anchorage. The membrane comprises at least one spring arranged in the proximity of the anchorage and facing it, and is designed to act in tension or compression in a direction lying in the same plane as said membrane. |
| US08942393B2 |
Piezoelectric sound component
A piezoelectric sound component that includes a resin sheet, a piezoelectric diaphragm, and a casing. The piezoelectric diaphragm vibrates by bending, and is attached to at least part of a central portion of the resin sheet excluding a peripheral portion of the resin sheet. The casing holds the peripheral portion of the resin sheet. The casing supports at least one corner portion of the piezoelectric diaphragm. |
| US08942389B2 |
Trim method for CMOS-MEMS microphones
Systems and methods for adjusting a bias voltage and gain of the microphone to account for variations in a thickness of a gap between a movable membrane and a stationary backplate in a MEMS microphone due to the manufacturing process. The microphone is exposed to acoustic pressures of a first magnitude and a sensitivity of the microphone is evaluated according to a predetermined sensitivity protocol. The bias voltage of the microphone is adjusted when the microphone does not meet the sensitivity protocol. The microphone is then exposed to acoustic waves of a second magnitude that is greater than the first magnitude and a stability of the microphone is evaluated according to a predetermined stability protocol. The bias voltage and the gain of the microphone are adjusted when the microphone does not meet the stability protocol. |
| US08942387B2 |
Noise-reducing directional microphone array
In one embodiment, a directional microphone array having (at least) two microphones generates forward and backward cardioid signals from two (e.g., omnidirectional) microphone signals. An adaptation factor is applied to the backward cardioid signal, and the resulting adjusted backward cardioid signal is subtracted from the forward cardioid signal to generate a (first-order) output audio signal corresponding to a beampattern having no nulls for negative values of the adaptation factor. After low-pass filtering, spatial noise suppression can be applied to the output audio signal. Microphone arrays having one (or more) additional microphones can be designed to generate second- (or higher-) order output audio signals. |
| US08942385B1 |
Headphones with multiple equalization presets for different genres of music
A headphone comprises a plurality of actuatable equalization selectors. Each of the selectors corresponds to an equalization setting that includes a preset distribution of relative amplitudes of sounds in predetermined frequency ranges. In one embodiment, each of the plurality of actuatable equalization selectors is a button-type switch. A knob-type switch or a voice recognition mechanism could also actuate an equalization setting. In a preferred embodiment, an equalizer identification indicator produces a communication perceivable to a headphone wearer and which corresponds to an equalization setting. The communication can be audible, preferably a human voice, or tactile, preferably vibration patterns corresponding to equalization settings. |
| US08942384B2 |
Dual-mode headset
A headset comprises a body, an audio transducer, an arm, a detector and processor. The detector can indicate whether the arm is in a first or second position. The headset operates in a headset mode or speakerphone mode responsive to the arm's position. |
| US08942382B2 |
Dynamic beamformer processing for acoustic echo cancellation in systems with high acoustic coupling
Near-end equipment for a communication channel with far-end equipment. The near-end equipment includes at least one loudspeaker, at least two microphones, a beamformer, and an echo canceller. The communication channel may be in one of a number of communication states including Near-End Only state, Far-End Only state, and Double-Talk state. In one embodiment, when the echo canceller determines that the communication channel is in either the Far-End Only state or the Double-Talk state, the beamformer is configured to generate a nearfield beampattern signal that directs a null towards a loudspeaker. When the echo canceller detects the Near-End Only state, the beamformer is configured to generate a farfield beampattern signal that optimizes reception of acoustic signals from the near-end audio source. Using different beamformer processing for different communication states allows echo cancellation processing to be more successful at reducing echo in the signal transmitted to the far-end equipment. |
| US08942381B2 |
Control of a loudspeaker output
A method of controlling a loudspeaker output comprises deriving an admittance function over time from the voice coil voltage and current. In combination with a delta function, the force factor of the loudspeaker and the blocked electrical impedance, the input-voltage-to-excursion transfer function over time is obtained. This is used to control audio processing for the loudspeaker thereby to implement loudspeaker protection and/or acoustic signal processing; The invention provides a modelling and control approach which is not based on a parametric model. As a consequence, it does not require prior knowledge regarding the enclosure (e.g. closed or vented box) and can cope with complex designs of the enclosure. |
| US08942380B2 |
Method for generating a downward-compatible sound format
A method of generating an audio output signal according to a downward compatible sound format, the method including: generating a sum signal by combining a first input channel signal with a second input channel signal; and dynamically correcting the sum signal using samples of the first and second input channel signals from overlapping time windows. |
| US08942375B2 |
Method and system for providing multiple encryption in a multi-band multi-protocol hybrid wired/wireless network
Multiple encryption in a multi-band multi-protocol hybrid wired/wireless network may include receiving on a first PHY channel of an access point, a request for initiation of a communication session from an originating access device. The received request may be acknowledged on the first PHY channel and the originating access device may be authenticated on a second PHY channel. One or more encryption/decryption keys may be provided for use during the communication session. A third PHY channel or the first or second PHY channels may host the communication session. The authentication information may be requested and delivered to the originating access device via a second PHY channel. The encryption key may be delivered to the originating access device via the first PHY channel or the second PHY channel. Additionally, information may be tunneled over a virtual channel established between the originating and a terminating access device. |
| US08942369B2 |
Method for providing support services using multi-channel navigator and route sequences
A service center receives a command from a remote device over a network, where the service center provides support services to users on products on behalf clients. Based on the command, a context element of a route sequence map associated with a user of the remote device is identified, where the identified context element is one of context elements of the route sequence map in a hierarchical structure. Each context element having one or more property values specifying at least one of an action to be performed by the service center and a link to one or more child context elements. It is determined whether the identified context element is an action context element or a navigation context element based on one or more property values associated with the identified context element. If so, an action specified by the identified context is performed. |
| US08942367B1 |
Method and apparatus for routing a call in a communications network
A method and apparatus for routing a call based on electronic calendar entries in a communications network is described. In one embodiment, a call request to establish a connection with a subscriber of network services is received. An electronic calendar associated with the subscriber is subsequently accessed. Afterwards, the call request is routed to a phone number associated to a present agenda activity detailed in the electronic calendar. |
| US08942356B2 |
System and method for three-way call detection
A system for detecting three-way calls in a monitored telephone conversation includes as speech recognition processor that transcribes the monitored telephone conversation and associates Characteristics of the monitored telephone conversation with a transcript thereof, a database to store the transcript and the characteristics associated therewith, and a three-way Call detection processor to analyze the characteristics of the conversation and to detect therefrom the addition of one or more parties to the conversation. The system preferably includes at least one domain-specific language model that the speech recognition processor utilizes to transcribe the conversation. The system may operate in real-time or on previously recorded conversations. A query and retrieval system may be used to retrieve and review call records from the database. |
| US08942352B2 |
Field emission x-ray tube apparatus for facilitating cathode replacement
The present disclosure relates to a field emission X-ray tube apparatus for facilitating cathode replacement, and more particularly, to a field emission X-ray tube apparatus for facilitating cathode replacement in which gates and cathodes are easily arranged through a joining member and a rotation preventing guide when gates and insulating spacers are rotated and joined with the cathodes while the cathodes and respective gates maintain electrical insulation, thereby easily replacing the cathodes. |
| US08942349B2 |
Processing of radiological images to delete markers without image deterioration
The disclosure generally relates to dual-energy imaging, and in particular, techniques to produce and process dual-energy images using a dual-energy imaging system. One embodiment provides a method for generating at least one image of a region of interest in a patient, the method comprising: obtaining at least two radiological images of the region of interest identified with at least one marker arranged on and/or around the patient, wherein a first image is acquired with a first X-ray energy and a second image is acquired with a second X-ray energy; and determining a final radiological image of the region of interest by linearly combining the two radiological images to obtain an image without the markers. |
| US08942347B2 |
X-ray imaging apparatus and method for controlling the same
The X-ray imaging apparatus includes an X-ray generator to generate X-rays having at least two different energy levels and irradiate the X-rays onto a subject, a detector to detect the X-rays irradiated by the X-ray generator and transmitted through the subject, and a device to obtain images from the X-rays detected by the detector, to obtain bone image information and soft tissue image information of the subject, based on the obtained X-ray images, and to produce one image including the bone image information and the soft tissue image information. |
| US08942339B2 |
Shift register
A shift register is disclosed, which can prevent malfunctioning of device by decreasing the load on a discharging voltage source line, and can decrease a size of stage. The shift register comprises a plurality of stages to sequentially output scan pulses through respective output terminals, wherein each of the stages comprises a pull-up switching unit controlled based on a signal state of node, and connected between the output terminal and any one among a plurality of clock transmission lines to transmit the clock pulses provided with sequential phase differences; and a node controller to control the signal state of node, and to discharge the node by using the clock pulse from any one among the plurality of clock transmission line. |
| US08942337B2 |
Systems and methods for handling race conditions during data transfer in an implantable medical device
The accuracy of data processing operations in implantable medical devices is improved through reductions in errors associated with data acquisition, reading, and transmission. In one embodiment, two or more circuit modules of the device are operated at different clock speeds and a voting scheme is utilized to obtain a valid data value from one of the modules. The disclosure describes methods, devices and systems that utilize the voting schemes to eliminate errors induced by race conditions in obtaining the valid data values by obtaining a plurality of data samples during operation of the circuit modules at the different clock speeds and selecting from among the data samples the valid data value. |
| US08942333B2 |
Apparatus and methods for clock alignment for high speed interfaces
Apparatuses and methods for phase aligning at least two clocks used by respective first and second circuitry systems, such as a memory controller and a DDR PHY interface in a system on a chip system. A first circuit samples a phase of a first clock used by the first circuitry system, and then a delay circuit selectively delays a second clock used by the second circuitry system and sets a delayed timing of the second clock. To economize resources and reduce chip area, a logic circuit receives the sampled phase of the first clock, determines which delayed timing matches timing of the sampled phase, and sets the delay circuit to a fixed delayed timing corresponding to the delayed timing that matches the sampled phase. Thus, phase alignment of the two clocks is achieved with fewer resources. |
| US08942331B2 |
Apparatus and method for improving the performance of a linear equalizer with multiple receive antennas
Disclosed are methods and apparatus for initializing an equalizer in a diversity receiver. In one aspect, the initialization includes estimating a channel impulse response (CIR) for each receiver chain of the diversity receiver; determining noise power estimates for each receiver chain based on the CIRs; and adaptively adjusting equalizer taps of each receiver chain based on the noise power estimates. In one aspect, the adaptive adjusting of the equalizer taps is based on scaling the CIR and covariance metrics for the receiver chain with higher noise power by a scale factor determined from the noise power estimates. In another aspect, the adaptive adjusting of the equalizer taps is based adaptive conditioning on the diagonal of the covariance matrix. |
| US08942330B2 |
Interference reduction method for downhole telemetry systems
A method for reducing interference in a received downhole telemetry signal includes: segmenting a received signal; windowing each signal segment; transforming each windowed signal segment into a complex variable domain to generate a plurality of complex variable domain segments with an in-phase component vector I and a quadrature component vector Q; calculating a real amplitude vector A from the I and the Q vectors; filtering interferers in the amplitude vector A for each complex variable domain segment to generate a filtered amplitude vector Ã; recalculating an amplitude of the amplitude vector A using the filtered amplitude vector à to generate an output amplitude vector Â; scaling the I and the Q vectors by a factor Â/A to generate an output in-phase component vector I′ and an output quadrature component vector Q′; and transforming I′ and Q′ into the time domain to provide an interference-reduced output signal in the time domain. |
| US08942328B2 |
Timing recovery apparatus and method
A timing recovery apparatus for compensating a sampling frequency offset of an input signal is provided. The timing recovery apparatus includes a timing error corrector configured to generate an output signal according to the input signal and a calibration signal, a gain controller configured to adjust at least one of a signal edge low-frequency error component and a signal edge high-frequency error component of the output signal and accordingly generate an adjusted signal, a timing error detector configured to generate an error signal according to the adjusted signal, and a calibration signal generator coupled to the timing error detector and the timing error corrector, for generating the calibration signal according to the error signal and outputting the calibration signal to the timing error corrector to compensate the sampling frequency offset of the input signal. |
| US08942325B2 |
Wireless communication apparatus and communication method
A wireless communication apparatus receiving a signal transmitted from multiple transmission antennas by multiple reception antennas, includes a rotational component removal unit to remove rotational components from a channel matrix representing a characteristic of a transmission path between the multiple transmission antennas and reception antennas, the channel matrix being generated based on the reception signal; multiple signal separation units including at least a signal separation unit to use a first signal separation algorithm for a demodulation process of the reception signal, and a signal separation unit to use a second signal separation algorithm for the demodulation process of the reception signal; and a control unit to execute control for determining one of the multiple signal separation units to be used for the demodulation process of the reception signal, based on a predetermined component of the channel matrix having the rotational components removed. |
| US08942324B2 |
Circuit, use, and method for controlling a receiver circuit
A circuit, use, and method for controlling a receiver circuit is provided, wherein a complex baseband signal is generated from a received signal, a phase difference between a phase of the complex baseband signal and a phase precalculated from previous sampled values is determined, the phase difference is compared with a first threshold, a number is determined by counting the exceedances of the first threshold by the phase difference, a number of the counted exceedances is compared with a second threshold, and the receiver circuit is turned off if the number of counted exceedances exceeds the second threshold within a time period. |
| US08942322B2 |
Method of relay node using reference signal and relay node using the method
The present invention relates to a method of a Relay Node (RN) using a reference signal. The method includes receiving information about a Dedicated Reference Signal (DRS) which is used to demodulate a control channel via high-layer signaling from an evolved-NodeB (eNB), receiving control information through the control channel from the eNB, receiving data through a data channel from the eNB, and demodulating the control information and the data. The control information is demodulated using a DRS indicated by the information about the DRS, and the data are demodulated using a DRS indicated by the control information. |
| US08942319B2 |
Partial response equalizer and related method
A multi-phase partial response receiver supports various incoming data rates by sampling PrDFE output values at a selected one of at least two clock phases. The receiver includes a calibration circuit that performs a timing analysis of critical data paths in the circuit, and this analysis is then used to select the particular clock phase used to latch the output values. These techniques permit the multiplexer outputs from for each phase of the partial response receiver to directly drive selection of a multiplexer for the ensuing phase, i.e., by avoiding regions of instability or uncertainty in the respective multiplexer outputs. |
| US08942317B2 |
Carrier offset correction of a received signal
Apparatuses, methods and systems for mitigating carrier offset of a received signal are disclosed. One embodiment of a receiver includes a receiver chain operative to receive a communication signal from a desired transmitter, and a controller operative to determine a carrier offset correction based on prior reception of communication signals from the desired transmitter. The receiver chain is operative to generate a carrier offset corrected received signal by applying the carrier offset correction to the received communication signal, and a correlation processor operative to correlate the carrier offset corrected received communication signal with a known sequence. |
| US08942313B2 |
Group delay calibration method for power amplifier envelope tracking
An open loop envelope tracking system calibration technique and circuitry are proposed. A radio frequency power amplifier receives a modulated signal. An envelope tracker power converter generates a modulated power amplifier supply voltage for the radio frequency power amplifier based on a control signal derived from the modulated signal. A first output power and a second output power of the radio frequency power amplifier are measured when the control signal is respectively delayed by a first delay period and a second delay period. A sensitivity of the output power of the radio frequency power amplifier is near a maximum near the first delay period and the second delay period. The first delay period and/or the second delay period are adjusted until the first output power substantially equals the second output power. The first delay period and the second delay period are used to obtain a calibrated fine tuning delay offset. |
| US08942312B1 |
WCDMA modulation
This disclosure describes techniques for modulating data. In one embodiment, these techniques include receiving an I or Q value, generating a time-shifted sample of a shaped pulse based on the I or Q value, and providing the time-shifted sample to a digital-to-analog converter. |
| US08942311B2 |
Low bandwidth PHY transmission in a wider bandwidth
A method for generating signals to be transmitted within a basic service set (BSS) channel, where a set of component channels is collectively coextensive with the BSS channel, includes determining that a first duplicate, in frequency, of a low bandwidth mode data unit will be located at an edge of the BSS channel. Each duplicate includes orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) tones and has a bandwidth less than the narrowest channel of the component channels. The OFDM tones in each duplicate include one or more data tones, one or more pilot tones, and one or more guard tones. The method also includes generating a transmission signal comprising the duplicates, at least in part by scaling down at least one data tone, and/or zeroing out at least one data tone, of the first duplicate in response to determining that the first duplicate will be located at an edge of the BSS channel. |
| US08942310B2 |
Information processing apparatus and information processing method, and non-transitory computer readable medium storing information processing program
Transmission channel estimation is performed for NT×NR reception signals and estimated transmission channel values are thereby output. The estimated transmission channel values are divided into N groups of NT×M estimated transmission channel values and a covariance matrix with M rows and N columns is obtained for each of the estimated transmission channel value groups. The N covariance matrixes are averaged over a predetermined range in terms of at least a time or a frequency (first averaging). Eigenvectors are generated based on respective N averaging outputs. Transmission channels between base station antennas and terminal antennas are generated from the eigenvectors and the estimated transmission channel values. Covariance matrixes are obtained for the generated transmission channels. The covariance matrixes are averaged over a different range from the range used in the first averaging (second averaging) and a beam forming weight is obtained by combining the generated eigenvectors. |
| US08942308B2 |
Multi-level coding and iterative decoding using sparse space codes
A multi-level coding and iterative decoding scheme using sparse space codes as the inner-code and codes amenable to belief propagation decoding methods (such as low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes, turbo codes, and trellis codes) as the outer-code is proposed for MIMO communication channels. |
| US08942306B2 |
Codebook selection for transmit beamforming
A method selects a codebook for transmit beamforming. The method constructs an estimated channel matrix based on a codebook, selects a channel submatrix from the estimated channel matrix, calculates a selection matrix from the channel submatrix; and assigns a steering matrix based on the selection matrix. The method may construct an estimated channel matrix, select a channel submatrix, and calculate a selection matrix for each of multiple codebooks, then select an optimal codebook. The steering matrix is assigned based on the optimal codebook. The steering matrix may be used in steering a transmitted packet. The method may also calculate a post-MIMO equalizer signal-to-noise ratio for a data stream, based on the estimated channel matrix and the selected codebook. A related system is also disclosed. Other embodiments are provided, and each of the embodiments described herein can be used alone or in combination with one another. |
| US08942300B1 |
Integrated digitizer system with streaming interface
A digitizer system (DS) may include one or more input channels to receive sample data, and an acquisition state machine (ASM) to organize the sample data into one or more acquisition records according to events of interest, and generate framing information corresponding to the one or more acquisition records. The events of interest may be identified by a trigger circuit in the DS, and relayed to the ASM for organizing the sample data. The DS may further include a data interface capable of receiving the one or more acquisition records and the framing information, encoding the one or more acquisition records and the framing information into encoded data, and transmitting the encoded data to an expansion module. The expansion module may receive the encoded data, decode the encoded data, and recover the sample data from the decoded data according to the framing information and the one or more acquisition records. |
| US08942296B2 |
Signal adaptive filtering method, signal adaptive filter and computer readable medium for storing program therefor
A signal adaptive filtering method for reducing blocking effect and ringing noise, a signal adaptive filter, and a computer readable medium. The signal adaptive filtering method capable of reducing blocking effect and ringing noise of image data when a frame is composed of blocks of a predetermined size includes the steps of: (a) generating blocking information for reducing the blocking effect and ringing information for reducing the ringing noise, from coefficients of predetermined pixels of the upper and left boundary regions of the data block when a frame obtained by deconstructing a bitstream image data for inverse quantization is an intraframe; and (b) adaptively filtering the image data passed through inverse quantization and inverse discrete cosine transform according to the generated blocking information and ringing information. Therefore, the blocking effect and ringing noise can be eliminated from the image restored from the block-based image, thereby enhancing the image restored from compression. |
| US08942294B2 |
Digital broadcasting transmission/reception system utilizing mull packet and TRS code to improve receiving performance and signal processing method thereof
A digital broadcasting transmission and/or reception system having an improved reception performance and a signal-processing method thereof. A digital broadcasting transmitter comprises a TRS encoder for to TRS-encode a MPEG-2 transmission stream having null data for inserting a Known data and a TRS parity at predetermined positions, randomizer to input and randomize data stream from the TRS encoder, a null packet exchanger to replace the null data for inserting the Known data to the known data, and an encoder for encoding a data streams to which the Known data is inserted. Accordingly, the present invention detects the known data from a signal received from a reception side and uses the detected known data for synchronization and equalization and further uses the TRS parity for correcting error of the received signal, so that the digital broadcasting reception performance can be improved at poor multipath channels. |
| US08942286B2 |
Video coding using two multiple values
Video coding in which at least two bandwidth values are obtained. A base layer is coded so that a rate of the coded base layer data is less than or equal to the lowest bandwidth. For at least one bandwidth greater than the lowest bandwidth, at least one enhancement layer is coded so that the sum of a rate of the data of the coded enhancement layer and a rate of a subset of data of a reference layer serving as a reference for interlayer prediction of the enhancement layer is less than the bandwidth greater than the lowest bandwidth. |
| US08942283B2 |
Feature-based hybrid video codec comparing compression efficiency of encodings
Systems and methods of processing video data are provided. Video data having a series of video frames is received and processed. One or more instances of a candidate feature are detected in the video frames. The previously decoded video frames are processed to identify potential matches of the candidate feature. When a substantial amount of portions of previously decoded video frames include instances of the candidate feature, the instances of the candidate feature are aggregated into a set. The candidate feature set is used to create a feature-based model. The feature-based model includes a model of deformation variation and a model of appearance variation of instances of the candidate feature. The feature-based model compression efficiency is compared with the conventional video compression efficiency. |
| US08942279B2 |
Apparatus and method for transmitting/receiving data in dual mode terminal
An apparatus and a method for transmitting/receiving data in a dual mode terminal having a host modem and a slave modem are provided. In the method, when an external apparatus generates data, the host modem receives the generated data. The host modem determines a destination of the received data. The host modem forwards the received data to the determined destination. |
| US08942272B2 |
Method and apparatus for enabling signal processing in a multiple antenna repeater
Systems and methodologies are described that enable serving cell selection in a wireless network with a multiple antenna repeater operable to support MIMO communications. In one example, a repeater using orthogonal frequency division multiplexing on the downlink can be equipped to receive, by one or more receive antennas, one or more signals using one or more radio frequency (RF) isolation schemes. The repeater can further be equipped to amplify and delay the one or more signals using one or more combination schemes. Moreover, the repeater can be equipped to transmit, by one or more transmit antennas, the amplified and delayed one or more signals, wherein at least one of the one or more receive antennas or the one or more transmit antennas includes two or more antennas. |
| US08942271B2 |
Blower apparatus and gas laser oscillation apparatus
A blower apparatus includes a blower casing; an elastic member for mounting a mounting portion that projects on an outer circumferential portion of the blower casing, to a blower support member disposed on the inlet side of the mounting portion; and a flange portion provided on the inlet side of the mounting portion. At least three elastic members are disposed in the same plane that is almost orthogonal to a rotation shaft, and adhesion surfaces are provided on both ends, in the rotation shaft direction, of each elastic member. The mounting portion is fixed to one of the adhesion surfaces, and the blower support member is fixed to the other of the adhesion surfaces. The flange portion is provided so as to oppose the blower support member through a gap having a thickness less than a thickness, in the rotation shaft direction, of the elastic member. |
| US08942270B2 |
Diffusion-cooled CO2 laser with flexible housing
A gas includes a housing having a symmetrical arrangement of upper and lower cooling members for removing heat generated in a gas-discharge excited by an electrode assembly. The electrode assembly is clamped between the cooling members and is itself essentially symmetrically arranged. The cooling members and the electrode assembly are mechanically isolated in the housing by a surrounding diaphragm-like arrangement that connects the cooling members to side-walls of the housing. An RF power-supply for supplying the electrode assembly is mounted on one of the sidewalls to avoid disturbing the symmetry of the cooling and electrode arrangements. |
| US08942265B2 |
Raman converting laser systems
In one embodiment, the instant invention provides a method that includes: outputting a first laser beam having: a beam quality factor (M2) between 1 and 5, and a spectral width of less than 0.15 nm, where the outputting is performed by a laser generating component that includes a alexandrite laser oscillator; converting the first laser beam through a first Raman cell to produce a second laser beam, where the first Raman cell is filled with a first gas; and converting the second laser beam through a second Raman cell to produce a final laser beam, where the second Raman cell is filled with a second gas and is operationally positioned after the first Raman cell, where the first gas and the second gas are different gasses, and where the final laser beam having: a second energy of at least 1 mJ, and at least one wavelength longer than 2.5 micron. |
| US08942263B2 |
Data transmission in an SDH network
A method for the transmission of data in a synchronous digital hierarchy (SDH) network comprising the steps of transmitting to a node of the network a form of data signal from outside the network, converting the signal into a virtually concatenated information structure and transporting the signal through the network in the virtually concatenated information structure; means for carrying out the method and tributary cards arranged and configured to process signals received in contiguously concatenated form to convert them into virtually concatenated form for transfer across the network; thus providing for data transmitted in high-bandwidth, contiguously concatenated signals (ie VC-4-4c) to be transported across a SDH network, not itself capable of carrying contiguously concatenated signals. |
| US08942261B2 |
Transmission apparatus and method
A burst signal generator generates a burst signal that is a variable length portion whose length changes in accordance with fluctuations in data input at a predetermined period. An OFDM modulator generates an OFDM signal (including a guard interval portion and an effective symbol portion) that is a fixed length portion containing data corresponding to n (n is a positive integer) times or 1/n of the predetermined period. A frame includes the variable length portion and the fixed length portion. This makes a transmission signal actually have a frame period almost equal to the period of a signal synchronized with the clock of a player, including the fluctuations. |
| US08942260B2 |
Services, systems and methods for precisely estimating a delay within a network
Methods and systems for determining time delays of networks are disclosed. For example, a method for determining a time delay of a network having i) a transmitting node and ii) a receiving node, wherein each of the transmitting node and the receiving node comprises a Data Link Layer (DLL), a management layer, and a Physical Layer (PHY) is disclosed. The method includes determining a time that the first packet was received by the transmitting node, forwarding the time that the first packet was received to the management layer of the transmitting node; forwarding information in the first packet to the transmitting node; and determining the time delay of the network by subtracting the time the time that the first packet was received by the DLL of the transmitting node from a transmit time provided via the management layer of the receiving node. |
| US08942259B2 |
Digital visual interface with audio and auxiliary data
One embodiment of the present invention uses an abbreviated blanking period, in comparison to the standard VESA and CEA-EIA blanking periods, in order to send data, including low bandwidth, non-timing information, over one or more channels of the digital video link. By shortening the blanking period, the amount of time available for sending data in each scan line is increased, enabling the system to send more data over each channel. The inactive video portion of a scan line sent during vertical sync may also be used to send additional digital data. Shortening the blanking periods and/or using the inactive video sections of the horizontal scan lines adds to the overall data capacity of the link and may be used to send other digital data, such as multichannel audio, video, control, timing, closed captioning or other digital data. |
| US08942258B2 |
Segmentation and reassembly of network packets for switched fabric networks
Reassembly of member cells into a packet comprises receiving an incoming member cell of a packet from a switching fabric wherein each member cell comprises a segment of the packet and a header, generating a reassembly key using selected information from the incoming member cell header wherein the selected information is the same for all member cells of the packet, checking a reassembly table in a content addressable memory to find an entry that includes a logic key matching the reassembly key, and using a content index in the found entry and a sequence number of the incoming member cell within the packet, to determine a location offset in a reassembly buffer area for storing the incoming member cell at said location offset in the reassembly buffer area for the packet for reassembly. |
| US08942254B2 |
Method for transmitting/receiving data while supporting scalability in communication system
A method for transmitting/receiving data between first and second terminals in which data can be transmitted flexibly in each particular situation, i.e. according to the network environment of terminals between which visible light communication occurs, including the type and characteristics of transmitted data. The method includes the steps of: (a) connecting a communication link between a first terminal supposed to transmit data and a second terminal supposed to receive data; (b) determining a data transmission rate to be used for data communication; (c) allocating a transmission channel of a specific band within a frequency band enabling wireless communication; (d) establishing a data transmission environment based on consideration of the transmission rate and the transmission channel; and (e) conducting data communication between the first and second terminals with reference to the data transmission environment. |
| US08942248B1 |
Shared control logic for multiple queues
Methods, integrated circuits, and computer programs for managing a communication path carrying multiple channels are presented. Each channel includes a first-in first-out (FIFO) queue. In one method, the time difference between the start of a cycle for receiving data in a particular channel and a start of a cycle for transmitting data in the same particular channel is identified. Further, the method includes an operation for buffering arriving data in the communication path. The arriving data is buffered for an amount of time equal to the identified time difference, and the result is delayed data. FIFO registers are loaded from memory, which includes loading FIFO control and status data for a single FIFO queue, where the single FIFO queue is associated with the current channel of the produced delayed data at any time. Additionally, method includes an operation for processing contemporaneously read and write requests for the single FIFO queue using the loaded FIFO registers. |
| US08942241B2 |
Method for equalizing the size of data packets by blocks of a multimedia stream
A method equalizing sizes of data packets by blocks of a multimedia stream including a succession of data packets of variable sizes. The method includes: storing a group of N (a predefined integer) data packets in a buffer memory; computing average size Tm of a packet from the different sizes of the N packets; generating a base stream including N data packets to be transmitted, wherein each has a size equal either to the rounded-down integer part └Tm┘, or to the rounded-up integer part └Tm┘ of the average size, and at least one additional stream including N redundant data packets computed from the base stream packets, having same size as the base stream packets, and intended to enable a receiver to restore any lost packets if the loss rate is greater than a predefined threshold; and transmitting the base stream and the additional stream(s) to the receivers. |
| US08942238B2 |
Apparatus and method for establishing tunnels between nodes in a communication network
Tunnels are established between nodes along a packet transfer route in a communication network so that a packet is transferred from a first relay node to a second relay node via one or more intermediate relay nodes using the established tunnels. An intermediate relay node receives, from an adjacent downstream relay node, a reply message storing relay-node addresses identifying the downstream relay node and at least one intermediate relay node between the downstream relay node and the first relay node. The intermediate relay node establishes a tunnel to the downstream relay node in association with the relay-node address of the downstream relay node, updates the reply message by removing the relay-node address of the down stream relay node from the reply message, and transfers the updated reply message to an adjacent upstream relay node along the packet transfer route. |
| US08942237B2 |
Hypervisor independent network virtualization
In one embodiment, a first physical overlay switch located at an edge of an IP network includes logic adapted for: receiving a packet having a virtual local area network (VLAN) identifier (ID) from a virtual switch, encapsulating the packet with an overlay header, tunneling the encapsulated packet via the IP network to a second physical overlay switch, receiving a second encapsulated packet having a second overlay header from the second physical overlay switch, de-encapsulating the second encapsulated packet to create a second packet having a second VLAN ID, and sending the second packet to the virtual switch. |
| US08942234B2 |
DAD-NS triggered address resolution for DOS attack protection
A first network element that receives an appropriation message from a second network element that indicates a target address which the second network element intends to appropriate for its use. In response to the appropriation message, the first network element broadcasts a discovery message to a plurality of network elements on the network to request a link-layer address in association with the first target address. The first network element receives a discovery response from the second network element with the first target address and the link-layer address of the second network element. Then the first network element updates a neighbor cache to include a pre-cached neighbor cache entry associating the link-layer address to the first target address. This prevents one or more future neighbor cache misses associated with the first target address. |
| US08942230B2 |
Logical packet switching device with switching fabric extended between multiple physical devices
In one embodiment, a logical packet switching device has its switching fabric extended between multiple physical devices, such as, but not limited to, over one or more networks (e.g., over tunnel(s), point-to-point link(s), and/or public and/or private L2 or L3 network(s)). In particular, one embodiment extends the switching fabric between multiple different physical devices by effectively merging, at least from the perspective of ingress and/or egress line cards, a switching fabric in each of these multiple different physical devices. In this regard, an ingress lookup operation in a first physical device of one embodiment produces information which is used by the switching fabric in a different physical device to forward a packet to the appropriate egress line card in the different physical device. Further, one embodiment includes line cards which can be used to both extend the switching fabric as well as communicate with packet switching and other devices that are independent of the logical packet switching device. |
| US08942229B2 |
Method and apparatus for conserving battery life and network resources under abnormal call release conditions
A method and apparatus for releasing radio resources from a mobile device for a call in a gateway to core network, the method monitoring an inactive period for call; and if the inactive period exceeds a predetermined threshold initiating a disconnection from the gateway to core network. |
| US08942223B2 |
Interference cancelation using edge signals for synchronization signal detection
In 3GPP Release (Rel) 8, a primary synchronization signal (PSS) and a secondary synchronization signal (SSS) may be transmitted in six resource blocks, occupying, for example, the center 62 tones (i.e., subcarriers) of an LTE-A system, wherein the center tone may be skipped. In synchronous networks, cells may transmit their respective PSS and SSS on the same frequency at the same time, wherein strong cells may overshadow the weak ones. However, strong cells may not be the serving cell for a user equipment (UE), particularly in a heterogeneous network. Traditionally, interference cancelation, an enhanced receiver technique, has been used, wherein the UE may first find the strong cells and cancel them out to find the serving cell. However, due to propagation delay and synchronization uncertainty, a timing offset may exist among cells, even in synchronous networks. Therefore, systems and methods are disclosed, providing for improved handling of the timing offset among different cells by applying a time domain cancelation. |
| US08942219B2 |
Support for network management and device communications in a wireless network
A method of efficiently operating a wireless communication network in a process control environment, such that the wireless communication network includes a plurality of field devices, includes defining a communication protocol for supporting wireless communications between pairs of the plurality of field devices, including providing a set of protocol commands, transferring process control data from at least some of the plurality of field devices using a first subset of the set of protocol commands of the communication protocol, and transferring network management data to at least some of the plurality of field devices using a second subset of the set of protocol commands of the communication protocol. |
| US08942217B2 |
System and method for hierarchical link aggregation
Systems and methods for hierarchical link aggregation are disclosed. A system for hierarchical link aggregation may include a network interface having a plurality of physical ports. A first plurality of the physical ports may be configured as member ports of a first link aggregation group (LAG). A second plurality of the physical ports may be configured as member ports of a second LAG. The first LAG and second LAG may be configured as member logical ports of a third LAG. |
| US08942215B2 |
System and method for transmission of data from a wireless mobile device over a multipath wireless router
There is disclosed a system and method for transmission of multiple data streams from a mobile device to a network. In an embodiment, the system includes a multipath wireless router configured to provide a plurality of network connections including cellular, satellite, or wired Ethernet. An encoding module provided on the mobile device is configured to encode high volume data (e.g. high definition video) recorded by the mobile device into multiple data streams in dependence on the number of network connections available for transmission via the multipath wireless router. The encoding module provided on the mobile device transmits the multiple data streams to the wireless router using Wi-Fi to provide a local, short-hop, high capacity network connection. The plurality of network connections available via the multipath wireless router provides the necessary capacity and reliability to transmit a high volume of data, such as high definition video, virtually live. |
| US08942214B2 |
Method for channel sounding in wireless local area network and apparatus for the same
A method and wireless apparatus are described, whereby a transceiver receives a null data packet announcement (NDPA) frame from a transmitter to initiate channel sounding, and receives a null data packet (NDP) from the transmitter, the NDP following the NDPA frame. A first report field is configured to include beamforming information, and a second report field is configured to include signal to noise ratio (SNR) information. A determination is made as to whether feedback data including the first report field and the second report field is transmitted in a single feedback frame or a plurality of feedback frames. If the feedback data is determined to be transmitted in the plurality of feedback frames, the feedback data is split into a plurality of segments, which is transmitted in a single aggregated medium access control protocol data unit (A-MPDU) including a plurality of MPDUs. |
| US08942213B2 |
Method and system for accessing storage devices
An approach for enabling wireless communication devices to mount and/or unmount one or more storage devices to facilitate data sharing is described. A processor of a user device generates a request message according to a storage access protocol that is operating system agnostic. The processor then initiates transmission of the request message over a wireless link of an ad-hoc network to a system that includes one or more storage devices, wherein the request message requests storage device information relating to the one or more storage devices. |
| US08942212B2 |
Autoconfiguration system for wireless sensor network and its method, and gateway apparatus for wireless sensor network
The present invention enables connection between a wireless sensor node and a service server while reducing load on the wireless sensor node.The wireless sensor node transmits a router solicitation message to a gateway apparatus; the gateway apparatus analyzes the message to extract the discrete information of a device or service, searches for a service server based on such information and acquires the configuration information necessary for execution of a service application of the wireless sensor node; the gateway apparatus multicasts the received router solicitation message into a link; a router within the link receives the router solicitation message, and multicast a router advertisement message which contains the prefix information of an address, etc. into a link; the gateway apparatus sets the acquired configuration information in the router advertisement message and transfers the resultant message to the wireless sensor node; and the wireless sensor node analyzes the message. |
| US08942211B2 |
Communication system and communication apparatus using an NFC Wi-Fi protected setup to establish a wireless LAN connection
A communication system includes: a service terminal configured to have a wireless LAN access point capability and a proximity communication capability, the wireless LAN access point capability enabling the service terminal to act as a wireless LAN access point to be connected via a network to a service provider providing a network connection service on a chargeable basis, the service terminal thereby offering the chargeable network connection service; and a user terminal configured to have a wireless LAN terminal capability and a proximity communication capability, the wireless LAN terminal capability enabling the user terminal to connect with the wireless LAN access point, the user terminal further connecting to the network using the chargeable network connection service. |
| US08942200B2 |
Cognitive flow control based on channel quality conditions
A system and method which improve the performance of a wireless transmission system by intelligent use of the control of the flow of data between a radio network controller (RNC) and a Node B. The system monitors certain criteria and, if necessary, adaptively increases or decreases the data flow between the RNC and the Node B. This improves the performance of the transmission system by allowing retransmitted data, signaling procedures and other data to be successfully received at a faster rate, by minimizing the amount of data buffered in the Node B. Flow control is exerted to reduce buffering in the Node B upon degradation of channel qualities, and prior to a High Speed Downlink Shared Channel (HS-DSCH) handover. |
| US08942195B2 |
Method and arrangement in a wireless communication system
Method and arrangement in a base station for scheduling physical resources in a transmission bandwidth to a user equipment served by the base station. The physical resources may be physical channels or radio resource blocks. Some physical resources within the transmission bandwidth are subjected to a performance requirement power restriction value. The method comprises scheduling physical resources based on the performance requirement power restriction value of the physical resources to be scheduled. Also, a method and arrangement in a user equipment for assisting a base station in scheduling physical resources in a transmission bandwidth to the user equipment is described. |
| US08942190B2 |
HARQ process number management for downlink carrier aggregation
A method for use with a mobile user agent, the method for managing Hybrid Automatic Repeat reQuest (HARQ) processes in a multi carrier communication system that uses HARQ process indicators (HPIs) to manage HARQ processes, the method comprising the steps of designating a first subset of the HPIs as shared HPIs wherein each shared HPI designates a HARQ process irrespective of which of a plurality of system carrier frequencies are used to transmit a traffic packet, designating a second subset of the HPIs as non-carrier-shared HPIs wherein each non-carrier-shared HPI, in conjunction with the carrier frequency used to transmit a traffic packet, designates a carrier frequency unique HARQ process, receiving an HPI at the mobile user agent, receiving a first traffic packet via a carrier frequency at the user agent that is associated with the HPI, where the HPI is a first subset HPI using the HPI to identify a HARQ process associated with the first traffic packet irrespective of the carrier frequency used to transmit the traffic packet and providing the traffic packet to the identified HARQ process and where the HPI is a second subset HPI using the HPI and the carrier frequency on which the first traffic packet was received to identify a carrier frequency specific HARQ process associated with the first traffic packet and providing the first traffic packet to the carrier frequency specific HARQ process. |
| US08942189B2 |
Apparatus and method for enabling communications among unsynchronized wireless devices
A method enables a wireless device (310) to rendezvous with another wireless device (320) through a wireless network (330), where activation schedules of the wireless devices are not synchronized. The method includes determining a number of time units in each cycle of multiple communication cycles, identifying active time units in each cycle during which the first wireless device enters an active mode, and identifying inactive time units in each cycle during which the first wireless device enters an inactive mode. The sum of the active time units and the inactive time units equals the number of time units in each cycle. A first active time unit in each cycle occupies a same position in the cycle as an active time unit in a previous consecutive cycle. Also, a second active time unit in each cycle occupies a different position in the cycle than any active time unit in the previous consecutive cycle. |
| US08942166B2 |
Method for providing a contention based uplink channel
A method, a mobile system, and a user communication device are disclosed. A receiving unit 408 may receive a downlink packet 620 from a base station 108. A configuration data storage 412 may store contention based grant data upon receiving the downlink packet 620 and prior to an uplink packet 810 becoming available. A transmitting unit may send an uplink packet 810 based on the contention based grant data. |
| US08942165B2 |
System and method for distributed multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) in a wireless communication system
Systems and methodologies are described herein that facilitate distributed multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) or cooperative multipoint (CoMP) communication in a wireless communication system. As described herein, multiple cells, such as a serving cell and an auxiliary cell, can cooperate to conduct communication with one or more associated terminals. In one example described herein, an associated core network can exchange data and/or control signaling with a single cell communicating with a given terminal, which can then tunnel respective data and/or control signaling to other cell(s). By doing so, CoMP communication can be made transparent to the core network and can be achieved without requiring changes to the network. As further described herein, a terminal can exchange Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) assignments and/or other information exclusively with the serving cell in addition to or in place of other information exchanged with a serving cell and/or an auxiliary cell. |
| US08942162B2 |
Method and apparatus of continuous packet connectivity enhancement in a wireless communications system
In order to improve continuous packet connectivity (CPC), the present invention provides a method of improving CPC for a UE working in a HS-SCCH less operation in a wireless communications system. The method includes treating a received data as a specific data to be decoded when the received data is the data of the third transmission for a base station and the data in a soft buffer pointed by the third transmission is not the second transmission for the base station in the wireless communications system. |
| US08942158B2 |
Relaying system and method with partner relays and selective transmission
Partner relay systems and methods are provided in which relaying is performed by a pair of partner relays. Signals received from a base station are translated by a first of the pair of partner relays to a different transmission resource for communication between the pair of partner relays, and then upon reception by a second of the pair of partner relays, the signal is translated back to the original transmission resource and re-transmitted towards the receiver. |
| US08942146B2 |
Signal transmission method and apparatus in wireless communication system
A signal transmission method and apparatus in a wireless communication system using Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP). The signal transmission apparatus divides packet signals to be transmitted into a control signal and data, stores the control signal and the data in a protocol stack queue using a predetermined scheme such that the control signal is transmitted prior to the data, and transmits the control signal and the data in order of storage in the protocol stack queue. |
| US08942144B2 |
Adaptive pause time energy efficient ethernet PHY
An energy efficient Ethernet physical layer (PHY) device including an EEE control module configured to generate a control signal to transition the PHY device into a low power consumption mode based an operating condition, and a pause frame generator module responsive to the control signals to generate a pause frame. The pause frame generator module is configured to send the pause frame to a media access control (MAC) device to reduce an incoming flow of data packets from the MAC device to the PHY device for a pause time duration. In operation, the pause frame generator module generates the pause frame including a pause time indicating the length of time for the PHY device to be in the low power consumption mode. The value of the pause time for each pause frame is determined adaptively based on the amount of data traffic to be transmitted from the PHY device. |
| US08942142B2 |
Method and apparatus for improving ACK/NACK bundling
A method for improving ACK/NACK bundling in a user equipment (UE) of a wireless communication system is disclosed. The method includes steps of receiving an uplink grant allocated to an uplink sub-frame, the sub-frame being utilized for transmitting an HARQ feedback corresponding to a plurality of downlink sub-frame, a TDD UL/DL configuration of the UE being set to 0; and determining whether the UE misses any downlink assignment is missing according to a downlink assignment index (DAI) carried in a latest received Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) for downlink assignment. |
| US08942140B2 |
Method and device for parameterizing a bridge within a communication network
In order to parameterize, within a communication network, a bridge to be put in communication with at least one element to be connected to the bridge, the bridge comprising at least one created port, a parameter representing a predetermined waiting period and corresponding to a time for detection by the bridge, during a phase of listening to the data received by the at least one created port, of the presence of any communication loop within the network, is determined. A filtering of the at least one created port is activated, the filtering being adapted to prevent the sending and reception by the at least one created port of inter-bridge management messages. The bridge is configured with the parameter thus determined, a new port of the bridge is created with a view to setting up communication with the at least one element, and the filtering is deactivated. |
| US08942135B2 |
System and method for auditing route parameters in a network
A system and/or method includes a collector module configured to collect route parameters from a selected node of a plurality of nodes in the network, wherein the route parameters from the selected node are indicative of a first route to a destination address and a second route to the destination address; and a route processor configured to determine a first intermediate node along the first route communicatively coupled to the destination address and a second intermediate node along the first route communicatively coupled to the destination address, based at least in part on the collected route parameters. |
| US08942129B1 |
Method and system for optimizing inter-frequency handoff in wireless coverage areas
A radio access network (RAN) may be configured to identify a set of wireless coverage areas in which to transmit inter-frequency search directives. Identifying the set of coverage areas may involve determining which of the coverage areas defined by the RAN have threshold weaker coverage on one carrier frequency than on another carrier frequency of that coverage area. For each coverage area of the set, the RAN may identify one or more WCDs operating in the coverage area that are operating on the coverage area's carrier frequency that has the weaker coverage. Based on the identifying of the WCDs, the RAN may send to each identified WCD an inter-frequency search directive to cause the WCD to scan for and report to the RAN a measurement of coverage on one or more carrier frequencies other than the carrier frequency on which the WCD is currently operating. |
| US08942122B2 |
Automatic uplink-downlink ratio reconfiguration setting in wireless communication system
At least one neighbor cell is identified by a base station by detecting a synchronization signal of the at least one neighbor cell. A received signal power, such as a Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) or a Reference Signal Received Quality (RSRQ), or a combination thereof, is also measured from the at least one neighbor cell. Identifying information and the received signal power of the at least one neighbor cell is then communicated to a network entity of the wireless network. Information is received from the network entity indicating whether the base station can enable a reconfiguration of the allocation of uplink and downlink subframes used in the cell of the base station. Based on the information received from the network entity, the base station enables a reconfiguration of the allocation of uplink and downlink subframes used in the cell. |
| US08942119B1 |
Determining a burstiness profile of a wireless communication system
Active wireless devices in communication with an access node of a wireless communication system are detected and prioritized, and a group of the active wireless devices is selected. Data is provided to each selected wireless device, a burstiness metric is received based on the provided data, and a burstiness profile of the wireless communication system is determined. |
| US08942118B2 |
Mobile communication in which monitoring beacon signal arrival is changed based on probability of terminal-to-access point connection
A mobile communication terminal 10 receives “HCS_PRIO” of a notice data (System Information Block Type 3) of a base station 1 or 3, and determines whether the terminal 10 is present “indoor” and is in “a stationary state or a state moving at a low speed” based on the receiving result. Since there is a high possibility that the terminal 10 is connectable with a wireless LAN when the terminal 10 is present “indoor” and is in “a stationary state or a state moving at a low speed”, the terminal 10 sets a period for monitoring arrival of a beacon signal. |
| US08942113B2 |
System and method for dynamically adjusting routing metrics based on power consumption
An approach is provided for optimizing power consumption and costs associated with routing information over a transport environment. A first collection interval corresponding to retrieval of a first data set specifying power consumption information and associated cost information for a plurality of routing nodes is determined. The first data set is compared with a second data set specifying power consumption information and associated cost information for a second collection interval. Routing metrics of the plurality of routing nodes are determined based on the comparison, wherein the routing metrics specify relative desirability of the plurality of routing nodes for establishing one or more communication paths formed by one or more of the plurality of routing nodes based on the routing metrics. |
| US08942109B2 |
Impairment simulation for network communication to enable voice quality degradation estimation
An automated method for testing audio signal quality of cell phone transmissions provides a Mean Opinion Score (MOS) output using inexpensive test components. The test system uses a server computer to eliminate the need for expensive faders used in a bench test system. The server computer manipulates data packets from the reference media file to simulate impairments, including losses, errors, noise and jitter, at a much lower cost than using actual faders. Transmission through two separate radio access networks RANs is provided to simulate two parties communicating using separate mobile devices (an end-to-end test solution) with a single cell phone. |
| US08942107B2 |
Piece of ethernet terminal equipment
A piece of Ethernet terminal equipment having an Ethernet connector including first and second pairs of contacts used to carry Ethernet communication signals. At least one path for the purpose of drawing DC current. The at least one path coupled across at least one of the contacts of the first pair of contacts and at least one of the contacts of the second pair of contacts. The piece of Ethernet terminal equipment to draw different magnitudes of DC current flow via the at least one path. The different magnitudes of DC current flow to result from at least one condition applied to at least one of the contacts of the first and second pairs of contacts, wherein at least one of the magnitudes of the DC current flow to convey information about the piece of Ethernet terminal equipment. |
| US08942105B2 |
Method for processing traffic in an intermediate access point
A method for processing traffic destined for a BS received from one or more terminals in an intermediate access point supporting two or more communication schemes is disclosed. The method includes receiving traffic from the one or more terminals according to a first communication scheme, measuring a congestion level of the received traffic, transmitting a first traffic being part of the received traffic to a second intermediate access point according to a second communication scheme, if the congestion level is a predetermined threshold or higher, and transmitting a second traffic being remaining traffic of the received traffic except the first traffic to the BS. |
| US08942102B2 |
Segmented data transfer with resume capability
A large volume of location related information, e.g., assistance data or location information, is transferred in separate messages between a server and a target by segmenting the location related information into a plurality of messages. If the connection between the server and target is released prior to completion of the transfer of the location related information, the transfer is resumed by sending the remaining messages after connection is reestablished. Each message is sent after receiving an acknowledgement of receipt. Thus, both the server and target can control the flow of the transfer by delaying the sending of one or more messages or delaying the sending of the acknowledgements of receipt. |
| US08942099B2 |
Method and apparatus of IP flow mobility in 4G wireless communication networks
A method to realize IP flow mobility (IFOM) between 3GPP access and non-3GPP access over GTP based interfaces is proposed. A user equipment is connected to a PDN-GW via a 3GPP access network and a non-3GPP access network. The UE transmits an IFOM triggering message to the PDN-GW, which selects IP flows to be moved based on EPS bearer ID and IP flow description. The PDN-GW sends an Update Bearer Request to a WAG or ePDG, and updates its mapping table if the Update Bearer Request is successful. The UE also updates its mapping table upon receiving an IFOM acknowledgement from the WAG or ePDG. The PDN-GW initiates a 3GPP bearer modification procedure to move the selected IP flows. |
| US08942096B2 |
Congestion-based traffic metering
In one aspect, the invention provides apparatuses and methods for communicating, from one network node to another network node, congestion information. Advantageously, the congestion information may be communicated at a per-packet level so that the node receiving the congestion information may meter the network usage of a user based, at least in part, upon the level of network congestion experienced by each packet sent or received by the user. |
| US08942091B2 |
Method and apparatus for notifying access control information
A method and an apparatus for notifying activations of extended access barring (EAB) and updates of EAB information in the field of Long Term Evolution (LTE) wireless communication systems have been proposed. In accordance with the present disclosure, the eNB notifies MTC devices of EAB changes from a paging message through the paging channel (PCH). The network could use either a single bit EAB status indicator to notify whether the EAB has been enabled or disabled or use multiple bits EAB indicator to represent different EAB parameter changes in addition to whether the EAB has been enabled or disabled. Based on the present disclosure, the network could reduce the paging overhead by require the MTC device to acquire the EAB-SIB only when it needs the EAB information. |
| US08942088B2 |
BNG to PCRF mediation entity for BBF and 3GPP access interworking
A Mediation Entity (ME) provides a single policy server common to the BroadBand Forum (BBF) fixed domain and the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) mobile domain. A Policy and Charging Rules Function (PCRF) in the mobile domain provides policy control for both fixed and mobile domains. The ME in the 3GPP domain enables such PCRF approach. The ME may be introduced as a 3GPP mobile domain-based network function or element between a fixed domain-based Border Network Gateway (BNG) and the PCRF. With regard to the BBF fixed domain, the ME acts before the BNG as a Broadband Policy Control Function (BPCF), and with regard to the 3GPP mobile domain, the ME acts before the PCRF as a gateway implementing a Bearer Binding and Event Reporting Function (BBERF) or as a Policy and Charging Enforcement Function (PCEF). |
| US08942086B2 |
Methods and systems for automatically rerouting logical circuit data in a data network
A disclosed example method involves identifying a logical failover circuit comprising an alternate communication path in a failover network that is separate from a logical circuit comprising variable communication paths in at least one of a first logical telecommunications network or a second logical telecommunications network and a fixed communication path between the first and second logical telecommunications networks. The failed logical connection is between the first and second logical telecommunications networks. The failover network is reserved to provide failover circuits to communicate data rerouted from failed logical circuits, and the logical failover circuit identified by a second logical circuit identifier. The logical circuit identifier of the logical circuit is renamed to the second logical circuit identifier of the logical failover circuit when a logical connection in the logical circuit has failed. The data is rerouted from the logical circuit to the logical failover circuit without manual intervention. |
| US08942081B2 |
Method for transmitting control information and base station, and method for receiving control information and user equipment
According to one aspect of the present invention, antennas or antenna nodes spaced away from each other by a predetermined distance or more are configured to be able to transmit control information of mutually different user equipment groups, thereby increasing the efficiency in the operation of control channels. In addition, according to another aspect of the present invention, a resource region for transmitting control information for an improved user equipment, which is a target of a multi-node cooperative transmission, is set differently from a resource region for transmitting control information for a legacy user equipment, thereby increasing the efficiency in the transmission of the control information for the improved user equipment. |
| US08942078B2 |
Digital data transmitting device and digital data receiving device
To provide a digital data transmitting apparatus and a digital data receiving apparatus that can realize, even when a transmission channel characteristic changes because of aged deterioration or the like of a relay, improvement of a reception performance following the change.A transmitting apparatus 1 generates a multiplexing frame formed by N slots including control information, data, outer parities, stuff bits, and inner parities and added with synchronization, pilot, and a transmission control signal and a parity and transmits data of the respective slots in a transmission system designated by the transmission control signal. In this case, pilot signals are symbols allocated to all signal points in order determined in advance for each of modulation schemes. A receiving apparatus 2 rewrites a phase error table 214 to calculate a phase error and performs synchronous detection according to the pilot signals. The receiving apparatus 2 also rewrites a likelihood table 235 to perform inner code decoding. Consequently, since reception processing adapted to distortion of a transmission channel characteristic can be performed, improvement of a reception performance can be realized. |
| US08942077B2 |
Information storage medium, reproducing method, and recording method
A machine readable information storage medium, a reproducing method and apparatus which reproduces data from the storage medium, and a recording method and apparatus for recording data on the storage medium. The information storage medium includes a control area which stores within a data structure information usable by the recording or reproducing apparatus to record or reproduce the data on or from the storage medium. The information stored within the data structure includes a version corresponding to a specification, a revision number of recording speed, and an extended part version field. |
| US08942076B2 |
Information storage medium, reproducing method, and recording method
A machine readable information storage medium, a reproducing method and apparatus which reproduces data from the storage medium, and a recording method and apparatus for recording data on the storage medium. The information storage medium includes a control area which stores within a data structure information usable by the recording or reproducing apparatus to record or reproduce the data on or from the storage medium. The information stored within the data structure includes a version corresponding to a specification, a revision number of recording speed, and an extended part version field. |
| US08942067B2 |
Mechanism for displaying and correcting the state of two different time measurable quantities
A mechanism for displaying and correcting a state of two different time measurable quantities for a timepiece includes a movement driving a first display mechanism to display a first measurable time quantity and a second display mechanism to display a second measurable time quantity, and including an adjusting member. The first and second display mechanisms respectively include first and second drive mechanisms sharing a common drive mechanism driven by the movement, and controlling a driving of one of the display mechanisms by instantaneous jumps and of the other by dragging. The display mechanisms respectively include a first and a second correction mechanism, sharing a common correction mechanism driven by the adjusting member independent of the common drive mechanism, including a friction safety device. |
| US08942063B2 |
Data acquisition and processing system and method for investigating sub-surface features of a rock formation
A system and a method includes generating a first signal at a first frequency; and a second signal at a second frequency. Respective sources are positioned within the borehole and controllable such that the signals intersect in an intersection volume outside the borehole. A receiver detects a difference signal returning to the borehole generated by a non-linear mixing process within the intersection volume, and records the detected signal and stores the detected signal in a storage device and records measurement parameters including a position of the first acoustic source, a position of the second acoustic source, a position of the receiver, elevation angle and azimuth angle of the first acoustic signal and elevation angle and azimuth angle of the second acoustic signal. |
| US08942059B2 |
Container system for seismic cable and stations
Container systems used in storage, deployment or retrieval of a seismic cable array comprise a container, at least two coiling elements attached to a bottom side of the container, and storage means for allocating or accommodating, in an ordered arrangement, a number of seismic stations and/or a number of couplers/splices and/or other discontinuities which are being interconnected by sections of the seismic cable. Said storage means is arranged between said coiling elements and are attached to the bottom side of the container. The seismic cable is spooled or wound around said coiling elements. Corresponding methods of storing a seismic cable and deploying/retrieving the seismic cable are based on the use of at least two coiling elements and storage means for allocating or accommodating a number of seismic stations and/or a number of couplers/splices and/or a number of other discontinuities and arranged between said coiling elements. |
| US08942058B2 |
Display data obtaining apparatus and display data obtaining method
Provided is a display data obtaining apparatus capable of, in photoacoustic tomography, reducing a fluctuation in sensitivity which depends on location for image reconstruction even in a limited measurement condition in which a photoacoustic wave generated in the entire subject cannot be obtained in a sufficient range. The display data obtaining apparatus includes: an acoustic wave detecting unit for detecting an acoustic wave generated from a subject irradiated with pulsed light to obtain a signal; a first data deriving unit for deriving first data exhibiting an optical characteristic distribution of the subject based on the obtained signal obtained by the acoustic wave detecting unit; a memory for storing spatial sensitivity distribution data specific to the display data obtaining apparatus; and a second data deriving unit for deriving second data exhibiting the optical characteristic distribution of the subject using the first data and the spatial sensitivity distribution data. |
| US08942057B1 |
Serial advanced technology attachment dual in-line memory module device
When a measured current of a resistor is less than a preset current value after a device is inserted into a memory slot, a control chip and a storage chip does not receive voltages. When the measured current is not less than the preset current value and a count time reaches a preset time value, the control chip and the storage chip receive voltages, to read or write data. When measured current of the resistor is not less than the preset current value after the device is removed from the memory slot, the control chip and the storage chip receive voltages, to backup data. When the measured current is less than the preset current value and the count time reaches the preset time value, the control chip and the storage chip do not receive voltages. |
| US08942052B2 |
Complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) min/max voltage circuit for switching between multiple voltages
A voltage selection mechanism is provided for switching between multiple voltages without causing a direct current (DC) that may further stress storage elements due to excessive power consumption and electro-migration effects. The voltage selection mechanism comprises cross-coupled circuitry, which comprises a first positive-channel field effect transistor (PFET) and a second PFET. The voltage selection mechanism further comprises diode circuitry, which comprises a third PFET and a fourth PFET. |
| US08942048B2 |
Semiconductor device and method of operating the same
A semiconductor device includes a memory block coupled to word lines and configured to a memory cell including a floating gate, an inter-poly dielectric and a control gate and a peripheral circuit configured to perform an erase loop operation, a program loop operation an electron injection operation of the memory cell, the electron injection operation trapping electrons in the inter-poly dielectric. |
| US08942047B2 |
Bit line current trip point modulation for reading nonvolatile storage elements
Upon selecting non-volatile storage elements to be sensed, the system obtains information about the position of these non-volatile storage elements, determines sensing parameters based at least in part on this information, pre-charges a charge storage device and, while maintaining the voltage level of the bit lines of these memory cells at a constant value, applies a reference signal to these non-volatile storage elements for a certain duration of time, afterwards determining whether, for the certain duration of time, the current conducted by these non-volatile storage elements exceeds a predetermined value. |
| US08942044B2 |
Flash memory device
A flash memory device is provided. The flash memory device includes a memory cell array and a pre-charge unit. The pre-charge unit, coupled to a plurality of bit lines corresponding with the memory cell array, pre-charges the bit lines to a predetermined voltage during a pre-charge stage. The pre-charge unit includes a voltage stabilizing unit to provide a constant current to the bit lines. Due to the voltage stabilizing unit, in a programming process, the voltage applied to the bit lines which are not related with programming may not drop as a result of current leakage. Therefore, the memory cells except the memory cell to be programmed are kept in cut off state, without a current passing. As a result, interference with the memory cells which are not to be programmed may be effectively avoided and the accuracy of programming may be improved. |
| US08942035B2 |
Non-sequential encoding scheme for multi-level cell (MLC) memory cells
Apparatus and method for managing an array of multi-level cell (MLC) memory cells. In accordance with various embodiments, a non-sequential encoding scheme is selected that assigns a different multi-bit logical value to each of a plurality of available physical states of a selected MLC memory cell in relation to write effort associated with each of said plurality of physical states. Data are thereafter written to the selected MLC memory cell in relation to the selected non-sequential encoding scheme. In some embodiments, the MLC memory cell comprises a spin-torque transfer random access memory (STRAM) memory cell. In other embodiments, the MLC memory cell comprises an MLC flash memory cell. |
| US08942032B2 |
Method for magnetic screening of arrays of magnetic memories
A testing method is described that applies a sequence external magnetic fields of varying strength to MRAM cells (such as those with MTJ memory elements) in chips or wafers to selectively screen out cells with low or high thermal stability factor. The coercivity (Hc) is used as a proxy for thermal stability factor (delta). In the various embodiments the sequence, direction and strength of the external magnetic fields is used to determine the high coercivity cells that are not switched by a normal field and the low coercivity cells that are switched by a selected low field. In some embodiments the MRAM's standard internal electric current can be used to switch the cells. Standard circuit-based resistance read operations can be used to determine the response of each cell to these magnetic fields and identify the abnormal high and low coercivity cells. |
| US08942030B2 |
Structure and method for SRAM cell circuit
The present disclosure provides a static random access memory (SRAM) cell. The SRAM cell includes a first and a second pull-up devices; a first and a second pull-down devices configured with the first and second pull-up devices to form two cross-coupled inverters for data storage; and a first and second pass-gate devices configured with the two cross-coupled inverters to form a port for data access, wherein the first and second pull-down devices each includes a first channel doping feature of a first doping concentration, and the first and second pass-gate devices each includes a second channel doping feature of a second doping concentration greater than the first doping concentration. |
| US08942028B1 |
Data reprogramming for a data storage device
A data storage device includes a non-volatile memory and a controller. A method includes programming information to the non-volatile memory. The information includes multiple codewords. The method further includes accessing a sample codeword of the multiple codewords from the non-volatile memory and determining an error rate associated with the sample codeword. The error rate is determined by an error correcting code (ECC) engine. The method further includes programming the information at the non-volatile memory in response to the error rate satisfying an error threshold. |
| US08942027B1 |
Memory storage circuit and method of driving memory storage circuit
A memory storage circuit includes a volatile memory portion, a control portion, and a non-volatile memory portion. The volatile memory portion includes a first node and a second node to store a pair of complementary logic data. The control portion includes a first transistor and a second transistor. Gate electrodes of the first and second transistors are coupled to receive a store signal, and first electrodes of the first and second transistors are coupled to receive a control signal. The non-volatile memory portion includes a first resistive memory element and a second resistive memory element to store the pair of complementary logic data. The first resistive memory element is coupled between a second electrode of the first transistor and the first node, and the second resistive memory element is coupled between a second electrode of the second transistor and the second node. |